Race Weekend Report

A couple of weeks after the completion of the early season’s flyaway races, Formula One returned to it’s European heartland with the Monaco Grand Prix, arguably still one of the sport’s blue riband events (although more for the importance of all the social events that go on rather than the actual race itself!), kicking off the second double-header of the season.

As ever seems to be the case this year there was a lot of chatter in the run up to the event about the regulations and in particular the tweaks being made by the FIA in response both to feedback and the individual challenges of the event. In this case, the controversy centred around changes to the rules to prevent the use of the active aerodynamics on the “straight” sections of track and also restriction of engine power, ostensibly to prevent the cars from going quite so quickly on the faster sections of track given the limitations of the barriers in Monaco. On the one hand this seemed sensible but the more cynical among fans might also have felt a bit crestfallen at the resultant diminishing of the ability of a faster car to actually get past which I suspect the smaller cars might have had a bit more chance of doing if they had a way to reduce drag coming out of the tunnel... but it is what it is I guess.

Off the track, the main talking point was the internal battle between the Mercedes drivers and how each was trying to manage it after their battles in Canada last time out. George Russell was clearly trying his best to play mind games with his younger team mate but unfortunately for him things didn’t pan out the way he would have hoped. There was also a lot of chatter about how the Monaco circuit might well suit the Ferrari and provide a chance for a Hamilton/Leclerc victory which was borne out by the results in free practice on the

Friday, with the scarlet cars locking out the first two places in both sessions. Once we moved into Qualifying on Saturday it was clear they remained in the mix but that Max Verstappen was in ominous form as was Antonelli, while Russell was comparatively struggling along with the McLarens. At the end of Qualifying it was Antonelli who edged out Verstappen, ahead of the Ferraris, then Isack Hadjar and the dejected George Russell. Further back, Gasly was a creditable ninth behind the McLarens and ahead of Liam Lawson who is definitely another driver whose stock seems to be on the rise again now that he’s out of Verstappen’s shadow.

Race day was typically sunny and warm and as the drivers lined up for the start we wondered if Verstappen or Hamilton might get the jump on Antonelli... but that turned out to be a bit of a damp squib as Verstappen initially moved but then was going nowhere due to a technical problem, ending his chances of a good result. Antonelli thus led the way ahead of Hamilton who was doing a good job of outpacing Leclerc. Gasly managed to pass Norris courtesy of some mild barging at the first turn between the McLarens. The only close battle at the front was between Hadjar and Russell, although the Brit was unable to make a pass on the track.

The rest of the race was... well, it was predictable in that it was essentially a procession which was punctuated only by a few controversial penalties which were handed out for speeding in the pit lane despite the fact the drivers were not actually speeding in a bit of a ridiculous faux pas by the FIA as the FIA’s system tracked the cars over the distance between the lines at the pit entry and exit despite the fact that the natural line through the pits took the drivers over the white lines. Along with this there was a bit of a muck-up by the Mercedes team who failed to observe George Russell’s penalty which sent him tumbling down the order from a likely fourth-place finish. Near the end of the race, Leclerc lost it on the poor surface at the last corner, ending his hopes at his home race. At the chequered flag it was Antonelli who won to take his fifth victory on the bounce ahead of Hamilton, Hadjar, Piastri, Lawson, Lindblad, the dejected Gasly, Albon, Ocon and Alonso who amazingly managed to pick up the last point despite having by far the slowest car on the day.

In terms of the race there really wasn’t much to comment on so I’ll pad out my report with my usual observations and predictions...

Firstly, thinking about the Monaco event specifically I do think it’s a shame there wasn’t the scope for the drivers to use the active aero at least a little bit as the narrower cars should have enabled at least the possibility of some form of overtaking. There does seem to be a lot less likelihood of the drivers having a go at a move into the chicane like they used to which is a pity. Lots of folk have suggestions about re-routing the track but I think the event in Monaco is unique and historical so can appreciate the feeling that it needs to be preserved.

At Mercedes, George Russell must surely be wondering how he’s got into his current position having fairly comprehensively outperformed Antonelli last season. It’s clear that the young Italian is riding on a wave of confidence at the moment so it would be easy to write off the championship as being his now, but we’re still fairly early in the season. I would say it’s his to lose, but still too soon to call it a Mercedes lockout.

At Ferrari it is good to see Lewis Hamilton looking and driving like Lewis Hamilton again. He seems to have really settled in now he’s got things working more like how he likes and Leclerc appears to have started over-driving in an attempt to assert his place within the team. The Scuderia have clearly produced a handy car and must wish their engine was a bit closer to the Mercedes as they would be in with a shout of a race win if it was. I’d say there is a good chance they will do well next weekend as the Circuit de Catalunya favours aero performance over out and out power.

McLaren are hard to judge at the moment because of all the technical issues that they have had this year. I think if they can get on top of that side of things they will take a few wins over the course of the season but they don’t look likely to retain either title at present.

Over at Red Bull it’s a similar story in that Verstappen is making the difference as much as he can on the track but the shortcomings of their chassis/engine combination are limiting his ability to compete at the front. It still looks likely that he will be able to get into the position to take a win or two though I think, particularly on the more power-dominated circuits.

Further back, there’s less to report on... Lindblad and Lawson both seem to be doing quite well as do the Alpine drivers. Audi are having a nondescript first season as might be expected, while Williams, Haas, Cadillac and Aston Martin are all doing nothing special.

Thinking about the regulations... I just don’t know where to start really. It’s clear that the current rules are capable of producing a decent race as evidenced by the last event in Montreal but that is quite a niche circuit so I am not convinced about how things will go over the rest of the season. For me as someone who has been a fan since around 1994 I think the sport has lost its way in trying to be “relevant” to road cars through the use of hybrid systems and I am glad that there have been reports of a push to move the cars back over to an engine-based formula with sustainable fuels as for me F1 should be about the cars being as fast as possible and the drivers as brave as possible rather than the current energy-management farce. How relevant is a 1.6 V6 turbo to road cars in any case? The absolute worst thing about the current setup though is the way the cars hit maximum speed half way along the straight and then slow down towards the end with the revs dropping away as they go rather than screaming along to 100m before the corner and slamming on the brakes like they ought to. It’s actually quite cringe-inducing when you see the onboard footage, and frustrating when you think that the solution with the chassis is actually quite good and allowing the cars to race in close proximity to each other. Hopefully they will make further adjustments as the year goes on otherwise Baku, Spa and Monza are going to be very odd events.

Obviously those are my personal observations but I would like to think that they are shared by many long-term followers of the sport. Fingers crossed the field at least continues to converge in the coming events and we get a close/competitive season. Next up is the newly-renamed Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix – I think we’ll see the Ferraris and McLarens more competitive here due to the aerodynamic demands of the circuit so let’s hope we see a different winner this time!