The Monaco Grand Prix 2022 was the 7th round of the 2022 F1 season, and took place at the Circuit de Monaco in Monte-Carlo, Monaco, during the weekend of the 27th to the 29th of May.
Sergio Pérez won the race after starting in the 3rd position, followed by Carlos Sainz, and Max Verstappen completing the podium.
Charles Leclerc started from the pole position, but only managed to finish 4th.
Final results
Race evolution
Pit Stops
There were a total of 53 pit stops during the race, although only 35 which can be considered "normal". Several red flags on laps 29 and 30 forced all drivers to pit on those laps.
The most popular pit stop windows, considering that these were affected by the red flag, were:
- Laps 1-2: 5 stops
- Laps 15-24: 25 stops
The fastest pit stop was Sergio Pérez's, stopping the clock at 24.409 seconds during his pit stop on lap 16, while the slowest one was was Mick Schumacher's, who stopped the clock at 36.854 seconds, 12.445 seconds slower than Pérez, during his pit stop on lap 17.
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
The race was not obvious in terms of pit stop strategy, with different teams and different drivers choosing to make anywhere from 2 to 4 stops.
The race winner, Sergio Pérez, was on a 3 stops strategy.
2 stops
-
4Mick Schumacher
-
1Daniel Ricciardo
-
4Guanyu Zhou
-
3Valtteri Bottas
-
-Fernando Alonso
-
-Carlos Sainz
-
2Esteban Ocon
-
1George Russell
3 stops
-
6Pierre Gasly
-
1Sebastian Vettel
-
-Lewis Hamilton
-
2Sergio Pérez
-
1Max Verstappen
-
3Charles Leclerc
-
2Alexander Albon
4 stops
-
4Lance Stroll
-
4Nicholas Latifi
-
6Yuki Tsunoda
-
1Lando Norris
Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 2 stops strategy lost an average of 1 positions, the ones on a 3 stops strategy lost an average of 0.83 positions, while those on a 4 stops strategy lost an average of 0.25 positions.
This difference in possitions gained, together with a deeper nalaysis of each strategy, reinforces the conclusion that a 2 stops strategy was the best option, even if Sergio Pérez managed to win the race making 3 stops.
That is for this particular race, with all its unique circumstances, amongst which, let's not forget was the red flag on lap 29, so it is very likely that this would have not been the ideal strategy under normal circumstances.
Incidents
There race went on mostly with no incidents. Only 3 divers were involved in circumstances that were severe enough to prevented them from finishing the race.
These included, Alexander Albon, who suffered from an unidentified mechanical problem on lap 48, Mick Schumacher, who had to retire due to an accident on lap 24, and Kevin Magnussen, who had a loss of water pressure on lap 19.
Mechanical
-
Alexander AlbonLap 48
Accident
-
Mick SchumacherLap 24
Water pressure
-
Kevin MagnussenLap 19
Qualifying
Charles Leclerc dominated all the qualifying sessions and took the pole by 0.225 seconds, with a final lap time of 1:11.376. Carlos Sainz was right behind him, helping Ferrari score a one-two and monopolize the first line of the grid.
The second line fo the grid was dominated by Red Bull, with Sergio Pérez in third position, and Max Verstappen in fourth.
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 8 out of the 10 drivers that took place in Q3 were able to improve their times.