Max Verstappen wins Monaco Grand Prix to extend World Championship lead
Max Verstappen wins Monaco Grand Prix to extend World Cup lead after rain causes chaos and costs Fernando Alonso
- Verstappen was under pressure from Alonso before the late rain set in
Max Verstappen endured a late rain shower and won the Monaco Grand Prix in a crushing way.
Starting from pole, the world champion beat eventual second-place Fernando Alonso into the first corner and pulled away to take the checkered flag nearly half a minute ahead.
His Red Bull was unbeatable and his touch was assured as he extended his championship lead to 39 points over team-mate Sergio Perez, who endured a poor day and failed to score.
Lewis Hamilton moved from fifth on the grid to fourth, one place behind Alpine’s Esteban Ocon, the Frenchman who achieved the third podium of his career.
The race was a procession for the first hour or so before George Russell complained of rain in turn 3 on lap 51 of 78. He said it was ‘spitting’. Lewis Hamilton later upgraded that to ‘dangerous’.
Max Verstappen led from start to finish despite pressure from Fernando Alonso early in the race
Between the two comments, the question was when should I take a nap. The leaders, still on their original tires, didn’t want to waste a rubber change before they could be sure a downpour was coming. In the beginning the rain was patchy before growing all over the circuit.
The two teams that got it right the fastest were Mercedes and Alpine. Russell and Hamilton and Ocon and Pierre Gasly pitted for intermediates. Alonso’s Aston Martin team got it wrong, bringing him in three times before correcting the mistake – a mistake that cost him a golden opportunity for victory.
Verstappen slithered around but held onto the track well enough before pitting. “I have to drive very slowly because my tires are broken,” he said. Once re-shod, there were no more worries for him.
Hamilton was fourth and doing fine. Russell, from eighth place, was fifth, where he finished.
Part of the field struggled to gain a foothold as the heavens opened. Times slowed down drastically.
Carlos Sainz, who was hardly sure all afternoon, spun at Mirabeau, one of the earliest rains. Lance Stroll crashed his Aston on Lowes. Kevin Magnussen hit the wall as his Haas team stubbornly kept him dry while the track was a bath.
Russell received a five-second penalty for unsafely re-entering the track – putting himself in the path of Perez, who finished 16th after stopping five times. It made no difference, as his margin over Ferrari’s sixth-placed Charles Leclerc was big enough.
It had been an uneventful race until the weather intervened. Verstappen had lapped nine cars halfway through and the twelve leading positions were on the grid. Thank God for the hand of God.