Monaco is my favourite race on the calendar. It may be a little boring at times but it holds a lot of prestige and history around its 19 corners.

This year, we had a wet race. It has been a while since we have seen that in Monaco. However, while I love a wet race, this was a little annoying as it delayed the start for quite a while. Finally it was time to go racing again, but after completing the formation lap, there was a red flag thrown as it was still too wet to drive. After waiting it out, there was a rolling start behind the safety car, which came in on lap 3.

Pit stops can be tricking when it rains. It can be really hard to decide when is a good time to go from wet to intermediate to slick tyres. Some driver’s like George Russell decided to skip the intermediates all together and go straight to slicks. For most teams, pit stops were well timed and worked out in their favour. This was not the case for Ferrari. The Italians decided initially to double stack their drivers, but at the last second wanted to keep Charles Leclerc out. However, when they told the Monaco native to stay out it was too late and he was already driving down pit lane. Ultimately this ruined Leclerc’s race and he finished fourth after being expected to win.

The only penalty served after the race finished was Esteban Ocon’s five second one, which he got for causing a collision with Hamilton near the beginning of the race. This dropped him from eighth down to twelfth and promoting Lewis Hamilton, Valtteri Bottas, Sebastian Vettel, and Pierre Gasly each up one space.

The first retirement of the race was Kevin Magnussen, who completed 19 laps, with reliability issues. The second retirement was Mick Schumacher who crashed at Swimming Pool. The rear of the car, along with the gearbox, split from the front of the car as he collided with the barriers. He walked away unhurt but definitely shaken. The last retirement was Alex Albon, rendering his 5 second penalty pointless.

Sergio Perez held on until the line to finish first only 1.154 seconds ahead of, Sainz in second. Max Verstappen completed the podium. Charles Leclerc finished fourth followed by Russell in fifth, Lando Norris in sixth, Fernando Alonso in seventh, Hamilton in eighth, Valtteri Bottas in ninth, and Sebastian Vettel rounding out the points.

We are about to start our next double header this weekend in Baku. I can’t wait to get two weeks of racing in a row.