NOT even a sudden downpour could stop Max Verstappen’s Monaco masterclass.
The Dutchman was simply sublime in the dry during Saturday’s qualifying as he snatched pole right at the death to deny Fernando Alonso.
And he played it beautifully here on Sunday as he excelled in the dry and kept his nerve in the wet – albeit coming extremely close to barriers on numerous occasions.
Verstappen now has won four of the opening six races and has amassed a whopping 39-point over his Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez.
It looked all so straightforward until a shower two-thirds into this race threatened to turn it on its head, but the world champion weathered the storm.
Verstappen, who overtook Sebastian Vettel on to a record 39 race wins for Red Bull, said: “It was a difficult one. The rain was coming and we didn’t know what was going on with the tyres.
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“It started to rain lap by lap a bit more and it was incredibly slippery. You don’t want to push too hard and you don’t want to lose too much time.
“I hit the barriers a few times, but that’s Monaco. It is super-nice to win it in this way, in the weather and stay super-calm and bring it home.”
Verstappen made a clean start and managed to remain ahead of Alonso, who came close to hitting the barriers at turn one.
But his Red Bull team-mate Perez was not having so much fortune, starting dead last.
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The Mexican, who won this race last year to earn a new contract with the team, was caught up in a tangle with fellow backmarkers Nico Hulkenberg, Guanyu Zhou and Lance Stroll.
Perez was forced to make a pitstop on lap one, dropping him further behind while Hulkenberg was hit with a five-second penalty for causing the mess.
Carlos Sainz was next to make a mistake as he clattered into the back of Esteban Ocon while running in fourth place.
The Spaniard locked up and lost part of his front wing after going to the Alpine driver.
Out in front Verstappen was soon catching the backmarkers as he threaded his way through the congested streets like an on-the-clock food delivery driver.
He was soon lapping his team-mate, who despite his best efforts was still languishing near the back.
And so we settled in for the usual procession that sadly this once-thrilling spectacle can become.
While Saturday’s qualifying session will remain the best of the season – as Verstappen and Alonso traded places with such mesmeric driving – Sunday’s race day has become somewhat tiresome and reliant upon some freak weather or an accident.
First, the rain clouds moved away as they teased to help shuffle the order, but they did return to the Principality with a vengeance on Lap 52 of 78.
The rain livened things up as drivers and teams panicked. Verstappen was noticeably agitated over the team’s radio.
As he tiptoed his way around the wet track on slicks, incredibly Aston Martin called in Alonso and Stroll for new tyres at the end of lap 54 – but they bizarrely opted for new slicks.
It was a terrible move and resulted in both drivers being forced to make another pit stop a lap later for intermediate tyres to cope with the standing water.
It was the opposite for Mercedes, who played it smart and put both Lewis Hamilton and George Russell on intermediates.
Meanwhile, Verstappen was still on slicks and was forced to reduce his lap time after coming so close to striking the wall at Portier.
It made it even more incredible that Aston had bungled their strategy as the Dutchman was a sitting duck – but only had Alonso been on the correct tyre.
The rain continued to make things tricky while Verstappen eventually made it back to the pits for intermediate tyres.
Sainz spun, Russell clattered into Perez, earning him a five-second penalty – and Stroll crashed out of the race.
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But Verstappen held his nerve and while Aston’s tyre mistake made it easier, he was able to come home in first place 27 seconds clear of Alonso.
Ocon made it home in third and Hamilton managed to move up to fourth place ahead of Russell after Ferrari’s tyre strategy dropped Charles Leclerc to sixth.
Source: Motorsport - thesun.co.uk
