Red Bull’s Sergio Perez overcame a tense finish to clinch victory in a dramatic 2022 Monaco Grand Prix.
A sudden late spell of rain caused the race to be delayed 65 minutes from its original start, despite drivers only managing two formation laps before the red flag was thrown.
Once the race got going after an initial start behind the Safety Car, Charles Leclerc led from pole position until he pitted on Lap 19 for intermediate tyres but he was undercut by Perez, who went on to overcut Carlos Sainz on Lap 23 as a quick switch to slicks followed.
The race was however red flagged to permit barrier repairs on Lap 30, after Haas’ Mick Schumacher had suffered a huge crash on the exit of the Swimming Pool chicane on Lap 26 which saw the rear-end of his Haas become detached.
Once the race restarted, Perez led until the checkered flag on Lap 64 out of an originally scheduled 78 laps, despite facing huge pressure from Sainz, Verstappen and Leclerc.
His third victory also meant that Perez became Mexico’s most successful driver in F1 history.
Mercedes’ George Russell was fifth quickest ahead of Lando Norris, Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton, Valtteri Bottas and Sebastian Vettel.
In the driver standings, Verstappen extended his title lead to nine points over Leclerc as Perez stayed third but reduced his deficit to 15 points, with Russell and Sainz rounding out the top five.
Pre-race, it was confirmed that Sainz and Perez had taken new gearboxes as a precaution following their similar crashes at Portier at the end of Qualifying.
Rain meanwhile failed to materialise in the morning which led to weather forecasters to predict a dry race, only for rain to sweep in 10 minutes before the formation lap, with the intensity steadily increasing as stewards delayed the formation lap and race start.
The formation lap eventually commenced 16 minutes later than originally scheduled albeit behind the Safety Car, with the entire grid forced to switch from slick to extreme wet tyres as the rain eventually soaked the entire circuit except for the tunnel section.
Stewards however decided to throw a red flag after just two formation laps due to worsening visibility amidst resurgent rain intensity, with stewards opting to formally commence the race clock 40 minutes after the stoppage with cars venturing back out behind the Safety Car five further minutes later.
After two laps behind the Safety Car, Leclerc led the field racing on Lap Three whilst Pierre Gasly, Lance Stroll and Nicholas Latifi gambled immediately for intermediate tyres, which took a few laps to become faster than those on wet tyres.
Gasly though was the first driver to properly get his tyres up to temperature but had to bide his time before he passed Guanyu Zhou for 13th on Lap 12 on the inside of Mirabeau, which he then replicated one lap later out of Tabac on Daniel Ricciardo for 12th.
Up front, Leclerc pitted for intermediate tyres on Lap 19 and re-joined third ahead of Verstappen who also stopped that lap, although the pair were leapfrogged by Perez who had made his stop at the start of Lap 17 and the Mexican eventually took the lead when Sainz pitted on Lap 22 for hard tyres.
Perez responded a lap later by making a second stop to switch to hard tyres but his in-lap pace ensured he retained the lead ahead of Sainz, who one lap later managed to save his Ferrari on the main straight after losing the rear end on a damp patch.
Mick Schumacher meanwhile lost the rear-end of his Haas mid-corner through the Swimming Pool chicane, which caused him to spin twice heavily into the barriers as the rear-end consequently became detached from the chassis with the German luckily walking away unharmed.
Stewards initially deployed the Virtual Safety Car then real Safety Car but barrier damage necessitated a red flag on Lap 30 for 20 minutes, with the race resuming behind the Safety Car followed by a rolling start for safety reasons.
There was a mixture of tyre strategies up and down the grid on the restart but importantly up front, Perez and Verstappen opted for medium tyres whilst Sainz and Leclerc stayed on the hard tyre.
After a two-lap Safety Car restart, Perez led the field back racing on Lap 33 as everyone held position despite the Mexican locking up at Mirabeau.
Perez nevertheless proceeded to extend his lead as high as 3.617 seconds but his earlier lock-up on the restart soon began to bite him, as the Mexican’s front-left medium began to struggle for wear as Sainz, Verstappen and Leclerc reeled him in.
Sainz eventually managed to keep his deficit down to less than one second for the final 10 laps but was unable to pass Perez as he chased a maiden F1 victory.
Perez eventually clung on to take the win which meant that he became Mexico’s most successful F1 driver with his third victory in the sport, having previously tied Pedro Rodriguez with two wins apiece.
Sainz settled for second ahead of Verstappen, Leclerc and Russell as Lando Norris finished sixth but made a second pit-stop which saw him claim the point for fastest lap, with Alonso fending off Hamilton for eighth.
Esteban Ocon finished ninth but a five-second time penalty demoted him to 12th and elevated Valtteri Bottas plus Sebastian Vettel to ninth and tenth respectively, as Gasly ultimately fell short in 11th.
| Position | Driver | Team | Laps | Time |
| 1 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | 64 | 1h 56m 30.265 |
| 2 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | 64 | + 1.154 |
| 3 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 64 | + 1.491 |
| 4 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 64 | + 2.922 |
| 5 | George Russell | Mercedes | 64 | + 11.968 |
| 6 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 64 | + 12.231 |
| 7 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine | 64 | + 46.358 |
| 8 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 64 | + 50.388 |
| 9 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo | 64 | + 52.525 |
| 10 | Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin | 64 | + 53.536 |
| 11 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri | 64 | + 54.289 |
| 12 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | 64 | + 55.644 |
| 13 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren | 64 | + 57.635 |
| 14 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | 64 | + 60.802 |
| 15 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams | 63 | + 1 Lap |
| 16 | Guanyu Zhou | Alfa Romeo | 63 | + 1 Lap |
| 17 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | 63 | + 1 Lap |
| RET | Alex Albon | Williams | 48 | Mechanical |
| RET | Mick Schumacher | Haas | 24 | Spin |
| RET | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | 19 | Water |
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