Perez damage bill up to three million euros, warns Marko
Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko reckons Sergio Perez's massive Lap 1 crash could cost the team up to three million euros.
Perez hit the wall hard on the run up the hill towards Massenet after contact with Haas driver Kevin Magnussen.
The Mexican was tagged by Magnussen on the right-hand side and hit the barriers sideways with the left-hand side of his RB20, destroying both front corners.
Though the matter was deemed a racing incident and no further action was taken, both drivers were at odds over who was to blame.
Red Bull's Marko was highly critical of Magnussen's role in the crash and suggested the damage bill could run as high as three million euros, which is a setback for Red Bull's development programme under F1's cost cap.
"Firstly, it was dangerous, and secondly, the damage is two or three million," Marko told Austrian broadcaster ORF. "And that's a big handicap for us with the budget cap regulation.
"It's another accident where Magnussen was involved. You have to look at it carefully on the replays. Thank God it ended well, but it was a very critical situation.
"I was surprised how quickly [the stewards] put the incident behind them."
Gasly "left a mark on every barrier" to secure Alpine point
Alpine score points for the second time in three races, with Pierre Gasly securing 10th on Sunday.
Gasly survived a controversial collision with team-mate Esteban Ocon, which has landed the latter in hot water with the Enstone outfit.
But he hung on to take 10th, with a lot of the heavy lifting done on Saturday when he scraped through to Q3 with a high risk, high reward strategy.
"This was the most important Saturday of my year, and we showed up," Gasly said.
"I took a lot of risk, I probably left a tyre mark on every single barrier around the race track, but it was definitely worth it because that first Q3 of the year definitely brought the biggest smile I've seen in the garage for a while.
"I'm very happy for all the guys because this year has been a pretty challenging year from the performance side of things but also for the whole team to keep the motivation up."
Gasly reserved special praise for Alpine's reserve driver Jack Doohan, who travelled from Monaco to Enstone to help the team nail its qualifying set-up, and then flew back in the early hours of Saturday morning.
"Jack did a very good job in the sim, I told him this morning," Gasly said. "He arrived with very small eyes, but I told him it was very useful. l felt directions in which I wanted to go with the car and it just confirms that sort of feeling from his test."
Sargeant behind on Williams rear wing spec
Logan Sargeant used Williams' 2023 Monaco rear wing last weekend, with the new rear wing going to lead driver Alex Albon.
After an eventful start to the season, a lack of spare parts has hurt Williams' capacity to produce upgrades. That meant only Albon received the newest rear wing spec to cope with Monaco's maximum downforce demands.
Sargeant went out in Q1 after qualifying four tenths behind his team-mate and while having no chance to move up into the points on Sunday, he was defiant that he had a strong weekend given the obvious disadvantage he faced.
"I drove well all weekend to be honest," the under-pressure American said. "Just trying to motivate the guys on my side of the garage who have worked so hard.
"For the package we had, we put the setup in the right place and I feel like I delivered in qualifying. That was pretty much all that was in it.
"We have a different rear wing, which is the big piece. That's making a huge difference with controlling the tyres as well. We had a different floor and I did make a slight compromise on setup, just missing a part.
"Nonetheless, I don't like to put blame anywhere, but I'm just happy with the way I drove this weekend.
Asked by Motorsport.com if he would start receiving the same spec as Albon from now on, he replied: "I hope so. But honestly, I don't know. I have to talk to the team to see where we are at.
"It's part of the game. Of course, I want to have everything. But I also know how hard everyone's working to try and bring all the parts of the car to both cars. We'll get there as a team."
Sainz contact left Piastri with lasting car damage
Oscar Piastri sustained significant damage to his McLaren in his first-turn contact with Ferrari's Carlos Sainz, to the tune of 20 downforce points or half a second per lap.
Sainz tagged the right-hand side of Piastri's floor, leading to a left-front puncture for the Spaniard.
Sainz was saved by a red flag to re-take third at the restart, while Piastri's car was patched up to reduce the effect of the damage.
"As soon as the collision happened, we observed 20 points down [on downforce], which here in Monaco is about half a second," explained McLaren team principal Andrea Stella.
"But thanks to the red flag, we were in condition to make some repairs to the floor because the side wing of the floor was broken, we didn't fix it entirely.
"We changed the sidepod that was broken as well, so overall, the deficit was about 10 points for the entire race, which is maybe two tenths and a half."
Because of leader Charles Leclerc's leisurely pace in the Ferrari, Piastri's car damage never actually impacted his race, following the Ferrari driver home in second to take his first podium of the campaign.
"I definitely felt the touch at Turn 1 and at that part of the car, it's such a sensitive part," Piastri said.
"Obviously the length of the red flag helped us out quite a lot there. And being in Monaco, it's probably the one track where having damage doesn't hurt you as much.
"It was a very, very small touch, but with these cars, especially with the floor being so sensitive to the downforce it generates, it can ruin your race very easily."
Vasseur joins Leclerc in harbour dive
On Sunday evening footage emerged of Ferrari team boss Fred Vasseur joining Monaco winner Leclerc for a dive in the Monte Carlo harbour.
Leclerc, who worked together with Vasseur in the junior formulae at ART Grand Prix and then at Alfa Romeo, finally took his first F1 win under the Frenchman on Sunday, finding redemption for two previous poles the Monegasque driver couldn't convert into a home win.
Leclerc's emotional win, which he called the most special of his career, was celebrated in style, with footage emerging of Vasseur taking a plunge on the Monaco harbour.
"I've already said to Fred to get ready because he will definitely jump with me in the harbour," Leclerc said in the post-race press conference.
"I cannot wait to just enjoy the moment. It's such a special moment in my career that you've got to celebrate."
