2024 Monaco GP Roundup
Formula 1
Leclerc scores a breakthrough win at his home race, while Verstappen languishes in 6th. Do we have a championship battle on our hands?
The Prince of Monaco What a year 2024 has been. Firstly, a rare Verstappen DNF, a Lando Norris win, and now the end of the Leclerc Monaco curse. Charles Leclerc has been crowned the winner of his home Monaco Grand Prix for the first time, marking an end to his horrific history of racing at the circuit.
The young Monegasque driver has struggled to secure a victory at his home circuit since 2017 in his F2 days and has been at the mercy of a series of unfortunate events ever since. This curse came to an end in Monaco thanks to a very early red flag which allowed teams to make their mandatory one pitstop per race and hold position, virtually guaranteeing Leclerc the victory from the second lap after he started on pole.
The first lap (or part lap) at Monaco is always chaos due to the circuit’ narrow walls with no runoff space, combined with cars that take up nearly the width of the track. The red flag was brought out after Haas Driver Kevin Magnussen sought to overtake around the outside of Sergio Perez’ Red Bull up the Monaco hill, ultimately making contacting in a violent spin out that took the other Haas drive, Nico Hulkenberg, out of the race as well. Magnussen’s audacious challenge has been worthy of a race ban by many F1 fanatics, claiming that his dangerous driving for the last few Grand Prix (especially in Miami!) will require a stronger punishment, however the FIA governing body are yet to ban the Danish driver. On the same lap, battling between Alpine drivers saw an unexpected overtake attempt from Esteban Ocon on Pierre Gasly, which the Alpine team have rumoured will result in severe punishment.
All in all at the 81st Monaco Grand Prix, Leclerc takes victory, Oscar Piastri-Leclerc takes second followed by Carlos Sainz. Championship leader Max Verstappen remained in 6th at the end of the race, his teammate Sergio Perez having an unfortunate and costly DNF, which will undoubtedly affect Red Bull’s budget cap for the 2024 season.
By the looks of it, we may a championship battle on our hands…