Perez triumphs in chaotic Monaco thriller
MONTE CARLO: Sergio Perez has won a chaotic Monaco Grand Prix as Charles Leclerc’s dreams of winning on home soil were shattered by his flatfooted Ferrari team yesterday.
Leclerc navigated a rainhit start, delayed by more than an hour following a deluge just a dozen minutes before the lights were due to go out on Formula One’s most famous race, to control the early stages.
But the Monegasque’s race fell apart when Ferrari’s strategy was exposed by Red Bull.
Perez moved from third to first in the switch from wet to slick rubber, with Leclerc’s teammate Carlos Sainz second and world champion Max Verstappen third.
Leclerc slipped from pole to cross the line in fourth, ahead of George Russell and Lando Norris.
Lewis Hamilton started eighth and finished in the same position, while Mick Schumacher walked away unharmed from a crash which split his Haas in two.
Following a frenetic climax, Perez finished just 1.1sec ahead of Sainz and the top four were separated by less than 3sec.
Leclerc took pole position under blue skies, but a downpour just before the race changed the complexion of his afternoon.
The scheduled getaway was delayed by nine minutes, and then another seven minutes.
The race started — albeit behind the safety car — but as the rain continued, Eduardo Freitas, officiating his second F1 race, suspended racing after just two laps.
A 45minute wait ensued before Freitas was ready to go racing. Red Bull blinked first, putting Perez on the intermediate tyres on lap 16, and it proved a masterstroke. The Mexican delivered two speedy laps and when Leclerc stopped for the inter tread, he emerged behind Perez.
It would get worse for the Monegasque when a pitstop mixup left him queuing behind Sainz as both Ferrari men changed to slicks.
In a matter of laps, Leclerc had dropped from first to fourth. — PA