Monaco GP - Verstappen makes it two on the streets of the Principality

The 2023 edition of the Monaco Grand Prix sees the victory of Max Verstappen, in his second win after the 2021 edition. But if on that occasion the success had matured due to poleman Leclerc not participating in the Grand Prix, this time no one put under discussion the dominators of this World Championship...

The final classification of the race sees, after Max, a podium with Alonso and an amazing Ocon, who holds up to the attacks of the Mercedes and Ferraris to get his first podium in Monaco.

An initially linear race, then turned upside down by the rain!

Before the start, many teams had predicted the arrival, at a certain point, of the rain in the Principality: the real unknown factor concerned the moment in which the rain would have arrived. As is the practice in these scenarios, the strategies must take into account the weather to minimize the final race time.


In this case, several of the top teams have decided to let their drivers start on Hard tyres. Such a choice is actually unseen except, in rare cases, by those who start from the rear of the grid and aim to go through a long first stint, sooner or later get rid of the traffic.

In Monaco, on the other hand, having a greater safety buffer in being able to keep the starting position at the start (given the short distance from the starting line to the first corner of the Sainte Devote), it was decided to run a stint virtually as long as the entire race, until the rain would arrive and prevent the obligation to use at least two different compounds of dry tyres.

Limited to the first 10, among the drivers who chose the Hard tyres for the start of the GP we find (with relative starting position in brackets):

  • Alonso (P2);
  • Sainz (P4);
  • Hamilton (P5);
  • Leclerc (P6);
  • Gasly (P7);
  • Russell (P8);

All the others, with Verstappen (P1) and Ocon (P3) above everyone, decided not to risk it and start on the Mediums, which have intrinsically a greater grip with which to perform a better clutch release. Especially in the case of Verstappen, I think it was a correct strategy, because as the story of the GP later demonstrated, the Dutchman was able to manage his pace in the best possible way - up to covering the distance of 55 laps out of the total 78 on the Medium set with which he started.

Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

Just between laps 50 and 55, the rain that had initially wet only part of the second sector then invaded the entire track, making it extremely difficult for everyone to keep their cars away from the walls. Few drivers made real driving mistakes in this circumstance, that only led to the retirement of Lance Stroll (corollary of a really subdued weekend for the Canadian): Sargeant lost control of his Williams at the Loews hairpin and then managed to rejoin the race, as well as Sainz at the Haute Mirabeau (photo below).

Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

The race of Magnussen was another deal, because he was left far too much time on the track with the Hard tyres in the vain hope that it would stop raining. An understandable gamble by the Haas pit wall, since they were out of the points with both drivers. Shame that Kevin was lapping more than 30 seconds a lap slower than his rivals who had fitted the green-band Intermediates...

Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images

It was only after an excursion at Sainte Devote that the team finally decided to call Magnussen into the pits to fit Full Wet tyres, with the aim of giving teammate Hulkenberg useful information.

Verstappen (almost) in a league of his own, with Alonso ready to attack

During the length of the race, more in its dry part than in the wet one, we saw a Fernando Alonso about 10 seconds behind Max Verstappen. A gap that left the World Champion calm about the possibility of an attack, but tied to not being able to come into the pits - given that with a 19-second pit window he would have rejoined behind Alonso himself. And in Monaco, with the danger of a Safety Car or in any case with the unstable weather that characterized the race, it was important never to leave the first position, because any of the unexpected events mentioned would have definitively relegated Max behind Fernando.

Jake Grant / Motorsport Images

When Aston Martin blundered its strategy calling the Spaniard into the pits first to mount a set of Mediums (lap 54) and, on the following lap, a set of Intermediates, it was understood that the top positions were now frozen, with Verstappen free to take his 39th career win - making him the most successful Red Bull driver ever, as Sebastian Vettel follows with 38 wins for the Milton Keynes-based team.

“It's great to win in Monaco, especially the way we won today, with the weather and everything. We stayed calm and we brought the car home. Also, a lot of points for the team and that's good... It was quite a difficult race, because we were on the Mediums at the start and Fernando [Alonso] was on Hards. We didn't want to go that long but had to stay out as the rain was coming and it was difficult to understand the situation. I had some graining and it took some time to get over that stage, but it was still very difficult to drive. Then it started to rain more and more and we fitted the Intermediates. The track was very slippery, when you're leading with a good lead you don't want to push too much, but at the same time you don't want to lose too much time, it wasn't easy. I touched the walls a couple of times, but Monaco is like that”

Max Verstappen

Although Aston Martin's strategic call was not optimal for Alonso, the 2-times World Champion still believes that the second place finish was the maximum achievable against such opponents that made no mistakes all weekend. .. In my opinion, Fernando is right to regret nothing about the wrong strategy, but if the Silverstone-based team wants to become a constant in the fight at the top, it will necessarily have to fix these aspects, which easily cost points and victories...

“With the arrival of the rain the Hards were struggling because they didn't have much grip and were risky, so you had to choose between another set of dry ones or the Intermediates. Turns 5-6-7 were wet, while the rest of the track was dry, so we chose to use slicks, but in that minute and a half it started to rain heavily, and as a result we switched to intermediates. It was a decision made in mutual agreement with the team, also because we had a big advantage over the cars behind and we played it safe. I really don't know if it was possible to do an extra lap with the slicks, but it's not easy to judge, also because an accident or a collision with the barriers can always happen"

Fernando Alonso

Statistically speaking, the podium obtained by Fernando is the first in Monaco since 2012 (when he finished third in a Ferrari behind Webber and Rosberg), and makes him - at 41 years old - the oldest driver to finish in the top 3 in the Principality from Jack Brabham in 1970. In terms of personal palmares, the second place obtained is his best result since the Hungarian GP in 2014, when he risked the feat on a underperforming Ferrari but had to settle for finishing behind Daniel's Red Bull Ricciardo - who overtook him just three laps from the end.

Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

Ocon on the podium being the locomotive of a classic "Monaco train"

Third place, as mentioned, goes to Esteban Ocon's Alpine, who deserved this great result more in qualifying than in the race. In the 78 laps on Sunday, knowing he had less speed than the first two runners, his task - performed to perfection - was to keep the rivals at his heels at bay.

Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images

And he had many and very fierce opponents, starting with Carlos Sainz who almost ended the race of both following a poorly calibrated attack at the Nouvelle Chicane, after the Tunnel. Subsequently, both Leclerc and Hamilton tried to put him under pressure, but the Frenchman didn't get upset and kept everyone behind: the moment in which he most risked losing the podium was surely the pit stop, when he switched from Mediums to Hards (lap 32): in that situation Esteban rejoined the track in sixth position, which in the event of immediate rain would most likely also have been his final position. On the other hand, even deciding not to pit would have been a risky strategy call, because Hamilton's undercut had already worked on Sainz, and delaying the pit stop another lap would have worked against the Alpine driver too. Luckily for Ocon, the weather was kind to him, and following the pit stops of Leclerc, Gasly and Russell he was able to climb back into the top 3.

“I have no words for this weekend, I'm in the clouds. It was a perfect weekend, we always made the right decisions, from the simulator to free practice up to the race. It wasn't easy, we got this podium, but I touched with Carlos Sainz in turn 10 and then there was a lot of confusion with the rain. We got the podium but there was a chance of losing it: we didn't lose it even under pressure, we reached it without making any mistakes"

Esteban Ocon

Behind Esteban we find respectively Hamilton (P4), Russell (P5), Leclerc (P6), Gasly (P7) and Sainz (P8). So once again, we witnessed a battle between Ferrari and Mercedes for the positions immediately behind the leaders.

A script already seen: Mercedes optimizes, Ferrari wastes

The close performances of Mercedes and Ferrari meant that in the first 6 races of the year the two teams were fighting for the same objectives, and almost never - if not in Baku - did we see one of the two clearly superior to the other. But on all the occasions where the positions immediately behind the podium have been an affair between Hamilton, Russell, Leclerc and Sainz, colossal differences have emerged in the approach to the race between Maranello and Brackley.

Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

Oversimplifying, when Mercedes proves to be a little stronger than Ferrari by virtue of the track configuration, it doesn't waste this advantage and finishes the races ahead of the Prancing Horse team. On the other hand, when performance levels are reversed, something always happens for which Mercedes ends up ahead of them anyway... This cannot be attributed to unlucky episodes such as a Safety Car being called at the "wrong" moment or unfavorable weather conditions, but it is an indication of the incapacity of the Italian team to react promptly to similar situations.

"We struggled in the last part of the stint with the Hard tyres, I felt something strange. Before that moment the tyres were working very well. There is no doubt that there is a lot of work to do. We know that tyre management remains one of our weak points [...] When it started to rain we were aware of the risks we took by staying out more than the others. Now that the race is over it is obvious to say that we should have come into the pits sooner; however let's say that in those conditions, when there's rain and lots of cars with slicks, it often pays more to stay out and wait for a Safety Car to come in than to go back to the pits right away"

Charles Leclerc

"We tried to stay out one more lap after the second stop, from Mediums to Hards... but it was a mistake, even on my side, to want to stay out one more lap. It will serve as a lesson for us. Clearly today was a bit of a lottery and it wasn't easy to judge. It was a tough race"

Carlos Sainz

A weakness that has been going on for too long now, and on which it will be good to improve at an organizational level: races and world championships are won with a high-performance car and a solid team, so excelling in just one of these two aspects usually leads to achieve nothing. Sadly for Ferrari, at the moment neither car nor team (predominantly understood as a strategic department) are at the level of their rivals, so I expect Mercedes to be able to gain some margin over the course of the year as they get to work their new aerodynamic concept.

"I felt very nervous and the tyres weren't working, so it was like I was on ice. After a while the tyres started working and everything went well. But I was one step away from going off the road and doing an accident, crashing. That was really crazy [...] Overall, as a team, today was a step forward. Getting fourth and fifth in such a tricky race is a great result, the team has did a really solid job with the strategy and overtaking Ferrari was fantastic"

Lewis Hamilton

Closing in the points are the two McLarens of Norris (P9) and Piastri (P10), who despite being in the sixth fastest car on the grid, ran a very effective race. In particular, the two Woking cars proved to be fast especially in the "mixed" conditions between dry and wet: in some laps run in such weather, they were even the fastest on the field!

Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

Very little to get excited about anyway, because finishing in ninth and tenth place doesn't reflect McLaren's - legitimate - ambitions. But at the moment, in the absence of a sufficiently performing car, the short-term goal must be to bring home as many points as possible at each race.

“It was a pretty good race! Maybe it wasn't perfect, we stopped just before the rain and that cost us about 20 seconds, having to pit for Intermediate because the rain was heavier than expected, but unfortunately the stint wasn't long enough to take advantage of at best the good pace we had. Today was a very difficult race in these conditions. Our pace was good, one of the best on the track. We will see what we can learn, we will try to keep progressing and do a better job, if possible, at Montmeló next weekend"

Lando Norris

“I'm quite happy with the tenth position and today's point. There isn't much to do in Monaco on Sunday, but I think the strategic choice to start on the Hard tyres was spot on. When it started to rain, communication was very good and we decided if and when to switch to Intermediate. Obviously we will evaluate if in this race we could have done something better, but it seems to me that we did a good job. I'm very happy that we both finished the grand prix in the points"

Oscar Piastri

A weekend to forget for Perez: a 25-0 difficult to digest for his World Championship hopes

One of the great protagonists of this World Championship, Sergio Perez, experienced a weekend that would be an understatement to define as a nightmare. After the mistake in qualifying which caused him to start from the back of the grid in P20, we already said that his race would be uphill. But the vicissitudes that the Mexican encountered go far beyond the definition of an "uphill race".

Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

Starting on Medium tyres, after just one lap he got rid of them to switch to the Hards and take advantage of the huge traffic encountered by his rivals, thanks to which he quickly rejoined the rear of the pack. From that moment on, however, his race pace was mainly dictated by the speed of those in front of him: to make a few overtaking Checo had to - by his own admission - take a lot of risks, which even led to the breaking of the front wing against Magnussen's Haas.

"We paid the price for my mistake in qualifying, and that was very expensive... I just have to apologize to my whole team because it's unacceptable to make this kind of mistake. I have to keep going and learn, I can't afford another weekend without points in the Championship. At the beginning it was going very well, unfortunately I hit traffic very early and that brought us back to the starting position. Then the rain came and I was one of the last to pit. Finally I hit the wall. I damaged the front wing with Magnussen who had just come out of the chicane, and it went badly. When you're in those positions, you always have to risk a lot"

Sergio Perez

Now in P16 and with nothing more to ask for in the race, Perez's only utility was to fit Full Wet tyres to give his teammate Verstappen useful information in case there was a need to switch to that compound.

What to expect from the next Spanish GP in Barcelona

Already this weekend we are racing again in Barcelona, in a Spanish GP which should have been the last stage of a "triple header" (3 races in 3 weekends) if it hadn't been for the cancellation of the GP at Imola...

The main themes of this Grand Prix are many: can Perez can return to compete with Verstappen in closer gaps? It will be interesting to see as well the real potential of the updates brought in Monaco by Mercedes. Ferrari too will have a development package, but if it doesn't get the Maranello team to take a step forward, will mark the premature end of the (so far disappointing) SF-23 project.

It's almost time to discover all this, we just have to wait a few more days... See you next time!

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