Verstappen takes the Monaco GP runner-up ahead of Alonso

If watching the Formula 1 racing in Monaco is already an exercise in surrealism in normal conditions, the onset of rain turned this Sunday’s race into a frantic run-around, an exercise in survival in which it was easier to screw up. and ending up stamped against the wall than leaving with a smile on your face like the one Max Verstappen wore, the one who never fails. The fourth victory of the course for the current champion once again made it clear that Red Bull not only has the best car on the grid, but also reads the vicissitudes like nobody else. Despite going through a corridor surrounded by walls as slippery as wet glass, the Dutchman used his magic and hands to control a buffalo that was braver than ever by swerving, kicking here and dancing there, until crossing the finish line with more than 27 seconds ahead of Fernando Alonso, second on the starting grid, who also finished on the second step of the podium.

The Spaniard saved the ballot in the best possible way if we take into account that Aston Martin got into a puddle. The strategists of the Silverstone team were over optimistic when the water began to fall, and they called the Spaniard to the workshop (lap 54) to put a new set of dry tires on him, just before the sky broke into a thousand pieces and It will force you to stop again. Red Bull decided to wait and claim the presence of Mad Max one lap later (lap 55), to put the striped tires that certified the victory of the boy from Hasselt.

The margin that Alonso built behind him, partly thanks to the plug generated by Esteban Ocón, made it possible for the man from Oviedo to make his second visit to the workshops without losing that second place, his best result in the Aston Martin suit and that he had not managed since the 2014 Hungarian Grand Prix, nine years ago and when he defended the colors of Ferrari. Ocón pulled Alpine’s first podium out of his hat in this year, after a surprising revival of the French structure. Carlos Sainz finished eighth and pissed off like a monkey with the plan that Ferrari put into practice, who, according to the Madrid native, played in favor of Charles Leclerc (sixth) and against him in the festival of stops that was concentrated when the rain revolutionized the platoon.

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