In Montecarlo, rain before the start and with the increasingly dry track, a turnaround by Red Bull mocking the Cavallino with the tire change strategy. Verstappen 3rd, Russell 5th
Giusto Ferronato
May 29
– montecarlo (monaco)
There is only one certainty: before the pit stops Charles Leclerc was first, after the pit stops Charles Leclerc found himself fourth. The Monaco GP won by Sergio Perez’s Red Bull is also the Monaco GP of the new, great disappointment of the Monegasque Ferrari driver. No one is a prophet at home and this also applies to the Principino della rossa, who in his Montecarlo continues to collect misfortunes more worthy of Calimero. This time it is all the fault of a mess at the moment of the decisive pit stop of the race, with a Ferrari evaluation / management that proved disastrous for Leclerc. The Cavallino had pole and second place, he managed to keep only this with Carlos Sainz. Max Verstappen, on the other hand, finished third ahead of his rival for the championship. The other only certainty is that Red Bull has managed to win a race in which two cars cannot be overtaken in the second row: against such shrewd and fast opponents, Ferrari must absolutely and quickly get involved even at the wall.
fatal hesitation
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The pouring rain that started falling 5 minutes before the start certainly did not say well to the redhead. Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto had said it 15 minutes before the start: “If the rain has to come, we hope it will be as late as possible”. Exactly … But the challenge, in F1, is knowing how to manage every situation and after the amazing pole on Saturday, Ferrari has not been able to repeat itself. In particular in the decisive moment between the 22nd and 25th lap, when Red Bull, which was behind the two reds, broke up and decided to bring Perez back to go from full wet to intermediate, the fastest tires in that phase. What to do? Mark him with Leclerc or with Sainz? It was decided to recall Sainz, who however asked to stay on the track, aiming to change the dry tires. In the end, all the Ferraris were also intermediate, but they hesitated, staying on track for too long and losing their position with respect to their Mexican rival. First negative hit.
from bad to worse
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And then it went even worse when the reds came back for their dry tire change together, with Leclerc being called back to the pits and as he was returning he was told to stay out because Sainz was on the pitch. Charles’s frightening swear by radio and clear evidence of the confusion in the Ferrari pits in the management of that decisive moment. Red Bull, on the other hand, recalled Verstappen in the correct moment and thus also managed to snatch third place from Leclerc. Complete mess. After those pit stops Perez found the first position served on a silver platter ahead of Sainz, Verstappen and Leclerc. The fate of the race was sealed.
fear for mick
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Otherwise it was a race heavily conditioned by the rain, which forced the race direction to a delayed start behind the Safety Car. Moments of great fear in the middle of the race when Mick Schumacher’s Haas was shot in two, luckily at the rear. The German came out safe and sound on his legs and the race was further neutralized, so much so that the 78 laps were not completed and he closed on lap 64 for the race time limit. Fifth was an excellent George Russell with Mercedes ahead of Lando Norris with McLaren, Fernando Alonso with Alpine and Lewis Hamilton with second Mercedes. Ninth Valteri Bottas with Alfa Romeo. In two weeks back on track in Azerbaijan.
May 29, 2022 (change May 29, 2022 | 19:18)
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