Max Masters Monaco - and leads the F1 Title Charge

With Max Verstappen in P1, Carlos Sainz in P2 and Lando Norris in P3, you’d be surprised to note that Monaco served up a surprisingly lacklustre F1 Grand Prix.  (Images courtesy of Formula 1)

For the first time in almost 3 seasons, Red Bull Racing with Max Verstappen lead the Constructor’s and Driver’s Formula 1 World Championships. After polesitter Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari gave up on the installation lap, Max inherited pole position from where he started and won the 2021 Monaco Grand Prix. 

It was 78 laps of procession racing with almost no overtaking being done on track with team strategies, botched pitstops and scintillating inlaps or outlaps providing all the action. 

The real winners at the start were the Top 11 who all inherited a place from Leclerc but from thereon, the first stint saw the front runners managing tyres and pace lapping the street circuit of Monaco without much to write about. It was clear from the onset that Verstappen was in commanding form able to maintain a decent out-of-DRS gap to the chasing Ferrari of Carlos Sainz. 

With these Formula 1 cars being so wide and the streets of Monaco being so narrow, overtaking was always going to be near impossible on track and so the race was really about timing the pitstops to get the undercut or overcut on the cars ahead. 

The dominant Mercedes team were the biggest losers when both pitstops somehow went wrong, most horribly for Valtteri Bottas who pitted from 2nd position on lap 31. What was supposed to be the fast fitment of the hard tyre turned out to be a DNF for the Finn after the front right wheel gun malfunctioned effectively stripping the thread of the wheel nut and damaging the drive shaft too. It was painful for the Mercedes team – but things got worse when Gasly pitted on lap 31 to emerge in front of Hamilton once again, the Briton thinking he had done enough to undercut Gasly. The undercut had failed – but to add insult to injury, Sebastian Vettel pitted a lap later and he too emerged ahead of Gasly and Hamilton gaining two positions in the process. 

In similar fashion, 8th placed Sergio Perez managed a stunning overcut leapfrogging Hamilton, Vettel and Gasly to take 4th position. 

Further up the field, a long first stint for Stroll didn’t make much of a difference to his race, as Ocon and Giovinazzi made up the top 10. It was a hard fought battle between the Alpine and the Alfa Romeo but no matter how close Giovinazzi came to the back of the Alpine, overtaking was just not possible. 

Hamilton’s only form of damage control was to pit on lap 70 for a set of soft tyres and challenge for the fastest lap which he managed to achieve just 2 laps later. 

With Bottas out and Hamilton finishing in 7th position, the Red Bull Racing team hauled 30 more points than their Mercedes rivals to top the charts by 1 point in the Constructor’s and 4 points in the Driver’s title chase. 

Max Verstappen was quick to point out that his eye was on the prize at the end. “I’m also looking ahead, it’s still a very long season so of course this is a great way to continue.” 

2021 Monaco Formula 1 Grand Prix Results:

1. Max Verstappen
2. Carlos Sainz
3. Lando Norris
4. Sergio Perez
5. Sebastian Vettel
6. Pierre Gasly
7. Lewis Hamilton
8. Lance Stroll
9. Esteban Ocon
10. Antonio Giovinazzi
11. Kimi Räikkönen
12. Daniel Ricciardo
13. Fernando Alonso
14. George Russell
15. Nicholas Latifi
16. Yuki Tsunoda
17. Nikita Mazepin
18. Mick Schumacher
19. Valterri Bottas – DNF
20. Charles Leclerc - DNF

Talking Points after the Monaco Grand Prix

• Daniel Ricciardo had a torrid weekend. Not only did he finish outside the points, but he was lapped by his teammate Norris on the way to a podium finish. That won’t be an easy reality to make peace with. Norris on the other hand, lies a solid 3rd in the Driver’s Championship, 9 points ahead of Bottas. What a season he is having. 
• Mercedes are on the back foot:  For the first since Germany 2018, Mercedes is NOT leading the world championship and that is telling. After strategic genius in Barcelona two weeks ago, the Mercedes team seemed to struggle on all fronts today. The car never looked to be a race-winning package this whole weekend and even Hamilton just couldn’t salvage much after a poor qualifying by his standards. And what an odd thing to happen to Bottas – his lucky stars just don’t seem to shine. 
• Ferrari on the rise? It very well could have been a Ferrari 1-2 on Saturday had Leclerc not had the crash that put an end to his race. The Ferrari was dominant in the hands of both drivers in Monaco and Sainz’ second place will be a key motivator for the team for the rest of the season. Leclerc will be back.
• Just 2 points separate Ferrari from McLaren in the Constructor’s Standings. What a title chase it will be. 
• Can we have a longer debate on whether Monaco really still works as a race track on the calendar? There was no racing on track today with the car's aero designs completely negating the speed that car's behind had. Following closely was difficult enough and overtaking was totally non-existent. Is this really worth the heritage and effort?

Formula 1 heads to the streets of Baku, Azerbaijan for the next instalment, a circuit that never disappoints with its exceedingly high speeds mixed with unforgiving walls and blind chicanes. The Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix takes place 4 – 6 June 2021. 

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