F1 News: Leclerc leads flag-to-flag in 2024 Monaco GP

After three accidents on the substandard Monaco GP circuit caused a first lap red-flag, the Monaco GP ran to the end without incident and polesitter Charles Leclerc led lights-to-flag to win his first Monaco GP by over 7 seconds.

–by Mark Cipolloni–

It’s not just a win at home, it’s a first win since Austria 2022. And a first win from pole after 12 fruitless efforts from P1.

“No words can explain this<” said Leclerc. I think because twice I started from pole and couldn’t make it, it means more in a way. It was a race that made me dream of becoming a Formula 1 driver. In the last 15 laps, the emotions were coming – I was thinking of my Dad, he gave everything to get me here. It was a dream of his for me to race here and to win, so this is unbelievable.”

The top 7 cars could not pass one another because of the substandard track, and it was so bad that Max Verstappen, on fresh tires and 2-seconds per lap faster than the Mercedes  of George Russell, could not find a way past. F1 has no business racing at such a substandard circuit.

Oscar Piastri held on for 2nd (where he started)  as did Carlos Sainz Jr. in 3rd (7.585s behind Leclerc), Lando Norris in 4th and George Russell in 5th (13.309s behind Leclerc).

Piastri was on Leclerc’s rear wing until the last 10 of 78 laps when he fell away. “Tricky race, the pace at the beginning was incredibly slow. I had one little half look into the tunnel but I didn’t have a small enough car to pit in the gap. Nice to out a result on the board, we’ve been strong the last few races but not got the results. What a place [to get a podium]. To be honest, Charles has been mega all weekend, it would have taken something very special in quali to out-do him, probably the best lap of my life.”

“It was a tight one and a very bad feeling there in Lap 1 that turned into a very good feeling getting reinstated into P3,” said Sainz Jr. “But I’m extremely happy to see Charles win his home Grand Prix and getting to share it with him. Maybe I had a chance to put pressure on Oscar to get him to make a mistake, we got him under pressure, but it was not enough to pass.”

Verstappen and Hamilton in 6th and 7th were the only other cars on the lead lap. Verstappen retains the points lead, 169 to 138 points for Leclerc in 2nd and Norris in 3rd wit 113 points.

Big First Lap Crash

The Red Bull of Sergio Perez was involved in a dramatic smash during the opening lap of the Monaco Grand Prix.

Perez was hit by Kevin Magnussen after the first corner and both cars collected Nico Hulkenberg.

Perez’s Red Bull was completely destroyed, with all three drivers out of the race and a red flag promptly waved.

The stewards announced there would be no further investigation into the crash, which was good news for the Dane.

Magnussen is currently on 10 penalty points, and if the stewards had decided to penalise him he could have received a race ban.

2024 Monaco GP Results – 78 Laps