There are no more adjectives to describe Max Verstappen’s performance: the Dutchman shows an embarrassing superiority in every situation and even a great Fernando Alonso had to bow to the Prince of Monaco. The Spaniard tried to put salt on Red Bull’s tail with the Aston Martin until the rain shuffled the cards and the green team’s wall sensationally missed the tragedy, sending the Asturian back on track with medium slick tires , while everyone was assembling the indispensable intermediates.
Verstappen, usually cold before the podium, this time he threw himself over the marshals cordon, to celebrate the 39th victory which brings the Dutchman just two victories from Ayrton Senna: Max gives the Milton Keynes team their sixth victory of the season and pigeons the fourth victory in 2023, putting teammate Sergio Perez only 16th away by 39 points today, after starting from the back of the grid.
Max denied all forecasts: waiting for the rain, he made the yellow tires last until lap 55 (for the Pirellis it shouldn’t have gone beyond lap 38!) when he put on the intermediate tires giving a show on the water with traverses worthy of drifting. Twice he grazed the barriers, using them as sides, but also in the race, like yesterday in qualifying, his RB19 did not suffer any reliability problems.
Monaco shows an unusual hierarchy of values behind Red Bull: Aston Martin is confirmed as second force, even if in the end Alonso had to pull the oars in the boat, paying almost half a minute. The Verdona is the only single-seater capable of chasing the RB19 and only Fernando is in pursuit, because Stroll once again crashed his AMR23. But the surprise of the Principality was Esteban Ocon third with the Alpine: the Frenchman invented a fantastic start on the second row, but then the A523 supported him in the race ahead of the two Mercedes. The French brand is starting to capitalize on important points more in line with the expectations promised at the start of the season.
Mercedes is fourth with Lewis Hamilton and fifth with George Russell. The star could have aspired to the third step of the podium, but the Englishman went wide at the Mirabeau (in the reckless restart he hit Sergio Perez and also received a 5 second penalty) in the most complicated moment of the race when the asphalt leopard machine wet.
The new W14 did not impress, but the team has collected useful data for the future, showing that the new version is already better than the old car.
Ferrari was missing in Monte Carlo: a weekend to forget for Cvallino who collects a sixth place from Charles Leclerc and an eighth from Carlos Sainz. The reds have never been competitive: they go home with a one-minute gap that burns, and how it burns, because it indicates a deterioration even compared to Miami which had already been a disastrous race.
The Scuderia went to Monaco with the presumption of someone who thought they could fight for pole position and victory with an unevolved SF-23. Ferrari doesn’t have the pace and pushes the drivers to make mistakes. Sainz was in a hurry to attack Ocon on the first lap, breaking the side skirt of the front wing. Then he got a black / white flag for always pushing the Frenchman who defended himself in a rude but regular way. Carlos’ day was completed by a long run at the Mirabeau which dropped him to eighth place.
The Madrilenian tried to give us a sign of life, while Leclerc was never the protagonist, confirming that he never manages to get satisfaction in his home race: he had to change the tyres, now finished, before the rain and the Monegasque he was forced into an extra stop. The Scuderia seems lost: the Prancing Horse’s growth will depend a lot on the evolutionary package that will make its debut in Barcelona, but there’s little to spare because the team directed by Fred Vasseur seems to have lost the necessary conviction to fight.
The other Alpine, that of Pierre Gasly, slipped between the two reds, a sign that the Enstone team also made the leap in quality in Monaco, bringing a package of innovations that worked.
The points zone is completed by the two McLarens who finished lapped: Lando Norris, ninth, preceded Oscar Piastri, perfectly at ease on the water: the MCL60s were able to keep a pace in the wet almost three seconds faster than the Ferraris …
Outside the top a regular driver Valtteri Bottas with Alfa Romeo. Twelfth is Nyck De Vries with the AlphaTauri: the Dutchman defended his cockpit, dismissing the rumors of a possible replacement. Nothing else matters…
#Verstappen #Prince #Monaco #wet