Monaco Grand Prix: Top/Flops from the editorial team

TOPS

1: Ocon was magical!

For us, the French press, how can we not start this Top 3 of the Monaco Grand Prix without talking about Esteban Ocon? The Normandy native from Alpine had a sensational weekend. He even positioned himself as a candidate for pole position on Saturday, and then took advantage of Charles Leclerc’s setbacks to start in third place!

Number 31 could have lost everything with their excessively long pit stop… but their pace during the race was solid and now Ocon is on the podium! What a breath of fresh air for Alpine, after the sharp reprimands from boss Laurent Rossi. Pierre Gasly finished 7th, but this performance is more than welcome. Could it be a turning point for the rest of the season?

2: Max Verstappen has no competition

Despite being challenged in qualifying, Max Verstappen smoothly navigated the streets of Monaco with little trouble. The two-time world champion delivered a monumental qualifying lap, snatching the pole position away from Fernando Alonso.

In the race, he was able to take advantage of the superiority of his machine and medium tires to escape, even though Alonso tried to keep up with him on hard tires.

However, the arrival of the rain could have pushed him into making a mistake, particularly in the completely soaked Portier corner. Red Bull also executed the strategy well by switching directly to intermediate tires, which Fernando Alonso and Aston Martin did not do.

Red Bull remains undefeated in the early stages of the championship, and Max Verstappen has gained a lead of more than one wild card over Sergio Perez. Unless there is a huge turn of events, the number one should secure his third title without much trouble.

3: Finally some improvement for Mercedes

It was the most peculiar single-seater since the birth of the new F1 cars last year. Mercedes, which has dominated the sport for years, got lost in a “zero pontoon” concept that didn’t prove itself or allowed them to compete with Red Bull.

The German team then opted for a return to a more conventional design, this time with clearly visible sidepods. They were supposed to be introduced at Imola just over a week ago, but Monaco ended up being the testing ground.

Difficult to say if this double points finish for George Russell and Lewis Hamilton is truly indicative, on such a unique circuit like Monaco. Nonetheless, the black machine performed well and brought satisfaction to the Stuttgart manufacturer.

The real test for this advanced Mercedes will be in Barcelona, starting next weekend.

FLOPS

1: Aston Martin or how to throw a victory in the trash bin

Indeed, Fernando Alonso achieved his best result since his comeback in 2021, with a 2nd place. But this time, the opportunity for victory was more than real: Alonso was only 84 thousandths of a second behind Verstappen’s pole position time and could have pulled off a huge feat the next day!

The fact of starting on hard tires was already a first risk taken by the British team, as the pole sitter and race winner chose the mediums. In itself, nothing harmful since Alonso was in a very interesting rhythm.

But when the rain arrived…how can one believe that mediums could be a good option? That’s the mess Alonso and Aston have gotten themselves into: Verstappen had not yet passed through the pits and was losing a tremendous amount of time in the wet sector.

Once the intermediates were on, Alonso would have been on his way to victory, or at least he would have taken the lead. Even though the Spaniard had a great Grand Prix, this second place is disappointing. Because finally Red Bull was going to be challenged for the win. What a waste, knowing that under normal circumstances, Monaco was the only race where another winner was possible. From now on, we will have to rely on race events.

As for Lance Stroll, his messy and anonymous performance, culminated by a retirement, leaves one thinking. The Canadian is capable of delivering impressive performances. But only from time to time. If he wants to be Aston Martin’s future, it’s time to elevate his game, even when starting from behind.

2: Pérez, in the fight for the title, really?

The Red Bulls are the best cars on the grid and it is impossible to compete with them on a level playing field. Sergio Pérez is the master of street circuits and Monaco was not expected to be an exception.

But here’s the thing: the Mexican picked the perfect moment to ruin his weekend and end up with a 25-0 defeat. Pérez crashed in the Sainte-Dévote turn during Q1, and that was it. Even if Max Verstappen had been in the same situation, he would have bounced back in the next two races.

But for Checo, this kind of setback is insurmountable when one wants to face “Mad Max” in the championship, especially over such a long season. Number 11 will then have to achieve perfect weekends and, simply put, win. However, the 39-point gap is not a good omen for him.

3: Ferrari is getting used to playing second fiddle

The Scuderia is not ready to return to fight for the titles. The SF 23 is a beautiful car that doesn’t go fast (at least not as much as its mythical heritage would like). In Monaco, Charles Leclerc was deprived of his 3rd place on the grid to start 6th. Already, everything was going wrong.

In the race, the Reds were not in the game: in the battle with Alpine and Mercedes, Carlos Sainz was there trying to secure a welcome podium. But the strategists at Ferrari struck again.

Carlos Sainz, first, was stopped in the pits, even though he had a good pace. The useless bluff attempts didn’t affect Alpine at all, although they missed Esteban Ocon’s pit stop! The time lost afterwards was fatal.

Then, when the rain came, wisdom would have dictated that we switch to intermediate tires as soon as possible. But we decided to “stretch the sauce” with the mediums in a soaked sector. As a result, the two Mercedes cars passed by!

The four-way battle between Alpine, Aston Martin, Mercedes, and Ferrari promises to be fantastic. However, the Scuderia greatly needs to break away from its strategic shortcomings, or else they may experience another nightmarish season, financially speaking.