F1: Pérez wins 2022 Monaco GP as Ferrari blunder costs Leclerc – live reaction!

Sergio Pérez took victory at the Monaco Grand Prix after a race in treacherous wet conditions, decided in moments of intense strategic decision-making where his Red Bull team pulled off a coup against Ferrari. He beat Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz into second place while the Spaniard’s teammate Charles Leclerc, who had started from pole, managed only fourth behind his title rival Max Verstappen.

Carlos Sainz speaks to Sky after finishing second for Ferrari: “We stayed patient on the wets, we took the right decision to go on the slick … a terrible out lap [after pitting] there, stuck behind a lapped car, cost me the race win today. You can understand the frustration, a clean out lap would have secured me the race win today, but that’s what this sport is sometimes.

“I’m not going to complain too much, I know this sport is like that, Checo was unlucky in the other [races] … he did a great race, and in this sport, it will turn around one day or other.”

Updated at 12.31 EDT

Horner speaks on the strategy that grabbed the win: “We didn’t want to be exposed at the restart and we believed the medium would be enough … so proud of Checo, he’s been on fire all weekend. We didn’t have the quickest car, but we got it right, it was all about teamwork.

“It was all about getting the in-lap and the out-lap.”

In the drivers’ standings, Verstappen now has 126pts, Leclerc in second place has 116, Perez 110, Russell 84, Sainz 83, and Hamilton is in sixth with 50pts.

Sergio Perez – clearly a very popular figure in the paddock – is pictured in tears on the top step of the podium.

It was fantastic performance, no question about it, although the slightly haphazard way in which he was vaulted into the lead is perhaps ammunition for those who are not massive fans of the racing at this circuit.

Leclerc is presumably locked in talks with Binotto, his team principal. He has not emerged to speak to Sky, to give his reaction, and now we’re having the podium ceremony.

Top 10:

PerezSainzVerstappenLeclercRussellNorrisAlonsoHamiltonBottasVettel

Sergio Perez won a chaotic and thrilling Monaco Grand Prix as Leclerc’s dreams of winning on home soil were shattered by his flat-footed Ferrari team. Leclerc navigated a rain-hit start – delayed by more than an hour following a deluge of rain just 12 minutes before the lights were due to go out on Formula One’s most famous race – to control the early stages.

But the Monegasque’s race fell apart when Ferrari’s strategy was exposed by Red Bull. Perez moved from third to first in the switch from wet to slick rubber, with Leclerc’s team-mate Sainz second and world champion Verstappen third. Leclerc crossed the line in fourth, one place ahead of Russell, with Lando Norris sixth. Lewis Hamilton started eight and finished in the same position. (PA)

“It’s a dream come true,” says Perez, today’s winner. “It’s a massive day for myself and my country … I’m just very, very happy.”

Max Verstappen speaks to Sky: “I did the best I could … once you got blocked by the red flag in qualifying.

“I did the best I can, as a team we did a good job with the strategy … we can be very happy with the Sunday. I extended my points lead [in the drivers’ championship], which I didn’t expect last night, so I can be very happy with that.

“Overall, quite a decent day … an amazing result for Checo, so very happy for him.”

“Why does this Grand Prix have a timer? Is that specific to Monaco? Is it because of the rain? Does the race end at the timer, or the 77 lap marker?” Steve asks via Twitter.

It’s not specific to Monaco. Once the race starts, the regulations state there is a three-hour window to finish. With what happened today – they started under a safety car, then it was red flagged with heavy rain, there was a long delay – then plus Schumacher’s big crash – they were not going to have the time to finish the race inside the allotted three hours. So the countdown starts.

Updated at 12.08 EDT

Leclerc has a few choice words for his Ferrari team on the radio: “We cannot do that. We cannot do that.”

Reaction to come. That race had pretty much everything, really.

“This is us! Come on! Vamos! Well done guys!” Perez shouts on the radio.

“Checo, you have won Monaco! Unbelievable drive! What a brilliant drive” hoots Horner on the radio.

“So happy to be part of this team, thank you guys,” he replies.

Updated at 12.05 EDT

Christian Horner and his team gambled on their tyre strategy and it paid off handsomely. Carloz Sainz is second for Ferrari, the world champion Max Verstappen third for Red Bull. A satisfying win for the Mexican driver and his team! Charles Leclerc, in contrast, will be absolutely furious after his own team’s blunder over the pitstops cost him what looked a certain victory.

Red Bull’s Sergio Perez celebrates after winning the race Photograph: Christian Bruna/Reuters

Updated at 12.26 EDT

1 min to go: Hamilton is still running in eighth.

3 min remaining: Verstappen has nearly gone into the back of second-placed Sainz a couple of times. All things being equal, though, Perez is going to the the win.

6 min remaining: Perez, Sainz, Verstappen and Leclerc are all bunched up at the front! This is great racing … Sainz is pushing for the win, Verstappen is pushing for a Red Bull one-two. Leclerc is sitting in fourth, waiting for a chance, but it probably isn’t going to come at this rate.

Updated at 11.56 EDT

9 min remaining: Ocon gets a five-second penalty for the earlier collision with Hamilton. He doesn’t sound happy on the radio, but they never are, are they?

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton of Britain attempts to overtake Alpine driver Esteban Ocon. Photograph: Daniel Cole/AP

Updated at 11.59 EDT

Can’t beat a retro computer game reference:

12 min remaining:

Perez of Red Bull leads Sainz of Ferrari by less than a second. Verstappen is 1.3sec down Sainz … Leclerc is another 1.1sec back as they start to run into a few back markers.

15 min remaining: “Wish they would pull the plug on this BORING circuit for good,” emails Rachel. “Hope they don’t renew the contract – it not even worth it for the band in silly hats or the marinas looking like scruffy car parks. Will no one save us from this backside of a circuit? The drivers deserve better.”

Controversial!

Updated at 11.48 EDT

17 min remaining:

Good question. As far as I can see, no action have been taken. But there is certainly plenty of criticism on Twitter, with people claiming that Leclerc should be in front of Verstappen.

Updated at 11.48 EDT

22 min remaining: Lewis Hamilton is in eighth at the moment, on the tail of Alonso. Alonso meanwhile is a full 31sec down on Norris in sixth.

If you are just joining us, we had a long delay when rain arrived just before the scheduled start. After that, Charles Leclerc of Ferrari looked to be streaking away to victory from pole position, but the team got their tyre strategy horribly wrong, and he was asked to pit twice in quick succession. This bumped him down to fourth. Sergio Perez now leads the race for Red Bull. The race is now on a timer, rather than ending at the end of the allotted laps, as per the regulations. And we have 25 minutes remaining.

Red Bull were more decisive with the tyre strategy: Perez switched on straight to slicks, which was a gamble with rain in the air, but it paid off handsomely.

Updated at 11.37 EDT

29 min remaining – live standings:

1 Sergio Perez Red Bull Racing 32 Carlos Sainz Ferrari +1.399 23 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing +2.728 34 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +4.750 35 George Russell Mercedes +7.362 26 Lando Norris Mclaren +9.874 37 Fernando Alonso Alpine +27.375 28 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +27.989 39 Esteban Ocon Alpine +29.568 210 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo +30.968 211 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin +33.047 312 Pierre Gasly Alphatauri +33.797 313 Daniel Ricciardo Mclaren +34.488 214 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +34.860 415 Yuki Tsunoda Alphatauri +35.340 316 Guanyu Zhou Alfa Romeo +35.927 217 Nicholas Latifi Williams +40.028 418 Alexander Albon Williams +43.974 319 Mick Schumacher Haas F1 Team– 220 Kevin Magnussen Haas F1 Team– 1

(Number on right denotes number of pitstops)

Updated at 11.33 EDT

31 min remaining: Sainz, in second, trails Perez by a second.

Instead of the lap countdown we now have a timer on the screen, and currently it’s at 33 minutes. We’ll take it as read that if there are no more stoppages, we’ll make it through to full points being awarded, of course, which would have been 58 laps.

Updated at 11.29 EDT

Lap 32/77: The good news is that the track is drying out very nicely. The top four is Red Bull/Ferrari/Red Bull/Ferrari, in that order. The bad news for Leclerc is that his team completely messed up their tyre strategy, and a seemingly nailed-on home win for the Monégasque is now looking like a podium at best, and maybe not even that. He is fourth.

Updated at 11.25 EDT

Top five as it stands:

PerezSainzVerstappenLeclercRussell

Lap 31/77: The safety car is out on the track. All the lapped cars are overtaking the frontrunners and having a bit of a sort-out. Brundle points out that it’s going to be interesting as the drivers try to warm up their tyres.