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The 81st Formula 1 Grand Prix de Monaco will be held from Thursday 23 to Sunday 26 May 2024.
There will be plenty of excitement in the Principality as the 8th round of the 2024 Formula 1 World Championship gets underway over the 4 days. The F1 single-seaters won’t be the only ones livening up proceedings on the streets of this legendary track, as the associated series (F2 / F3 / Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup) will also be taking part.
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About Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix:
The Formula 1 Grand Prix de Monaco is widely regarded as one of the most prestigious motorsport events in the world, with a reputation as illustrious as that of the Indianapolis 500, Le Mans 24 Hours and WRC Rallye Monte-Carlo.
It hasn’t gone unnoticed! Esteban Ocon finished 3rd on Sunday at the 80th Formula 1 Grand Prix de Monaco: a historic podium in the tradition of the key stories in French motorsport in the Principality.
The French tradition is honoured! Since it was first held in 1929, the Monegasque circuit has regularly been the scene of outstanding performances by French drivers and teams. 7 French drivers have won here (René Dreyfus, Guy Moll, Maurice Trintignant, Jean-Pierre Beltoise, Patrick Depailler, Alain Prost and of course Olivier Panis). Although Esteban Ocon has yet to add his name to the legendary list of winners at this event, his performance on Sunday is certainly worthy of note.
Ocon took over from Olivier Panis, surprise winner in 1996 in a Ligier.
As when Olivier won in 1996, Ocon achieved this feat at the wheel of a French car. Especially as the Panis Ligier was powered by a Japanese Mugen-Honda engine. As for the three podium finishes achieved by Renault F1 in Monaco since 1996, it was always with a foreign driver at the wheel: Jarno Trulli (victory in 2004), Fernando Alonso (victory in 2006) and Robert Kubica (3rd in 2010).
“It’s been a long time. I’m speechless. On Thursday, I would have been happy to get into the Top 10, but here we are on the podium. With Alpine, we never stop believing and this weekend I felt strong in the car, confident, I could really get close to the limit, more than ever before in Monaco,” said Esteban in the press conference. He was on cloud nine, he could hardly believe it, and this was only normal.
“My qualifying lap was 90% of the job”
This Monaco Grand Prix, only the 5th in his F1 career, enabled Ocon to produce a perfect copy from start to finish: 8th, then 10th and 9th in Free Practice, he then put in a tremendous qualifying lap to take provisional pole at the end of Q3, and then the 3rd place on the grid thanks to Charles Leclerc’s penalty. And he didn’t let up in the race, behind the two untouchables, Max Verstappen and Fernando Alonso, two double World Champions, now also tied as double winners in the Principality.
“My qualifying lap was 90% of the job, and today in the race it was a bit tougher. The rear of my car was damaged when Carlos crashed into me at the harbour chicane, then the rain shuffled everything and, in the end, I was under pressure from Lewis (Hamilton), as is often the case in these conditions. He was quicker than me on the wet section, from Turn 5 to Turn 8, and I was quicker on the dry section”, added the man from Normandy, author of a top-of-the-range performance in ultra-tough conditions, at the wheel of a highly efficient Alpine.
The first podium of many?
“It’s a huge reward, and a change from my previous weekends in Monaco. I’m very surprised, but I have to keep my feet on the ground. I want to thank the Alpine teams at Viry and Enstone. I don’t know if this is a turning point in our season, but I hope it’s the first podium of many. We’ll know more about our car’s potential next week in Barcelona, on a slightly more traditional circuit. We keep on pushing. And respect for Aston Martin, because they’re showing us that it’s possible to go from mid-table team to top team…”.
As with Ferrari, one of the two Alpine drivers was the victim of a failed strategy, stopping too early to change tires, and having to stop just afterwards to take the intermediate tires, because of the rain shower. It was Pierre Gasly, who ended up 7th when he could have been aiming for 4th or 5th place, behind Ocon. Exactly the same mistake made by Ferrari for Carlos Sainz, who started 4th and finished 8th. A small detail with huge consequences. Fortunately for Ocon, there was no extra stop with a wrong timing, and his memorable performance with a well-deserved podium finish in the princely box. An historic result, for real.
There was no great surprise at Sunday’s 80th Formula 1 Grand Prix de Monaco, won by two-time reigning World Champion Max Verstappen from pole position, despite a few drops of rain at the end of the race.
The rain did not disturb the Red Bull team, which has yet to concede anything to its rivals this year, taking six wins from six races, including four one-twos. Verstappen started on medium tires, kept them on for as long as possible and then switched directly to a set of intermediate tires when the rain started over certain portions of the street circuit, around lap 50 (of 78).
“I knew it was going to be a race where management would be important, when I saw that Fernando was starting on hard tires. And I also knew that my first stint on medium tires was likely to last a long time. When it started raining, I spent five laps being very careful with my intermediate tires, I didn’t want to drive too slowly to keep the temperature in my tires, it was very slippery, then I changed some settings on my steering wheel and it was better”.
Alonso, who started on hard tires, made two stops in a row, instead of one. First he changed to medium tires, thinking that the rain wouldn’t last, then he immediately changed strategy, putting on intermediate tires on the following lap, to finish the race without risking a big mistake. Enough for the Spaniard to claim a 5th podium in 6 races, and one further proof that Aston Martin is becoming a top team.
Verstappen never gave him the slightest chance of turning the race around, either on the track or in the pits. It was his 4th victory this season, in six Grands Prix, and the 39th of his F1 career. He had already won in 2021 in the Principality, the year of his first world title.
“I’m very happy,” said Alonso at the press conference, delighted with this 2nd place, which testifies to the British team’s progress. “We had already finished 3rd, and now we’re 2nd, so we’re just one place behind,” added the two-time world champion. “We had to find a different strategy, to try and beat Red Bull, with the risk of finishing 5th or 6th. But we weren’t fast enough in the race, so we couldn’t beat them today”.
The only big surprise of the afternoon was in fact the spotless performance of Esteban Ocon, who finished on the 3rd step of the podium thanks to a very efficient and reliable Alpine, in tricky conditions. A result that nobody could have predicted last Thursday, on the eve of the first free practice session.
“If we’d been told on Thursday that we’d finish in the Top 10 on Sunday, we’d have been very happy. Now we’re on the podium. We’ll find out next Sunday in Barcelona, on a very different circuit, whether this is a turning point in our season. But I felt good all weekend in the car, and it all came down to qualifying on Saturday. Today was harder. I had to hold off Carlos Sainz, then Lewis Hamilton. We often find ourselves fighting together in these conditions”.
Winner of the Hungarian Grand Prix in 2021, Ocon first had to fend off the onslaught of a very aggressive Carlos Sainz, who was then warned by the race direction for colliding with him at the exit of the tunnel, when braking too late at the harbor chicane. He then held off the two Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell who complete the Top 5, ahead of Charles Leclerc (6th).
The Monegasque couldn’t do much better than his 6th place on the grid, three spots further than planned. Because of a late penalty on Saturday evening for impeding Lando Norris at the end of qualifying, in the tunnel.
His team-mate Carlos Sainz has all reason to be far more upset than Leclerc, as he finished 8th despite starting from 4th on the grid. His team made him stop too early, when his hard tires were still in very good condition. He was up against Ocon for a long time, was slowed down by Leclerc at one point, and at the end he had to stop again to change for intermediate tires because of the downpour. That was one stop too many.
It was an intense Formula 1 Grand Prix de Monaco, from the first free practice on Friday, and the sporting logic has once again prevailed. As in previous cycles of domination by Ferrari with Michael Schumacher, Red Bull with Sebastian Vettel, and Mercedes with Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg. The long and exciting Monaco Grand Prix series continues. This was only the 80th episode…
Britain’s Harry King (BWT Lechner Racing) achieved the feat of beating Porsche Supercup king Larry ten Voorde (GP Elite) in Monaco on Sunday. He caught the Dutchman, twice a Supercup champion (2020, 2021), on the first of 17 laps, then watched him in his mirrors all the way to the finish, without making a single mistake.
This will go down as one of the great performances of the weekend in the Principality. Harry King beat the Porsche Supercup favorite at the 80th Formula 1 Grand Prix de Monaco. Larry ten Voorde, last year’s winner, had started from pole position after dominating free practice and qualifying. But he was caught out on the 1st lap of a race that ended in slow motion under yellow flags.
Behind King and ten Voorde, the 3rd and last available podium place was taken by another Porsche Supercup raw talent, Dane Bastian Buus. He finished ahead of another Dutchman from Team GP Elite, Loek Hartog (4th), followed by Frenchman Dorian Boccolacci (CLRT) who could only manage 5th place, his grid position.
The race marked the start of the 31st season of the Porsche Supercup, which is always held as a curtain-raiser to the Formula 1 Grand Prix, throughout Europe and occasionally on other continents in exceptional circumstances. The opening race at Imola was cancelled last week due to flooding in Emilia-Romagna. The next one is scheduled on the menu of the Austrian Grand Prix, at the end of June.
Starting from pole position, Denmark’s Frederik Vesti (Prema Racing) led from start to finish on Sunday morning in the Formula 2 Feature Race of the 80th Formula 1 Grand Prix de Monaco, ahead of France’s Théo Pourchaire (ART GP), winner of this race in 2021.
Vesti got off to a good start and wasn’t troubled by Victor Martins and Théo Pourchaire at the first corner, Sainte-Dévote. He continued to set a very good pace until the first major incident of the race, when Jack Doohan (Invicta Virtuosi), son of the former MotoGP world champion, lost control as he reached the Place du Casino.
His single-seater, which had already hit the rail at the Bureau de Tabac, went sideways at the top of the Casino climb and came to a halt on the rope, in a very dangerous position. It even started to catch fire, but within seconds marshals were on hand to extinguish the blaze with carbon dioxide foam.
When Martins arrived on the spot a few seconds later, he narrowly avoided the Australian’s single-seater. But he didn’t slow down enough under the yellow flags and was penalized a little later, dropping from 2nd to 8th place. The red flag was waved and everyone quietly returned to the pits to wait for the track to be cleared.
The race was restarted for a dozen laps, as the 60-minute time limit was about to be reached due to this interruption. In the end, the race lasted only 39 laps instead of 42, and Vesti made no mistakes until the end, to claim his 2nd win this season, after the Feature Race in Jeddah in March, and become the new leader of the championship.
Behind Vesti and Pourchaire, 3rd place on the podium was taken by Zane Maloney (Rodin Carlin), another highly talented 19-year-old from Barbados (British West Indies), ahead of Dutchman Richard Verschoor (Van Amersfoort).
Another Frenchman, Isack Hadjar (HiTech), was forced to retire from the lead on Saturday due to an engine problem. He finished 12th in this main race, well ahead of Clément Novalak (Trident) in 17th place.
Finally, the only Monegasque entered, Arthur Leclerc (DAMS), who started from the back of the grid, was forced to retire a third of the way through the race, when his brakes failed.
In the championship, Pourchaire limited damage and now stands 2nd in the standings, close to new leader Vesti and ahead of Ayumu Iwasa, the winner of Saturday’s Sprint Race. Next meeting in Barcelona, next week.
Sunday’s 80th Formula 1 Grand Prix de Monaco got off to a flying start with the Formula 3 Feature Race, which ended with a predictable victory for Italian Gabriele Mini (HiTech), a promising member of the Alpine Drivers Academy.
Starting from pole position, Mini managed to keep Sweden’s Dino Beganovic (Prema Racing), next to him on the 1st row, behind him until the end of the 27th and final lap. The podium was completed by Estonian Paul Aron, another Prema driver, after a fine duel with Britain’s Luke Browning (HiTech).
There were a few yellow flags in this uneventful race for Mini and its closest pursuers, such as when Israel’s Ido Cohen (Rodin Carlin) crashed out at Bureau de Tabac, slamming violently into the safety rail.
As for Sebastian Montoya, son of Juan Pablo, winner at Monaco just twenty years ago, his race was ended by a damaged front wing as he tried to overtake Brazilian Caio Collet on the Casino climb. In a matter of minutes, he plummeted from 6th to 28th place.
The places of honour were taken by Briton Taylor Barnard (Jenzer Motorsport), 5th despite a five-second penalty, ahead of Brazilian Gabriel Bortoleto (Trident), who stays in the lead of the championship. Thanks to a very wise race, without taking the slightest risk, rewarded by a 6th place under the chequered flag, and several precious points.
Mini and Beganovic, who finished 7 tenths behind the winner, jump up the overall standings, getting closer to Bortoleto. The next meeting for the young wolves of F3 takes place next week in Barcelona.
Max Verstappen (Red Bull) will start from pole position in Monaco at 3.00 pm on Sunday, for the first time in his already long career as a double World Champion. Next to him on the front row will be Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin), whom he admired when he was younger. A dream duo for this 80thedition.
The gaps were minimal, the commitment total, by all 20 drivers, and there was plenty of suspense throughout qualifying, which began with a major crash: that of “Checo” Pérez at the start of Q1, in Sainte-Dévote. The Mexican ripped off the entire left-hand side of his Red Bull and will start Sunday from the back of the grid, although he is the defending champion. After the compulsory red flag, proceedings continued with more surprises: with one minute remaining in Q1, Yuki Tsunoda was P1 in his Alpha Tauri and Carlos Sainz P17 in the other Ferrari, potentially eliminated, before narrowly escaping.
Q2 was relatively calmer, except for Hamilton, who had to pull off a champion’s lap at the end to advance to Q3, with worn tires and a Mercedes he was struggling to control. The stage was set for a legendary Q3. On the grid: Verstappen’s Red Bull, Alonso’s Aston Martin, both Ferraris, both Mercedes and… both Alpines, Tsunoda’s Alpha Tauri and Norris’s McLaren.
Ocon, then Leclerc, then Alonso on provisional pole
The two-time Spanish World Champion, who has not claimed a pole position since the 2012 German GP with Ferrari, first posted a lap of 1:11.706, ahead of Sainz and Leclerc, Verstappen and the two Alpines, before the Dutchman took the lead by the skin of his teeth. The suspense was intact, as there were still a few minutes available.
The final fireworks began with an incredible 1:11.553 from Esteban Ocon (Alpine) to take provisional pole. This time was then beaten in turn by Charles Leclerc, Fernando Alonso, and finally Max Verstappen, in 1:11.365, beating Alonso by 84 thousandths only, just over 8 hundredths of a second. The Red Bull driver was two tenths down on the Spaniard’s time as he exited the tunnel at the harbour chicane, then he took all the risks, touching the rail twice between the chicane and the finish line. Amazing effort for a sensational result, at the end of a legendary qualifying session.
Verstappen: “I hit a few walls”
“I knew I’d have a better chance if I came out of the pits last. I wasn’t totally confident in my tires at the start of my last attempt, but then I attacked as hard as I could, just like everyone else. I leaned on the walls a bit and it went through,” said Max, delighted with his first pole position in Monaco, at his 8th appearance, and already the 23rd of his F1 career. Then he had a kind word for “Nando”, sitting next to him in the press conference: “I admired Fernando when I was younger. He’s still a role model. But I will not let him win tomorrow”.
As is often the case, Alonso summed up the situation in a few sentences as precise as his driving on Saturday afternoon, at the age of 41: “Monaco really is a unique place and this afternoon we pushed the limits very far, significantly increasing the level of risk,” he smiled. “We might need a little help from Max. There’s very little chance that our three cars will finish the race,” he added, as a last warning. He knows that, in the history of Monaco Grand Prix, the second on the grid has won more often than the poleman, in the 79 previous editions.
Finally, Leclerc said he was “disappointed” by his third-place finish, but offered a technical explanation: “I couldn’t do any better this afternoon. I have a big problem on the bumps, the car jumps a lot and my head goes all over the place. I’m hoping for a dry race on Sunday, as rain hasn’t done me much good here in recent years”, concluded the Scuderia Ferrari driver.
Three hours later, Leclerc learnt that he would have to start three places further back on the grid for having impeded Norris during the hectic session. An incident that went completely unnoticed, except by the race direction. As a direct consequence, at 3.00 pm on Sunday, Leclerc will be on the 3rd row of the grid, in 6th place, and Esteban Ocon’s surprising Alpine will be in 3rd place. Just behind Verstappen.
Japan’s Ayumu Iwasa (DAMS) won the 30-lap Formula 2 Sprint Race at the 80th Monaco Grand Prix on Saturday afternoon, making the most of the early retirement of Frenchman Isack Hadjar (HiTech), who started from pole position on an inverted grid but suffered an engine failure at the start of lap 6.
The start was delayed by 5 minutes, then Hadjar took off best, passing first at Sainte-Dévote, under threat from Iwasa, another promising member of Red Bull’s young drivers’ network. However, as soon as the harbour chicane was reached by the midfield, a pile-up of single-seaters, caused by Clément Novalak’s touch on Kush Maini’s car, triggered a Virtual Safety Car, followed immediately by a Safety Car which lasted five laps.
On the restart, at the beginning of lap 6, Hadjar immediately fell victim to an engine problem. His momentum was cut short and Iwasa was able to pass him easily, followed in his wake by India’s Jehan Daruvala (MP Motorsport) and American Jak Crawford (HiTech). The Frenchman then returned to his pit, dejected, with his only remaining hope this weekend being a nice finish in Sunday morning’s Feature Race.
With ten laps to go, another race incident – Amaury Cordeel’s touch in the same place as Lewis Hamilton in F1 two hours earlier – led to another Safety Car exit. When the race restarted, Iwasa didn’t let himself be taken by surprise and he drove the last five laps to victory, seven seconds ahead of Daruvala. With another reward, the leadership in the championship.
Further back in the field, Victor Martins (7th) and Théo Pourchaire (8th), were content to pick up a few points, still precious for the championship, despite their distant position on the inverted starting grid. They had been very fast on Friday in qualifying and will be well placed (1st row for Martins, 2nd row for Pourchaire) at the start of the Feature Race (42 laps or one hour). This will take place on Sunday at 9.40 a.m.
The standings for the 3rd Free practice session of the 80th Formula 1 Grand Prix de Monaco at midday on Saturday were a carbon copy of the results for three out of five Grands Prix this year: Max Verstappen 1st, Checo Pérez 2nd and all the others behind…
We feared it might happen, but it did. In the wake of Friday’s 2nd Free Practice session, in which Verstappen was back in the lead, the Red Bulls dominated the 3rd and final session at midday on Saturday. It was a dress rehearsal for the 4:00 pm qualifying session, when Ferrari drivers Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz will be going all out for pole position.
They won’t be the only ones, however, as Lance Stroll and above all Fernando Alonso have an ace up their sleeve: their Aston Martin, if Friday’s good times and the young Canadian’s 3rd place on Saturday are anything to go by. Ahead of Sainz’s Ferrari (4th), Lando Norris’s McLaren (5th) and Pierre Gasly’s Alpine (6th). As for Leclerc, he only took 7th place, 7 tenths behind Verstappen, at the wheel of a Ferrari that was tailing hard in the S de la Piscine, which didn’t give him much confidence.
Hamilton at fault
Like most practice sessions since Thursday, this one was also cut short by a red flag. This time, it was seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton who lost control of his Mercedes on the Casino descent towards the Fairmont hairpin. He hit the rail at low speed, but his single-seater was stuck in a dangerous spot. Once again, the ACM stewards intervened, very quickly, but the race directors didn’t wait. Session over.
See you at 4.00 pm for suspenseful qualifying, since 16 drivers were grouped in one second at the end of this last free practice session …
The principle of the inverted starting grid for the Formula 3 Sprint Race at the 80th Monaco Grand Prix enabled a young Spaniard, Josep Maria Marti (Campos Racing), to earn a prestigious victory on Saturday morning in the streets of the Principality.
Marti needed to get off to an excellent start, and he did, even though the 23-lap race was neutralized immediately after two MP Motorsport drivers, Jonny Edgar and Mari Boya, hit the safety rail almost simultaneously from Sainte-Dévote.
It wasn’t until the 6th lap that the fight really started, but it never concerned Marti, who was alone at the front and able to extend his lead at the rate of half a second per lap over his closest rival.
The young Catalan finished 8.1 seconds ahead of Italy’s Leonardo Fornaroli (Trident) and 8.8 seconds ahead of Switzerland’s Grégoire Saucy (ART GP), who joined him on the podium in the Prince’s box.
Places of honour were taken by Argentinian Franco Colapinto (MP Motorsport), 4th on his 20th birthday, and young Briton Taylor Barnard (Jenzer Motorsport), who finished 5th, ahead of Brazilian Gabriel Bortoleto (Trident) who keeps the lead of the championship.
The two fastest qualifiers, Italy’s Gabriele Mini (Hi Tech) and Sweden’s Dino Beganovic (Prema Racing), started from the 5th row, thanks to the inverted grid rule. They didn’t manage to move up in the standings, finishing 11th and 12th respectively in this Sprint Race, and therefore out of the points.
Perhaps they’ll find some consolation on Sunday morning, if they take a good start at 8 am for the Long Race (27 laps), on the 1st row of the grid. There will be a lot more points up for grabs…
