Verstappen wins when Hamilton finishes seventh

Max Verstappen dominated a largely lifeless Formula 1 Grand Prix of Monaco in 2021 and won ahead of Carlos Sainz after the pole sitter Charles Leclerc could not start and Valtteri Bottas retired.

After his crash in the late third quarter, Leclerc reported a problem with his transmission on his only lap before the race – although Ferrari later announced a damaged driveshaft, he was unable to start.

Lewis Hamilton finished seventh, frustrated with the Mercedes strategy call after losing two places in the only pit stop.

When the lights went out, Verstappen immediately went to cover Bottas’ run to the inside line for Ste Devote from his P2 starting position, cutting off the Mercedes, which had made a slightly better start off the line from third place.

Verstappen’s aggressive defense kept him slightly in front, and Bottas briefly blocked his left front as the pack steamed into the first corner.

The two front runners were able to quickly move away from Sainz ‘third place. The Ferrari was initially unable to reach its pace in the high 1:16 second / low 1:17 lap times in the laptime.

In the opening phase of the 78-lap race, the leading drivers managed to keep up their pace by working with the medium and hard tires in their backpacks to create a pit-stop gap with the runners.

Verstappen controlled the pace at the front – his laps became gradually faster – and Bottas ran in second just outside the DRS range when Sainz closed the two front runners again until his gap to Bottas almost reached the two-second mark, where he stayed.

The lead of the leader was extended to almost three seconds by the quarter of an hour after Mercedes had asked Bottas to show his best pace, as the Finn actually fell further back in the direction of Sainz.

Bottas couldn’t keep up with Verstappen’s pace in the low 1:16 minutes at this point, and the gap between them widened to almost five seconds after 25 laps.

After Hamilton rang in the pit stops at the end of lap 29 with a damned attempt to undercut Pierre Gasly’s fifth place, Bottas crossed the finish line the next time.

But a catastrophic pit stop where the right front remained soft on Bottas’ W12 because the wheel nut on the axle could not be machined and not removed, which meant the Finn’s race was over.

Sainz came up two laps later, now comfortably in second place, while Red Bull waited until lap 34 to take Verstappen, who emerged 6.5 seconds ahead of Ferrari after shattering all the stops.

In the immediate aftermath of the stops, Sainz managed to cut Verstappen’s lead in half when he lapped in the low 1:15 laps before the Red Bull increased its pace and the gap between the two stabilized.

They regularly ran in the middle of the 1:14 phase during the middle phase of the race, exchanging faster times over several tours, but the difference between them remained constant.

In the final 15 laps, Verstappen pulled back slightly as he once again claimed control of the gap in second place and eventually came home with an 8.9 second lead as Sainz faded away after the completed laps.

The result gives Verstappen the lead in the drivers’ championship for the first time in his career.

Bottas’ resignation meant Lando Norris moved up to third place as McLaren negotiated the pit stop period smoothly. The Briton had a lonely race for the majority of the event, trying to finish last on the podium behind the dominant leaders.

Norris fought for the life of the tires in the final phase. Sergio Perez quickly came closer in the second Red Bull, but couldn’t find a way before the finish.

Perez, who had occupied an eighth place in the network with Leclerc’s absence, was the big winner at the pit stops, where Hamilton was extremely frustrated with Mercedes’ strategy.

Being the first driver to stop didn’t pay off for the world champion as Gasly was able to stay ahead on one lap to Hamilton, who then also lost a place to Sebastian Vettel when the Aston Martin driver jumped two places by going longer stays outside and outbids the AlphaTauri and the Mercedes.

But Red Bull let Perez out longer in clear air, the Mexican finally coming on lap 35 after completing a lap in the middle of the 1:14 lap when enjoying a strong pace in clear air.

Perez actually cycled through to temporarily take the lead just before stopping and giving his teammate back the P1 stop. Verstappen would not lose again as Perez came back far from the Vettel-Gasly-Hamilton train.

After initially not bringing much to Norris’ advantage in third place, he quickly narrowed the gap and approached the final 15 laps. However, his chase ended with the gap to Norris of just over a second, with the lead at the finish being exactly 1.0 s.

Vettel came home solidly in fifth, and Hamilton was on the flag, 14.3 seconds behind Gasly, after stopping to soften late and set the fastest lap point.

He has successfully mastered this quest and set a new track record of 1: 12.909 seconds.

Lance Stroll won from his net P12 grid position by using the hard tire from the start and then staying out until lap 58, where he retained eighth place, which he had also moved up to after moving to the Softs.

Stroll was being investigated for possible pit exit line when he re-entered after his stop, but the stewards took no action and he came home undisturbed in eighth place.

Esteban Ocon defied late pressure from Antonio Giovinazzi as the Alpine and Alfa Romeo drivers rounded out the top 10 – the former to battle for tire life after comparing media to the rigors of his rival’s machine on his stop had received.

Kimi Räikkönen and Daniel Ricciardo were not far behind at the finish – the latter was one lap behind his McLaren teammates – and Fernando Alonso in 13th a little further back.

Since Bottas was the only retirement and Leclerc did not start, the remaining finishers, the Williams couple George Russell and Nicholas Latifi, Yuki Tsunoda, who stopped last on lap 65 and achieved the second fastest race lap, were 1.128 seconds slower than the Hamilton effort – and the Haas duo Nikita Mazepin and Mick Schumacher.