Monaco Grand Prix: Norris - Leclair - Piastri
Sunny. Dry. Air +22...23C, highway +45...42C
It is impossible to overtake on a narrow urban highway. In the younger series, with more compact cars, fighting in Monaco is still possible, but with the wider Formula 1 cars, changing positions is only possible at the pit stop.
The debate about how to make the race in Monaco more interesting went on for a long time and at different levels, as a result, the FIA changed the rules, obliging the drivers to conduct two mandatory pit stops this time. Conversations about how best to do this continued before the start, but it hardly affected the results of the race.
Ferrari's Monegasque Charles Leclair was in the lead in practice on Friday and Saturday, but he was only second in qualifying, separating a pair of McLaren drivers, and Lando Norris won the pole with a new absolute track record.
Three drivers were fined – Hamilton lost three places at the start, Stroll lost four for two violations, and Berman lost ten for overtaking on Friday under red flags, which were enough this weekend.
Norris and Leclair took the first row of the starting field, Piastri and Verstappen started from the second, Hajjar and Alonso from the third.
For the second weekend in a row, Pirelli brought the softest compounds to the stage - C4 as Hard, C5 as Medium and the new C6 composition as Soft. The C6 tires were criticized again, some even spent most of qualifying on the C5, which were almost as fast, but were noticeably more stable.
In the race, Tsunoda started on Soft, Norris, Leclair, Piastri, Hajjar, Okon, Lawson, Elbon, Hulkenberg, Bortoleto, Gasly and Berman chose Medium, the rest started the race on Hard.
At the start, Norris retained the lead. Hulkenberg was ahead of Tsunoda. In the fight with Antonelli, Bortoleto bumped into a barrier in the eighth corner – the stewards left the incident without consequences. To remove the debris, a virtual safety car mode was announced.
Tsunoda, Gasly, Berman and Bortoleto changed tires.
Top ten on lap 3: Norris - Leclair - Piastri - Verstappen - Hajjar - Alonso - Hamilton - Ocon - Lawson - Albon.
On the 4th lap, the riders were able to continue the fight. The positions have not changed.
On lap 7, Gasly crashed into Tsunoda's car at the exit of the tunnel and drove into the pits with a broken front suspension. The brakes weren't working, and the car was stopped by mechanics. Pierre dropped out of the race.
On lap 13, Hulkenberg changed tires, on lap 14 - Colapinto, on lap 15 - Hajjar, on lap 17 – Alonso and Ocon, on lap 18 - Stroll and Berman, on lap 19 – Hamilton (ahead of Hajjar and Alonso), on lap 20 – Norris and (immediately the second pit stop) Hajjar.
At Piastri's pit stop on lap 21, there was a problem with the mounting of the rear left wheel. Ferrari responded to McLaren's hitch with Leclair's pit stop on Lap 22 - and Charles returned in front of Oscar.
On lap 28, Bortoleto and Colapinto made a pit stop, on lap 29 - Verstappen and Okon, on lap 32 – Lawson, on lap 33 - Albon.
The top ten on lap 35: Norris - Leclair - Piastri - Verstappen - Hamilton - Alonso - Hajjar - Okon - Lawson - Albon.
On the 37th, Bortoleto made a pit stop.
On lap 38, the engine on Alonso's car blew out a cloud of smoke, Fernando stopped in the safety zone and withdrew from the race.
On lap 40, Lawson and Albon changed tires.
On lap 43, Albon passed Sainz, before that Carlos held back the peloton, which allowed his teammate to make two pit stops, now Alex held back the others to help Carlos.
Piastri hit the wall with his rear left wheel and continued driving.
On lap 45, Hulkenberg made a pit stop. There were only five riders left in one lap with the leader, the rest were losing a lap.
On lap 49, Piastri and Leclair changed tires, and on lap 50, Sainz and Norris changed tires.
Russell got ahead of Elbon, cutting off the chicane and not regaining position – and received a penalty pass through the pit lane from the stewards. Antonelli also overtook Elbon, cutting off the chicane, but immediately regained his position.
On lap 55, Russell served a penalty, and Sainz made a pit stop.
Hamilton changed tires on lap 57, and Russell changed tires on lap 65.
On lap 67, Sainz passed Elbon back at the request of the team, returning him to ninth place. Stroll changed the tires.
Verstappen was in no hurry to get into the pits, gathering a group of drivers behind him, pressing each other. Norris, Leclair and Piastri were separated by several tenths, but no one made mistakes, and there was no opportunity to attack.
Russell made a pit stop on lap 71, and Antonelli changed tires twice on Lap 72 and 74.
On lap 76, Tsunoda made a pit stop, and on lap 78, Verstappen made a pit stop.
Lando Norris won the Monaco Grand Prix, taking his first victory in the Principality, his second of the season and the sixth of his career.
Charles Leclair finished second, Oscar Piastri finished the race third, retaining the lead in the individual standings. The first four at the finish repeated the first four at the start.
Finishing sixth, Isaac Hajjar showed the best result of his career. Fernando Alonso has not scored a point in the eighth race in a row since the start of the season.
The fight will continue in Barcelona next week.
Race results
Pilot
The Time Team
Speed
Pit
1. L.Norris
McLaren
1:40:33.843
155.295
2
2. S.Leclair
Ferrari
+3.131
155.215
2
3. O. Piastri
McLaren
+3.658
155.201
2
4 . M.Verstappen
Red Bull
+20.572
154.767
2
5 . L. Hamilton
Ferrari
+51.387
153.984
2
6 . A.Hajjar
Racing Bulls
+1 circle
151.668
2
7. E.Windows
Haas
+1 circle
151.645
2
8. L.Lawson
Racing Bulls
+1 circle
151.627
2
9. A.Elbon
Williams
+2 laps
151.016
2
10. K.Sainz
Williams
+2 laps
150.932
2
11. D.Russell
Mercedes
+2 laps
150.469
3
12. O. Berman
Haas
+2 laps
149.954
2
13. F.Colapinto
Alpine
+2 laps
149.894
2
14. The city of Bortoleto
Sauber
+2 laps
149.617
3
15. L.Stroll
Aston Martin
+2 laps
149.568
2
16. N. Hulkenberg
Sauber
+2 laps
149.540
2
17. Yu.Tsunoda
Red Bull
+2 laps
149.533
2
18. K.Antonelli
Mercedes
+3 laps
149.114
2
Best lap: Lando Norris (McLaren) 1:13.221 (lap 78, 164.067 km/h).
Reasons for gatherings
Pilot
Team
Circles
The reason
is P.Gasli
Alpine
7
The F.Alonso accident
Aston Martin
36
The motor
Position in the championship : Personal standings
Pilot
A country
Team
Points
=
1. O.Piastri
McLaren F1 Team
161
=
2. L.Norris
McLaren F1 Team
158
=
3. M.Verstappen
Oracle Red Bull Racing
136
=
4. D.Russell
Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team
99
=
5. Sh.Leclair
Scuderia Ferrari HP
79
=
6. L.Hamilton
Scuderia Ferrari HP
63
=
7. K.Antonelli
Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team
48
=
8. A.Albon
Atlassian Williams Racing
42
=
9. E.Windows
MoneyGram Haas F1 Team
20
10. A. Hajjar
Visa Cash App Racing Bulls F1 Team
15
11. L.Stroll
Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team
14
12. K.Sainz
Atlassian Williams Racing
12
13. Y.Tsunoda
Oracle Red Bull Racing
10
14. P.Gasli
BWT Alpine F1 Team
7
=
15. N.Hulkenberg
Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber
6
=
16. O.Berman
MoneyGram Haas F1 Team
6
17. L. Lawson
Visa Cash App Racing Bulls F1 Team
4
Championship position : Constructors' Cup
Team
The motor
Points
=
1. McLaren F1 Team
Mercedes
319
=
2. Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team
Mercedes
147
=
3. Oracle Red Bull Racing
Honda RBPT
143
=
4. Scuderia Ferrari HP
Ferrari
142
=
5. Atlassian Williams Racing
Mercedes
54
=
6. MoneyGram Haas F1 Team
Ferrari
26
7. Visa Cash App Racing Bulls F1 Team
Honda RBPT
22
8. Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team
Mercedes
14
=
9. BWT Alpine F1 Team
Renault
7
=
10. Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber
Ferrari
6
Other articles
DHL Fastest Pit Stop Award: Best Ferrari Pit Stop
In Monaco, Ferrari mechanics made the fastest pit stop, servicing Charles Leclair's car on lap 22 in 2.00 seconds...
Max Verstappen: You can't race in Monaco.
Max Verstappen finished fourth in Monaco. The reigning world champion was not thrilled with the idea of two mandatory pit stops and jokingly suggested borrowing ideas from the Mario Kart computer game to enhance the entertainment.
Available sets of tires before the start
Before the start of the Monaco Grand Prix, the Pirelli press service published information about the remaining sets of tires for the riders.
70 minutes before the start: Fernando Alonso's comment
Fernando Alonso starts sixth in Monaco and hopes to earn his first points of the season.…
40 minutes before the start: Comment by Carlos Sainz
Carlos Sainz did not qualify for the final in Monaco, but hopes for points in the race.…
50 minutes before the start: Lewis Hamilton's comment
Because of the penalty, Lewis Hamilton starts in Monaco only seventh.…
Monaco Grand Prix: Norris - Leclair - Piastri
Lando Norris has won the Monaco Grand Prix for the second time this season...