F1 Monaco Grand Prix live reaction (2024)

• Charles Leclerc wins from pole for Ferrari
• Piastri (MCL) & Sainz (FER) complete podium, with Verstappen finishing P6
• Race red-flagged on L1 after Perez's Red Bull wiped out
• Hulkenberg, Ocon also out after L1 crashes

✉️ Get in touch: livebloguk@theathletic.com

Subscribe to The Athletic using our latest discount code

It may not have been the most thrilling race of the year, but Charles Leclerc won't mind, and neither do we. After a year of utter domination by Max Verstappen, we've got four winners from our first eight races —and a real shot at an exciting year.

We'll see you in two week's time in Montreal for the Canadian Grand Prix.

Speaking with Will Buxton on F1TV on Saturday, F1 great Jackie Stewart — a three-time world champion and three-time Monaco winner —made it quite clear how he feels about Monaco's place on the calendar: “If you haven’t won in Monaco, there’s something wrong with your career.”

Leclerc can rest easy now, knowing there's nothing at all wrong with his career.

Asked about his collision with teammate Esteban Ocon after today's grand prix, Alpine's Pierre Gasly didn't get into the details, but made clear he wasn't happy about what the stewards deemed an "overly ambitious overtaking attempt, from too far back" on the part of Ocon, who was "wholly to blame for the incident." Ocon received a five-place grid penalty that will be applied at the Canadian GP in two weeks' time, and took the blame after the race.

Gasly still wasn't too happy. “These things should not happen," he told F1TV. "There were clear instructions on what we were supposed to do and what we were expected to do, and this was not respected.” “We’ll talk about it and I’m sure we’ll find solutions and move on in the future.”

But hey, at least Gasly held onto his P10 starting place, scoring Alpine's first point of the year.

After today’s grand prix, Red Bull is still on top of the constructors’ standings, but Ferrari is just 24 points behind, well within striking distance. That’s a combination of Max Verstappen not winning every race and Sergio Pérez sliding back of late. After starting off the year with finishes in P2, P2, P5, P3 and P4, he finished eighth at Imola and DNF’ed here. That Lap 1 crash wasn’t his fault, but he was only back in the pack and at risk because he qualified P16 on Saturday, failing to get out of Q1.

One look at Sergio Pérez's destroyed RB20 was all anyone needed to know repairing that car would take time. After the race, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner confirmed fixing it would be expensive.

“Don’t know on the engine and the chassis [damage], but it is obviously a significant accident, so it’s a costly one, very costly,” Horner said.

Pérez crashed out on the opening lap when Haas driver Kevin Magnussen ran out of room at Beau Rivage and turned the Red Bull into the wall. The incident took out both drivers and the other Haas of Nico Hülkenberg.

"It was a horrible-looking accident, and your heart is in your mouth at that point, and immediate focus is on the safety of the driver," Horner said. "Cars can be fixed. The structure and the halo and everything did its job. The most important is Checo was able to walk away from what looked a very nasty incident, unscathed."

You've got an update on the drivers' standings already but this is the constructors' championship picture, and it emphasises how good a weekend this has been for Ferrari.

It's also seen McLaren continue to open their gap ahead of Mercedes.

Here you go. This is the final result from the 2024 Monaco Grand Prix:

• 1 LECLERC (FER) // 2 Piastri (MCL)
• 3 Sainz (FER) // 4 Norris (FER)
• 5 Russell (MER) // 6 Verstappen (RBR)
• 7 Hamilton (MER) // 8 Tsunoda (RB)
• 9 Albon (WIL) // 10 Gasly (ALP)
• 11 Alonso (AST) // 12 Ricciardo (RB)
• 13 Bottas (SAU) // 14 Stroll (AST)
• 15 Sargeant (WIL) // 16 Zhou (SAU)
• NC: Ocon (ALP), Perez (RBR), Hulkenberg (HAS), Magnussen (HAS)

This is lovely from Carlos Sainz, and says a lot about the man who was willing to spend his weekend helping his Ferrari teammate secure a special success.

And all after looking like he'd be out of the race on lap one, only to be reinstated after the red flag restart. Here's Carlos:

💬 "Obviously a very bad feeling there that very quickly turned into a very good feeling after getting reinstated. It's just impossible to get past through the streets of Monaco.

"But I'm extremely happy to see Charles win his home grand prix the way he's been driving all weekend. I managed to share this podium with him and it is a great feeling for the whole team. I think they all deserve it.

"It looks like we we're getting stronger and stronger every weekend."

What a lovely day for Oscar Piastri, who showed his class all weekend and led McLaren from the front with a podium finish ahead of a race-winning teammate in Lando Norris. Here's what he said:

💬 "Tricky race. The pace of the beginning was incredibly slow and I had one little half-look (at overtaking Leclerc) before the tunnel, but didn't have a small enough car to fit into a gap.

"It's nice to finally put a result on the board. We've been very strong for the last few weekends but didn’t have much to show for it. So, nice to to have a podium and what better place?

"Charles has been mega all weekend, and I think it would have taken something pretty special in quali to outdo him...probably the best lap of my life. So I'm happy with with P2, a good result for the team again."

Race winner, Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, flanked by Oscar Piastri second for McLaren (left) and Ferrari teammate Carlos Sainz third.

And all with not a Red Bull in sight.

We'll come back to reaction at the top of the results today, but you may have missed some of these from further down:

• WILLIAMS have their first points of the season! That's thanks for Alex Albon, who followed up a superb qualifying by also finishing ninth in the race.
• That means Sauber remain the only constructor yet to score a point so far in 2024, after eight rounds.
• Yuki Tsunoda's eight place finish for RB here helps him extend his lead in P10 of the drivers' championship, ahead of Lance Stroll.

You can hear the emotion bubbling away in Charles Leclerc's words. here's what he had to say after emerging from his Ferrari as a Monaco Grand Prix winner:

💬 "No word can explain it. It's such a difficult race. The fact twice I've started on pole and we couldn't make it, makes this even better. It means a lot.

"Obviously, it is the race that made me dream of becoming a Formula One driver one day. Already 15 laps to the end, you are just hoping nothing happens. Already the emotions were were coming.

"I have to say I was thinking about my dad a lot more than what I thought while driving. Obviously, he's given everything for me to be here and yeah, it was a dream of ours for me to race here and to win.

"So it's unbelievable."

Maybe delaying the inevitable here but with that win, Charles Leclerc takes a chunk out of Max Verstappen's lead in the drivers standings:

• 1: VERSTAPPEN — 169 points
• 2: Leclerc — 138
• 3: Norris — 113
• 4: Sainz — 108
• 5: Perez — 107

I told you Prince Albert was happy. He has his own bottle of champagne and is joining in with the spraying on the podium.

Just wonderful.

Wonderful for Charles Leclerc, but Sean Kelly has rather nailed why this Monaco Grand Prix won't be going down as a classic for any other reasons.

Although it clear was historic.