Sergio Pérez won his first Formula One race of the season and the third of his career in a chaotic Monaco Grand Prix that included a rain delay, a costly mistake by Ferrari and a scary crash in which Mick Schumacher escaped injury after he crashed into a wall, splitting the rear portion of his car in two.
“I’m very, very happy,” Pérez, a 32-year-old from Mexico, said in a postrace TV interview, mentioning Pedro Rodriguez, a Mexican Grand Prix winner who was killed during a race in 1971. Pérez’s helmet paid tribute to Rodriguez, and he was emotional during the playing of Mexico’s national anthem after overtaking him as the country’s most successful F1 racer. “I’m sure up there [in heaven] he is super proud of what we have achieved.”
Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz finished second and Max Verstappen, Pérez’s Red Bull teammate, finished third in the race, which was delayed 65 minutes by rain.
Ferrari lodged a protest afterward, claiming Pérez and Verstappen failed to obey pit-lane exit rules after a pit stop, according to a statement from race stewards. Drivers must keep to the right of the yellow line at the pit exit and stay to the right until the line ends after the first turn. “We believe there was a clear breach of the regulations by the two Red Bulls going on the yellow line exiting the pits,” Ferrari team boss Mattia Binotto told Sky Sports. Christian Horner of Red Bull said (via Reuters), “All the footage we’ve seen we’ve been content with.”
Following a meeting with both teams, stewards rejected the protest, allowing the results to stand.
