Monaco Grand Prix: What did we learn?
It definitely wasn’t a classic, but the 75th Monaco Grand Prix gave us a tense final act which had an enormous impact on various battles in the championship standings, inter-team rivalries and perhaps a couple of next year’s driver line-ups. Sebastian Vettel drove a great race to claim Ferrari’s first Monaco win since 2001 as title rival Lewis Hamilton dragged his Mercedes into seventh. Here’s what we learned from the Monaco Grand Prix:
Ferrari’s Monaco might
Ferrari dominated the weekend, heading two of the three practice sessions as well as locking out the front row before securing a first one-two finish since 2010’s German Grand Prix. Kimi Raikkonen took a surprise pole on Saturday; his first in 128 races across nine years. However, Vettel ran the perfect strategy that delivered Ferrari’s first Monaco win since 2001. Whether team orders were in play or not, Ferrari had the pace all weekend and seemed able to make both tyre compounds work quickly and easily, while rivals Mercedes struggled.
Damage limitation for Mercedes
Despite topping the time-sheets in first practice, Mercedes struggled throughout the weekend. The W08 seems to have a very narrow set-up window, which is proving a challenge to get right. Mercedes also struggled to switch both tyre compounds on, and Lewis Hamilton was caught out in Q2 and started 13th. A good strategy hauled him up to seventh, but he must now overcome a 25 point deficit after Vettel’s victory. Team-mate Valtteri Bottas almost qualified on the front row, but could only manage fourth as Ferrari surged ahead in the Constructors championship.
Mixed Red Bull results
After a pit stop error cost him in last year’s race, Daniel Ricciardo’s team redeemed themselves on Sunday after a great strategy allowed the Aussie to leapfrog Bottas and Max Verstappen for third. However, Verstappen had been the fastest of the two all weekend, but saw his race ruined by a strategic error and was unable to find a way past Bottas. Monaco favoured the Red Bull, who must now hope that Renault can have an engine upgrade ready for Montreal to keep their momentum going.
Force India frustration
Unfortunately, Force India’s streak of double points finishes this season came to an end in Monaco after Sergio Perez lost his points position after a collision with Daniil Kvyat’s Toro Rosso at Rascasse. A bad strategy had already put him on the back foot, and team-mate Esteban Ocon struggled to do much better after being eliminated in Q1. Neither scored any points, but they still sit fourth in the Constructors race with a 24 point advantage over closest challengers Toro Rosso.
More midfield mix-ups
A great drive from Carlos Sainz delivered sixth ahead of the recovering Hamilton as Toro Rosso finished best of the rest in Monaco. They would’ve had a double points finish has Kvyat’s race not been ended by Perez, but are still nine points ahead of Williams, who sneaked into the points with Felipe Massa in ninth after struggling all weekend. Haas scored points with both cars as Romain Grosjean finished eighth with team-mate Kevin Magnussen tenth. Renault were the big losers this weekend, struggling for pace as Nico Hulkenberg became the first retirement with a mechanical failure.
More McLaren misery
Monaco was meant to be McLaren’s best chance to score points. Instead, they came away empty-handed. With Fernando Alonso racing in the Indy 500, super-sub Jenson Button managed to qualify ninth before a 15 place grid penalty dropped him to the back. Button’s brief cameo then had a bad ending as he made an ill-conceived lunge that left Sauber’s Pascal Wehrlein trapped in the wall and Button’s suspension hanging off. Team-mate Stoffel Vandoorne also made the top ten despite crashing in Q2, but his race ended after he dropped his McLaren in the barrier at Sainte-Devote after the safety car restart. Despite running in the points for much of the race, Vandoorne was barely quicker than Button all weekend despite the Brit having seven months out and never driving the 2017 car until first practice. Vandoorne needs to prove his worth to keep his seat next season.
