Team by team review of the Monaco Grand Prix

MONACO : Team by team review of Sunday’s Monaco Formula One Grand Prix, round eight of the 24-race season.

RED BULL (Max Verstappen 6, Sergio Perez retired)

Verstappen started and finished sixth, after struggling in qualifying, with his championship lead over Ferrari’s Leclerc cut to 31 points. He started on the hard tyre, changed to mediums at the red flag and then pitted for hards on lap 52 without losing position. Perez crashed with the two Haas drivers on lap one, ending his race and bringing out red flags.

FERRARI (Charles Leclerc 1, Carlos Sainz 3)

Leclerc started from pole, Ferrari’s 250th, and led from lights to flag to end his Monaco jinx and become the first home winner since Louis Chiron in pre-championship 1931. The win was the sixth of his career and he was only the third Ferrari driver to win in Monaco this century. Sainz started and finished third, saved by the red flags after suffering a puncture in a first corner clash with Piastri but being allowed to re-start in third. Ferrari are now 24 points behind Red Bull.

MCLAREN (Oscar Piastri 2, Lando Norris 4)

Piastri, racing in the team’s special tribute livery to late Brazilian great Ayrton Senna, equalled his best finish so far in a full Formula One grand prix. Both he and Norris started on medium tyres and then switched to used hards.

MERCEDES (George Russell 5, Lewis Hamilton 7)

Both drivers started on the hard compound with those ahead on mediums, the Mercedes pair aiming to run long, but the red flags wrecked that strategy. Russell then did 77 laps on mediums while Hamilton pitted to go back onto hards on lap 51, without losing position. Hamilton set the fastest lap.

ASTON MARTIN (Fernando Alonso 11, Lance Stroll 14)

Stroll was the only driver to make two pitstops, necessary because of a puncture he collected after hitting the barriers. Alonso started on hards and then took a set of used mediums to the finish.

RB (Yuki Tsunoda 8, Daniel Ricciardo 12)

Tsunoda scored points for the third race in a row, and fifth time in eight. Ricciardo was simply stuck in traffic. RB are now 20 points behind Aston Martin.

HAAS (Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg retired)

Both drivers started at the back of the grid after having their qualifying times deleted because their car failed a rear wing test. Magnussen then collided with Perez, collecting Hulkenberg as well in a crash that halted the race and sent debris all over the track. Stewards decided to take no further action, a relief for Magnussen who is on the cusp of a ban.

WILLIAMS (Alex Albon 9, Logan Sargeant 15)

Albon scored Williams’ first points of the season, lifting them above Alpine on placings although level on points. Sargeant was the only driver to keep the same set of tyres for the second start that he had used for the first, pitting on lap 57 to switch from hards to mediums.

ALPINE (Pierre Gasly 10, Esteban Ocon retired)

Gasly doubled the team’s points haul for the season after a collision with Ocon that the latter was blamed for by stewards. Ocon’s penalty for causing the collision was translated into a five place grid drop for Canada.

SAUBER (Valtteri Bottas 13, Guanyu Zhou 16)

Both drivers started from the penultimate row. Sauber are now the only team yet to score a point. Zhou was stuck behind Sargeant before swapping position with Bottas. He then pitted late on for softs hoping for a late safety car that never happened.