#Formula1 Grand Prix De Monaco 2022 Preview. #F1 #MonacoGP

2022 Monaco GP Preview – After Max Verstappen captured the championship lead with victory at the Spanish Grand Prix after a turbo and MGU-H failure forced title-rival Charles Leclerc to retire, round seven of the 2022 FIA Formula One World Championship returns this weekend to the most famous and historic street circuit of them all the Circuit De Monaco for the Formula 1 Grand Prix De Monaco 2022. This will be the 79^th time that the Monaco Grand Prix has been held and the 68^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.

 

 

2022 Monaco GP Preview – 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.

 

Lewis Hamilton holds the fastest lap record from last year’s event with a 1:12.909 set in his Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team F1 W12 E Performance racer.

 

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.

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2022 Monaco GP – Onboard Lap of the Circuit De Monaco

 

 

Here is the onboard pole position lap of the Circuit De Monaco from last year’s event, set by Charles Leclerc in his Scuderia Ferrari SF21 racer. The Monegasque-driver posted a blistering 1:10.346. You can watch the footage right here at the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7JcOEKw-r4

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2022 Monaco GP – The Last Five Winners

 

2021: Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing. 2020: Not held. 2019: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1. 2018: Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull Racing. 2017: Sebastian Vettel, Scuderia Ferrari. 2016: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1.

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2022 Monaco GP Preview – 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.

 

All drivers will have eight sets of the softs, three sets of the mediums and two sets of the hards.

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2022 Monaco GP Preview – 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.

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2022 Monaco GP Preview – Pitlane Speed Limits

 

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

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ICYMI: Spanish GP Rewind – Verstappen cruises to victory as Leclerc suffers turbo/MGU-H failure

 

 

Max Verstappen has captured the lead of the Driver’s Championship with victory at the Spanish GP by recovering from a half-spin to win in style after title-rival Charles Leclerc retired.

 

In a frantic first half of the Grand Prix, Verstappen cost himself second place after losing the rear of his RB18 racer and skidding across the gravel before making an impressive recovery run.

 

Assisted by comfortable race leader and pole-sitter Leclerc being hit with a turbo/MGU-H failure, Verstappen was able to force his Red Bull team to plan a change for position.

 

This left team-mate Sergio Perez to give up his potential race victory, which in-turn allowed Verstappen to complete a hattrick of victories with an eventual 13.072 second gap at the chequered flag.

 

The 25-point swing in the early championship picture sees Verstappen take a six-point advantage heading into next weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix.

 

Mercedes’ George Russell completed the top three, as sole-running Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz fought back from an early mistake to take fourth place due to a late pass on Sir Lewis Hamilton’s F1 W13.

 

When the 66-lap Spanish GP began, Verstappen held the slightly better run off the line from second place on a scrub set of the C3 Pirelli red side-walled softs against the fresher set of pole-sitter Leclerc’s, with the Ferrari pulling away better in the second stage.

 

This gave Leclerc enough breathing space to move to the right and cover the Red Bull off from attempting a lunge into the opening corner to give the 13-time F1 career pole-sitter to hold first place.

 

However his team-mate Sainz, started on older softs and fell back down from third behind Russell, Perez and then Hamilton snatched fifth around the outside of the third corner.

 

But this left the Mercedes squeezed, as he and Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen collided to give Hamilton a front-left puncture and the Dane left the tangle with a front-right flat and both drivers pitted.

 

Leclerc ended up 0.9 tenths clear at the end of the first tour, maintaining the gap to Verstappen the next time round and then crucially lapped 0.3 seconds quicker to move out of DRS range when it was enabled.

 

His Ferrari team-mate then made his latest error as Sainz lost the rear of his F1-75 racer on entry into turn four and went into the gravel on the seventh lap, but two tours later Verstappen made a similar mistake in the tail wind as the rear of the RB18 slid out and the Dutchman ran over the kitty litter.

 

This rare error put Russell into second place but with a sizeable 8.5 second deficit behind race-leader Leclerc.

 

As Perez tried to pick up the role for Red Bull by challenging Russell, the battling pairing allowed Leclerc to further pull away as Verstappen recovered, the team allowed the Dutchman to pass Perez out of turn six to fight the defensive Silver Arrow.

 

But the reigning world champion’s attack on Russell was hampered by a DRS problem, as he suffered in qualifying and had to abandon his final flyer, and despite a change of actuator on his RB18 racer for the Grand Prix had meant that Verstappen came late to the grid.

 

Russell and Verstappen stopped on the 13^th lap for a set of C2 yellow-marked mediums to leave Perez nearly 14 seconds behind Leclerc as the pre-event Driver’s Championship standings leader pushed in laps six tenths clear than his close rivals.

 

Perez was then called to stop on lap 18 for a stint on the mediums to leave Leclerc alone with a huge 30 second gap as Verstappen nearly lost his RB18 chasing Russell, having to catch a slide after clipping the inside kerb at turn eight.

 

As the Dutchman grew angrier by his DRS issue, Leclerc came in on the 21^st tour for mediums, and Ferrari made a solid 2.2 second stop to give the Monegasque-driver a 5.5 second lead over Russell.

 

All by himself, Leclerc increased his lead to 11.2 seconds as Verstappen and Russell avoided any reprimand from the race stewards for a vigorous battle through turn three.

 

But then disaster struck for Leclerc on lap 27 as the Ferrari began to slow down with a turbo/MGU-H failure and his 12 second lead extinguished as he crawled back to the pits, ending his race early.

 

This left Russell to defend from Verstappen into turn one for what had become the battle for the lead, but the former was given a break from when the Red Bull stopped for a set of softs on lap 29.

 

Verstappen passed the torch to team-mate Perez, who could overtake Russell for the lead into the opening corner thanks to a double assistance of DRS and the Red Bull engine’s over-speed.

 

As Verstappen put in a solid pass on Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas on the outside through turn 12, the Dutchman reclaimed third, which soon became second as Russell pitted on the 37^th tour.

 

This left Verstappen 6.2 seconds behind team-mate Perez as Red Bull closed in on a one-two finish before the latter stopped for mediums to allow the former to complete an eventual rise to the lead.

 

With the Red Bull pit-crew on a roll, Verstappen made his third stop, putting on a set of mediums, and emerged five seconds behind Perez, but one second ahead of Russell.

 

Red Bull used the tactic of both drivers running alternate strategies to call a frustrated Perez to let Verstappen by, and the positions were switched on the 49^th tour at turn five to give the Dutchman the lead.

 

Verstappen went on to clinch the Spanish GP victory by 13.072 seconds over team-mate Perez, as his early season recovery from Red Bull’s unreliability has evolved into a title challenge.

 

The Mercedes pairing were slapped with a water leak to both its F1 W13 racers, meaning Russell finished 20 seconds behind Perez to round out the top three on a weekend when the updated Silver Arrows took a step forward in development.

 

But Sainz was able to make short work of Hamilton at the beginning of the penultimate tour to take fourth at his home race, as the Briton was told to lift-and-coast and the Ferrari received DRS assistance down the main-straight.

 

Alfa Romeo’s risk to put Bottas on a two-stop strategy looked potentially promising for a podium but the late decline of his medium rubber saw the Finn relegated to sixth in the classification.

 

BWT Alpine F1 Team’s Esteban Ocon crossed the line in seventh and in-front of McLaren’s Lando Norris who took eighth.

 

Also at his home Grand Prix, Fernando Alonso recovered strongly from a pit strategy mistake that knocked him out of Q1 to come in ninth place as AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda completed the top ten.

 

Aston Martin lost all data on Sebastian Vettel’s AMR22 racer late on as the four-time world champion completed a recovery similar to Alonso to finish 11^th in-front of McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo and AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly who were 12^th and 13^th respectively.

 

Haas F1 Team’s Mick Schumacher fell from a chance of scoring his first points in Formula 1 to dropping down to 14^th thanks to a two-stopper, which left him on worn mediums as Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll settled for 15^th after spinning from a turns one and two collision with Gasly.

 

Williams Racing’s Nicholas Latifi and Alexander Albon ended the Grand Prix in 16^th and the rear respectively with Magnussen splitting the duo in 17^th.

 

Albon was hit with a five-second penalty for repeated track limit violations.

 

The other Alfa Romeo C42 entry of Zhou Guanyu retired from a technical issue.

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2022 Monaco GP Preview – The Situation

 

 

Reigning Champion Max Verstappen comes to Monaco leading the Driver’s Championship on 110 points and a six-points lead over Charles Leclerc who is second on 104 points whilst Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez is a further 25 behind the Dutchman in third on 85 points.

 

The jewel in Formula One’s calendar remains as the race every driver wants to win, and this weekend is no exception.

 

It’s a unique test for man and machine and one that has increased in importance this weekend, with a championship battle intensifying and three teams looking confident.

 

Reigning world champion Verstappen now leads the Driver’s standings for the first time this season after the Dutchman overturned a 19-point deficit into a six-point lead on a thrilling Sunday in Barcelona, taking advantage of Leclerc’s cruel turbo and MGU-H failure.

 

Oracle Red Bull Racing and Ferrari have been evenly matched over the course of the 2022 campaign and will have aspirations of delivering again on the famous streets of Monte Carlo.

 

For the first time this year, we can expect Mercedes to be right in the mix at the front.

 

The Silver Arrows on an eight-year streak of World Constructor’s Championships have promised but under-delivered at the start of the 2022 season, however at the Spanish Grand Prix they finally managed to unlock the potential or their F1 W13 racer, with George Russell in a solid third and Sir Lewis Hamilton taking fifth after an excellent recovery from the rear.

 

Last weekend also saw a turn in Mercedes’ aspirations with Russell trailing Verstappen by 36 points in the World Driver’s Championship and the Silver Arrows 75 points adrift to leaders Red Bull in the Constructor’s, the Brackley-Brixworth based-squad have the belief that they can get back in the title fight.

 

“We have reasons to believe we can get there. If you look at the standings that is very hard to see but motor racing is a different ball game. We’ve seen that Ferrari didn’t score a lot of points when they should have, and we will absolutely push flat out to bring us back into the game.” Credit to Sky Sports F1 for the quote.

 

Oracle Red Bull Racing returns to the glamorous principality sitting on top of the Constructors Championships with 195 points and a 26-point advantage over nearest rivals Scuderia Ferrari who are second on 169 points while Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team are third on 120 points and a further 75 behind the Milton Keynes based-outfit.

 

Click here for the full Formula 1 World Driver’s (Top 10) and Constructor’s Championship standings.

 

The Formula 1 Grand Prix De Monaco 2022 weekend begins Friday May 27 with Free Practice 1 and 2. The action continues Saturday May 28 with Free Practice 3 and Qualifying followed by the 78 lap Race on Sunday May 29.