The track shouldn’t do that
The problem was a new patch of tarmac that apparently wasn’t up to scratch and started deteriorating under the cars’ tires. First, we got a safety car when Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin understeered into the barrier on lap 60, then a red flag—suspending the race—when it happened to Leclerc’s Ferrari on lap 65. Leclerc blamed the poor brakes on his car for his crash, but the fact that his left front wheel was covered in broken bits of tarmac seems a more likely cause of his terminal understeer.
Credit:
Luca Barsali/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Since 2004, more than 70 percent of Monaco Grands Prix have been won from pole position.
Credit:
Luca Barsali/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Once the race organizers were satisfied that the problem wouldn’t get worse, the race resumed with another standing start. It seems that poor Mercedes starts are a thing of the past; in Canada and now Monaco, Antonelli has repeatedly gotten off the line without losing positions, something that happened too often during the first four Grands Prix of the year. Again, he drove off into clear air, finishing the race 6.2 seconds ahead of Hamilton, who claimed his 10th Monaco podium, equalling Ayrton Senna’s record.
Hamilton is now second in the championship, too; George Russell lies third after finishing out the points as a result of a drive-through penalty that saw him finish 12th. Russell was one of a number of drivers (including Hamilton) who earned pit stop penalties for speeding in the pit lane. The problem? Drivers taking a slightly different line into the pit lane to avoid the Cadillac pit box.
While their cars didn’t exceed the 60 km/h pit lane limit, F1 uses timing loops embedded in the track and transponders in the cars to determine pit speeds, and avoiding the Cadillac box created a shorter route that triggered penalties for multiple drivers, some for as little as 0.1 km/h over the limit. Alpine’s Pierre Gasly probably felt the most aggrieved—he had succeeded in overtaking Lando Norris’ McLaren early in the race and was lying in third place at the end, before his penalty time demoted him to 7th.
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