Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc has won the restarted Monaco Grand Prix from pole position after an enormous first-lap crash stopped the crown jewel event just seconds into the race.
In his first F1 victory in nearly two years and first ever in his home race, Leclerc finished about eight seconds ahead of Australian McLaren driver Oscar Piastri and nine seconds clear of Ferrari teammate Carlos Sainz Jr in third.
The second place result was Piastri’s equal-best F1 GP finish.
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Leclerc was on pole for the third time in four years, but had previously never finished on the podium at his home race.
His first win since Austria in July 2022 took his career tally to six, all with Ferrari.
“Tonight’s going to be a big night,” he told his team over the radio.
Championship leader Max Verstappen started and finished sixth for Red Bull, whose other driver, Sergio Perez, went out of the race after a big first-lap crash.
The melee began at the back of the field when Perez and Haas driver Kevin Magnussen made contact on the straight between turns two and three.
Magnussen’s teammate, Nico Hulkenberg, tried to slip past the chaos unfolding to his right but was clipped by Perez and sent into a spin.
All three cars were shredded, with the Mexican’s car worst off with three of his four wheels torn from the chassis.
The drivers were not hurt but the race was interrupted by a red flag for 40 minutes.
The race restarted on lap three of 78 and the drivers pulled away cleanly but slowly, with Leclerc managing his tyres on a track notoriously difficult for overtaking.
McLaren’s Lando Norris finished fourth and Mercedes driver George Russell held off Verstappen to take fifth place. Australian Daniel Ricciardo finished 12th.
The lap one crash drew the ire of Sky Sport F1 commentators David Croft and Martin Brundle as well as analysts Anthony Davidson and 2009 champion Jenson Button.
What followed was a lengthy delay as the clean-up and barrier repair took place.
“That’s huge,” said Brundle.
“He’s obviously been spun around and been whacked by cars coming past. That’s extraordinary. That’s written off every single piece of that Formula 1 car.”
Magnussen could find himself in strife having accrued 10 penalty points. The threshold for a one-race ban is 12 points.
“He’s got Kevin Magnussen to his right and Magnussen just keeps on pushing up there,” Brundle said.
“That is a monster of an accident. It was unnecessary for Kevin Magnussen to keep his car there. He’s taken both cars out and Perez, but there was a point quite a bit earlier when KMag should have abandoned that.”
Speaking after the incident, Magnussen apportioned some of the blame to Perez.
“From my point of view, I had a good part of my front (alongside) Perez’s rear,” said Magnussen.
“When he went to the wall I just got pushed into the wall and made contact with him. I trusted that he was going to leave a space for me since I was there.
“It’s not a corner you’re braking into. It’s just like a little bend in the straight. You have to have a car width or otherwise you leave the other guy no option.”
Magnussen said he expected race stewards would investigate the crash but wasn’t sure of the outcome.
“We’ll see how they look at that but from my point of view I was there and I got squeezed to the wall,” he said.
“I don’t know how they’re going to look at it.”
Later on lap one, Alpine teammates Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly made contact at Portier.
Gasly blew up deluxe on the radio, complaining of damage to his car. Ocon also suffered significant damage to his car.
“What did he do? What did he do? Why did he try to attack me? Oh my gosh,” said Gasly.
“The whole car is damaged now.”
Ocon retired from the race as a result due to damage.
Carlos Sainz got a massive free kick after he suffered a puncture on lap one and fell to the back of the pack.
The subsequent red flag for the pile-up meant the race restarted with the order taken before his untimely excursion.
– Reported with Associated Press