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Formula 1 is back in Monaco, with 20 drivers including four World Champions (Lewis Hamiton, Fernando Alonso, Sebastian Vettel, Kimi Räikkkönen), who all won at least once in the streets of the Principality, and four younger drivers who never drove an F1 car on the toughest track on the calendar (Mick Schumacher, Yuki Tsunoda, Nicholas Latifi, Nikita Mazepin). The sun was shining and the show was brilliant in front of thousands of masked spectators having passed a PCR test in order to access the grandstands. In these very hot conditions, the quickest driver was Mexican, in the person of Sergio Pérez (Red Bull), who clocked his fastest lap in a promising 1 :12.487, only two seconds slower than Hamilton’s pole position in 2019 (1 :10.166)
Several experts such as Toto Wolff, the big boss at Mercedes F1, expected the Red Bulls to be faster, they were right : 10 minutes before the end of the session, Max Verstappen, followed by Sergio Pérez, settled down on the first lines of the timesheet and eventually, the Mexican recruit of the Austrian team won this first match. He did slightly better than a very promising Carlos Sainz, 2nd for his first outing in Monaco at the wheel of a Ferrari, Verstappen 3rd in the other Red Bull-Honda, and a very surprising Pierre Gasly, 4th in his Alpha Tauri. As they often do during the first free practice sessions, Mercedes drivers took it easy and posted the 5th and 6th times, half a second slower than their Mexican rival.
The crowd had all reason to be disappointed since local hero Charles Leclerc could only complete 4 laps before parking his beautiful Ferrari in the garage for the rest of the session, he had a major gearbox issue. « I don’t understand, is my engine broken ? », he asked his crew. In the meantime, his Spanish team-mate managed to clock the 2nd time of the session, only one tenth of a second slower than Pérez, ahead of Verstappen, in the other Honda-powered Red Bull. A very promising result, waiting for FP2 scheduled at 3 pm.
The only Frenchman entered in Formula 2 this year, and a rookie as well, Théo Pourchaire took a sensational pole position for Race 3, on Thursday, and could well be leading the pack for Sainte Dévote, Saturday at 17:15. In a beautiful manner, in his very last qualifying lap, by clocking a superb 1: 20. 985 which then revealed to be untouchable by the drivers involved in the second qualifying session.
The ART Grand Prix driver was rather discreet in free practice, in order to properly learn the Monegasque circuit on which he had never raced. This cautious bit of training paid off and he was half a second ahead of Australian Oscar Piastri (Prema Racing) and Russian Juri Vips (Hitech GP).
FIA Formula 3 runner-up last year, for a handful of points, Théo from Grasse, the perfume city, only had to wait for the result of the other session, led until two minutes from the end by Chinese Guanyu Zhou (Uni-Virtuosi), the championship leader after the opening of the F2 season in Bahrain. Until Russia’s Robert Shwartzman (Prema Racing), who had set the best time in free practice and finished 4th of the series last year, with 4 wins, achieved his best lap in 1: 21.403, just ahead of Briton Dan Ticktum (Carlin) that he had already beaten this morning in free practice.
This is the first pole position for 17-year-old Pourchaire in Formula 2, after an 8th and 6th place in Bahrain at the start of the season. A real feat for this absolute “rookie”, a member of the Sauber Drivers Academy. French fans will surely follow him closely during the three F2 races scheduled for this weekend in the streets of the Principality. Starting tomorrow at noon …
To kick off the 2021 edition of the Porsche Supercup, this Thursday in Monaco, there were 28 Porsche 911 GT3s on the track, headed by defending champion Larry ten Voorde. The Dutchman tried to enforce his status as outgoing champion and thought he had succeeded when he completed a lap in 1: 34.165, owed just 30 thousandths better than Dylan Pereira. Then the Luxemburger from BWT Lechner Racing got back in front, in 1: 34.062, just before the session was definitively interrupted, five minutes from its end, by a big touch immediately dealt with by the ACM marshals.
Behind Pereira and Ten Voorde, Turkey’s Ayhancan Güven, entered by the same team as Pereira, took 3rd place in this session, followed at three tenths by Dorian Boccolacci (4th), the former F2 driver from France who debuts in Supercup after having shone in the Porsche Carrera Cup last year, in his home country. Another French driver entered the Top 10, Florian Latorre (9th), in his Porsche aligned by CLRT, the team recently founded by driver Côme Ledogar.
Qualifying will take place Friday morning at 10:00 a.m. and Sunday morning’s race at 10:30 a.m. promises a lot, as six drivers completed the free practice session grouped together in the same second. There will be 8 Supercup rounds again this year, still raising the curtain on F1, and still in Europe. The Porsche Supercup was created in 1993 and was then run by Jost Capito, who is now the new Williams F1 Team Principal.
A few weeks before Monaco Grand Prix, the Monaco-born Scuderia Ferrari driver talked to the Monégasque media about his home race. He is more confident than ever about this 78th edition because he knows the track by heart and because his Ferrari, this year, is much better than the one he drove last year. So who knows what can happen this weekend in the streets of the Principality ?
You have never completed a Monaco Grand Prix since the start of your single-seater career. Do you feel like you are cursed here?
No, I don’t believe in curses (he laughs). These are things that happen, it’s bad luck and unfortunately it happened to me the last few times. However, before single-seaters, I won here in go-karts (he smiles). I will do everything to get the best possible result this year.
What is your favourite turn on the track?
The S at the swimming-pool because we go through that portion at incredible speeds being very close to the barriers; we have no room for mistakes. That’s what I like the most. I also have fond memories at the pool with friends when we were younger.
What is the main improvement of the SF21 compared to the SF1000?
It’s hard to say, it’s a new car so there are lots of differences… The car’s balance has been improved, so it is easier to drive. There was no revolution on the car between 2020 and 2021, it is more of an evolution. 2020 has been a really tough year, although I’ve learned a lot, especially from my mistakes.
Carlos Sainz Jr. replaced Sebastian Vettel as your teammate. How would you describe your relationship with him?
Everything is going well between us. I have never spent as much time with a teammate as I have with Carlos before. We get along well because we are almost the same age, we are at the same point in our career and we also have a lot of common interests such as padel tennis, golf or chess…
And at work?
We work well together and expect the same from the car, which is very important. We have the same desire to bring Ferrari back to winning ways. There is a lot of motivation and I’m sure we will push each other on the track for better results.
Do you feel like you’ve changed status within the team?
Not really. Even though I’ve turned from being the least experienced driver in the team to the one who knows the Scuderia best, Carlos has been in F1 for more years than me. My goal remains the same: to give my maximum every time I am in the car.
© Olivier Caenen
F1 is back in Monaco after two years of absence…
I’m so happy to be able to race at home again, I can’t wait. The Monaco Grand Prix is necessarily very special to me, it was always a dream to take part in this race. The cancellation was hard to accept last year, but fortunately the ACM was able to find solutions for this year.
As a Monegasque, you are in great demand here. Is it a more tiring weekend than the others?
Yes, in Monaco and Italy, it’s always very demanding and it’s not easy to manage. But I’m not complaining, it’s better that way than the other. It’s always very special to be in Monaco and I feel it every time.
What’s your opinion on Monaco marshals ?
They do an exceptional job and without them the Grand Prix could not take place. Coming to F1, I found out about them and realised how well prepared they are here. Even if throughout the season marshals on other circuits are well-trained, Monaco marshals are still a step above. They are really impressive and they play a major role for us and our safety.
© wri2.net – Jean-François Galeron
This is an historical date for Williams Formula 1 Team: this Monaco Grand Prix will be the 750th in the history of the squad founded in 1975 by by Sir Frank and his partner in crime, Sir Patrick Head. This accounts for races entered by Frank Williams Racing Cars in 1975, then Williams Grand Prix Engineering from 1978, but without including the time in 1976 when the Williams FW 05 cars driven by Jacky Ickx, Michel Leclère and Arturo Merzario carried the banner of Walter Wolf Racing, founded by the Canadian billionaire.
Then Williams won 9 Constructors world titles, 7 Drivers crowns, 114 F1 races, and the Didcot started going down, until it was bought out last year by an American investment fund. The staff has changed, the Williams family has retired, but the name stays and high ambitions are set by the new owners.
In order to make this 750th GP memorable, the very talented George Russell, who had subbed for Lewis Hamilton at Sakhir GP, last November, in a Mercedes, will carry a special helmet. And he has another idea to celebrate the occasion : getting into Q2 on Saturday afternoon. This would be quite an achievement !
Two World Champions, Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton, discussed the glorious history of Formula 1 on the eve of the first free practice sessions for Monaco Grand Prix 2021. The oldest of the two, the Spaniard, has been crowned twice (2005, 2006) with Renault F1. He now drives a blue Alpine, ha has already won in Monaco (2006, 2007), each time starting in pole, and he also won Le Mans 24 Hours for Toyota, but not yet at Indy 500. His experience his immense and he believes that the races of our times will be appreciated, in 20 or 30 years time, just as much as the 70s races are lauded today by nostalgic fans who miss the fights between Lotus, Ferrari, Tyrrell, Williams and McLaren.
© Olivier Caenen
« I don’t think we can compare cars and years, championships and driving styles », Alonso said on Wednesday. « I think that in those years, it was amazing to drive these cars in Monaco. I can only imagine how hard it was, and how tricky it was at the same time. Now we have cars that go 15 or 20 seconds faster per lap. But the challenge is still the same and you have to maximise the package that you have in your hands. It doesn’t matter if you’re running in 1’30s or in 1’10s, at the end of the day it is the same spirit that has to go into the driving. So I respect a lot what the F1 drivers of the past achieved, and how they were able to drive those cars. And now I think it will be the same respect in 20 or 30 years’ time when fans watch the races that we are doing now.”
A Monaco resident, Hamilton already won three times in the streets of the Principality, for McLaren (2008) and Mercedes (2016, 2019). He is still very excited by this very special track, after all these years : « Just driving the track, in practice or in the race, going through the tunnel, up into Casino, the whole experience for the weekend is mesmerising. And that never changes. The feeling of winning here is never any less. Every year is unique and special if you are lucky enough to get the opportunity », he adds. By the way, in his own match against Alonso, with regards to Monaco wins, Sir Lewis is leading 3-2…
Follow the 78th edition of the Formula 1 Grand Prix de Monaco throughout the week-end on CANAL+ with an exclusive program.
The young F1 driver retired, Romain Grosjean, will start its new career of TV Consultant with Canal Plus this week-end.
You will have also the possibility to watch all live the F1 sessions on Monaco Info, and also the Porsche Supercup Race and the Lap Tour of the Princely Couple from 14:10 on Sunday 23rd .
Find all the TV Broadcast Coverage by countries on the following link: https://www.formula1.com/en/toolbar/broadcast-information.html
Defending Formula E champion Antonio Félix da Costa (DS Techeetah) won his first race of the season, in style, at the end of a superb race in the streets of Monaco, on Saturday afternoon. The Portuguese started on pole for this 4th Monaco E-Prix, but he had to resist a serious customer in the person of Robin Frijns (Virgin), who led the race two or three times and eventually finished in 2nd position, thanks to a lack of power on Mitch Evans’s Jaguar in the last lap.
The Kiwi finished the race with 0% power in his batteries but could still climb on the podium with da Costa and Frijns, where all three drivers were congratulated by HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco and FIA president Jean Todt, fully equipped with masks and white gloves.
This is the 2nd win for DS Techeetah this season, after Jean-Eric Vergne’s masterful display in Race 1 in Rome. « JEV », the winner in 2019 here and double Formula E FIA champion, managed to finish 4th, the same place as on the grid, after an eventful race which saw him miss the first pass at Casino for catching the Attack Mode. The best move of the day was definitely an audacious overtaking manœuvre by Evans on da Costa at the end of the Beau Rivage uphill portion, in a very spectacular location, just before the Casino curve.
This is the 4th time, out of 4 Formula E races in Monaco, that the poleman wins at the end, but this time the scenario was perfectly written and suspense was maintained until the chequered flag. It was only interrupted for a few minutes when the one and only Safety Car period allowed all drivers to cool down, less than 15 minutes before the end, following the Mini Electric. The two leaders of the World Championship, Nyck de Vries and Stoffel Vandoorne (Mercedes), ended a terrible Saturday in respectively 20th and 22nd positions. But they remain at the top of the FE standings, ahead of Frijns, the Virgin driver, Bird and Evans, the Jaguar drivers.
Final result (provisional) :
Follow the 4th Edition of the Monaco E-Prix from home on this Saturday, May 8th.
The 7th round of the FIA Formula E World Championship will be available in clear broadcast on Monaco Info, La Chaîne L’Equipe, www.lequipe.fr and also on Eurosport 2 & Eurosport Player.
Earlier in the day, Qualifying sessions will be diffused on Monaco Info, the website www.lequipe.fr, & Eurosport Player.
Watch the Free Practice Sessions 1 (08:00-08:45) & 2 (10:15-10:45) on the Formula E Youtube page https://www.youtube.com/user/FIAFormulaE.
Follow the Monaco E-Prix wherever in the world on :
https://www.fiaformulae.com/en/live/watch
The title holder in Monaco, for Formula E, is Jean-Eric Vergne, the double FIA champion (2018-2019) in the most innovative category of world motorsport. He is « very happy to be back in Monaco, especially on the full F1 layout. The one that we used before was becoming too small for FE, with 24 cars,and I think that it was the right decision ». Just like Seb Buemi and Stoffel Vandoorne, the DS Techeetah driver has already raced around the F1 track in Monaco, during his Toro Rosso years (2012-2014). « Only the chicane will be a tiny bit different », he says, and he is not worried that there is no shakedown on Friday : « The shakedown is more for the teams, to check that everything is OK, but for us it’s not with full power, so it’s less interesting ».
JEV won Race 1 in Rome, so he has a few points behind his belt, but he is « not happy about where we want to be. But we had a win, and we are not very far away from the leaders, so I know that one day I can catch up. We focused too much on the software and not enough on the chassis, so we had some issues at the beginning of the season. We are back to basics, in order to have a good car to drive, and to deliver. We know how to win races, Monaco is happening at half-season and then we have a month and a half break to prepare the end of the season ».
Driving on the longer F1 track will make a difference : « I think that we will able to overtake at Mirabeau and at the exit of the tunnel, and sometimes at La Rascasse, but probably not at the hairpin : in F1, when someone dives on the inside there, he is likely to lose a position, or the race », JEV smiles.
