# 2024 Monaco Grand Prix

The 2024 Monaco Grand Prix (officially known as the Formula 1 Grand Prix de Monaco 2024) was a Formula One motor race held on 26 May 2024, at the Circuit de Monaco in Monaco. It was the eighth round of the 2024 Formula One World Championship. The race was won by Monégasque Charles Leclerc, his first victory since the 2022 Austrian Grand Prix and his first victory at home, ahead of Oscar Piastri and Carlos Sainz Jr., who completed the podium.
Leclerc became the first Monégasque driver since Louis Chiron in 1931 to win his home Grand Prix, as well as the first Monégasque driver to win the Monaco Grand Prix as a Formula One World Championship event. The Grand Prix also marked the first race in the history of the Formula One World Championship to have the top ten drivers finish the race in grid-order, and the first since the 2020 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix to have the top 3 drivers who completed the podium.
This was Ferrari's first victory in Monaco since Leclerc's former Ferrari teammate Sebastian Vettel took the win in the 2017 edition of the race.

## Background

The event was held at the Circuit de Monaco in Monaco for the 81st time in the circuit's history, across the weekend of 24–26 May. The Grand Prix was the eighth round of the 2024 Formula One World Championship and the 70th running of the Monaco Grand Prix as a round of the Formula One World Championship.

### Championship standings before the race

Going into the weekend, Max Verstappen led the Drivers' Championship with 161 points, 48 points ahead of Charles Leclerc in second, and 54 ahead of his teammate Sergio Pérez in third. Red Bull Racing, with 267 points, led the Constructors' Championship from Ferrari and McLaren, who were second and third with 212 and 154 points, respectively.

### Entrants

The drivers and teams were the same as the season entry list with no additional stand-in drivers for the race.

### Tyre choices

Tyre supplier Pirelli brought the C3, C4, and C5 tyre compounds (the softest three in their range) designated hard, medium, and soft, respectively, for teams to use at the event.

## Practice

Three free practice sessions were held for the event. The first free practice session was held on 24 May 2024, at 13:30 local time (UTC+2), and was topped by Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes ahead of Oscar Piastri of McLaren and Hamilton's teammate George Russell. A brief red flag was observed when debris was scattered across turn 1 after the Sauber of Zhou Guanyu made contact with the wall. The second free practice session was held on the same day, at 17:00 local time, and was topped by Charles Leclerc of Ferrari ahead of Hamilton and Fernando Alonso of Aston Martin. The third free practice session was held on 25 May 2024, at 12:30 local time, and was topped by Leclerc ahead of Max Verstappen of Red Bull Racing and Hamilton. A red flag was observed after the Sauber of Valtteri Bottas struck the wall at the swimming pool section, causing suspension damage.

## Qualifying

Qualifying was held on 25 May 2024, at 16:00 local time (UTC+2).

### Qualifying classification

| Pos. | No. | Driver | Constructor | Qualifying times | Qualifying times | Qualifying times | Final grid |
| Pos. | No. | Driver | Constructor | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Final grid |
| 1 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1:11.584 | 1:10.825 | 1:10.270 | 1 |
| 2 | 81 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:11.500 | 1:10.756 | 1:10.424 | 2 |
| 3 | 55 | Carlos Sainz Jr. | Ferrari | 1:11.543 | 1:11.075 | 1:10.518 | 3 |
| 4 | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:11.760 | 1:10.732 | 1:10.542 | 4 |
| 5 | 63 | George Russell | Mercedes | 1:11.492 | 1:10.929 | 1:10.543 | 5 |
| 6 | 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull Racing-Honda RBPT | 1:11.711 | 1:10.745 | 1:10.567 | 6 |
| 7 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:11.528 | 1:11.056 | 1:10.621 | 7 |
| 8 | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | RB-Honda RBPT | 1:11.852 | 1:11.106 | 1:10.858 | 8 |
| 9 | 23 | Alexander Albon | Williams-Mercedes | 1:11.623 | 1:11.216 | 1:10.948 | 9 |
| 10 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine-Renault | 1:11.714 | 1:10.896 | 1:11.311 | 10 |
| 11 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine-Renault | 1:11.887 | 1:11.285 | N/A | 11 |
| 12 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | RB-Honda RBPT | 1:11.785 | 1:11.482 | N/A | 12 |
| 13 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin Aramco-Mercedes | 1:11.728 | 1:11.563 | N/A | 13 |
| 14 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin Aramco-Mercedes | 1:12.019 | N/A | N/A | 14 |
| 15 | 2 | Logan Sargeant | Williams-Mercedes | 1:12.020 | N/A | N/A | 15 |
| 16 | 11 | Sergio Pérez | Red Bull Racing-Honda RBPT | 1:12.060 | N/A | N/A | 16 |
| 17 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Kick Sauber-Ferrari | 1:12.512 | N/A | N/A | 17 |
| 18 | 24 | Zhou Guanyu | Kick Sauber-Ferrari | 1:13.028 | N/A | N/A | 18 |
| DSQ | 27 | Nico Hülkenberg | Haas-Ferrari | 1:11.876 | 1:11.440 | N/A | 19 |
| DSQ | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas-Ferrari | 1:11.832 | 1:11.725 | N/A | 20 |
| 107% time: 1:16.496 ||||||||
| Source: ||||||||
Notes
* ^1 – Nico Hülkenberg and Kevin Magnussen initially qualified 12th and 15th, respectively, but were subsequently disqualified because their DRS was found to not conform with the technical regulations. They were permitted to race at the stewards' discretion.

## Race

The race was held on 26 May 2024, at 15:00 local time (UTC+2), and was run for 78 laps.

### Race report

The race was red-flagged on lap 1 after a crash between Sergio Pérez, Nico Hülkenberg and Kevin Magnussen, all of whom retired. Magnussen had brought his car into Pérez's line, which would see the two make contact. Hülkenberg tried to pass the crash, but his rear was struck by Pérez's car. Zhou Guanyu, who was behind the three drivers, slowed down to avoid crashing. The crash resulted in heavy damage to the barriers and a large amount of debris being spread across the first corners. Red Bull estimated a £2.5-3 million cost to repair Pérez's car. Meanwhile, Leclerc's teammate Carlos Sainz Jr. picked up a puncture after contact with second-placed Oscar Piastri and dropped down to sixteenth, running wide into the casino corner, and as the Alpines exited Portier, Esteban Ocon squeezed himself into the path of Pierre Gasly, pitching the former's car upward. Ocon, who admitted responsibility for the incident, retired during the red flag period. The stewards investigated the Magnussen and Ocon incidents; deeming the former to be a racing incident, while the latter would later be given a five-place grid penalty for the following Canadian Grand Prix. Sainz, who was running in sixteenth, benefitted from the red flag facilitating a grid reset, as Zhou had not passed the first timing sector before the race was suspended.
The early red flag was a big deciding factor for the rest of the race strategy - drivers were able to swap to a second tyre compound during the red flag, eliminating the need for pit stops for the rest of the race. Of the top ten, only Hamilton and Verstappen made further pit stops after gaining a wide enough lead over Tsunoda to do so without losing track position. The resulting no-stop strategy required a very slow pace from the drivers in order to manage tyres, with Piastri commenting that at one point the pace was "slower than Formula 2." The following season, the FIA passed a new rule requiring all drivers to run three different sets of tyres at Monaco alongside the usual rules of two different compounds, with the explicit goal of making the race more entertaining.
Leclerc kept the lead following the restart to win the race ahead of Piastri, who scored his first podium of the season for McLaren, Sainz, and Lando Norris. This was Leclerc's first race win since the 2022 Austrian Grand Prix, and Ferrari's first Monaco Grand Prix victory since Sebastian Vettel took the win in 2017. Leclerc became the first Monégasque driver since Louis Chiron in 1931 to win his home Grand Prix, and the first to win it as a Formula One World Championship event.

### Race classification

| Pos. | No. | Driver | Constructor | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid | Points |
| 1 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 78 | 2:23:15.554 | 1 | 25 |
| 2 | 81 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren-Mercedes | 78 | +7.152 | 2 | 18 |
| 3 | 55 | Carlos Sainz Jr. | Ferrari | 78 | +7.585 | 3 | 15 |
| 4 | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren-Mercedes | 78 | +8.650 | 4 | 12 |
| 5 | 63 | George Russell | Mercedes | 78 | +13.309 | 5 | 10 |
| 6 | 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull Racing-Honda RBPT | 78 | +13.853 | 6 | 8 |
| 7 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 78 | +14.908 | 7 | 7 |
| 8 | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | RB-Honda RBPT | 77 | +1 lap | 8 | 4 |
| 9 | 23 | Alexander Albon | Williams-Mercedes | 77 | +1 lap | 9 | 2 |
| 10 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine-Renault | 77 | +1 lap | 10 | 1 |
| 11 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin Aramco-Mercedes | 76 | +2 laps | 14 | |
| 12 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | RB-Honda RBPT | 76 | +2 laps | 12 | |
| 13 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Kick Sauber-Ferrari | 76 | +2 laps | 17 | |
| 14 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin Aramco-Mercedes | 76 | +2 laps | 13 | |
| 15 | 2 | Logan Sargeant | Williams-Mercedes | 76 | +2 laps | 15 | |
| 16 | 24 | Zhou Guanyu | Kick Sauber-Ferrari | 76 | +2 laps | 18 | |
| Ret | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine-Renault | 0 | Collision damage | 11 | |
| Ret | 11 | Sergio Pérez | Red Bull Racing-Honda RBPT | 0 | Collision | 16 | |
| Ret | 27 | Nico Hülkenberg | Haas-Ferrari | 0 | Collision | 19 | |
| Ret | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas-Ferrari | 0 | Collision | 20 | |
| Fastest lap: Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) – 1:14.165 (lap 63) ||||||||
| Source: ||||||||
Notes
* ^1 – Includes one point for fastest lap.

## Championship standings after the race

| | Pos. | Driver | Points |
| | 1 | Max Verstappen | 169 |
| | 2 | Charles Leclerc | 138 |
| 1 | 3 | Lando Norris | 113 |
| 1 | 4 | Carlos Sainz Jr. | 108 |
| 2 | 5 | Sergio Pérez | 107 |
| Source: ||||
| | Pos. | Constructor | Points |
| | 1 | Red Bull Racing-Honda RBPT | 276 |
| | 2 | Ferrari | 252 |
| | 3 | McLaren-Mercedes | 184 |
| | 4 | Mercedes | 96 |
| | 5 | Aston Martin Aramco-Mercedes | 44 |
| Source: ||||
* Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.