(Motorsport) It was pouring cats and dogs in Monaco as Sergio Perez secured an unlikely victory as Red Bull outsmarted Ferrari who had some drama in the pit-stop. The Italian manufacturer had a sub-standard strategy, asking Leclerc to pit too late and then changing their minds at the end moment, resulting in the Monegasque driver being relegated to fourth place on the grid. The race eventually concluded 12 laps earlier due to the rain delay and the Mexican held his lead despite Carlos Sainz’s efforts to get his first win. The result meant that Verstappen extended his Championship lead to 9 points.

As for Mercedes, George Russell finished in fifth place while Lewis Hamilton was eighth. The seven time World Champion was left frustrated by Esteban Ocon’s Alpine. There was controversy at the race as well with Ferrari complaining to the stewards for Red Bull’s pit infringements but the protests were dismissed with Perez and Verstappen being cleared of any possible penalties. There was also a red flag towards the end of the race as Mick Schumacher had a scary crash with his Haas car being split in two. Thankfully, the German emerged unharmed and unscathed.

Understandably, Charles Leclerc was furious with Ferrari’s strategy, which resulted in the Monegasque driver going from first to fourth place in his home country. On the team radio, Leclerc said “****! ****! Why? Why? What are you doing?!” In the post race interview, Leclerc said “The season is long, but we cannot do that. Sometimes mistakes can happen but there has been too many mistakes today. Obviously in those conditions, you rely a little bit on what the team can see because you don't see what the others are doing with intermediates, with dry tyres. I have been asked questions about whether I wanted to go from the intermediates to the slicks and I said yes but not now, it will be a bit later on in the race. 

"But I don't understand what made us change our mind and go on these intermediates, I got undercut and then got stuck behind Carlos. There have been a lot of mistakes and we can't afford to do that. It is hard, as it has been the other years here so I am getting used to getting back home disappointed but we cannot do that, especially in the moment we are in now. We are extremely strong, our pace is strong, we need to take those opportunities and we cannot lose so many points like this. It is not even from first to second it is first to fourth because after the first mistake we have done another one. 

“I love my team and I am sure I will come back stronger but it hurts a lot. I think the first one was a very clear decision and a very wrong one and from that moment on the mess started. I don't know if it is panic, I obviously don't hear all the background radio that there is in the team but yeah, this is not up to me to judge. Obviously, the message that I had wasn't clear, the last wasn't clear because I was told to come in but then to stay out but I was already in the pit lane and that is where I basically let it all out on the radio and screamed because I knew I just couldn't do anything and I was done."

Monaco GP: Race Result

1) Sergio Perez, Red Bull
2) Carlos Sainz, Ferrari
3) Max Verstappen, Red Bull
4) Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
5) George Russell, Mercedes
6) Lando Norris, McLaren (fastest lap)
7) Fernando Alonso, Alpine
8) Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
9) Valtteri Bottas, Alfa Romeo
10) Sebastian Vettel, Aston Martin

Also read: Formula 1 could end the Monaco GP for more lucrative venues