Dutch Max Verstappen (Red Bull) was dedicated yesterday in the Monaco Grand Prix and removed Britain’s Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes), seventh, from the top of the Formula 1 World Championship, disputed by the fifth date of the season.
Verstappen, 23, completed dozens of wins in the first division after starting from number one in the principality, favoring the loss of local Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) in the last minute, who set Saturday as the best time in the classification.
The Italian team’s frustration was compensated for by the second place won by Spaniard Carlos Sainz Jr., who climbed to the podium for the third time in its history and faired its best result in the category, after it was already number 2 in Monza last year. When he was racing with McLaren.
The third place went to Britain’s Lando Norris, the current McLaren driver, who also added a third bronze in Formula 1 after Austria in 2020 and Emilia Romagna this year.
Hamilton, who had been on the podium in the previous twelve races, completed a secret weekend in Monaco in seventh place, which means losing the lead in the World Championships, which is now owned by the Dutch by four points.
The second bad news for Mercedes was the abandonment of Finn Valtteri Bottas, who subsequently slipped to fourth place in the overall ranking after being overtaken by Norris.
Mexican Sergio Perez (Red Bull), German Sebastian Vettel (Aston Martin) and Frenchman Pierre Gasly (Alfatore) were ranked ahead of Hamilton in fourth, fifth and sixth places, respectively.
The points area was completed with Canadian Lance Stroll (Aston Martin), French Esteban Ocon (Alpine Renault) and Italian Antonio Giovinazzi (Alfa Romeo) eighth, ninth and tenth.
Between the eleventh and eighteenth places came the Finn Kimi Raikkonen (Alfa Romeo), the Australian Daniel Ricardo (McLaren), the Spaniard Fernando Alonso (Alpine Reno), the British George Russell (Williams), the Canadian Nicolas Latifi (Williams), and the Japanese. Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri), Russia’s Nikita Mazepim and Germany’s Mick Schumacher, both from the Haas team.
The sixth round of F1 will be the Grand Prix of Azerbaijan, on Sunday 6 June in Baku, with a 51-lap track on the 6 km urban circuit. (Telam)