If the Imola Grand Prix was about speed and overtaking, then Monaco is the complete opposite. It’s pretty much a procession instead of a race. Sunday will be a snooze, but it does mean Qualifying can have its moments as your grid position is likely to be your finishing position.
McLaren have turned their car yellow and green to honour Ayrton Senna
Free Practice
- FP1: HAM (1:12.169), PIA, RUS, NOR, LEC
A few lockups in Ste.Devotte and the swimming pool, but only PER hit the pit lane entry
ZHO clipped the corner in Turn 1, breaking of part of his front wing; LEC then drove over the debris
STR and BOT were each fined for speeding in the pit lane - FP2: LEC (1:11.278), HAM, ALO, VER, NOR
More lockups and corner cutting; a few also clipped the barriers but no serious damage - FP3: LEC (1:11.369), VER, HAM, PIA, PER
Red flags: BOT clipped the wall coming out of the swimming pool, breaking his front-right suspension and causing him to stop at Rascasse
HAM took too much kerb and nearly repeated BOT’s incident but managed to just keep his Mercedes out of the barriers
VER is being investigated by the stewards for allegedly driving unnecessarily slowly at the end of FP3
The stewards are also reviewing an incident between RUS and NOR
Penalties?
VER received a warning, and NOR was given a reprimand.
Qualifying
Air temperature 22°C; track 48°C; humidity 60%
Qualifying session 1 (Q1)
There’s a queue filling the pit lane, waiting for the green light
The Mercedes pair are first to take to the track
BOT is halfway out of his garage but can’t find a gap in the queue – he has to wait until 16 cars have passed him
HAM 1:19.550
RIC 1:14.337
HAM’s lap time is deleted
NOR 1:14.086
TSU 1:13.087
HAM 1:12.954
VER 1:12.790
HUL 1:12.416
Incident involving SAI, ALB noted – impeding
All 20 cars on track, so it’s hard not to impede another
RUS 1:12.267
VER 1:12.084
PIA 1:11.881
TSU is the first to pit
RIC reports traffic in Turn 3
5mins left; bottom 5 are TSU, RIC, SAR, BOT, ZHO
MAG 1:11.832
Brief yellow flag
LEC 1:11.653
RUS 1:11.492
Chequered flag; bottom 5 are GAS, RIC, NOR, BOT, ZHO
RIC P8, PER P16
GAS P7, SAR P16
NOR P9, ALO P16
PER P18
Back of the grid: ALO, SAR, PER, BOT, ZHO
Qualifying session 2
HUL 1:11.928
NOR 1:11.372
VER 1:11.196
SAI 1:11.177
HUL slaps his rear-left into the barrier at Turn 1 but seems to have avoided any damage
Incident involving HUL and OCO noted – impeding
VER 1:11.019
Replay clearly shows HUL in the way as OCO came up to Casino Square
5mins left; bottom 5 are STR, ALB, MAG, HUL, RIC
Bottom 5 are all in the pits for new tyres for their final run
PIA 1:10.756
PIA reports he’s hit the wall
NOR 1:10.732
Chequered flag; bottom 5 are GAS, HUL, STR, MAG, RIC
RIC P13
GAS P5, OCO P11
HUL P12
MAG P15
Middle of the grid: OCO, HUL, RIC, STR, MAG
Top 10 shootout is between NOR, VER, PIA, LEC, GAS, RUS, HAM, SAI, TSU, ALB
Qualifying session 3
All 10 on track
ALB 1:11.805
SAI P2
HAM 1:10.975
GAS P4
LEC 1:10.418
PIA P2
LEC reports “Something moved in my pedals”!
NOR P3
VER P7
SAI P3
TSU P6
RUS P4
Order after the first run: LEC, PIA, SAI, RUS, NOR, HAM, GAS, TSU, ALB, VER
VER P3
They’re all (except ALB) in the pits for new tyres; ALB only has this one set of soft tyres
ALB P7
Everyone on track… and then ALB pits
HAM P4
RUS P3
Radio from VER, “I’ve hit the wall”
TSU P7
LEC 1:10.270
PIA P2
SAI P3
NOR P4
Chequered flag; order is LEC, PIA, SAI, NOR, RUS, VER, HAM, TSU, ALB, GAS
ALB pits, P9
HAM pits, P7
VER pits, P6
GAS P10
Front of the grid: LEC, PIA, SAI, NOR, RUS, VER, HAM, TSU, ALB, GAS
Provisional grid: LEC, PIA, SAI, NOR, RUS, VER, HAM, TSU, ALB, GAS, OCO, HUL, RIC, STR, MAG, ALO, SAR, PER, BOT, ZHO
Penalties?
Haas have been summoned by the stewards as the rear wings on both cars failed post-Quali inspection
Decision: cars 20 and 27 (MAG & HUL) have been disqualified from the Qualifying classification — NOTE this does not mean disqualified from the race weekend, just that their Quali times are all removed
Following that decision, Haas had to appeal to the stewards to be allowed to race, given they did not qualify
The stewards have allowed HUL and MAG to race tomorrow; they will start P19 and P20 respectively.
Revised grid: LEC, PIA, SAI, NOR, RUS, VER, HAM, TSU, ALB, GAS, OCO, RIC, STR, ALO, SAR, PER, BOT, ZHO, HUL, MAG
Race
Pit lane is open; drivers can make their way to the grid
Air temperature 21°C; track 48°C; humidity 67%; zero chance of rain
LEC leads everyone away on the formation lap of his home race
It’s a mix of hard and medium compound tyres; the front 4 on mediums, then RUS, VER and HAM on hards
01/78: LEC leads through Turn 1
SAI is off at Casino but it’s not on a run-off area so that could cause a VSC
Red flag – not for SAI though
PER’s Red Bull is facing the wrong way and has no wheels! Both Haas cars are parked there too
Replay – MAG tapped the wall, tagged PER, spun him around; PER clipped HUL
It’s clear that MAG was trying to squeeze between PER and the wall, but there’s just no room to do that
Radio for HUL, checking he’s OK; he confirms he is, “that was unnecessary” presumably (correctly) blaming his teammate
Another replay – OCO tries to dive inside “teammate” GAS just before the tunnel; major contact; GAS screams “What did he do? What did he do? The whole car is damaged now!”
Race control announce the restart order: 16, 81, 55, 4, 63, 1, 44, 22, 23, 10, 31, 18, 3, 14, 2, 77, 24
…which is the original race order except for those who didn’t make it back to the pits (HUL, PER, MAG)
But before they can restart, the track workers need to clean up all the debris and check (maybe fix) the barriers
The stewards have said they’re not going to review that incident between HUL, MAG and PER – they’re calling it a racing incident, which is very lucky for MAG because he’s already got 10 points on his super-license and if (realistically it’s when) he hits 12 points it’s an automatic 1-race ban
MAG is telling the interviewers that he expected PER to give him more room
Incident involving GAS and OCO is under investigation – that should be quick as it’s clearly OCO’s fault
Race control: race will resume at 15:44 local time
It’ll be a standing start; teams are allowed to change tyres
Grid: LEC, PIA, SAI, NOR, RUS, VER, HAM, TSU, ALB, GAS, OCO, RIC, STR, ALO, SAR, BOT, ZHO (out: HUL, PER, MAG)
OCO is wearing jeans so I guess he’s not taking the restart
02/78: Safety Car is leading LEC and the remaining pack away on the formation lap
This time the front 4 are starting on hard tyres; RUS, VER and HAM are on mediums but that means they’ll need to pit – in fact they’ve all switched between hard & medium except SAR who’s still on hards
Those on mediums will need to pit (the tyres won’t last the whole distance) but will the hards?
Air temperature 22°C; track 48°C;
It’s taking a long time for the tail-enders to take their place on the grid
03: They’re all cleanly through Turn 1
ALO takes P12 from RIC
04: LEC, PIA,SAI, NOR, RUS, VER, HAM, TSU, ALB, GAS, STR, ALO, RIC, BOT, SAR, ZHO; out: OCO, HUL, PER, MAG
DRS enabled
05/78: PIA fastest lap 1:22.314
06: LEC f/lap 1:21.795
Radio for RUS telling him he doesn’t need to stay on NOR’s tail and manage his tyres instead; RUS says it’s “the only opportunity”
07: LEC f/lap 1:21.145
08: LEC f/lap 1:20.980
PIA f/lap 1:20.808
OCO given 10-sec penalty for causing a collision on lap… except he’s not running now so it might be a grid-spot penalty for the next race
09: SAI f/lap 1:20.272
10/78: LEC, PIA, SAI, NOR, RUS, VER, HAM, TSU, ALB, GAS, STR, ALO, RIC, BOT, SAR, ZHO
PIA f/lap 1:19.906
No further investigation for the SAI/PIA collision on lap 1
12: Radio from RUS suggesting he closes on NOR, but he’s told “we gain nothing from driving faster” – now isn’t that a reflection of Monaco (yawn)
14: PIA f/lap 1:18.745
15/78: LEC, PIA, SAI, NOR, RUS, VER, HAM, TSU, ALB, GAS, STR, ALO, RIC, BOT, SAR, ZHO; out: OCO, HUL, PER, MAG
The SkySports commentators are trying to make it sound exciting but Monaco is always the worst race of the season
20/78: BOT has pitted are rejoined P16 (last) but other than that the order is unchanged
21: James Vowles (Williams’ team principal) thinks RUS’ pace might mean his medium tyres might get to the end of the race
25/78: Order unchanged
31: (I didn’t notice lap 30 had passed) – Guess what? Same order ZZZzzzzZZZzzzz
35/78: Just then, nothing changed
Radio for LEC, “If you can, we need to slow down a bit”
40/78: Ditto
41: LEC laps BOT (BOT still holds fastest lap)
43: STR pits; hards go on; rejoins still in P11 – even a pit stop didn’t change the order!
45/78: LEC, PIA, SAI, NOR, RUS, VER, HAM, TSU, ALB, GAS, STR, ALO, RIC, SAR, ZHO, BOT; out: OCO, HUL, PER, MAG
46: You know it’s a bad race when everyone still talking about lap 1 because nothing has happened since
50/78: STR has a rear-left puncture; pits; rejoins P16 (last)
LEC, PIA, SAI, NOR, RUS, VER, HAM, TSU, ALB, GAS, ALO, RIC, SAR, ZHO, BOT, STR
51: Replay shows STR clipped a barrier on the way into the swimming pool chicane
52: Mercedes and Red Bull mechanics getting ready
HAM pits from P7; new hards; rejoins still P7
Hold on – did BOT just overtake SAR for P13!
53: VER pits from P6; new hards; still P6
54: HAM f/lap 1:16.458
55/78: LEC, PIA, SAI, NOR, RUS, VER, HAM, TSU, ALB, GAS, ALO, RIC, BOT, SAR, ZHO, STR; out: OCO, HUL, PER, MAG
VER f/lap 1:15.815
56: VER f/lap 1:15.398
57: HAM f/lap 1:14.423
58: STR passed ZHO in the tunnel to take P15
59: STR takes P14 from SAR
60/78: LEC, PIA, SAI, NOR, RUS, VER, HAM, TSU, ALB, GAS, ALO, RIC, BOT, STR, SAR, ZHO
HAM f/lap 1:14.204
Radio from VER complaining no-one is watching his battery’s status
62: VER has DRS behind RUS
Official F1 feed is still talking about lap 1
64: HAM f/lap 1:14.165
Mercedes say RUS has saved his tyres enough to hold off VER
65/78: LEC, PIA, SAI, NOR, RUS, VER, HAM, TSU, ALB, GAS, ALO, RIC, BOT, STR, ZHO, SAR
NOR has DRS behind SAI
68: Radio from SAR reporting that he’s hit the wall
RUS has been told to cool his brakes for a couple of laps
69: Replay shows both ZHO and SAR brush the barriers but neither seem to have damage
70/78: SAR takes P15 from ZHO
71: PIA has SAI and NOR with DRS behind him
73: ZHO pits for soft tyres; is he going to steal fastest lap?
74: Radio from LEC, “I’ll just bring it home”; “Thank you”
75/78: LEC, PIA, SAI, NOR, RUS, VER, HAM, TSU, ALB, GAS, ALO, RIC, BOT, STR, SAR, ZHO; out: OCO, HUL, PER, MAG
LEC takes the chequered flag
Provisional result: LEC, PIA, SAI, NOR, RUS, VER, HAM, TSU, ALB; GAS, ALO, RIC, BOT, STR, SAR, ZHO
DNF: OCO, HUL, PER, MAG
Fastest lap: HAM (1:14.165 on lap 63)
Interesting to see the #F1 twitter stream just full of people saying what a dull race it is and Monaco should be dropped from the calendar.
Sadly FIA will prioritise money over sport (as usual) so we’ll be stuck with this yawn-fest year after year.
The official update on OCO’s penalty is that it’ll be converted to a 5 grid place penalty for Canada (June 9th)
[2024 calendar and driver line-up]
