Well, we were soon reminded that Monaco is an anachronism and totally unsuitable for today’s F1 cars. It was a high speed procession led by a top driver in an ailing car. For the fact that Hamilton couldn’t pass Vettel who couldn’t pass Ricciardo you can also thank Pirelli who are now making tyres that have no relevance to motor cars as we know them.
Kimi Raikkonen summed up the racing at Monaco very succinctly. “Today nothing really happened in the race; to be honest, it was a pretty boring one. We know that on this track, once everybody has stopped, whoever is in front dictates the speed and no matter if he goes four seconds slower on a lap, there’s no way to pass unless somebody makes a big mistake or runs out of tyres. We end up following each other through the whole race.”
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However, Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull) was easily the standout driver of the entire weekend, being fastest in every pre-race session, and again in Qualifying and again in the race itself. Monaco reflects a driver’s ability as opposed to most other circuits which reflect engine power. Red Bull, running Renault engines are about 40 BHP down on the Mercedes or Ferrari engines.
Ricciardo’s team mate Vercrashen showed none of his usual gung ho attitude and get out of my way, after crashing on the Saturday and missing the Qualifying session, so had to start from the rear of the grid. He also had further sessions with the Red Bull team management which has lost its patience with the unruly youngster who may be quick, but doesn’t finish.
All drivers suffered from degradation of the tyres, to the point that Vettel was unable to get the tyres warmed up after the Virtual Safety Car at the end of the race and dropped away from Ricciardo.
All drivers consensus was that the race was boring. We spectators are in complete agreement.
Results:
1 D Ricciardo Red Bull
2 S Vettel Ferrari
3 L Hamilton Mercedes
4 K Raikkonen Ferrari
5 V Bottas Mercedes
6 E Ocon Force India
7 P Gasly Toro Rosso
8 N Hulkenberg Renault
9 M Verstappen Red Bull
10 C Sainz Renault
11 M Ericsson Sauber
12 S Perez Force India
13 K Magnussen Haas
14 S Vandoorne McLaren
15 R Grosjean Haas
16 S Sirotkin Williams
17 L Stroll Williams
Retired
C Leclerc Sauber Collision
B Hartley Toro Rosso (collision)
F Alonso McLaren (gearbox) – 52 laps
