Charles Leclerc has won his home race for the first time in his career, following on from an impressive qualifying display on Saturday.
The technical expertise required to navigate the streets of Monaco at speed had been full display from the start of the weekend, with no one coming close to Charles Leclerc, who had put his Ferrari on pole position for the third time in his career at this circuit. He would line up next to Oscar Piastri, hoping to score his maiden F1 Grand Prix win in Monte Carlo.
Both drivers would be put at ease having seen Max Verstappen down in 6th place, with his Red Bull struggling for pace all weekend. Coming into the race, this looked to be a Ferrari and McLaren affair at the front.
Nelson Piquet once described racing in Monaco as being like riding a bicycle round your living room, and drivers that would have found such a description apt early in the race would have included Kevin Magnussen, Sergio Perez, and Nico Hulkenberg. Coming out of turn 1 on the first lap, Magnussen had looked for a gap on the right of Perez that had began to close on the run up to Casino Square. The two made contact and crashed into the wall. Perez, now unable to control his car, would go on to crash into an innocent Hulkenberg, taking him out of the race as well.
However, this was not the only bit of chaos that would take place on the opening lap. Esteban Ocon would attempt to make an overtake on teammate Pierre Gasly into Portier, as green flags were still being waved at that time. Ocon, however, misjudged the fact that Gasly would still be on the outside of the corner, and would cause the two to crash into one another. Whilst Gasly would be able to continue on, Ocon’s race was over.
Carlos Sainz and Oscar Piastri had also made contact on the first lap, leaving the former with a puncture which initially saw him drop down the field, and the latter picking up some damage to his floor.
Due to everything that took place during the first lap, the red flag was brought out to clear all the remaining debris. This gave time for McLaren to repair Piastri’s floor, though he would continue to struggle with downforce. Sainz was able to get back to third, with the restart order being taken from the start of the grand prix, and every driver was able to change onto new tyres with a free pitstop, and with tyre degredation being so low around Monaco, it looked unlikely that many would pit again.
Both Mercedes drivers of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton were effectively forced into taking the restart on medium tyres, having initially started the grand prix on hards. This meant they would need to manage their tyre wear a lot more than the hard runners, and subsequently Russell would begin to fall away from the leading pack pretty quickly.
The tight and claustrophobic nature of the Monaco circuit meant that overtaking is already a difficult endeavour for most teams, however it appeared to be especially so in this race. The lack of variability in the strategy meant that this was quickly turning into something of a procession, though Piastri was still pushing Leclerc hard in the hopes that the Monegasque would make a mistake.
Some variability took place in this race as Lance Stroll, who was looking to hunt down Gasly for the final points paying position, pit for fresh hard tyres after teammate Fernando Alonso helped build a gap to the car behind. They hoped that Stroll would be able to use this superior pace to close the gap back down and then use his superior pace to jump into 10th. However, disaster struck for Aston Martin only a few laps into this strategy, when Stroll suffered a puncture, and would have to pit again, ending any chance he had of getting points today. Stroll would go on to provide some entertainment for the fans though, using his new softs to overtake the likes of Zhou Guanyu, Logan Sargeant and Valterri Bottas, who were all in a rather closely fought group amongst themselves at the back of the grid.
Hamilton had found himself with enough of a gap to Yuki Tsunoda behind, and would gamble with an undercut to try and steal 6th away from Verstappen. However, his outlap was not quick enough to beat the reigning world champion when Verstappen responded by making a stop just one lap later. Hamilton would complain over the radio that his team did not stress the importance of the outlap.
Verstappen, now on fresh tyres, was now beginning to chase down George Russell at a rapid pace. He would find himself on the tail of the Mercedes driver very quickly and looking to get passed. No doubt those on the pit wall at Ferrari and McLaren were watching this battle closely, should they see that such a gamble would pay off and possibly implemented into their own strategy.
Unfortunately for Verstappen though, Russell’s earlier tyre management had paid off, and he was able to begin pushing more to help keep the Dutchman at bay. Furthermore he would begin to make inroads on the top 4, removing any outside possibility that any one of them go for a similar risky undercut without losing any positions.
The last few laps saw Leclerc’s gap to Piastri behind grow significantly, as the win looked to become more and more of a reality with each passing corner. Sainz looked like he might just pip Piastri to 2nd place, but it would not be enough.
The laps counted down and Leclerc admitted to thinking about his late father, who had helped him get to where he is today. As he passed the chequered flag on lap 78, the sense of delight from Leclerc’s voice over the radio was palpable. He had become the first Monegasque driver to win their home grand prix since the formation of the Formula 1 World Championship in 1950, and the first since 1931, when Louis Chiron won the third running of this now iconic race.
The result means that Leclerc is now 31 points behind Verstappen in the lead of the World Drivers Championship. In the Constructors Championship, Ferrari are now 24 points behind Red Bull in the fight for the top.
2024 Monaco Grand Prix results:
- Charles Leclerc – Winner
- Oscar Piastri +7.152s
- Carlos Sainz +7.585s
- Lando Norris +8.650s
- George Russell +13.309s
- Max Verstappen +13.853s
- Lewis Hamilton +14.908s
- Yuki Tsunoda +1 lap
- Alex Albon +1 lap
- Pierre Gasly +1 lap
- Fernando Alonso +2 laps
- Daniel Ricciardo +2 laps
- Valtteri Bottas +2 laps
- Lance Stroll +2 laps
- Logan Sargeant +2 laps
- Zhou Guanyu +2 laps
- Esteban Ocon DNF
- Sergio Perez DNF
- Nico Hulkenberg DNF
- Kevin Magnussen DNF
3. Lando Norris – 113 points
4. Carlos Sainz – 108 points
5. Sergio Perez – 107 points
6. Oscar Piastri – 71 points
7. George Russell – 54 points
8. Lewis Hamilton – 42 points
9. Fernando Alonso – 33 points
10. Yuki Tsunoda – 19 points
11. Lance Stroll – 11 points
12. Oliver Bearman – 6 points
13. Nico Hulkenberg – 6 points
14. Daniel Ricciardo – 5 points
15. Alex Albon – 2 points
16. Esteban Ocon – 1 point
17. Kevin Magnussen – 1 point
18. Pierre Gasly – 1 point
19. Zhou Guanyu – 0 points
20. Valtteri Bottas – 0 points
21. Logan Sargeant – 0 points
World Constructors Championship
1. Red Bull – 276 points
2. Ferrari – 252 points
4. Mercedes – 96 points
5. Aston Martin – 44 points
6. RB – 24 points
7. Haas – 7 points
9. Alpine – 2 points
10. Kick Sauber – 0 points
I’m a 23 year old journalist that loves all things racing. I have attended, the British Grand Prix and Belgian Grand Prix in previous years, and look forward to revisiting such iconic tracks again this year. Also, Daniel Ricciardo almost blanked me once when I tried to get a picture with him at Goodwood!
