2021 Monaco Grand Prix Review

After a year away, Formula One returned to the jewel in its crown for the Monaco Grand Prix. Max Verstappen never looked in any danger of losing a typically processional affair in Monte Carlo. His victory sees him leading the F1 World Championship for the first time as his title fight against Lewis Hamilton heats up. Red Bull, too, took the lead in the Constructors' standings as the usually all-conquering Mercedes endured a weekend to forget.

Although passing around the streets of Monaco is nigh-on impossible, Verstappen's task was made much easier by the misfortunes of others. Most notably was the inability of the hometown hero, Charles Leclerc, to start the race, which somewhat gifted Max his first Monaco GP win. Leclerc was the marginally quicker half of a resurgent Ferrari team and stormed to provisional pole position on Saturday. Provisional quickly became confirmed as the Monegasque crashed out of the session at the Swimming Pool chicane. The damage to his Ferrari SF21 stopped the session, securing a P1 start for Leclerc.

However, any Saturday night celebrations quickly faded away into memory. Despite Ferrari's assurances that the damage to the car wasn't terminal, Leclerc could not start the race due to a driveshaft failure. His 'DNS' represents the third of three Monaco Grands Prix where Leclerc hasn't made the chequered flag. There was to be no head-to-head battle between F1's young stars this time around.

Valtteri Bottas was the man to benefit most from Leclerc's misfortune, moving from P3 to the front row. With no opponents in front of him, the Finn had a decent start and might've had the run on Verstappen if the Red Bull driver hadn't scythed across the track to cut the Mercedes off. It was a classic no-nonsense approach from Max, and he likely secured the race win right there and then.

The sister Mercedes and Max's championship antagonist, Lewis Hamilton, endured a torrid time at Monaco. The Brit never seemed to be at one with his Mercedes W12 and qualified a dismal P7. Any hopes to reduce the points damage Hamilton would suffer against Max rested on his team and teammate's abilities to halt Verstappen's progress. Those hopes would be wishful thinking as the German manufacturer's race unraveled through no fault but their own.

Hamilton could not get past the AlphaTauri of Pierre Gasly in P5, and the team opted for an undercut to try and get Lewis running in clean air on fresh tires. A standard strategy call, but Hamilton could not eke out an advantage on the new Pirelli rubber. With AlphaTauri responding immediately, Hamilton's single roll of the dice did not work. Instead, Sebastian Vettel and Sergio Perez were released into clean air and pressed ahead on their old tires. Both men got the jump on Hamilton and Gasly, further aggravating a furious Hamilton who wasted no time to complain via the radio.