Five Formula 1 Winners & Losers: Monaco Grand Prix

Photo from Getty Images

Monaco is usually not a very exciting race.

This time, it was also not exciting, but it was definitely weird!

Here are the winners & losers from the Monaco Grand Prix.

Losers

Honorable Mention: George Russell

I had other losers to get to, but I’d be remiss to not include George Russell here somewhere.

Russell is once again getting crushed by his teammate, and he was slower, but we’ll get to why he had a bad race a little later. Because it wasn’t totally his fault.

5. Sergio Perez

Checo got the first points in Cadillac F1 history.

That’s great!

Except he didn’t, because he lined up in the wrong starting grid to start the race which got him a penalty, so he finished 15th.

What can ya do?

4. Charles Leclerc

Leclerc was unhappy with his brake setup all weekend, which had him behind teammate Lewis Hamilton all weekend.

Despite that, he was still in line to get a podium at his home race.

But then those pesky brakes went wrong again, and he drove right into the wall on a safety car restart, ruining his race.

He was, understandably, not thrilled.

3. Mercedes

George Russell had a pit road speeding penalty (we will get to that later) and had to serve the penalty under safety car conditions.

Now, the rule is you can’t touch the car for 5 seconds before changing tires. That is serving the penalty.

The left side of George Russell’s car got the memo and waited.

The right side did not, and started changing the tires.

Therefore, Russell didn’t serve his penalty, and therefore had it applied to the end of the race, which cost him points.

Just an easy error to avoid, and they didn’t do it.

2. Alpine

Another driver who didn’t serve his pit road speeding penalty was Pierre Gasly.

And Pierre Gasly finished 3rd on the road to secure a Monaco Grand Prix podium.

Pierre was, understandably, EXTREMELY happy about this.

He was cheering on the radio. He was getting emotional. He was so happy.

And the reason he was so happy is because nobody at Alpine told him he had a penalty, and therefore wouldn’t keep the podium.

Not only is that just mean, it’s also just embarrassing to not give your driver that information.

1. The Pit Road Censors/FIA Stewards

Six drivers got speeding penalties for pit road speeding.

These are the best drivers in the world.

Having ONE speeding penalty on pit road is rare, but six???

Something was clearly wrong with the pit road censors.

And instead of realizing that, the stewards just obeyed it every single time instead of realizing that something might be wrong.

Most of these speeding penalties was 0.1 km/hr over the limit, and the remaining one was 0.4 km/hr over the limit.

That’s ridiculous, FIA.

Winners

5. Isack Hadjar

Did Hadjar luck into his podium because of all of the penalties? Yeah, pretty much.

Did he still get a Monaco Grand Prix podium? Absolutely.

That’s all that matters.

4. Esteban Ocon

With all the rumors of Ocon being on the outs at Haas, he really needed some good results.

9th may not be anything to write home about, but it’s points, and that can lead to some boosted confidence to maybe get on a hot streak and save his seat.

We’ll see, but it’s a good start.

3. Racing Bulls

5th and 6th for Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad!

That’s a huge result for the Red Bull junior team, and crucial for the midfield fight.

2. Lewis Hamilton

Lewis’ first year at Ferrari was a disaster.

This year has been a lot better, and Monaco was a great result for him.

2nd place, and faster than his teammate who is from Monaco and is trying to win that race more than any other one on the calendar.

So for Lewis to be faster than Leclerc this weekend, that’s a pretty great statement from the veteran.

Hopefully he can get a win this year for the Tifosi.

1. Kimi Antonelli

Last week, I asked if it was too early to talk about Kimi Antonelli as the youngest champion of all time.

I got my answer.

It’s no.

We need to start discussing it right away.

This kid is unbelievable.

He’s not only leading the championship battle, and beating his veteran teammate.

He’s running away with it.

I can’t say enough about how great he’s been this season.

Antonelli has now won five straight after George Russell won in Australia.

It’s unreal.