Checo Pérez (Red Bull) has conquered the greatest achievement of his Continental Circus career after winning a wet (rain) and incident-packed Monaco F1 GP 2022.

The Mexican driver, who started third, made the most of the challenging weather (with both wet and dry asphalt) to put his mastery behind the wheel to good use and claim his third ever F1 victory. 

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With the narrowness of the Monte Carlo track playing to his advantage, the champion from Guadalajara managed to keep his cool before mounting pressure from Carlos Sainz (Ferrari). The Spaniard tried unsuccessfully to corner Pérez in the final laps as the latter struggled with wheel issues. 

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One position below, Max Verstappen completed the podium, stretching his lead of the standings  with125 points, 9 ahead of Charles Leclerc, who was fourth at his home race.

When he thought his time had finally arrived to conquer Monte Carlo, he succumbed once more to the curse that hangs over him when he races at home. The dreadful strategy dictated by La Scuderia didn’t help either.

George Russell (Mercedes), for his part, shone again with a well-deserved fifth place, three positions ahead of his teammate Lewis Hamilton. Once more, the young Englishman has defeated the jaded seven-time champion. 

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A wet start behind the safety car 

The start of the Monaco F1 GP 2022 had to be delayed by more than an hour following a heavy downpour. Under these circumstances, the race finally began with two laps behind the safety car which made way to the real battle with a rolling start. 

Before reaching the straight, Leclerc accelerated, aquaplaning and suffering whiplash in his F1-75. Sainz kept his position behind his Monegasque teammate followed by Pérez, Verstappen, Norris, Russell and Alonso. 

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Battle in boxes 

As the track began to dry out on lap 17, the battle of the pits began. Pérez opened fire and mounted the medium wet tires. Two laps later, Leclerc and Verstappen followed suit. 

At the same time, Sainz, who had decided to stay on the track against his team’s advice, inherited first place from Pérez. Shortly after, on lap 22, the Spaniard changed to hard dry tires and moments later Leclerc copied the move. The Monegasque thus fell from first to fourth place, saying goodbye to a triumph that was ever so close. 

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One lap later and it was Red Bull’s turn to change its compounds. On returning to the track, Pérez, who had set a blistering pace before, kept the lead of the race ahead of Sainz and Verstappen. 

Schumacher’s accident triggers a red flag: Everyone to the pit lane!  

Shortly after Pérez re-joined the race at the lead of the Monaco GP 2022, on the 30th lap, Mick Schumacher suffered a brutal accident from which he emerged unharmed. As a result of the incident, the safety car was out for two full laps of the track.

The red flag was then flown so that the damage to the barrier could be repaired. All cars to the pit lane! After a twenty-minute break, the cars returned to the track in the wake of the safety car, which, after two laps, gave way to the final battle. 

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In order to not exceed the maximum time, the remaining of the race was shortened to 42 minutes, but nothing would change from then on. Pérez held Sainz off to conquer the victory despite dealing with tire problems and Verstappen completed the podium after wining this season in Saudi Arabia, Emilia-Romagna, Miami & Spain.