Even though the news of Formula One legend Nikki Lauda's death shattered Mercedes as he was the non-executive chairman of the F1 team, the British driver Lewis Hamilton drove his car, which included a red halo as a tribute to Lauda, to take his third victory on Sunday in Monaco Grand Prix.
On Saturday, May 25 Hamilton was very excited and became emotional after taking the pole and said that this is a race every driver dreams of, since his childhood. Later he posted a picture on Instagram stating that "Words can't express that lap. Niki would say "give it as*****s" dig it, did it, got it, good."
Now after the victory at Circuit de Monaco, the 34-year-old F1 Champion joins three other drivers, ncluding his former teammate Nico Rosberg, in the list of Monaco GP winners. It should be noted that the Brazilian F1 star Ayrton Senna is still on the top of this list as he won six times in Monaco till 1993.
Hamilton is currently ahead of his current teammate Valtteri Bottas as a leader of drivers' championship battle with 137 points.
Highlights of the race
Monégasque racing driver Charles Leclerc who is believed to be one of the emerging stars in F1 failed to gain a top 10 position during the qualifiers. He also suffered during the final race, as he damaged his rear tyre and retired from the race after lap 19 as a tyre puncture caused heavy damage to his Ferrari.
When Lecrec damaged his car, the safety car came out after 11th lap. Almost all the drivers took a pit stop but again another drama took place when Red Bull's Max Verstappen and Mercedes driver Bottas got involved in an incident after their pit stop. Later the race operator confirmed that the Belgian-Dutch racing driver Verstappen was given a five-second penalty for an unsafe release at the pit lane.
Meanwhile, another incident, involving George Russell the star of Williams, Racing Point's Sergio Pérez, Alfa Romeo's Antonio Giovinazzi as well as Lecrec blocked the road and caused a huge disadvantage to all the drivers.
During lap 51 Hamilton told his team, over the radio that "I think I'm in trouble guys - the left front is dead," but he was asked to stay back. However, the Briton obeyed the orders and pushed the car to clinch the victory in Monaco.
Monaco GP result:
- Lewis HAMILTON
- Sebastian VETTEL
- Valtteri BOTTAS
- Max VERSTAPPEN
- Pierre GASLY
- Carlos SAINZ
- Daniil KVYAT
- Alexander ALBON
- Daniel RICCIARDO
- Romain GROSJEAN
- Lando NORRIS
- Kevin MAGNUSSEN
- Sergio PEREZ
- Nico HULKENBERG
- George RUSSELL
- Lance STROLL
- Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN
- Robert KUBICA
- Antonio GIOVINAZZI
- Charles LECLERC
