Max Verstappen won an incredible Monaco Grand Prix today as he extended his grip on the 2023 FIA Formula 1 World Drivers’ Championship. Verstappen led from start to finish despite rain falling on the streets of Monte-Carlo and fellow two-time World Champion Fernando Alonso looking to take his first victory in over ten years.
Alonso ended the race in second after a remarkable weekend for the Spaniard. It wasn’t all easy going for the Aston Martin Armaco F1 Team driver though, pitting one more time than Verstappen with the team making a mistake before putting him onto the intermediate tyres.
Esteban Ocon became the first driver to feature on the podium this afternoon who doesn’t drive for one of the top four teams with an incredible effort even after an exceptional qualifying lap on Saturday. The Frenchman kept Carlos Sainz Jr. behind him for the majority of the race before having to defend against seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton, who was looking to equal the record for the number of podiums at arguably the hardest circuit on the Formula 1 calendar.
What Happened In The Race?
Verstappen led the field away at lights out, with Alonso covering off Ocon, who was able to keep hold of third place off the start. The BWT Alpine F1 Team driver battled away with Sainz in the first half of the race, but the Spaniard could not get by and damaged his front wing in an attempted overtake. The first half of the race wasn’t the most thrilling, with just a few small incidents at the back of the field. However, the race soon changed as rain started to fall on the track.
The rain was falling particularly hard around the first part of the circuit, with the drivers struggling at the entry of Mirabeau. George Russell, Verstappen and Alonso were in the top three when the rain started having stayed out to see if there was an opportunity to go straight onto wet weather tyres. There was a mistake on the Aston Martin pit wall though, as Alonso was pitted for the medium tyre as other drivers dived into the pitlane for intermediates. Luckily for Alonso, he had built up enough of a gap to be able to pit again onto the intermediate and keep his second position on track. Although, it will leave many wondering what could have been if he didn’t make the extra stop.
Ocon managed to get through all the pitstops unscathed and in third place and spent the rest of the race keeping Hamilton at bay. Russell managed to keep hold of his fifth-place finish despite a five-second penalty for rejoining the track unsafely that saw Sergio Perez hit the back of the W14. Scuderia Ferrari really struggled around the streets of Monaco with Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team getting the better of them with strategy and both Alpine drivers frustrating them. Sainz span off the circuit in the rain before pitting for intermediate tyres losing multiple positions, while Charles Leclerc finished his home grand prix where he started it, in sixth position.
The last quarter of the race saw a late charge for points from McLaren F1 Team. Both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri made their way past Yuki Tsunoda, who was struggling with his brakes and ultimately lost out on a points finish for Scuderia AlphaTauri. While Verstappen was over twenty seconds out ahead, his teammate Perez had quite an eventful race as he tried to recover from an uncharacteristic mistake in qualifying on Saturday. Several incidents and pitstops saw the Mexican driver make little headway as he finished seventeenth, with his slim Championship hopes slowly falling away.
The late flurry of rain saw the only two retirements of the race, both Lance Stroll and Kevin Magnussen ending their races early.
Alpine Excel Around the Streets of Monaco
Alpine excelled around the streets of Monte-Carlo today as they maximised their opportunity with an impressive podium and a double points finish. Ocon will gain all the plaudits for his impressive performance all weekend and the final result of a podium this afternoon thanks to some outstanding defending against Sainz and Hamilton, but Pierre Gasly also drove a mighty race for Alpine to finish in seventh between both Ferrari cars.
There was talk in the last few weeks about Alpine underperforming and the critics have been answered this weekend, with the team claiming a podium at, what many consider, the hardest circuit to race at in Formula 1. The result also helped Alpine jump into fifth place in the Constructors Championship ahead of McLaren, as they look to engage in another epic battle as they did in 2022.
Where Did Everyone Else Finish?
Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake were unable to add to their six points so far this season, with Valtteri Bottas finishing just outside the points in eleventh and his teammate Guanyu Zhou in thirteenth. Nyck de Vries once again finished outside the points, but a much better performance from the rookie around a difficult circuit will offer some optimism with the Dutchman under pressure at AlphaTauri and under threat of being replaced.
Despite running well for the majority of the weekend, Alex Albon was unable to make an impression on the points positions finishing in fourteenth while his teammate Logan Sargeant struggled and finished last out of the eighteen drivers left running at the end of the Grand Prix.
Tsunoda dropped down the order after falling out of the points to both McLaren cars with a spin at Mirabeau and a brake issue hampering his progress. Nico Hulkenberg had a messy race en route to a seventeenth-place finish ending a disappointing weekend for Guenther Steiner and Haas.
