After Lewis Hamilton cruised to a dominant victory in Spain to grab a hold of top spot in the Driver’s Championship, round six of the 2018 FIA Formula One World Championship returns to the most famous and historic street circuit of them all the Circuit de Monaco for the Formula 1 Grand Prix De Monaco 2018. This will be the 76^th time that the Monaco Grand Prix has been held and the 65^th time since it has been held as part of the FIA Formula One World Championship. The Monaco Grand Prix is one of the most prestigious motor sporting events in the world alongside the Indianapolis 500 and the 24 Heures Du Mans which forms the Triple Crown of Motorsport.

 

 

A Look at the Circuit De Monaco

 

 

The Circuit De Monaco is a street circuit laid out on the streets of Monte Carlo and La Condamine around the harbour of the principality of Monaco.

 

The idea for a Grand Prix around the streets of Monaco came from Antony Noghes, the president of the Monegasque car club and close friend of the ruling Grimaldi family. The inaugural race was held in 1929 and was won by Williams Grover-Williams in a Bugatti and the first Monaco Grand Prix as part of the FIA World Championship was held in 1950 won by Juan Manuel Fangio in the Alfa Romeo.

 

The circuit has many elevation shifts, tight corners, a tunnel and is very narrow. These features make it the most demanding track in Grand Prix racing. The circuit has relatively low average speeds.

 

Although the circuit has changed many times during its history, it is still considered the ultimate test of driving skills in Formula 1.

 

Due to the tight, twisty nature of the circuit it favours the skill of the drivers over power of the cars. However, there is very little overtaking as the track is so narrow and dangerous. It is the only Grand Prix on the F1 calendar that does not adhere to the FIA’s mandated 305km (190 mi) minimum race distance.

 

The circuit runs in a clockwise direction and is 3.337km (2.074 mi) in length with 19 corners.

 

Race distance is 260.286km (161.734 mi) with 78 laps.

 

Sergio Perez holds the fastest lap record from 2017 with a 1:14.820 set in his Sahara Force India F1 Team – Mercedes VJM10.

 

The late great three-time World Champion Ayrton Senna holds the record for most victories at Monaco with six.

 

McLaren are the most successful constructor at the Circuit de Monaco winning the Monaco Grand Prix 15 times.

 

The Last Five Winners

 

 

2017: Sebastian Vettel, Scuderia Ferrari. 2016: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1, 2015: Nico Rosberg, Mercedes AMG F1. 2014: Nico Rosberg, Mercedes AMG F1. 2013: Nico Rosberg, Mercedes AMG F1.

 

Tyres

 

 

Pirelli will be bringing with them the softest compounds in its range, the red-marked Supersofts, the purple-branded Ultrasoft tyres and the pink-walled Hypersofts along with the green-marked Intermediate and blue-branded Full Wet tyres in case of rain. Due to the circuit having the lowest speed and slowest corner on the calendar, the importance of mechanical grip is vital compared to aerodynamic grip. These factors make it ideal territory for the softer compounds to be used.

 

Each driver must save a set of the hypersofts for the final stage of qualifying (Q3) and a set each of the ultrasofts and supersofts for the race.

 

Red Bull duo Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen, along with the Renault and Williams pairings, are the six entries in the field to have opted for an aggressive strategy selecting 11 sets of the pink-marked hypersofts.

 

This means they will only have one mandatory set of the red-branded supersofts and purple-walled ultrasofts for the race.

 

Current Constructor’s Championship leaders Mercedes have selected nine sets of the hypersofts, a joint lowest of the softest compound available alongside the Haas and McLaren pairings while Ferrari have opted for 10 sets of the hypers.

 

The Silver Arrows are also among three teams to have gone with different selections across its two F1 W09 Hybrid EQ Power+ entries.

 

Reigning Champion Lewis Hamilton will have two sets each of the supersoft and ultrasofts, while team-mate Valtteri Bottas will have three sets of the ultras – the same amount as Haas F1 Team’s Romain Grosjean.

 

DRS Zone

 

There will only be one DRS zone in Monaco, with the detection point located 80 metres after turn 16 and the activation point located 18 metres after the end of La Rascasse.

 

Pitlane Speed Limits

 

Pitlane speeds will be 60km/h during practice, qualifying and the race.

 

ICYMI: Spanish GP Rewind – Hamilton cruises to dominant victory

 

 

When the 66 lap Spanish Grand Prix began, Sebastian Vettel jumped ahead of Valtteri Bottas into turn one before drama unfolded behind with a multi-car crash at turn three and the race was immediately stabilised under the deployment of the safety car.

 

Haas F1 Team’s Romain Grosjean had moved ahead of Carlos Sainz and Fernando Alonso after the duo ran deep into turn two but overreacted to team-mate Kevin Magnussen’s wobble ahead of him and ran wide on the entry of the sweeping turn three entry.

 

The Frenchman lost the rear of his VF-18 racer as he kept planted on the throttle, which spun up the rear tyres sending him back onto the track and was collected by Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg and Pierre Gasly’s Toro Rosso.

 

All three retired instantly after a long clean up got underway, before the race resumed on lap seven.

 

Lewis Hamilton flew clear at the race restart, comfortably building a solid seven second lead over the next 10 laps, until Vettel made his first stop.

 

Vettel struggled with a slow out-lap on his fresh white-branded mediums, whilst Bottas kept pumping best sector times and the Finn looked to have second place locked in.

 

But Bottas endured a shocking pitstop, losing 1.4 seconds to Vettel and came out just behind the Ferrari.

 

The proceedings were interrupted on lap 25 by two incidents involving the Scuderia.

 

The first one saw Kimi Raikkonen slowdown from fourth place and brought his SF71H racer back to the pits to retire with the Finn taking on a new engine and power-unit components after Friday’s practice session.

 

The second one came 15 laps later, when Esteban Ocon parked his smoking Force India VJM11, which deployed the virtual safety car and Ferrari brought in Vettel and ran a two-stop strategy as the leaders continued on a one stopper.

 

Vettel lost track position to Bottas and Max Verstappen, but the German remained in-front of Daniel Ricciardo.

 

Vettel, with much fresher mediums, started to reel in Verstappen, when the Dutchman fought on with a damaged front wing after clipping the Williams at the virtual safety car restart.

 

Verstappen just finished ahead of Vettel by 0.711 seconds to clinch his first podium of the season behind the Silver Arrows duo of winner Hamilton and second-placed Bottas.

 

Ricciardo came home in fifth in the other Red Bull RB14 but a spin at the virtual safety car restart dropped the Australian further away from team-mate Verstappen but smashed a fastest lap time at the end.

 

Magnussen brought his Haas VF-18 over the line in sixth place while Renault’s Carlos Sainz managed to hold off a fuel problem in the closing stages of the race to take seventh.

 

McLaren’s Fernando Alonso finished in eighth place after falling back in the first lap chaos and ahead of Force India’s Sergio Perez who was ninth.

 

Both Alonso and Perez got by Sauber’s Charles Leclerc near the end, but the Monegasque driver still took his second consecutive points finish, taking 10^th place and the final point on offer.

 

Williams’ Lance Stroll finished outside the top 10 in 11^th place and in-front of Toro Rosso’s Brendon Hartley who was 12^th and the other Sauber of Marcus Ericsson who ended the Spanish Grand Prix 13^th.

 

The other Williams of Sergey Sirotkin ended the race 3 laps down and at the rear.

 

The Situation

 

 

Lewis Hamilton returns to Monte Carlo sitting on top of the Driver’s Championship with 95 points and 17 clear of Sebastian Vettel who is second on 78 points while Valtteri Bottas is a further 37 behind his Mercedes team-mate in third on 58 points.

 

Reigning Champions Mercedes comes to Monaco on top of the Constructors Championship with 153 points and 27 ahead of nearest rivals Ferrari who are second on 126 points while Red Bull Racing is a further 73 behind the Silver Arrows in third on 80 points.

 

After the controversy surrounding winglets used above the halo-mounted rear-view mirrors at the previous round in Spain, the sport’s governing body, the FIA banned the winglets ahead of this weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix.

 

Haas F1 Team’s Romain Grosjean was handed a three-place grid penalty for this weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix after causing a multi-car collision on the opening lap of the Spanish Grand Prix.

 

2018 Formula 1 World Drivers Championship Standings

1. Lewis Hamilton – 95 Points.
2. Sebastian Vettel – 78 Points.
3. Valtteri Bottas – 58 Points.
4. Kimi Raikkonen – 48 Points.
5. Daniel Ricciardo – 47 Points.
6. Max Verstappen – 33 Points.
7. Fernando Alonso – 32 Points.
8. Nico Hulkenberg – 22 Points.
9. Kevin Magnussen – 19 Points.
10. Carlos Sainz – 19 Points.

 

2018 World Constructors Championship Standings

1. Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport – 153 Points.
2. Scuderia Ferrari – 126 Points.
3. Aston Martin Red Bull Racing – 80 Points.
4. Renault Sport F1 Team – 41 Points.
5. McLaren-Renault F1 Team – 40 Points.
6. Haas F1 Team – 19 Points.
7. Force India F1 Team – 18 Points.
8. Scuderia Toro Rosso Honda – 13 Points.
9. Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team – 11 Points.
10. Williams Martini Racing – 4 Points.

 

The Formula 1 Grand Prix De Monaco 2018 weekend kicks of Thursday May 24 with Free Practice 1 and 2, the action returns Saturday May 26 with Free Practice 3 and Qualifying and the 78 lap Monaco Grand Prix concludes the race weekend Sunday May 27.