F1 Monaco GP Live Commentary and Updates - race day | Live text

By: Jake Boxall-Legge, Haydn Cobb, Tom Howard

Summary

Leaderboard

Perez, Red Bull
Sainz, Ferrari
Verstappen, Red Bull
Leclerc, Ferrari
Russell, Mercedes
Norris, McLaren
Alonso, Alpine
Hamilton, Mercedes
Bottas, Alfa Romeo
Vettel, Aston Martin

Perez wins the Monaco Grand Prix from Sainz, Verstappen and Leclerc. Russell best of the rest in fifth for Mercedes
Perez leads, Sainz, Verstappen and Leclerc with eight minutes remaining - race will be a time certain finish
Race red flagged lap 30/77 to allow for barrier repairs - Race resumes on a drying track with a rolling start on Lap 33/77 - Perez leads Sainz
Safety car - Lap 28/77 - Schumacher (Haas) crashes heavily at the exit of Swimming Pool. Driver ok
After two rounds of pit stops Perez leads Sainz, Verstappen. Leclerc drops from lead to fourth. Top four switch to hard slicks
Leclerc leads Sainz once green flags fly and safety car pulls in
Latifi finds the wall at Fairmont hairpin, Stroll picks up right rear puncture after clouting the wall at Massenet
Monaco GP underway behind the safety car. All of the grid on wet tyres
Race red flagged due to heavy rain. All cars back to pitlane after a couple of formation laps behind the safety car
F1 Monaco Grand Prix was scheduled to begin at 2pm BST (3pm local) 77 Laps

Status: Stopped

19:25 Thanks everyone for sticking with us! We'll see you in two weeks' time for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix - enjoy the rest of your evening!

19:22 And here's the report from a bizarre Monaco Grand Prix: https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/f1-monaco-gp-perez-wins-chaotic-wet-dry-race-after-two-red-flags/10313350/

19:18 How many anthems did the Monaco band have to learn for this weekend?

19:12 Perez: "Keeping Carlos behind wasn't easy! The graining was just clearing up, so I wanted to do another race!"

19:10 Verstappen: "I tried to do the best I could. As a team we did a really good job with the strategy, and as a whole team we can be pleased with this Sunday."

19:08 "A lapped car cost me the race win today," Sainz says, reflecting on his outlap on the slicks earlier in the race.

19:07 Leclerc's finished in Monaco for like, the first time ever, so that's something.

19:05 Perez has a bit of a slip on top of his car as he celebrates - first mistake he's made all day!

19:04 Bottas picks up ninth as Ocon gets his time penalty, and that also promotes Vettel into P10.

19:03 Alonso collects seventh place, ahead of Hamilton, Ocon and Bottas - who completes the top 10.

19:03 Russell just hangs on to fifth, as Norris was just 0.25s behind his countryman after his late pitstop.

19:02 Carlos Sainz grabs second, as Verstappen beats Leclerc to third!

19:02 And after a breathless battle, Sergio Perez wins the 2022 Monaco Grand Prix!

19:01 Final lap! Clock's run down, and Perez just needs to keep it clean.

18:59 We'll have two more laps after this - can Perez hold on?

18:59 Ocon is within a second of Hamilton ahead but can't find a way through and the bigger concern for the Alpine is he isn't five seconds up the road on Bottas and Vettel so will drop out of the points.

18:58 Sainz is climbing all over Perez in the hairpin - as the top four clear Zhou and now have Latifi to make their way past.

18:56 Less than five minutes remaining!

18:54 Sainz has a look! Tremendous drive out of the tunnel, and loomed large in Perez's mirrors - but Perez closed down any potential move there.

18:53 Tsunoda pits after that off and switches to the softs for the final seven minutes of the race.

18:52 Tsunoda runs on at the first corner and drops from 15th to 17th and last place.

18:52 Alonso has really upped his pace and is now gapping Hamilton by 3.8s behind him. That could help Ocon behind to hang on to his points despite his penalty.

18:51 Oh, and there's fewer than 10 minutes to go here. Game on.

18:51 Sainz is giving this good guns here, as Perez's tyres look very angry. With traffic about to come into play, Sainz has a real shot at this.

18:49 Ocon is told about his five-second penalty that he'll have to serve as part of his race time and is told to pick up the pace to gap those behind. Ocon is ninth, four seconds ahead of Vettel in 11th, so it wouldn't be enough to hang on for points.

18:47 "Try to put pressure on him," Sainz is told, as Perez is now re-emerging in his sights.

18:46 "I tried! I need some new pants after that," Zhou tells Alfa Romeo over team radio after that sideways moment.

18:46 Norris, meanwhile, pits as he had well over 30s in hand over Alonso - and re-emerges in sixth on new mediums.

18:45 Sainz has managed to cut the arrears to Perez now, getting back to 2s behind. It's not over yet.

18:45 Albon becomes the third retirement in this race as he pits for Williams.

18:45 Zhou, going for a move at the Nouvelle Chicane on Tsunoda, almost throws it at the wall under braking, but does well to save it. His reward is losing a place to Latifi.

18:42 Sainz missed the chicane and has lost a lot of time to Perez - which has brought Verstappen into play a bit. Perez now has 3.5s in hand out front.

18:40 "They [the leaders] are behind me?" Hamilton asks over team radio. "They are 30 seconds behind this train," is the response from Pete Bonnington. What an odd race this has become.

18:40 So the way we usually split Live is one of us takes the top six and the other takes seventh and downwards. Alonso is making this very easy for us at this stage.

18:38 Sainz has stabilised the gap to Perez now, sitting around 2.2s, as Verstappen's falling back slightly. Leclerc's been chipping away at his title rival's advantage.

18:37 Alonso is leading an F1 car train from his position in seventh all the way down to Albon in 18th. The Alpine is half a minute behind Norris, while the leaders will catch this train before the end.

18:34 Perez is now beginning to gap Sainz, as the Red Bulls' mediums seem to be coming into play a bit now.

18:33 Alonso is 1.5s per lap slower than Norris ahead of him on the road so a huge 20.9s gap has already emerged between sixth and seventh place.

18:32 Perez answers Ferrari's questions with a 1m16.473s to extend his advantage slightly. It seems deadlocked at the front at the moment.

18:31 Hamilton's front wing is almost nudging the rear of Alonso's car around Monaco but so far he's been given no way through. This is the most normal this Monaco GP has felt all afternoon.