Mayhem at Leclerc and Bottas +++ Verstappen win in Monaco – Hamilton 7th

Max Verstappen wins the Monaco Grand Prix and leads the World Cup. In Mercedes, there is chaos in the emirate. Bottas has to give up, and Hamilton only ranks seventh.

The great excitement had already begun half an hour before the start of the race. Charles Leclerc just couldn’t take the opportunity to start from the first place. Instead, Monegasse had to give up taking part in his home race. Ferrari’s transmission, which technicians found suitable for racing after a crash in qualifying after a thorough test, abandoned the ghost while driving the Leclerc to the starting grid.

Problems could have been solved by changing the gearbox. The accompanying penalty, a move to five starting positions, would have been in any case the lesser of two evils. As a result, Leclerc was frustrated and the entire team was disgraced by an embarrassing miscalculation.

Best start of the season for Verstappen

With the best free start position, the path was clear for Verstappen to claim his twelfth victory in Formula 1, and second this year after that at the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix in Imola. The Dutchman only gave up the lead for a short time during the hiatus. He was never in danger on this path where overtaking is practically impossible.

Since Lewis Hamilton had to be content with a seventh place in a Mercedes, Verstappen also took the lead in the overall championship standings for the first time in his career. He is now four points ahead of the world champion.

Anarchy in botas

Despite Leclerc’s misfortune, Ferrari achieved their first podium this season. Carlos Sainz finished second after Valtteri Bottas, who was driving in front of him, had to retire in the other Mercedes after a good third of the distance. The reason for this was unusual. Finn had to surrender because the right front wheel could not be loosened when changing tires due to a jammed wheel nut. The third place went to Britain’s Lando Norris, who was Sainz’s team-mate for McLaren last season.

Antonio Giovinazzi finished 10th, giving Alfa Romeo their first championship point in the fifth race of the season. Kimi Raikkonen crossed the finish line in 11th place.