Monaco GP : Charles wins home race
Charles wins his maiden F1 home race in Monaco. Oscar followed him in P2 and Carlos P3
King Charles of Monaco
Finally the curse is broken. Charles LeClerc manages to win the home race of Monaco for the first time in his career. This was his third attempt starting from Pole and it was all nerves and jitters for everyone. Yet he managed it in as calm as fashion as possible. Overall it was a boring race with hardly any overtakes happening. Monaco is a narrow street circuit and modern F1 cars are very wide. Barring one overtake from Bottas it was more of a race of tyre management than of going fast and overtaking other cars. Charles and Ferrari were overjoyed with the win at Monaco. He got a big big hug from the teary eyed Prince Philip.
The Monaco race actually started with a bang – literally. First Carlos and Oscar touch each other at turn 1 and Carlos got a puncture. This pretty much meant race over for him. But the heavenly bodies had other plans for him. In the back there was a massive collision as Magnussen tried to go past Sergio Perez and also took Hulkenburg down with him. Red flag happened and the Ferrari team were not only able to fix his car, he got to keep his P3 position as one lap was not done by then. Carlos must be thanking his stars for the second life.
First Podium of 2024 for Oscar
Oscar has been in very good touch but the past results unfortunately do not reflect so. The McLaren has been working well but he was overshadowed by Lando, especially in Miami, as Lando won the race and Oscar was way back the grid due to an accident. That was not the case today. Oscar started P2 and maintained his position throughout the race. In the end he was a bit slow as compared to Charles but it did not matter much. He got the Silver. Meanwhile Lando will have to be satisfied with the P4 as there was hardly any overtaking opportunity. He should still be positive and look forward to the next races. While Red Bull and Max Verstappen are clearly ahead, the 2024 season is long and anything can happen in the future.
A weekend to forget for Red Bull
Red Bull knew that the street circuits do not suit them and Monaco exposed their weakness. Sergio Perez could not get beyond Q1 and crashed in just 500m from the race start. Even Max Verstappen started from P6 and could not do much from there despite having a faster car at times. Still there are quite dominant on normal race tracks. They should be vary though as the development gap is reducing and Red Bull cannot take things that easy.
Mercedes have a slew of upgrades planned but they are still far from McLaren and Ferrari. George finished P5 and Hamilton P7. Yuki Tsunoda got a brilliant P8, Albon got P9 and Gasly finished P10. Some much needed points for Williams and Alpine.
Monaco GP Top 10 : Charles wins home race
