Monaco Grand Prix 2019
At long last, Mercedes’ streak of consecutive one-two finishes was finally snapped at the 2019 Monaco Grand Prix. However, both Silver Arrow drivers were still on the podium, including the top step, as Lewis Hamilton withstood a late charge from Red Bull’s Max Verstappen to secure his fourth victory of the season.
The Monaco Grand Prix 2019 betting odds tipped Verstappen to have a good shot at ending Mercedes’ dominant run to start the season, and the Dutch driver certainly pushed the defending champion hard till the very end.
However, Verstappen came up short and, even if he did pass Hamilton late, probably wouldn’t have kept the win anyway due to the five-second penalty he picked up during the race. He eventually finished in fourth, as Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel split Hamilton and his Mercedes team-mate, Valtteri Bottas, who finished third.
Highlights of the game
The Formula 1 world was rocked by the sad news of legend Niki Lauda’s death last week. Hamilton was particularly affected by the passing of Lauda, who played a key role in getting Hamilton to join Mercedes from McLaren back in 2013.
Hamilton then went out and won pole at Monaco, which he dedicated to his friend and mentor. Bottas finished just behind his team-mate, while Verstappen was third.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who was one of the big storylines heading into Monaco, began his home race all the way down in 16th. A big mistake by the team saw him spectacularly fail to make it into Q2, which left the young Monegasque fuming.
When the race began, though, Hamilton got away well, while Bottas and Verstappen maintained their positions after an early tangle. Meanwhile, Leclerc and Daniel Ricciardo — the reigning champion at Monaco — moved up the grid after successful overtaking moves.
Leclerc quickly worked his way up to 12th by lap 8, but his weekend took another unfortunate turn as he hit the barrier and spun trying to overtake Nico Hulkenberg. His car suffered significant damage, particularly to his rear-right tyre, which meant an early pit stop.
There was more drama to come in lap 12 as Hamilton came in for a pit during a safety car lap. Verstappen and Bottas followed and touched cars as they went in. But with Hamilton slowing down Bottas’ stop, Verstappen was able to come out ahead of the Finn.
However, Verstappen was adjudged to have pulled an illegal move coming out in front of Bottas, which meant a penalty. Bottas then came back into the pits a lap later due to the damage incurred in his clash with Verstappen.
Speaking of damage, Leclerc had to retire once again in his home race after just 18 laps as the loss of his car’s floor due to the earlier barrier crash simply made it untenable to drive.
Meanwhile, Hamilton continued to set the pace up top, but Verstappen stayed hot on the Brit’s tail. The Red Bull driver was slapped with a five-second penalty for his pit incident with Bottas, which made overtaking Hamilton and building up a lead that much more pressing.
Despite Hamilton’s constant complaints to his team about his tyres wearing down, Mercedes still didn’t get him in for a stop.
Verstappen went hard at Hamilton during the final 10 laps in the hope of making some late Monaco Grand Prix 2019 highlights. But the Brit did a fine job of keeping the Red Bull at bay.
The two cars made contact as Verstappen made another move on the third-to-last lap. But Hamilton somehow survived, worn-out wheels and all, as he went on to take the chequered flag in arguably the most entertaining race of the season to date.
Key statistics
Lewis Hamilton’s win was his third career Monaco Grand Prix title and his 77th overall. It was the first time he won from pole at Monaco, as his first two wins came while starting at third. The pole-sitter in Monaco has now won the race in eight of the last 11 years.
Mercedes’ record streak of five straight one-two finishes to start the season was finally snapped as Bottas could only manage third.
Due to Verstappen’s five-second penalty, Sebastian Vettel jumped up to second, which is Ferrari’s best finish of the season to date.
Meanwhile, defending champion Daniel Ricciardo was all the way down in 10th after finishing in the top five in every race in Monaco since 2014.
What’s next?
Up next on the F1 calendar is the Canadian Grand Prix. Vettel is the defending champion of the race, although Hamilton has dominated that track throughout his career. The Brit owns six wins in Canada, including three in a row from 2015-17.
Hamilton can tie the great Michael Schumacher’s record of seven Canadian GP titles if he is victorious in a couple weeks’ time. And with the form he’s shown this season, SBOBET odds will most certainly have him installed as a significant favourite to score yet another win.
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