Monaco Grand Prix: Hometown hero Charles Leclerc emerges victorious

Formula One returned to the historic streets of Monaco for the 81st edition of the Monaco Grand Prix. The Monaco Grand Prix, one of three races which make up The Triple Crown of Motorsport, along with the 24 Hours of Le Mans and Indianapolis 500, has been a permanent fixture on the Formula One calendar since the beginning of the competition in 1950. This weekend, the sport’s return to the track was filled with action.

Qualifying saw a mixed set of results; current Championship leaders Red Bull, with their drivers Max Verstappen and Sergio Pérez, found themselves consistently off the pace, including in the practice sessions over the weekend. Verstappen and Pérez did not top the timesheets in any free practice sessions despite Verstappen showing pace in certain areas of the track. Ultimately, Pérez found himself eliminated in Q1, while Verstappen, the reigning world champion and current Championship leader, could do no better than qualifying in 6th.

As Red Bull struggled this weekend, Ferrari and McLaren continued their good run of form thanks to their recent upgrades brought in at Imola and Miami respectively. Additionally, Monaco was also the backdrop to a slight resurgence in form for the Mercedes, who seemed quick but were unable to match the pace put forward by Ferrari and McLaren. At the end of qualifying, the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz were split between the McLarens of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris; Leclerc and Piastri shared the front row, with the Ferrari on pole, while Sainz and Norris occupied the second row of the grid.

While qualifying saw highs for some, others were not so successful; Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso had another poor session where he was not able to progress into Q2.

While it is widely known that qualifying is perhaps the most important part of any weekend in Monaco, as overtaking on the track is virtually impossible, there were indeed moments of interest within the race itself

Not all the qualifying action took place on the track. After the session had concluded on Saturday, it had been announced that both Haas cars had been disqualified after failing technical checks set in place by the FIA which were related to their rear-wings. As a result of this, Nico Hülkenberg dropped from 12th to 19th, and Kevin Magnussen followed suit, moving from 15th to 20th.

While it is widely known that qualifying is perhaps the most important part of any weekend in Monaco, as overtaking on the track is virtually impossible, there were indeed moments of interest within the race itself. Sunday’s opening lap saw three incidents occur – the absolute worst of which being a three-way collision between Pérez, Hülkenberg, and Magnussen which saw all drivers involved forced to retire from the race.

Additionally, tensions between the two French drivers at Alpine continued to worsen as contact between Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly signalled the end of Ocon’s Sunday due to damage to his chassis. Finally, contact between Piastri and Sainz saw the latter leaving the track with a puncture; however, the damage to both cars was minimal and both returned to their original track positions when the standing start occurred at the end of the red flag. All three incidents were reported to the stewards; however, only Ocon was penalised for the contact with his teammate – he will carry a five-place grid penalty at the next Grand Prix.

Without a doubt, the man of the weekend was hometown hero, Charles Leclerc

The weekend was not without its successes as Alex Albon crossed the line in 9th place to score Williams their first points of the season; as a result of this, Sauber have now become the only team on the grid to have not scored points so far in the season. Additionally, despite the early collision with his teammate, Pierre Gasly continued Alpine’s development by finishing in the final points position – taking his first point of the season. Finally, a nod goes to RB’s Yuki Tsunoda who had a quick and clean weekend in the Principality and brought home another few points for the team.

Without a doubt, the man of the weekend was hometown hero, Charles Leclerc. Nicknamed both Il Predestinato by the adoring Tifosi, and the Prince of Monaco by the citizens of Monaco, Leclerc displayed consistency throughout the weekend. From the first free practice session on Friday, in which he topped the timesheets, to his qualifying laps which put him clearly ahead of his rivals, Leclerc ended his run of unsuccessful performances at his home race in style this weekend by ending the day on the top step of the podium for the first time since Austria 2022. Just falling shy of a Grand Slam, as Lewis Hamilton took the fastest lap of the Grand Prix, Charles Leclerc demonstrated a dominant performance on the streets of Monaco.

Looking ahead to the next race in Canada, all eyes will be on the Red Bull team to see how they, as the current Championship leaders, react to their forgettable performance in Monaco, as well as on Ferrari and McLaren to see if they can continue to take the fight to Red Bull with their upgraded cars.