Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc dominated his home event to win 2024 Monaco Grand Prix.
Leclerc made a clean start from pole position but the race was red flagged on the opening lap after a huge collision between Sergio Perez, Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg.
On the restart having changed tyres during the 40-minute stoppage, Leclerc drove a well measured race to take victory on his home turf, ahead of Oscar Piastri, Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris.
George Russell, Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton, Yuki Tsunoda, Alex Albon and Pierre Gasly rounded out the top ten.
In the drivers’ standings, Verstappen’s 48-point title lead over Leclerc was reduced to 31 points whilst Norris benefitted from Perez’s failure to finish, as he and Sainz leapfrogged Perez who dropped to fifth in the order.
At lights out, Leclerc got a lightning start to lead Piastri who fought off Sainz but the Spaniard clipped the right sidepod of the McLaren, which caused a puncture and forced him to stop at Casino Square but he was able to crawl back to the pit-lane.
Further back, Perez got a slow getaway and squeezed Magnussen hard to his right which caused the Dane to make unavoidable contact, with both drivers sent spinning into the barriers and Perez collected Magnussen’s teammate – Hulkenberg as he rebounded across the track.
Stewards consequently were forced to deploy the red flags for 40 minutes, before the race resumed behind the safety car followed by a standing restart with the original order minus the eliminated trio.
Alpine’s Esteban Ocon meanwhile got launched air-borne at Portier as he lunged up the inside of his teammate, Pierre Gasly just prior to the red flag, which ultimately earned Ocon a five-place grid penalty for Canada after he retired with damage.
Those who began the race on the medium tyre switched to hard tyre for the restart and likewise those who initially went for the hard tyre switched to medium tyres, with everyone looking to go to the checkered flag.
Leclerc on the restart got a clean getaway as the top ten held position and immediately focused upon tyre management, which left the Monegasque defending from Piastri at around one-second gap until he extended his lead to over two seconds by the end of Lap 42.
Sainz and Norris meanwhile were unable to get a free pit-stop to try and jump their teammates as fifth-placed Russell kept within their pit window, whilst Valtteri Bottas and Lance Stroll were the only pair to switch back from medium to hard tyres on Laps 16 and 43 respectively.
Stroll however was forced to pit again on Lap 49 after he suffered a left-rear puncture upon clipping the barrier at Nouvelle Chicane.
Hamilton and Verstappen pitted on Laps 52 and 53 respectively for hard tyres but stayed seventh and sixth respectively, as the pair looked to mount a late charge towards Russell who sat comfortably in fifth place.
Up front, Leclerc kept Piastri at a gap of one-and-a-half seconds as the Monegasque looked to win his home race at the sixth time of asking as a F1 driver, having also failed to win around the Principality en-route to his F2 title in 2017 despite taking pole in that category.
Leclerc ultimately realised that dream as he clung on for victory from Piastri, as the Aussie claimed his first trip to the Monaco podium in just his second Monaco Grand Prix ahead of Sainz who saw off Norris to finish third.
Verstappen’s run of 13 races on the podium when he reached the checkered flag – stretching back to 2023 Japanese GP – came to an end, as he could only finish sixth behind Russell whilst Hamilton, Tsunoda, lbon and Gasly rounded out the top ten.
| Position | Driver | Team | Laps | Time |
| 1 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 78 | 2h ..m .. |
| 2 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | 78 | + 7.152 |
| 3 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | 78 | + 7.585 |
| 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 78 | + 8.650 |
| 5 | George Russell | Mercedes | 78 | + 13.309 |
| 6 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 78 | + 13.853 |
| 7 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 78 | + 14.908 |
| 8 | Yuki Tsunoda | RB | 77 | + 1 Lap |
| 9 | Alex Albon | Williams | 77 | + 1 Lap |
| 10 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | 77 | + 1 Lap |
| 11 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | 76 | + 2 Laps |
| 12 | Daniel Ricciardo | RB | 76 | + 2 Laps |
| 13 | Valtteri Bottas | Sauber | 76 | + 2 Laps |
| 14 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | 76 | + 2 Laps |
| 15 | Logan Sargeant | Williams | 76 | + 2 Laps |
| 16 | Guanyu Zhou | Sauber | 76 | + 2 Laps |
| RET | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | 0 | Collision |
| RET | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | 0 | Collision |
| RET | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas | 0 | Collision |
| RET | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | 0 | Collision |
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