Yahoo Autos How Sergio Perez Defied Rain and Ferrari to Win the F1 Monaco Grand Prix
Charles Leclerc was in control of the Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix until Ferrari’s strategic blunders left him outside of the podium positions and enabled Sergio Perez to pick up his first victory of the season and third career F1 triumph.
Autoweek breaks it down:
Ferrari Throws It Away
Not since 2008 has a team locked out the front row in Monaco and failed to come away with victory. Back then it was Ferrari. In 2022 it was again Ferrari—and it was the home hero who copped the biggest blow.
Leclerc led away in wet conditions—following a torturous 65-minute rain delay to the race start —and opened a comfortable buffer to his rivals, but Ferrari’s hand was forced when third-placed Sergio Perez pitted to exchange his wets for intermediates. Ferrari brought in leader Leclerc two laps later for the same tire change but such was Perez’s out-lap pace that the Mexican driver jumped clear.
The track then began to dry to the extent that slicks were the better option. Ferrari responded by first bringing in new leader Carlos Sainz, who opted to skip the intermediate stint, but blundered after telling Leclerc to pit, then informing him to stay out, by which time it was too late.
That prompted an irate reaction on the radio, with Leclerc yelling “Why!?” as he lost vital seconds in the pit lane behind his team-mate. Red Bull brought in their two drivers a lap later, allowing Perez to leapfrog Sainz for the lead, while Verstappen emerged narrowly in front of Leclerc to gain a position.
That remained the order throughout the remainder of the shortened race—down to 64 laps from 78—with Leclerc justifiably frustrated by fourth.
“In those conditions you rely a little bit on what the team can see,” he said. “I've been asked questions (about) whether I wanted to go from the wet to the slicks, and I said yes, but not now, later on in the race. I don't understand what made us change our mind and go on the intermediates. We got undercut and I stopped behind Carlos. I mean, there's been a lot of mistakes and we cannot afford to do that. It's hard, as it's been the other years here, so I'm getting used to getting back home disappointed.”
Expanding further on the situation Leclerc said: “I think the first [pit stop] was a very clear decision, and a very wrong one, and from that moment onward the mess started. I don't know if it's panic, I don't know, I obviously don't hear all the background in the team. This is not up to me to judge. The last message that I had wasn't clear, because I was told to stay out, but I was already in the pit lane, and that's where I basically let it all out on the radio and screamed, because I knew I was done."
Not only was Leclerc robbed of victory but it cost him crucial points in the championship. In the space of seven days Leclerc has had a potential 50 points turned into just 12 by matters out of his control.
“Freaking disaster today,” said Leclerc, who conceded he had to go and calm down during the red flag period caused by Mick Schumacher’s accident.
Perez Solidifies Case as Title Contender
The narrative so far in 2022 has been about Verstappen versus Leclerc. That’s not entirely surprising given that up until Sunday afternoon the pair had shared victories between them this season.
But with his third career victory Perez laid down his cards as an outsider in the fight. Perez was fortunate that Ferrari floundered under pressure but it was he who put them into that predicament with a couple of rapid laps on the intermediate tires. Perez had been the stronger Red Bull driver throughout the course of the weekend and didn’t err when under pressure in the closing stages from his pursuing rivals. It means he is now just six points behind Leclerc and only 15 down on Verstappen.
“It was quite obvious at the time that the track was ready for slicks, especially with the wets already overheated, but it wasn’t clear for me if we could keep going and do like Carlos did, going straight into the slick,” he said. “I think it was just a great combination, you know, the team was telling me what to do, how to get the maximum out of today's result. And we managed to make it work. It sounds easy. But in these conditions, pushing but not making mistakes, and not putting a foot wrong is never easy to achieve in Monaco.”
Sainz Left to Rue What Might Have Been
While focus understandably rested upon Leclerc’s disaster, his Ferrari team-mate also lost a golden chance of victory. Sainz ignored Ferrari’s call and instead opted to extend his stint on full wet tires, inheriting the lead after bypassing the intermediate stage, before switching to slicks. He came out in second, behind the inter-shod Perez, but was jumped by the Mexican when he joined him on slicks a lap later. Sainz was clear on where the race for him was lost.
“It is bittersweet especially because I was leading the race before the pit stop,” said Sainz. “And after the pitstop I had a terrible out lap behind a lapped car, cost me a couple of seconds of race time that was enough for Checo to jump me. The race win was there but unfortunately these things happen around Monaco. Today was my turn to get a bit unlucky and then I tried everything I could to get past but around here with these wide cars is tricky.”
It meant Sainz finished runner-up in Monaco for a second successive season and his chase for a maiden win—having now taken 10 podiums—goes on.
Expensive Day for Haas
Haas was not necessarily in the mix for big points in Monaco but it suffered a double retirement—with one of them likely to be very expensive. Kevin Magnussen was on the fringes of the top 10 when he suffered a power unit issue and was forced to retire, while Mick Schumacher crashed heavily. Such was the extent of Schumacher’s accident that the rear end was ripped off the car, marking his second enormous shunt of the season, which will mean another trip to the coffers for Haas. The damage is likely to be into seven figures.
“Kevin’s car was really fast, we were just waiting for our opportunity to pass (Valtteri) Bottas at the pit stop, either under or over cutting to get by him and chase the field,” said Haas team principal Guenther Steiner. “He could easily follow him. He then had an issue with a water leak on his ERS system.”
Steiner’s quotes on Schumacher in Haas’ own sanctioned press release were rather terse.
“With Mick we obviously saw what happened,” he said. “It’s not very satisfactory having a big crash again. We need to see how we move forward from here.”
Schumacher remains only one of two full-time drivers (the other being Williams’ Nicholas Latifi) without a point in 2022. Schumacher has yet to score a point in his first 28 career F1 starts.
F1 Monaco Grand Prix
Results
Sergio Perez, Red Bull, 58 laps
Carlos Sainz, Ferrari, +0.527 second
Max Verstappen, Red Bull, +1.0
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, +1.7
George Russell, Mercedes, +10.0
Lando Norris, McLaren, +31.9
Fernando Alonso, Alpine, +49.5
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, +52.2
Esteban Ocon, Alpine, +52.9
Valtteri Bottas, Alfa Romeo, +54.9
Sebastian Vettel, Aston Martin, +56.9
Pierre Gasly, AlphaTauri, +58.0
Daniel Ricciardo, McLaren, +1:01.0
Lance Stroll, Aston Martin, +1:02.3
Nicholas Latifi, Williams, +1:16.5
Guaynu Zhou, Alfa Romeo, 1:17.1
Yuki Tsunoda, AlphaTauri, +1 lap
Alex Albon, Williams, +10 laps
Mick Schumacher, Haas, +34 laps
Kevin Magnussen, Haas, +39 laps
Updated Driver Standings
Max Verstappen 125
Charles Leclerc 116
Sergio Perez 110
George Russell 84
Carlos Sainz 83
Lewis Hamilton 50
Lando Norris 48
Valtteri Bottas 40
Esteban Ocon 30
Kevin Magnussen 15
Yuki Tsunoda 11
Daniel Ricciardo 11
Fernando Alonso 10
Pierre Gasly 6
Sebastian Vettel 5
Alex Albon 3
Lance Stroll 2
Zhou Guanyu 1
Mick Schumacher 0
Nico Hulkenberg 0
Nicholas Latifi 0
Team Standings
Red Bull 235
Ferrari 199
Mercedes 134
McLaren 59
Alfa Romeo 41
Alpine 40
AlphaTauri 17
Haas 15
Aston Martin 7
Williams 3
