This was the 2019 Monaco Grand Prix
FP3:
Practice started similar to previous ones on Thursday, but with just 18 minutes into the session Sebastian Vettel made an error at Sainte Devote and crashed his Ferrari into the barrier, braking the front suspension. The rest of the session was business as usual for most of the teams, but it was Monaco's own Charles Leclerc who set the fastest lap of the practice, a 1:11.265. Ahead of Bottas and Hamilton.
Toto Wolff on Niki Lauda: "The heart and soul of Formula 1"
Qualifying:
Ferrari repaired Sebastian Vettel's car just in time for qualifying, and on a dramatic Q1, Vettel set the fastest lap but took out his teammate Charles Leclerc as Ferrari inexplicably did not get him out, thinking they were safe, and with more than enough time to spare. He will start 16th at his home race. 0.8 seconds cover the top 17 cars, that is why Monaco is the great equalizer. For Q2, Valtteri Bottas set the fastest lap with 1:10.701 then came Max Verstappen with a 1:10.618, taking the record. But on Q3, Bottas started with the quickest lap at the time, a 1:10.252! Then came Lewis Hamilton, who broke the record and set the fastest ever lap at Monte Carlo, a 1:10.166!! His 85th Pole Position.
Race:
Hamilton had a great start and got to the first corner ahead of Bottas and Verstappen. At the back, and after starting P15, Charles Leclerc was passing everyone, Lando Norris was his first victim at the hairpin on lap 2, on lap 7 it was Romain Grosjean at La Rascasse, on lap 9 he tried passing Nico Hulkenberg but his SF90 touched the barrier developing a puncture on his right rear tire, which destroyed the floor of the Ferrari while trying to get back to the pits; this brought the safety car for several laps. Everyone came into the pits to change tires and Max Verstappen had an unsafe release compromising Valtteri Bottas and taking second place on track. On lap 18 Leclerc had to retire from his home race. On lap 23 the stewards penalized Verstappen with a 5 second time penalty for the unsafe release although he didn't stop so after that it was Lewis Hamilton followed by Verstappen and Vettel, but due to Max's penalty, the podium was Hamilton, Vettel, and Bottas. That was a champions drive resisting Verstappen for so many laps.
“That was probably the hardest race I’ve had, but nonetheless I really was fighting with the spirit of Niki.”
