Leclerc clinches long-awaited home win in Monaco

By Stephen Smith

Charles Leclerc won the Monaco Grand Prix for the first time, driving calmly in front of his home fans despite some early drama. The race had a chaotic start with a big crash involving Sergio Perez, Kevin Magnussen, and Nico Hulkenberg, which led to a stoppage right at the beginning.

When the race restarted, Leclerc got off to a good start and kept his lead. Esteban Ocon had to retire after colliding with his teammate Pierre Gasly on the first lap. The rest of the race was about strategy, with everyone watching to see if the leaders would pit or finish without stopping.

Throughout it all, Leclerc stayed calm and focused, staying ahead of his competitors to win the race in Monte Carlo. This victory was his first at this famous street circuit, bettering his previous best finish of fourth place.

In the world of sports betting, many fans and analysts had their eyes on Leclerc as a strong contender, especially given his pole position in qualifying. His composed performance throughout the race demonstrated why betting on him to win was a popular choice among enthusiasts and experts alike. As he crossed the finish line, those who placed their bets on sports online on Leclerc celebrated his triumph, while others reflected on the strategic elements that played out on the track, influencing the outcomes and odds in the betting markets.

Leclerc finished the race seven seconds ahead of Oscar Piastri, who drove confidently for McLaren and successfully held off Carlos Sainz’s late challenge, securing third place and making it a double podium for Ferrari. Lando Norris, in the second McLaren, finished in fourth after chasing Sainz throughout the final stages.

George Russell, with upgraded front wing, came in fifth as the top Mercedes driver, fending off Max Verstappen’s determined efforts amid a tough period for Red Bull. Lewis Hamilton followed closely behind in seventh place, contributing to Mercedes’ overall points.

Yuki Tsunoda had a strong performance, finishing eighth for Red Bull, while Alex Albon and Pierre Gasly earned their first points of the season for Williams and Alpine respectively, ending in ninth and tenth places.

Fernando Alonso, recovering from a challenging Saturday, narrowly missed out on points, finishing in eleventh place for Aston Martin, ahead of Daniel Ricciardo in twelfth for Red Bull and Valtteri Bottas as the highest-placed Kick Sauber driver in thirteenth.

Lance Stroll finished the race disappointedly in 14th place for Aston Martin after a puncture during a pit stop in the latter part of the race, while Williams’ Logan Sargeant came in 15th.

Zhou Guanyu finished as the last classified driver in 16th place for Kick Sauber, with four cars unable to continue beyond the first lap.

Esteban Ocon retired due to his collision with Pierre Gasly, which also resulted in a five-place grid penalty for the next race in Canada.

Sergio Perez, Kevin Magnussen, and Nico Hulkenberg were the other retirees after their dramatic crash on the opening lap of the race.

After an exciting hour of qualifying on Saturday, where we saw some surprising early exits and a fantastic lap from local favorite Leclerc to claim pole position, everyone was looking forward to Sunday’s race at the Circuit de Monaco.

Right after qualifying, there was some last-minute excitement when they found out both Haas cars got disqualified because their rear wings didn’t follow the rules. This meant they had to start the Grand Prix from the very back of the pack.

On race day, as the cars lined up on the grid and the warm, sunny weather set in, it was clear there was a split strategy regarding which tires to use. Some teams, like Red Bull, chose the hard C3 tires, while others, including Ferrari, went with the medium C4 tires for the expected one-stop race.

When the race started, Leclerc had a perfect start from first place, but there was drama later when Piastri and Sainz made slight contact at Sainte Devote, causing Leclerc to get a puncture and go straight on at Casino.

More drama unfolded elsewhere on the track when cameras showed Perez’s Red Bull badly damaged, and the two Haas cars stopped on the track. The race had to be stopped with red flags because Magnussen touched Perez, causing him to spin across the track and crash into Hulkenberg.

Luckily, everyone involved in the crashes was okay, and the cars that were left went back to the pit lane to wait for the race to start again. Sainz managed to restart his SF-24, but during Lap 1, there was another big crash between the two Alpine cars that was shown in more replays.

“What was he thinking?” Gasly shouted angrily over the team radio after Ocon tried to pass through Portier and ended up making him bounce into the air.

Once everything calmed down, the teams and drivers waited for Race Control to give them more information while repairs were made to the barriers that got damaged. When they got an update, they found out that the race would restart with the same order it was in when Perez and the Haas cars crashed. That meant Sainz would get his third place back.

There were still questions about how the stop would change the race strategy, like if teams would change their tires. People were also wondering if the break gave enough time to fix any damage on cars like Piastri, Sainz, and the Alpines.

They said the race would start again at 3:44 PM local time with 76 laps left. Soon, it was clear most drivers had used the break to switch to new tires, hoping they would last until the end of the race.

When the Grand Prix started again, Ocon couldn’t continue because his car was too damaged from the crash with Gasly. The other 16 cars got going again without any more big problems, with Leclerc still in the lead ahead of Piastri, Sainz, and Norris.

Russell wanted to keep up with Norris as the race settled down. His Mercedes engineer told him not to worry about staying so close to the McLaren, but Russell said he felt this was his “best chance.”

The officials said Ocon got a time penalty for hitting Gasly, even though Ocon’s race was already over and Gasly was in 10th place. Ocon will start five places back in the next race in Canada because of this penalty.

By Lap 10, Piastri was driving the fastest laps and staying close to Leclerc at the front, with Sainz right behind him in third. Russell dropped back a bit to save his medium tires, and Verstappen, who also had the C4 tires, was in sixth.

A few laps later, the gap between the cars at the front got smaller because Leclerc didn’t want to pull away too much. In another part of the race, Bottas went to the pits on Lap 16 to change from medium tires to hard tires, and then he quickly drove the fastest lap.

As the race restarted, Ocon couldn’t continue because his car was too damaged from crashing with Gasly earlier. The other 16 cars got going again without any big problems. Leclerc was still in front, followed closely by Piastri, Sainz, and Norris.

Sainz was worried Piastri might try to overtake him. Further back in the top 10, Tsunoda, Albon, and Gasly were all racing hard for points in eighth, ninth, and tenth places.

By Lap 23, the top four cars were all using hard tires and were speeding up, leaving Russell in fifth place behind them. Leclerc had a lead of more than one second over Piastri, and Sainz was two seconds behind in third.

Elsewhere in the race, Alonso was leading a group of cars from P12 to Bottas in P16. Alonso had moved up a few places at the start after a tough qualifying on Saturday, but he was having a hard time staying ahead in the middle of the race.

Norris, who was still close to Sainz in fourth, told his team about problems with the front left tire around Lap 29. He wondered if McLaren should pit him soon to change tires.

Tire problems were affecting many drivers, including Sainz and the teams from Mercedes and Aston Martin. Strategy was becoming more important as the race went on.

On Lap 34, Sainz asked his team if Norris might try using soft tires if he got a 20-second lead. Soft tires are faster but don’t last as long, so Sainz was worried if Norris switched, it could make things tricky for him.

With Norris 17 seconds behind Russell in fifth place halfway through the race, Leclerc slowed down a bit to stop Norris from having a chance to pit.

Aston Martin was also trying different strategies. Alonso was keeping Stroll in P11 ahead of Gasly in P10, trying to get points.

The leaders started to catch up to slower cars, starting with Bottas in 17th place. Bottas had pitted early, so he was driving the fastest laps.

Stroll was the next driver to pit, on Lap 44. Alonso’s help meant he came out still in 11th place, with a 20-second gap to Gasly ahead fighting for points.

The gap between Russell and the leaders was an important part of the strategy.

By Lap 48, Leclerc was less than two seconds ahead of Piastri. Leclerc sounded calm on the radio and asked his team if they wanted to know how much faster he could go. They said no, which Leclerc thought was rude.

There was more drama on Lap 50 when Stroll said he had a flat tire after hitting the barriers, even though he had just pitted. He got back to the pits and changed to soft tires. The flat tire rolled away near the pit lane.

Then a lot happened in the pits. Hamilton stopped on Lap 52 from P7 for used hard tires. He stayed in the same place because he had enough of a lead over Tsunoda in P8. Verstappen did the same thing on the next lap, also from P6 and also on his starting hard tires. He got back on track in the same place.

Bottas passed Sargeant in 13th place through Mirabeau. Russell pitted and was in sixth place, which meant he would drop behind Hamilton and Verstappen.

Verstappen kept catching up to Russell. Russell was driving carefully with his tires earlier, which helped him stay ahead of Verstappen. Norris was still close behind Sainz in fourth place.

Sargeant said he hit the wall, but his car was okay in P15. Piastri was slower than Leclerc at the front, so Sainz was getting closer to him.

Leclerc said he would “bring it home” while Piastri, Sainz, and Norris were all driving close together in the fight for second. But Sainz couldn’t get past Piastri, and they all finished in the same places when Leclerc crossed the finish line for his first win at home.

Further back, Russell stayed ahead of Verstappen and Hamilton for P5, P6, and P7. Tsunoda got more points in P8, and Albon and Gasly both got points for the first time this season in ninth and tenth. Williams got their first points of the year from Albon and Gasly. Alonso didn’t get points in 11th place for Aston Martin.

Ricciardo and Bottas didn’t get points in 12th and 13th places, and Stroll got 14th place after fighting back after his tire problem.

Sargeant was in P15 for Williams, and Zhou was last of the drivers who finished the race in P16. Ocon, Perez, Hulkenberg, and Magnussen didn’t finish after their crash on the first lap.