2019 Monaco Grand Prix

The 2019 Monaco Grand Prix (formally known as the Formula 1 Grand Prix de Monaco 2019) was a Formula One motor race held on 26 May 2019 at the Circuit de Monaco, a street circuit that runs through the Principality of Monaco. It was the 6th round of the 2019 Formula One World Championship, the 77th time that the Monaco Grand Prix was held, and the 66th time it had been held as a round of the Formula One World Championship since the inception of the series in 1950.

2019 Monaco Grand Prix
Race 6 of 21 in the 2019 Formula One World Championship
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Layout of the Circuit de Monte Carlo, Monaco
Layout of the Circuit de Monte Carlo, Monaco
Race details
Date 26 May 2019
Official name Formula 1 Grand Prix de Monaco 2019
Location Circuit de Monaco
La Condamine and Monte Carlo, Monaco
Course Street circuit
Course length 3.337 km (2.074 miles)
Distance 78 laps, 260.286 km (161.734 miles)
Weather Overcast
Pole position
Driver Mercedes
Time 1:10.166
Fastest lap
Driver France Pierre Gasly Red Bull Racing-Honda
Time 1:14.279 on lap 72
Podium
First Mercedes
Second Ferrari
Third Mercedes
Lap leaders

The race was won by Lewis Hamilton after starting from pole, with Sebastian Vettel and Valtteri Bottas promoted to second and third place respectively after Max Verstappen received a penalty, demoting him to fourth place.[1]

Background

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Championship standings before the race

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Heading into the race Lewis Hamilton held a 7-point lead over teammate Valtteri Bottas in the Drivers' Championship. In the Constructors' Championship, Mercedes held a 96-point advantage over Ferrari.[2]

Entrants

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The drivers and teams were the same as the season entry list with no additional stand-in drivers for either the race or practice.[3] This race saw Alfa Romeo driver Kimi Räikkönen celebrate his 300th Grand Prix entry.[4]

Events preceding the race

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Niki Lauda (pictured in 2016) died less than a week before the race.

On 20 May, less than a week before the race, three-time world champion Niki Lauda died at the age of 70, after a long period of ill health.[5] All teams had since paid tribute to Lauda on the weekend, with Mercedes, whom Lauda had been a key personnel, paid the highest tributes by painting their halos red and including a red three-pointed star on the engine cover on their cars until the remainder of the season.[6]

Qualifying

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During the first qualifying session, Nico Hülkenberg was blocked on his first flying lap by Antonio Giovinazzi at turn 17. Giovinazzi was later handed a three-place grid penalty. Around halfway through the session, after most drivers had come into the pits, Charles Leclerc had set the sixth fastest time. However, Ferrari decided not to send him out again in order to save tyres. As other drivers began to improve their lap times, Leclerc fell down the order and was eventually eliminated from Q1 by teammate Sebastian Vettel, the last driver to cross the line. Ferrari later admitted this was a team mistake.[7][8] Vettel's final lap was the fastest of the session.

In the second qualifying session, Pierre Gasly impeded Romain Grosjean, and was later given a three-place grid penalty. Max Verstappen set the fastest time of the session.

Lewis Hamilton took pole position with a new track record ahead of teammate Valtteri Bottas. As a result, Mercedes equalled the record for most front row lockouts, and Hamilton took the record for most pole positions with one constructor. Max Verstappen qualified in third, his highest qualifying position of the year.[7][9][10]

Qualifying classification

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Pos. No. Driver Constructor Qualifying times Final
grid
Q1 Q2 Q3
1 44   Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:11.542 1:10.835 1:10.166 1
2 77   Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1:11.562 1:10.701 1:10.252 2
3 33   Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing-Honda 1:11.597 1:10.618 1:10.641 3
4 5   Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:11.434 1:11.227 1:10.947 4
5 10   Pierre Gasly Red Bull Racing-Honda 1:11.740 1:11.457 1:11.041 81
6 20   Kevin Magnussen Haas-Ferrari 1:11.865 1:11.363 1:11.109 5
7 3   Daniel Ricciardo Renault 1:11.767 1:11.543 1:11.218 6
8 26   Daniil Kvyat Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda 1:11.602 1:11.412 1:11.271 7
9 55   Carlos Sainz Jr. McLaren-Renault 1:11.872 1:11.608 1:11.417 9
10 23   Alexander Albon Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda 1:12.007 1:11.429 1:11.653 10
11 27   Nico Hülkenberg Renault 1:12.097 1:11.670 N/A 11
12 4   Lando Norris McLaren-Renault 1:11.845 1:11.724 N/A 12
13 8   Romain Grosjean Haas-Ferrari 1:11.837 1:12.027 N/A 13
14 7   Kimi Räikkönen Alfa Romeo Racing-Ferrari 1:11.993 1:12.115 N/A 14
15 99   Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo Racing-Ferrari 1:11.976 1:12.185 N/A 181
16 16   Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:12.149 N/A N/A 15
17 11   Sergio Pérez Racing Point-BWT Mercedes 1:12.233 N/A N/A 16
18 18   Lance Stroll Racing Point-BWT Mercedes 1:12.846 N/A N/A 17
19 63   George Russell Williams-Mercedes 1:13.477 N/A N/A 19
20 88   Robert Kubica Williams-Mercedes 1:13.751 N/A N/A 20
107% time: 1:16.434
Source:[11][12]
Notes
  • ^1Pierre Gasly and Antonio Giovinazzi each received three-place grid penalties for impeding other drivers during qualifying.

Race

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Before the race started, there was a moment of silence to pay respects to Lauda, with the majority of personnel and fans wearing red caps.

The opening lap proceeded cleanly, with Lewis Hamilton maintaining his lead from pole position. Charles Leclerc began to fight through the field after starting in 15th place. Leclerc had made it up to 12th by lap eight, but touched the inside wall at turn 17 during an overtake attempt on Nico Hülkenberg, sending his Ferrari into a spin. This contact caused a right-rear tyre puncture. Over the course of the next lap, Leclerc fell to last place as his tyre ripped apart and caused significant damage to the car's floor, spreading debris around the track. After emerging from the pits after a tyre change, he was a lap down on the leaders. A safety car was deployed on lap 11 for the marshals to clear the debris.

The leaders made their pit stops at the end of the lap, during the safety car period. Valtteri Bottas, Max Verstappen and Sebastian Vettel entered the pits all within one car length of each other. Verstappen's pit stop was faster than Bottas's, and Verstappen was released alongside, but slightly ahead of Bottas, with the two cars making contact. Bottas had no choice but to yield at the pit exit, losing second place to Verstappen. Bottas was brought into the pits again on the following lap for a switch from medium to hard-compound tyres and for the team to check for damage, emerging in fourth place behind Vettel.

Racing resumed on lap 15. On the same lap, Antonio Giovinazzi attempted an overtake on Robert Kubica at turn 17, making contact and sending the Williams into a spin. Kubica's car stopped whilst facing sideways at the exit of the turn, blocking the circuit and forcing Giovinazzi, Hülkenberg, Leclerc, Sergio Pérez and George Russell to stop on track and wait for him to move aside so that they could pass Kubica. Leclerc came into the pits on the following lap for a switch to soft-compound tyres, but on his out-lap, Ferrari decided that the floor damage caused by his lap eight incident was too great. Leclerc returned to the pits and retired from the race, continuing his streak of failing to finish his home Grand Prix, after retiring from the 2018 Monaco Grand Prix and from both races at the 2017 Monaco Formula 2 round.

On lap 22, Verstappen was issued a five-second time penalty for his unsafe release in the pits ten laps earlier. On lap 26, Giovinazzi was issued a penalty of ten seconds for causing the incident on lap 15. He later served his penalty in the pits. Verstappen spent the rest of the race attempting to overtake Hamilton, who was suffering on worn tyres, in order to build a lead and win the race despite his penalty. On lap 76, Verstappen mounted his only close challenge of the race, on the inside of turn 10. He made contact with the rear of the Mercedes, causing both cars to cut the chicane. Verstappen was unable to get close enough for an overtake on the subsequent laps, and Hamilton crossed the finish line to take victory. Verstappen's penalty saw him demoted from second to fourth, with Vettel and Bottas promoted to second and third respectively. This marked the sixth consecutive victory in 2019 for Mercedes, but the first time that season that the team did not take a 1–2 finish. Completing the top ten were Gasly (who set the fastest lap of the race), Sainz, Kvyat, Albon, Ricciardo and Grosjean (who was penalized from 9th), both Toro Rosso cars finishing in the points for the first time since the 2017 Spanish Grand Prix, and their best finish since the 2015 United States Grand Prix.[13]

Race classification

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Pos. No. Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 44   Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 78 1:43:28.437 1 25
2 5   Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 78 +2.602 4 18
3 77   Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 78 +3.162 2 15
4 33   Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing-Honda 78 +5.5371 3 12
5 10   Pierre Gasly Red Bull Racing-Honda 78 +9.946 8 112
6 55   Carlos Sainz Jr. McLaren-Renault 78 +53.454 9 8
7 26   Daniil Kvyat Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda 78 +54.574 7 6
8 23   Alexander Albon Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda 78 +55.200 10 4
9 3   Daniel Ricciardo Renault 78 +1:00.894 6 2
10 8   Romain Grosjean Haas-Ferrari 78 +1:01.0343 13 1
11 4   Lando Norris McLaren-Renault 78 +1:06.801 12
12 11   Sergio Pérez Racing Point-BWT Mercedes 77 +1 lap 16
13 27   Nico Hülkenberg Renault 77 +1 lap 11
14 20   Kevin Magnussen Haas-Ferrari 77 +1 lap4 5
15 63   George Russell Williams-Mercedes 77 +1 lap 19
16 18   Lance Stroll Racing Point-BWT Mercedes 77 +1 lap5 17
17 7   Kimi Räikkönen Alfa Romeo Racing-Ferrari 77 +1 lap 14
18 88   Robert Kubica Williams-Mercedes 77 +1 lap 20
19 99   Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo Racing-Ferrari 76 +2 laps 18
Ret 16   Charles Leclerc Ferrari 16 Accident damage 15
Fastest lap:   Pierre Gasly (Red Bull Racing-Honda) – 1:14.279 (lap 72)
Source:[12][14][15]
Notes
  • ^1Max Verstappen finished second, but received a 5-second penalty for an unsafe pit-stop release.
  • ^2 – Includes one point for the fastest lap.
  • ^3Romain Grosjean finished 9th, but received a 5-second penalty for crossing the pit exit line.
  • ^4Kevin Magnussen finished 12th, but received a 5-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage.
  • ^5Lance Stroll received a 5-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage.

Championship standings after the race

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  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Lewis Hamilton holds Max Verstappen at bay to win Monaco Grand Prix". The Guardian. 26 May 2019. Retrieved 27 May 2019.
  2. ^ "Spain 2019 – Championship". StatsF1. Retrieved 1 June 2019.
  3. ^ "2019 Monaco Grand Prix – Entry List". Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. 22 May 2019. Retrieved 22 May 2019.
  4. ^ "Raikkonen at 300: Break for rallying key to long F1 career". Formula1.com. 22 May 2019. Retrieved 23 May 2019.
  5. ^ "Three-time F1 world champion Niki Lauda passes away | Formula 1". www.formula1.com. Retrieved 19 May 2021.
  6. ^ "Here Are The Niki Lauda Tributes Teams And Drivers Are Running This Weekend". WTF1. 24 May 2019. Retrieved 19 May 2021.
  7. ^ a b "Monaco Grand Prix: Lewis Hamilton beats Valtteri Bottas to pole position as Ferrari struggle". 25 May 2019. Retrieved 1 June 2019.
  8. ^ "Ferrari admit they misjudged the cut-off qualifying time for Leclerc". Formula1.com. Retrieved 1 June 2019.
  9. ^ "Monaco". StatsF1. Retrieved 1 June 2019.
  10. ^ "Monaco Grand Prix: Qualifying Facts and Stats". Formula1.com. Retrieved 1 June 2019.
  11. ^ "Formula 1 Grand Prix de Monaco 2019 – Qualifying". Formula1.com. 25 May 2019. Retrieved 25 May 2019.
  12. ^ a b "Formula 1 Grand Prix de Monaco 2019 – Starting Grid". Formula1.com. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
  13. ^ "Monaco Grand Prix: Race facts and stats | Formula 1". www.formula1.com. Retrieved 19 May 2021.
  14. ^ "Formula 1 Grand Prix de Monaco 2019 – Race Result". Formula1.com. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
  15. ^ "Formula 1 Grand Prix de Monaco 2019 – Fastest Laps". Formula1.com. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
  16. ^ a b "Monaco 2019 – Championship". StatsF1. Retrieved 26 May 2019.


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2019 Spanish Grand Prix
FIA Formula One World Championship
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2019 Canadian Grand Prix
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2018 Monaco Grand Prix
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2021 Monaco Grand Prix