Verstappen wins and Alonso finishes second in the rain in Monaco

Max Verstappen wins and Fernando Alonso finishes second in a Monaco Grand Prix in which the emotion was in the final stretch of the race after the arrival of the expected rain. A bad tire choice, when it started to rain, prevented Alonso from fighting for victory.

Carlos Sainz, in a somewhat unfortunate race for him, finished in eighth position, after breaking his wing after a collision with Esteban Ocon at the start and an early pit stop.

Clean start from the Monaco Grand Prix, in which Max Verstappen retained his lead on medium tyres, followed by Fernando Alonso on hard tires and Esteban Ocon, who, despite threatening to attack the Spaniard, remained in third place. Sainz, the second in the ‘top 5’ with hard, also held the position ahead of a challenging Lewis Hamilton.

We saw the incidents from behind, where Lance Stroll had a touch, and Hülkenberg almost took Logan Sargeant. Despite this, the yellow flag barely lasted a few seconds and there were no more scares. Since then the race leveled off, Verstappen leading the field, followed by Alonso around two seconds behind, with the Spaniard putting more than five seconds on Ocon and Sainz a second behind the Frenchman.

On lap 11, when Sainz was chasing Ocon and had reduced the gap to the Frenchman to less than a second, the Spaniard made a mistake by touching the rear of the French driver’s Alpine at the chicane after the tunnel. Despite a broken front wing flap, Carlos was able to continue without pitting.

Touch between Carlos Sainz and Esteban OconThe Ferrari has the spoiler touched 😱#MonacoDAZNF1 🇲🇨 pic.twitter.com/8LDqV2bgdw

— DAZN Spain (@DAZN_ES) May 28, 2023

Around the same time, Alonso got quite a scare when he started losing time in the third sector. The Spaniard asked the team if he had a puncture, but fortunately he did not, and the Aston Martin driver recovered his rhythm one lap later. The downside is that, after 17 laps, Fernando was already riding almost seven seconds behind the Dutchman.

The difference between Verstappen and Alonso grew to more than ten seconds, the Red Bull being unattainable. In addition, Fernando began to suffer from graining, just like Sainz, who was also on hard tyres. When we reached 30 laps, they began to talk about rain, and things got complicated for Verstappen, with the appearance of some folded.

The difference between Verstappen and Alonso dropped from eleven seconds to just over six. Meanwhile, Sainz tried to overtake Ocon in the pits after a bad stop by the French driver, but it was not possible for the Spaniard, who stayed behind the Alpine. Very angry, Carlos reproached the team for his stop, since Leclerc, with the same tire, remained on the track.

“EXACTLY WHAT I SAID. I DON’T CARE ABOUT HAMILTON, HE WAS F*** FAST” What an anger from Carlos Sainz! 😡 Knowing exactly what was going to happen despite being in the car#MonacoDAZNF1 🇲🇨 pic.twitter.com/IWYWx7FUMV

— DAZN Spain (@DAZN_ES) May 28, 2023

Alonso lost the seconds recovered to Verstappen when he found himself with the bends that had hit Max just before. Without incidents or overtaking, the leading group hoped that the rain could arrive before going into the pits

With 28 laps to go, Verstappen was warned that a few drops of water were beginning to fall. A couple of laps later, the rain intensified. Carlos attacked Ocon incessantly, but couldn’t get past him. At the same time, Alonso began to lose time with Verstappen, when the Spaniard came in to put medium dry rubber, surprisingly, when it was raining more.

IF THEY ARE DOING ICE SKATING#MonacoDAZNF1 🇲🇨 pic.twitter.com/NFfewAs8WR

— DAZN Spain (@DAZN_ES) May 28, 2023

The Spaniard had to go back into the pits to put on intermediate tires, and for this reason he fell to more than twenty seconds after this double stop. Sainz, after a spin, dropped to eighth place, losing position with Hamilton, Russell and Leclerc.

While it continued to rain, Alonso reduced the gap with Verstappen lap by lap, reaching 16 seconds, but it was not enough. Around lap 60, Fernando lifted his foot and the gap grew again to well over twenty seconds.

The end of the race was somewhat watered down with the track drying up, without overtaking or notable incidents, beyond a brush with Verstappen’s wall that had no consequences. After 78 laps, Max crossed the finish line in first place, followed by Alonso almost 30 seconds behind and a great Ocon completed the podium.

Lewis Hamilton saw the checkered flag in fourth place, followed by George Russell and Charles Leclerc. Pierre Gasly finished seventh and Carlos Sainz eighth. Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri rounded out the top ten positions.

Results GP Monaco F1 2023

Formula 1 will return to action in just one week, when the Spanish F1 Grand Prix will take place.