Due to the heavy rains and consequent flooding in Emilia-Romagna, the Grand Prix at Imola was canceled and the F1 family headed off to the next race, the crown jewel of F1, Monaco!

The Monaco Grand Prix has been around since 1929 and has hosted the World Championship since its inception in 1950. It is considered one of the most prestigious races in motorsports and is one of the three races that make up the Triple Crown, along with the Le Mans 24 Hours and the Indy 500. Only one driver, Graham Hill, has won all three races. In 2020, the Monaco Grand Prix was canceled for the first time since 1954 because of the global COVID-19 pandemic.

Many drivers consider winning at Monaco to be the pinnacle of their careers, but one of them stands above all: Ayrton Senna holds the record for the most pole positions with eight, and most wins with six.

The race is held on a narrow course laid out in the streets of Monaco, with many elevation changes and tight corners as well as the tunnel, making it one of the most demanding tracks in Formula One.

The Principality of Monaco is widely recognized as one of the most expensive and wealthiest places in the world. And with an area of 2.1 km2 (0.81 sq mi), it is the second-smallest sovereign state in the world, after Vatican City. Its 19,009 inhabitants /km2 (49,230/sq mi) make it the most densely-populated sovereign state in the world.

INTERESTING FACT: Monaco has the world's highest life expectancy at nearly 90 years.

FRIDAY

The rain had been on and off the past few days, but it was dry and sunny on Friday. It really was a beautiful day to see Formula One cars on track.

FP1

Practice day started with every single driver on track as soon as the green light came on, and as we have seen in the past, traffic played a huge part during fast runs. In any case, it was both Ferraris trading fastest laps ahead of the pack, albeit on medium tires, while everyone else was on hards, except McLaren’s Lando Norris also on the mediums.

As the session progressed, many drivers tried the medium tires, and by half-time, Hamilton went to the top of the charts in the heavily revised Mercedes.

Then, with less than 25 minutes left, Nico Hulkenberg clipped the wall at the Nouvelle Chicane and picked up a puncture on the rear of his Haas, bringing out the first Red Flag at Monaco 2023.

Near the end of the session, Alex Albon lost the rear of his Williams at St. Devote, crashing into the barrier, and destroying the front and rear of the car. Second Red Flag and end of the session. Carlos Sainz was fastest, ahead of Alonso, Hamilton, Perez, and Leclerc, the top five.

FP2

Conditions remained glorious at the Principality, and as soon as the track was opened, drivers went out to do some more laps. Meanwhile, there was frantic work at Williams, repairing Alex Albon’s car after the big shunt at the end of FP1.

Fernando Alonso became the first driver to enter the 1:12’s with the help of some fresh soft rubber. Bit by bit everyone changed to the softs for some really fast laps. And a few minutes later, Carlos Sainz went fastest. Battle of the Spaniards at Monaco?

Then, with less than 20 minutes left, Carlos Sainz crashed his Ferrari into the barrier exiting the swimming pool section. He just clipped the inside of the barrier, breaking the front right suspension. Third Red Flag of the day.

With 12 minutes left, cars came out onto the track for a few final dashes around the Principality. Good effort from the Williams team, repairing Albon’s car on time for those last few minutes of practice.

In the end, it was Max Verstappen’s 1:12.462 the fastest timed lap of the day. He was followed by Charles Leclerc, Carlos Sainz, Fernando Alonso, and Lando Norris, the top five.

SATURDAY

FP3

Drivers, cars, and teams were ready for arguably the most important practice session of the weekend as it helps prepare the cars for qualifying later the same day.

Green light at the end of the pit lane but surprisingly, no one came out. Most were finalizing the initial setup and the drivers getting ready and being strapped on the seats. A few minutes into the session, and kind of slowly, the cars started to make their way to the track.

The session went without major drama until with less than ten minutes left, Kevin Magnussen was told to stop the car on track, bringing out the VSC (Virtual Safety Car). The brilliant marshals lasted just a few seconds to clear the track.

Practice resumed and we witnessed some really fast laps, until Lewis Hamilton had some oversteer, intended to correct, but crashed into the barriers at Mirabeau, bringing out a Red Flag, the first of the day and third of the weekend so far. Since there wasn’t enough time for the cars to come out to do laps, the session did not resume. So, it was Max Verstappen’s 1:12.776 the fastest lap, followed by Sergio Perez, Lance Stroll, Carlos Sainz, and Lando Norris in the top five.

QUALIFYING

It was another beautiful afternoon in the Principality of Monaco. Port Hercules was packed with every size boat you can imagine. There were big yachts with helicopters on them, there even was one with a gorgeous Ferrari F40 on display on its deck!

Formula One’s most famous venue and one that test of man and machine like no other. This is arguably the most important and special qualifying session of the season.

Q1

Everyone went out, everyone on the C5 soft tires. Traffic caused issues for some, in any case, everyone did their best to set the fastest possible time, but then Sergio Perez lost the rear going into St. Devote, the car drifted and hit the barriers hard. First Red Flag of the session, 11:12 left on the clock.

This was the second time the huge crane was used to recover a car, first, it was Hamilton’s Mercedes, now Perez’s Red Bull.

Everyone came out of the pits as soon as the green light was shown, albeit extremely slowly, trying to get the better position possible, looking for a clean run.

Dramatic final seconds of Q1 as Sainz and Hamilton escaped elimination by a hair. Eliminated were: Logan Sargeant, Kevin Magnussen, Nico Hulkenberg, Zhou Guanyu, and Sergio Perez. Verstappen was fastest, ahead of Yuki Tsunoda, and Alex Albon.

Q2

The remaining fifteen drivers went out almost immediately to try and get one of the final ten spots in Q3. Then, Lando Norris hit the barrier at Tabac, damaging his car and limping as best as possible he got to the pits. And after some intense minutes, out of qualifying were Oscar Piastri, Nick de Vries, Alex Albon, Lance Stroll, and Valtteri Bottas. Verstappen, Leclerc, and Alonso were the fastest three.

Q3

And then there were ten, or should we say nine as Lando Norris was out after crashing his McLaren during Q2, although the mechanics battle against time to repair the MCL60.

The first dash over and the top three were separated by just 0.05 of a second, Alonso from Sainz from Leclerc in third.

After some furious work by the McLaren mechanics, and against all odds, Norris took to the track with just about six minutes to go.

Absolutely brilliant lap by Charles Leclerc going to the top but then came Fernando Alonso to claim that top place, but then Max Verstappen showed his class claiming his first pole at Monaco… It was pure magic from the top three. Incredible job by everyone, ending the ten drivers within the same second.

The final order was Max Verstappen on Pole, 0.0084 behind was Fernando Alonso, 0.106 to Charles Leclerc, 0.188 to Esteban Ocon, 0.265 to Carlos Sainz, 0.360 to Lewis Hamilton, 0.568 to Pierre Gasly, 0.599 to George Russell, 0.717 to Yuki Tsunoda, and 0.889 to Lando Norris in tenth.

About an hour later it was announced that the Stewarts had decided that Charles Leclerc impeded Lando Norris in the tunnel section during Q3, and was given a three-place grid penalty, demoting from third to sixth on the grid.

SUNDAY

Sunday started looking gorgeous at Monaco, fantastic weather for some fine racing through the streets of the Principality, although there were some heavy clouds forming just outside the city and rain lurking around the South of France…

Slowly, every driver took their respective car to the grid, and the excitement continued building up towards the race. And because of Leclerc’s three-place grid penalty, Esteban Ocon, Carlos Sainz, and Lewis Hamilton moved up the order.

The walls here have been biting so far this weekend, with a pretty lengthy list now of drivers who had had a moment. Alex Albon crashed in FP1, Sainz went into the barriers in FP2, Hamilton in FP3, Yuki Tsunoda and Nico Hulkenberg had a puncture from clipping the walls, Perez crashed in qualifying, Norris broke his suspension in Q2... Everything was set for a fantastic thriller on the Mediterranean coast.

At the start, tires were disclosed, with Verstappen on the mediums, and Alonso on the hards. Mercedes have also split strategies, Hamilton on mediums and Russell on the hards. Both Ferrari cars are on the hard compound, and so was Gasly. Everyone else in the top 10 is on the medium tire, only Zhou has gone for the soft compound.

At exactly 3:00 PM Local Time, the formation lap started, and just a few minutes after, the Monaco Grand Prix for 2023 started!

By lap 9/78, Verstappen and Alonso had a big lead over Ocon, who was falling behind, and was nearly ten seconds off the lead, causing a bit of a traffic jam behind. 

Two laps later, Sainz came out of the Tunnel pretty hot, as did Ocon in front. Both of them actually missed the chicane, and Sainz just clipped the rear of the Alpine with his front wing, damaging the left end-plate. Both continued in third and fourth. 

By lap 28/78, Verstappen started lapping runners, and by lap 32, he was more than 9 seconds ahead of Alonso. On lap 33, Ocon pitted from third but had a slow stop, losing around 1.30 seconds. meanwhile, upfront, Verstappen was lapping Stroll and Perez, but the Mexican tried to follow his teammate through but instead cut the Chicane. He radioed saying he was pushed off, and he didn’t give the place back.

On lap 34/78, Sainz pitted for mediums, coming out behind Ocon but ahead of Hamilton. In the back, Perez ran into the back of the Magnussen’s Haas, damaging his front wing. On lap 45, Leclerc finally pitted, swapping to the mediums in a very handy 2.2s stop. He came back out in eighth, quite a way behind Hamilton.

By lap 53, rain started to come down, and by lap 56, Verstappen pits from the lead getting a set of the intermediate tires. He returns in the lead as Alonso pits from P2 for inters as well. Ferrari double-stacked behind for inters as well. By the next lap, the order was Verstappen leading from Alonso, Ocon third, Hamilton fourth, Russell fifth, Leclerc sixth, Gasly seventh, and Sainz eight. All were on the inters.

On lap 69/78 Norris made a move on Tsunoda for tenth, a few corners later, Piastri did the same, then Tsunoda ran straight on at Mirabeau, losing more places, and was now 13th.

And after 78 laps, Max Verstappen handled everything the weather threw at him and came home a deserved winner, extending his championship lead with his second win in the Principality, as he calls his victory "very lovely." Fernando Alonso finished second and Esteban Ocon third for Alpine. Behind them came Hamilton, Russell, Leclerc, Gasly, Sainz, Norris, and Piastri rounding up the top ten.

QUOTES FROM THE PODIUM

NEXT STOP: SPAIN !