Its future on the Formula One calendar may be a matter for debate, but in 2022 the Monaco Grand Prix remains the sport’s jewel in the crown and also the seventh round of the world championship. Tune in on The Roar from 10:50pm (AEST) for live blog coverage of yet another edition of the famous race.
The tight and twisty streets of the Principality are unforgiving for those who make mistakes around the 3.3km ribbon of tarmac, though to those lucky few who’ve claimed victory – come the spoils.
78-laps sees little to none overtaking, with qualifying essentially dictating the order in which the procession will run. However the off-chance there is weather to impact proceedings, or reliability and pit-stop problems, there can be some surprises.
In terms of the championship, Max Verstappen jumped to the top of the standings off the back of his recent hattrick of wins – as well as Red Bull over Ferrari in the constructor’s table. Home favourite Charles Leclerc now sits 6-points adrift of the Dutchman.
Ferrari, in need of a comeback, have set the pace in Monaco throughout the practice sessions as Monegasque Leclerc across Friday and then pipped by Red Bull’s Sergio Perez in third practice by a slender 0.041-second margin.
Leclerc produced the goods in qualifying to claim pole position on home soil and unlike last year, didn’t crash at the conclusion of Q3 and damage his gearbox. Instead it was Perez who spun and crashed at Mirabeau, with Carlos Sainz miraculously mirroring the Mexican to also bow out.
It remains to be seen whether the Spaniard will be investigated for possibly speeding under the yellow flags, deployed on the scene for Perez’s crash. Though on the provisional charts, he locks out the front-row with teammate Leclerc.
Verstappen was ultimately caught out by the premature end to qualifying, having just set a personal best first sector. The reigning world champion and defending Monaco winner was fourth fastest.
McLaren’s pace to be best of the rest came to fruition with Lando Norris in fifth – who’ll be hoping to back up his 2021 podium finish in Monaco. Behind him though is a pair of Mercedes cars led by George Russell and the Alpines both inside the top ten.
Meanwhile, teammate Daniel Ricciardo’s miserable run continues following the Aussie’s FP2 crash. Qualifying only fourteenth, the 2018 Monaco Grand Prix winner faces a long race running outside the points – as well as his McLaren future being under question.
Who will reign in the Principality in 2022?
Race Information
Lights out: 11:00pm (AEST)
Venue: Monaco
TV: Fox Sports
Online: Kayo Sports, Foxtel
Grid
1. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari), 2. Carlos Sainz (Ferrari), 3. Sergio Perez (Red Bull), 4. Max Verstappen (Red Bull), 5. Lando Norris (McLaren), 6. George Russell (Mercedes), 7. Fernando Alonso (Alpine), 8. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes), 9. Sebastian Vettel (Aston Martin), 10. Esteban Ocon (Alpine), 11. Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri), 12. Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo), 13. Kevin Magnussen (Haas), 14. Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren), 15. Mick Schumacher (Haas), 16. Alex Albon (Williams), 17. Pierre Gasly (AlphaTauri), 18. Lance Stroll (Aston Martin), 19. Nicholas Latifi (Williams), 20. Guanyu Zhou (Alfa Romeo)
Simoc
Guest
So the double-stack cost Leclerc 4 secs and it would seem a probable win. It didn't like it cost him more than 1 sec at the most on-screen but certainly one that got away for Ferrari. It seems Dan Ricciarcardo is out of confidence and form when compared to Norris. He doesn't seem like a potential World Champ anymore and I doubt he will see out the season without a drastic turn around in form. The other top teams have their drivers very close. Obviviously Dan knows better than anyone where he is at, but it doesn't look good currently. Alonso treated Hamilton behind him with complete contempt because he could. I quite enjoyed it but it backfired because Hamilton responded by dropping back and holding up Ocon who had a 5 sec penalty and so couldn't put a 5sec gap on those behind thanks to Hamilton. Despite all the criticism the race directors probably made the right calls and Perez continues to improve as a driver. If Verstappen wasn't there I'de think Perez could be a WDC at Red Bull.
andrew
Roar Rookie
Hey Jawad. Perez is certainly keeping Max on his toes. Good to see him get a win. Red Bull and Ferrari again dominating the podium. Norris set the fastest lap. Reading between the lines of what Zac Brown was saying recently I get the feeling Dan's time at McLaren could be ending sooner rather than later. Sad but that's life in the fast lane.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Well that then wraps up this rather lengthy live blog of the Monaco Grand Prix. A massive thanks and well done for those who stuck through for this one, because it was at least an exciting GP when we got racing. A small break now until the next race in Baku, which’ll leave plenty of time to discuss/debate what’s transpired in Monaco. See you for the Azerbaijan GP.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
-------- DRIVER'S -------- 125 - Max Verstappen 116 - Charles Leclerc 110 - Sergio Perez 84 -- George Russell 83 -- Carlos Sainz 50 -- Lewis Hamilton 48 -- Lando Norris 40 -- Valtteri Bottas 30 -- Esteban Ocon 15 -- Kevin Magnussen 11 -- Yuki Tsunoda 11 -- Daniel Ricciardo 10 -- Fernando Alonso 6 --- Pierre Gasly 5 --- Sebastian Vettel 3 --- Alex Albon 2 --- Lance Stroll 1 --- Guanyu Zhou 0 --- Mick Schumacher 0 --- Nico Hulkenberg 0 --- Nicholas Latifi
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
----- CONSTRUCTOR'S ----- 235 - Red Bull Racing 199 - Ferrari 134 - Mercedes AMG 59 -- McLaren Mercedes 41 -- Alfa Romeo Racing 40 -- Alpine 17 -- Scuderia AlphaTauri 15 -- Haas Ferrari 7 --- Aston Martin Racing 3 --- Williams Mercedes
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
RACE REPORT A 45-minute delay due to wet weather saw a time certain finish to a sensational Monaco Grand Prix, won by Sergio Perez ahead of Carlos Sainz and Max Verstappen. Conditions were deemed too extreme by Race Control initially, but once the race was started under the Safety Car it was an intense contest of strategy between Red Bull and Ferrari. Polesitter Charles Leclerc led the early stages of the race on the wet tyres, ahead of teammate Sainz. Perez was ahead of Verstappen before being the first of the leaders to pit for inters on Lap 17. Sainz was determined at this stage to wait for conditions to favour the slick tyres, as some of the backmarkers had made the switch to the hard compound. This happened on Lap 22 when Ferrari pitted both their drivers, much to the detriment of Leclerc. Red Bull on the following lap double stacked their drivers too, with Perez emerging as the new race leader and Verstappen third ahead of the furious Monegasque driver. Not even halfway through the race, there was a red flag for a shunt involving Mick Schumacher. The Haas driver lost control and found the barrier, ripping the gearbox end of the car off. Driver was ok in the incident. With further delay due to the red flag, it was now evident that this would be a time certain finish and that it would be marginal to reach 75% race distance for full points to be awarded. A rolling restart saw Perez lead the pack, with both Red Bulls switching to a fresh set of medium tyres – while Ferrari kept their drivers on the hard compound. There was a late challenge from Sainz to Perez’s lead, however the Mexican held on for his third career win. George Russell kept up his run of top five finishes in 2022 and finishing as the lead Mercedes, skipping ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris early for fifth. Norris pitted for an additional set of mediums too, to secure the point for fastest lap of the race. There was questions over Fernando Alonso’s tactics in seventh, as he backed up Lewis Hamilton in what was a lengthy train of cars towards the end of the race. The strategy didn’t help Alpine teammate Esteban Ocon, who dropped out of the points with a 5-second time penalty for a collision with Hamilton earlier. The result of Ocon’s demotion saw Valtteri Bottas and Sebastian Vettel round out the points, after a topsy turvy race which saw no points for AlphaTauri, Williams or Haas.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
POST-RACE INTERVIEWS - Hosted by David Coulthard PEREZ - "It's a dream come true!" "The way we did it, we made it hard for ourselves at the end." "Keeping Carlos behind wasn't easy." Massive day for myself and my country." SAINZ - "I felt like we did everything we had to do." "Stuck behind a lapped car cost me the win today." "I started to realise that it was going to straight into slicks." VERSTAPPEN - "I did the best I could of course after yesterday." "As a team we did a really good job with the strategy." "As a whole team we can be pleased for this Sunday." "Overall quite a decent day."
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
RESULTS FROM THE 65-LAP MONACO GRAND PRIX 1 S. Perez 2 C. Sainz 3 M. Verstappen 4 C. Leclerc 5 G. Russell 6 L. Norris (Fastest Lap) 7 F. Alonso 8 L. Hamilton 9 V. Bottas 10 S. Vettel 11 P. Gasly 12 E. Ocon* 13 D. Ricciardo 14 L. Stroll 15 N. Latifi 16 G. Zhou 17 Y. Tsunoda RET A. Albon RET M. Schumacher RET K. Magnussen *5-second time penalty applied to Ocon
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
SERGIO PEREZ WINS THE MONACO GRAND PRIX! What a rebound from Barcelona for the Mexican, securing his first win in the Principality. Carlos Sainz must settle for second after a sensational drive for Ferrari. While it's third for championship leader Max Verstappen.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Lap 64/77: FINAL LAP
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Lap 63/77: Perez backing off too in order to ensure there aren't any more laps in this one. Those hard tyres are absolutely worn at this stage.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Lap 62/77: Ocon on his current times and with the 5-second time penalty will drop to twelfth.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Lap 61/77: 3 minutes to go and it is pretty dicey seeing the top four all nose to tail heading into the slowest corners on the track.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Lap 60/77: 5 MINUTES TO GO Perez still defending from Sainz, as Verstappen is waiting in the wings in case the Ferrari hits trouble.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Lap 59/77: Race is at the crucial 75% race distance too with full points to be awarded for this race.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Lap 58/77: The leaders are now coming up behind backmarkers now which might complicate things too.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Lap 57/77: Tsunoda at St Devote triggers the yellow flags, which gives Perez a reprieve early on in the lap.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Lap 56/77: Less than 10 minutes remain in this race. Norris sets the fastest lap of the race with a 1:14.693.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Lap 55/77: That gap is less than half a second now between Perez and Sainz.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Lap 54/77: Sainz is pushing Perez now hard as the gap reduces to within a second.