Verstappen Leads From The Front In The Rain In Monaco

THE MONACO GRAND PRIX: SUNDAY 28th MAY 2023

• 1. Max Verstappen
• 2. Fernando Alonso
• 3. Esteban Ocon
• 4. Lewis Hamilton
• 5. George Russell
• 6. Charles Leclerc
• 7. Pierre Gasly
• 8. Carlos Sainz Jr
• 9. Lando Norris
• 10. Oscar Piastri

'It's all about how much risk you want to take here' - (Lando Norris)

Max is unstoppable at the moment

Max Verstappen prevailed admirably in a mostly one-sided F1 Monaco Grand Prix despite the weather and Fernando Alonso's looming threat.

Verstappen, who narrowly edged Alonso for the pole position by 0.084 seconds, maintained his composure in the slick conditions to lead Sunday's 78-lap race and earn his fourth victory of the year.

Esteban Ocon of Alpine came in third, giving the Frenchman his third career podium, finishing 27.9 seconds behind the Red Bull driver. George Russell and Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes took advantage of the weather to cross the finish line in fourth and fifth place, respectively.

After crashing out of qualifying, Mexican driver Sergio Perez began last and finished 16th after a poor race that required five pit stops. Verstappen increased his lead in the standings from 14 to 39 points after six rounds of 22, as Perez was unable to earn any points on the board.

In order to spice up dreary races, Bernie Ecclestone once had the brilliant notion to install sprinkler systems to Formula One venues all around the world. You could have been excused for believing Eccelstone's plan was a brilliant one for around 50 laps of this Monaco Grand Prix as the vehicles circled one another in a recognisable Principality procession. George Russell of Mercedes described the race as "exceptionally boring." and he was competing as a driver in the race.

Then, as everyone was about to discuss for the umpteenth time whether Monaco deserved to be on the F1 schedule, the skies suddenly opened. As the cars slid this way and that during the final 25 laps, the drivers' handling abilities and nerves were put to the test, and the teams' strategists were put to task to work out the best solution and achieve the highest standings in the race for their team.

The only unexpected thing was that there was only one DNF (did not finish), no safety car, and no red flags. Because it appeared for a time that all hell was about to burst loose.

Fernando Alonso of Aston Martin, who was running in second place, took a chance by swapping to a second set of dry tyres in the hopes that the rain would stop and he would be able to catch race leader Max Verstappen. No, he didn't. Once more, the Spaniard had to halt for a set of intermediates. Later, he rejected claims that failing to instantly switch to inters cost him the victory.

When Russell slipped off the course, he undoubtedly lost third place. As he re-entered the race, he collides with Sergio Perez in the second Red Bull. Perez may have been upset, but it didn't really matter because he was still running at the back of the pack after crashing out of qualifying on Saturday's opening corner. The Mexican's dismal weekend came to an end when his teammate passed him again a few laps before the finish line.

When George Russell makes contact with Sergio Perez, he incurs a 5-second penalty for an unsafe rejoining of the track.

They are all still miles behind Red Bull, of course in the standings and especially Verstappen. The two-time world champion, who set a record-breaking lap on Saturday to win pole, occasionally rode his luck. On Sunday, the rain started to fall, and he definitely should have come in a lap earlier. He almost paid the price as he lost some time on his in-lap. A few laps before the finish line, he also made a rather severe wall clip. However, he had earned some good fortune by building a significant lead over everyone except Alonso, and he handled the late drama with ease.

Verstappen extended his advantage over Perez in the drivers' standings to 39 points after winning the Monaco GP over two gruelling hours from which the drivers emerged with their eyes out on stalks. Perez finished with zero points. As a result, Red Bull maintained their season-long streak of dominating every grand prix.