Tuesday 28 May 2019

2019: Monaco GP Review

The Monaco GP can either be a procession or absolute chaos, though in the Pirelli years in particular, it has been much more the former. 2019 was again more procession than chaos, but there was enough tension to keep you interested. At the end of the day, you look at the results and you think I don't need to see the race, but the intrigue and tension is all in how the race unfolded, with Hamilton under pressure from worn tyres from Max Verstappen who had a five second penalty hanging over him.



Usually the most interesting part of the race comes in qualifying, with overtaking almost impossible around the streets of Monte Carlo. In practice, the Mercedes duo looked strong, with Max Verstappen looking a step behind but threatening, and Charles Leclerc looked fast in FP3 and looked like he might challenge for pole. Ferrari had a terrible session though, Vettel hitting the wall twice, Leclerc missing the weighbridge, but worst of all, Leclerc didn't make it through Q1, as Vettel bumped him out of Q1 with his final lap. Ferrari made an error in not letting Leclerc do a second lap and the race for pole position was a bit less interesting.


Ferrari's woes continue

Leclerc seems to have the pace, but in Baku and now in Monaco, he did not deliver pole position like in Bahrain, however you'd expect Vettel to be right up there, but he wasn't. Come the race, Leclerc made some amazing overtakes on Norris and Grosjean, but tapped the inside barrier when just about alongside Hulkenberg's Renault, which caused a puncture and through driving too quickly on the way back to the pits ripped off most of his floor. Vettel on the other hand managed to finish in second place and one wonders why his tactic was to hang back from Verstappen and play it safe. If he had put more pressure on Max, it might have put him under more pressure and the slight touch between him and Hamilton may have been worse and Vettel could have swanned through to an unlikely victory. Vettel looks like a shadow of his former self at the moment, perhaps the mistakes of previous years has made him be a bit more cautious. We need Charles to calm down a touch, but we need Vettel to step up.

Stars

Max Verstappen was voted driver of the day and, as he has been since Monaco last year, has been truly excellent ever since. He didn't take any untoward risks, and for the first time in Monaco he didn't end up in the barriers all weekend. The pit release was not his fault, though he could have left a bit more space, but Bottas was in his blind spot. But finishing second on the road was well deserved, even though it ended up being fourth.

I think Carlos Sainz had a great weekend, my personal driver of the day and weekend, as did both Toro Rosso drivers. Sainz managed an incredible pass on both Toro Rosso drivers to claim his joint best finish of sixth place after a great qualifying performance. Good strategy saw off the threat from Ricciardo, who also had a really good weekend, and Magnussen in the Haas. Kvyat has made it into Q3 again and Albon showed some great pace throughout the weekend.

For a change, Williams were able to mix their cars in with the tail end of the midfield. Despite some dubious corner cutting on the first corner, Kubica was running well before being pitched into a spin by Giovinazzi. Pitting soon after the safety car returned meant he ran alone to the end but finished ahead of the Italian's Alfa who was penalised for the collision. Russell was caught up in the blockage, but squeezed past Giovinazzi in the process, and having good pace and good strategy, finished ahead of Stroll and both Alfas. This was a much needed step forward for Williams, but I fear it's a one off with the peculiarities of the Monaco track, they were a little behind in qualifying pace, but there were times their race pace was well in the midfield.

At the end of the day, it was Hamilton who claimed pole position and the victory, and had we not known about his tyre issues, it would have been a lot less interesting. Of course it was a no-brainer to stay out on those tyres and creep around to the end rather than pit and finish in fourth or fifth - they had to take risk. If Hamilton wanted to, like in Abu Dhabi 2016, he could have driven a lot slower, but unlike China 2007, he made it to the end without error, surviving a small tangle with Verstappen. Remarkably, this was only Hamilton's third victory at the Principality.

A weekend to forget

Hulkenberg was disappointing this weekend. He wasn't that far off in qualifying, but he was a step behind the 2018 race winner throughout the weekend. 

Racing Point struggled all weekend, Stroll in particular was poor all weekend, even getting in the way when being lapped. Perez avoided disaster as he nearly ran over two marshalls coming out of the pits during the Safety Car period.


The Alfa Romeo's also struggled, with Kimi racing around a car that was 'crabbing' around, not a great 300th GP. Giovinazzi finished last despite both cars making it into Q2.

Haas could have delivered strong points finishes, but Magnussen, after losing out on strategy, received a post race penalty for his corner cutting defence against Perez, but Grosjean managed to finish in 10th considering he was well back when fighting with Leclerc at the start of the race.

Takeaways

For all the dullness of the racing in Monaco, I think it still has a place on the F1 calendar. It's still amazing to see the world's fastest race cars try and squeeze quick lap times from the streets of Monaco with only barriers as the track limits, particularly in qualifying. The cars are so close to the spectators and cameras, you feel a sense of the speed of these cars. The event itself is entirely unique and prestigious and F1 needs that variety in the calendar. I'm not saying I want 20 events like this, but one of them out of 20 (or so) races is fine.  

This was the end of the Mercedes one-two streak, and it took some quick pitstop work from Red Bull to force it. But still, Mercedes have won every race so far. 

F1 is about the fine margins and making sure you are on the right side of them. Hamilton got pole by 0.086 seconds, which is such a small margin. Bottas did well to keep his place at the first corner from Verstappen, but at the pitstops, the Mercedes team were a little slower which caused the collision. Bottas might be close to Hamilton on pace, but when it comes to the fine margins, Bottas seems to be on the losing end at the moment. When Rosberg won his championship, Rosberg made all the most out of the tiniest of gains and made sure he was on the right side of all the marginal calls. These fine margins are what separates the good from the great. Having said that, Hamilton is not firing on all cylinders just yet, he hasn't needed to, but the form he was on particularly in the middle of last season was formidable. With the Championship lead his, it seems like Hamilton can cruise to the title without having to reach the heights of last season. 

Gasly is getting closer to Verstappen's pace, but he is still some way off. In the race, he should be comfortably running closely behind the leaders. Instead he is running his own race and pits for the obligatory fastest lap attempt. One wanders with Kvyat's strong performances of late whether they may switch seats before the end of the year.

The weekend featured many tributes to the late Niki Lauda and rightly so, with his tribute helmets finishing first and second, a lovely touch. Below are links to my model reviews of his 3 Championship years.

1984 World Champion

1977 World Champion

1975 World Champion

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