With the opening of the Monaco Grand Prix under heavy rain, Formula 1 had to deal with the weather, but the downpour eventually left Ferrari brutally exposed. Sergio Pérez’s victory for Red Bull was a blow to the team, the lack of tactical decisions in times of tension cost them the victory.
This was potentially a crucial moment in a fiercely contested championship and Ferrari was missed, so much so that its title contender Charles Leclerc was left screaming in frustration.
Pérez won, with a good ball from Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz in second place, and his teammate Charles Leclerc, who had left the pole, was only fourth behind his title rival Max Verstappen.
Mercedes struggled, with Lewis Hamilton and George Russell making little progress from their starting positions, finishing fifth and eighth, respectively, and Hamilton critical of the FIA for the time lag before running out.
Leclerc, who is with Verstappen this season, was more than aware of how expensive those moments could be in the title fight.
“We can’t do this, we can’t do this,” an abandoned Leclerc told his radio, his GP, his team. It was perfect: not turning a front row lock and a pace advantage is inexcusable against such a competitive Red Bull team.
Leclerc had a 46-point lead after the third round in Australia. Verstappen countered with three straight victories, including when his opponent retired due to a mechanical problem while leading the last round in Spain, and now enjoys a nine-point advantage.
The Monegasque rider, a fair and calm young man, was unusually critical of his team, knowing he had to seize every opportunity this season. “Disappointment is not the word,” he said. “Some mistakes can happen, but today there have been too many mistakes. We can’t do that, especially in the moment we are in now, when we are extremely strong. We have to take advantage of these opportunities, and it’s not even from first to second, it’s from first to fourth, because after the first mistake we made another one “.
They were two mistakes as he identified, small but with the margins in front of the field so small that they made a difference. After a delay of more than an hour at the start of the race due to heavy rain, Leclerc held all the cards. He led from the pole and was in control.
However, as the track dried up, Red Bull acted quickly and bravely. Perez took the intermediate, but Ferrari only faced Leclerc twice later, twice too late. Pérez made some very quick turns on his new tire and made the undercarriage work. When Leclerc emerged he was behind the Mexican.
Charles Leclerc in his car during the chaotic pit stop. Photography: Christian Bruna / AP
After indecision in chaos. Sainz was left out, and Ferrari took the opportunity to stay in place long enough to switch to full slicks. Then they threw him out, but at the same time they called Leclerc to the pits, and then they told him it was too late to stay out, but too late. Leclerc was doubled by his teammate, losing even more time. He came out fourth behind Verstappen and left shouting his frustration on the radio.
Leclerc has not been in a title fight with Ferrari, but will be aware that his challenge against Mercedes in 2017 and 2018 fell with a combination of driver and team errors. His assessment in Monaco was compelling.
“I think the first one was a very clear and very wrong decision, and from that moment on the mess started. I don’t know if it’s panic, I don’t know, “he said.
Leclerc will not be comforted by ending his curse of never having finished a career here in five previous attempts, but it looks like Monaco is also becoming a kind of monkey behind the Scuderia.
The last team to fail to turn a front-row lock into a win in Monaco was Ferrari in 2016. In fact, their record here this century is shocking, with only one win since Michael Schumacher’s in 2001.
They protested Verstappen’s exit from the pit lane in front of Leclerc, believing he had crossed the pit lane exit line to do so. It was not investigated during the race but both Verstappen and Pérez were later summoned to the commissioners for the alleged crime. However, Mattia Binotto made a disastrous appearance.
“We were wrong and I take the blame and the responsibility,” he said. “It simply came to our notice then. But overall it has been a difficult race. “
For Pérez, it was the comeback that he required, dissatisfied with the order to go through Verstappen in the last round in Spain and to have fallen in the classification on Saturday. The Mexican cried on the podium with his first victory in Monaco.
Once Red Bull staged the coup, he acted confidently after another delay when Schumacher had a great diversion into the pool.
When the race restarted, the four strikers closed out as they turned the cars on the final laps and were left nose to tail in a tense, near-death race.
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Under great pressure, Pérez held his nerves with precision to seal a victory that he will treasure.
Ferrari, however, was left wondering how they had let him and Leclerc, on the short way home, to reflect on what might have been. “I love my team and I’m sure I’ll come back stronger, but it hurts a lot,” he said.
Lando Norris was sixth for McLaren, Fernando Alonso seventh for Alpine. Valtteri Bottas was ninth for Alfa Romeo and Sebastian Vettel 10th for Aston Martin.