The Monaco Grand Prix 2021 was the 5th round of the 2021 F1 season, and took place at the Circuit de Monaco in Monte-Carlo, Monaco, during the weekend of the 21st to the 23rd of May.
Carlos Sainz won the race after starting in the 4th position, followed by Max Verstappen, and Lando Norris completing the podium.
Charles Leclerc started from the pole position, but didn't manage to cross the finish line, as he suffered a driveshaft problem, and had to retire on lap 0th.
Final results
Race evolution
Pit Stops
There were a total of 19 pit stops during the race.
The most popular pit stop windows were:
- Laps 29-37: 13 stops
The fastest pit stop was Lance Stroll's, stopping the clock at 23.474 seconds during his pit stop on lap 58, while the slowest one was was Nikita Mazepin's, who stopped the clock at 25.202 seconds, 1.728 seconds slower than Stroll, during his pit stop on lap 34.
These times include the time the driver spent going through the pit lane, as well as the actual time he stopped for the mechanics to work on his car.
Strategy
We saw a variety of options in terms of pit stop strategies during this race, however most drivers chose a 1 stop. Only Lewis Hamilton decided to try something different with a 2 stops strategy.
The race winner, Carlos Sainz, was on a 1 stop strategy.
1 stop
-
-Pierre Gasly
-
2Lando Norris
-
3Sebastian Vettel
-
1George Russell
-
2Carlos Sainz
-
-Antonio Giovinazzi
-
1Max Verstappen
-
2Nikita Mazepin
-
5Sergio Pérez
-
-Daniel Ricciardo
-
2Esteban Ocon
-
2Mick Schumacher
-
3Kimi Räikkönen
-
3Nicholas Latifi
-
4Fernando Alonso
-
5Lance Stroll
-
-Yuki Tsunoda
2 stops
-
-Lewis Hamilton
Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 1 stop strategy gained 2.06 positions on average, while those on a 2 stops strategy didn't gain or lose any positions on average.
This difference in possitions gained, together with a deeper nalaysis of each strategy, reinforces the conclusion that a 1 stop strategy was the best option.
It is important to note that this might not always be the case for other races held at the Circuit de Monaco, as the conditions might change from year to year, in terms of wheel degradation, accidents, safety cars, etc.
Incidents
There race went on mostly with no incidents. Only 2 divers were involved in circumstances that were severe enough to prevented them from finishing the race.
These included, Valtteri Bottas, who had problems with a wheel nut on lap 29, and Charles Leclerc, who suffered a driveshaft problem on lap 0.
Wheel nut
-
Valtteri BottasLap 29
Driveshaft
-
Charles LeclercLap 0
Qualifying
Charles Leclerc managed to get the pole position by 0.23 seconds and a final lipe time of 1:10.346. Right next to him, completing the first line of the grid, was Max Verstappen.
Track evolution
As the qualifying session went on, with the track rubbering in, and the drivers testing the limits of the grip of their cars, the times per lap dropped, and all of the drivers that took place in Q2 improved their times in this second session.
The Q3 is the time were all the remaining drivers put all their cards on the table, even those with a superior car who might have been managing their times in Q1 and Q2 push their cars to the limit in Q3. It therefore comes as no surprise that 7 out of the 10 drivers that took place in Q3 were able to improve their times.