Despite having power issues starting with lap 28, Daniel Ricciardo manage to win the Monaco Grand Prix from pole to deliver Red Bull its 57th win in its milestone 250th race. Ricciardo’s margin of victory over Scuderia Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel was a stout 7.336 seconds. The win was the seventh of Ricciardo’s Formula One career, his second this season and his first at Monaco.
“Wow, it still hasn’t sunk in. It was a perfect weekend but a crazy race. It’s such a long week and because I get so excited for this race, I find it hard to control myself and I just couldn’t wait for the lights to go out today," says Ricciardo.
"The start went well and I thought, I’ve pretty much done the hard part so let’s just finish this race. Then on lap 28 I exited a corner and felt like I pretty much had no power. When it was clear that it was an MGU-K issue I wanted to close my eyes and start crying as I thought the race was over and I wondered just what I have to do to win here. I spoke with my engineer on the radio and we changed a lot of things that didn’t fix the problem but we just had to survive with the problem and keep Seb behind.
"We had a lot less power, fortunately, it’s a tight track and we had a good car so I could make up enough time in the corners not to be vulnerable on the straights. On any other circuit, there was no way I would have won today. It wasn’t fun driving like that and I’m pretty exhausted, but very, very happy. We finally got some redemption and this is the sweetest feeling. It wasn’t easy but now I can say I’m a winner here and it’s great to win the team’s 250th race.”
Race results
1. | D. Ricciardo | Red Bull | 1:42:54.807 | |
2. | S. Vettel | Ferrari | +7.336 | |
3. | L. Hamilton | Mercedes | +17.013 | |
4. | K. Räikkönen | Ferrari | +18.127 | |
5. | V. Bottas | Mercedes | +18.822 | |
6. | E. Ocon | Force India | +23.667 | |
7. | P. Gasly | Toro Rosso | +24.331 | |
8. | N. Hulkenberg | Renault | +24.839 | |
9. | M. Verstappen | Red Bull | +25.317 | |
10. | C. Sainz Jr. | Renault | +1:09.013 | |
11. | M. Ericsson | Sauber | +1:09.864 | |
12. | S. Pérez | Force India | +1:10.461 | |
13. | K. Magnussen | Haas | +1:14.823 | |
14. | S. Vandoorne | McLaren | +1 lap | |
15. | R. Grosjean | Haas | +1 lap | |
16. | S. Sirotkin | Williams | +1 lap | |
17. | L. Stroll | Williams | +2 laps | |
18. | C. Leclerc | Sauber | +8 laps | |
19. | B. Hartley | Toro Rosso | +8 laps | |
DNF | ||||
20. | F. Alonso | McLaren |