[shibujp]

A few things livened up an otherwise typically processional Monaco Grand Prix. Frankly the only on track pass that I noticed was one of the Haas cars on his teammate. The other aspects were:
1. Leclerc failing to start the race.
2. Verstappen squeezing Bottas at the start though Bottas had a better start.
3. Lewis loosing three places thanks to an uninspired strategy.
4. Bottas denied yet again thanks to a selfish, uncooperative wheel nut gone nuts!
5. The millisecond joy of seeing Perez close to Norris then realizing that in Monaco it's one thing to close up and another to pass.
6. Sebastian Vettel putting the Aston into P5 thanks to jumping Gasly after his pitstop.
7. Deserved winners Sainz and Norris for their sheer talent and continued hard work.

Verstappen had a easy (ignoring the huge mental drain that Monaco is on all drivers) race once he beat Bottas into the first corner easily controlling the pace which was evident at the end when he easily pulled a gap on Sainz.

Aston was the team that gained the most today I feel getting both it's drivers into the points. Vettel finally opening his account. Though whether Aston has finally addressed it's rake gremlins and the form continues into the other tracks remains to be seen. Monaco is like no other.

Drive on,
Shibu.

[Cyborg]

Ah Ferrari, ah Ferrari! Everyone and their uncle were saying chances of the gearbox being damaged are very high after such a crash, yet they stuck their head in the sand and threw the dice. Even with a five place grid penalty they could have come away with valuable points (most probably) from both drivers.

Stupidity at it’s peak from Mr. Binotto and his team, they deserved one car being out of the race at the start. Real pity for Leclerc though!

Cheers

[ZenMaster]

Mercedes has a customary pitstop blunder almost every year. Its just that it usually occurs after the championships are decided or there is no proper competition and therefore usually of no consequence.
This time however, each and every small mistake the championship contenders do will have a effect, and they royally screwed in almost evry way possible and could probably decide the final outcome.
This time Verstappen has not had his DNFs like the previous years. So there's time for that too.

This battle is really spicy!!

[Fiestaboy]

I started watching F1 from 2015 & I had been a supporter of Ferrari from the day i started watching F1.
More than Mercedes, Ferrari shows themselves why they are not a championship team due to following reasons:

Drivers taking too much risk or over driving (Lec esp. - same in 2019 & 2021 Monacco).
Team's strategy is nominal or sub-optimal always.
No headmaster like Toto/Niki & Horner/Marko. Mattia is cool now, only b/c of cool atmosphere between Sainz & Leclerc. Once they start to fight out, i am sure Mattia will not handle like Toto.

For yesterday's race, most of them will blame Ferrari crew, but i will blame Leclerc for his over driving. Had he not put the car into wall, this wouldn't have happen. (assuming it's an issue b/c of the incident)
After thinking every year that coming year will be success for Ferrari, i am going to wait finally for 2022 to see where they stand.

For now, I just admire how Max is growing up as a rounded driver now. With luck favouring RedBull for the first time, instead of Merc & they taking it will full hands is good to see.
Perez is getting comfortable & with Baku of similar circuit & Redbull with "bendy wings" should be competitive i guess, let's see..

Note:
Merc always running in clean air will certainly help in their durability as well & this time though they win majority of times, they ran behind other cars this year & this will show how their Engines behave, if put in dirty air.

[FURY_44]

It was a good "strategic" race, Merc were no where in the picture right from Free Practice, Bottas however pulled it off and qualified 3rd and Hamilton moaning throughout the weekend, being an Ham fan that is one thing I hate about him, come on you are a 7 time world champion, just drive, maybe?

We all know how good Lewis manages his tyres and goes long than others, but here in Monaco I think he was the first ones to pit, what a blunder by the team, Lewis should have said I am staying out which he does so very often, I think he just wanted to pass Gasly out of desperation. Heck, even the commentators were repeatedly quoting that overcut is most effective at Monaco. By going long, Perez, Vettel and Stroll were immensely rewarded.

It was a snooze fest apart from the pitstops.

[madhav]

Congrats to Max, Carlos and Lando, they did a great job. But this circuit really needs to be axed. It is Monaco and all that, but unable to pass and leaving everything down to a pit stop is just plain boring, there is no racing here. If F1 can not leave out Monaco, then keep it for the novelty factor, and don't count the points towards the championship.

[Red Liner]

Originally Posted by madhav

Congrats to Max, Carlos and Lando, they did a great job. But this circuit really needs to be axed. It is Monaco and all that, but unable to pass and leaving everything down to a pit stop is just plain boring, there is no racing here. If F1 can not leave out Monaco, then keep it for the novelty factor, and don't count the points towards the championship.

1. It’s part of the triple crown.

2. A very different kind of circuit where both man and machine are tested according to very different parameters. Hamilton and Merc for instance.

3. But I agree that the circuit has to be adjusted slightly to allow overtaking within the confines of being a street circuit. Without DRS. I hate the DRS factor. Bring back overtakes purely on performance please.

[subramaniamj]

I feel really sorry for Charles.. .. Three successive failures for him at his home race. But, happy me!! Ferrari is back strong..

Verstappan made complete use of his "granted" pole position, though he was on the less advantageous position on the track and beautifully crossed Bottas who had a brilliant start off the grid. His plight was also unfortunate on the pits, otherwise, we could've seen Max, Bottas & Sains on the podium in this order. He has given a very strong statement on the "big mistake" which happened

Good for Lando, he has given a brilliant fight and it was an awesome gesture from him to wave at Dan, when he lapped him.. Feeling bad for McLaren where one outperformed the other and I read that they were on similar settings.

Hamilton - Well, he still is the leader of the pack (though 2nd in standings). Just that Mercedes didn't find the right setting for him throughout, except for in FP1.

[turbo]

Originally Posted by subramaniamj

Good for Lando, he has given a brilliant fight and it was an awesome gesture from him to wave at Dan, when he lapped him.

A significant proportion of the fanbase on r/formula1 seems to think that it was anything but awesome.
The seem to think it was rubbing-it-in on an already struggling teammate, and lapping a teammate was enough humiliation already.

[adwaith]

Originally Posted by madhav

Congrats to Max, Carlos and Lando, they did a great job. But this circuit really needs to be axed. It is Monaco and all that, but unable to pass and leaving everything down to a pit stop is just plain boring, there is no racing here. If F1 can not leave out Monaco, then keep it for the novelty factor, and don't count the points towards the championship.

While I completely agree, I don't think they'll ever get rid of it simply because of the money involved. They might try to make changes to accommodate the longer and wider cars of the current generation but considering that it's a street circuit, they're constrained there too.

What made yesterday worse was the TV direction. Mazepin had at some point taken his place back from Mick, but they didn't show that. They didn't show us Seb's overtake on Gasly and instead showed us a replay of Stroll. There was apparently an overtake by Ocon on Stroll but we weren't shown that either.

During Quali, we saw more of the cool-down laps than the actual laps themselves.

Originally Posted by Red Liner

3. But I agree that the circuit has to be adjusted slightly to allow overtaking within the confines of being a street circuit. Without DRS. I hate the DRS factor. Bring back overtakes purely on performance please.

The DRS wasn't really useful for any overtake yesterday. Giovinazzi had it for consecutive laps and it did nothing for him.

Originally Posted by FURY_44

It was a good "strategic" race, Merc were no where in the picture right from Free Practice, Bottas however pulled it off and qualified 3rd and Hamilton moaning throughout the weekend, being an Ham fan that is one thing I hate about him, come on you are a 7 time world champion, just drive, maybe?

It was a snooze fest apart from the pitstops.

Mercedes did drop the ball yesterday with strategy, but it was Quali, that really got them. Lewis said that he couldn't find grip, so the low rake restrictions are probably working.

Also, Lewis wouldn't be himself he didn't complain. I've seen that Seb did that a lot too with Ferrari and he's a multiple time champ as well.

Originally Posted by Fiestaboy

For yesterday's race, most of them will blame Ferrari crew, but i will blame Leclerc for his over driving. Had he not put the car into wall, this wouldn't have happen. (assuming it's an issue b/c of the incident)

While, the crash was definitely on Charles, it was the crew's job to make sure the gearbox was good for the race. While P6 isn't pole, their pace was good and it would have put them above McLaren in the Constructors in P3.

Note:
Merc always running in clean air will certainly help in their durability as well & this time though they win majority of times, they ran behind other cars this year & this will show how their Engines behave, if put in dirty air.

Question since the engines still wokred out for McLaren and AM. DO the Powertrain departement make considerable changes to the stock engine that they get from their respective suppliers?

[madhav]

Originally Posted by adwaith

While I completely agree, I don't think they'll ever get rid of it simply because of the money involved. They might try to make changes to accommodate the longer and wider cars of the current generation but considering that it's a street circuit, they're constrained there too.

Originally Posted by Red Liner

1. It’s part of the triple crown.

Yes, I totally agree that F1 will never axe Monaco as this a circuit like no other and the drivers are driving at the limit with almost zero tolerance for error. But to watch them all stream around the circuit with no real challenge from any driver is anything but dull. The only highlight or excitement for the fans was thanks to Valterri's stuck wheel nut. I will remember this GP only for this one freak incident.

[mayankk]

As usual , Monaco was so processional. Hamilton, it seems, had already given up after Quali, and was hoping something happened with strategy. But this is a tough place to do anything!! And Bottas- cant catch a break!
However, I am chuffed for Lando. You typically have a couple of rookies every year who show promise, but right now you have rookies/fresh/untapped youngsters like Lando, Russell, Sainz, Gasly, Ocon, all in the same period!
Once things are on an even keel across teams by next year, it will be brilliant racing all around.

[ZenMaster]

Originally Posted by turbo

A significant proportion of the fanbase on r/formula1 seems to think that it was anything but awesome.
The seem to think it was rubbing-it-in on an already struggling teammate, and lapping a teammate was enough humiliation already.

Well its a "Damn if you do, damn if you don't" situation. If he didn't do that, there would be another camp saying how arrogant he was for not even acknowledging Daniel for letting him by easily (even if its under blue flag) and how he didn't even give him a look.

[Senna_sempre]

It might be exciting for the drivers to drive in the narrow streets of Monaco and to be on the absolute limit of every lap. No margin for errors here as the barricades are quite unforgiveable.

And to the fans year on year it is failing to produce exciting racing as it is virtually impossible to overtake a car on this track. Post qualifying its only a procession on the race day. Only way is to jump via pitstops and mostly via overcuts. Its time for the FIA to bring some changes to this legendary Grand Prix to make racing more interesting particularly on a race day.

Im happy for Sainz and Norris though and gutted for Charles (May be he would have won had he started).

[subramaniamj]

Originally Posted by turbo

A significant proportion of the fanbase on r/formula1 seems to think that it was anything but awesome.
The seem to think it was rubbing-it-in on an already struggling teammate, and lapping a teammate was enough humiliation already.

Yeah - I agree not at all awesome, but take it with due spirits . As a fighter, I expect Dan to be back at Lando, but have to give it to the younger Brit, who seriously deserve some accolade who is having that extra bit of something. Heard the team radios in which Dan was instructed not to wait for the blue flags and to pull over for Lando!