Max Verstappen triumphs in a chaotic and rainy race in Monaco

Max Verstappen has proven unbeatable . The world champion won an extremely chaotic Monaco Grand Prix , in which he had to deal not only with Aston Martin's strategy, but also with the unpredictable weather conditions that turned the race into madness in the final laps.

Fernando Alonso tried everything and finally got his best result of the season, taking second place. However, it leaves a bitter taste. The big question remains: what could have happened if Aston Martin had fitted Alonso with intermediate tires during his pit stop, when it started to rain in Monaco?

Ocon lands first podium of season despite attacks from Sainz

Verstappen was initially in first position at the start ahead of Alonso, but the turning point in the race was when Red Bull switched to medium tires while Alonso used hard tyres. Aston Martin chose to extend their stop while waiting for rain, which forced Verstappen to do the same with softer tyres.

The problem arose when the rain came and Aston Martin made a mistake. They got Alonso into the pits just in time, but put him on medium tires instead of intermediates. On the next lap, Verstappen changed to rain-suitable tyres, while Alonso had to return to the pits to have his replaced. With the right strategy, Alonso could have stayed very close to victory.

Third place was also hotly contested. Eventually, Esteban Ocon took it, achieving his first podium of the season with the Alpine team. The French driver managed to resist the attacks of a determined but unpredictable Carlos Sainz, who clearly had his sights set on the podium but made too many mistakes and finished eighth.

Sainz damaged his wing early on hitting Ocon, but he was still able to continue on the track. When the rain started to fall, he started pushing hard again with his Alpine car, but ended up making a mistake at Mirabeau and crashing into the wall. Fortunately, he was able to resume the race and ended up scoring a few points.

Once again, it was the shrewd members of the Mercedes team who stood out, securing fourth and fifth place, courtesy of a fast lap by Lewis Hamilton ahead of George Russell. The young English driver was particularly skilful in preserving his pit stop until the rain set in, although he was unfortunately involved in an incident with Sergio Pérez later, which earned him a five-point penalty. seconds to purge.

Sainz's spin

It was a miracle he was able to come back  #MonacoDAZNF1  ???????? pic.twitter.com/zxSEeIYetj

Max Verstappen's hopes of winning the world championship were seriously compromised due to Sergio Perez's poor performance in the race. Perez had to make up to four pit stops, had several collisions while trying to overtake and eventually finished sixteenth, only ahead of Nico Hulkenberg and a catastrophic rookie, Logan Sargeant, who came close to ridicule on his Monaco debut.

Lance Stroll also had a tough day, getting embroiled in trouble from the first lap. He lost many positions and saw his performance crumble in the pouring rain. Once again, the Aston Martin team only managed to score points with Alonso, which is starting to hurt the team's prospects. Although Aston Martin got four more podiums than Mercedes, they only picked up one point in total.

Elsewhere, the two McLaren cars managed to enter the points zone by both overtaking Yuki Tsunoda on the track, in the final straight of the race. Lando Norris preceded Oscar Piastri. Pierre Gasly, driving for the Alpine, also earned points finishing seventh, while Charles Leclerc finished sixth on home soil.

Race results Formula 1 GP Monaco 2023

General classification Formula 1

1. Max VERSTAPPEN (Red Bull-HOL), 144 points
2. Sergio PÉREZ (Red Bull-MEX), 105 points
3. Fernando ALONSO  (Aston Martin-ESP), 93 points
4. Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes-GBR), 69 points
5. George RUSSELL (Mercedes-GBR), 50 points