The Monaco Grand Prix started with cooler track temperatures and one goal for Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo—Redemption. Having lost the race in 2016 through no fault of his own, the Australian had a hole in his soul for two years and the team knew this weekend was their best chance for redeeming that strategy blunder.
Despite having the quickest car all weekend along the streets of Monaco and no strategy blunders, Ricciardo’s race was at risk of leaking away as he was suffering a car issue limiting him to just 6 gears. The loss of 25% of his power meant the man known as the Honey Badger had to dig deep and manage his issue to bring how the win.
Photo by: www.kymillman.com/f1Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel tried to take the fight to a wounded Ricciardo, but the German had issues of his own with heavily graining tires and a lack of grip. The same can be said of Mercedes driver and current championship leader, Lewis Hamilton, who couldn’t find the grip to stop Vettel from taking 3 points out of his title lead and finished third.
Win
A huge win for Red Bull Racing and Daniel Ricciardo. They knew they were going to be quick in Monaco and Friday’s practice suggested they were the team to beat but what they didn’t plan on was an issue that would force Daniel to drive without 6th gear and have to keep a quicker Vettel behind them. Managing to keep his cool and his pace when he needed it, Ricciardo retired 78 laps around the principality to take the top step and join Jack Brabham and Mark Webber as Australian winners of the crown jewel of the Formula 1 calendar.
It isn’t the win they were looking for but taking three points out of Lewis Hamilton’s championship lead is a bit of a win for Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel. Ferrari didn’t have the pace to make a real charge against Ricciardo. Vettel felt they had the pace but with the tire wear and graining, it was a tough day in the office trying to get around Ricciardo who seemed to be quick when he needed to be to cover Vettel.
Photo by: www.kymillman.com/f1A win for Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly and Force India’s Esteban Ocon who managed 7th and 6th respectively. Gasly ran a very long stint on his first set and was looking very competitive with that Honda-powered Toro Rosso. Ocon looked competitive as well and while his teammate suffered a long pit stop, it was Ocon who managed to bring the team some points—he also played very nice by letting Hamilton pass quickly.
The weekend looked a little ragged for Renault’s Nico Hulkenburg but he managed to turn his race into a points-scoring opportunity in 8th and his teammate, on a different strategy, brought home the final point in 10th.
It wasn’t a points finish but a 11th place for Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson wasn’t all that bad and it would have been better for the team had local hero, Charles Leclerc, had finished as he was running ahead of Ericsson.
Fail
A bad day for McLaren with a DNF for Fernando Alonso and his teammate did marginally better by finishing 14th a lap down and upsetting the battle at the front making a late pit stop and slotting in between Ricciardo and Vettel.
An equally bad day for Haas F1 with both drivers struggling all weekend long and finishing in 13th and 15th for Magnussen and Grosjean respectively.
Photo by: www.kymillman.com/f1A long pit stop on lap 22 for Force India’s Sergio Perez meant and additional 3s and a loss of position that contributed to thwarting a race that the Mexican typically runs very well at.
A Fail for Williams who suffered penalties for Sergey Sirotkin and a struggling Lance Stroll. The team finished last and perhaps they saw that coming based upon their pace on Friday.
WTH
A WTH moment for Charles Leclerc who must have been wondering what happened to his brakes as he suffered a failure and took out Toro Rosso’s Brendon Hartley at the chicane under braking. A black puff of carbon dust came out of his wheel just before the collision.
Another WTH moment for Lance Stroll. You are a young driver who bought a ride through your father’s assistance and the team you bought in to is a small, resource-limited team with another paying driver who isn’t carping about the challenges the team are currently facing. Fact is, Calire Williams sold Valtteri Bottas, took cash from Lawrence Stroll and the Sirotkin camp and is trying to manage a difficult car and Lance seems like a petulant, entitled child on the team radio and a young man who is expecting the car and team to be something It just simply isn’t. Lance, your dad bought into Williams, not Mercedes buddy so give it a rest.
Monaco GP result
| Pos | Driver | Car | Laps | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull/Renault | 78 | 1h42m54.807s |
| 2 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 78 | 7.336s |
| 3 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 78 | 17.013s |
| 4 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 78 | 18.127s |
| 5 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 78 | 18.822s |
| 6 | Esteban Ocon | Force India/Mercedes | 78 | 23.667s |
| 7 | Pierre Gasly | Toro Rosso/Honda | 78 | 24.331s |
| 8 | Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | 78 | 24.839s |
| 9 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull/Renault | 78 | 25.317s |
| 10 | Carlos Sainz | Renault | 78 | 1m09.013s |
| 11 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber/Ferrari | 78 | 1m09.864s |
| 12 | Sergio Perez | Force India/Mercedes | 78 | 1m10.461s |
| 13 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas/Ferrari | 78 | 1m14.823s |
| 14 | Stoffel Vandoorne | McLaren/Renault | 77 | 1 Lap |
| 15 | Romain Grosjean | Haas/Ferrari | 77 | 1 Lap |
| 16 | Sergey Sirotkin | Williams/Mercedes | 77 | 1 Lap |
| 17 | Lance Stroll | Williams/Mercedes | 76 | 2 Laps |
| 18 | Charles Leclerc | Sauber/Ferrari | 70 | Collision |
| 19 | Brendon Hartley | Toro Rosso/Honda | 70 | Collision |
| – | Fernando Alonso | McLaren/Renault | 52 | Gearbox |
Driver Championship
| Pos | Driver | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lewis Hamilton | 110 |
| 2 | Sebastian Vettel | 96 |
| 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | 72 |
| 4 | Valtteri Bottas | 68 |
| 5 | Kimi Raikkonen | 60 |
| 6 | Max Verstappen | 35 |
| 7 | Fernando Alonso | 32 |
| 8 | Nico Hulkenberg | 26 |
| 9 | Carlos Sainz | 20 |
| 10 | Kevin Magnussen | 19 |
| 11 | Pierre Gasly | 18 |
| 12 | Sergio Perez | 17 |
| 13 | Esteban Ocon | 9 |
| 14 | Charles Leclerc | 9 |
| 15 | Stoffel Vandoorne | 8 |
| 16 | Lance Stroll | 4 |
| 17 | Marcus Ericsson | 2 |
| 18 | Brendon Hartley | 1 |
| 19 | Romain Grosjean | 0 |
| 20 | Sergey Sirotkin | 0 |
Constructor Championship
| Pos | Constructor | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mercedes | 178 |
| 2 | Ferrari | 156 |
| 3 | Red Bull/Renault | 107 |
| 4 | Renault | 46 |
| 5 | McLaren/Renault | 40 |
| 6 | Force India/Mercedes | 26 |
| 7 | Toro Rosso/Honda | 19 |
| 8 | Haas/Ferrari | 19 |
| 9 | Sauber/Ferrari | 11 |
| 10 | Williams/Mercedes | 4 |
The accident between Leclerc and Hartley was a pity as both were doing well, Leclerc was not at fault as he had a brake failure and was just a passenger when he slammed in the back of Hartley. At least nobody was hurt. Red Bull should have got off much better from Monaco points wise.
Since Monaco had Grid Girls, do you think Sean Bratches had to ask his wife for permission to attend the race?
Speaking of Stroll, how did they jack up the front of the car when he came in for front wing replacement. I looked at the replay several times and didn’t notice anyone picking up the car or inserting a jack from the side. Anybody else catch that?
lifteted it up by hand at the wishbones. they dont need lift the car much to replace the nose.
@NC. Ocon:- “He also played very nice by letting 44 pass quickly” Avery sharp eagle eye yuors. Ocon:- “Sono un pilota Mercedes”. google ref:- “Ocon sul sorpasso di Hamilton. “sono un pliota Mercedes”. when questioned he said “I am a Mercedes driver, you have to ask the boss. it was no good doing the fight with him. he was in front and had already done the pit. he had new tyres. its like that”.
Interesting that Ocon’s loyalty to Mercedes would appear to be stronger than is loyalty to Force India. Last season he was prepared to race his F.I team mate, ‘to the death’, but this season he is happy to park to let his Mercedes buddy past.
Yes interesting, but what I noticed is he said “I am a Mercedes driver”. anyhow my comment will most probably be regarded as “pushing fake/false news” and my link as “unreliable”. as it is probably something that “we” don’t like to hear.
Toto Wolff has confirmed that Ocon had been instructed by Mercedes to let 44 past.
I reckon Ver-crash-en kept on target with his quest to ‘get in touch with’ every driver on the grid this season. Not as spectacularly as I’d expected from the back of the grid, but I’m pretty sure he put a touch on Sainz on the way into the nouvelle chicane. Nice work to keep the scoreboard ticking along and still get up to 9th. The score so far; Verstappen – Australia – driver induced collision), Hamilton (China), Vettel (Bahrain), Ricciardo (Baku) Stroll (Barcelona) Grosjean (Monaco FP2) Sainz (Monaco) 6 races, 7 contacts, 7 different drivers, 15 races to go, 13… Read more »
@ JAKO. “Any F1 fans over here? 9GAG”.
“disappear, please!!!!#f1#verstapen”.
Top 3 in the standings now have 2 wins a piece.
Renault’s promised upgrade in Canada hopefully will give Redbull and Ricciardo a chance to close the gap to the two 4 time champions in front of him.
Will Redbull employ team orders if Ricciardo is behind Max in Canada, especially if Redbull are as competitive as Ferrari and Mercedes?
Good question.
no they won’t. They won’t employ team orders until 1 driver cant mathematically take out the championship.
In saying that though there is nothing to say they wont start playing favourites behind the scenes. Badger Boy is off contract, and RBR really want to retain his services, so we might see a sudden increase in performance for Badger Boy.
Gone un-noticed is Gasly has now made it 5 races in a row with the same ICE, TORBO and MGU-H and 6 races with the rest of the PU elements. Honda’s efforts seems to be paying off. It was reported that apart from the number 3 Renault engine red bull power loss problem, some says the problem was the “K” some says the “H”, number 33 red bull Renault engine used a new “K” on Friday and another new “k” on Sunday.