Can Charles Leclerc Finally Secure a Podium at Home?
F1 returns to its crown in the calendar in the form of Monaco this weekend, and that means that most of the focus will be on home hero Charles Leclerc. Charles is currently having a great season, he sits second in the Drivers’ Championship (48 points behind Max Verstappen) and he hasn’t finished any lower than 4th in either the Races or the Sprints this year! However, Leclerc also has a famous history when it comes to things going wrong at his home track. From 2017 (F2) till 2021, Charles couldn’t even finish a Monaco Race, and he hasn’t been able to finish on the Podium in either of the last two seasons. With the Prince of Monte Carlo going well so far, you’d fancy Leclerc to finally do it this year, but I don’t know, I guess we’ll just have to wait and see!
Mercedes Need a Strong Weekend!
Ah, Mercedes, Mercedes, Mercedes, what has happened to you?! The former dominant force are currently 4th in the Constructors’ Standings with 79 points, some 189 points off the leaders after just 7 Rounds! In terms of the drivers, George Russell currently sits 7th and Lewis Hamilton is 8th, with 9 points separating the two fast-paced competitors. Now it’s fair to say that Merc have been quite consistent this year, as they either both finish within a couple of places of each other or they both DNF (I.e. Australia). However, that’s not necessarily a great thing as besides a P2 for Lewis in the Chinese Sprint, George’s P5 in Bahrain is currently the team’s best result (which isn’t great when you consider this team’s track record). However, Monaco is very much an anomaly, and if Mercedes were ever able to pull out a strong result, it may well be here!
What is Going on With Fernando Alonso?
For the past few years, Fernando Alonso has definitely been one of the best drivers on the Grid! So usually, if things are going wrong at Aston Martin, it’s either cause the car isn’t very good or Lance Stroll’s not exactly performing particularly well. However, whilst that first part is true, the second part needs to be changed to Fernando Alonso as Fernando has had a couple of poor weekends. Alonso has been out-qualified by Stroll in all 3 Qualifying sessions in May, he hit his teammate in the Miami Sprint, and Fernando somehow managed to finish last on the road in Imola after barely making any progress through the field. This is probably just a blip, and it’s worth remembering how brilliantly Fernando Alonso did at Monaco last year, but I don’t know, another bad weekend and questions do seriously need to be asked as to what’s going wrong!
Can Esteban Ocon Have Another Strong Weekend in the Principality?
To say it’s been a bad year for Alpine would be an understatement, as the Enstone-based team are currently 8th in the Constructors’ with just 1 point to their name. However, it’s not actually been that bad of a season for one Esteban Ocon, as Esteban has consistently out-qualified and out-performed his French teammate Pierre Gasly. Now, let’s cast our minds back to a year ago when Ocon managed to get within 2 tenths of Pole Position before he managed to celebrate a wonderful Podium in the Principality. Of course, Esteban most likely won’t be standing on the rostrum again this year, but that doesn’t mean he can’t have a good weekend at a track where power doesn’t really matter.
McLaren’s Tribute Livery
And finally, let’s talk about McLaren! There’s no doubt that McLaren have been on the up this year, winning in Miami, and coming close to doing so again in Imola, but this weekend, the Woking-based team have switched out Papaya for Yellow, Green, and Blue as a tribute to the late, great Ayrton Senna. If you know anything about Senna, you will know that he’s a Monaco master, so this is a very fitting tribute for the 3-time World Champion. Now the question that needs to be asked is can McLaren go well this weekend? In theory, no, but I can tell you firsthand that I’m not listening to theories again after the amount of people who told me that McLaren would be rubbish in Miami (you know who you are)! So yeah, I wouldn’t be surprised to see either Lando Norris or Oscar Piastri right at the front this weekend!
My Predictions for Monaco Qualifying
Max Verstappen
Oscar Piastri
George Russell
Lando Norris
Daniel Ricciardo
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