After a 2 week break from Formula 1, the drivers went racing in the streets of Monaco in unpredictable weather conditions. The race saw Max Verstappen take his 2nd victory in Monaco.
FINAL CLASSIFICATION (LAP 78/78)
Superb driving (all weekend) from @Max33Verstappen 👏#MonacoGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/mP3k7SXUjE
— Formula 1 (@F1) May 28, 2023
Fernando Alonso scored his 5th podium in 6 races this season. He finished 2nd place which is his best finishing position this season. The race gave a strong result for Alpine and Mercedes in their respective battles. Esteban Ocon earned the driver of the day by securing his first podium of the season.
Lewis Hamilton and George Russell respectively filled the rest of the top 5 positions of the Grand Prix.
Lights out in Monaco
As the lights went out in Monaco, the entire grid started the race cautiously. There were no changes in the top 5 positions. There were some slow overtakes involving Logan Sargeant and the Haas cars at the famous hairpin turn during the first lap of the race.
LAP 1/78
Contact between Hulkenberg and Sargeant 💥
Hulkenberg has been handed a 5-second penalty#MonacoGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/rnE9lr9YGj
— Formula 1 (@F1) May 28, 2023
A few laps into the race, Max Verstappen, who started the race in the mediums, cruised away into a comfortable lead. Fernando Alonso was maintaining a gap of around 10 seconds behind Verstappen while increasing his lead to Esteban Ocon behind him.
Carlos Sainz goes for an overambitious overtake on Esteban Ocon
Ocon who started the race with the mediums found himself defending 3rd place from Carlos Sainz trying to push him to use his tires. On lap 11, Carlos Sainz went for an overambitious overtake coming out of the tunnel in Monaco.
Another angle on that contact between Sainz and Ocon 👀#MonacoGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/ex7mQsXMLu
— Formula 1 (@F1) May 28, 2023
He went for a late dive into the inside of Esteban Ocon, but there was no room for a overtake and it led to contact with Ocon. The contact resulted in a loss of a front wing endplate for Carlos Sainz. Fortunately, the damage did not cost him too much performance.
LAP 13/78
Sainz’s front end plate has fallen off but the Ferrari driver is staying out on track#MonacoGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/iodhZ99SaM
— Formula 1 (@F1) May 28, 2023
After he realized that overtaking at this track is not that simple, Ferrari tried to fake pit stops to try and force Ocon to pit early. This tactic did not work at all.
Tire degradation plays its role in Monaco
About 30 laps into the race, the sky started to get dark. The drivers knew the rain was coming, but they did not know when. Drivers who started the race in the medium compounds started to pit. Esteban Ocon pitted his Alpine on lap 33.
Lewis Hamilton who was running ahead of Leclerc and behind Sainz also pitted the next lap. In fear of losing its position to Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari decided to bring in Carlos Sainz who started the race in hard tires and could have gone much longer.
LAP 29/78
Lots of graining on Verstappen’s left front tyre. He’s told his team but he’s staying out for now.#MonacoGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/aPw3wgl0fE
— Formula 1 (@F1) May 28, 2023
Carlos was not a fan of this decision. He did not shy away from expressing his frustrations on the radio. Ferrari decided to keep Charles Leclerc out for a bit more until they brought him also to the pits as Leclerc was not able to keep up with the pace of the leaders.
How did drivers perform on intermediate tires?
Max Verstappen, Fernando Alonso, and George Russell elected to stay out and wait for the rain to start. As it turned out, their gamble paid off. On lap 52, the initial drops of rain started near turns 5, 6, and 7. This is the slowest section of the track.
LAP 52/78
So much for the radar report!
📻 “It’s raining more and more” reports Russell #MonacoGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/IwXrHWqtGY
— Formula 1 (@F1) May 28, 2023
As the rain started to pour in the curviest section of the track, drivers started to think about switching to intermediate tires. However, the rest of the track was very dry. Judging more by the dryer section of the track, Fernando Alonso decided to take a gamble and switch to medium tires while every other driver switched to Intermediates.
LAP 55/78
Alonso pits… for more dry tyres. Is that the right call?#MonacoGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/vwRnWoz5gx
— Formula 1 (@F1) May 28, 2023
During this transition period, the track was filled with chaos. There weren’t enough screens to cover the chaos that was happening on track. Drivers were locking their tires, going wide, slow overtakes, and much more. It was proving to be a challenge for the driver to just keep the car on the tarmac. Fernando Alonso decided to switch to intermediates immediately in the next lap. Luckily, he was able to retain 2nd position.
LAP 55/78
Hold on to your hats#MonacoGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/TtV1bbHH60
— Formula 1 (@F1) May 28, 2023
In between all this chaos happening on the track, Max Verstappen and the Red Bull pit wall remained very calm. They made the right call on when to switch tires to intermediates. Max Verstappen drove an incredible 56 laps on the medium tires. Pirelli predicted that the medium tire would not last for more than 40 laps.
George Russell who did not pit for a second set of dry tires switched to intermediates and came out behind his teammate in 5th place.
King of the Streets fails in the streets of Monaco
Sergio Perez who crashed out during the first session of Qualifying on Saturday, saw himself starting at the back of the grid. If this was not difficult enough in Monaco, he had multiple contacts with other cars throughout the race.
LAP 35/78
Perez says goodbye to a chunk of his front wing after contact with Magnussen at the chicane.
The Mexican pits for a new front wing, and he’s almost back to where he started – he’s now running in P19 #MonacoGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/CPbCTzWdLc
— Formula 1 (@F1) May 28, 2023
He had contact in the first lap which forced him to pit. He changed to hard tires hoping to go till the end of the race. The open air in front of him allowed Perez to put in some fast laps with the hard tires. He closed the gap to the pack quickly but found it challenging to overtake in the Monaco track.
Overtaking on the Monaco track with these modern Formula cars is close to impossible. However, Sergio Perez went for it with the RB19. He was able to overtake a couple of cars but eventually ended up damaging his front wing while attempting to overtake Kevin Magnussen in the Haas. This led to him changing his front wing and dropping down to P19.
“I couldn’t see anything” 🙈
Contact between Perez and Russell as the Briton rejoins the track at Mirabeau 💥😮#MonacoGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/eaUhH78Pfy
— Formula 1 (@F1) May 28, 2023
Once the rain started, Perez had more trouble after running into George Russell who was recovering after running off track. Perez took a gamble by switching to full wet tires which would prove to be impactless. Perez finished in a disappointing P16. His no-point show in Monaco helped Max Verstappen increase his lead in the Championship.
Alpine score first podium of the 2023 season at Monaco
Alpine was clearly one of the winners in the Monaco Grand Prix. Esteban Ocon scored Alpine’s first podium of the season by coming in at 3rd place, while Pierre Gasly drove a steady race without any mishaps to finish P7. Their rival in the WCC, McLaren scored a total of 3 points with Norris taking 9th place and Oscar Piastri right behind him in 10th.
PODIUM IN MONACO!!!! 🏆 YESSSSSSS!!! I am speechless!! Amazing work from my team @AlpineF1Team all weekend.. this podium is for you. 💙 Un grand merci à tous ceux qui ont été derrière nous depuis le début! Let’s gooooo pic.twitter.com/A9LHJWt0Jk
— Esteban Ocon (@OconEsteban) May 28, 2023
Red Bull Racing has increased their Championship lead to 129 points. Max Verstappen has a total of 144 points with Sergio Perez, 39 points behind him. Given Max Verstappen’s current form, it would prove challenging for Sergio Perez to catch up with Max at this stage.
DRIVER STANDINGS 👀
Alonso closes the gap to Perez, Ocon leapfrogs team mate Gasly to join top 10 👏#MonacoGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/L1mzjZudsT
— Formula 1 (@F1) May 28, 2023
Ferrari once again had a disappointing weekend at Monaco after bad strategy calls. If the team had decided to keep the drivers out till the rain began, we could have seen them acquire a podium.
This was one of the rare Monaco Grand Prix where we did not see too many retirements. The entire race did not even have a safety car. This was surprising given the history of the Grand Prix. Most of the drivers were able to manage the extremely challenging conditions towards the end of the race as well.
What’s next after the Monaco Grand Prix?
With the Monaco Grand Prix done and dusted, we now head to Barcelona next weekend for the Spanish Grand Prix. This is the home Grand Prix of Carlos Sainz and Fernando Alonso. Fernando Alonso has been looking for an opportunity to get his 33rd Grand Prix victory. It would be poetic to do this in his home Grand Prix which also happens to be the location of his last Grand Prix victory in Formula 1.
Coming next… #F1 #SpanishGP! 😏🏆
Get ready for HISTORY!! 💪💪#F1Barcelonaℹ🎟 https://t.co/KP2ht4yeRG pic.twitter.com/tte7wAW8Sk
— Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya (@Circuitcat_eng) May 28, 2023
There are chances that it might rain during the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona as well. Barcelona will be a much better track for Mercedes to test their new upgrades. Although they were able to get a taste of it in Monaco, it is not the best track to test upgrades.
Will we see another race with dynamic conditions? Will Fernando Alonso best acquire his 33rd Grand Prix victory? We’ll find out next week at the Spanish Grand Prix.
