Sergio Perez won the Monaco GP, in a wet to dry race that proved entertaining. Carlos Sainz preceded Max Verstappen at the flag, with the Dutchman finishing in front of, and increasing the lead on the championship to pole sitter Charles Leclerc.
Sergio Perez – 9.5
The Mexican’s season keeps getting better and better, with his first win of the season coming in the prestigious streets of Monaco.
Perez outqualified Verstappen to gain a Q3 start, despite spinning out in his last qualifying attempt. He then made good use of a great strategy call from Red Bull, who called him in to move past the Ferraris.
He moved in front of Leclerc when switching to intermediate tyres, before taking the lead once fitted the slick tyres. He resisted to pressure and tyre graining in the last laps to take home a well-deserved win.
Embed from Getty ImagesCarlos Sainz – 8
Even though as consequence of a brave strategy call, Sainz finally finished a race in front of Leclerc, hoping this can kickstart a more positive run.
The Spaniard had the bravery to move straight from full wet tyres to hard tyres, thus skipping a pit stop. He found himself in the lead, but was surprised by Perez’s overcut and dropped to second.
He tried to move past Perez in any way possible, but had to settle for a P2, even if, once again, Leclerc appeared faster on the weekend.
Embed from Getty ImagesMax Verstappen – 7
This weekend showed that even Verstappen is human, as he played second fiddle to Perez for most of the weekend, appearing to struggle for pace.
He was only fourth on the grid, trailing the leaders in the first stint, before Red Bull’s better strategy allowed him to overtake Leclerc.
It was a crucial move, as this increased his lead in the championship from three to nine points.
Embed from Getty ImagesCharles Leclerc – 7.5
His Monaco curse ended, as he finally finished a race on home soil, but Leclerc will still feel that bad luck affected him, as he will be the most disappointed driver.
He set a great pole position on Saturday, and looked comfortable in the wet conditions, but the strategy cost him a likeable win.
Leclerc stopped too late for intermediate tyres, before double-stacking behind Sainz for dry tyres, as he appeared critical of the strategists.
Embed from Getty ImagesGeorge Russell – 9
Despite starting from sixth, George Russell was able to continue his streak of top five finishes, as a better strategy allowed him to move past Lando Norris.
Russell was yet again the faster of the two Mercedes cars, opting to be one of few drivers to go straight into dry tyres.
This move paid off, narrowly edging Norris on the pit exit to finish just 11 seconds short of the leaders. Another smooth and complete weekend.
Lando Norris – 8.5
If McLaren can momentarily conserve their fourth place in the standings, most of the credit goes to the Brit, who once again was driving the only Woking car to score points.
Norris was a sensational fifth in qualifying, lapping close to the leaders, and appeared comfortable in P5, before the team decided to pit him for intermediates.
He lost the place to Russell, but secured the fastest lap at the end, with a fast last stint that saw him catch up an enormous amount of time in the final stages.
Embed from Getty ImagesFernando Alonso – 8
The Spaniard had to battle through issues in the race to finally get his best finish of the season.
Fernando Alonso was seventh on the grid, and seventh at the flag, resisting under Lewis Hamilton’s pressure when trying to save his tyres.
He eventually set the fastest lap, before losing the extra point to Norris after his pit stop. A good return to his best.
Lewis Hamilton – 6
This time out, the weekend wasn’t quite as disappointing as some of Hamilton’s Monaco outings, but he won’t be too satisfied with P8.
A mistake in his qualifying run denied him a clean lap on newer soft tyres, and he was set to start from the position he finished the race on.
He was left frustrated by Alonso’s slow pace in the final stint, but couldn’t find a way past in such a track, despite the Alpine driver lapping as slow as four seconds more than the frontrunners.
Embed from Getty ImagesValtteri Bottas – 7
Valtteri Bottas turned around a tricky situation on Sunday, managing to make up three places in a tight track like Monaco to keep his points streak going.
He was a disappointing P12 on Saturday, with Alfa Romeo expecting a shot at the frontrunners after a positive weekend in Barcelona.
Bottas kept clean and was, for the fifth time this season, the only car of his team to score points.
Sebastian Vettel – 7.5
Sebastian Vettel took a risk early on, by pitting for intermediate tyres and giving up a place in the top 10 to the expenses of a gamble.
Qualifying was very positive for the German, entering Q3 for the second time in four races with a clean lap.
Vettel made his way back as the cars changed positions following the pit stops, returning in the points with Esteban Ocon’s penalty.
Embed from Getty ImagesPierre Gasly – 5
His rating could have been much higher, considering he started from P17 and made up six places to narrowly miss out on the top 10.
However, the pace shown in free practice suggested Pierre Gasly could have fought for the best of the rest position. Instead, he came out with no points, as a strategic error in Q1 left him eliminated.
Esteban Ocon – 6
He failed to score points only for the second time this year, despite seeing the flag in ninth place.
He was penalised as a result of a collision with Hamilton, for which he was deemed responsible. This made worse a weekend in which he was behind Alonso, but which still saw him as fairly competitive.
Embed from Getty ImagesDaniel Ricciardo – 4.5
The Australian’s woes continued in what is turning out to be a long and painful season. Daniel Ricciardo crashed during practice and wasn’t as comfortable as Norris with the car.
He was only 14th in qualifying, more than a second behind his teammate, and failed to make up places in the race. In seven appearances so far, he only scored once, excluding sprint races.
Lance Stroll – 5
Lance Stroll struggled around Monaco and was a disappointing 18th in qualifying and 14th in the race.
He touched the wall during the formation lap and was forced to an early pit call, being lapped before the red flag interruption.
It was just a matter of taking the car home and hoping for the best once the race restarted, but Stroll couldn’t move any higher.
Embed from Getty ImagesNicholas Latifi – 5.5
The Canadian driver struggled in qualifying and had only Zhou behind him on the grid.
He managed to finish a few places higher up by keeping off the wall after a lap one blunder, running for most of the race in front of Alex Albon.
Guanyu Zhou – 4
Monaco would have been a great location for a return to the points, but Guanyu Zhou was left disappointed after qualifying last on Saturday.
He was in 16th on the restart and tried his best to move in front of Tsunoda, but went off and only just kept it off the wall.
Embed from Getty ImagesYuki Tsunoda – 4.5
After a decent qualifying, in P11, Yuki Tsunoda soon lost out with an early call to stop for intermediates that relegated him to P11.
He was stuck at the back of the group, but also had a series of runoffs which caused him to drop even further down.
Alex Albon – 5
Albon was a hopeful 16th in qualifying, with the Williams in contention with other cars.
The race was a struggle, as he was the first driver to fully run off, losing out and dropping to last of the drivers on his strategy, before retiring towards the end.
Mick Schumacher – 4.5
It was another race ended in misery for Mick Schumacher, who hit the wall heavily and was the only driver to retire after an incident.
The German was struggling to match Kevin Magnussen, but was in the mix with him and other runners before his shunt, even if points seemed unlikely.
Embed from Getty ImagesKevin Magnussen – 6
The Dane’s race ended early, as Magnussen was trailing Valtteri Bottas, which meant he had a chance to score points, had he seen the flag.
Magnussen has struggled to match the performances of his first outings, but was still the first of the two Haas cars.
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