An early strategic blunder from Ferrari handed victory of the 2022 Monaco Grand Prix to Sergio Perez and Red Bull.
Both Ferraris started on the front row of the grid and after a one hour delay to the start of the Monaco GP due to rain, the race began under the Safety Car with Leclerc leading the cars round the wet circuit all on wet tyres.
But a poor call when the track was drying, meant the Ferrari pair double stacked in the pit lane which allowed Perez to take the lead, Sainz to jump Leclerc and Verstappen to overtake the Monegasque as well.
From there, we saw a red flag as Mick Schumacher crashed, and Perez stayed in first after the restart to bring his Red Bull home in first.
“It’s a dream come true, as a driver you dream of winning here,” Perez said after the race, as he became the the most successful Mexican driver in F1.
“After your home race, there is no more special weekend. With the graining, to not make any mistakes, to keep Carlos behind was not easy. It’s a massive day for myself and my country.”
Tyre chaos
That was the story of the opening quarter of the Grand Prix as the Ferrari and Red Bull cars waited to move off the full wet tyres, as Pierre Gasly in the AlphaTauri caught up to the pack and scythed his way through those on intermediate and wet tyres.
Red Bull were first to make a move and brought Sergio Perez in on Lap 17 to put on the intermediates, Carlos Sainz in the Ferrari was adamant that that the correct decision to move directly to slicks was best and he stayed out. Leclerc and Max Verstappen came in for inters on Lap 19.
With Perez catching Sainz, Ferrari brought both their cars in on Lap 22 and in double stacking them, Leclerc lost track position to his teammate, then on the following lap Red Bull did the same. That allowed Perez to jump Sainz and Verstappen moved into third.
Pole sitter and race leader for the majority, Charles Leclerc, went from first to fourth after the first round of pit stops, and as you can imagine he was furious.
Schumacher crash
The Haas of Mick Schumacher found the barriers at the Swimming Pool Complex and brought out the red flag as he lost the rear of the car and spun multiple times, hitting the barriers while doing so.
That split his car in two with the rear wing and gearbox coming away from the front of the car. Thankfully, Schumacher walked away.
Full points awarded
The Monaco GP was scheduled to be run over 78 laps, but the delay to the start and the red flag during the race, only 64 laps were done. However, with more than 75 percent of the Grand Prix being run, full points were awarded.
