On the 10-year anniversary weekend of Jules Bianchi scoring his only points at the Monaco Grand Prix, his godson Charles Leclerc was able to win it outright.
Leclerc led lights-to-flag on the streets he grew up on. The race was one long chess game between Ferrari and McLaren, with Oscar Piastri hounding Leclerc all day for the lead but failing to do so.
Leclerc is the first Monegasque driver to win the Monaco Grand Prix since Louis Chiron in 1931. Leclerc’s win also takes him to second in points, just 31 points behind Max Verstappen.
Leclerc had a best finish of fourth in Monaco in five races prior to this year in spite of two poles, so this has been a long time coming. After winning, Leclerc mentioned his late father as on his mind during the race.
“No words can explain [how I feel],” Leclerc said in the podium interview. “It’s such a difficult race, I think that twice I have started on pole position but didn’t quite make it, makes it even better. It means a lot. It’s the race that made me dream of becoming a Formula 1 driver one day.
“It was a difficult race emotionally because, 15 laps to the end you’re just hoping nothing happens. Already the emotions were coming. I have to say, I was thinking about my dad a lot more as I was driving. He has given everything for me to win here, and it was a dream of ours for me to race here, to win here.”
On lap one, into turn 1, Piastri and Carlos Sainz made contact. Both drivers were able to continue in the race, but Sainz stalled out in turn 4 after the car wouldn’t turn due to a flat tire.
Then, on lap one, out of turn 1, Kevin Magnussen hooked Sergio Perez going uphill and caused both to crash, with Nico Hulkenberg also collected in the crash.
None of the three drivers were able to continue, and the damage sustained on the Red Bull with all the debris along with damage to the barrier caused a lengthy red flag.
Right before the red flag, one other incident happened out of turn 8. Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly made contact, with Ocon briefly being launched up into the air before coming back down on all four wheels. Both Alpines were able to make it back to the pits for the red flag, but Ocon would not finish the race.
The FIA determined that the running order of the cars through the second mini timing sector would be used for the restart, as that was the only sector in which all cars went through it.
That allowed Sainz to restart in third, which is where he was able to finish. Lando Norris finished fourth in a race where Ferrari spent most of it trying to keep him a pit stop length’s away from George Russell in fifth, which they were able to do.
Verstappen finished sixth and Lewis Hamilton ended up seventh, the last car on the lead lap.
The other point scorers were Yuki Tsunoda in eighth, Alexander Albon in ninth, and Gasly in 10th. The top 10 on the grid ended up finishing the same way, with no change of position between them the entire race.
2024 Monaco Grand Prix Results
Next up on the F1 calendar is a quick vacation in Montreal. Lights out for the Canadian Grand Prix will come on Sunday, June 9 at 2 p.m. ET, with coverage on ABC.
About the author
Michael has watched NASCAR for 20 years and regularly covered the sport from 2013-2021, and also formerly covered the SRX series from 2021-2023. He now covers the FIA Formula 1 World Championship, the NASCAR Xfinity Series, and road course events in the NASCAR Cup Series.
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Probably the most picturesque race track in the world That provided an absolutely boring race When the leader can lead every lap and not even require fuel or tires that’s not a race thats a short track Saturday night race thats more entertaining Race was over on Saturday after qualifying
I don’t understand why the order before the crash is used instead of the order after it to take into account the drivers positions after the crash. If the car starting tenth is in fourth after the incident why should he have to restart in tenth?