Red Bull’s Max Verstappen dominated the 2021 Monaco Grand Prix to take victory and the title lead, as Mercedes Lewis Hamilton could only finish seventh in an uneventful race.
A driveshaft failure on his way to the grid forced pole-sitter, Charles Leclerc out of his home race which left Verstappen to take the lead from second on the grid in a lights to flag victory.
Leclerc though had avoided a gearbox penalty after Ferrari found little damage to his race gearbox after checks following a crash at the end of Qualifying yesterday (22 May), which Verstappen had felt ‘frustrating’ as he was denied pole.
Carlos Sainz clinched his first podium in Ferrari overalls after he benefitted from a front right wheel issue for Valtteri Bottas, who was forced to retire from the race at his pit stop on lap 31.
Lando Norris claimed his third F1 podium in third place after fending off a late fight from Sergio Perez who finished fourth, having stopped last of the top eight runners on lap 36 to leapfrog Sebastian Vettel who had overcut Pierre Gasly and Hamilton just moments earlier.
Hamilton however snatched the point for fastest lap on lap 70 with a new lap record of 1m 12.909 to give the Brit seven points, in consolation on what has been a difficult weekend for the reigning champion.
Lance Stroll executed the perfect alternative tyre strategy of starting on the hard tyre to finish eighth at the flag ahead of Esteban Ocon and Antonio Giovinazzi.
Verstappen now leads Lewis Hamilton by four points in the drivers’ standings as Norris reclaimed third ahead of Bottas and Perez benefitted from Leclerc’s non-start to improve to fifth in the standings.
Mercedes saw their 29 point lead in the constructor standings wiped out by Red Bull as the Silver Arrows lost the lead of both championships for the first time since the 2018 German Grand Prix.
Pole-sitter, Charles Leclerc failed to take the start after suffering a driveshaft failure on the way to the grid, which left the pole position empty because it was too late to bump the rest of grid up a position meaning that Verstappen was on the front row alone but on the dirty side.
Verstappen however made a clean start as he cut across to block Bottas as the top ten all held position throughout the opening 30 laps of the race.
Bottas though set about trying to keep Verstappen within sight but struggled to get close enough as the Dutchman controlled his race at the front, leaving Bottas to slip five seconds adrift by the time he stopped on lap 31.
Bottas’ front right wheel nut however machined onto the axle as the pit crew attempted to remove the soft tyre, meaning that there was nothing that could be done other than retire the car because hammering the component loose would of been in vain.
Hamilton however stopped a lap earlier in an attempt to leapfrog Gasly who he had been stuck behind all race, only for his undercut attempt to unsuccessfully work as the Frenchman pitted on the same lap as Bottas and re-joined ahead of the Brit.
Both drivers however were leapfrogged by Vettel who stopped on lap 32 and only just made it out ahead of Gasly in fifth, as Perez ran long on his soft tyres until lap 36 and overcut all three drivers who had been ahead of him in the opening stint as he found himself fourth after his stop.
Out in front, Verstappen kept his lead from Sainz at around three seconds but the Spaniard couldn’t get close enough, eventually fading away to finish 8.968s behind at the flag.
Norris meanwhile fended off a late challenge from Perez to finish third in only his second trip to Monaco in F1, having missed out on a top ten finish in 2019 by just five seconds.
Further back, Hamilton made a second stop for soft tyres on lap 68 and two laps later, he smashed Verstappen’s previous race lap record with a 1m 12.909 to set the fastest lap which handed him an extra point that could prove crucial come end of this season.
F1 now head to Baku, Azerbaijan, across weekend of 4-6 June as Mercedes look to hit back at a track where they won on three of their four previous visits, with their loss in 2017 coming at Red Bull’s hands through Daniel Ricciardo.
| Position | Driver | Team | Laps | Time |
| 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 78 | 1h 38m 56.820 |
| 2 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | 78 | + 8.968 |
| 3 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 78 | + 19.427 |
| 4 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | 78 | + 20.490 |
| 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin | 78 | + 52.591 |
| 6 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri | 78 | + 53.896 |
| 7 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 78 | + 68.231 |
| 8 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | 78 | + 1 Lap |
| 9 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | 78 | + 1 Lap |
| 10 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo | 78 | + 1 Lap |
| 11 | Kimi Raikkonen | Alfa Romeo | 78 | + 1 Lap |
| 12 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren | 78 | + 1 Lap |
| 13 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine | 78 | + 1 Lap |
| 14 | George Russell | Williams | 78 | + 1 Lap |
| 15 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams | 78 | + 1 Lap |
| 16 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | 78 | + 1 Lap |
| 17 | Nikita Mazepin | Haas | 78 | + 3 Laps |
| 18 | Mick Schumacher | Haas | 78 | + 3 Laps |
| RET | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 30 | Wheel |
| DNS | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 0 | Driveshaft |
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