Wrong tyre call for Alonso leaves Verstappen unchallenged in wet Monaco GP win

The first 50 laps of the race were largely a long wait to see whether the rain arrived, waiting to pit to avoid an extra stop for wet tyres.

“We really had to stay out almost double the amount of laps that we would have liked on the mediums,” said Verstappen, who had Alonso on more durable hard tyres behind him.

The rain was race-changing, creeping up on the drivers gradually, spit by spit until suddenly, they found themselves slithering on the wet asphalt.

The forecasts were varied: one team predicting rain in 20 laps, another in 40, and some not at all. But suddenly, at around lap 50, drivers started reporting spots of rain. Those soon changed to drizzle, and suddenly cars were sliding towards Mirabeau.

The potential was there for a perfectly-timed switch to intermediates to catapult a driver up the standings, but who? Valtteri Bottas and a combative Lance Stroll were first to change on lap 53 And it wasn’t long until they were matching the times of the slick-tyred frontrunners.

But not all of the track was wet, as Alonso radioed his team. “Box this lap and it will be for mediums,” he was told, as all around him were pitting for intermediates.

One outlap was all it took to convince him to come in: one lap too many for anyone still on slicks, as Carlos Sainz slid off at Mirabeau, losing position to his team-mate, and critical time to the now intermediate-shod Mercedes.

Verstappen was struggling too, hitting the wall at Portier, just ahead of the tunnel.

Thanks to Aston Martin’s mis-step, he had plenty of time to make his stop, ahead of Alonso and the double-stacking Ferraris.

“Had Fernanado picked the inter [first], it would have been much tighter,” Red Bull team principal Christian Horner told Sky Sports.

But despite the 22sec lead, Verstappen was still pushing in the slippery conditions, having to catch the car more than once as it slid perilously close to the barriers. “My engineer was asking me [why I didn’t slow down],” said Verstappen. “It’s better to be in a rhythm than slow down and be out of your zone.”

Sitting comfortably in third was Esteban Ocon, who had remained where he started, following a stellar qualifying performance; resisted changing tyres before the rain arrived; and stopped at just the right moment.

This wasn’t a moment to relax though, as conditions remained treacherous. George Russell, in fourth ran down the escape road at Mirabeau, reversed back out and was hit by Sergio Perez, which earned him a five-second penalty.

For Perez, it was just the latest incident in a contact-filled race where he clashed wheels with Lance Stroll, damaged his front wing when he ran into the back of Kevin Magnussen, and bounced off the walls in the rain at the Swimming Pool complex, having started at the back, following a qualifying crash.

His 16th-place in the race is a devastating blow to his championship hopes, with Alonso closing to within 12 points of the Mexican.

Just off the podium was Lewis Hamilton, followed home by George Russell who remained more than 5sec ahead of Charles Leclerc and retained the placed when his penalty was applied.

Pierre Gasly was seventh, followed by Sainz, then a pair of fast-finishing McLarens: Norris ahead of Piastri.

2023 Monaco Grand Prix race results

*Includes point for fastest lap
**Includes 5sec penalty