While this year’s Monaco Grand Prix will by no means be considered a classic, it could be an extremely important day in the Formula 1 title race in 2021.
Max Verstappen celebrated a dominant first career win on the streets of Monte Carlo when he snatched the championship lead away from Lewis Hamilton on a catastrophic afternoon for Mercedes.
While some drivers and teams leave Monaco satisfied with their efforts and the respective strategy games of chance, others will wonder what could have been …
winner
Max Verstappen
An exemplary achievement by Verstappen to get his first win (and his first podium) in Monaco.
Verstappen may have cursed his luck on Saturday after being forced to abandon his best lap in qualifying due to the red flags caused by Charles Leclerc’s crash in qualifying, but race day it went back to the Dutchman’s favor.
Since Leclerc was not at the start due to his drama before the race, Verstappen effectively moved to pole position and was able to secure Valtteri Bottas decisively in order to maintain his lead over Sainte Devote.
On the subject of matching items
From there, Verstappen was in full control when he claimed his second win of the season without mistakes and convincingly to take the championship lead for the first time in his career.
Carlos Sainz
Carlos Sainz turned his qualifying frustrations – where he had the pace to fight for pole but finished fourth – into a first podium for Ferrari with a brilliant drive on Sunday.
The Spaniard immediately finished third due to Leclerc’s DNA and inherited second place when Bottas suffered his disastrous pit stop, which he held on to until the finish.
On the subject of matching items
Sainz showed impressive pace throughout to underscore the fact that Ferrari could have won the race if Leclerc had started from pole. The Ferrari running alone ended up just under nine seconds behind race winner Verstappen.
He continues to impress most of the drivers who have switched teams over the winter.
Lando Norris
Lando Norris stood on the podium with his former Paren teammate Sainz with his third P3 finish of his career and his second podium in 2021.
Norris also benefited from the demise of Leclerc and Bottas but found themselves able to capitalize on an excellent qualifying round a little more than two-tenths away from pole.
Despite McLaren’s cautious expectations in Monaco, Norris was able to continue his excellent start to the season so that he could jump to third place in the championship ahead of Bottas.
Sebastian Vettel and Aston Martin
It was a difficult start to life at Aston Martin for Sebastian Vettel, but everything turned around in Monaco when the four-time world champion got off the spot in fine style.
Vettel turned eighth on the grid into a strong fifth, but the result came largely thanks to a brilliant strategy call from Aston Martin that allowed him to successfully overtake Lewis Hamilton and Pierre Gasly.
Lance Stroll rounded off Aston Martin’s best day yet in 2021 with both cars scoring points. This means that the Silverstone-based design team rises to fifth place.
Sergio Perez
Sergio Perez, who finished eighth on the grid after another below-average qualification due to Leclerc’s absence, showed a strong performance on Sunday and became the biggest winner of the pit stop phase.
Red Bull’s decision to let Perez out in the clean air paid off well as the Mexican brought out the pace he needed to hop on the Vettel-Gasly-Hamilton train as he emerged from his pit stop on lap 35 came out.
Perez stumbled quickly in Norris but ultimately had to settle for fourth and was only a second away from his first podium for Red Bull.
loser
Charles Leclerc
You have to feel for Charles Leclerc. If he hadn’t been unlucky at his home race, he would not have been unlucky at all.
A sensational lap in qualifying earned him a shock bar for Ferrari, but he was unable to start after encountering a problem with his driveshaft on the way to the start.
That was heartbreaking DNA for Leclerc, who has not finished racing the streets of his hometown since graduating from Formula 1, and put an end to hopes of a long-awaited return to victories for Ferrari.
Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton
Almost everything that could have gone wrong for Mercedes was done in Monaco.
A bad qualifying left Lewis Hamilton on his back foot with a mountain to climb if he wanted to keep his championship lead intact from seventh on the grid.
Mercedes’ decision to pit Hamilton early on failed, leaving him frustrated with his team’s strategy that ultimately caused him to lose two places during the pit stop window.
A disgruntled Hamilton eventually finished seventh as Bottas’ resignation exacerbated a disastrous day the reigning world champion lost the lead at both world championships for the first time in the V6 hybrid era.
alpine
Alpine had high hopes of challenging Ferrari to be the best of the others in Monaco, but the weekend eventually ended up uncovering weaknesses in the team’s 2021 F1 car.
A struggling drive from Esteban Ocon earned the team a small reward of two points in ninth place, but it was an all-round bad weekend for the French team.
Fernando Alonso called his first Monaco GP since 2018 “boring” as he battled home 13th and rounded off a difficult weekend for Alpine as it lost ground to midfield rivals.
Daniel Ricciardo
Daniel Ricciardo’s efforts to get up to speed with McLaren continued with a horror weekend in Monaco.
The Australian was released from qualifying in the second quarter, while teammate Norris finished fifth and Ricciardo had the prospect of a long and pointless race.
This is exactly how it turned out that Ricciardo eventually finished 12th after being stuck behind Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Raikkonen for the entire race.
To be lapped by a pedestal-bound Norris, Ricciardo just added salt to the wounds.
Yuki Tsunoda
F1 rookie Yuki Tsunoda’s debut in Bahrain seems like a lifetime ago after the Japanese youngster suffered his fourth disappointing trot race.
The AlphaTauri driver was laid off for the second straight year in the first quarter, and his weekend was effectively ruined from that point on.
Tsunoda failed from 16th to sixth place when he crossed the finish line behind Williams and one lap behind sixth team-mate Pierre Gasly.
The post Five winners and five losers at the F1 Grand Prix of F1 first appeared on monter-une-startup.
