O Monaco GP the busiest in recent years relied on rain to set part of the race on fire this Sunday (28). But even before, during or after the rain, Max Verstappen never really threatened. The championship leader takes another step towards the seemingly inevitable third championship and takes his fourth victory of the year, his 39th in F1.
Fernando Alonso it looked like he was going to attack, especially at the start, because it was the great opportunity to overcome the Red Bull in 2024. But Max got off to a good start, dodged the attack and followed. The distance to Alonso was always safe, even if it was not great: between 6s and 11s. While the Dutchman started on Alonso’s mediums against the hardliners, it was an effort to avoid pit stopping for over 50 laps, long after everyone who had started on mediums had stopped. But he resisted until the rain, when the Aston Martin he had the golden chance to do otherwise, but he got stuck, put another round of slicks on Alonso and had to stop again. Then things calmed down. Verstappen marched to the end on intermediate tyres.
Esteban Ocon managed to keep his third place, even without ever getting closer to Alonso. The great achievement was to avoid overtaking carlos sainz, who nearly ended the race for both at one point when he broke the front wing behind the Frenchman. After, got angry coming back from the pits still behind him. Sainz would later make a mistake in the rain to spoil his own race, but Ocon secured the podium.
In addition to Sainz, George Russell, Sergio Perez It is Spear Stroll There were very difficult moments in the race. It was a Monaco GP, after all, with great performances, but many others without inspiration.
In this context, the GRAND PRIZE highlights five things we learned in the sixth step of F1 2023, in Monaco:
Dry? Verstappen. Rain? Verstappen too
Verstappen is unbeatable in 2024, period. Defeats appear more and more like points off the curve of someone who is very precise and who knows how to close doors like no one else. In Monaco, he dated the wall a lot, scratched it, even touched it, but everything was under control. Oh, and the rain, right? When he came, Max shone, as usual, and raced forward immediately.
Aston Martin and Alonso wobble at H. Tram can be passed
Alonso put in another fine technical performance and that is undisputed. Good in the dry, good in the wet, solid all the time. However, the start was more cautious than it should have been and, above all, the non-responsibility for the installation of the intermediate tires. When he turned on the dipped headlights again, the track being already very wet, he missed the opportunity to give the boat away.
Ferrari’s double spiral is only getting worse. And Sainz is still very bad
Leclerc is apathetic, he suffers in the dry and in the rain, but he is still ahead of Sainz. It’s like? Well, the Spaniard did his best to stay behind, right? Hit, hit, miss, miss, did it all and over and over again. There were still some strategy issues, but honestly the team was the least of them today. Carlos’ performance was all erratic and reaching the finish crossing the finish line was half a miracle.
Mercedes saves good points, but Russell is the low point of the weekend
Mercedes did well with the upgrade package on the revamped W14, but Russell just didn’t do well. He got lost in free practice, he suffered in qualifying and, in the race, he had everything to be eighth under normal conditions. Then the rain fell from the sky – literally – and paved the way for the podium based on the tactic, the one stop. Then the Englishman made a mistake, erred with a yellow flag and complicated everything. Fifth place was even cheap.
Alpine is back in the ‘F1 A’ with a great duo. And take advantage of the Pérez and Stroll fiasco
Ocon was the name of the weekend and took a well deserved podium, but Gasly was another who did very well. With a similar rhythm, in the middle of the main teams, really. On the other hand, in addition to Sainz and Russell, Pérez and Stroll helped Alpine a lot. The Mexican and the Canadian looked like they were playing pinball, it was hit after hit, scary thing of lack of control there. It’s no surprise that the two are much weaker links than their companions, is it?
A Formula 1 back next week, between June 2 and 4, with the general practitioner SpainIn Barcelonaseventh stage of the 2023 season. GRAND PRIZE accompanies everything.
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