Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, Monaco, 2019

Hamilton survives contact with Verstappen for Monaco win

2019 Monaco Grand Prix summary

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Lewis Hamilton has won the Monaco Grand Prix for the third time after withstanding heavy pressure from Max Verstappen for much of the race.

The Mercedes driver held the lead from the start of the race but came under attack from Verstappen after the pair made their first pit stops early under a Safety Car period. Hamilton was leading team mate Valtteri Bottas at the time, but a quick Red Bull pit stop moved Verstappen into second, though he incurred a five-second penalty for an unsafe release after clipping Bottas.

Mercedes put Hamilton on the medium compound tyres while Verstappen opted for the hards. Once the race restarted, Hamilton found his front tyres starting to grain and was soon on the radio to complain.

By the final laps of the race Verstappen was constantly exploring the rear of Hamilton’s car. With three laps to go he threw his Red Bull down the inside at the chicane from an impossible distance, tapping Hamilton’s left-rear tyre with his front-right, and forcing both to cut the chicane.

That proved Verstappen’s best chance, and he could only follow Hamilton to the flag, resigned to finishing off the podium due to his penalty.

Sebastian Vettel therefore collected second place ahead of Bottas. Pierre Gasly took fifth place and the bonus point for fastest lap.

Carlos Sainz Jnr held off the Toro Rosso pair for sixth place, while Daniel Ricciardo was moved up to ninth place as Romain Grosjean incurred a five-second time penalty for crossing the pit exit line.

The Safety Car period was triggered by Charles Leclerc, who had an eventful but brief race. From 15th on the grid he succeeded in passing Lando Norris at the Fairmont Hotel hairpin and Romain Grosjean at Rascasse.

But his attempt to take Nico Hulkenberg at the same corner backfired. He clipped the barrier, suffered a puncture, and had to drive a whole lap on a disintegrating tyre, the debris from which caused the Safety Car period. He later retired.

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2019 Monaco Grand Prix reaction

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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121 comments on “Hamilton survives contact with Verstappen for Monaco win”

  1. Yawn. To somehow spice up the show they had to put him on the wrong tyres and make him cry for the rest of the race, all while cruising to victory. Sigh…

    1. And you know what else? They did it just to annoy you</strong.

      1. oh, that would be too much honour to my humble persona. Plus, I’m not even annoyed as I was expecting a worse result. It is nice of them to at least try to make this race a bit more exciting, though. Jokes aside, by Monaco standards it was a pretty good race.

        1. On any other track , that tire choice by Mercedes would have been costly.

          Monoco or no Monoco, Hamilton had every right to be upset and show his displeasure. 67 laps on mediums, when the rest of the field are expecting to run to the end on Hard tires?

          On top of that we had the ‘weather report’ which proved uneventful. This report of rain might have tempted Hamilton to go flat out on the mediums expecting them to be replaced, when clearly that was never going to happen.

          I’d like to be a fly on the wall of that team debrief….

          1. Well, I’m pretty sure they didn’t expect the Mediums to be this slow. If he was up to the speed advertised to us by the tire graphic in the beginning, he should’ve been at least 1 sec a lap faster than the guys behind and build a gap big enough for another stop. That just never happened

          2. Had it been “any other race”, track position wouldn’t have been so important, so a 2 stop could well have worked as overtaking would have been possible.

    2. @njoydesign
      I remember just how calm you were when you were put on the wrong tires and in the situation Hamilton was in for much of the race.
      What race was that again?

    3. Hamilton is so luck having a rocketship beneath him for the last years. Hearing him whining about his tyres was so cringeworthy. Swap Hamilton with Verstappen (RBR/Mercedes) and the championship would be over in a heartbeat.

  2. Nico was given a penalty in Hokenheimring for similar collision to Max so waiting to see if Crashtappen gets another well deserved penalty.

    1. I want Verstappen to drive well…really, we need a great driver in that Red Bull, or maybe Merc or Ferrari.

      But that lunge was hopeless and penalty worthy. Like last year, part of the reason Hamilton won WDC was he survived his tangles with Max. Today proves to me it because he is exceptionally aware of his car and how contact will move him. That helped him survive the Verstappen lottery with less damage than Vettel.

      I hope Verstappen gets a penalty, because his impact on the WDC should come from his speed, not from antics like hopeless dive bombs, weaving in the braking zone, and crashing into contenders.

      1. Last year Hamilton had his elbows out against Max in 1st half of season(Bahrain GP) even this time its early on in season and Hamilton can afford to have his elbows out. If Max would have made the corner after dive bombing then it would have been penalty for Hamilton but as it stands its Max’s fault and I hope stewards judge him harshly for it. Also Max is the current record holder for highest number of times driver has been stripped of podium post race due to Penalties.

      2. GtisBetter (@)
        26th May 2019, 16:47

        This attitude to driving is why is dislike some F1 opinions. Every other race series this action is expected, cause you have a chance at a victory and it’s silly not to take it. The guy in front knows it and I think lewis knew it too that Max would have a go. These are race drivers, we should let them race.

        1. @passingisoverrated

          You should watch NASCAR, they encourage crashing into cars you can’t pass. Even better find some demolition derbies, they are great fun.

          The rules of F1 are written to encourage good racing, not demolition. It’s unfortunate drivers like Verstappen are pushing the rules toward more pointless crashing.

          Maybe one day he’ll have a WDC worthy car, and Hamilton can pointlessly ram him. Would that be good racing?

          1. GtisBetter (@)
            26th May 2019, 18:06

            I do watch NASCAR and i wonder if you do, cause you do not describe it. Sure there is some nudging, but not unlike WRX and WTCR. Or Indycar and IMSA, where these things happen. It’s just that the consequences of someone sliding are higher, they don’t really drive to crash. Also you are allowed to block in NASCAR.

            If you want to mention an out of control crashfest, you should have mentioned Formula E. But the drivers have accepted it for the most part that contact is part of it. Plenty of F1 fans remind me of diving football players, shouting loufdly while there isn’t much going on. Messages like Grosjean when Leclerc passed him is an example. Great manoeuvre, but he had to complain of course.

      3. Well said @slotopen, that’s it exactly.

    2. Indeed, or whether they’re gonna do nothing like ususal bc he represents too much profit for them.

    3. Chrashtappen, lol
      It’s like saying: I don’t like racing, but for some reaon I watch F1.

      1. Max was not going to win the race even if he had a rocketship under him on penultimate lap of Monaco GP and with a 5 sec time penalty. It was a desperate move on his part which could have ended badly for both drivers involved.

        1. Had he passed Hamilton, chances would have been he ended up third, so had everything to go for. Or something might have failed on Hamilton’s car, creating a 5 sec gap, or something else might have happened; it’s bloody F1, we’ve seen failures in the last 500 meter handing over wins.
          Only losers stop before the race has ended, giving us drives like boring Vettel and boring Bottas today.
          Cimpletely useless for the race.

          1. “Boring” Vettel got 2nd in the 5th/6th best car. And “boring” Bottas lost a certain 7 extra points, at least, bc of crashtappen.

          2. Don’t agree. You must understand that if Ves could have passed Ham he would have pulled away at lightning speed, getting that five seconds which he needed to win Monaco with ease. Ham knew this and he also knew Ves would use even the slightest of chance. The only way to do this for Ves was to outbrake Ham who was struggeling with his front tyres. Always, always go for the win.

  3. That 5 second penalty left a bit of a sour taste. Bottas lost second place due to that unsafe release. And Verstappen lost nothing in the end.

    1. Max was 3rd before the pitstop so he lost a place

    2. @carbon_fibre, given how the FIA normally is fairly strict on safety breaches, including unsafe releases, and given the circumstances – the fact that Monaco has the narrowest pit lane on the calendar, coupled with the large number of personnel who were out in the pit lane because of the safety car – that penalty does seem to be on the lenient side given the potential repercussions of a collision between cars when it would be hard for people to get out of the way.

      It sends a rather bad message to the teams, since it implies that it is now worth it for the teams to simply sling the cars out into the fast lane and simply take the penalty if they can then pull out enough of a gap afterwards – precisely the sort of message you’d assume the FIA wouldn’t want to send.

      1. This, 100%

      2. @anon i agree

      3. I think it was pretty reasonable; small pit lane, non functional mirrors, it is not unreasonable to think he didn’t see bottas.

        F1 already has to much penalties and not enough racing as it is. Because of this almost non dare to try something (except RBR and Verstappen).

        I know lots of people don’t like Verstappen because he tries stuff you shouldn’t do on the highway/ motorway but even the haters must admit that f1 would be far more boring without him

      4. Very much so Anon, I can only hope the drivers (and I hope Verstappen joins in) really get this fixed in the next drivers briefing, it’s a very bad precedent.

        In the case of corner cutting they, eh, cut that trend towards 5-sec penalties that were largely instrumentalised by getting clear and harsher penalties (though apparently the stewards this weekend didn’t think Magnussen needed to be penalized, so maybe they were on the whole to lenient in favour of ‘let us go racing’?), and that wasn’t about safety the way an unsafe release, followed by pushing your competitor into the barriers, is.

  4. Wow!
    Most intense race I can remember since finale 2008!

    A shame RBR caused Bottas to pit again and lose 6th 1-2.

    1. @dallein Disagree. 2011 Canada, 2012 Brazil, 2014 Canada, 2014 Bahrain, 2014 Hungary, 2016 Austria, 2016 Abu Dhabi etc. were all far more tense at the end.

      1. Disagree

        How do you know what he remembers? 🤔

      2. 2008 Brazil we had a championship that literally came down to the last corner of the last lap, and Ferrari and Massa’s family thinking for 15 seconds that Massa was world champion (because he was).

        2011 Canada was impressive– I’m not sure a driver has ever gotten as many penalties and setbacks as Button and still won the race. 2016 Abu Dhabi, in spite of Hamilton’s best efforts, was a foregone conclusion before the lights went out. 2014 Bahrain had good racing, but the race was over long before the end. 2014 Hungary was bonkers.

        1. If I remember correctly, the pundit in the Danish broadcast jokingly described Buttons win as a “successful 6-stop strategy” :D

  5. Today is the perfect example of why I respect Hamilton’s talent and driving ability but just can’t bring myself to like him. He whines an unbelievable amount. You’re on those tyres, you’re in a Mercedes not a time machine, so just get on with it and realise that you’re on the most difficult track to overtake on, and it would take a kamikaze effort from Max to get even remotely close (as it did). But just stop complaining. It’s so annoying. Whether he’s doing at as a bluff or genuine, it just frustrates me so much every single race.
    Overall, very tense but with no payoff, although pretty good by Monaco’s standards, but once Leclerc retired it died down a bit.

    1. We’ll see how you feel yourself in the same situation.

      1. I would agree definitely that if you are in his position, with all this adrenaline and emotions, u would do the same, but hell that was still annoying 😂

    2. Blaize Falconberger (@)
      26th May 2019, 16:29

      @hugh11 someone needs to stop complaining, but I’m not sure it’s Hamilton…

      1. @timeslides @hugh11 It was a bit annoying today as Hamilton was, basically, still going to win unless something else happened. More a case that it was unnecessarily uncomfortable for him to defend from Verstappen, of all people, and usually these Hamilton grumbles (rather than whines) are because he thinks the team messed up. Which they kind of did really.

        1. At the end of the day with his tyres wearing out the chance of scoring 0 because of running completely out of grip was high. Those last 15 laps must have been nigh on unbearable wondering if in every braking zone would it be the time the car finally gives up slowing down. I don’t agree that the win was a given this was a much different situation to last year with Riccardo

          1. He had to concentrate yes, but I’m factoring in that its something he (Hamilton) was capable of doing. There was a risk of collision with Verstappen, definitely, which actually happened. I should have put it a bit differently: he basically had the choice of sticking it out and concentrating, which he eventually did, and more than likely winning, or pitting and finishing 4th or 5th. So not really much choice.

          2. I feel like you’ve missed my point so indulge me in another attempt and I’ll try to be clear :)

            Even with 100% concentration he could have literally just ran out of all grip and (like China 2007) slide helplessly off the track. Your comments seem to imply that you think so long as Hamilton didn’t make a mistake he would bring the car home first my point is that was not guaranteed at all.

          3. “(..) I don’t agree that the win was a given this was a much different situation to last year with Riccardo” – Suggesting RICs win was a given and HAMs was not? RIC had no MGU-K, a faulty gearbox (missing several gears) and malfunctioning brakes, which caused max to retire a few races later in Silverstone.

          4. Fair enough Martin, maybe the wear was worse than it first appeared. He didn’t seem to be sliding around much, so that maybe masked how bad the situation was. China was fairly exceptional due to the combination of worn out tyres, the shape of the pit entry with its hard turn, and the gravel trap right at that point. But Hamilton seemed to think it was up there with China in terms of wear, so I guess you’re right!

        2. “(..) usually these Hamilton grumbles (rather than whines) are because he thinks the team messed up. Which they kind of did really.” – LOL, a really strong case, when the team secured 10 WCs in the last 5 years and are well underway securing their 11th and 12th this year. Unprecedented domination.

        3. @david-br

          All very well blaming the team for putting Lewis on the wrong tyres, but I wouldn’t rate Lewis if pit comms were banned altogether. He needs the perfect tyre at the right time. He went 6 years being beaten by a driver in slower cars yet still qualified well.

          1. “He went 6 years being beaten by a driver in slower cars yet still qualified well”

            He did not, don’t know what sort of made up fantasy land you live in.

    3. @hugh11

      What makes you think he was whining for no reason? He was driving the car from inside unlike coach potatoes like yourself would understand?
      The tyres were shot and being inches away from the walls and not being able brake comfortably, what would you do really?

      If anything, Max’s reasons for his driving are more annoying and someone at the penalty commuty should do a proper job! He destroyed one merc’s race and he was given a super lenient penalty again… And not to forget he almost took out the leader… And his excuse was, he suddenly turned in… Should you cry or laugh? He should be penalised for this as he already cut the chicane once and used up his joker, and almost destroyed ham’s race at an impossible attack and cut the chicane again! When he drives properly, he drives brilliantly but when he goes to max mode, he becomes a total wrecking ball!

      1. @mysticus
        Bladiebloediebladiebla, I don’t like racing and I hate Max Verstappen, bladiebloedieblablabla
        Really dude, the best Monaco in 2 decades and it was all thanks to Verstappen and Hamilton.
        What did clown Bottas and clown Vettel do the entire race? Absolutely nothing, but hey, atleast they didn’t try, right?

        1. Well Bottas was crashed into by Clown Verstappen, surprised you missed that.

          1. If it makes you feel any better; sure.

          2. Martin, just out of curiosity: How’s it like, watching a driver stay at 2 seconds of the driver before him, for 66 laps?
            Watching a racer putting pressure on it for 66 laps, sticking his front wing literally to Hamilton’s floor, is frikkin’ amazing.

          3. sticking his front wing literally to Hamilton’s floor

            He does have that unfortunate habit of making contact with other cars doesn’t he.

            Just out of curiosity, why would you, for absolutely no reason, have a go at Bottas after Verstappen crashed into him? 🤔

        2. Oconomo

          I don’t hate max, I don’t like his character doesnt stop me from enjoying his racing. But he does have the tendency to do really stupid things after really brilliant drives out of frustration and drops all the hard work down the drain! If you ignore these then I m sure you are a fanatic then a fan boy.

          It was nail biting 90% of the race, thanx to max but also almost ruined thanx to him. Not to forget he ruined Bot’s race already… Max’s driving style is both his gift and curse…

      2. Where did I say he was whining for no reason?

      3. Go watch ping pong you morron. You do not know anything about racing considering your stupid comment.

    4. You know all drivers talk like that on the radio right? Either you hate all drivers equally or you’re a hypocrite.

      1. Exactly this. Hamilton’s radio messages are just broadcasted more often than other drivers, most likely because he’s usually in or near the lead and he’s the current and 5 times WDC.

        1. Good point, we only heard what the producers selected for our entertainment. I’m sure the other drivers were on their radios with gripes and moans too. To be fair Hamilton’s perspective on the tires added to the drama, we had a greater sense for what was at stake, or what could happen any moment. Hamilton’s radio messages made that contest all the more exciting.

          Can you imagine all those great races of the past with this extra insight from the leading drivers. In my opinion we as race fans are spoilt and just don’t know it.

          1. Good point, we only heard what the producers selected for our entertainment. I’m sure the other drivers were on their radios with gripes and moans too

            Grosjean has enter the chat

        2. When you listen back on F1 TV you will hear that Hamilton is complaining much more then most of the others in the top 6. He does that most of the races, not only today. Claiming that this was his hardest fought victory is such typical Hamilton bs to make his own achievement bigger. Last year a car without it’s MCU could stay in front, that was really some achievement. Or maybe it just shows that overtaking the leading car is impossible in Monaco, then it’s not an achievement, just how things always end here.

      2. Him more so than others according to the race radio transcripts.

        1. See greenflags comment above.

          1. I mean the full transcripts, no matter what was broadcast. Sure we as an audience could hear him more for that reason, but when the full transcripts come out it still seems that he does it most.

        2. NeverElectric
          26th May 2019, 18:25

          Incredible as it sounds, @hugh11, No one cares what you think.

          1. Dude. I gave my opinion on a public forum where that is what people do. Like lmao.

          2. Says the guy with a statement as his username

      3. not true.
        with F1 TV you can hear all drivers’ communications, uncensored.
        Certainly not all drivers do that!

    5. He gets on the radio early complaining about the tyres to create an alibi if he gets beaten.

      If he got passed he would have blamed the team for putting him on the wrong tyres, robbing him of victory.

      If he wins he can tell everyone he’s a genius who was able to bring his car to victory despite having the wrong tyres.

    6. Next time he will stop doing it since Hugh don’t like it.

    7. @hugh11 you are absolutly right i didn’t hear grosjean complain he needed to do 50 laps or so on those softs, these people that are complaining about you are people that jump to Hamilton defense in any second, you may or may not be a hamilton fan but even so you have to agree he was whining

      1. +1!!!!

      2. Blaize Falconberger (@)
        27th May 2019, 19:54

        -1

        The broadcasters don’t put Grosjean’s radio on the TV because no-one is interested… For all you know all the drivers are whining and complaining all the time. We only tend to hear snippets when they have an incident. Hamilton, in other races, has asked the pit to be quiet and let him concentrate. Hamilton was leading so his communications were relevant to the outcome of the race.

    8. Just the other day Ham said that Mercedes never makes mistakes and that is the reason they’re in front of Ferrari. Maybe the whining was just frustration that the team had undermined his mind-games.

      1. He didn’t say they never make mistakes.

  6. Congrats Lewis. You’ve done it again!

  7. Exiting race l, mainly because of Max. The penalty was probably deserved but unfortunate.

  8. Bottas might have lost even more.

  9. Great drive by Hamilton, bit of a gap at the top of the championship now.
    Bit gutted for Ricciardo and Magnussen, great qualifyings for nothing, strategy really hurt them today.
    Revival continues for McLaren!

  10. A relatively exciting race for Monaco’s standards, although it demonstrates how notoriously difficult overtaking is around Monaco given what was the reason behind making it exciting for the most part.

  11. Just saw a replay of the pitstop. Bottas held up Max and Vettel by going slow. That’s why the unsafe situation happened later. Can’t blame redbull they went for it.

    1. Dani Popescu
      26th May 2019, 16:53

      My thoughts exactly. Within the rules? Probably! Nice? Definitely not. At least RBR tried something.

    2. Typical max fan. It’s the other’s fault that max did something against the rules. Yeah, right. Are others also responsible for his wins?

  12. Riccardo made up almost 40 seconds on Grosjean after Romain pitted. How did that happen?

    1. 1] RIC is a Monaco-beast
      2] SAI was holding up KVY, ALB AND GRO, enabling RIC to close that gap

  13. Dani Popescu
    26th May 2019, 16:51

    During the SC period, BOT delayed the peloton so that Merc would keep its 1-2. Was it fair?
    What if, right after VES got the penalty, RBR would’ve asked GAS to hold everyone off so that VES could pit again and take the 5s penalty and still rejoin in 4th? Proposterous, right?
    I know it sounds absurd, but what Mercedes did was not nice. At least VER and RBR have tried to “out-trick” Mercedes. I’m just glad I haven’t seen the 6th 1-2 in a row for Merc. This is getting boooring.

    1. Bottas did nothing wrong. There is a rule for that.

      1. That was not the point. Point is that could have played a part in why it happened.

      2. @edmarques – that.

        And regardless of that, even if it had been wrong, that does not make an unsafe release compounded by an extra push into the barriers (which resulted in a puncture and carbon flying over the barrier, in a tight pitlane) any safer, and therefore, should still be penalized appropriately.

        I think Red Bull and Max (and I suppose the audience too, bc. it was an intense fight, wasn’t it) were lucky they got off so super lightly, should really have been a drive through at the least, or 10s and a drive-through/stop-go for causing a collision in the pitlane.

    2. LOL. First of all, max was right behind BOT anyway, and VET right behind max, so nothing changed between them. The only temporary consequence was that HAM had a little gap, which ofc was gone after several more seconds behind the SC.
      Secondly, GAS could’ve held everyone behind him RBR wanted off, but how would that have helped max?? LOL, GAS was behind the top-4 all race long. Had they done what you propose, GAS would’ve lost out to the midfield and max would’ve been 4th tops, just like he got in the end.

      Stop making ridiculous excuses for mess ups of your hero, and just be glad he only got one penalty of 5s, instead of a drive through and a second penalty for his ridiculous lunge on HAM.

    3. What’s a peloton?

  14. Enjoyable race…… kept me on the edge of my seat till the chequered flag.
    Always interesting to hear just how aware, concerned and involved Hamilton is with technicalities, in this case his tires, and just how calm and reassuring Bono and the rest of the team are in responding.
    Great job, Lewis. I see the number 6!!

  15. Good race from Sainz, some good battles we missed in the midfield

  16. Errr, Merc have now more WCC points than Ferrari and RBR combined…

    1. Err, that has been the case since the end of the very first GP this year…

    2. Dani Popescu
      26th May 2019, 18:08

      Just like they did before this race!
      Nothing has changed.

  17. Grats to Lewis on a well earned win but it amazes me how many people seem to believe the BS.
    Lewis always claims to have problems in any race.
    There are two reasons he does this.
    One, it sows uncertainty in the opposition and may push them to make a mistake.
    Two, it means he can claim to have fought against the odds. (this keeps the media and the fanatic fans interested in him)

    He is a great driver, and an equally great showman in my opinion.
    Like Barnum said “There is a sucker born every minute”
    Lewis likes to play the suckers. Good on you Lewis ;)

    1. Lewis always claims to have problems in any race.
      There are two reasons he does this.

      There is only one reason actually: That he is telling a team about a problem he is having.

      Seriously try and find a radio message where Hamilton mentioned a problem that he wasn’t actually experiencing.

      1. Oh please, he exaggerates about as much at Toto. They both are liars and you can’t believe a word they say.

        1. Then it will be easy for you to provide all these lying radio messages won’t it. Go on.

          1. Hamilton will be known as the King of F1 during the era when it was its most boring and easiest to drive. Even Hamilton says it’s too easy. It’s all about the cars now, the drivers barely factor in. Move Hamilton to Red Bull or Ferrari in the current cars and prove me wrong. I will be delighted to be wrong!

    2. When he is driving an F1 car he is thinking in how people are interested in him. This guy must be an alien!

    3. 1+

      I can’t wait for the drivers to start blogging on social media whilst they’re driving. ;-)

    4. @nullapax
      “Lewis always claims to have problems in any race.
      There are two reasons he does this.
      One, it sows uncertainty in the opposition and may push them to make a mistake.
      Two, it means he can claim to have fought against the odds.” – Agreed. That’s why I can’t be annoyed by it one bit.

  18. Amazing drive from Lewis. Really stunning. But millenials don’t like radio messages, so it’s bad.

    1. @edmarques
      Lewis should have easily beaten the slower Red Bull. Max has out driven him in the past several times too. Lewis will be found out when Honda close the gap.

      1. Max has nothing to lose. Lewis has had a WDC at stake everytime they have raced closely. Max isnt and wont be, in the WDC fight so why not throw it up the inside and in the faint hope of Lewis wanting to avoid contact. I’m glad Lewis turned in on him yesterday. It lets max know he can’t take those liberties with him when the stakes are fairly equal. Same happened in Bahrain last year when the WDC fight was in its early stages. Lewis just slams the door shut. It’s worth losing points to let max know he will get no change from moves like that.

      2. Millenials are unberable.

  19. Really enjoyed that one, shades of the 2005 San Marino GP, kept me on the edge of my seat. Had that been on any other circuit, then Max would’ve just cruised by with the DRS and disappeared to a simple win, but the fact that Monaco is very difficult to overtake was what made it exciting.

    1. Had it been any other circuit Lewis could have 2 stopped and taken the win fairly easily. If this had been any other circuit the top 3 teams wouldnt have dived in the pits to change to hard tyres @ 1/5 distance. Ifs and buts. Lewis won. Mad max was 4th. On to the next one.

  20. After the race all Mercedes seniors came to calm and congratulate Lewis was funny. Bono, ‘Lewis its James’ guy and Toto. If Lauda was alive and Big Mustache boss was present in Monaco, they both probably would come on the radio as well to calm down Lewis.
    He is a child at heart. But to me his emotions though at times childish are very sincere.
    Great job by Lewis to win this race and dedicate it to Lauda.

    1. Great comment. I understand why Lewis rubs some people the wrong way but if he cared even the slightest what these people think surely he would mould himself differently? I wouldn’t choose the guy as a friend but who gives a …… He is phenomenal F1 driver and is every inch genuine, no matter how absurd.
      On a slightly different note… Are there any “BOTTAS is going to push Lewis all the way” believers anymore?”

      1. Yet in the story below this its Toto saying it was the team having to calm Toto down. lol

      2. @Dean – that’s not really a fair comment on Bottas. His race was severely compromised by Verstappen today. Verstappen’s mistake cost him an extra 5 seconds, but it cost Bottas an extra pitstop and two places.

        1. Maybe not fair on BOT but regardless of the incident yesterday BOT would still have lost another 7 points to Lewis. As it was he lost 10. 17 points difference now and that’s with Lewis not being entirely comfortable in the car yet. It must be so difficult to be Lewis team mate. BOT has done very well but it was never going to be enough to beat Lewis over the season.

  21. Panagiotis Papatheodorou (@panagiotism-papatheodorou)
    26th May 2019, 19:14

    It was good by Monaco standards. Leclerc was a bit too ambitious in Rascasse the second time. Good race by Max and Vettel, made most of what they had. Lewis did a good job with the tires.

    Other than that, Sainz and Kvyat were the standouts. Ricciardo did one hell of a job to reach within 5 secs of Grosjean after his strategy hurt his race.

  22. Totally awesome from Max. In the slower car too, at a drivers track.

    1. And yet he finished 4th. Tough breaks 😀

    2. “at a drivers track”

      Interesting comment given Verstappens utterly atrocious driving recorded at Monaco. Wonder if he’s been so bad because it is a “drivers track”?

  23. Hulkenburg said that Leclerc was too aggressive with his overtakes. Agreed. And Leclerc was the only one doing any overtaking. Time to fix Monaco or look at scrapping this event because it is not a race anymore. Just a procession.

    Maybe, as F1 looks at how to improve the racing, their baseline question could be, what needs to happen to make Monaco an exciting race again? If they can achieve that, perhaps it will be exciting everywhere else as well.

    Either way, Monaco is an amazing spectacle, but it is not a competitive sporting event any longer. Take your starting position from Qualifying, maintain it through the first corner, hope for reliability and the work is done.

  24. And yet he finished 4th. Tough breaks 😀

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