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Monaco Grand Prix: F1 Race Results

Monaco Grand Prix: F1 Race Results

Charles Leclerc was on pole position for the Monaco Grand Prix, but was he able to win his home race for the first time?

Abby Bathurst 7 min read

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Formula 1’s most iconic race, the Monaco Grand Prix, took place today with a Red Flag on the opening lap and an emotional victory as they raced around the streets of Monte Carlo.

Monaco Grand Prix: F1 Race Results
The packed grid ahead of the Monaco Grand Prix (Credit: X @F1)

The Monaco Grand Prix is perhaps one of the most iconic races on the F1 calendar and this year it marked Round 8 of the 2024 season. The weekend began with three free practice sessions, which saw Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes demonstrate a strong performance whilst Max Verstappen struggled with the RB20.

Qualifying yesterday provided lots of action with a shock Q1 exit from Sergio Perez. The two Haas drivers got through into Q2, qualifying in P12 and P15 with Nico Hulkenberg ahead of his teammate. However, post-qualifying, both drivers were disqualified from Qualifying. Therefore, they began the race from the pitlane.

On a more positive note, it was Charles Leclerc who achieved pole position at his home race. He lined up ahead of Oscar Piastri.

The rest of the grid – before Haas’ disqualification – lined up as follows:

Anything can happen around Monaco and the top five on the grid had never won around here before. But today it was Charles Leclerc who took his first ever victory around the streets of Monte Carlo.

Let’s take a look at how Leclerc secured the win.

Lights Out

The tyre allocation for the race saw George Russell, Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton, Esteban Ocon, Lance Stroll, Fernando Alonso, Logan Sargeant, Sergio Perez, Valtteri Bottas and Kevin Magnussen start on the hard tyres. Everyone else began on the medium tyres.

When the lights went out, it was Leclerc in the lead going into Turn 1 after a great launch off the line. Sainz was close to getting into P2, having had a better launch, , but he was immediately out of the Grand Prix after contact with Piastri coming out of Sainte Devote.

The Spaniard brought out the yellow flags after stopping at the Casino Segment. He did manage to limp back to the pits.

However, a Red Flag was brought out after a major crash between both Haas drivers and Perez. The front of the RB20 was completely destroyed with a wheel coming off the tether. The replay showed that Perez got tagged by Magnussen and as a result, crashed into the wall and then spun and collected Hulkenberg. It also showed that Perez had seen Magnussen in his mirrors, so knew he was there.

As Martin Brundle said, this was a “monster of an accident”.

With the Red Flag, all drivers came into the pits.

Alpine incident

Whilst in the pits, the replay also showed the two Alpines making contact after Ocon tried to lunge down the inside of Gasly into Portier. Unfortunately, Ocon went airborne briefly and the mechanics were then seen working his car in the pits.

Because of the contact, Ocon has been given a 10-second penalty, which will be turned into a five-place grid drop for Canada. Later on in the race, Bruno Famin told Sky that he would be making a “tough decision” as Ocon’s move was unacceptable.

Monaco Grand Prix: F1 Race Results
The incident that caused the Red Flag on the opening lap involving Sergio Perez, Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg. (Credit: X @F1)
Restart

The order for the restart, instructed by Race Control, was the same as the original starting order, minus Perez, Magnussen, Hulkenberg and Ocon. What this did mean was that Sainz was able to have a re-do, starting from third again.

It was a standing start procedure and some drivers had changed their tyres under the Red Flag. Everyone, apart from Sargeant, changed tyres under the Red Flag, meaning those who were originally on the mediums were now on the hards and vice versa. This put the top four on the hard-compound.

When the lights went out once again, Leclerc continued leading the race and all 16 drivers made it through the first corner unscathed.

Strategy coming into play

Russell, who was now on the mediums, began chasing Lando Norris ahead. Mercedes then came over to tell Russell not to push his tyres too hard at this point in the race, to which he replied “This is the only opportunity.”

However, his teammate and also Verstappen, were hanging back slightly and managing their tyres. Russell did drop back from Norris, but Red Bull then came over the radio to question why Russell was considerably slow.

Mercedes confirmed that Russell is managing pace to take the tyres to the end. Nothing more, nothing less.

Pitstop talk

For Leclerc though, if Russell fell back far enough from Norris that was big enough for a pit stop from the front runners, Leclerc’s lead could be under threat. The Monegasque driver doesn’t pull away from Piastri, keeping the Aussie in DRS range whilst Russell’s gap grew to 9.212 seconds.

However, Sainz radioed that Leclerc should get a move on because otherwise the leading Ferrari could have a battle with the McLaren on his hands.

Further back, Bottas came into the pits and changed back onto the hard tyres.

On lap 23, both McLarens were putting pressure on the two Ferrari drivers as they were both within DRS range. Neither of them though could pass the Scuderia.

Further back down the order, Ricciardo was chasing Alonso but had Logan Sargeant and Zhou Guanyu putting pressure on him. Alonso’s teammate, Lance Stroll, had right front graining on his tyres, which the Mercedes drivers were also worried about.

Sainz came over the radio and expressed his thoughts on using the soft tyres. After the start he had at the first lights out, Sainz had no set of medium tyres left, only hards and softs. He told Ferrari he was worried about Norris on the softs towards the end.

Meanwhile, the gap between Hamilton and Yuki Tsunoda in P7 and P8 respectively, was growing to at least 22 seconds – a big enough gap for Hamilton to pit. Earlier, the seven-time world champion, was frustrated at Mercedes not splitting the strategy.

The focus was then on Leclerc, who was ordered to slow down further to avoid McLaren doing a pitstop because of the gap to Russell. The race leader was not particularly happy.

Halfway through

On lap 40, Piastri came over the radio, questioning what Leclerc was doing. So it wasn’t only the race engineers and strategists thinking about pit windows and pace.

Lap 40 also saw Leclerc catch up to Bottas and begin to overtake the backmarkers. Stroll came into the pits on lap 44, switching to the hard-compound; he kept his position of P11 due to Alonso having backed off and create a gap to his teammate to allow Stroll to pit without losing places.

Lap 50 showed Stroll admit he had a puncture. The left-rear tyre of the Aston Martin came off the car and thankfully, it came off just inside the pitlane and not on track. Stroll came into the pits to get it changed and exited on the soft tyres in last.

Mercedes got ready in the pits as Hamilton boxed. Verstappen stayed out, but Hamilton switched onto the hard tyres. Verstappen then followed suit and put on the hard tyres that he started the race with. The Dutchman retained his position, coming out just behind Russell. However, Hamilton expressed frustration at Verstappen keeping ahead of the Brit.

On Lap 54, the first overtake of the race occurred. Bottas overtook Sargeant for P13. Stroll then overtook Zhou in the tunnel, having had fresher tyres on; the Canadian then did the same on Sargeant.

Battle in the top 10

With Verstappen and Hamilton on fresher tyres, the two began pushing hard. This meant that if Russell were to pit now, he would lose position to Verstappen.

The three-time world champion also complained of having no battery, but it didn’t look to hamper his speed. Meanwhile, Norris seemed to have missed his chance of a pit stop that wouldn’t put him behind Russell.

However, a gamble for Mercedes on track position for Russell didn’t pay off. Verstappen had better traction than Russell, given his new tyres, and he started hunting down the Silver Arrows.

Whilst Verstappen was chasing Russell, Hamilton started to close the gap to the remaining red Bull. The Mercedes driver set the fastest lap of the race and closed the gap to only a couple of seconds.

Alongside Hamilton chasing the battle between Verstappen and Russell, Sargeant reports he has hit the wall. No safety measures were brought out so there was no major damage.

Final few laps

Verstappen still struggled to find a way through past Russell. Ahead of the Mercedes-Red Bull battle, Norris was within DRS of Sainz but the Spaniard was within DRS of Piastri.

Leclerc, however, was 7.404 seconds ahead of Piastri, extending his lead. On lap 74, over the radio, Leclerc told his engineer:

“I’ll just bring it home.”

Verstappen continued chasing Russell, but was unable to get through. Similarly, Sainz continued chasing Piastri, but the Australian driver had a big enough gap to keep the Spaniard behind.

Hamilton achieved the fastest lap and got within DRS range of Verstappen, but no movements were made in terms of overtaking.

The results

Four drivers retired from the Monaco Grand Prix. They were Ocon, Hulkenberg, Perez and Magnussen.

For the rest of the field, it was brought home by Charles Leclerc.

The rest of the top 10 were as follows:

1 – Charles Leclerc

2 – Oscar Piastri

3 – Carlos Sainz

4 – Lando Norris

5 – George Russell

6 – Max Verstappen

7 – Lewis Hamilton

8 – Yuki Tsunoda

9 – Alex Albon

10 – Pierre Gasly

Headline image: GettyImages

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