GET READY ladies and gents – the Monaco Grand Prix is finally here.
Charles Leclerc starts on pole position ahead of today’s race in what turned out to be a chaotic qualifying.
The Ferrari star took advantage of a dramatic crash involving Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen at the final turn of the circuit.
Whilst Lewis Hamilton had another poor day at the office as the seven-time world champion finished way down in eighth.
Keep up to date with all of the action below…
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Alonso holding off Hamilton
The answer to the previous post is no.
Fernando Alonso has actually managed to gain four-tenths on Lewis Hamilton in the last lap.
DRS now enabled
DRS has been enabled now, for the first time since the restart.
That will help Lewis Hamilton, who is less than four-tenths of a second behind Fernando Alonso.
Will he get him on the next lap?
Just over 30 mins on clock
There are 33 minutes left on the two-hour race clock.
So that will not be enough to complete a full 77-lap race.
Sergio Perez remains in P1, a shade under a second ahead of Carlos Sainz.
29 more laps expected
We’re not going to get a full 77-lap race here by the looks of it.
Red Bull tell Max Verstappen there are 29 laps left to run.
Lap 34 – Hamilton back to work
Lewis Hamilton is all over the back of Fernando Alonso here.
But the tight-streets of Monaco are making any potential overtake very difficult indeed.
He’s less than half a second behind the Spaniard.
Lap 33 – We’re back racing!
Right then, we’re back to green flag racing!
Charles Leclerc LOSES ground on Max Verstappen in P4, on what is a poor restart for the Ferrari man.
Sergio Perez locks up momentarily but just about manages to recover.
Rolling start behind safety car
The cars are back out on the track now led by Sergio Perez, after the safety car of course.
We’re just moments away from the resumption of the race!
Will there be drama now the cars have been bunched up together again?
The prospect of some more rain in the next 30 minutes means there might well be.
Race to resume at 4.15pm
Things are going to get back underway at 4.15pm (UK time).
That will make it a delay of around 20 minutes following that Mick Schumacher accident.
Schumacher with the doctor
Mick Schumacher is currently chatting with the race doctor.
He’s walking freely and appears to be fine as they walk together side-by-side.
That’s good to see.
Red flag – As it stands
Here’s a look at things as they stand, with the race just shy of the halfway mark.
- Perez
- Sainz
- Verstappen
- Leclerc
- Russell
- Norris
- Alonso
- Hamilton
- Ocon
- Bottas
- Vettel
- Gasly
- Ricciardo
- Stroll
- Tsunoda
- Zhou
- Latifi
- Albon
Reason for the red flag
This pause in the race is so the clean-up team can replace the barrier that Mick Schumacher clattered into.
Hopefully it won’t be for too long.
But thankfully Schumacher appears to be ok.
We have a red flag
The red flags are being waved now!
The cars are coming back into the pits on lap 30/77.
A look at the crash
Here’s the state of Mick Schumacher’s Haas car after his crash.
Fortunately he managed to walk away from the incident and appeared relatively unharmed.
Credit: Reuters Credit: AFP Lap 29 – Safety car still there
The safety car is still leading the drivers around the circuit.
We’re currently on lap 29/77.
Sergio Perez is leading from Carlos Sainz, ahead of Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc.
It’s looking like being another Monaco nightmare for hometown hero Leclerc.
Both Haas’ are out
Kevin Magnussen and Mick Schumacher have both retired from the race now.
So after UFC star Conor McGregor said yesterday said he was in Monaco supporting Haas, both of their cars are out.
A day to forget for the Notorious.
Yellow flag – Virtual safety car
Mick Schumacher has ploughed straight into the wall.
And his car has snapped in HALF.
He lost control and spun before smashing into the barrier, with the car doing its job of separating to ensure maximum safety.
This might take some cleaning up.
Schumacher says over team “I just can’t understand it.”
Lap 26 – Hamilton now fastest
George Russell isn’t the fastest man for long.
That honour has just gone to Lewis Hamilton, who has clear track in front of him.
He’s eight seconds behind Fernando Alonso.
Lap 26 – George Russell fastest
George Russell has just posted the fastest time of the race.
He’s up into P5 in Monaco.
Russell remains the only driver to have finished in the top five in every race this season.
Lap 25 – Hamilton in P8
Lewis Hamilton has been battling away with Esteban Ocon for P8.
The seven-time world champ is now ahead of the AlphaTauri man as he comes in to the pits.
Credit: AP Lap 23 – Ferrari double stack
Ferrari bring in Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc to go onto the hard tyres.
And Leclerc is fuming about it.
He’s held up behind his team-mate, and now Sergio Perez is LEADING the Monaco GP.
Lap 21 – Hamilton battling
Lewis Hamilton is all over the back of Esteban Ocon.
Ocon for now is holding firm, as Hamilton asks his team if Ocon is being investigated for his aggressive defence.
The answer to that is no, for now.
Lap 19 – Leclerc and Verstappen pit
The two championship favourites are in to the pits.
It means Carlos Sainz now leads the Monaco Grand Prix.
Sainz looks like he’s going to stay out and wait for slicks, instead of going in for the intermediates.
Lap 18 – Hamilton potential problem
That’s a close shave for Lewis Hamilton.
His front wing makes contact with the back of Esteban Ocon, but it looks like he’s escaped any damage.
Lap 17 – Perez in the pits
The P3 Sergio Perez is now also in the pits.
His Red Bull team-mate Max Verstappen is yet to go in.
Perez comes back out in P5, just behind Lando Norris.
Lap 16 – Hamilton pits
Lewis Hamilton is into the pits for the first time.
He switches from the wets onto the intermediate tyres.
Source: Motorsport - thesun.co.uk
