F1: Perez steals spotlight from Verstappen-Leclerc battle

Red Bull racing driver Sergio Perez rained on the Charles Leclerc parade at the Monaco Grand Prix on Sunday during a literally rain-drenched race. The Red Bull driver took home an emotional victory after a disastrous strategy call by Ferrari botched the hometown hero's race.

Heading into Monaco, everyone was anticipating a battle between Leclerc and the other Red Bull driver, Max Verstappen. The pair had been swapping wins all season, and had been seen as the two main title contenders. However, Perez has now claimed his first win of the year, and has established himself firmly as another championship contender.

After the previous race at the Circuit de Catalunya in Spain, it became clear that Red Bull Racing are backing Verstappen for the championship. They used team orders on that occasion, asking Perez to let the Dutchman through to aid his run to victory.

The move was accepted by Perez, but he made it known that he felt it was unfair to hand his teammate the advantage. With his performance in Monaco, he has now placed himself in title contention, and will surely be giving Christian Horner a lot to think about.

Leclerc led the championship through the opening rounds of the season, but Verstappen managed to take the lead in Spain after Red Bull finally sorted out their reliability issues. Incidentally, it was the Ferrari's turn to experience a power unit malfunction, with Leclerc retiring from the lead of the race.

In Monaco, the Ferraris looked strong once more, with Leclerc leading his teammate Carlos Sainz in a front row lockout during qualifying. They also had great race pace, maintaining their 1-2 position after the rolling start on a rain-drenched track.

However, the pit stops came around and Leclerc pitted for intermediates just like the Red Bulls, while Sainz opted to stay out longer to change into slicks. With the track drying out quickly, the Ferrari team made the mistake of double stacking Sainz with Leclerc, who also switched to slicks.

The two Red Bulls stayed out for the overcut, and managed to pit for their dry tyres a lap later and still manage to come out with Perez in the lead ahead of Sainz and with Verstappen in third ahead of Leclerc.

The race was red flagged after a massive crash by Mick Schumacher, who broke his Haas in half after losing control and crashing into the barriers.

At the restart, even with a pace advantage, the streets of Monaco were unforgiving for the Ferraris. They were nose to tail with the Red Bulls until the chequered flag, but there was never any real opportunity to overtake.

Verstappen extended his lead in the championship to nine points over Leclerc, but Perez is now only just 15 points behind his teammate. The Mexican has put himself in a position to challenge the reigning world champion for the title, and the Red Bull team will need to make sure they manage their internal strategy between their two drivers. Otherwise, if they have a battle between their two cars, Ferrari may just be able to trump them in the end if they put all their bets on Leclerc.

Elsewhere, Mercedes driver George Russell was the best of the rest, maintaining his streak as the only driver to finish within the top five for every race this season.

His teammate, seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton, could only manage to finish in eight behind the McLaren of Lando Norris and Alpine's Fernando Alonso.