Monaco Grand Prix 2022 results: Perez takes win as Leclerc falters in hectic Monte Carlo race

Nathan Evans

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Monaco Grand Prix 2022 results: Perez takes win as Leclerc falters in hectic Monte Carlo race image

Red Bull’s Sergio Perez took the chequered flag in an eventful 2022 Monaco Grand Prix to keep his outside world championship hopes alive. 

In a race which saw the start delayed due to heavy rainfall, before it was twice red-flagged following more wet weather and a big crash involving Haas driver Mick Schumacher, Perez drove the perfect race to claim top spot and 25 all-important points. 

Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz finished in P2 ahead of current world champion Max Verstappen in P3, as pole-sitter Charles Leclerc had an afternoon to forget in his home race, eventually finishing P4.

It was all going well for Leclerc early on but a mix-up resulted in the Monégasque being double-stacked in the pits behind teammate Sainz, which severely dented his prospects of taking a first race victory in Monaco. 

Mercedes' George Russell finished in the top five again, managing that feat in all seven races this season, ahead of Lando Norris in P6. Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton, Valtteri Bottas and Sebastian Vettel rounded out the top 10 as Norris also took the extra point for fastest lap.

Monaco Grand Prix results

Position Driver Team Points
1 Sergio Perez Red Bull 25
2 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 18
3 Max Verstappen Red Bull 15
4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 12
5 George Russel Mercedes 10
6 Lando Norris McLaren 9
7 Fernando Alonso Alpine 6
8 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 4
9 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romero 2
10 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin 1
11 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri  
12 Esteban Ocon Alpine  
13 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren  
14 Lance Stroll Aston Martin  
15 Nicholas Latifi Williams  
16 Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo  
17 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri  
DNF Alex Albon Williams  
DNF Mick Schumacher Haas  
DNF Kevin Magnussen Haas  

Perez the pick of the bunch

Despite starting the race in third spot after suffering a heavy crash into Portier in qualification, Perez took the race win in Monaco to become the first ever Mexican to win the Grand Prix in Monte Carlo. 

That was also Perez's first victory of the 2022 F1 season as he ended the nail-biting race just ahead of Ferrari's Sainz.

Red Bull played a blinder in the wet-to-dry race to pit Perez, who led for the whole second half of the race, at the perfect time. Even despite having to negotiate a second red flag after Schumacher hit the wall in the swimming pool section, the 32-year-old rose to the occasion to hold off the chasing pack on his worn medium tyres. 

More Monaco woe for Leclerc

Ferrari's Leclerc must be wondering if his time will ever come to win his home race after a fourth-placed finish on Sunday. 

A mix-up by his team left him frustratingly sat behind teammate Sainz in the pit lane after his engineer seemingly struggled to make his mind up on whether the Monaco-born driver should have come into the pits to switch his intermediate tyres out for a set of slicks. 

The extra time taken not only saw him lose the overall lead of the race to Perez, but also fall all the way down to fourth spot behind championship rival Verstappen, a position he found himself stuck in for the rest of the afternoon. 

Norris the fastest man on track

The 2022 F1 season has hardly proved plain sailing for McLaren so far, though Norris continues to defy expectations in what seems to be a slower car compared to last years.

The British driver, who was still struggling through a bout of severe tonsillitis ahead of lights out, wrestled his car to a P6 finish just 0.3 seconds behind Mercedes' George Russell. 

With time to spare for a free pit stop late on in the race, Norris seized the opportunity to put together an impressive fastest lap of the Grand Prix to claim the extra point. 

Formula 1 Drivers' Championship standings after Monaco

Position Driver Team Points
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 125
2 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 116
3 Sergio Perez Red Bull 110
4 George Russel Mercedes 84
5 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 83
6 Lews Hamilton Mercedes 50
7 Lando Norris McLaren 48
8 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romero 40
9 Esteban Ocon Alpine 30
10 Kevin Magnussen Haas 15
11 Yuki Tsunoda Alpha-Tauri 11
12 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren 11
13 Fernando Alonso Alpine 10
14 Pierre Gasly Alpha-Tauri 6
15 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin 5
16 Alexander Albon Williams 3
17 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 2
18 Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo 1
19 Mick Schumacher Haas 0
20 Nicholas Latifi Williams 0

2022 F1 Monaco Grand Prix as it happened: commentary and highlights 

RACE FINISHES: Red Bulls Sergio Perez wins the 2022 Monaco Grand Prix!!! The Mexican driver takes his first F1 win in Monte Carlo and gives it the big 'VAMOS" over team radio.

Sainz and Verstappen join him on the podium whilst Leclerc, Russell, Norris, Alonso, Hamilton, Bottas and Vettel round out the top ten after Ocon receives a five-second penalty. Norris takes the extra point for fastest lap.

Lap 63: We're onto the final lap and Perez has pulled a bit more of a gap to Sainz though the Ferrari driver is still in the DRS zone. It all comes down to this!

Lap 60: There's just five minutes left in the race session here in Monaco as Sainz continues to push for an overtake on Perez. The front pack now have to deal with two slow running cars in front but there's no drama as both get out of the way on the start/finish straight. 

Lap 58: Just three seconds of time covers the top four as we enter the final stages of this Monaco Grand Prix. Sainz has a look through the tunnel as Perez continues to struggle on his medium tyres but he's just too far back to make a move. 

Lap 53: It's all beginning to bunch up a bit at the top as Sainz sits just 0.6 seconds behind Perez after grabbing the DRS. Leclerc is also pressurising Verstappen just behind with both Red Bulls beginning to struggle on their medium tyres. 

Lap 51: All of a sudden Alonso has dropped Hamilton and is stretching away from the British driver. Norris comes in for a free pit stop in P6 whilst Williams are forced to retire Alex Albon who was running towards the back of the pack. 

Lap 49: Remarkably, Alonso is now 35 seconds adrift of Norris in P7 and there's a huge train of cars developing behind the former world champion as a result. Hamilton is sat right behind him and he's been on the radio at least four or five times cutting a very frustrated figure. 

At this rate, the leading pack will be overtaking them in no time at all which could cause some big issues! 

Lap 46: Back at the front of the pack Perez is looking comfortable for the time being. He's opened up a nice little 2.2 second gap to Sainz who sits in P2. Leclerc is beginning to pile the pressure on Verstappen in P3 behind though.

Lap 41: There's a great battle for P7 currently ensuing between Alonso and Hamilton as the British driver struggles to find a way past his former teammate. DRS has finally been enabled though with just one DRS zone down the start/finish straight, it might not prove too significant this afternoon.

Lap 39: With just 32 minutes left in the race session, it looks increasingly likely that we're not going to fulfil all 77 laps on this race. Verstappen's race engineer suggests that we're likely to get around ten less overall but time will tell. 

Lap 35: Perez has pulled out a lead of 1.5 seconds on Sainz in second place already as his medium tyres hear up faster than the Spaniard's hard tyres. Jut behind, Verstappen sits a second back from Sainz with Leclerc sitting in P4 a further second behind. 

Lap 31: The lapped cars have unlapped themselves, the safety car is in and we're back underway here in Monaco.

The race will again resume at 17:15 (16:15 GMT) with a rolling start. Is everyone keeping up? 

RED FLAG: It's decided that to clear the track of debris properly and to fix the barrier as needed that the race will be red flagged for the time being. To recap, Perez leads the race from Sainz, Verstappen and Leclerc, with the Ferrari driver still visibly furious after he was double-stacked by his team earlier in the race.

Russell rounds out the top five with the British driver also holding the fastest lap of the race so far. Haas pair Schumacher and Magnussen are the only retirements from the race thus far. 

Lap 30: The replays show that Schumacher lost control of his car coming through turn 14 at high speed before he clattered the barrier next to turn 15. The safety car remains out on circuit. Haas' other driver Kevin Magnussen was also forced to retire just a lap earlier due to a technical fault

Lap 26: The full safety car is out after Haas' Mick Schumacher has a huge crash through the swimming pool section. His car lies in bits but thankfully the young German driver is out of his car and to safety. 

Lap 25: And breath. But not for long as just over four seconds is the gap between Perez in P1 and Leclerc in P4 after the reshuffle of the top pack through the pit stops.

Lap 23: Red Bull double stack themselves in response and Perez leads the Monaco Grand Prix!! He puts together a phenomenal in lap to get out of the pit lane ahead of Sainz. Verstappen also gets ahead of Leclerc into P3. This race is becoming chaotic! 

Lap 21: Verstappen has just taken 3.5 seconds out of Leclerc's lead in just one lap with his fresh intermediate tyres and the Ferrari man pits for slick tyres. But Sainz is already in the pit lane and it's a double stack which wastes a little bit of time for Leclerc. 

He is not a happy man over the team radio. 

Lap 18: Hamilton and Ocon collide! There's no damage for either driver by the looks of it but that was a close call. 

Elsewhere Red Bull's Perez is in for a change of tyres and the Mexican driver goes with the intermediates as too does Norris so it would seem that Sainz's decision to move straight onto slick tyres might have to wait for a little longer just yet. Teammate Leclerc also takes some fresh intermediates during his first pit. 

Lap 15: Gasly gets Ricciardo through the swimming pool section with a stunning move to the Australian's inside. His last two moves really highlight that the track has moved from wet conditions to intermediate conditions. Elsewhere, Sainz is on his radio saying he wants to wait a little longer and go straight onto the slick tyres if possible. 

Lap 12: Gasly makes a fantastic move down Mirabeau to get past Alfa Romeo's Zhou Guanyu and move up into P13. That's the first real overtake of the day as the Frenchman makes Daniel Ricciardo sweat going into Rascasse on the same lap. 

Lap 11: So it's as you were at the top of the standings as Leclerc has opened up a 4.7 second lead to his teammate Sainz. Perez is holding Verstappen behind him for now as the pair pull away substantially from Norris in (5. 

Lap 9: Mercedes' George Russell goes straight over the Nouvelle chicane as he looks to close the gap on McClaren driver Land Norris. His tyres completely locked up as he slowed to stick his nose into the corner and he's lucky that he didn't collect Norris as his fellow Brit turned for the straight down towards corner 12. 

Lap 7: The pit lane is chaos as drivers start to come in for intermediate tyres! Verstappen stays out for now but he sounds like he's ready for a change on team radio. 

Lap 5: Everyone is sliding all over the track as Pierre Gasly nearly puts his car straight into the wall coming through Casino Square. At the front, Leclerc keeps his lead from teammate Sainz but Verstappen is really applying the pressure on Perez in P3. 

RACE START: And we're finally off in Monaco! We had two cars colliding with the barriers during the formation laps in Lance Stroll and Nicolas Latifi who have both already pitted as result, and even though there's not much drama on the track in the opening lap, there's already several drivers diving into the pit lane for intermediate tyres.

2 minutes to lights out: The cars are finally all out on the track behind the safety car and it looks like this time, we'll actually be away properly. 

10 minutes to lights out: Right, let's try this all over again! The latest is that the race will get underway in about ten minutes. All the drivers need to get back into the zone now as the rain completely stops. 

The rain seems to be subsiding a little though the FIA are still yet to confirm a new race start time at this point. It looks like we're still a while off in truth as the cars remain under their temporary built tents in the pit lane. More when we get it.

RED FLAG: The heavens have well and truly opened here in Monaco and the race start has again been suspended after two formation laps. All the cars make their way back into the pit lane and it could be a while until this race gets going. 

2 minutes to lights out: The cars finally begin their formation lap though it takes place under the safety car due to the wet weather.

Remember that every driver has understandably begun this race on the full wet tyres, though the conditions could dry out very quickly with the rain due to stop any minute. As a result, there could be a lot of early pitstops in a very tight pit lane!  

3 minutes to lights out: There's a further delay to the start of this race as the rain continues. The latest is that it'll now begin at 15:16 (14:16 GMT).

5 minutes to lights out: The start of the race has been suspended due to a heavy down pour of rain at the last possible minute! The formation lap will now take place at 15:09 (14:09 GMT) as a result as drivers are allowed to change their tyres and car set ups. 

10 minutes to light out: Two contrasting views on Martin Brundle's grid walk for Sky Sports UK as Alpha-Tauri's Pierre Gasly suggests that his team have no indication that the rain is coming at any point today before Williams' Alex Albon says that his team are expecting rain to start falling around the time of lights out.

It certainly sounds like a chaotic start could occur as a result with drivers and teams potentially making some very last minute strategy calls here. 

20 minutes to lights out: Another area of the grid to look out for from the off is the fascinating battle between veterans Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel who start P7, P8 and P9 respectively. 

That trio of drivers have 13 world titles between them and with their cars being a bit wider this season, all three will be relying on all their previous experience to ensure a clean start to the race. 

30 minutes to lights out: As the cars begin to make their way to the starting grid for today's race, what could really spice things up this afternoon in Monaco is a change of conditions from dry weather to wet weather. 

With rain now expected to fall at some point during the race according to reports, it looks like some of the drivers will look to start the race on either medium or hard tyres to extend that first run. 

45 minutes to lights out: It proved to be a tough day yesterday for current world champion and championship leader Max Verstappen during qualifying as the Dutchman only managed to put his car P4 on the starting grid for today's race in Monaco. The 24-year-old looked a bit deflated getting out of his car at the end of the session to say the least, though he did taste victory here last time. 

His cause wasn't helped with teammate Sergio Perez' crash at the end of Q3 which red-flagged the session at the worst possible time. Reports suggest that the Mexican driver's car is fine for race start today, as too is Carlos Sainz' Ferrari after he struck the Red Bull at Portier during that spin.

1 hour to lights out: Welcome to The Sporting News' live coverage of the Monaco Grand Prix, the seventh race of the 2022 Formula 1 calendar.

Reigning champion Max Verstappen took the chequered flag once again in Barcelona during the previous round, a result that propelled the Dutchman past Ferrari's Charles Leclerc to take top spot in the driver's standings, though it's Leclerc who finds himself on pole position in Monaco this time around.

With five different winners across the past six F1 outings in Monte Carlo, plenty more twists and turns are expected at the iconic circuit this afternoon — especially with the suggestion that drivers may have to potentially contend with wet weather conditions during the race.  

MORE: Audi and Porsche to join Formula 1 in 2026, Volkswagen CEO confirms

Monaco Grand Prix 2022 starting grid

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc edged out the opposition to claim his fifth pole position of the season at the 2022 Monaco Grand Prix after an unusually chaotic qualification battle at this track ended with two of the top drivers on the grid ‘red flagging’ the final session after they were involved in a crash.

With just 30 seconds left in the third and final session, Red Bull’s Sergio Perez spun into the wall at Portier before Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz rounded the corner and made contact with the right-hand side of the Mexican’s car. Despite the collision, both drivers start the race in the top three. 

That red flag simultaneously halted Max Verstappen’s bid to take top spot in qualifying, though the Dutchman seemed visibly off the pace throughout the day compared to his championship rivals

Elsewhere, both Mercedes drivers continued to struggle with their unstable cars as George Russell and Lewis Hamilton qualified P6 and P8, respectively, whilst Sebastian Vettel drove exceptionally well to drag his underperforming Aston Martin car up to ninth spot on the starting grid. 

The full lineup for the race:

Position Driver
1 Charles Leclerc
2 Carlos Sainz
3 Sergio Perez
4 Max Verstappen
5 Lando Norris
6 George Russell
7 Fernando Alonso
8 Lewis Hamilton
9 Sebastian Vettel
10 Esteban Ocon
11 Yuki Tsunoda
12 Valtteri Bottas
13 Kevin Magnussen
14 Daniel Ricciardo
15 Mick Schumacher
16 Alexander Albon
17 Pierre Gasly
18 Lance Stroll
19 Nicholas Latifi
20 Zhou Guanyu

What time does the race start today?

  • Date: Sunday, May 22
  • Start time: 3 p.m. local time / 2 p.m. BST / 9 a.m. ET / 10 p.m. AEST

How to watch the 2022 Monaco Grand Prix 

USA: The ESPN family of networks will broadcast all 2022 F1 races in the United States using Sky Sports' feed, with select races airing on ABC later in the season. You can also stream Formula 1 races live in the U.S. with fuboTV, which offers a free trial.

ESPN Deportes serves as the exclusive Spanish-language home for all 2022 F1 races in the U.S.

UK: Sky Sports F1, or online through Sky Go, is the place to catch all the F1 action in the UK.

Canada: In Canada, you can watch F1 via the English-language TSN or French-language RDS.

Australia: Fox Sports are the carriers of live F1 coverage in Australia.

  UK USA Canada Australia
Date May 29 May 29 May 29 May 29
Time 2 p.m. BST 9 a.m. ET 9 a.m. ET 11 p.m. AEST
TV Channel Sky Sports F1 ESPN TSN Fox Sports

Nathan Evans

Nathan Evans Photo

A Sports Journalism Masters graduate, Nathan Evans joined The Sporting News in 2022 after working at Opta/Stats Perform for six years. He's an avid fan of Bradford City, FC Köln and the Pittsburgh Penguins.