Perez Wins in Monaco as Ferrari Strategists Falter

The weather gods smiled upon F1 on the weekend as dark clouds formed over the Monte Carlo streets minutes before the Monaco Grand Prix, giving us the most exhilarating race around the principality for years. After strategic blunders by the Ferrari pit wall, Sergio Perez vaulted from P3 on the grid to win his first-ever Monaco GP, joining names like Ayrton Senna, Michael Schumacher, and Graham Hill. The win sees the Mexican close in on Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc in the championship standings while Red Bull extends their lead in the constructors' fight.

The heavy downpour that started ten minutes before lights out left viewers waiting for on-track action as race control halted proceedings for some 45 minutes to wait out the weather. The rain put Monaco's drainage network to the test, with streams of water running down the sides of the public roads that make up the Circuit de Monaco. When the race director decided there was enough of a gap in the weather, the Grand Prix began with a rolling restart after two formation laps behind the safety car to clear some standing water off the track's surface.

Polesitter Charles Leclerc immediately went to work by extending the gap to his Ferrari teammate Carlos Sainz in P2, although the entire grid drove tentatively during the opening laps. The Canadian duo of Nicholas Latifi and Lance Stroll weren't as careful, however, as both hit the barriers before the safety car had even returned to the pits, showing how treacherous the conditions were – or how overconfident they might've felt.

Although there were no passes for the lead in the opening laps, there were glimpses that this would not be a traditional Monaco procession. Pierre Gasly passed Guanyu Zhou on the inside of the Mirabeau corner, while Lewis Hamilton and Esteban Ocon dueled it out with side-by-side action into the first corner, Sainte Devote. Ocon later received a penalty for his overzealous defense that caused Hamilton to run with front wing damage, but seeing on-track battles in Monte Carlo was a pleasant surprise.

The race turned on its head as the track began to dry out. Red Bull brought in their lead driver Perez for intermediate tires on Lap 17. They timed the decision to perfection as their Mexican driver leapfrogged Leclerc for second place; Ferrari had waited for two laps to take their championship hopeful off the full wet tire compound. However, the Scuderia had left Carlos Sainz out, who had now inherited the lead, so they still could salvage something from the race, even with their mistake for the home hero Leclerc.

Unfortunately for any Ferrari fans, another error from the pit wall cost them even more dearly. With Sainz losing time to the trio behind him thanks to running with wet tires on a drying track, his team bypassed the intermediate tire and pitted him straight to slicks. When they did, though, they also radioed Leclerc to swap his Pirelli rubber, too. The result was Leclerc waiting in the pits for his teammate to finish his pit stop, losing valuable seconds as he did.

To add insult to injury, the timing of Ferrari's pit stops was a little too soon, and Red Bull found themselves pitting one lap later but running quicker on their warm intermediate tires than their rivals in red. The extra lap made all the difference, and when Perez and Verstappen returned to the track from their pit stops, each had passed a Ferrari without needing to overtake on track. So it was now Perez leading Sainz, with Verstappen and Leclerc running in P3 and P4; the Monegasque driver dropping three positions despite doing everything right all weekend.