With the title race wide open following five different winners in the first six races of the year, the Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup cars head to the principality of Monaco for round four (races seven and eight) of the season. After three great rounds of racing, the usual array of teams and drivers will compete around the principality in what will be their best opportunity to impress in front of the Formula 1 bosses around the streets of Monte Carlo. But who has the metal to deliver between these fabled walls..?
Heading to Monaco with the championship lead is Chinese racer Ye Yifei who has a ten point margin over his nearest rival, Renault Sport Academy driver, Christian Lundgaard, who is impressing in his rookie season in the championship. But with Yifei having the experience of racing in Monaco last season, he will be hoping to utilize that to his full potential and thread the iron needle through the walls to extend his championship margin this weekend.
However, with five drivers within 27 points means that a retirement around the principality could prove fatal for his championship hopes.
Despite his rookie status, Lundgaard will be hoping to build on his three podium finishes so far this season. Lundgaard won the French F4 title last season, and as part of the Renault sport academy, he will be hoping to show his skills in front of the big Renault F1 bosses this weekend.
And he isn’t the only one, with Max Fewtrell hoping to build on his home win at Silverstone last time out to correct his error-prone weekend last year around the principality. So with the British driver part of the Renault Sport Academy, this round is the ideal place to prove his worth against a field as densely-talented as this one.
Logan Sargeant and Lorenzo Colombo won’t be lacking in confidence either, after racking up at least two podium results a piece. The American lies just a point behind the leading Renault junior of Lundgaard, with Colombo just eight points behind double race winner Fewtrell after six races.
Charles Milesi meanwhile will be hoping to build on his Silverstone win after the French racer won a beautifully executed race to claim his first win in the series in only his sixth race in the championship.
Former Monaco podium finisher Max Defourny will be hoping to revive what has been a shocking start to his third season in this category; with the experienced Belgian languishing down in eleventh place in the standings after scoring just 11 points so far.
Street racing specialists Alex Peroni for MP Motorsport and Richard Verschoor for Josef Kaufmann Racing will hope to profit this weekend. The Aussie was a three-time winner around the street circuit at Pau, while the former Red Bull Academy driver Richard Verschoor was a Monte-Carlo specialist last year courtesy of a double points finish last season.
Fellow Australian Oscar Piastri will hope to confirm his solid pace that he has demonstrated in 2018 thus far by a good debut showing around the principality of Monaco. Other first-time Monaco visitors include Eliseo Martinez, Clement Novalak, Sami Taoufik, Christian Hahn, all of whom will hope to make a strong initial impression in front of the gazing F1 bosses.
So as we head of the principality of Monaco, it is Chinese ace Ye Yifei who holds the championship lead after a consistent start to the season. But who can tame Monaco? Will he be able to get a stranglehold on his worst venue of last season, and will rookies Sargeant and Lundgaard impress here like they have at the other venues in 2018?
