Charles Leclerc Wins 2024 Monaco Grand Prix In [Mostly] Snoozefest Fashion
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc won the 2024 Monaco Grand Prix in what was mostly a snoozefest – apart from the Haas drivers making it somewhat interesting at the race start – as he led the race from pole to finish with McLaren’s Oscar Piastri finishing second and Leclerc’s Ferrari teammate, Carlos Sainz, Jr. finishing in the third and final podium position as none of the top seven places finishing on the lead lap ever changed place for the entire race.
Leclerc started from pole position and was never seriously challenged in the race as Piastri and Sainz, Jr. essentially followed him around the course for 78 laps – although Sainz, Jr. received a lucky reprieve as he suffered a punctured tire shortly before the only drama of the race occurred in the first lap when the Haas of Kevin Magnussen was attempting to pass Red Bull’s Sergio Perez and clipped Perez’s rear tire, sending them both into the wall and then Perez into the way of Magnussen’s Haas teammate, Nico Hulkenberg, taking out both Haas cars as well as Perez. Later in the same lap, Alpine’s Esteban Ocon inexplicably collided with his teammate, Pierre Gasly, resulting in the loss of Ocon’s car for the race.
The ensuing red flag for the Magnussen-Perez-Hulkenberg crash saved the bacon of Sainz, Jr., who was able to retain his place on the re-start, rather than re-start at the back of the pack, which would have sacrificed his final race position. Once the race re-started, none of the top seven places ever changed hand for the remainder of the race and only two of those drivers – sixth place Max Verstappen of Red Bull and seventh-place seven-time Formula One champion, Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes – even bothered to attempt to pit, but both were unable to improve their finishing place.
With the victory, Leclerc inches closer to Verstappen in the overall driver’s standings with Verstappen sitting on 169 points to 138 points for Leclerc in second, followed by McLaren’s Lando Norris in third with 113 points.