Having missed the previous race in Imola due to flooding, the teams and drivers were back in action around the narrow streets of Monaco for the FORMULA 1 GRAND PRIX DE MONACO 2023. The entire field was sandwiched between two Red Bulls, as Max Verstappen started on pole position and Sergio Perez started from last. Some rain late in the race provided some drama and entertainment.
Max Verstappen got away well from pole position, maintaining his lead over Fernando Alonso on the front row. The positions stayed the same in the front half of the field, with Lewis Hamilton having to back out of a move on Carlos Sainz up the hill.
Further back, Nico Hulkenberg barged up the inside of Logan Sargeant on the inside of turn 5. He gained the position, but had to pit at the end of the lap and was eventually awarded a five-second time penalty for causing a collision. Zhou Guanyu also had to pit at the end of the lap for repairs and Sergio Perez pit to fit the hard compound tyres to make it to the end of the race, having started the race at the back of the grid following a crash in qualifying.
On lap 12, Carlos Sainz hit the rear of Esteban Ocon’s Apline braking into the Nouvelle Chicane. Sainz was trying to dive up the inside, but braked far too late. Both escaped the incident without any major damage, with Sainz suffering a broken endplate on is front wing. He decided to stay out because pitting for a new front wing would lose too much track position, which is a valuable commodity in Monaco.
Fernando Alonso began complaining about a puncture, but the team couldn’t see one in the telemetry. Alonso was likely responding to the tyre graining phase, which can make the car handle unpredictably.
Logan Sargeant continued to be the source of many overtakes. Kevin Magnussen made a dive up the inside of the Williams in turn 5, in a move that was similar but cleaner than his teammate’s attempt on the opening lap. The following lap, Lance Stroll made an overtake on Sargeant in the penultimate corner and Sergio Perez followed the Aston Martin drive through.
By lap 32, Verstappen had caught the his teammate to lap him and Perez didn’t make it difficult for the defending World Championship. A couple of laps later, Verstappen dove tot he outside of Stroll in the chicane braking zone. Perez tried to follow his teammate through for position, but ran out of time. The Red Bull and Aston Martin made contact, forcing Perez to cut the chicane. Perez kept ahead of Stroll and squeezed him towards the barrier when he rejoined the track.
There was more drama for Perez in the chicane the following lap when he caught up to Kevin Magnussen. The Haas was slow on the exit of the chicane after going too deep. Perez ran into the back of the slow Haas, damaging his front wing. He had to pit for a new front wing.
As the race ticked on, teams began to fear about a threat of rain late in the race. On lap 51, it began spitting in the first sector of the circuit, although it was very light and wasn’t impacting the grip on the circuit. But everything changed in just a couple of laps, as the circuit began to get wetter.
Aside from the section of circuit between turn 5 and the tunnel, the rest of the circuit was fairly dry. But in the wet areas, the drivers had to slow to crawl as they scrambled through the slippery sector. Other than some drivers at the back of the field, no one pitted for intermediate tyres.
By lap 55, it was too wet for drivers to continue on the slick tyres and the drivers began pitting for intermediate tyres, except for Alonso who pitted for medium tyres. That proved to be a mistake and he pitted the following lap for intermediate tyres, which may have cost him a chance at the race victory.
Carlos Sainz spun in turn 5 prior to pitting for the intermediate tyres. He rejoined and only lost a couple of positions. George Russell ran into the runoff zone at turn 1 and rejoined directly in front of Perez, causing a huge collision. This earned him a five-second penalty.
On lap 59, a few drivers at the back of the field made a gamble to switch to full wet tyres. But shortly after that decision the rain stopped and a dry line began to appear on the circuit. On one car was lost during the chaotic rainy part of the race and it was Lance Stroll, who crashed into the barriers at the hairpin on the intermediate tyres.
With a dry track, the race cooled down and it was Max Verstappen who cruised to victory. He stood alongside Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon on the podium. It was Lewis Hamilton who set the fastest lap from P4, earning the extra championship point.
The teams will get a short breather as they prepare for the next round of the championship in Spain. The race will held next weekend on June 4.
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| Race Results | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | M. Verstappen | 25 | |
| 2 | F. Alonso | 18 | |
| 3 | E. Ocon | 15 | |
| 4 | L. Hamilton | 13 | |
| 5 | G. Russell | 10 | |
| 6 | C. Leclerc | 8 | |
| 7 | P. Gasly | 6 | |
| 8 | C. Sainz | 4 | |
| 9 | L. Norris | 2 | |
| 10 | O. Piastri | 1 | |
| 11 | V. Bottas | ||
| 12 | N. de Vres | ||
| 13 | G. Zhou | ||
| 14 | A. Albon | ||
| 15 | Y. Tsunoda | ||
| 16 | N. Hulkenberg | ||
| 17 | S. Perez | ||
| 18 | L. Sargeant | ||
| DNF | K. Magnussen | ||
| DNF | L. Stroll | ||
