| 2019 Monaco Grand Prix | |||||
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Race 6 of 21 in the2019 Formula One World Championship
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 Layout of the Circuit de Monte Carlo, Monaco | |||||
| Race details | |||||
| Date | 26 May 2019 | ||||
| Official name | Formula 1Grand Prix de Monaco 2019 | ||||
| Location | Circuit de Monaco La Condamine andMonte Carlo,Monaco | ||||
| Course | Street circuit | ||||
| Course length | 3.337 km (2.074 miles) | ||||
| Distance | 78 laps, 260.286 km (161.734 miles) | ||||
| Weather | Overcast | ||||
| Pole position | |||||
| Driver | Mercedes | ||||
| Time | 1:10.166 | ||||
| Fastest lap | |||||
| Driver |  Pierre Gasly | Red Bull Racing-Honda | |||
| Time | 1:14.279 on lap 72 | ||||
| Podium | |||||
| First | Mercedes | ||||
| Second | Ferrari | ||||
| Third | Mercedes | ||||
Lap leaders | |||||
The2019 Monaco Grand Prix (formally known as theFormula 1 Grand Prix de Monaco 2019) was aFormula One motor race held on 26 May 2019 at theCircuit de Monaco, astreet circuit that runs through thePrincipality of Monaco. It was the 6th round of the2019 Formula One World Championship, the 77th time that theMonaco Grand Prix was held, and the 66th time it had been held as a round of the Formula One World Championship since the inception of the series in1950.
The race was won byLewis Hamilton after starting from pole, withSebastian Vettel andValtteri Bottas promoted to second and third place respectively afterMax Verstappen received a penalty, demoting him to fourth place.[1]
Heading into the raceLewis Hamilton held a 7-point lead over teammateValtteri Bottas in the Drivers' Championship. In the Constructors' Championship,Mercedes held a 96-point advantage overFerrari.[2]
The drivers and teams were the same as the season entry list with no additional stand-in drivers for either the race or practice.[3] This race sawAlfa Romeo driverKimi Räikkönen celebrate his 300th Grand Prix entry.[4]
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On 20 May, less than a week before the race, three-time world championNiki Lauda died at the age of 70, after a long period of ill health.[5] All teams had since paid tribute to Lauda on the weekend, with Mercedes, whom Lauda had been a key personnel, paid the highest tributes by painting their halos red and including a red three-pointed star on the engine cover on their cars until the remainder of the season.[6]
During the first qualifying session,Nico Hülkenberg was blocked on his first flying lap byAntonio Giovinazzi at turn 17. Giovinazzi was later handed a three-place grid penalty. Around halfway through the session, after most drivers had come into the pits,Charles Leclerc had set the sixth fastest time. However,Ferrari decided not to send him out again in order to save tyres. As other drivers began to improve their lap times, Leclerc fell down the order and was eventually eliminated from Q1 by teammateSebastian Vettel, the last driver to cross the line. Ferrari later admitted this was a team mistake.[7][8] Vettel's final lap was the fastest of the session.
In the second qualifying session,Pierre Gasly impededRomain Grosjean, and was later given a three-place grid penalty.Max Verstappen set the fastest time of the session.
Lewis Hamilton took pole position with a new track record ahead of teammateValtteri Bottas. As a result,Mercedes equalled the record for most front row lockouts, and Hamilton took the record for most pole positions with one constructor.Max Verstappen qualified in third, his highest qualifying position of the year.[7][9][10]
Before the race started, there was amoment of silence to pay respects to Lauda, with the majority of personnel and fans wearing red caps.
The opening lap proceeded cleanly, withLewis Hamilton maintaining his lead frompole position.Charles Leclerc began to fight through the field after starting in 15th place. Leclerc had made it up to 12th by lap eight, but touched the inside wall at turn 17 during an overtake attempt onNico Hülkenberg, sending hisFerrari into a spin. This contact caused a right-rear tyre puncture. Over the course of the next lap, Leclerc fell to last place as his tyre ripped apart and caused significant damage to the car's floor, spreading debris around the track. After emerging from the pits after a tyre change, he was a lap down on the leaders. A safety car was deployed on lap 11 for the marshals to clear the debris.
The leaders made their pit stops at the end of the lap, during the safety car period.Valtteri Bottas,Max Verstappen andSebastian Vettel entered the pits all within one car length of each other. Verstappen's pit stop was faster than Bottas's, and Verstappen was released alongside, but slightly ahead of Bottas, with the two cars making contact. Bottas had no choice but to yield at the pit exit, losing second place to Verstappen. Bottas was brought into the pits again on the following lap for a switch from medium to hard-compound tyres and for the team to check for damage, emerging in fourth place behind Vettel.
Racing resumed on lap 15. On the same lap,Antonio Giovinazzi attempted an overtake onRobert Kubica at turn 17, making contact and sending theWilliams into a spin. Kubica's car stopped whilst facing sideways at the exit of the turn, blocking the circuit and forcing Giovinazzi, Hülkenberg, Leclerc,Sergio Pérez andGeorge Russell to stop on track and wait for him to move aside so that they could pass Kubica. Leclerc came into the pits on the following lap for a switch to soft-compound tyres, but on his out-lap, Ferrari decided that the floor damage caused by his lap eight incident was too great. Leclerc returned to the pits and retired from the race, continuing his streak of failing to finish his home Grand Prix, after retiring from the2018 Monaco Grand Prix and from both races at the2017 Monaco Formula 2 round.
On lap 22, Verstappen was issued a five-second time penalty for his unsafe release in the pits ten laps earlier. On lap 26, Giovinazzi was issued a penalty of ten seconds for causing the incident on lap 15. He later served his penalty in the pits. Verstappen spent the rest of the race attempting to overtake Hamilton, who was suffering on worn tyres, in order to build a lead and win the race despite his penalty. On lap 76, Verstappen mounted his only close challenge of the race, on the inside of turn 10. He made contact with the rear of the Mercedes, causing both cars to cut the chicane. Verstappen was unable to get close enough for an overtake on the subsequent laps, and Hamilton crossed the finish line to take victory. Verstappen's penalty saw him demoted from second to fourth, with Vettel and Bottas promoted to second and third respectively. This marked the sixth consecutive victory in 2019 for Mercedes, but the first time that season that the team did not take a 1–2 finish. Completing the top ten were Gasly (who set the fastest lap of the race), Sainz, Kvyat, Albon, Ricciardo and Grosjean (who was penalized from 9th), both Toro Rosso cars finishing in the points for the first time since the2017 Spanish Grand Prix, and their best finish since the2015 United States Grand Prix.[13]
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| Previous race: 2019 Spanish Grand Prix | FIA Formula One World Championship 2019 season | Next race: 2019 Canadian Grand Prix |
| Previous race: 2018 Monaco Grand Prix | Monaco Grand Prix | Next race: 2021 Monaco Grand Prix |
