Checo Pérez vindicates himself in Monaco, pressured by a great Sainz

taketonews

  • After losing to Verstappen in Barcelona, ​​the Mexican wins a spectacular race in the Principality, with Carlos Sainz second on the podium

  • Verstappen, third, maintains the lead against Leclerc, hampered by Ferrari’s strategy and Alonso has beaten Hamilton in the fight for seventh position

Mexican Sergio Perez saw victory very close in Barcelonalast week, but reluctantly took instructions from Red Bull to give up the position to his teammate Max Verstappen, who managed to leave the Circuit as the new leader of the World Championship. Today, the Mexican has removed the ‘thorn’ and in what way with a prestigious victory in the Monaco Grand Prixafter a bad strategy of ferrari has left the ‘poleman’ without options charles leclercthat one more year and there are already five, is left without a reward in the home race.

Checo has withstood the pressure of an impeccable Carlos Sainzwho has repeated the second position achieved here a year ago, while Verstappen has completed the podium and has widened the differences in the championship with respect to Leclerc, fourth, by nine points.

Rain and exit behind the safety car

After a 16-minute delay in the scheduled start time of the Monaco Grand Prix, caused by the appearance of rain in the streets of the Principality, the single-seaters took to the track to complete two laps behind the Safety Car and Check the condition of the asphalt. Even Leclerc has requested a postponement by radio due to the large amount of water that was in various sectors of the track. Race direction has chosen to show the red flag and send the cars back to the pits until the intensity of the storm subsides. A logical decision considering that if there is an extreme circuit on the calendar to race on water, it is Monaco.

The race started at 16:05, more than an hour late, and with the cars behind the safety car and the distance reduced to 77 laps. Stroll and Latifi were the first to ‘caress’ the wall in the Casino area. In the second lap the safety car was removed and Leclerc began to pull, with Sainz and the two Red Bulls in his wake. All the favorites taking maximum precautions due to the state of the track, which is still very slippery. Gasly, one of the few riders who have opted for intermediate tires instead of wet ones, along with Latifi and Mick Schumacher, was about to lose control of his Alpha Tauri but after saving the situation he set the first lap fast.

Ferrari fails Leclerc

Sainz tried to put pressure on his teammate and the Monegasque reacted by putting land in between on the eighth lap, distancing the Madrid native by 3.5 seconds. Gradually the track has been drying up with the favorites on the lookout, looking for their pit stop without traffic. With nothing to lose, the first to dare was Hamilton, who rode the intermediate compound and returned to the track in ninth position. Red Bull has followed his example with Pérez and Ferrari has called Sainz, who has preferred to remain in the position waiting to play his cards with the slicks later on. On lap 18 Leclerc and Verstappen entered, who opted for the intermediates, although the Monegasque lost the ‘game’ with Pérez.

On lap 22 Ferrari called Sainz and Leclerc, who returned to the track cursing a strategy that condemned him to fourth place. The two Red Bulls fought back with another double save from Pérez and Verstappen and the Mexican moved into first place, with Sainz executing a dramatic chase. The Monaco Grand Prix was in store for a spectacular battle, exceeding the best expectations.

Mick’s accident and new career

On lap 27 a very strong accident by Mick Schumacher, fortunately without consequences for the German driver, has radically changed the scenario. The son of the ‘Kaiser’ has managed to get out of the car on his own feet, which has broken in half. It’s Mick’s second big accident this season, after the one he had in Saudi Arabia. A wreck for his team. The stewards have shown the second red flag to repair the protection barriers and remove the remains of the Haas. The race in Monaco started again at 5:15 p.m., behind the safety car and Checo in front, followed by Sainz, Verstappen and Leclerc. While Red Bull has switched to the medium compound, Ferrari has opted to keep the hard with 10 laps of use, a risky strategy to say the least.

Fernando Alonso, who started seventh on the grid, defended his position ‘tooth and nail’ against an aggressive Lewis Hamilton, with much more pace than the Asturian in the final stretch, recalling ‘old times’, when both shared a box at McLaren (2007 ) and fought for victory in the Principality. Alonso, with masterful tire management, has even recovered speed to set a fastest lap in the race and finish ahead of the seven-time champion, in seventh place.

Despite Sainz’s efforts to hunt him down, looking for any signs of tire degradation, Pérez has imposed his pace and won his third victory in Formula 1, after those he achieved at Sakhir 2020 (still with Racing Point) and Baku 2021 (already with Red Bull). Carlos, who a year ago in Monaco was already second on the podium, although on that occasion surpassed by Verstappen, has repeated the result and this time has left the champion third on the podium. A great result for Red Bull, who took a soothing victory for Checo and kept the lead with Max. And excellent balance also for Sainz, who has fought until the last minute for victory, and has excelled in the most difficult circuit on the calendar.

Classifications

MONACO GPRace:

1. Sergio Perez (Red Bull)

2. Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) at 1″154

3. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) at 1″491

4. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) at 2″922

5. George Russell (Mercedes) at 11″968

6. Lando Norris (McLaren) at 12″231

7. Fernando Alonso (Alpine) at 46″358

8. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) at 50″388

9. Esteban Ocon (Alpine) at 55.644

10. Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo) at 52″525

11. Sebastian Vettel (Aston Martin) at 53.536

14. Pierre Gasly (AlphaTauri) at 54″289

13. Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren) at 57.635

14. Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) at 60″802

15. Nicholas Latifi (Williams) 1 lap

16. Guanyu Zhou (Alfa Romeo) 1 lap

17. Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri) 1 lap

Retired:

Alexander Albon (Williams)

Mick Schumacher (Haas)

Kevin Magnussen (Haas)

This is how the World Cup goes (7/22)

1. Max Verstappen 125 points

2. Charles Leclerc 116

3. Sergio Perez 110

4.George Russell 84

5. Carlos Sainz 83

6.Lewis Hamilton 50

7. Lando Norris 48

8. Valtteri Bottas 39

9. Esteban Ocon 32

10.Kevin Magnussen15

11.Yuki Tsunoda 11

12.Fernando Alonso10

13. Daniel Ricciardo 11

14.Pierre Gasly 6

15. Sebastian Vettel 4

16. Alexander Albon 3

17. Lance Stroll 2

18. Guanyu Zhou 1

19. Mick Schumacher 0

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20. Nico Hulkenberg 0

21. Nicholas Latifi 0



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