@Max33Verstappen cruises to dominant #MonacoGP victory in mixed conditions. #F1

Monaco GP Victory – Reigning world champion Max Verstappen survived the rain to take a dominant 39^th Grand Prix victory of his career at the Monaco GP and ahead of Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso who was second and Alpine’s Esteban Ocon who completed the top three.

 

 

The Dutchman converted his pole position successfully despite having to contend with the sudden downpour among the final third of the race, extending his initial stint on the C4 yellow side-walled mediums to cover the looming threat of rain.

 

When the 78-lap Monaco GP began, pole-sitter made a brilliant getaway into St. Devote, covering off the threat of Alonso who started on the hards as the order remained stable.

 

At the end of the opening tour, Verstappen held a 1.238 second gap to Alonso with Ocon third, Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz fourth, Mercedes’ Sir Lewis Hamilton fifth and Charles Leclerc sixth.

 

Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll reported damage and a potential puncture, with Haas F1 Team’s Nico Hulkenberg, Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu and Red Bull’s Sergio Perez all pitting with the latter putting on a set of hards to try and run until the end of the Grand Prix.

 

On lap five, Verstappen increased his gap to 2.254 seconds over Alonso with Ocon third, Sainz fourth, Hamilton fifth and Leclerc sixth.

 

Verstappen was minding his medium rubber, knowing that he needed to protect his tyres to run as long as possible with Alonso behind and ready to pounce on his harder compounds.

 

On lap ten, Verstappen increased his lead to 3.004 seconds ahead of Alonso with Ocon a further 11.792 seconds behind in third, Sainz fourth, Hamilton fifth and Leclerc sixth.

 

On the 11^th tour in the battle for third, Sainz went too hot and hit the rear of Ocon’s A523 at the Nouvelle Chicane and sustained front wing damage.

 

During the initial phase of proceedings, Alonso was unable to match his fellow two-time world champion’s pace as worries over a puncture suggested that the AMR23 was not handling properly – although his Aston Martin team informed him everything was fine.

 

On the 17^th tour, Verstappen was very close to having a full pit-stop gap over third-placed Ocon whilst Sainz was shown the black and white flag for causing a collision to the Frenchman.

 

On the 20^th tour, race leader Verstappen increased his gap to 8.539 seconds over Alonso with Ocon third, Sainz fourth, Hamilton fifth and Leclerc sixth.

 

On the 23^rd lap, Verstappen was a full pit-stop in-front of third-placed Ocon, meanwhile Mercedes’ George Russell was struggling with his brakes, with multiple warning coming up on his dashboard.

 

On the 25^th tour, Verstappen held a 11.558 lead over second-placed Alonso with Ocon third, Sainz fourth, Hamilton fifth and Leclerc sixth. At this time, Verstappen was reeling in the backmarkers including Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez.

 

This allowed Alonso to cut the gap as Verstappen tried to charge his way through the tail-enders, despite Perez trying to make his team-mate’s race more easier.

 

The 28^th tour saw Sainz asking about the possibility of rain and is told it will arrive in 45 minutes, whereas McLaren’s Lando Norris was told it could arrive as earlier as lap 35.

 

Sainz was also told to box by the team to attempt to overtake Ocon, but the Spaniard remained out.

 

On lap 30, Verstappen was up to 10.423 ahead of Alonso with Ocon third, Sainz fourth, Hamilton fifth and Leclerc sixth.

 

On the 32^nd tour, whilst the majority were waiting on the rain. Mercedes opted to bring in Hamilton for a set of harder compounds whilst a lap later Ocon pitted from third also for a set of the C3 rubber.

 

On lap 34, Sainz also stopped from third, putting on a set of mediums and emerged behind Ocon in seventh.

 

Rain reports over the severity began to intensify, as Red Bull opted to leave Verstappen out longer to ensure he was well-placed to take advantage of a well-timed pit-stop.

 

Lap 42 saw Alonso told by his Aston Martin team to make sure he was a full pit-stop ahead of third-placed Leclerc.

 

Leclerc pitted from third on lap 45 for a fresh set of medium compounds and emerged behind Hamilton in eighth place.

 

On the 50^th tour, the yet-to-pit Verstappen was 8.715 seconds in-front of Alonso with Russell third, Ocon fourth, Sainz fifth and Hamilton completing the top six.

 

On the 53^rd tour, the light showers started getting heavier with Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll and Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas the first to put on a set of intermediates.

 

On lap 55, Alonso pitted for a fresh set of mediums despite it raining heavily meanwhile race-leader Verstappen hit the wall at Portier.

 

A tour later, Verstappen pitted for a set of inters, whilst Alonso stopped again this time for a set of the green-marked rubber.

 

Despite Alonso attempting to close the gap over the final 20 laps, the Spaniard brought it down to 17.8 seconds as one point as Verstappen could not switch on his intermediates as quick enough, the Dutchman grew in confidence and continued to build his lead.

 

Verstappen crossed the line to take a dominant Monaco GP by 27.921 seconds over Alonso with Ocon taking third and his third-career podium in Formula 1.

 

The two Silver Arrows of Hamilton and Russell completed the top five with the latter copping a five-second time penalty for an unsafe re-join at Mirabeau: having slid off, reversed and went into the path of Perez, who made contact with the F1 W14.

 

Ferrari’s Leclerc and Sainz finished in sixth and eighth respectively as Alpine’s Gasly split the pairing in seventh.

 

The McLaren duo of Norris and Oscar Piastri completed the top ten with both drivers making identical passes on AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda into St. Devote as the Japanese driver struggled with a braking issue.

 

Alfa’s Bottas and Zhou finished in 11^th and 13^th places respectively as AlphaTauri’s Nyck de Vries split the duo in 12^th.

 

Williams Racing’s Alexander Albon ended the race 14^th and ahead of AlphaTauri’s Tsunoda who took 15^th and Perez who came a low-16^th in the other Red Bull RB19 entry.

 

Haas F1 Team’s Nico Hulkenberg and Williams Racing’s Logan Sargeant brought up the rear.

 

Both Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen and Aston Martin’s Stroll were the only retirees of the Grand Prix.

---

2023 Monaco GP – The Top Three

 

 

2023 Monaco GP Winner – Max Verstappen, #1, Oracle Red Bull Racing – RBPT-Honda, RB19:

“It was difficult because we were on the medium initially, we didn’t want to stay out that long but we had to because the rain was coming. Then the rain came, it was incredibly slippery, I clipped the walls as it was super difficult out there – but that’s Monaco. It’s super nice to win it with the weather and everything – to stay calm and bring it home.”

 

2^nd Place – Fernando Alonso, #14, Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team – Mercedes, AMR23:

“It was difficult, we opted to start on the tyres, so we gave up on the possibility into Turn 1. But Max drove super well on the mediums, so we didn’t have a chance. Then the rain made things a bit difficult. Braking was extremely fragile; I think everyone did an amazing job today to keep the cars on track.”

 

3^rd Place – Esteban Ocon, #31, BWT Alpine F1 Team – Renault, A523:

“We’ve done it! What a super weekend from everyone at the team, we improved the car from beginning to end and we didn’t put a foot wrong. Even when we put on the inters, it was the perfect moment to do it. I touched the wall enough yesterday – I didn’t need to today, to give any more heart attacks to the team!”

---

Formula 1 Grand Prix De Monaco 2023 Race Results Classification (78 Laps)

 

POS	NO	DRIVER	CAR	LAPS	TIME/RETIRED	PTS
1	1	Max Verstappen	RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT	78	1:48:51.980	25
2	14	Fernando Alonso	ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES	78	+27.921s	18
3	31	Esteban Ocon	ALPINE RENAULT	78	+36.990s	15
4	44	Lewis Hamilton	MERCEDES	78	+39.062s	13
5	63	George Russell	MERCEDES	78	+56.284s	10
6	16	Charles Leclerc	FERRARI	78	+61.890s	8
7	10	Pierre Gasly	ALPINE RENAULT	78	+62.362s	6
8	55	Carlos Sainz	FERRARI	78	+63.391s	4
9	4	Lando Norris	MCLAREN MERCEDES	77	+1 lap	2
10	81	Oscar Piastri	MCLAREN MERCEDES	77	+1 lap	1
11	77	Valtteri Bottas	ALFA ROMEO FERRARI	77	+1 lap	0
12	21	Nyck De Vries	ALPHATAURI HONDA RBPT	77	+1 lap	0
13	24	Zhou Guanyu	ALFA ROMEO FERRARI	77	+1 lap	0
14	23	Alexander Albon	WILLIAMS MERCEDES	77	+1 lap	0
15	22	Yuki Tsunoda	ALPHATAURI HONDA RBPT	76	+2 laps	0
16	11	Sergio Perez	RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT	76	+2 laps	0
17	27	Nico Hulkenberg	HAAS FERRARI	76	+2 laps	0
18	2	Logan Sargeant	WILLIAMS MERCEDES	76	+2 laps	0
19	20	Kevin Magnussen	HAAS FERRARI	70	DNF	0
NC	18	Lance Stroll	ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES	53	DNF	0

* Provisional results. Note – Hamilton scored an additional point for setting the fastest lap of the race.

https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2023/races/1210/monaco/race-result.html

 

Click here for the 2023 FIA Formula One World Driver’s (Top 10) and Constructors Championship Standings

 

Round seven of the 2023 FIA Formula One World Championship returns to the Circuit De Barcelona-Catalunya in Barcelona, Montmelo, Catalonia, Spain for the Formula 1 AWS Gran Premio De Espana 2023 from Friday June 2-Sunday June 4.

---

@Max33Verstappen pips @alo_oficial to pole in sensational #MonacoGP qualifying. #F1

#MonacoGP FP2: @Max33Verstappen quickest ahead of @ScuderiaFerrari duo. #F1

#MonacoGP FP1: @Carlossainz55 edges @alo_oficial by 0.338 seconds. #F1

#F1 Grand Prix De Monaco 2023 Preview. #MonacoGP #Formula1