Charles Leclerc remained calm under a first-lap red flag and secured his maiden victory on home soil, also notching up his first race win of the 2024 season.
Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen were demoted to the back of the grid after their Haas cars were found to have rear wing irregularities following qualifying.
The opening lap was chaotic: while Leclerc led from pole position into Turn 1, Pierre Gasly and Carlos Sainz made contact, causing the Spaniard’s front-left tyre to blow, leaving him unable to turn into Turn 4.
Further back, Sergio Perez was sandwiched between the two Haas cars climbing the hill after Turn 1. Magnussen’s left-front made contact with Perez’s right-rear, spinning the Red Bull. Hulkenberg, on the outside, tried to avoid the incident but was hit by the out-of-control Red Bull just before he could escape, resulting in a three-car pile-up. Zhou Guanyu, who started 18th and fell to the back, almost came to a halt before gingerly passing the accident site.
Before entering the tunnel, the two Alpine cars collided, with Esteban Ocon’s car launched into the air. Almost simultaneously, debris from Perez and Magnussen’s collision, along with barrier damage, prompted the red flag, halting the race for around 40 minutes. All remaining cars returned to the pit lane.
During the stoppage, Ocon retired due to damage, and he was deemed responsible for the incident with his teammate, receiving a 10-second penalty, which, as he wouldn’t continue, translated to a five-place grid drop and a two-point license deduction for the next race in Canada. The stewards reviewed Sainz and Gasly’s collision but decided against any action. No investigation was necessary for the incident involving Perez and the Haas drivers.
The restart order after the red flag was determined by the positions at the end of the second safety car line after the first lap. As Leclerc was stuck behind the incident at Massenet before the first timing sector, the FIA used the second safety car line after Turn 1, allowing Sainz to maintain third place.
With a static restart, no positions changed. Those who switched from intermediates to hards or vice versa, or didn’t change tires, all focused on preserving rubber for the remainder of the race. Apart from Valtteri Bottas pitting on lap 17, Lance Stroll on lap 42, and Bottas again after an unexpected puncture, the order remained unchanged until lap 54 when Bottas overtook Logan Sargeant at Turn 6 for the first on-track pass.
Leclerc, in the lead, maintained a steady gap to Gasly, managing his tyres effectively. Mercedes tried to pit Lewis Hamilton in lap 51 to pressure Max Verstappen, but the Briton’s pace wasn’t sufficient, and Red Bull comfortably kept the Dutchman in sixth. Russell, in fifth, had no chance of catching fourth-placed Lando Norris.
In the closing laps, Sainz closed in on Gasly, while Verstappen, on fresher tires, looked for an opportunity past Russell but couldn’t find a way through.
Leclerc crossed the finish line 7.152 seconds ahead, securing his first home victory – his sixth overall in Formula 1. Gasly claimed his first Monaco podium, with Sainz rounding out the top three.
Norris, Russell, Verstappen, and Hamilton finished where they started. Yuki Tsunoda and Alexander Albon took eighth and ninth. Pierre Gasly, fortunate to escape damage in the early incident, finished tenth.
Fernando Alonso, who had been eliminated in Q1, started on intermediates and controlled his pace, finishing 11th ahead of Daniel Ricciardo. Bottas, with fresher tires after his stops, overtook Zhou and Sargeant, moving up to 13th after Stroll’s puncture. The Canadian managed to recover a few places on softs but finished 14th.
Zhou, starting on intermediates and switching to hards after the red flag, spent most of the race behind Alonso’s train. He managed to pass Sargeant late on but had to pit for softs due to significant tyre degradation, eventually finishing 16th after a challenging weekend.
With Verstappen failing to finish in the top five for the first time since Singapore last year, Leclerc reduced the championship deficit to 31 points. With three victories this season, Ferrari trails Red Bull by only 24 points in the constructors’ standings. Albon’s points for Williams mean that Sauber is now the only team yet to score points this year.