2021 F1 Monaco Grand Prix: Winners And Losers

The 2021 Monaco Grand Prix may have been a single-file race, but it served up a lot of surprise results up and down the field, with Red Bull Honda’s Max Verstappen taking the win. Here are the winners and losers from the fifth round of the 2021 Formula One season:

Winners

Red Bull Honda

Red Bull Honda could not have had a more perfect Monaco Grand Prix. Sure, Max Verstappen lost out on pole position to Charles Leclerc. But with the Ferrari driver unable to start the race, Verstappen had a clear path to take the lead. The Dutchman stayed in control to take his second win of the season. On the other side of the garage, Sergio Perez more than made up for his poor qualifying with a brilliant overcut strategy to finish fourth, just a stone’s throw away from the podium. 

This race was crucial for both drivers and constructors’ standings. Verstappen took the championship lead for the first time, sitting four points ahead of Mercedes’s Lewis Hamilton. It’s even closer in the constructors’ standings, with Red Bull Honda leading Mercedes by just one point. It's the first time Red Bull has led the constructors' standings since the season-ending 2013 Brazilian Grand Prix.

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Carlando 

The much loved ‘Carlando’ bromance of Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris resumed at Monaco with the ex-McLaren teammates finishing second and third, respectively. The sole Ferrari of Carlos Sainz was in fine form all race, even closely matching Verstappen at certain points to eventually take his first podium for Ferrari. 

The bigger surprise was McLaren’s Lando Norris. With a little luck on his side, he managed to sneak in a third-place finish after retirements up front. The McLaren driver also comprehensively beat teammate Daniel Ricciardo to the point of lapping him in the race. This consistency puts Norris third overall in the drivers’ standings (and ahead of Bottas and Perez, who drive faster cars, at least on paper).

Aston Martin

Arguably the team of the day, Aston Martin got their race strategy absolutely spot on. Four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel’s overcut strategy got him a fifth-place finish and a long-awaited first points of the season. The same plan also worked brilliantly for teammate Lance Stroll, whose long first stint on the hard tyres afforded him the eighth spot at the end. A massive points’ haul catapulted them to fifth in the constructors’ standings, in the fray along with Alpine and Alpha Tauri. 

Losers

Mercedes

A weekend to forget for the reigning world champions on both sides of the garage. Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton was already struggling with a poor qualifying at seventh. And a botched undercut attempt in the race meant he finished exactly where he had started.  

For teammate Valtteri Bottas, things looked good when he was in second place, closely following Verstappen in the first stint and setting to pounce on an undercut opportunity in the pit stops. But that’s where all the good work was undone, as a right front wheel nut failure abruptly ended his race. Mercedes will be hoping to bounce back in Baku after losing the lead in both the drivers and constructors’ standings.

Charles Leclerc 

It looked like a fairytale home race for Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. But his Monaco curse reared its ugly head again. He put his Ferrari on pole position but crashed on his final qualifying attempt. Although Ferrari had reported no significant damage to the gearbox the next day, a driveshaft issue was reported on the warm-up lap, which couldn’t be fixed in time for the race. That put the pole-sitter out of the race before he could even start. This just piles on the agony for the Monegasque driver, who hasn’t been able to finish his home race since his F2 days in 2017. 

Daniel Ricciardo 

While one side of the McLaren garage had a fantastic weekend in Monaco, things weren’t as good on the other shore for Daniel Ricciardo. The Australian had to struggle throughout the weekend, eventually qualifying 12th. He couldn’t make up in the race either, and was lapped by teammate Lando Norris to finish exactly where he started. A weekend to forget for Ricciardo, who will be hoping to better adapt to his MCL35M in the subsequent races.

From here, Formula 1 action moves to the Baku street circuit in Azerbaijan. The sixth round of the season is scheduled for June 06. With a mix of long straights and tight corners, it could be anyone’s game at the top between Red Bull and Mercedes.

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