It has always been important to put in a good qualifying session in Monaco. The circuit is one of the hardest on the calendar for overtaking, the chance of gaining positions is slim to none. For the first time in Formula 1 history, the top 10 finished the race where they qualified. This had previously only ever been the top six.
We also saw a new race winner of the season. Charles Leclerc suffered and lost many chances of a home race win, which some people call the ‘Monaco curse’. He was finally able to lift the curse and became the first Monagasque to win a Monaco Grand Prix since the start of the F1 world championship.Â
With a strong finish from both Ferrari drivers (P1 and P3) and McLaren drivers (P2 and P4), Red Bull’s dominance seems to be coming to an end. There are now only 24 points between first and second in the Constructors’ championship. Red Bull should be feeling the pressure. After a challenging win in Imola for Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez finishing in P8, to a P6 and DNF in Monaco, the reigning champions have a long fight on their hands to keep their P1 place in the championship.
We have also learnt that after a messy start to the race, Esteban Ocon’s position at Alpine is under threat. After an unnecessary incident between him and teammate, Pierre Gasly, Alpine Team Principal, Bruno Famin has said that there will be consequences for his actions. Ocon is rumoured to be benched for the Canadian Grand Prix, while others suggest his time at Alpine may be coming to an end with his contract being up at the end of the season.
McLaren paid tribute to the late Ayrton Senna, the driver who holds the most wins in Monaco, with a special livery and colour scheme for their helmets, race suits, and garage.
The lap one incident involving Perez, Kevin Magnussen, and Nico Hulkenberg highlights that the dangers of the Monaco Circuit still persist to this day.
We can also say that without the volunteers and marshals at the races, the drivers and sport would not be safe. Despite a long wait, the marshals did an incredible job at making sure Perez, Magnussen, and Hulkenberg were okay. They also recovered the cars, cleared the track, and fixed the barriers.
Fans woke up on Sunday for the race with Leclerc on pole and the Ferrari of his teammate, Carlos Sainz in P3. McLaren’s Oscar Piastri joined Leclerc on the front row, vying for his first grand prix win at this historic circuit. The second McLaren of Lando Norris and George Russell of Mercedes rounded out the top five.
Lap one saw a great start from Leclerc, with Piastri and Sainz following closely behind. During the battle for second on the opening lap, Sainz pulled to the side of the track following an issue with his car after contact with Piastri in the first corner. He triggered a yellow flag in the first two sectors which was immediately followed by a red flag.
The red flag was due to a large crash between both Haas cars and the Red Bull of Sergio Perez. In this temporary stop in the race, Sainz limped back to the pits having kept his car running. There was also a smaller incident between the two Alpine cars just before the red flag came out, causing Esteban Ocon retired from the race.
The race resumed again at 15:44 local time, reverting to grid order for the restart. This meant that Sainz began the race again in P3. The restart was clean and uneventful, with Leclerc getting away from Piastri and Sainz.
From the first lap of the restart, Leclerc began to pull away from his competitors. The chase ensued with Piastri on the tail of Leclerc, however for much of the race he was unable to catch the Ferrari.
Battles took place lower in the racing order, including between Russell and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in the race for fifth place. As well as this, the RB of Yuki Tsunoda spent the Grand Prix fending off the Williams of Alex Albon as they fought for eighth position.
After 78 laps, Charles Leclerc drove exceptionally well to win his home race – a very popular win throughout the paddock and principality. Driver of the day was awarded to Leclerc as well, while Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes achieved the fastest lap of the race, gaining an additional championship point for himself.
Snakes through the harbour of Monte Carlo in the Principality of Monaco.
2024 will be Monaco’s 81st race.
The first F1 Grand Prix was held in 1950.
78 laps around the streets of Monte Carlo.
In the 2003 race, there were no overtakes.
Expectations from the 2024 Monaco Grand Prix
It’s safe to say the McLarens have been looking on top form in the most recent races. Lando Norris also achieved P3 in the 2021 Monaco Grand Prix. Therefore, papaya fans are looking at a hopeful race. McLaren are also bringing a special livery for Monaco, dedicated to the late Ayrton Senna – King of Monaco – 30 years after his passing.
Max Verstappen claimed Monaco is not a track that is well suited to the RB20 due to its twists and turns. This means there will be less expectation for Red Bull dominance from both Verstappen and Sergio Perez. However, Perez is in need of a good race after a few mishaps in previous races, so supporters of the Mexican will hope for the best!
Monaco has always been a special track for Ferrari driver, Charles Leclerc. He will be racing around the streets he walked to school on and flying past his local shop for 78 laps. Unfortunately, his record at Monaco has not been positive, with only one P6 finish out of four race starts around Monte Carlo. Fans of the Monegasque will be hoping that 2024’s race will yield better results for the young driver.Â
Previous Monaco Grands Prix
Some of the most memorable Monaco Grand Prix moments are:
Redemption Day → At the 2018 Monaco Grand Prix, Daniel Ricciardo raced to victory and proved doubters wrong. Following the race, he celebrated with a glamorous belly flop into the famous Red Bull swimming pool.
Diamond Gate → In 2004, Christian Klein’s Jaguar was equipped with a $250,000 diamond in partnership with the newly released film ‘Oceans Twelve’. After a first lap crash, the diamonds vanished never to be seen again…
Kimi Raikkonen’s extraordinary exit → The 2006 Monaco Grand Prix saw Raikkonen’s McLaren blow up in smoke. He had a very calm reaction and walked straight to his yacht, harboured just metres from the flame engulfed car.Â
The Fastest Sector returns with another Flashback Friday. Here’s a brief look back at the 2003 Monaco Grand Prix.
It is the 1st June 2003 at the Circuit de Monaco. F1 is on round seven of the 2003 Formula One Championship.
Going into this weekend, the McLaren of Kimi Raikkonen led the Drivers’ Championship, followed by the Ferraris of Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello. Holding second and third place in the Driver Standings, Ferrari was leading the Constructors’ Championship Standings, but by only one point over the McLaren team.
The drivers competed over 78 laps of the 3.3km street circuit. The race itself therefore was 260.5km long. The race conditions were favourable, with sun and some clouds later on in the race.
After uneventful practice sessions, qualifying took place. Ralf Schumacher in the Williams took pole, with championship leader, Raikkonen following. Schumacher’s teammate, Juan-Pablo Montoya completed the top three. The Ferraris only managed fifth and seventh place this qualifying session.
The Williams of Ralf Schumacher held the lead for the initial 20 laps of the race. The following 10 laps was the pit stop window for many drivers, causing the lead to frequently change. First, Montoya took the lead for two laps, followed by Raikkonen leading for another two laps, then the Renault of Jarno Trulli for the following two as well. Laps 27 to 30 were led by the Ferrari of Michael Schumacher.
By lap 31, Montoya had regained the lead, which he lost briefly to Raikonnen and Michael Schumacher after he pitted. He then led comfortably from lap 59 to the end of the race. The podium saw Michael Schumacher in third position, Raikonnen in second, and Montoya on the top step.
This did not alter the top two positions of the Drivers’ Championship standings, but caused Fernando Alonso to take third position. As well as this, McLaren bested Ferrari to take first place in the Constructors’ Championship.
The McLaren of Raikonnen achieved the fastest lap of the race on lap 49. Interestingly, there were no on-track overtakes recorded during this race. This is a very rare occurrence in Formula One.
What races would you like to see us cover next on Flashback Friday? Leave your comments below.
As we take a look at the 1996 Monaco Grand Prix, we see names such as Michael Schumacher, Damon Hill, Jacques Villeneuve, and the current three-time world champion’s father, Jos Verstappen.
Pole position was taken by Schumacher who was, at the time, two-time world champion. He set a lap time of 1:20.356. He was followed closely by Hill, Jean Alesi, Gerhard Berger, and then David Coulthard.
During the warm-up session, Andrea Montermini crashed coming out of the tunnel, leaving the starting grid one car down.
As the lights went out, Schumacher led the race but was then overtaken by Hill in the Williams. By the end of the first lap we saw Verstappen, Schumacher, Rubens Barrichello, Pedro Lamy, and his teammate, Giancarlo Fisichella all out of the race.
By lap 10, there has been another four retirements. Ukyo Katayama hit the wall on lap two, Ricardo Rosset spun out and hit the wall backwards on lap three, and Pedro Paulo Diniz retired on lap five due to mechanical issues. Berger pitted on lap nine to refuel but ended up stalling and had to retire.
On lap 17, we saw Eddie Irvine and Heinz-Harald Frentzen battling for third position. Frentzen clipped the rear of Irvine’s Ferrari ahead of him, leading to the damage of his front wing. Frentzen was forced to pit due to the damage and the stop lasted 14.8 seconds.
Hill pitted for slicks on lap 27, with a 23-second lead on the Benetton behind him. However, it was not enough to keep him in the lead.
As lap 31 came around, we saw Martin Brundle spin into the casino, damaging one of the rear wheels of the car.
On lap 35, Villeneuve set the fastest lap of the race with a time of 1:28.508. Meanwhile, Irvine was put under pressure by Olivier Panis, which led to him clipping the barrier at the hairpin, stalling the engine.
Due to the engine failure of Hill’s Williams, he was forced to retire on lap 40, giving Alesi a lead of 31.927 seconds from Panis in second.
Panis inherited the lead after Alesi was forced to retire the car due to steering difficulty. A lapped Irvine was sandwiched between the leader – Panis – and the driver in second – Coulthard – at this point in the race.
On lap 66, we saw Luca Badoer collide with Villeneuve at Mirabeau, retiring both drivers. Irvine spun out at the same corner his teammate crashed. As he was trying to rejoin the race, Mika Salo hit the back of Irvine, who was then in turn hit by Mika Hakkinen.
Frentzen did not manage to finish the race due to not making it to the chequered flag in time.
The chequered flag was brought out at the two-hour mark before all 78 laps were completed. Only three drivers finished the race. From starting in P14 to finishing in P1, Panis took his maiden win and his team, Ligier’s, first win in 15 years. In second place was Coulthard in the McLaren. And, taking the final podium spot in third was the Sauber driver, Johnny Herbert.Â
We’re back with another install of most memorable races and this time Lizzy takes the stage:
I’ve been watching F1 for a few years now and I have a few races that have stuck in my head and are very special to me.
Monaco 2017
This was the first race that I watched the whole way through live, before this I had watched the highlights of races and short clips. It was an average race with a Ferrari 1-2 and Daniel Riccardo finishing 3rd. The most memorable part of the race was Pacal Wehrlein’s crash with Jenson Button that left him lent against the barriers, as this was my first race this was my first live crash, and it did make me realise just how dangerous the sport could be.
Monza 2020
Monza is always home to amazing and unexpected races. In 2020 Vettel went through the polystyrene signs after his brakes failed, the safety car was sent out after Magnussen’s Haas stopped on the track, Charles Leclerc crashed heavily into the barriers which caused a red flag, Hamilton had a 10-second stop-and-go penalty for using the pitlane while it was closed, and Pierre Gasly took his first ever F1 win. Watching the race was like a fairy tale, especially watching Gasly’s emotional post-race celebrations. I still have the famous picture as one of my lock screens that I rotate through the year.
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Qatar 2021
Being a Fernando Alonso fan, I have to say this race. Seeing him back on the podium was amazing. Also seeing Esteban Ocon defending ‘like a lion’ was great.
Bahrain 2023
This year has already given us some great races and we’re only 3 rounds in. Alonso is 3 for 3 in 3rd places and I hope it continues and gets better. Bahrain was the first look into what this year’s Aston Martin could do but Alonso getting a podium wasn’t the only good thing about it, watching the resilience of Lance Stroll was inspiring and he finished p6 with two broken wrists and a broken toe.
Hope you enjoyed this instalment of most memorable races, we’ll be back soon with more content that you’ll definitely enjoy.
The usual first practice session that takes place on Thursday at the Monaco GP was rescheduled for Friday in 2022. The paddock was filled with chatter about the possibility of Monaco being taken off the calendar next year, along with Spa and other circuits, with the speculation of a possible 24 race season next year. The Monaco Grand Prix is known as a historical circuit and there is a divide about whether or not we should continue to race in Monte Carlo.
Focusing on the present, Leclerc was looking to outperform championship leader Max Verstappen and cut the deficit while breaking the curse at his home Grand Prix, where Leclerc had never seen the chequered flag while racing in Monaco. Sergio Perez on the other hand was aiming to show his team and everyone else on the grid just how good he was after his disappointment when team orders came into play in Spain.
Source: Autosport.com
Practice
In FP1 the two Ferrari’s displayed their speed around the circuit, sandwiching an impressive Perez in between them in second during the first practice. Verstappen could only manage 4th and Norris, who had skipped media duties as he was recovering from tonsillitis, put in a great performance to earn him P5. Schumacher brought out a red flag when he stopped in front of the pit exit with a gearbox issue and his teammate Magnussen had a little incident at the Swimming Pool chicane. Bottas did not set a lap time as he was dealing with a technical issue with his car.
Once again in FP2, the Ferrari’s were in control, and they were joined by Perez who was keeping up the pace. Daniel Riccardo suffered a big crash at the Swimming Pool chicane, causing major damage to his car. Russell protested on his team radio about how he was losing power in the later stages. Sebastian Vettel pulled off a nice save at the Swimming Pool chicane, almost ending up with an incident like Ricciardo. Schumacher had replaced his MGU-K due to his crash in FP1 and Ricciardo did not set at time as the team was still fixing his car from his earlier crash.
Source: McLaren.com
In the final practice session, we saw the same top three that we had become used to in FP1 and FP2 with Perez leading Leclerc and Sainz this time. Perez and Leclerc were battling each other for the fastest time during qualifying simulations, out doing the other each time. There was only 0.041s between the pair at the end of the session. Stroll had a brief touch with the barrier at the Swimming Pool chicane which had caused a few problems for drivers during practice sessions. Gasly and Norris also impressed with P5 and P6 respectively which Mercedes struggled slightly during the last session.
Qualifying
Could there be a more important qualifying session during the season? Possibly not. Starting positions were almost always very decisive in Monaco.
Lots of traffic and changing track conditions meant absolute chaos at the end of Q1 and with a red flag caused by Yuki Tsunoda, we saw a shock exit from his teammate Pierre Gasly who didn’t make it across the line in time to improve his lap time.. Tsunoda hit the barriers at the Nouvelle Chicane but made his way back to the pits and managed to escape Q1 after the red flag, while the likes of Albon (who very narrowly missed out on Q2 to Bottas), Gasly, Stroll, Latifi and Zhou were not so lucky.
Q2 saw a similar situation to the previous practice sessions with the Ferrari’s and Perez ahead of Verstappen and the rest. Tsunoda just missed out on Q3 in 11th place but Vettel, who had been in good for Aston Martin all weekend, snatched a place in the top 10 for Q3. Both Mercedes escaped a tense Q2; but along with Tsunoda, Bottas, Magnussen, Ricciardo and Schumacher all saw an end to their sessions.
After the first runs in Q3, Ferrari had set themselves up with a 1-2 of Leclerc and Sainz, and they seemed to be in control as Perez found himself in P3 and Verstappen in P4. Going out to improve on their times in the closing stages, everyone was pushing their hardest and this caused Perez to lose control of his car just at the edge of the tunnel, hitting the barrier, with Sainz hitting him because of noticing the yellow flags late. The session was over.
Source: Formula1 via F1i.com
Leclerc would take another pole this season, and a consecutive pole position at his home GP. Sainz set up a front row start along side his teammate and Perez in P3 would take the second row with Verstappen, who was not able to compete with the Ferrari’s or his teammate.
Source: Formula1.com
A good session from Norris and Russell saw them in fifth and sixth respectively, while Alonso and Hamilton would occupy the fourth row together in seventh and eight. Alonso too, had a touch with the barrier at the end amongst all of that chaos. Finally, Vettel and Ocon took up the final two spots of the top 10, in ninth for the Aston Martin and tenth for the Alpine.
Race Report
If you thought the chaos ended in qualifying, think again. F1 saw the weather conditions change rapidly before the race start as the looming dark clouds became heavy rain. The start procedure was suspended and then a formation lap took place but the race was then red flagged because of the conditions. Just over an hour later than the initial start time, the race officially began with a rolling start behind the safety car. The drivers tried to manage their cars on track with the slippery conditions as best the could because there had been no wet weather running up until this point.
Source: Getty Images via Grand Prix 247
Strategy calls played the decider in the Monaco Grand Prix, which saw Red Bull essentially outdo Ferrari. Charles Leclerc finally broke the curse of his home Grand Prix but lost out on what seemed almost a sure win due to a strategy error by his team which left the Monegasque dejected after the race.
Several drivers tried to skip the intermediate tyres and go straight onto slick tyres, this was a risky move that Carlos Sainz urged his team to listen to while the strategists at Ferrari wanted to put him onto intermediates like they had done with his teammate and what Red Bull chose to do with Perez and Verstappen.
Sainz pit for hard tyres on Lap 21 and Leclerc, who had gone to pits only two laps before came in again for hard tyres as Ferrari performed a double-stack. A message to Leclerc first came in telling him to box for hard tyres but another one soon came after telling him to stay out, but this was too late as he had already followed Sainz into the pits and he lost positions he would not gain back.
Source: the-race.com
Red Bull on the other hand, played their cards right. A double stack for them, saw Perez come out ahead of Sainz and Verstappen ahead of Leclerc, the Ferrari 1-2 dream disintegrating.
Elsewhere, Russell nipped Norris to P5 with his strategy of going straight onto slick tyres earning him a place, and keeping his top 5 finishing streak alive. The McLaren driver took an extra point for fastest lap due to his final stint on mediums, in the aim to hunt down Russell for P5 that he just missed out on.
Fernando Alonso took P7, ahead of Lewis Hamilton in P8; with the Spaniard holding up many drivers behind him as they became stuck in a long train behind them. Ocon, Alonso’s teammate, missed out on points, ending up 12th, because of his five second penalty due to a collision with Hamilton earlier on in the race.
Valterri Bottas and Sebastian Vettel completed the top 10, benefitting from Ocon’s penalty to earn their teams some nice points. Gasly finished 11th for AlphaTauri, a big result considering he started 17th and Monaco isn’t known to allow for much overtaking, but the Frenchman did not let that stop him as he made a few moves that took him up the grid.
Source: Motorsport.com
Not a great weekend for Ricciardo who finished 13th, or for Stroll who finished 14th. Nicholas Latifi was P15, after Zhou and Tsunoda dropped down to P16 and P17 due to making saves and mistakes during the race.
Magnussen and Albon, alongside Schumacher were the three retirees from the race.
Mick Schumacher was involved in a crash into the barriers which left his car in two, the rear of the car apart from the other half. Schumacher was okay, but the incident did seem nasty, so undoubtedly he was left rattled. This brought out a virtual safety car on Lap 27, a safety car and then a red flag three laps later. Some drivers opted for medium tyres on the restart while other chose hard tyres to have a more comfortable finish towards the end.
Source: Formula 1 via TWSN
A countdown then begun a couple of laps after the restart as they were approaching the two hour mark. The dropping off of the medium tyres caused some unnecessary stress for Perez and Verstappen who were closely followed by the Ferrari’s of Sainz in P2 and Leclerc in P4. There were a couple of moments where Sainz almost went into the back of Perez on the hunt for the Spaniard’s first F1 win. But Perez, held it together and saw the chequered flag, becoming the most successful Mexican driver and earning his third win in F1.
One could say this win came at the perfect time for Perez, the Mexican was delighted with the result, visibly emotional on the podium. On the contrary, Leclerc was left highly frustrated with the result as it could have been a first home Grand Prix victory for him but he missed out on the podium altogether.
Source: Redbull.com
Now we have a week break before another double header in Baku and Canada, two races that have always provided some great battles.
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This week we look back at a glorious weekend for Daniel Ricciardo and Red Bull at the Monaco Grand Prix of 2018. There were some bitter memories from 2016, as Ricciardo who was set for victory in Monte Carlo, lost the win to Lewis Hamilton after an agonisingly slow pit stop, which was very uncommon for Red Bull. The normally cheerful Daniel Ricciardo, rightfully, couldn’t hide his pain at the loss and aimed to right that wrong in 2018.
Source: 3legs4wheels.com
Qualifying
Not many overtakes occur at Monaco, so qualifying position was key. It was, and still remains one of the most important qualifying sessions on the calendar. Ricciardo’s teammate, Max Verstappen did not participate in the session as a gearbox change was due for the young driver and there was not enough time to change it and run the car in the session. A yellow flag in the last minute of Q1 due to Sauber’s Charles Leclerc brought it to a shaky end, meaning anyone behind the Monegasque driver could not complete their final lap. At the end of Q1 Hartley, Ericsson, Stroll, Magnussen and Verstappen were out.
Nico Hulkenberg of Renault just missed out on Q3 behind Pierre Gasly, outqualifyied by his teammate Carlos Sainz for the second time in a row after he had been dominating the Spaniard all season. Drivers out in Q2 were Hulkenberg, Vandoorne, Sirotkin, Leclerc and Grosjean.
The final showdown in Q3 was the defining moment of the weekend, heaps of pressure to get that perfect lap. Luckily for Ricciardo, he was in a world of his own, setting a lap time that put him on provisional pole by four tenths of a second, followed by Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel who were battling it out for the championship. On the final flying lap, Vettel was able to take second place from Hamilton, sealing the pole position for Ricciardo and Red Bull- the second at Monaco for the Aussie.
Source: Reddit
Race
Ricciardo and Vettel were close at the start after getting off the line quite well but the Red Bull driver kept the German behind him. His teammate Verstappen, who started at the back of the grid due to not participating in qualifying made up places on the opening lap by overtaking Grosjean and Magnussen. The Dutch man was up to 16th by lap 7.
Source: Motor Sport Magazine
A smooth pitstop for Ricciardo on lap 17 by Red Bull as they aimed to cover off their rivals, Ferrari who had already sent Vettel in for a pitstop. By lap 28 panic set in for Ricciardo and the Red Bull team as Ricciardo reported that he was “losing power” to his team over the radio, to which they unfortunately told him that the problem “would not get any better”.
Source: F1.com
Fernando Alonso of McLaren had to retire the car due to a gearbox issue, while the battle for 9th place was getting interesting between Sainz and Verstappen who had made his way up the field. Sainz, in defending against Verstappen, cut the chicane but the Red Bull driver did not wait for the stewards intervention and overtook Sainz himself.
On lap 72 Brendan Hartley was warned by his team that Leclerc behind him had a problem but just seconds later Leclerc went right into the back of Hartley due to a brake failure- resulting in a DNF in his first ever home grand Prix.
Source: eMercedesBenz
Ricciardo managed the issue with his car well, winning the grand prix by 7.8 seconds to Vettel and Hamilton. Second place for Vettel meant that he closed the gap to Hamilton in the championship to 14 points. It is from this race win we have the iconic image of Ricciardo diving into the famous Red Bull swimming pool.
Source: Skysports.com
Hope you enjoyed that trip to the past! Make sure to stay tuned for future Flashback Fridays!You can find more content here on the blog and on our social media.
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