Formula 1: Max Verstappen had rain as his only major rival in a Monaco Grand Prix that left a lot to be desired

Still Max Verstappen. The current two-time world champion won this Sunday the Monaco Grand Prix In a race that gave emotions that were anything but great and has further strengthened its leadership in the Formula 1 World Championship. For the fourth time this season, the Dutchman’s Red Bull climbed to the top step of the podium. The Spanish veteran escorted him Fernando Alonsowho finished second and did not fight for the win due to a bad strategic decision by Aston Martin and the surprising Frenchman Esteban Ocon who finished third with his Alpine.

In the general standings, Verstappen is even more leader, ahead of his teammate, the Mexican Sergio Perezwho had won on the streets of Monaco in 2022 and completed a weekend to forget with a track start on Saturday that put him at the back of the field this Sunday, in which he had to pit five times.

The Mexican was sixteenth in the race and managed to hold on to his second place overall, although Alonso in third is close to 12. As for Verstappen, Pérez is 39 points behind, when he had 14 points behind Monaco.

The Red Bull star, who had started from pole position, controlled his rivals perfectly, always maintaining first position and with only the rain, which was invited to the party in the last third of the race as a setback.

“We didn’t really know what could happen. We had to keep calm and ride in all conditions,” he said. Crazy Maximus after crossing the finish line on that external element, which did not prevent him from winning this 80th Monaco Grand Prix.

His victory deprived Fernando Alonso of getting on the top step of the podium, who started the race second and who also maintained that position on the street circuit of the Mediterranean microstate, where the narrowness of the courses makes overtaking difficult.

Alonso took second place despite his team’s poor strategy in the face of weather difficulties. The 41-year-old Asturian driver was first called into the pits to fit his car with medium tires… before being called a lap later to fit intermediate wheels, more suited to a wet track. “It was difficult. We had to work with the strategy. Max lapped very well with the average (in the first part of the race) and then the rain came. This complicated things and it wasn’t easy to drive in those conditions” admitted Alonso .

In a setting full of ‘glamour’, as usual in the place with the yachts moored in the port in the background, Monaco experienced an emblematic Grand Prix, on the calendar since 1955, and where the Frenchman Ocon, from the neighboring country, was the surprise and scored the third podium finish of his Formula 1 career. “What a fantastic weekend! We improved the car throughout the weekend,” savored Ocon.

Among the spectators, a large handful of stars, including the Brazilian footballer of PSG Neymar or the British actor Tom Holland, who showed the checkered flag.

Monegasque fans were unable to celebrate a local idol’s success, charles leclerc (Ferrari), who was sixth, behind the Mercedes of the Briton Lewis Hamilton AND George Russell.

Leclerc, who had finished third in Saturday’s qualifying, eventually exited sixth due to a three-place grid penalty for upending the McLaren of Briton Lando Norris, ninth this Sunday, while the other Ferrari, the Spaniard Carlos Sainz Jr, had to settle for eighth place.

Formula 1 continues its season next weekend with the Spanish Grand Prix at the Montmeló circuit on the outskirts of Barcelona.

Source: AFP