2022 Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix highlights

Introduction

Red Bull’s Sergio Perez won his first race this year by 1.1 seconds after a nailbiting end to the 2022 Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix, with Carlos Sainz and Max Verstappen unable to make it past the Mexican – and Charles Leclerc losing out after dropping from pole to P4.

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Rain saw the start delayed and, at 1518 local time, drivers completed one lap, heading back to the pits as a red flag was called. Gazebos unfurled and teams waited until 1605 for a rolling race start behind the Safety Car on wet tyres. The Safety Car pulled in for Lap 3 of 77 and Leclerc led away with Sainz, Perez and Verstappen in tow.

The front-runners swapped to intermediates, with Perez coming in first on Lap 17, Leclerc and Verstappen following two laps later, while Sainz skipped straight to hards with a switch on Lap 21, Leclerc following for a Ferrari double-stack. Red Bull followed one lap later and pulled off an overcut with their own double-stack – the order was now Perez, Sainz, Verstappen and a furious Leclerc in P4.

Mick Schumacher spun and crashed spectacularly at Swimming Pool on Lap 27, bringing out another red flag on Lap 30. He walked away, the gearbox and rear suspension having detached from his Haas. Resumption came with a rolling start on Lap 33, Ferrari on hards while Red Bull opted for mediums.

Perez held his lead and the mediums held their own on the restart but began to drop off past the Lap 55 mark, with around 10 minutes remaining. It was now that Sainz, Verstappen and Leclerc closed in. The Mexican almost lost out in the dying moments of the race, Sainz almost sticking his nose in front at the hairpin, but victory would be his – a huge statement after a disappointing Spanish Grand Prix.

With the race timer showing zero on Lap 64, Perez’s margin of victory was just 1.154s over Sainz, Verstappen just 0.337s behind the Spaniard, and Leclerc shocked to finish 2.9s off in P4.

Having skipped a stop for intermediates – going straight from wets to slicks – George Russell rounded out the top five for Mercedes ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris.

Alpine’s Fernando Alonso started seventh and finished there despite Lewis Hamilton hanging on his tail for much of the late phase.

Hamilton had taken damage in an early scrap with Alpine’s Esteban Ocon, the Frenchman has then given a five-second penalty. Despite finishing ninth, he was thus demoted to 12th, giving Valtteri Bottas P9 for Alfa Romeo and Sebastian Vettel the final point for Aston Martin.

Pierre Gasly’s early charge on intermediates was cut short at P12 when the track dried up and he finished 12th, promoted to 11th thanks to Ocon’s penalty.

Daniel Ricciardo missed out in P13 ahead of Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll, the last driver on the lead lap.

Late mistakes saw Yuki Tsunoda finish last and 17th behind Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu and 15th place Williams driver Nicholas Latifi.

There were three retirees, with Kevin Magnussen bowing out before Schumacher’s heavy crash, and Alex Albon quitting late on from last-place.

Mario Isola – Motorsport Director, Pirelli:

This was one of those unpredictable Monaco races where strategy was dictated by who reacted best to changing circumstances, with those who took a chance sometimes rewarded. The changing weather after two days of sunshine added a number of complications to what should otherwise have been a reasonably straightforward race strategy, with the decision about when to get off the full wet tyre and which tyre to put on next being absolutely critical, on very slippery street asphalt that clearly affected the crossover point, rather than temperatures. Added to this were a number of unforeseeable factors such as the safety car and red flag, which required yet more immediate decisions – influenced also of course by which tyres the drivers had available to them.

Perez’s decision to use the medium for the final stint helped him to seal the race victory, ahead of Carlos Sainz on the hard, although Perez also had to manage his tyres in the closing stages. Every tyre in our Formula 1 range was used during this race, with all performing well despite a completely unknown set of conditions and crossover points on the tightest and most unforgiving track of the season.

2022 Formula 1 Monaco GP Race Results

Pos	No	Driver	Country	Team	Time	Points	Overall
1.	11	Sergio Perez	Mexico	Red Bull Racing Honda	1:56:30.265	25	110
2.	55	Carlos Sainz	Spain	Scuderia Ferrari	+1.154s	18	83
3.	1	Max Verstappen	Netherlands	Red Bull Racing	+1.491s	15	125
4.	16	Charles Leclerc	Monaco	Scuderia Ferrari	+2.922s	12	116
5.	63	George Russell	Great Britain	Mercedes-AMG Petronas	+11.968s	10	84
6.	4	Lando Norris	Great Britain	Mclaren Racing	+12.231s	9	48
7.	14	Fernando Alonso	Spain	Alpine F1 Team	+46.358s	6	10
8.	44	Lewis Hamilton	Great Britain	Mercedes-AMG Petronas	+50.388s	4	50
9.	77	Valtteri Bottas	Finland	Alfa Romeo F1 Team	+52.525s	2	40
10.	5	Sebastian Vettel	Germany	Aston Martin F1 Team	+53.536s	1	5
11.	10	Pierre Gasly	France	Scuderia AlphaTauri	+54.289s	0	6
12.	31	Esteban Ocon	France	Alpine F1 Team	+55.644s	0	30
13.	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Australia	McLaren Racing	+57.635s	0	11
14.	18	Lance Stroll	Canada	Aston Martin F1 Team	+60.802s	0	2
15.	6	Nicholas Latifi	Canada	Williams Racing	+1 lap	0	0
16.	24	Zhou Guanyu	China	Alfa Romeo F1 Team	+1 lap	0	1
17.	22	Yuki Tsunoda	Japan	Scuderia AlphaTauri	+1 lap	0	11
18.	23	Alexander Albon	Thailand	Williams Racing	DNF	0	3
19.	47	Mick Schumacher	Germany	Haas F1 Team	DNF	0	0
20.	20	Kevin Magnussen	Denmark	Haas F1 Team	DNF	0	15

2022 Constructor Standings

Pos	Team	Points
1.	Red Bull Racing	235
1.	Scuderia Ferrari	199
3.	Mercedes-AMG F1 Team	134
4.	McLaren Racing	59
5.	Alfa Romeo Racing	41
6.	Alpine F1 Team	40
7.	Scuderia AlphaTauri	17
8.	Haas F1 Team	15
9.	Aston Martin F1 Team	7
10.	Williams Racing	3

Here are the team-by-team highlights:

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