Formula 1 Grand Prix De Monaco 2019 Preview – #F1 #MonacoGP

After Lewis Hamilton lead team-mate Valtteri Bottas to the Silver Arrows fifth consecutive one-two result in Barcelona, round six of the 2019 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 2019. This will be the 77^th time that the Monaco Grand Prix has been held and the 66^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.

 

Max Verstappen holds the fastest lap record from 2018 with a 1:14.260 set in his Aston Martin Red Bull Racing – Renault RB14.

 

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.

 

Onboard of the Circuit De Monaco

 

 

Let’s take an onboard lap of the legendary principality with last year’s winner Daniel Ricciardo. This was his pole position lap set in his Aston Martin Red Bull Racing – TAG Heuer RB14. The Australian posted a blistering lap record of a 1:10.810. You can watch the video here at the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbrKA6IwgcM

 

The Last Five Monaco GP Winners

 

2018: Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull Racing. 2017: Sebastian Vettel, Scuderia Ferrari. 2016: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1, 2015: Nico Rosberg, Mercedes AMG F1. 2014: Nico Rosberg, Mercedes AMG F1.

 

Tyres

 

 

Sole tyre-supplier Pirelli will be bringing with them to Monaco, the C3 white-marked Hards, the C4 yellow-branded Medium tyres and the C5 red-walled Soft rubber along with the green-marked Intermediate and blue-branded Full Wet tyres in case of rain.

 

Ferrari and rivals Red Bull Racing have gone the most aggressive with their tyre selections in the entire field, choosing 11 sets of the C5 softs and one set each of the C4 mediums and C3 hards for all of their drivers.

 

Reigning Champions Mercedes took a slightly conservative approach, picking one set of C3 hard and two sets of the C4 medium rubber and ten of the C5 softs for both Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas.

 

ROKiT Williams Racing and SportPesa Racing Point F1 Team both selected the least amount of C5 softer compounds for Monaco with nine for their respective drivers with the former giving just one set of the C3 hards and three sets of C4 medium compounds to Robert Kubica and George Russell while the latter gave two sets each of the C3 hards and C4 Mediums to Sergio Perez and Lance Stroll.

 

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 beats Bottas to comfortable victory

 

 

Lewis Hamilton reclaimed the championship lead from team-mate Valtteri Bottas after winning the Spanish Grand Prix as the Silver Arrows dream run continues.

 

Hamilton’s victory ahead of Bottas saw Mercedes score their fifth consecutive one-two finish in a row and put the Briton seven points in-front of the Finn in the Driver’s Championship.

 

Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen achieved his second podium of the season taking third for the Milton Keynes based outfit, after Ferrari’s threat evaporated early and never recovered.

 

Hamilton started second on the grid and crucially moved by polesitter Bottas by winning a three-way fight for the lead into turn one that also included Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel.

 

Hamilton and Vettel sandwiched Bottas on the run down to the first corner, with the former moving to the inside of his team-mate and Vettel almost nudging ahead of both on the outside.

 

Vettel suffered a huge lockup with his SF90 racer and ran deep into the corner, while Bottas backed out of it in the middle and gave the lead to Hamilton.

 

Bottas corrected a big slide to hold second as Vettel re-joined the track having run narrowly into the run-off area, which sent the Ferrari wide through turn two.

 

That saw the two Ferrari’s come close to tangling with Charles Leclerc being blocked and allowing Verstappen to snatch third.

 

As Hamilton moved comfortably clear of team-mate Bottas, Vettel dropped further back in fourth as the flat spot continued to be a “pain in the arse” for the German.

 

He eventually switched places with team-mate Leclerc on lap 12 with the top five remaining stable for most of the race.

 

The grand prix saw a major difference in strategies with Hamilton, Bottas and Leclerc all on one stop strategies while Verstappen and Vettel ran a two stopper.

 

In the second half of the race, Vettel running the yellow-branded medium rubber, found himself tucked behind team-mate Leclerc, who was on fresher white side-walled hard compounds.

 

Ferrari swapped drivers once again to momentarily free Vettel until he made his final stop with 25 laps remaining.

 

The German emerged in sixth behind Red Bull’s Pierre Gasly, but quickly passed the Frenchman in quick succession to regain fifth.

 

Verstappen’s final stop dropped him to fourth, but the Dutchman was catching Leclerc and composed to retake third place on fresher rubber when the safety car was deployed with 20 laps remaining.

 

McLaren’s Lando Norris attempted to pass Racing Point’s Lance Stroll around the outside into the first corner, but the young Briton ran deep and was very tight to the inside as the circuit went left for turn two when Stroll turned in.

 

The pairing collided sending Stroll into the barriers through the gravel and left Norris’s MCL34 too damaged to continue.

 

Hamilton, Bottas and Leclerc all took advantage of making a safe pit-stop under the safety car, which saw the latter fall behind both Verstappen and Vettel again.

 

The race went back to green on lap 54, with Hamilton keeping team-mate Bottas behind with ease as the reigning world champion went onto win by 4.074 seconds with Verstappen completing the top three and Vettel taking fourth.

 

Behind them, Gasly attacked Leclerc in the fight for fifth as the two Haas VF-19’s of Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen touched wheels behind them into turn one.

 

Gasly failed to pass Leclerc and then became under threat from Magnussen, who had got by team-mate Grosjean after their minor tangle, but just held onto the place.

 

Magnussen came home in seventh, although he was lucky to be in the fortunate position to grab the place off his team-mate at the restart.

 

The Dane fell behind Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat in the second stint but reclaimed the place when the Faenza-based squad double-pit stopped under the safety car.

 

Toro Rosso did not have Kvyat’s tyres ready, which saw him suffer a very slow stop and held up team-mate Alexander Albon and dropped him out of the points as he waited for his team-mates stop to end.

 

Kvyat was relegated to 10^th but made his way back to ninth as Grosjean’s race deteriorated.

 

After suffering contact with Magnussen, Grosjean was under pressure from McLaren’s Carlos Sainz and took to the first corner run-off area as they banged wheels.

 

With Sainz up into ninth place, Albon had the chance to get back into the points and attacked Grosjean in the final laps but could not get by as the latter took the final point.

 

Both Renault R.S.19’s of Daniel Ricciardo and Nico Hulkenberg finished in 12^th and 13^th respectively and ahead of Alfa Romeo Racing’s Kimi Raikkonen who was 14^th and Sergio Perez who was 15^th.

 

The other C38 of Antonio Giovinazzi was 17^th and finished in-front of the two ROKiT Williams Racing FW42’s of George Russell and Robert Kubica who were brought up the rear and a lap down.

 

The Situation

 

 

Reigning Champion Lewis Hamilton comes to Monaco leading the Driver’s Championship on 112 points and a seven-point lead over team-mate Valtteri Bottas who is second on 105 points while Max Verstappen is a further 46 behind the Briton in third on 66 points.

 

Mercedes returns to the glamorous principality sitting on top of the Constructors Championships with 217 points and a 96-point advantage over nearest rivals Ferrari who are second on 121 points while Red Bull Racing are third on 87 points and a further 130 behind the Silver Arrows.

 

Formula 1 2019 World Driver’s Championship Standings – Top 10

1. Lewis Hamilton – 112 Points.
2. Valtteri Bottas – 105 Points.
3. Max Verstappen – 66 Points.
4. Sebastian Vettel – 64 Points.
5. Charles Leclerc – 57 Points.
6. Pierre Gasly– 21 Points.
7. Kevin Magnussen – 14 Points.
8. Sergio Perez – 13 Points.
9. Kimi Raikkonen – 13 Points.
10. Lando Norris – 12 Points.

Formula 1 2019 World Constructors Championship Standings

1. Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport – 217 Points.
2. Scuderia Ferrari – 121 Points.
3. Aston Martin Red Bull Racing-Honda – 87 Points.
4. McLaren-Renault F1 Team – 22 Points.
5. SportPesa Racing Point F1 Team – 17 Points.
6. Rich Energy Haas F1 Team – 15 Points.
7. Alfa Romeo Racing – 13 Points.
8. Renault F1 Team – 12 Points.
9. Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda – 6 Points.
10. ROKiT Williams Racing – 0 Points.

 

The Formula 1 Grand Prix De Monaco 2019 weekend begins Thursday May 23 with Free Practice 1 and 2. The action resumes Saturday May 25 with Free Practice 3 and Qualifying followed by the 78 lap Race on Sunday May 26.