@Max33Verstappen storms to #MonacoGP victory, claims championship lead. #F1

Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen stormed to a dominant Monaco GP victory, ahead of Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz who was second and McLaren’s Lando Norris completing the podium after pole-sitter Charles Leclerc failed to make the grid and Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas retired.

Following his late stage Q3 crash, Leclerc reported a gearbox issue on his pre-race tour to the grid – although Ferrari later announced a damaged driveshaft meant the Monegasque-youngster could not take part in his home Grand Prix.

Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton came home seventh, as the reigning World Champion was frustrated with the team’s strategy after losing two spots during the sole pit-stop sequence.

When the 78 lap Monaco GP began, Verstappen got a great run and immediately covered off Bottas’s run to the inside line for St. Devote from his P2 grid slot, keeping the Mercedes behind, which made a touch better launch off the line in third.

Verstappen’s aggressive defending easily kept him in-front, with Bottas briefly locking his front-left as the pack of 19 cars headed towards turn one.

The two leaders pulled clear from Sainz in third, the Ferrari at first was unable to match their pace in the high 1:16’s/low 1:17 bracket.

The opening stage of the 78 lap Grand Prix saw the leading drivers managing their pace as they pushed to make a pit-stop gap to the runners behind who were on the more durable medium and harder compounds.

Verstappen controlled the race from out-front – the Dutchman’s lap-times were getting quicker – with Bottas running narrowly out of DRS range in second place, as Sainz closed in again on the two frontrunners until his gap to Bottas nearly reached the two second margin, where it remained.

The leader’s gap increased to almost three seconds by the first quarter distance, after Mercedes asked Bottas to show his quick pace, as the Finn dropped further back towards Sainz.

The Finn could not match Verstappen’s pace in the low 1:16’s range and the gap between the pairing grew to nearly five seconds once they had completed 25 tours of the Circuit De Monaco.

After Hamilton had began the sole pit-stop sequence by stopping for C3 white side-walled harder tyres at the end of the 29^th lap, in a rash attempt to undercut Scuderia AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly’s fifth place, Bottas pitted a lap later.

But a catastrophic pit-stop came for the Mercedes driver when the front-right soft tyre remained stuck on Bottas’s F1 W12 racer because the wheel nut machined onto the axle and could not be taken off, which meant the Finn was forced to retire.

Sainz stopped two tours later, comfortably in second place, whilst Red Bull waited until lap 34 to bring Verstappen in, who came out with a 6.5 second advantage over the Spaniard once all the stops had been done.

In the proceedings after the pit-stops, Sainz managed to eat into Verstappen’s lead as the Ferrari driver lapped into the low 1:15’s, before the Dutchman lifted his pace and the gap between the duo neutralised.

They regularly ran in the mid 1:14’s bracket during the middle stage of the Grand Prix, trading quicker efforts over several laps, but the difference between the two remained stable.

Closing into the final 15 tours, Verstappen was able to move away slightly as the Dutchman maintained control over the gap to second placed Sainz again, eventually coming home to take the Monaco GP victory by 8.968 seconds as Sainz dropped away as the laps went on.

This win gives Verstappen the World Driver’s Championship lead for the first time in his career.

Bottas’s retirement meant Norris moved up into third place as McLaren managed the pit-stop phase well, with the Briton having somewhat a lonely race for most of the race to settle for the final podium place behind the dominant frontrunners.

Norris struggled with tyre life as the Grand Prix drew towards the end, with Red Bull’s Sergio Perez closing in fast, but the Mexican was unable to find a way by the McLaren ahead of the finish.

Perez who started in eighth with Leclerc absent, was the big winner during the pit-stop phase, where Hamilton ended up furious at the Mercedes strategy.

Being the first driver to pit did not come to fruition for the Briton, as Gasly was able to remain in-front when he stopped a lap later than Hamilton, who then lost a position to Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel as well when the four-time World Champion jumped up two places by staying out longer and overcut the AlphaTauri and the Mercedes.

But Red Bull opted to leave Perez out longer, as the Mexican eventually came in on the 35^th tour having ran in the mid 1:14’s as he enjoyed solid pace in clearer air.

Perez found his way running in P1 temporarily just before stopping and gave his team-mate back the first place slot Verstappen would not relinquish again to claim his Monaco GP victory, as Perez emerged well clear from the trio of Vettel, Gasly and Hamilton.

After at first not able to reel in on Norris’s gap in third, he rapidly ate into the gap approaching the final 15 tours, but his hunt ended up stalled to Norris as the gap remained at just over a second, with the margin at the end of the Grand Prix at one second.

Vettel finished a solid fifth place, with Hamilton behind Gasly by 14.3 seconds at the finish after stopping for a set of softs to mount a bid for the fastest lap bonus point.

The reigning World Champion managed to do so, posting the fastest lap record of a 1:12.909.

The second-Aston Martin of Lance Stroll gained from starting in 12^th place by running the harder rubber from the beginning and then staying out until lap 58, where the Canadian maintained eighth place that he reached after swapping to the softs.

Stroll was investigated by the stewards for potentially crossing the pit-lane exit line as he emerged after his stop, but no action was taken and came home in eighth.

Alpine F1 Team’s Esteban Ocon withstood late pressure from Alfa Romeo Racing’s Antonio Giovinazzi, as the duo completed the top ten – the former was struggling with tyre life after being given the yellow-marked C4 mediums at his stop compared to the hards on his rival’s A521 racer.

The other Alfa and McLaren of Kimi Raikkonen and Daniel Ricciardo were not too far behind at the flag – the latter wound up a lap down on his McLaren team-mate – with the second Alpine of Fernando Alonso 13^th and further back.

With Bottas the only casualty and Leclerc not starting the Grand Prix, the rest of the finishing drivers were Williams Racing pairing George Russell and Nicholas Latifi, Scuderia AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda – who was the last to pit on the 65^th tour and ended up with the second quickest time of the race and 1.128 seconds adrift of Hamilton’s best effort – and the Haas F1 Team duo Nikita Mazepin and Mick Schumacher brought up the rear.

2021 Monaco GP – The Top Three

2021 Monaco GP Winner – Max Verstappen, #33, Red Bull Racing-Honda, RB16B:

“It’s so special to win, and for me a first podium here. So many laps, but it’s really cool. You never know what’s going to happen here, it’s all about looking after your tyres.”

2^nd Place – Carlos Sainz, #55, Scuderia Ferrari, SF21:

“Before coming here, if you’d said finish second, I’d have taken it. When I reflect back on the weekend, I’ll be happy and proud, and I think Ferrari should be proud of the car.”

3^rd Place – Lando Norris, McLaren Racing-Mercedes, MCL35M:

“I don’t know what to say, I didn’t think I’d be stood here. It’s always a dream to be on the podium here. A bit of luck, I want to say some good driving and a good car so thanks to the boys and girls there.”

Formula 1 Grand Prix De Monaco 2021 Race Results Classification (78 Laps)

https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2021/races/1067/monaco.html

You can see the full Formula 1 World Driver’s (Top 10) and Constructors Championship standings here at the link: 2021 F1 World Championship Standings

Round six of the 2021 FIA Formula One World Championship returns to the Baku Street Circuit in Baku, Azerbaijan for the Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix 2021 from Friday June 04-Sunday June 06.

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