Perez wins red-flagged Monaco GP after Ferrari howler

Polesitter Leclerc looked comfortable in the lead during the early stages but a calamitous strategic error from Ferrari dropped him down to fourth, behind Perez, his teammate Carlos Sainz and championship rival Max Verstappen. 

The race was delayed by an hour due to a heavy downpour of rain before race director Eduardo Freitas decided it was safe enough to start on extreme wet tyres. Conditions dried out and the track was fully dry by the end.  

There was also a lengthy red flag suspension when Mick Schumacher suffered a huge crash at the swimming pool which ripped his Haas car into two pieces. 

Behind the leading quartet - who were covered by just 2.9s after a shortened 67 laps of running - came Mercedes’ George Russell, who pipped compatriot Lando Norris to fifth by just 0.263s. 

Alpine’s Fernando Alonso finished 34s behind as he headed seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton in seventh, while Valtteri Bottas and Sebastian Vettel completed the points-scoring positions for Alfa Romeo and Aston Martin. 

How did Ferrari get it so wrong?

Leclerc - who had never before scored a point at his home race and didn’t even start last year after topping qualifying - drove flawlessly in the opening stint but was left fuming when Ferrari spectacularly dropped the ball. 

Red Bull called Perez in for intermediates first with the track drying out, before Leclerc and Verstappen responded two laps later. 

Perez’s pace advantage meant that he leapfrogged Leclerc and things would only get worse for the Monegasque when he pitted again three laps later, after being told to switch onto slicks. 

Ferrari also brought in Sainz, who had run longer on the full wets, and ended up having to double-stack its drivers which cost Leclerc crucial time. 

Leclerc had originally been told to pit before Ferrari changed their mind, but it was too late for Leclerc to react as he had already committed to boxing. 

He remerged on the track behind Perez, Sainz and Verstappen and was understandably furious. 

“Fuck, fuck! What are you doing?” Leclerc screamed over team radio as he realised Ferrari’s error. 

The race was stopped a few laps later when Schumacher had a heavy crash, but the finishing order was effectively decided with overtaking at Monaco almost impossible. 

Ferrari’s strategic errors forfeited a front-row lockout and enabled Red Bull to gain with both cars, as Perez rose from third to claim his third career win - and first at Monaco - and Verstappen crucially jumped ahead of his main rival. 

The result means Verstappen has extended his championship lead to nine points over Leclerc, while Perez is only six points behind the Ferrari driver.