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Formula 1
Monaco GP
F1 Monaco GP Live Commentary and Updates – Race
Minute-by-minute updates for the 2024 Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix.
The Monaco GP was stopped after barely half a lap due to a huge crash involving Sergio Perez and the two Haas cars.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc had just led away easily from pole ahead of McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, while behind Carlos Sainz first attacked Piastri at Ste Devote and then slid off at Casino Square with a suspected puncture.
Perez was eliminated by Kevin Magnussen trying to poke his nose into a gap on the run up the hill before Massenet, with their crash wreckage then swinging across the track and taking out Nico Hulkenberg as he tried to come by from just behind.
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Ricciardo has DRS down the pit straight on every lap, but it's never enough to get him remotely close enough to launching a move on Alonso. One line through the final sector means he's going to have to get creative somewhere to prize open the door.
Leclerc continues to lead with Piastri tucked up under his rear wing. Behind them Sainz is playing with the gap, letting it grow to 3s and then quickly eating it back up - all to find the right tyre temperature to maximise its life.
Hamilton is now 18.3s up on Tsunoda in eighth. That gap has ballooned in recent laps.
Norris gets 1cm up to the wall at Sainte Devote, according to the TV graphics. That's one smart measuring tape they've got there.
McLaren says Sainz is in the graining phase, while Norris is on the abrasion phase. Tyre chat, coming at you live and loud.
You wouldn't put it past the wily Alonso to be dropping back from Stroll intentionally to give his Canadian team-mate a free pitstop. The best-placed Aston driver is currently P11, sitting just shy of a second back from Gasly ahead.
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"Little bit of abrasion on my front-left," Norris reports. He's told it is the same as McLaren saw on the Ferraris 10 laps ago by engineer Will Jospeh. So is McLaren confident of its tyre life advantage, or is it a bit of bluff work?
In case you were wondering, Bottas still has the fastest lap currently by over 1.5s courtesy of fresher tyres and clear air before he joined the back of the queue behind Alonso. Management remains the order of the day across the grid.
On to the 29th lap and Leclerc still leads with a 1.4s gap over Piastri. Norris has crept back into DRS range of Sainz in the fight for third, while Russell is nearly 14s off the top four.
There's no movement still in the train of cars stuck behind Alonso, who has dropped almost six seconds behind Stroll. Will Ricciardo continue to bide his time?
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Verstappen over team radio: "This is really boring, I should have brought my pillow."
Tsunoda's deficit to Hamilton continues to grow, and is now at 9s. If that trend continues, it could give a reprieve to the trio ahead on the mediums and all them to switch tyres without losing too much ground.
The gaps between the front four are starting to stretch as they all fall out of DRS range of each other. But given there are running 2-3s slower than expected, those gaps could be eaten into at any moment.
Ocon has confirmed that gearbox damage was the main factor in his retirement. Gasly is keeping Alpine hopes alive in tenth, circulating 2s back from Albon ahead.
The gap to Norris in fourth to Russell in fifth is up to 12s and that's enough for a pitstop if a safety car was called, as he would be able to get in and out without losing a place. He just needs someone to cause a safety car period, of course.
Well that didn't take long. Bottas has motored up to the back of team-mate Zhou, and now joins the long crocodile snaking around the circuit. Welcome to the traffic jam Valtteri.
Leclerc still leads from Piastri at the start of lap 22. The gap has grown to 1.3s but again that'll be down to tyre management.
Tsunoda in eighth has dropped almost 5s back from Hamilton, and Albon behind is getting impatient. The Williams starts putting him under pressure before then dropping back himself. Cat and mouse game this.
Norris has dropped off the front three by a second or so, perhaps to cool his tyres, given he is running last in this four-car train at the front.
Stopwatch
Bottas backs up that point by setting the fastest lap of the race to this point. A 1m16.561s, it's over two seconds quicker than anyone else has done so far. Unfortunately it means little when you're riding around in P16.
There's a queue of cars forming behind Alonso in P12. He's on the medium tyres trying to take things easy, but has Ricciardo, Sargeant and Zhou hard on his case. Bottas will catch this little bunch fairly quickly as it stands.
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18 laps completed and it is as you were at the front. Leclerc is keeping Piastri tucked up very close behind. "Charles is managing I guess? Because that was close with Piastri, one lap he might send it," Sainz comments from his third place vantage point.
It's quite early for Sauber to decide to pull the trigger, but perhaps it wanted to ensure it was the first of those to do so and reap the benefits Bottas can gain from running in clear air.
Pit stop
Bottas does become the first driver to pit on lap 16, dropping from 14th to 16th and last. He rejoins on the hard tyres.
We basically have two races going on at the front. The top four, all on hards, are managing their pace at a different rate to the trio of medium runners behind them. Therefore the top four are pulling away, but if Leclerc pulls away too far clear at the front, it could open a pitstop gap for any of the top four to grab and aim for an undercut.
Tsunoda has decided to play the long game with Hamilton it seems. He was over one second slower last time around, opening up the gap between them presumably to cool his tyres somewhat.
The top four are split by under two seconds, but that is largely due to Leclerc managing the pace at the front to look after his tyres. At the start of lap 14 he leads by 0.3s.
Sauber is readying some tyres. Possibly for Bottas, who is circulating 14th on mediums and perhaps wants to get ahead of the game if it does prove that keeping the yellow sidewall tyres alive to the end is impossible.
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Russell, to his credit, wants to up his pace but he's told by Mercedes: "At this stage we gain nothing from driving faster," which is never what you want to hear during an F1 race.
Hamilton is taking things easily in seventh trying to keep his mediums alive, knowing there will be little reward from getting too close to Verstappen ahead. Tsunoda behind is running on the hard, and the ball is in somewhat in the RB driver's court - does he try and force Hamilton into going quicker?
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"Not entirely sure why Russell is going so slowly. He's just giving them a free pitstop gap eventually. Yeah, keep it there for the moment," Verstappen, in sixth, is told by engineer Gianpiero Lambiase. Russell is 6s off Norris now.
Ordinarily if there is a crossover point where it is faster to take on new tyres, teams will bring their drivers in. Of course, this being Monaco, track position is everything.
Penalty
The FIA has clarified Ocon's rather odd penalty, his 10-second penalty will be converted into a grid penalty for the next race in Canada.
The big question is whether drivers on the medium (the C4 this weekend) will be able to keep their tyres alive, and how slow they will have to go to do so. Will there come a point on this warm (22.1 °C air temperature) and sunny day where they capitulate?
The Sainz vs Piastri opening lap clash has been reviewed but there will be no further investigation into it. On we go.
It isn't sexy, but this race is going to be entirely about tyre management for all drivers given they all effectively stopped at the end of lap one under the red flag. Just a 70-odd lap stint on mediums or hards.
Piastri is carrying damage from that opening lap clash with Sainz but is told his aero balance is OK and consistent. He remains within a second of Leclerc in second place.
Russell is told by Mercedes to back off from Norris to look after his tyres but his reply is "this is the only opportunity" as he tries to attack the McLaren driver for fourth. With Russell on mediums and Norris on hards, he wants to use his tyre advantage to make a move before tyre management becomes the priority.
Bottas also launched well to get ahead of Sargeant, taking 14th away from the Williams driver.
The back end of the top 10 remains unchanged, with Tsunoda heading Albon and Gasly, whose car was not as badly off as his team-mate's from their earlier fumble. Indeed the first driver to gain a place at that restart was Stroll in P11, with both he and Alonso leapfrogging Ricciardo.
By: Autosport Staff
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