Tag Archives: Monaco Grand Prix

2026 F1 Grand Prix of Monaco — Results & aftermath

Antonelli romps to first Monaco victory, fifth win in a row as Verstappen DNFs at start; Hamilton hangs on for P2, Hadjar avoids late penalty to keep P3, Russell doesn’t to tumble out of points in incident-filled race

Mercedes’ teenage phenom Kimi Antonelli romped to victory at Sunday’s Monaco Grand Prix, earning his first win at this fabled street circuit and making it an astounding five victories in a row for the young Italian. While his putative championship rivals suffered various race destroying incidents on what was a chaotic, incident-filled day, Antonelli survived a late Red Flag period that wiped out his large time advantage and then a standing restart with nine laps to go, the only known Achilles heel of this year’s Silver Arrow. Antonelli aced it off the line nonetheless, easily keeping Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari at bay and cruising home to take F1’s most prestigious trophy some 6.27 seconds to the good. On a day that featured seven premature retirements for the Grand Prix, the one that potentially benefitted Antonelli the most came right at the start, when the Red Bull of Max Verstappen, lining up in P2 on the grid and expected to be the main threat to Mercedes after a superb qualifying, suffered a catastrophic power unit failure when he dropped the clutch to make his getaway. As cars streamed by the helpless Dutchman, he managed to get it going on battery power, but the team quickly realized the issue was terminal and brought him in to retire the car. It was mega-frustrating day for Verstappen and his fans in a race where he really had a shot at victory due to Monaco’s unique slow-speed, high downforce characteristics, not to mention Verstappen’s special abilities in demanding environments.

George Russell, Antonelli’s teammate and closest Championship pursuer, also had a disastrous day. After looking less than conformable all weekend within the tight confines of the street circuit, Russell lined up down in P6 at the start at a track where it is extremely difficult to overtake. It got worse for the British contender when he incurred a 5-second penalty for speeding in the pit lane during his first stop for fresh Pirellis on Lap 32. To be fair to Russell, multiple drivers were also dinged for violating the pit lane speed limit, an oddity caused by Monaco’s unique right-left entry and then another left kink upon exit and perhaps also something in the new design of the cars this year that saw drivers illegally shortening the distance to the timing loops. In any event, Russell had that hanging over his head for the next twenty-plus laps as he tried to get up to Isack Hadjar’s Red Bull and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and perhaps get himself onto the podium. But it all went away on Lap 61, when the team brought both Silver Arrows in under a Safety Car caused by Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll crashing out at the final Antony Noghès corner. While Russell had to wait while race leader Antonelli was serviced, the mechanics were not clear on Russell’s need to mandatorily serve his 5-seconds once he came into the box. Instead, they changed his tires right away, a violation that incurred a harsh drive-through penalty. While Russell tried to salvage something and hung it out until the end, perhaps hoping for a reprieve from the stewards, none was forthcoming and the drive-through plunged him down the order and into a pointless P12. That made it two very difficult zero-point races in a row after his mechanical DNF last time out in Montreal and increased his deficit to Antonelli to a discouraging 68 points, as well as dropping him behind Hamilton and into third by the time all the post-race dust had settled.

 

Two big beneficiaries of the misfortunes that befell so many were Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton and Red Bull’s lone surviving entrant, Hadjar. With Verstappen going out on Lap 1 or this 78-lap contest, Hamilton inherited P2. And while it looked a tossup for that final position all race long between the seven time champ and his Monegasque teammate Charle Leclerc, the hometown hero shockingly binned it on a Safety Car restart on Lap 65, spearing off into the barriers at Noghès just as Stroll had done. That heartbreak for the hometown favorite, who blamed his brakes in no uncertain terms, led to a prolonged Red Flag period, as the race director and event organizers surveyed that particular piece of track where the tarmac appeared to be breaking up. It also promoted the P4 Hadjar into P3 and a potential first podium with the big Red Bull team. When the long Red Flag period ended and the race resumed from a standing start on Lap 70, Hamilton had nothing for Antonelli but easily kept Hadjar behind him to claim his second second place in a row. Hadjar, meanwhile, survived an investigation into a possible Red Flag infraction, as well as a dodgy power unit ion his own, and then benefitted from yet another speeding penalty, this time to Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, to earn that last step on the podium in Monaco, a fittingly complicated ending to what was a highly chaotic but entertaining race.

Top 10 finishers of the Monaco GP:

POS DRIVER TEAM RACE TIME LAPS PITS FASTEST LAPS
1

Kimi Antonelli

 Mercedes 2:23:31.243 78 4 1:13.481 (76)
2

Lewis Hamilton

 Ferrari +6.271 78 5 —
3

Isack Hadjar

 Red Bull +23.394 78 4 —
4

Oscar Piastri

 McLaren +24.261 78 5 —
5

Liam Lawson

 Racing Bulls +26.553 78 4 —
6

Arvid Lindblad

 Racing Bulls +29.010 78 4 —
7

Pierre Gasly

 Alpine +30.369 78 4 —
8

Alexander Albon

 Williams +33.413 78 5 —
9

Esteban Ocon

 Haas +37.140 78 5 —
10

Fernando Alonso

 Aston Martin +41.899 78 6 —

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is in but a week’s time, as the teams jet off to Spain for the Grand Prix of Barcelona-Catalunya. With the exception of Antonelli, Hamilton and Hadjar, the majority of the drivers will be happy to have such a brief break to escape the claustrophobic confines of Monaco and start with a clean slate at a purpose built circuit. Antonelli, on the other hand, will just be keen to keep the good times rolling in his pursuit of becoming the first Italian F1 champion since Alberto Ascari back in 1953. hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2026 F1 Grand Prix of Monaco — Qualifying results

Red hot Antonelli snatches Monaco pole from razor sharp Verstappen; Hamilton out-duels hometown favorite Leclerc for P3: Russell struggles en route to P6

Mercedes young phenom Kimi Antonelli, winner of the last four Grand Prix on the trot, continued his red hot ways by wresting pole away from a very game Max Verstappen during Saturday Qualifying for the legendary Monaco Grand Prix. With the tight and twisty streets of the principality looking more claustrophobic than even, Antonelli kept his foot in it on his final flying lap, as he had done all day, mastering the ultimate street circuit on the F1 calendar to the tune of a 1:12.051 lap. That was a little over four-tenths quicker than Verstappen’s best effort in his Red Bull. But he and the team will still be very pleased to come home P2 on the day and to be so close in competitiveness to mighty Mercedes, at least for this one very atypical race. Antonelli and Verstappen’s excellence also put Ferrari in the shade when many had been picking one of the two Prancing Horses to start from pole on Sunday. Instead, Lewis Hamilton got the better of hometown favorite Charles Leclerc, P3 to P4. The Monegasque native recovered from being mired down in P10 earlier in Q3 to take provisional pole with his penultimate lap but then whammed the barriers at Tabac on his final flier, ending any hopes of improvement.

Red Bull’s second driver, Isack Hadjar, also performed well, capturing P5 on the grid. That was one spot better than George Russell’s Mercedes, the Briton looking less than comfortable in the cramped confines all weekend so far, in contrast to youthful upstart Antonelli. At a place where passing is nigh impossible, Russell will have it all to do come race day to somehow keep up with his streaking points-leading teammate at the front. After some glimmers in qualifying, McLaren underwhelmed when it really counted, with Oscar Piastri only good enough for P7 and Lando Norris just behind his Aussie teammate in P8. On the other hand, Alpine’s Pierre Gasly and Racing Bulls Liam Lawson exceeded expectations, qualifying P9 and P10 respectively despite both just scraping through to progress in the first two Quali sessions.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Monaco GP:

POS DRIVER TEAM Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1

Kimi Antonelli

 Mercedes 1:13.599 1:12.704 1:12.051 28
2

Max Verstappen

 Red Bull 1:13.490 1:12.499 1:12.094 26
3

Lewis Hamilton

 Ferrari 1:13.777 1:12.934 1:12.279 28
4

Charles Leclerc

 Ferrari 1:13.293 1:12.774 1:12.351 29
5

Isack Hadjar

 Red Bull 1:14.408 1:12.722 1:12.434 25
6

George Russell

 Mercedes 1:14.214 1:13.238 1:12.445 28
7

Oscar Piastri

 McLaren 1:14.159 1:12.983 1:12.624 29
8

Lando Norris

 McLaren 1:13.630 1:12.919 1:12.765 28
9

Pierre Gasly

 Alpine 1:14.469 1:13.762 1:13.226 32
10

Liam Lawson

 Racing Bulls 1:14.498 1:13.471 1:13.412 29

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Sunday’s race airs live beginning at 9 AM Eastern on AppleTV here in the States. The opening lap battle for supremacy between Antonelli and Verstappen should be epic and the Ferarri duo of Hamilton and Leclerc will be looking to take advantage of any contact between the two. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2025 F1 Grand Prix of Monaco — Results & aftermath

Norris holds off Leclerc for maiden Monaco win in plodding, strategic race; Piastri P3, Verstappen P4: FIA double-pit stop rule change backfires

Formula 1 and the FIA tried to fix the age old problem of passing at the venerable Monaco circuit and avoid last year’s Red Flag-induced processional by mandating two separate pit stops for Sunday’s dry and sunny Monaco Grand Prix. It did not quite work out exactly as planned. Instead of creating more opportunities for strategic overtakes, the clever team engineers bent the procedure to their own individual goals for the race and ended up using whichever car and driver that qualified lower as a blocker for the car that qualified in the better position to create a safe window for their pit stops. This created long stretches of the 78-lap race where most of the field were running well below full speed, as drivers like Williams’ Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon took turns playing cork in the bottle to the second half of the field to ensure each of them could pit twice without any real threat of being overtaken. In the end, the key to Monaco, as it almost always is in good weather, was the Saturday qualifying order. And pole-sitter Lando Norris, who also set the track record in his McLaren en route to the top starting spot, was able to survive the best efforts of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, as well as having to wade through a slew of back markers, to capture his first Monaco victory.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen did his best to put a spanner in Norris’s works by running a long and not particularly fast second stint from nominal the race lead while waiting for the penultimate lap to make his mandated second stop for fresh Pirellis. This backed Norris into Leclerc late in the going as Verstappen was simply goal hanging for a Safety Car of some sort or a Red Flag, and therefore the proverbial “cheap” pit stop.  But there were no late incidents and once Verstappen ducked in, Norris sped away from Leclerc’s Ferrari rather easily to secure the win, with the Monegasque and last year’s storybook winner settling for second place. Norris’s McLaren teammate Piastri had a bit of wild and wooly weekend in the principality, with plenty of drifting and airborne kerb-banging, but kept it clean enough in the race to bring the car home in P3. Piastri now leads in the Drivers’ championship by a mere three points over the reinvigorated Norris. Verstappen, who had nothing to lose by running  to the bitter end for his second stop due to his massive time cushion over the second Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton, claimed P4 at the finish, exactly where he started.

While Hamilton ran a lonely and unsatisfying race after a bit of clever pit strategy early on to get him out in front of Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar, his P5 was two places better than his penalty-induced seventh place start on the grid and about as much as one could expect for improvement here on the streets of Monte Carlo. Hadjar continued to impress despite ceding a spot to Hamilton early in the race on pit cycles and came home a very solid P6, with Racing Bulls teammate Liam Lawson also scoring for the squad in P8. Esteban Ocon secured his and Haas’s best result of the season in P7, while the Williams duo of Albon and Sainz were rewarded for their slow going shenanigans by scoring valuable team points in P9 and P10 respectively.

Mercedes had a disastrous day as their gamble on running a long first stint on Hard tires with both their cars did not pay off at all due to the slow pace of the midfield runners in front of them. George Russell and Kimi Antonelli scored exactly zero points on a frustrating day the Silver Arrows team will be keen to put behind them as they pack up for the short trip to Barcelona next weekend.

Top 10 finishers of the Monaco GP:

POS

NO

DRIVER

CAR

LAPS

TIME/RETIRED

PTS

1

4

Lando Norris

McLaren Mercedes

78

1:40:33.843

25

2

16

Charles Leclerc

Ferrari

78

+3.131s

18

3

81

Oscar Piastri

McLaren Mercedes

78

+3.658s

15

4

1

Max Verstappen

Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT

78

+20.572s

12

5

44

Lewis Hamilton

Ferrari

78

+51.387s

10

6

6

Isack Hadjar

Racing Bulls Honda RBPT

77

+1 lap

8

7

31

Esteban Ocon

Haas Ferrari

77

+1 lap

6

8

30

Liam Lawson

Racing Bulls Honda RBPT

77

+1 lap

4

9

23

Alexander Albon

Williams Mercedes

76

+2 laps

2

10

55

Carlos Sainz

Williams Mercedes

76

+2 laps

1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is in but a week’s time as F1 wraps up another hectic sequence of three races on the trot with the Spanish Grand Prix from the well-loved Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Hope to see you then at a much more conventional and faster race track where overtaking should at least be reasonably possible and we’re also sure see the return of only the single mandatory pit stop after this weekend in Monaco’s unintended consequences from the FIA’s fiddling.

2025 F1 Grand Prix of Monaco — Qualifying results

Norris beats Leclerc to pole in Monaco, sets track record; Piastri P3, Hamilton demoted from P4 due to blocking penalty

On the biggest race weekend of the year, with the traditional Memorial Day Weekend Sunday lineup of the Monaco Grand Prix, the Indianapolis 500, and the Coca-Cola 600, Saturday qualifying for arguably the most prestigious trophy of them all took place on the fabled streets of the Principality of Monaco under perfect conditions. With the elite teams of Formula 1 posting ultra-competitive lap times on this tight and twisty temporary circuit, it came down to a final Q3 shootout between hometown hero and Ferrari ace Charles Leclerc and the two McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. In the end, Norris pipped Leclerc for pole by dint of setting the new lap record, an astonishing 1:09.954, ahead of the Monegasque’s seemingly impervious 1:10.063. It was quite the fillip for young Norris, who, after displaying a lack of confidence under intense pressure from teammate Piastri, has reasserted himself with his decent P2 in Emilia-Romagna last weekend and today’s impressive one-lap heroics on one of the toughest circuits on the calendar. Of course, Leclerc will be charging hard from P2 at the start of tomorrow’s tilt in an effort to execute an opening lap pass on Norris, often the surest way to victory on what is one of the most difficult tracks on which to overtake.

With Piastri coming up a bit short of that sterling top two and slotting in at P3, it appeared his partner in the second row on the grid would be the second Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton. But Hamilton, who had a small shunt to end free Practice 3, was also dinged three grid spots for impeding Red Bull’s Max Verstappen during qualifying after his race engineer gave him some incorrect information about Verstappen’s pace on track. That dropped Hamilton to a difficult P7 spot on tomorrow’s grid, while Verstappen reaped the rewards and was elevated to P4 despite only qualifying P5. The Racing Bull of impressive rookie Isack Hadjar and the Aston Martin of veteran pilot Fernando Alonso also benefitted from Hamilton’s misfortune, with Hadjar being promoted to P5 and Alonso to P6 for tomrorow’s race. Esteban Ocon did yeoman’s work to make Q3 and hustle his Haas up to P8; the second Racing Bull of Liam Lawson qualified a confidence-boosting P9 and Alexander Albon put his Williams in P10.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Monaco GP:

POS

NO

DRIVER

CAR

Q1

Q2

Q3

LAPS

1

4

Lando Norris

McLaren Mercedes

1:11.285

1:10.570

1:09.954

27

2

16

Charles Leclerc

Ferrari

1:11.229

1:10.581

1:10.063

27

3

81

Oscar Piastri

McLaren Mercedes

1:11.308

1:10.858

1:10.129

29

4

44

Lewis Hamilton

Ferrari

1:11.575

1:10.883

1:10.382

28

5

1

Max Verstappen

Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT

1:11.431

1:10.875

1:10.669

21

6

6

Isack Hadjar

Racing Bulls Honda RBPT

1:11.811

1:11.040

1:10.923

27

7

14

Fernando Alonso

Aston Martin Aramco Mercedes

1:11.674

1:11.182

1:10.924

30

8

31

Esteban Ocon

Haas Ferrari

1:11.839

1:11.262

1:10.942

32

9

30

Liam Lawson

Racing Bulls Honda RBPT

1:11.818

1:11.250

1:11.129

26

10

23

Alexander Albon

Williams Mercedes

1:11.629

1:10.732

1:11.213

34

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live on ABC beginning at 9 AM Eastern here in the States. While it looks to be a Norris-Leclerc/McLaren-Ferrari shootout from the front, the second McLaren of Piastri and Verstappen’s Red Bull are sure to be in the mix thanks to Hamilton’s unfortunate penalty. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2024 F1 Grand Prix of Monaco — Results & aftermath

Leclerc finally breaks through at home GP to take victory in Monaco; Piastri P2, Sainz P3 & Norris P4 in all-Ferrari vs McLaren competition

After years of bad luck, self-inflicted mistakes and ever-building pressure, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc finally broke through to take a comprehensive victory at his home race at the Monaco Grand Prix on Sunday. The Monegasque ran from pole to the checkers, maintaining first place the whole while on this legendarily difficult to overtake street circuit, where the top cars in the world have been racing since 1929. With qualifying of supreme importance here, it became a two team battle between Ferrari and McLaren, with the four drivers finishing where they started — Leclerc in P1 and his Scuderia stablemate Carlos Sainz in P3 and the two McLarens of Oscar Piastri in P2 and Lando Norris in P4. Red Bull were uncharacteristically not a factor here, as Max Verstappen held station to also come home where he started in P6. His unlucky teammate Sergio Perez was wiped out on the opening lap in a contretemps with the overly ambitious Haas of Kevin Magnussen that also took out the other Haas of Nico Hulkenberg when the melee had concluded.

That large multi-car shunt led to a lengthy Red Flag period necessitated by an extensive cleanup of the rather large debris field of broken Red Bull and Haas bits strewn across the entirety of Beau Rivage. It also enabled Sainz, who suffered a puncture after wheel to wheel contact dicing with Piastri at the start, to save his race. The Ferrari mechanics were able to perform repairs to the Spaniard’s car with no time penalty and the restart would be in the exact order of the race start due to the Red Flag being thrown without even a full first sector being run. Unfortunately, it also gave all the teams a free change of tires, which negated any future requirement to pit for a change of Pirelli compounds, as per the rules. This meant that the front four could run a slow, tire management pace without consequences or need for any strategy calls that might have spiced up the action. But that’s Monaco — a race that is usually greater on pageantry, pomp, historical significance and prestige than in actual racing action. Nevertheless, no one can take away the pure joy of Leclerc’s boyhood dream coming true in front of his hometown fans, including Prince Albert II and Princess Charlene, who both participated in the ebullient, champagne-drenched podium ceremonies for the local boy made good.

As he was after qualifying, Dutch points leader Verstappen ended up sandwiched between the two Mercedes, with George Russell coming home in P5 and Lewis Hamilton in P7. Even with both Verstappen and Hamilton being tow of the very few to pit to get off the Mediums and back onto the Hards for their final stints, it did nothing to really shake up their respective races. Rounding out the top ten, Yuki Tsunoda claimed P8 for RB Honda, Alexander Albon was P9 for Williams and Pierre Gasly claimed his first point of the year in P10. Gasly finishing at all was impressive considering he came together with teammate Esteban Ocon on the opening lap. Ocon went airborne and was knocked out of the race, earning the wrath of his team boss in an unusually harsh public rebuke.

Top 10 finishers of the Monaco GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 78 2:23:15.554 25
2 81 Oscar Piastri MCLAREN MERCEDES 78 +7.152s 18
3 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 78 +7.585s 15
4 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 78 +8.650s 12
5 63 George Russell MERCEDES 78 +13.309s 10
6 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 78 +13.853s 8
7 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 78 +14.908s 7
8 22 Yuki Tsunoda RB HONDA RBPT 77 +1 lap 4
9 23 Alexander Albon WILLIAMS MERCEDES 77 +1 lap 2
10 10 Pierre Gasly ALPINE RENAULT 77 +1 lap 1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is in a fortnight’s time, as the teams cross the Atlantic again and return to wide open racing with the Canadian Grand Prix. Can Red Bull and Verstappen get their mojo back on the high speed straights of Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve or have Ferrari and McLaren truly made inroads to make this a genuine three-team championship battle? Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2024 F1 Grand Prix of Monaco — Qualifying results

Leclerc claims pole for hometown Grand Prix, pipping P2 Piastri; Sainz P3 on good day for Ferrari; Red Bull struggle with Verstappen only sixth fastest, Perez out in Q1

With the Memorial Day holiday weekend upon us, that means the return of the venerable Monaco Grand Prix, the crown jewel of the Formula 1 season. On this most unique of street circuits, the tightest and slowest on the F1 calendar, Red Bull’s usual straightline & DRS advantages were utterly neutralized during Saturday qualifying, as championship points leader Max Verstappen could do no better than P6 and Sergi Perez was unceremoniously bounced in Q1 with only the eighteenth fast time in the twenty car field. That left the door wide open for Ferrari and McLaren and the Scuderia’s Charles Leclerc came flying through it with a final lap good enough for pole at his home race. The Monegasque Leclerc bested the P2 McLaren of young Oliver Piastri, as well as his Ferrari teammate Carlos Sainz, who will start tomorrow’s race from P3 on the grid. Piastri’s McLaren stablemate Lando Norris, who is on his own fine run of form, will line up along Sainz on the second row in P4.

Mercedes had decent if not spectacular pace on the streets of the principality, with George Russell once again out-qualifying his more senior Silver Arrow teamate Lewis Hamilton, P5 to P7, effectively making the frustrated P6 Verstappen the meat in a Mercedes sandwich. Rounding out the top 10 qualifiers, Yuki Tsunoda was P8 for RB Honda, Alexander Albon hauled his Williams up to P9 and Pierre Gasly did well to hustle his usually poky Alpine into P10.

To 10 qualifiers for the Monaco GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 1:11.584 1:10.825 1:10.270 26
2 81 Oscar Piastri MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:11.500 1:10.756 1:10.424 24
3 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 1:11.543 1:11.075 1:10.518 28
4 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:11.760 1:10.732 1:10.542 27
5 63 George Russell MERCEDES 1:11.492 1:10.929 1:10.543 28
6 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 1:11.711 1:10.745 1:10.567 28
7 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:11.528 1:11.056 1:10.621 28
8 22 Yuki Tsunoda RB HONDA RBPT 1:11.852 1:11.106 1:10.858 25
9 23 Alexander Albon WILLIAMS MERCEDES 1:11.623 1:11.216 1:10.948 29
10 10 Pierre Gasly ALPINE RENAULT 1:11.714 1:10.896 1:11.311 30

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live on ABC beginning at 9 am Eastern here in the States. With Red Bull on the back foot on a very difficult to pass circuit, this could end up a Ferrari-McLaren duel amongst the top four starters, with Leclerc inspired to fend off Piastri and take victory at his prestigious home race. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2023 F1 Grand Prix of Monaco — Results & aftermath

Verstappen romps to victory in Monaco despite late rain; Alonso a distant P2 after wrong tire call; Ocon takes P3 with stellar effort; Perez scores zero points to cap off lost weekend

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen laid down a major marker in his quest for a third consecutive Formula 1 Drivers’ title, dominating the always significant Monaco Grand Prix on Sunday to claim a relatively easy victory despite the uncertainty brought by rain late in the race. Starting from pole for the first time here and with his teammate and closest championship rival Sergio Perez forced to start from the rear after the Mexican street ace crashed heavily during Saturday Qualifying, Verstappen proved untouchable in race trim even at this slow speed street circuit where the RB 19 ‘s usual DRS superiority was not really a factor. Verstappen potentially put Perez’s championship hopes to the sword with an untouchable performance and a second career win on the streets of Monte Carlo, as Perez was betrayed by a series of errors that saw him unable to advance his position and ended up scoring zero points on the day. Verstappen survived and thrived during the rainy conditions that swooped down from the mountains starting on Lap 52 of this 78-lap contest, patiently riding out several very slippery laps to suss out the track conditions & future weather before diving into the pits for the now necessary treaded Intermediate Pirelli tires on Lap 55.

On the other hand, Verstappen’s closest competition in the race, Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso, chose to pit a lap earlier for Medium slicks after running his Hards all the way to Lap 54. It proved to be a crucial miscalculation by Alonso’s strategists, as it remained far too wet for slick tires to function and the Spaniard was forced to pit again on Lap 56 for the much needed Inters. Alonso ended up a distant second to the flying Dutchman, nearly 28-seconds adrift, and it’s reasonable to speculate just how much time that second stop cost the Spaniard. With a pit delta of around 19-seconds and traffic circulating relatively slowly due to the poor conditions, if Aston had just made the move to Inters right off the bat, the story of the latter third of the race could have been a bit different. Still, it’s hard to see how anyone really had anything for Verstappen on this day and in his current run of unstoppable form, even the magnificent Alonso. Either way, it meant another strong result in P2 for Fernando, his highest finishing place of the season and his rather remarkable fifth podium out of six races. Alonso is having a renaissance and Aston Martin have made a quantum leap in performance with the AMR23 that makes them arguably the second best car in the paddock.

For Perez, it was an absolutely lost weekend due to the knock on effects of his heavy qualifying shunt, which required a chassis change and a host of other repairs overnight, resulting in a last place start on the grid. On a track where passing is extraordinarily difficult, Perez was stifled in the early going of the race and then got caught up in some extracurriculars that essentially doomed his race further. Trying to somehow move through the field, he tangled with the second Aston Martin of Lance Stroll and the Haas of Kevin Magnussen, contact that damaged his front wing to the extent that he needed a new nose by Lap 36. This totally negated his planned long run tire strategy. After another damaging incident coming together with Mercedes’ George Russell when the rains started to fall, Perez was relegated to tire testing the full Wet Pirellis in potential service of his teammate. He finished two laps behind Verstappen, whose points lead over his teammate grew to 39, while Alonso narrowed his deficit to Perez to only 12. All in a all, a weekend to forget for Perez and he’ll probably be happy there’s another race next weekend to wash the bitter taste of this disaster out of his mouth.

On the other end of the spectrum, it was pure jubilation for Alpine’s Esteban Ocon, who finished an excellent P3 after being gifted that grid position by Charles Leclerc’s penalty for impeding during quali. Ocon became the first Frenchman to reach the podium in Monaco since Jean Alessi way back in 1993. Ocon tenaciously fought off all challengers, including at various times, the two Ferraris of Carlos Sainz and Leclerc and the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton. Ocon also acquitted himself well in the rain, smartly pitting with the main group of frontrunners for that key switch to Inters on Lap 55 and then keeping it clean in the final stanza for that eye opening P3 result. Throw in Pierre Gasly’s solid P7 effort and it was an outstanding result for the midfield Alpine team. Hamilton was the best of the rest, running a solid if unspectacular race and staying out of trouble in tight quarters to finish in P4. Hamilton and Silver Arrows stablemate George Russell, who finished P5, were also helped by yet more strange strategy decisions by the Ferrari pit wall and some inconsistent driving by their pilots. After Carlos Sainz collided with Ocon speeding out of the tunnel and into the Nouvelle Chicane on Lap 11, damaging the Spaniard’s front wing, the team seemed to equivocate on their next move, resulting in a series of aborted calls for Sainz to box. When they did finally call in their driver from P4 on Lap 34, Sainz was none too pleased when he found himself emerge down in P7. But Sainz made his own misfortune later in the race when he spun out in the rain and lost several more positions, ending up in P8 at the finish and making for a very frustrating day for him.

Leclerc’s day was not that much better, though the Monegasque did rally in front of the home fans to maintain P6 behind Russell when the checkers flew. That’s where he started after that 3-place grid penalty so at least he didn’t lose any positions, but neither could he make any up after that key qualifying mistake. Leclerc is quite talented but prone to mental errors that lead to a lack of consistent performance and cost him better results. One wonders if this is because he feels he has to overdrive the Ferrari to even come close to the Red Bull’s pace or if he is just putting too much pressure on himself and that leads to a loss of concentration. Whatever the reason, it was another disappointing result in his home GP.

Rounding out the top 10, McLaren got good results amidst the chaos for others with a P9 for Lando Norris and P10 for rookie Oscar Piastri. With major upgrades coming to their chassis, McLaren will take those kinds of points paying results with their current underperforming car any day of the week.

Top 10 finishers of the Monaco GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 78 1:48:51.980 25
2 14 Fernando Alonso ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 78 +27.921s 18
3 31 Esteban Ocon ALPINE RENAULT 78 +36.990s 15
4 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 78 +39.062s 13
5 63 George Russell MERCEDES 78 +56.284s 10
6 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 78 +61.890s 8
7 10 Pierre Gasly ALPINE RENAULT 78 +62.362s 6
8 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 78 +63.391s 4
9 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 77 +1 lap 2
10 81 Oscar Piastri MCLAREN MERCEDES 77 +1 lap 1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is in but a week’s time — the Spanish Grand Prix from the very familiar Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya where the drivers due their pre-season testing. While Alonso will be on home soil, it’s Verstappen who looks to be unstoppable right now in any country and on any track. But of course in racing, surprises happen all the time and nothing is a given. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2023 F1 Grand Prix of Monaco — Qualifying results

Verstappen grabs first Monaco pole with mighty effort in dying seconds of Q3, bumps game Alonso to P2; Leclerc slots in at P3 at home GP; Perez crashes out heavily in Q1

Formula 1 returned to action after the unfortunate cancellation of last week’s planed Emilia Romagna Grand Prix due to the catastrophic flooding in that beautiful region with a thrilling Saturday qualifying for tomorrow’s Monaco Grand Prix. Under clear and sunny skies and with the famed street circuit ever-evolving to the bitter end of Q3, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen pulled out a miracle final lap at the death to earn his first-ever pole in Monte Carlo, bumping the seemingly supreme time of Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso and relegating the veteran Spaniard to P2. That sets things up nicely for the points-leading Dutchman as he seeks to build on his seemingly unstoppable championship momentum after a frankly amazing run from ninth to victory in Miami twenty days ago. As for Alonso, even though he’s now still hunting his first pole in F1 since 2012, he’s certainly in the mix for the win tomorrow if he can get away to a good start and get ahead of Verstappen. The Aston Martin in Alonso’s hands is arguably the second best car on the grid and the Red Bull’s usual DRS advantage should be quite muted at this tight, slow speed circuit. Not to mention that Alonso also out-qualified both Ferraris on the day, bettering hometown hero Charles Leclerc*, who came home with the third fastest time, and teammate Carlos Sainz, who was not as quick at P5. (*Leclerc was subsequently penalized three grid positions post-qualifying when he was adjudged to have impeded Lando Norris.)

Alonso was also aided by Verstappen’s teammate and main title rival Sergio Perez’s unforced error in Q1, when the veteran Mexican, who has had his share of drama in Monte Carlo, overcooked it going into Sainte Devote and crashed heavily into the outside barriers at Turn 1 there. While Perez was unhurt, it was a heavy shunt that literally smashed the normally robust carbon fiber side pod to smithereens and likely ruined the gearbox and rear suspension, as well. So, on a day where team Red Bull were thrilled to have one driver on pole after a tight multi-car duel, don’t be surprised if Perez is forced to start from the pits tomorrow, making any sort of points finish a rather remote possibility on this near-impossible to overtake track. If Verstappen saunters away from Perez in the championship fight, his teammate’s rather inexplicable crash so early in quali will be pointed at as the season’s key turning point.

Alpine also showed really good pace on the day, with Esteban Ocon at one point topping the timing sheets late in Q3 but settling for P4 when the big boys had their say, and teammate Pierre Gasly notching a solid P7 effort. Lewis Hamilton out-qualified his Mercedes teammate George Russell, P6 to P8, despite having a shunt in the final practice session earlier in the day that required repairs and then struggling for pace in much of qualifying. And AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda did very well to take a solid P9, while McLaren’s Lando Norris had to settle for P10 after damaging his car in Q2 by hitting the outside barrier in the Nouvelle Chicane, his team nonetheless having done yeoman’s work in getting it repaired and able to turn some laps in Q3.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Monaco GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 1:12.386 1:11.908 1:11.365 30
2 14 Fernando Alonso ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 1:12.886 1:12.107 1:11.449 25
3 16 Charles Leclerc* FERRARI 1:12.912 1:12.103 1:11.471 26
4 31 Esteban Ocon ALPINE RENAULT 1:12.967 1:12.248 1:11.553 26
5 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 1:12.717 1:12.210 1:11.630 28
6 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:12.872 1:12.156 1:11.725 30
7 10 Pierre Gasly ALPINE RENAULT 1:13.033 1:12.169 1:11.933 25
8 63 George Russell MERCEDES 1:12.769 1:12.151 1:11.964 29
9 22 Yuki Tsunoda ALPHATAURI HONDA RBPT 1:12.642 1:12.249 1:12.082 29
10 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:12.877 1:12.377 1:12.254 23

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live at 9AM on ABC here in the States. While qualifying is usually the more exciting event than the actual race in Monaco, look for Alonso to keep Verstappen on his toes in the early going, as there is really nothing between the Aston and the Red Bull on this short street course. It should also be interesting to see if the Red Bull braintrust can figure out a way to get Perez back in the mix with some sort of bold strategy maneuver. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2022 F1 Grand Prix of Monaco — Results & aftermath

Perez wins wet & wild Monaco GP; Sainz P2, Verstappen P3; Leclerc a disconsolate fourth place after Ferrari fumble strategy

The Mediterranean weather gods conspired to make the 2022 Monaco Grand Prix one of the most unpredictable and exciting in many a year. After nothing but blue skies and sunshine for every practice session and Saturday qualifying, the drivers and teams arrived on the grid in the midst of downpour on Sunday afternoon in the principality. The start was delayed for over an hour until the rain had subsided enough to insure a safer race. Then the entire field was obliged to start on full wet weather Pirelli tires, the cars lining up behind the Safety Car for several reconnaissance laps to aid the drying of this tight and tricky street circuit until the race finally got underway on what was officially Lap 3. The pole-sitting Ferrari of hometown hero Charles Leclerc led away cleanly, trailed by his teammate Carlos Sainz in P2 and the two Red Bulls of Sergio Perez in P3 and points leader Max Verstappen in P4. By Lap 2, AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly felt adventurous enough to come into the pits and change to the less heavily treaded Intermediate wet tires and the Frenchman soon began setting fast laps, setting off a strategic scramble for everyone else to find the opportune time to make that change themselves.

For the leaders, this was the trickiest of calls because, not only is track position absolutely king on the streets of Monte Carlo, but the drying track would soon be ready for slicks if the weather continued to hold off, as was now predicted. By virtue of his eventful qualifying where he actually benefitted from binning his car at the end of Q3, thereby preventing his teammate from improving his time, thereby being in front of Verstappen, Perez was the first of the Red Bulls to pit. He came in on Lap 16 for the Intermediates, which were so well suited to the current track conditions that the veteran Mexican was able to set a blistering out lap and thereby heap pressure on the two leading Ferraris still trundling around on rapidly deteriorating full Wet tires. Continue reading →

2022 F1 Grand Prix of Monaco — Qualifying results

Leclerc nabs second consecutive pole at home race while avoiding last year’s drama; Sainz P2, Perez P3 but collide at end of qualifying; frustrated Verstappen only good enough for P4

A year after he had the bizarre and bittersweet experience of taking pole at his home race only to fail to start the GP due to a careless crash on his final qualifying lap, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc set another supremely good time for pole during Saturday qualifying for tomorrow’s Monaco Grand Prix. And this time Leclerc kept it both fast and clean throughout, avoiding a repeat of any dramas that could have kept him starting from P1 tomorrow. Now, the Monegasque title contender, who lost his points lead to archrival Max Verstappen a week ago in Spain, will look to return the favor on the Red Bull ace at a tight and twisty street course where track position is king and passing is always a tricky and sometimes impossible proposition. Verstappen was surprisingly just a bit off the pace today and ended up not only behind the hometown hero’s pole-sitting effort but also the second Ferrari of Carlos Sainz, who pulled his Prancing Horse up to P2 for the second Ferrari front row lockout of the year, as well as his teammate Segio Perez, who outperformed his Red Bull stablemate with a lap good enough for P3. But Perez and Sainz also came together at the end of Q3, when the veteran Mexican had a peculiar spin at Portier just before the tunnel entrance and ended up smashing the rear of his Red Bull into the armco with some force. Sainz then failed to see the resultant yellow flags going into that same corner and looped his own car, subsequently smashing his Ferrari into the front of Perez’s stricken Red Bull. That carnage brought quali to a premature end with a few minutes remaining and balked any hope of Verstappen’s to improve upon his P4 time. It will be interesting to see if Sainz, who has certainly had his share of admonishments from race control this season, will be handed a penalty of any significance after not adequately slowing under yellow. It will also be intriguing to find out if Perez’s chassis and engine components sustained any serious damage after that unfortunate double whammy.

With Verstappen a miffed and somewhat perplexed P4, the Dutchman was left hoping not only for some kind of demotion to Sainz but also a bit of rain on Sunday to spice things up, an atmospheric potentiality that is looking more and more probable at the time of the race in this famously changeable Mediterranean enclave. Behind Verstappen, McLaren’s Lando Norris was the fastest of the rest, earning a P5 start with a hairy but still very rapid final lap, where Norris’s lightning quick hands were on full display. Mercedes’ George Russell came home just a bit adrift of the McLaren in P6, while his seven-time champion teammate Lewis Hamilton could only muster P8 in a Silver Arrow that looked more like a bucking bronco at times. Alpine’s wise old head Fernando Alonso did yeoman’s work to claim P7, though the veteran Spaniard did have a mini-shunt into the barriers of his own in a moment of distraction at the end of quali. That probably didn’t cost him an even better start due to the early end to Q3 due to the mess just up the road from him, however. Aston Martin’s Sebastien Vettel and the second Alpine of Esteban Ocon rounded out the top ten qualifiers in P9 and P10 respectively.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Monaco GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 1:12.569 1:11.864 1:11.376 24
2 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 1:12.616 1:12.074 1:11.601 25
3 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING RBPT 1:13.004 1:11.954 1:11.629 25
4 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING RBPT 1:12.993 1:12.117 1:11.666 25
5 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:12.927 1:12.266 1:11.849 27
6 63 George Russell MERCEDES 1:12.787 1:12.617 1:12.112 27
7 14 Fernando Alonso ALPINE RENAULT 1:13.394 1:12.688 1:12.247 22
8 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:13.444 1:12.595 1:12.560 29
9 5 Sebastian Vettel ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 1:13.313 1:12.613 1:12.732 28
10 31 Esteban Ocon ALPINE RENAULT 1:12.848 1:12.528 1:13.047 22

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live on ESPN beginning at 9AM Eastern here in the States. Can Charles Leclerc take the ultimate honors and a dream victory in his home race? Or will Verstappen find a way to vault himself to the front and dash those Monegasque dreams? Hope to see you then to find out!