I didn't expect my happiness at Lando winning his first race to be topped so quickly, but a Charles victory in Monaco :heart:

Oh my great win for Charles and Ferrari

 

What a moron Verstappen is, complaining about the snoozefest race

 

Anyone knows if Kevin will get a penalty? He should!

Oh my great win for Charles and Ferrari

 

What a moron Verstappen is, complaining about the snoozefest race

 

Anyone knows if Kevin will get a penalty? He should!

 

No, they determined it was a racing incident in the end. Although it was predominantly Kevin’s fault, I wonder whether they were weary about giving him a race ban when it was 100% his fault.

Oh my great win for Charles and Ferrari

 

What a moron Verstappen is, complaining about the snoozefest race

 

Anyone knows if Kevin will get a penalty? He should!

 

 

Why single out Verstappen? Hamilton, Russell, Albon, Piastri certainly all voiced similar opinions. I expect others did too but we just haven't heard those reports. Lewis was more critical if anything. At least Max and George made a joke out of it.

 

And to be honest they're right. I love the challenge of Monaco but when they all changed their tyres on lap one and could just manage them to the end it destroyed the possibility of anything (bar a driver mistake) changing the order.

Charles did what he had to do and drove at a pace often slower than an F2 car. Job done.

 

If changing tyres and repairs under a red flag were prohibited, it would have kept the interest alive. At least the Indy 500 was brilliant though, when it finally got going.

 

 

Magnussen got lucky and escaped punishment because Perez looked in his mirrors and should have known he was there. Magnussen's positioning was stupid but both drivers to blame in some part and so a racing incident. If Perez didn't make the obvious glance in his mirror I suspect he would have had a penalty and therefore a ban.

 

the way Verstappen always moans and protests is so childish, sometimes he still behaves like a teen 12 years of age

It was pretty funny him complaining that the race was boring which is precisely what everyone else thought about almost every race last year. Very bizarre off weekend for Red Bull on a track they've always been strong at even in the Merc dominated era, perhaps this was their Singapore 2023 of this season and it'll be back to the norm from Canada, at least for Max anyway. The norm for Perez after round 5 is not even reaching Q3.

 

But super happy for Leclerc to finally break 2 curses in one, not just his rotten run at Monaco but ending his streak of 12 consecutive non-converted poles.

Edited May 28, 20241 yr by Dobbo

I have no issue with any driver complaining the race was boring.

 

Other than the 1st lap antics it wasn't a great representation of the sport

 

Max winning all the time doesn't make the sport boring, as there is so much going on behind him. If anything I think his dominance has been nothing short of inspirational. I've heard people compare him to Federer a lot (in the way they both obliterated competition for a prolonged period of time)

I have no issue with any driver complaining the race was boring.

 

Other than the 1st lap antics it wasn't a great representation of the sport

 

Max winning all the time doesn't make the sport boring, as there is so much going on behind him. If anything I think his dominance has been nothing short of inspirational. I've heard people compare him to Federer a lot (in the way they both obliterated competition for a prolonged period of time)

 

This is the way Monaco has been ever since the beginning, a procession. What made it worse this time was the red flag negating any strategy and forcing the drivers to be even slower than normal to save tyre life meaning mistakes were also less likely.

 

And for the record, I agree with your last point. It's up to everyone else to make it more exciting if one guy is just levels clear.

I disagree, Monaco hasn’t always been like this, it’s just that the cars 20 years ago were significantly smaller and therefore was easier to do a move into a chicane

 

Formula E went three abreast into Lowes 👀👀

I did see it was the first time the top 10 on the grid finished in exactly the same order.

 

Thanks to K-Mag for that, giving Sainz a chance to get back in

 

 

Yeah I agree with Silas - I remember it being much more fun to watch back in the 90s, there always seemed to be some sort of drama and people would definitely try to overtake. It has however sadly descended into the most boring race these days, I'd happily see it removed from the F1 calendar

Monaco was never always a procession. Look at 1982 where 5 different cars lead the race in the final few laps or 1996 where only 3 cars completed the race. 1933 had 21 lead changes and the races from 1961, 70, 81, 92, 08 and 16 are all pretty damn good or classics.

 

The circuit itself is not the problem. The size and weight of the cars is the real issue. It looks the worst at Monaco but it's slowly killing other tracks too (Imola, Hungary, Spain, Singapore leap to mind).

 

Thankfully from 2026 the cars will start to be reduced in size and weight so things should improve there.

Edited May 28, 20241 yr by Severin

1996 was always a sore point for me!

 

I was a DC fan and he should have won that race (had Mclaren bought him in instead of Hakkinen, he'd have been in front of Panis)

Monaco was never always a procession. Look at 1982 where 5 different cars lead the race in the final few laps or 1996 where only 3 cars completed the race. 1933 had 21 lead changes and the races from 1961, 70, 81, 92, 08 and 16 are all pretty damn good or classics.

 

The circuit itself is not the problem. The size and weight of the cars is the real issue. It looks the worst at Monaco but it's slowly killing other tracks too (Imola, Hungary, Spain, Singapore leap to mind).

 

Thankfully from 2026 the cars will start to be reduced in size and weight so things should improve there.

 

I mean 1992 is only remembered because of Mansell being unable to overtake Senna despite being in a vastly superior car with fresher tyres thus proving the point. I think back in the old era there didn't exist the chicane after the tunnel and I think removing that and moving the DRS zone to there could be an option.

 

Even when the cars were smaller, without any crashes or rain it was much the same as it is now. 2003 for example saw zero overtakes despite smaller cars.

 

But your general point about the size of today's cars I do agree with.

 

Monaco is the worst race of the year every year the pole getter will win 99.9% of the time

Monaco is the worst race of the year every year the pole getter will win 99.9% of the time

 

You say that but interestingly it's only happened 4 times in the last 9 races (or 5 if you count Max as the realistic pole-sitter in 2021). Most of those were admittedly pit-stop blunders (2015/2016/2022) but I found that a peculiar stat.

 

I still like the uniqueness of Monaco personally, if you can accept that whilst overtaking is nigh on impossible, there's the jeopardy in every single corner from any small error. The big problem with this year's race as I mentioned is that no one was driving flat out at any point due to tyre management which is definitely something that could be looked into re red flag regulations although I'm not sure what an alternative solution could be.

Edited May 28, 20241 yr by Dobbo

I think Monaco is one of those races where refueling would had more of a play and we wouldn’t have had an entire race run on a single set of tyres for the majority of the field

 

 

Ultimately though I think my preference would be for a red flag to mean that the teams can’t touch the cars in any way shape or form and that by doing so they are automatically relegated to a pit lane start, like taking the car out of Parc Fermé

I mean 1992 is only remembered because of Mansell being unable to overtake Senna despite being in a vastly superior car with fresher tyres thus proving the point. I think back in the old era there didn't exist the chicane after the tunnel and I think removing that and moving the DRS zone to there could be an option.

 

Even when the cars were smaller, without any crashes or rain it was much the same as it is now. 2003 for example saw zero overtakes despite smaller cars.

 

But your general point about the size of today's cars I do agree with.

 

 

But in 92 Senna's exceptional skill was the real difference though. There were a number of overtakes in the race.

 

This is a count of all genuine overtakes in the Monaco GP over the last 40 years.

 

From the following post from the overtaking database - https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/comments/...2020/?rdt=33171

 

I don't include overtakes on the first lap (or on standing starts after a red flag) as it would misrepresent the total figure for race and also be a nightmare to calculate. The focus is on on-track overtakes for position so I don't include overtakes made while someone is in the pits, when someone has spun or is off track, when someone has a severe reliability problem, lapping and unlapping or through team orders.

 

1984 Monaco 22

1985 Monaco 22

1986 Monaco 21

1987 Monaco 16

1988 Monaco 11

1989 Monaco 20

1990 Monaco 11

1991 Monaco 9

1992 Monaco 7

1993 Monaco 31

1994 Monaco 9

1995 Monaco 9

1996 Monaco 6

1997 Monaco 31

1998 Monaco 2

1999 Monaco 5

2000 Monaco 1

2001 Monaco 7

2002 Monaco 10

2003 Monaco 0

2004 Monaco 5

2005 Monaco 16

2006 Monaco 19

2007 Monaco 2

2008 Monaco 33

2009 Monaco 8

2010 Monaco 6

2011 Monaco 28

2012 Monaco 13

2013 Monaco 17

2014 Monaco 10

2015 Monaco 10

2016 Monaco 14

2017 Monaco 3

2018 Monaco 4

2019 Monaco 2

2021 Monaco 0

2022 Monaco 13

2023 Monaco 22

2024 Monaco 4

 

 

 

As you can see from the data, the circuit is nowhere near as bad as people like to make out, although the last 10 years have really begun to see the number of on-track passes drop.

 

As for the red flag, yes I agree teams should not be able to touch the car or change tyres due to a stoppage. The red flag is supposed to neutralise the race but allowing teams to make changes means it breaks the race in to two separate smaller races, which I'm not in favour of.

I have no problem with Monaco remaining on the calendar, even with a complete inability to make overtakes, but it's a massive shame when the rules of the sport deem the race completely pointless. At least there's some jeopardy over strategy, and drivers pushing with the possibility of mistakes in 'normal' race conditions, but there was no need for any of that in this years race due to the red lap = mandatory pit stop rule. When cars can complete 77 laps on a set of mediums it makes for an awful spectacle.

Perhaps it's time Monaco was returned to a full length race these days it can be completed in the 2 hour mandate (assuming no delays). It's been shortened for over 50 years but that no longer seems necessary. Removing Monaco's exemption may well remove the dedication to a one stop strategy. Pirelli could supply only the highest deg tyres. Because concentration levels are so high the driver's are more likely to make an error. the longer the race continues.