“The Professor” and three times winner on the streets of Monte Carlo, Alan Prost once famously said “My ideal is to take pole with the minimum effort and win the race at the slowest speed possible”…. A quote said in 1993 which summed up the 2024 Monaco GP. A race which can only be remembered about the management of both the tyres, mastered by one of their own Charles Leclerc, who was winless from his previous 11 starts from pole to end the 2nd longest streak in history for no wins from pole. The Monégasque population could, however, claim almost half the grid as their own, with 9 of this year’s class living in the Principality.
Monaco has seen seven first lap “red flags” in the last 40 years. Quietly amusing to see one of the Red Bulls aiding Ferrari into pulling off the perfect strategy: changing the medium to hard tyres under red flag conditions without needing to further stop, which pleased Diego Ioverno, Ferrari’s Sporting Director. As a result, just the one pit stop in the first 50 laps was required, via the Aston Martin Garage.
Even with Monaco having the shortest F1 track at 3.3km long, the opening lap had the one red flag and three separate incidents in the first two sectors alone (circa 45 seconds of racing). Consequently, three of the drivers could be deemed fortuitous for different reasons following the incidents. Firstly, the $2m crash for Perez, who was fortunate the survival cell of the Red Bull car was strong enough to withstand the damage after being punted by K.Mag on the run up to Beau Rivage. Sainz, who benefited from the red flag after the race ending puncture at corner one following contact with Piastri (Sainz restarted again in 3rd when the race got going following the red flag). Finally, K.Mag avoided further punishment and penalty points, with which he would have become the 2nd driver since Romain Grosjean in 2012 to incur 12 penalty points… Just the 16 races to go before the points expire from his license.
On the flipside, Ocon wasn’t as fortunate following his wild move on his Alpine teammate Gasly, which ended his race and a subsequent tough meeting with Alpines boss Bruno Famin. Not sure if he damaged his car or career more… Ocon received a 10-second penalty, which was converted to a grid penalty in the next race in Canada, that is if he makes the start line with Alpine rumoured to be considering options to drop Ocon. Interesting few weeks for both Jack Doohan in the Alpine and Oliver Bearman at Haas who will inherit the seats of K. Mag and Ocon if either receive further punishments, being the reserve drivers.
The top ten finished in exactly the same order for the first time in F1 history. Within 24 hours, the streets of the Principality goes from the most exciting qualifying and possibly important session of the season to the exact opposite on Sunday, with a race dependant on the first 160m, from the start to the initial breaking point at Saint Devote. A grand total of 4 overtakes but still one of the showcase weekends each year.
The Brazilian Grand Prix November 2022, was the last time Verstappen has finished a race outside the top 5. It’s taken just 8 races in 2024 to have more winners than the 3 we had in 2023 (Max, Perez and Sainz), courtesy of the first Monegasque to win at Monaco.
This is all shaping up to be an exciting 2024 FIA FORMULA ONE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP™ , we show all the action live from F1 Arcade Boston. With a rumoured mix up from the Grid for Montreal, don’t miss out on your race weekend tickets!
