2021 Monaco Grand Prix

## Lap Leader

The **2021 Monaco Grand Prix** was a Formula 1.5 motor race held on 23 May 2021 at the Circuit de Monaco, a street circuit that runs through the Principality of Monaco. It was the fifth round of the 2021 Formula 1.5 World Championship, the 78th time that the Monaco Grand Prix was held, and the first time it had been held since 2019 after the 2020 round was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The 78 lap race was won by Carlos Sainz of Ferrari after teammate polesitter Charles Leclerc failed to start the race with a driveshaft problem.

## Background

### **Entry List**

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

### **Tyres**

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

### **Team Celebrations**

This race marks the 750th race start for the Williams team, and to celebrate the occasion, Williams placed the names of 100 Williams supporters on the halo of their car, the FW43B. McLaren also ran a special one-off Gulf Racing inspired livery for the event, to celebrate their collaboration started in the 1960s.

### **Championship Standings going into the race**

Lando Norris was leading the championship by 8 points over the Ferrari driver of Charles Leclerc. Daniel Ricciardo for McLaren was ahead of Carlos Sainz in the championship for third. In the constructors, McLaren lead Ferrari by 15 points.

## Practice

Free Practice one was topped by Ferrari's Carlos Sainz ahead of Pierre Gasly of AlphaTauri and Lando Norris of McLaren. Charles Leclerc failed to complete the session after an early technichal issue. FP2 was topped by the two Ferrari cars of Leclerc and Sainz ahead of Lando Norris by half a second. Whilst in FP3, the session was red flagged twice after Latifi crashed into the barriers after the swimming pool chicane and Mick Schumacher destroyed his car in another crash at the top of the hill.

## Qualifying

Charles Leclerc qualified on pole despite crashing in the final minutes of Q3, whilst Carlos Sainz joined him on the front row having qualified second. Mick Schumacher was not able to participate in qualifying due to a heavy crash in the final practice session.

## Race

### **Race Report**

Ferrari inspected Charles Leclerc's car overnight after his crash in qualifying. The primary concern was Leclerc's gearbox, but it was cleared, and it was expected that Leclerc would start on pole. On race day, Leclerc brought the car out from the pits on the reconnaissance lap out to the grid, and a failure in the left driveshaft was detected. There was not enough time to repair the problem before the race, and thus Leclerc did not start in the race. Ferrari later discovered the issue was caused by cracked left-rear drifeshaft hub.

Due to Leclerc's retirement, pole position on the grid was left empty, leaving Carlos Sainz as the de facto polesitter, though he lined up in the second grid position. Sebastian Vettel scored his first podium of the season, and first for his new team Aston Martin. Carlos Sainz also took his first win for Ferrari, and his first win since Japan 2019 when he drove for McLaren. The race in total featured just one on-track overtake when Mick Schumacher overtook his Haas teammate Nikita Mazepin at the Fairmont Hairpin on the opening lap with FIA open to suggesting layout changes for the future to the improve the on track excitement at the venue.

### **Post Race**

In the aftermath of Leclerc's qualifying crash, FIA race director Michael Masi stated the FIA was looking into the possibility of introducing a rule where drivers who cause red flags in qualifying have their lap times deleted, to avoid the possibility of drivers crashing intentionally to prevent other drivers improving, though Masi said he was convinced Leclerc's qualifying crash was a genuine driver error. Télé Monte Carlo's broadcast direction was criticised after cutting away from Vettel's duel with Pierre Gasly to a replay of Lance Stroll hitting a kerb. A few laps later, a replay of the Gasly/Vettel battle was again cut off as the camera switched to F1 driver Perez pitting.

## Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings

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Constructors' Championship standings

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## External Links

1. ↑  Charles Leclerc set the fastest qualifying time, but did not start the race. Pole position was left vacant on the grid. Carlos Sainz, in the second slot, was the first driver on the grid. Leclerc is still considered to have held pole position.
2. ↑  Mick Schumacher did not take part in qualifying due to an accident that occurred during the third practice session. He was permitted to race at the stewards' discretion. He also received a five-place grid penalty for an unscheduled gearbox change. This made no difference as he had been due to start the race from last regardless.
3. ↑  Charles Leclerc did not start the race. His place on the grid was left vacant.