2024 Monaco Grand Prix

2024 Monaco Grand Prix
2024 Monaco Grand Prix
Race 8 of 24 in the 2024 Formula One World Championship
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	Layout of the Circuit de Monte Carlo, Monaco
Race details
Date	26 May 2024
Official name	Formula 1 Grand Prix de Monaco 2024
Location	Circuit de Monaco; La Condamine and Monte Carlo, Monaco
Course	Street circuit
Course length	3.337 km (2.074 miles)
Distance	78 laps, 260.286 km (161.772 miles)
Weather	Sunny
Pole position
Driver	Charles Leclerc;
Time	1:10.270
Fastest lap
Driver	Lewis Hamilton
Time	1:14.165 on lap 63
Podium
First	Charles Leclerc;
Second	Oscar Piastri;
Third	Carlos Sainz Jr.;
	Lap leaders ;

The 2024 Monaco Grand Prix (officially known as the Formula 1 Grand Prix de Monaco 2024) was a Formula One motor race held on 26 May 2024, at the Circuit de Monaco in Monaco. It was the eighth round of the 2024 Formula One World Championship. The race was won by Monégasque Charles Leclerc, his first victory since the 2022 Austrian Grand Prix and his first victory at home, ahead of Oscar Piastri and Carlos Sainz Jr., who completed the podium.

Leclerc became the first Monégasque driver since Louis Chiron in 1931 to win his home Grand Prix, as well as the first Monégasque driver to win the Monaco Grand Prix as a Formula One World Championship event.^[2] The Grand Prix was also the first race of the Formula One World Championship to have the top ten drivers reach the chequered flag in the same order that they started the race.^[3]

Background

The event was held at the Circuit de Monaco in Monaco for the 81st time in the circuit's history, across the weekend of 24–26 May.^[4] The Grand Prix was the eighth round of the 2024 Formula One World Championship and the 70th running of the Monaco Grand Prix as a round of the Formula One World Championship.^[5]

Championship standings before the race

Going into the weekend, Max Verstappen led the Drivers' Championship with 161 points, 48 points ahead of Charles Leclerc in second, and 54 ahead of his teammate Sergio Pérez in third. Red Bull Racing, with 267 points, led the Constructors' Championship from Ferrari and McLaren, who were second and third with 212 and 154 points, respectively.^[6]

Entrants

The drivers and teams were the same as the season entry list with no additional stand-in drivers for the race.^[7]

Tyre choices

Tyre supplier Pirelli brought the C3, C4, and C5 tyre compounds (the softest three in their range) designated hard, medium, and soft, respectively, for teams to use at the event.^[8]

Practice

Three free practice sessions were held for the event.^[1] The first free practice session was held on 24 May 2024, at 13:30 local time (UTC+2),^[1] and was topped by Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes ahead of Oscar Piastri of McLaren and Hamilton's teammate George Russell. A brief red flag was observed when debris was scattered across turn 1 after the Sauber of Zhou Guanyu made contact with the wall.^[9] The second free practice session was held on the same day, at 17:00 local time,^[1] and was topped by Charles Leclerc of Ferrari ahead of Hamilton and Fernando Alonso of Aston Martin.^[10] The third free practice session was held on 25 May 2024, at 12:30 local time,^[1] and was topped by Leclerc ahead of Max Verstappen of Red Bull Racing and Hamilton. A red flag was observed after the Sauber of Valtteri Bottas struck the wall at the swimming pool section, causing suspension damage.^[11]

Qualifying

Qualifying was held on 25 May 2024, at 16:00 local time (UTC+2).^[1]

Qualifying classification

Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Qualifying times			Final grid
Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Q1	Q2	Q3	Final grid
1	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1:11.584	1:10.825	1:10.270	1
2	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren-Mercedes	1:11.500	1:10.756	1:10.424	2
3	55	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Ferrari	1:11.543	1:11.075	1:10.518	3
4	4	Lando Norris	McLaren-Mercedes	1:11.760	1:10.732	1:10.542	4
5	63	George Russell	Mercedes	1:11.492	1:10.929	1:10.543	5
6	1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing-Honda RBPT	1:11.711	1:10.745	1:10.567	6
7	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:11.528	1:11.056	1:10.621	7
8	22	Yuki Tsunoda	RB-Honda RBPT	1:11.852	1:11.106	1:10.858	8
9	23	Alexander Albon	Williams-Mercedes	1:11.623	1:11.216	1:10.948	9
10	10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine-Renault	1:11.714	1:10.896	1:11.311	10
11	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine-Renault	1:11.887	1:11.285	N/A	11
12	3	Daniel Ricciardo	RB-Honda RBPT	1:11.785	1:11.482	N/A	12
13	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin Aramco-Mercedes	1:11.728	1:11.563	N/A	13
14	14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin Aramco-Mercedes	1:12.019	N/A	N/A	14
15	2	Logan Sargeant	Williams-Mercedes	1:12.020	N/A	N/A	15
16	11	Sergio Pérez	Red Bull Racing-Honda RBPT	1:12.060	N/A	N/A	16
17	77	Valtteri Bottas	Kick Sauber-Ferrari	1:12.512	N/A	N/A	17
18	24	Zhou Guanyu	Kick Sauber-Ferrari	1:13.028	N/A	N/A	18
DSQ	27	Nico Hülkenberg	Haas-Ferrari	1:11.876	1:11.440	N/A	19¹
DSQ	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas-Ferrari	1:11.832	1:11.725	N/A	20¹
107% time: 1:16.496
Source:^[12]^[13]

Notes

^1 – Nico Hülkenberg and Kevin Magnussen initially qualified 12th and 15th, respectively, but were subsequently disqualified because their DRS was found to not conform with the technical regulations. They were permitted to race at the stewards' discretion.^[12]^[13]^[14]^[15]

Race

The race was held on 26 May 2024, at 15:00 local time (UTC+2), and was run for 78 laps.^[1]

Race report

The race was red-flagged on lap 1 after a crash between Sergio Pérez, Nico Hülkenberg and Kevin Magnussen, all of whom retired. Magnussen had brought his car into Pérez's line, which would see the two make contact. Hülkenberg tried to pass the crash, but his rear was struck by Pérez's car. Zhou Guanyu, who was behind the three drivers, slowed down to avoid crashing.^[16] The crash resulted in heavy damage to the barriers and a large amount of debris being spread across the first corners.^[2] Red Bull estimated a £2.5-3 million cost to repair Pérez's car.^[17] Meanwhile, Leclerc's teammate Carlos Sainz Jr. picked up a puncture after contact with second-placed Oscar Piastri and dropped down to sixteenth, running wide into the casino corner, and as the Alpines exited Portier, Esteban Ocon squeezed himself into the path of Pierre Gasly, pitching the former's car upward. Ocon, who admitted responsibility for the incident, retired during the red flag period. The stewards investigated the Magnussen and Ocon incidents; deeming the former to be a racing incident, while the latter would later be given a five-place grid penalty for the following Canadian Grand Prix.^[18] Sainz, who was running in sixteenth, benefitted from the red flag facilitating a grid reset, as Zhou had not passed the first timing sector before the race was suspended.^[16]

The early red flag was a big deciding factor for the rest of the race strategy - drivers were able to swap to a second tyre compound during the red flag, eliminating the need for pit stops for the rest of the race. Of the top ten, only Hamilton and Verstappen made further pit stops after gaining a wide enough lead over Tsunoda to do so without losing track position.^[19]^[20] The resulting no-stop strategy required a very slow pace from the drivers in order to manage tyres, with Piastri commenting that at one point the pace was "slower than Formula 2."^[21]

Leclerc kept the lead following the restart to win the race ahead of Piastri, who scored his first podium of the season for McLaren, Sainz, and Lando Norris. This was Leclerc's first race win since the 2022 Austrian Grand Prix, and Ferrari's first Monaco Grand Prix victory since Sebastian Vettel took the win in 2017. Leclerc became the first Monégasque driver since Louis Chiron in 1931 to win his home Grand Prix, and the first to win it as a Formula One World Championship event.^[2]

Race classification

Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	78	2:23:15.554	1	25
2	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren-Mercedes	78	+7.152	2	18
3	55	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Ferrari	78	+7.585	3	15
4	4	Lando Norris	McLaren-Mercedes	78	+8.650	4	12
5	63	George Russell	Mercedes	78	+13.309	5	10
6	1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing-Honda RBPT	78	+13.853	6	8
7	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	78	+14.908	7	7¹
8	22	Yuki Tsunoda	RB-Honda RBPT	77	+1 lap	8	4
9	23	Alexander Albon	Williams-Mercedes	77	+1 lap	9	2
10	10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine-Renault	77	+1 lap	10	1
11	14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin Aramco-Mercedes	76	+2 laps	14
12	3	Daniel Ricciardo	RB-Honda RBPT	76	+2 laps	12
13	77	Valtteri Bottas	Kick Sauber-Ferrari	76	+2 laps	17
14	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin Aramco-Mercedes	76	+2 laps	13
15	2	Logan Sargeant	Williams-Mercedes	76	+2 laps	15
16	24	Zhou Guanyu	Kick Sauber-Ferrari	76	+2 laps	18
Ret	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine-Renault	0	Collision damage	11
Ret	11	Sergio Pérez	Red Bull Racing-Honda RBPT	0	Collision	16
Ret	27	Nico Hülkenberg	Haas-Ferrari	0	Collision	19
Ret	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas-Ferrari	0	Collision	20
Fastest lap: Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) – 1:14.165 (lap 63)
Source:^[13]^[22]^[23]^[24]^[25]