DANIEL RICCIARDO OVERCOMES ENGINE ISSUES TO WIN IN MONACO
Daniel Ricciardo celebrating his Monaco GP win – Photo: LAT
Daniel Ricciardo overcame issues with the Renault power unit in his Red Bull to take out a stunning win at the prestigious Monaco Grand Prix.
The Australian launched from the start to build up a solid early lead but struck engine issues around Lap 30. In faultless drive, he then managed the pace with only six of his eight gears available to take the win with a 7.3 seconds margin over Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, with Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton completing the podium.
With a one-stop strategy expected, Mercedes rolled the dice stopping Hamilton which forcing both Vettel and Ricciardo to react. However, Ricciardo maintained his lead through the pitstop cycle, but it wasn’t long after that his power unit started to have issues and Vettel caught back up to challenge for the lead.
Daniel Ricciardo held off Sebastian Vettel to take the win – Photo: LAT
Luckily, with passing difficult on the Monte Carlo street circuit, the Red Bull driver managed the race making it impossible for Vettel to get past. Behind rest of the field took advantage of the slower pace and closed in on the leaders, with Hamilton, Kimi Raikkonen and Valtteri Bottas joining the battle for the lead, separated by just 8 seconds.
On Lap 72, Kiwi Brendon Hartley was forced to stop for repairs when the Sauber of Charles Leclerc suffered brake issues and collected the Toro Rosso driver at the coming out of the tunnel. The incident forced a virtual safety car with just a handful of laps left to run.
Hartley limped back to the pits to get a replacement rear wing while Leclerc retired with his car parked at the end of the escape road.
Formula 1 – Monaco Grand Prix – Result
| Position | Driver | Car | Laps | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull/Renault | 78 | |
| 2 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 78 | 7.336s |
| 3 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 78 | 17.013s |
| 4 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 78 | 18.127s |
| 5 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 78 | 18.822s |
| 6 | Esteban Ocon | Force India/Mercedes | 78 | 23.667s |
| 7 | Pierre Gasly | Toro Rosso/Honda | 78 | 24.331s |
| 8 | Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | 78 | 24.839s |
| 9 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull/Renault | 78 | 25.317s |
| 10 | Carlos Sainz | Renault | 78 | 1m09.013s |
| 11 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber/Ferrari | 78 | 1m09.864s |
| 12 | Sergio Perez | Force India/Mercedes | 78 | 1m10.461s |
| 13 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas/Ferrari | 78 | 1m14.823s |
| 14 | Stoffel Vandoorne | McLaren/Renault | 77 | 1 Lap |
| 15 | Romain Grosjean | Haas/Ferrari | 77 | 1 Lap |
| 16 | Sergey Sirotkin | Williams/Mercedes | 77 | 1 Lap |
| 17 | Lance Stroll | Williams/Mercedes | 76 | 2 Laps |
| 18 | Charles Leclerc | Sauber/Ferrari | 70 | Collision |
| 19 | Brendon Hartley | Toro Rosso/Honda | 70 | Collision |
| DNF | Fernando Alonso | McLaren/Renault | 52 | Gearbox |
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