Max ‘Maverick’ Verstappen dominated the 2021 Monaco Grand Prix as he sealed a professional and mature victory in his Red Bull Honda. The race itself was stagnant, devoid of any action which is typically Monaco. Monaco is the only F1 venue where the race is often won during Saturday’s qualifying. The street circuit is tight, twisty and narrow. Overtaking is considered to be almost impossible.
The only real drama was during the race warm-up where pole sitter Charles Leclerc retired his Ferrari due to a broken driveshaft. That moved Verstappen into pole and an inevitable victory. Valtteri Bottas was forced to retire from second due to Mercedes botching his pitstop.
Carlos Sainz drove his Ferrari to second and Lando Norris clinched his first Monaco podium by securing third for McLaren. Sebastian Vettel used the pitstop-undercut to finish fifth in his Aston Martin.
Lewis Hamilton, by his standards, was AWOL during the entire Monaco Grand Prix weekend. The Mercedes driver started seventh, finished seventh and gained an extra point for setting the fastest race lap. But he did manage to lose his championship lead to Verstappen.
It was a rare off day for Hamilton and Mercedes. They do have these days over the course of a Grand Prix season. However, in the past, superior performance over the course of a campaign was their get-out-of-jail card. At Monaco they made mistakes. This year, Red Bull is finally flying, and the team that makes the fewest will take championship honors.
2021 Monaco Grand Prix Results:
1 | 33 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull Racing Honda | 78 | 1:38:56.820 | 25 |
2 | 55 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | 78 | +8.968s | 18 |
3 | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren Mercedes | 78 | +19.427s | 15 |
4 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull Racing Honda | 78 | +20.490s | 12 |
5 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin Mercedes | 78 | +52.591s | 10 |
6 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri Honda | 78 | +53.896s | 8 |
7 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 78 | +68.231s | 7 |
8 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin Mercedes | 77 | +1 lap | 4 |
9 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine Renault | 77 | +1 lap | 2 |
10 | 99 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo Racing Ferrari | 77 | +1 lap | 1 |
11 | 7 | Kimi Räikkönen | Alfa Romeo Racing Ferrari | 77 | +1 lap | 0 |
12 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren Mercedes | 77 | +1 lap | 0 |
13 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine Renault | 77 | +1 lap | 0 |
14 | 63 | George Russell | Williams Mercedes | 77 | +1 lap | 0 |
15 | 6 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams Mercedes | 77 | +1 lap | 0 |
16 | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri Honda | 77 | +1 lap | 0 |
17 | 9 | Nikita Mazepin | Haas Ferrari | 75 | +3 laps | 0 |
18 | 47 | Mick Schumacher | Haas Ferrari | 75 | +3 laps | 0 |
NC | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 29 | DNF | 0 |
NC | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 0 | DNS | 0 |
Note – Hamilton scored an additional point for setting the fastest lap of the race.