Monaco – Main Race: Victory for the Elusive Stoffel Vandoorne

The sun returned to the track of the Principality this Friday morning. The 26 participants of this Main Race will therefore be able to start with the range of tires planned for dry conditions, namely the Super-Soft and Soft tires.

For the record, it was the Californian driver Alexander Rossi who claimed the pole position yesterday afternoon. He starts on the grid ahead of Raffaele Marciello. Arthur Pic and Stoffel Vandoorne are on the second row.

Rio Haryanto, meanwhile, received a 3-place grid penalty for not slowing down sufficiently under yellow flag conditions during Qualifying.

It will be interesting to see who has chosen the best tire strategy: poleman Rossi and Vandoorne are starting on Soft tires while Marciello and Pic have opted for Super-Softs.

The first start is not the right one: the second ART Grand Prix driver, Nobuharu Matsushita, stalled on his spot. Confusion reigns as drivers behind him also stall while trying to maneuver around his car. Race direction decides to cancel the start procedure: all drivers can return to their original positions, except for Pierre Gasly, penalized for starting before the signal.

After 10 minutes of waiting, the drivers set off for a formation lap again: the race management decided to shorten the race by two laps, which now only has 40 laps in total.

The second start is the right one!

Marciello gets a good start: better traction allows him to pass Rossi before the first corner. Behind, the start goes almost smoothly, a few pieces of wings fly off but no safety car intervention.

At the end of the first lap, Marciello is in the lead ahead of Rossi, Arthur Pic is still ahead of Vandoorne. Jordan King is 5th ahead of Sirotkin, Canamasas, Leal, De Jong, Stanaway. The other French drivers are much further down the standings: Norman Nato, last year’s winner in Formula Renault 3.5, is 17th, Nathanaël Berthon 22nd, and Pierre Gasly 25th.

At the front of the race, the gaps are narrowing: Marciello is unable to break away; he is under pressure from Rossi, Pic, and Vandoorne. In the middle of the pack, strategies are shifting: Alex Lynn and Rio Haryanto make their pit stops as early as lap 8.

At the 9th lap, the leader stops: Marciello gives the race lead to Rossi. Unsurprisingly, the Ferrari Driver Academy driver switches to Soft tires. Big contact between De Jong and Matsushita who have an incident at the tunnel exit. The Dutchman closes the door on the Japanese driver, who hits the barrier but can still continue.

In the meantime, Rossi is still in the lead with Stoffel Vandoorne behind him: Marciello and Pic are now in the pack after their tire changes. Another incident at the Loews hairpin this time: Norman Nato assertively passes Marco Sorensen, who can no longer steer; the Danish driver has to stop his Carlin. Logically, the driver from the French Riviera receives a Stop and Go penalty.

The long-distance battle for first place is now raging with Rossi and Vandoorne on one side and Pic and Marciello on the other; the Frenchman made a good move by coming out ahead of the Italian.

At mid-race, the provisional Top 10 is as follows: Rossi, Vandoorne, Sirotkin, Leal, Canamassas, Stanaway, Berthon, Yelloly, Pic (who is the first driver to have stopped), and Marciello.

An accident then occurs at the tunnel exit between Mitch Evans and Visoiu. The New Zealand driver completely misses his braking while attempting to pass: he tears off his front wing in the maneuver and has to retire. The drivers switch to virtual safety car mode. The situation gets frantic at the front: Rossi and Vandoorne pit… the World Championship leader comes out in front!

As of the 25th lap, the Top 5 is as follows: Vandoorne leads Rossi, Berthon, Leal, and Pic. Marciello is in 7th place.

Rossi puts pressure on the race leader by driving tucked in his mirrors. Carlin driver Julian Leal is further back with a 14-second gap. Canamasas has meanwhile passed Arthur Pic to take 4th place. A big blow for Leal who receives a 10-second penalty: he has to give up his 3rd place to Canamasas.

The standings freeze, and the main challenge lies in the duel between Sergio Canamasas and Arthur Pic for a podium place. The Spaniard is struggling with his tires. In the lead, Vandoorne now pulls away by several seconds from Rossi. The Belgian is heading towards victory.

Stoffel Vandoorne crosses the Checkered Flag as the Winner! He is ahead of Alexander Rossi and Julian Leal, who was penalized by 10 seconds. Sergio Canamassas therefore takes 3rd place.

3rd victory in as many Main Races this season for the driver of the French team ART Grand Prix. He continues to widen the gap at the top of the Drivers’ Standings.

The GP2 grid now has an appointment on Saturday afternoon at 4:10 PM for the Sprint Race.