Leclerc became the first Monégasque driver since Louis Chiron in 1931 to win his home Grand Prix, as well as the first Monégasque driver to win the Monaco Grand Prix as a Formula One World Championship event.[2] The Grand Prix was also the first race of the Formula One World Championship to have the top ten drivers reach the chequered flag in the same order that they started the race.[3]
Tyre supplier Pirelli brought the C3, C4, and C5 tyre compounds (the softest three in their range) designated hard, medium, and soft, respectively, for teams to use at the event.[8]
Practice
Three free practice sessions were held for the event.[1] The first free practice session was held on 24 May 2024, at 13:30 local time (UTC+2),[1] and was topped by Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes ahead of Oscar Piastri of McLaren and Hamilton's teammate George Russell. A brief red flag was observed when debris was scattered across turn 1 after the Sauber of Zhou Guanyu made contact with the wall.[9] The second free practice session was held on the same day, at 17:00 local time,[1] and was topped by Charles Leclerc of Ferrari ahead of Hamilton and Fernando Alonso of Aston Martin.[10] The third free practice session was held on 25 May 2024, at 12:30 local time,[1] and was topped by Leclerc ahead of Max Verstappen of Red Bull Racing and Hamilton. A red flag was observed after the Sauber of Valtteri Bottas struck the wall at the swimming pool section, causing suspension damage.[11]
^1 – Nico Hülkenberg and Kevin Magnussen initially qualified 12th and 15th, respectively, but were subsequently disqualified because their DRS was found to not conform with the technical regulations. They were permitted to race at the stewards' discretion.[12][13][14][15]
Race
The race was held on 26 May 2024, at 15:00 local time (UTC+2), and was run for 78 laps.[1]
Race report
The race was red-flagged on lap 1 after a crash between Sergio Pérez, Nico Hülkenberg and Kevin Magnussen, all of whom retired. Magnussen had brought his car into Pérez's line, which would see the two make contact. Hülkenberg tried to pass the crash, but his rear was struck by Pérez's car. Zhou Guanyu, who was behind the three drivers, slowed down to avoid crashing.[16] The crash resulted in heavy damage to the barriers and a large amount of debris being spread across the first corners.[2] Red Bull estimated a £2.5-3 million cost to repair Pérez's car.[17] Meanwhile, Leclerc's teammate Carlos Sainz Jr. picked up a puncture after contact with second-placed Oscar Piastri and dropped down to sixteenth, running wide into the casino corner, and as the Alpines exited Portier, Esteban Ocon squeezed himself into the path of Pierre Gasly, pitching the former's car upward. Ocon, who admitted responsibility for the incident, retired during the red flag period. The stewards investigated the Magnussen and Ocon incidents; deeming the former to be a racing incident, while the latter would later be given a five-place grid penalty for the following Canadian Grand Prix.[18] Sainz, who was running in sixteenth, benefitted from the red flag facilitating a grid reset, as Zhou had not passed the first timing sector before the race was suspended.[16]
The early red flag was a big deciding factor for the rest of the race strategy - drivers were able to swap to a second tyre compound during the red flag, eliminating the need for pit stops for the rest of the race. Of the top ten, only Hamilton and Verstappen made further pit stops after gaining a wide enough lead over Tsunoda to do so without losing track position.[19][20] The resulting no-stop strategy required a very slow pace from the drivers in order to manage tyres, with Piastri commenting that at one point the pace was "slower than Formula 2."[21]
^"What the teams said – Race day in Monaco". Formula 1. 26 May 2024. Retrieved 29 May 2024. That contact lifted Oco's car clean into the air, and although he made it back to the pits, there was too much damage for him to take the restart.
