MONTE CARLO, Monaco — Rain delays, power outages, bizarre on-track incidents and a first-time race winner marked Sunday’s Monaco Grand Prix.
After rain delayed the start of the race by more than an hour, Red Bull driver Sergio Perez took control and dominated the second half of the event, beating Ferrari man Carlos Sainz Jr. to the checkered flag by 1.154 seconds.
“It was really hard for me to think straight after the race, I was full of adrenaline and so much energy going through the race,” Perez said. “Once I heard my national anthem on the podium here it hit me, it is a dream come true for any driver in the world to tick that box in Monaco and I can just be extremely happy. We were quick all weekend, we kept our heads down and knew today with the right strategy we could make things happen. This win was for my mum and all my family, she was very sick last week so I had very good motivation going into this race to get her a victory. It’s been an incredible day, I am super happy for the whole team and I hope my country are proud too. You don’t win Monaco many times in your life so the first one is very special.”
Reigning world champion Max Verstappen extended his point lead with a third-place finish in the other Red Bull entry, while polesitter Charles Leclerc brought the second Ferrari home in fourth.
Rain saw the start delayed, drivers completed one lap, heading back to the pits as a red flag was called. Drivers returned to their cars after a delay and participated in rolling race start behind the Safety Car on wet tires. The Safety Car pulled in for lap three of 77 and Leclerc led away with Sainz, Perez and Verstappen in tow.
The frontrunners swapped to intermediate tires, with Perez coming in first on lap 17, Leclerc and Verstappen following two laps later, while Sainz skipped straight to hard tires with a switch on lap 21. Leclerc also pitted.
Red Bull followed one lap later and pulled off an overcut when both drivers pitted, making the running order Perez, Sainz, Verstappen and Leclerc.
Perez held his lead, but as his medium tires wore during the closing stages of the race, Sainz and Verstappen closed the gap, but not close enough to keep Perez from his first victory in Monaco and his third career Formula 1 triumph.
George Russell finished fifth for Mercedes, with McLaren’s Lando Norris sixth and Fernando Alonso seventh for Alpine. Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton came home eighth in the second Mercedes.
Neither Haas F1 driver finished the race. Mick Schumacher spun and crashed spectacularly at Swimming Pool on lap 27, bringing out another red flag on lap 30. He walked away, the gearbox and rear suspension having detached from his Haas.