Elegant Verstappen takes victory in Monaco
Max Verstappen drove elegantly in tricky wet conditions at Monaco to take his fourth victory of the season. Fernando Alonso came home second for Aston Martin whilst Alpine’s Esteban Ocon picked up a brilliant Podium to round out the top 3.
The Most Notable Moments
Max Verstappen got away well to keep Fernando Alonso behind before Lance Stroll hit the wall at the Fairmont Hairpin. The race then became a bit of a procession as no one could really overtake at the front, but there were some decent moves further back in the pack. Carlos Sainz made contact whilst trying to overtake Esteban Ocon and he wasn’t happy with his team for focusing more on staying ahead of Hamilton rather than trying to overtake Ocon. However, the race really kicked off at around lap 50 as heavy rain hit near the Fairmont hairpin which saw everyone tip-toeing around. Fernando Alonso made the decision to pit for medium tyres which was the wrong decision as the track then got even wetter. The likes of George Russell, Carlos Sainz, Lance Stroll, Kevin Magnussen and others either slid off the track or hit the wall whilst Max Verstappen continued to extend his lead at the front. Yuki Tsunoda then went off after being overtaken by both of the McLaren drivers before Max Verstappen crossed the line to win the race by just under 28 seconds.
The Standout Drives in the Race
I’ve given out a total of two 10’s for this race and the first one is obviously for Max Verstappen. The Verstappen and Red Bull dynamic is dominant enough, but the gap gets even bigger in the wet due to the brilliance of the back-to-back World Champion. The other man I gave a 10 to was Esteban Ocon as I thought he did brilliantly to take Alpine’s first podium since 2021. Another one of those typically brilliant weekends from Estie Bestie! I also thought Fernando Alonso had a great race whilst Lewis Hamilton, George Russell, Lando Norris and Valtteri Bottas all had really strong races.
Drivers who had a Horror Race
In total, I’ve given out four 1’s for this race. Sergio Perez’s terrible weekend didn’t get any better as he had a couple of incidents and got lapped twice by his teammate. Championship over? Both Logan Sargeant and Kevin Magnussen collided with the wall multiple times in a really terrible afternoon whilst Lance Stroll had multiple incidents in a weekend he will very quickly want to forget. I also wasn’t at all impressed by Nico Hulkenberg’s drive.
Overall Race Results and My Ratings
Max Verstappen: 10
Fernando Alonso: 9
Esteban Ocon: 10
Lewis Hamilton: 8 (FL)
George Russell: 8
Charles Leclerc: 6
Pierre Gasly: 7
Carlos Sainz: 4
Lando Norris: 8
Oscar Piastri: 7
Valtteri Bottas: 8
Nyck de Vries: 7
Zhou Guanyu: 6
Alex Albon: 5
Yuki Tsunoda: 4
Sergio Perez: 1
Nico Hulkenberg: 2
Logan Sargeant: 1
Kevin Magnussen: 1 (DNF)
Lance Stroll: 1 (DNF)
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