Max Verstappen, Red Bull, Monaco

Verstappen dominates Monaco GP to take championship lead from Hamilton

2021 Monaco Grand Prix summary

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Max Verstappen dominated the Monaco Grand Prix, scoring his second victory of the season and taking the lead in the drivers’ championship for the first time in his career.

Verstappen’s lead was never in doubt over the 78 laps of the race after Charles Leclerc failed to start from pole position due to a gearbox problem sustained in his qualifying crash.

Carlos Sainz Jnr took his first podium with Ferrari in second place, ahead of Lando Norris taking third for McLaren. Lewis Hamilton finished in seventh, taking the fastest lap and bonus point.

There was heartbreak for polesitter Leclerc and Ferrari before the race had even begun, when he immediately reported gearbox problems on his first reconnaissance lap out of the pits. With Ferrari opting not to change the gearbox in Leclerc’s car after his crash at the end of qualifying, the decision appeared to backfire as Leclerc was unable to take the start of the race, though the team said a driveshaft problem was to blame.

That effectively promoted Verstappen to pole position, with Valtteri Bottas shared the new front row. At the start, the pair kept their positions, with Verstappen taking the early lead from Bottas and Sainz in third.

Hamilton was the first to pit from sixth place, but was unable to take advantage of clear air and pass Pierre Gasly, ultimately losing out to Sebastian Vettel and Sergio Perez stopping later on.

Bottas’ race was ruined during his pit stop, when his right-front wheel nut machined itself onto the axle. That made it impossible for the Mercedes mechanics to remove the wheel and forced the team to retire the car.

That moved Sainz and Norris up to the podium positions. Perez took advantage of a longer first stint to pull a gap and resume in fourth place after his stop.

With Hamilton in seventh and unable to put Gasly under any pressure for sixth ahead, Mercedes pitted Hamilton for soft tyres on lap 68 to attempt to take the point for fastest lap, which he successfully achieved.

Verstappen was easily able to pull a gap of almost ten seconds to Sainz behind and robotically checked off the laps to take his second win of the season and move into the lead of the drivers’ championship ahead of Hamilton.

Sainz finished second to take his first podium for Ferrari, with Norris finishing third to take his second podium finish of the season.

Perez finished fourth, ahead of Vettel taking his first points for Aston Martin in fifth. Gasly finished sixth, ahead of Hamilton, Lance Stroll, Esteban Ocon and Antonio Giovinazzi taking Alfa Romeo’s first point of the season in tenth.

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2021 Monaco Grand Prix reaction

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Will Wood
Will has been a RaceFans contributor since 2012 during which time he has covered F1 test sessions, launch events and interviewed drivers. He mainly...

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125 comments on “Verstappen dominates Monaco GP to take championship lead from Hamilton”

  1. Miltiadis (@miltosgreekfan)
    23rd May 2021, 16:02

    For the first time this year,we saw a flawless drive by Verstappen & RBR and on the other hand, a horrible weekend for Hamilton.

    Verstappen-Sainz-Norris all had really solid weekends,with Norris lapping it’s teammate. Perez had an awesome Sunday ,but his qualifying was really weak. He still managed to do what Gasly and Albon didn’t manage to do….

    You have to feel for Valtteri Bottas,he had a really good weekend (with Mercedes not looking that great), easily outperforming Hamilton and he lost the result in an extremely painful way.

    Hamilton was nowhere this whole weekend and he really didn’t perform at the level he should. He also sounded quite erratic in his team radios….

    Really good drive by Vettel & Gasly,while on the other hand the trio of Alonso-Ricciardo-Tsunoda had another poor weekend. While we know what Alonso & Ricciardo can achieve, Tsunoda hasn’t proven he is F1 worthy yet

    1. A drop of Brundle Locktite?😁

    2. That sums it up!

    3. Tsunoda’s still new, give him some more time. These cars are not as easy to handle as they were some years ago.

    4. ..it is not his fault Mercedes chose incorrect setup direction.

      It isn’t? 🤔

    5. Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
      23rd May 2021, 16:19

      Your comments are here just for amusement by the look of it. I think even other hamiltons may laugh at you claiming hamilton performed flawlessly and it was entirely on the team that was the cause of his performance in qualifying.

      1. This was exactly the type of weekend that generally I thought hamilton had cut out in 2018.

    6. At least he gained 1 position from VB😉

      1. Also one from Leclerc.

    7. You know, blind fandom aside, it’s really annoying when one always comes throwing the same shallow remarks again and again about “hate”. The world isn’t your oyster only. Grow up.

    8. Hamilton not being able to overtake Gasly sums it all up. But ofcourse the Alpha Tauri is a better car than the Mercedes.

      1. Noone is able to overtake anyone in Monaco. That really means nothing.

        1. There was actually a few overtakes during the race. Did you actually watch the race?

          1. Apart from the run to St Devote on the opening lap, and Schumacher’s banzai dive down the inside of Mazepin at Lowes Hairpin, what were the other on-track overtakes?

          2. Patrick, even on the other article, you seem to be the only one on the site saying there were overtakes during the race, do overcuts count as overtakes to you? There’s quite a number of people who didn’t see any, an overwhelming majority, no one watched the race?

      2. btw I accidentally clicked “report comment” instead of “reply”, apologies P. Petterson & mods.

        1. ttongsul (@ccpbioweapon)
          24th May 2021, 9:49

          SAME here, too easy to accident report people..site admins need to make report button smaller plus add conform dialog box

      3. To be honest, nobody can overtake at Monaco these days unless there’s a 4 second per lap gap or so.

      4. Not overtaking Gasly is not really a mark against Hamilton. A few years ago when Ricciardo was racing his ailing car a few seconds off the pace there was still nobody that could get past him. This track is just a disaster in terms of racing with these F1 cars. Hamilton’s bigger problem was being in his position to begin with, rather than in P2 where his usually slower teammate was driving, showing that whatever pace Mercedes might have lacked here, there was still a good chance to pick up decent points.

    9. Josh (@canadianjosh)
      23rd May 2021, 17:03

      Pretty much agree with all you said, Yuki shows little flashes but hasn’t put a whole race together since Bahrain.

      1. Maybe because he does NOT have the full support from the team not giving him a good car focusing on his team mate with newer parts.
        There is no way Yuki is over a second a lap slower on pure pace.

        About Hamilton not overtaking, are people forgetting that there was next to zero overtakes in the entire race for the entire grid?
        oops i forgot Lewis is unfairly “held to an higher standard” compared to the rest of the grid for some reason…
        Lewis not overtaking has nothing to do with the GAS pace, you need a clear 2-3 second pace advantage to overtake here which the Merc obviously did not have..

    10. An overtake in Monaco? What are you smoking?

      1. Scumacher Mick did it.

    11. So Gasly was given a 10 second time penalty for starting outside of his grid spot last race in Spain but the FIA are just totally going to ignore Verstappen’s improper start today?

      He was clearly ahead of the yellow line !!!!!
      https://twitter.com/Chew_baxter/status/1396467957295890435/photo/1
      https://twitter.com/_camposcody/status/1396471226219081732/photo/1

      1. Lucky for Max then that the yellow line isn’t actually anything more than a reference point for the drivers to be able to see from the cockpit, and the grid box is actually the box drawn on the grid.

      2. The yellow line is a guide only. He’s not ahead of the white line as Gasly was. No problem at all.

      3. Oskari Kantonen
        24th May 2021, 7:30

        Yellow line is marker for drivers, it shows where you should put the rear of the front tyre.

  2. Nicely controlled by Max. Really happy for Carlos, Lando, and Sebastian. Gutted for Valtteri. Disappointed for Charles, but at the same time it was of his own making.

    RB seemed to have gotten their strategy mojo back. Lewis reminded me once again why I am not a fan. Fantastic driver, but the complaining..

    1. @facepuker

      Max his radio when something is not to his liking:

      Beep, beef, for beep sake, beep beep.

      Lewis his radio when something is not to his liking:

      What did you do, cry cry, you ruined my race, whine whine, it’s all your fault cry cry.

      1. So ‘its the car’ is whining, but’ its the beeping car’ isn’t? And asking what the hell happened when you lose places on an undercut is whining, losing it with a string of obscenities is something to be admired?
        You Max fans crack me up

        1. Lewis has a quite unique ability to throw the very team he owes so much to under the bus, he does this pretty much every single time the team makes a mistake.

      2. You can’t can’t can’t stop name calling, can you eh?

      3. I don’t like his whiny voice either, but it’s important to note that he was 100% right. Could Mercedes have timed that pit stop any worse?

    2. Irrumator, shut up

  3. Game on! Nice equalizer in the fight for the championship. Exactly what Red Bull needed.

    Heart bleeds for Bottas, he didn’t deserve that. He has some of the most rotten luck whenever he’s in a spot to claim good points.

    1. @skipgamer Bottas luck is almost parodic now. As Brundle well said about him: “If he didn’t have bad luck, he’d have no luck at all”

  4. Almost flawless Redbull. I can only think one minor claim; Why did not pit Perez at lap 76 (or 77) to try the fastest lap?

    1. I am guessing they think risking anything when you have a chance to take the lead in both championships isn’t worth it.. but I thought they might give it a go too. But cannot blame them for just taking the gifts of their work and run with the lead.

  5. Track. limit. issues. at. Monaco.
    Let that sink in.

    #DownWithMasi

    1. Eh, there usually is with cutting the chicane. It’s been a bigger controversy in the past especially when overtaking…

    2. You are absolutely right – they should have been more strict, as per the sporting regulations.
      The entire track should have been monitored at all times.

      #DownWithInconsistency

    3. Isn’t it #MasiNeverLearnedFromTheVeryDangerousQualifyingRestart?

    4. @niefer yeah lol that’s quite something

  6. Curb (@curbshifter)
    23rd May 2021, 16:10

    not. one. yellow. flag. ….

    1. yeah the cus the whole race is a yellow flag. 0 overtakes

      1. Curb (@curbshifter)
        23rd May 2021, 16:19

        yeah think there was just one on-track overtake. 1st lap MSC on MAZ.

        1. There was a very nice fight but the director liked Serena more and switched from it.
          When Vettel came back he had to fight gasly to the max

        2. Also Giovinazzi on Ocon, Lap 1, t5.

    2. It was kinda exciting race. There was a lot of happening but not in the race. Leclerc, bottas’ wheel nut (which techinally was part of the race), schumacher FP3, Hamiltons pace, Mclaren Gulf. A not so solid 6/10.
      In these times when world is still going crazy it is of course Monaco where nothing happens. F1 really is the sport where everything can happen.

      1. I agree with you, @qeki – there might not have been as many overtakes or safety cars, (or virtual) as expected… but honestly people, do we really want those yellow flags/safety car when it indicates that someone has had an incident? Can’t we admire the fact that for the entire race, not a single car managed to end up in the barriers?

        We still had excitement…. it was a role reversal for merc and rbr race day strategy, very nice show of what Red Bull is capable, and a hint of a few chips in the wall at Mercedes….

        Did you all forget that Max is now leading the championship for the very first time? And effectively, Red Bull and Max are back in the Championship fight?
        Nicely controlled by Max from start to end, so yes, it was an exciting race.

        (Plus, we can’t forget the wheel nut, Haas overtake, the team strategy games that worked and didn’t work…and so on.)

        Will admit occasionally I wish Max was a little more lenient towards his team when things go wrong…. but sorry not sorry, Hamilton’s reaction was a shocker!

        On a side note, can’t decide if it would have been better if checo got on the podium for a 1,3 RBR, or seeing LN up there…. his reaction said it all.

  7. A significant weekend for the championship. It wasn’t the best race to watch but I still think the Monaco GP is important as a unique weekend in the year. To win, you need a perfect three days and Verstappen and Red Bull provided that. He kept it out of the wall (unlike Leclerc), he delivered in qualifying (unlike Hamilton), his car performed well (unlike Bottas) and his strategy was good.

    I wouldn’t want 23 Monaco GP’s a year, but I still love to see it on the calendar as a one-off challenge and spectacle.

    1. Yeah, Monaco always being Monaco, there was certainly no Sunday afternoon thriller to be expected. But it’s one of a kind and it’s legendary, so it does have its right to be on the calendar. The challenge is just unique in that Saturdays have to be really neat.

    2. No, actually HAM did not perform. BOT was actually higher than his usual place. ”Funny”, HAM was beaten by VET and GAS in inferior machinery, on a driver track.

      1. RandomMallard (@)
        23rd May 2021, 16:32

        @mg1982 I mean he’s won this race 3 times on the driver’s track, so I think he is still a pretty good driver…

        1. At the start they showed the winners of previous races in Monaco. Senna 6 times if I remember correct, some other people that I don’t remember. But no Hamilton in the list of most wins.
          So to be honest, with the machinery that Lewis has had in the past I would really expect him to have won this GP more than 3 times.
          Definitely not his circuit

        2. Indeed, chris, he should’ve won more times given the car he had, schumacher won 5 times, senna 6 and they didn’t have dominant cars for this long, senna was even luckier than schumacher here, for example with mansell’s puncture in 1992, schumacher’s technical problem in 1993, schumacher’s suspension problem in 2000.

    3. I think at this stage it’s significant. Obviously it’s easier to review in hindsight at the end of the year, but it’s significant that for the first time in a few years, Mercedes are now the chasers. Personally, I was expecting Hamilton and Mercedes to pull clear, so I think this is a significant race in Red Bull and Verstappen pegging them back and making sure they can’t breathe easily.

      1. I ‘ m afraid that the go of México and Brasil get axrd this year through Covid-19 so that’s a real threat to Max’s championship…

        1. Yes, would be a shame to lose those 2 red bull favouring races.

    4. @ben-n – Great input which I totally agree. Somehow this race feels better than any Barcelona or Paul Ricard GP.

      The impact it had at the championship actually makes me eager to follow the very next at Baku. There I bet it’ll be some action.

    5. @ben-n The qualifying was properly good this time. Made up for a lot.

    6. schumi_alonso
      24th May 2021, 2:17

      I also look forward to a possibility of the Monaco GPs of 2010, 2012, maybe to a certain extent 2018. And If I’m not biased, 2008 and 2013. If it had actually rained during the last few laps of 2012, would have loved to see the chaos that ensued.

  8. Mercedes were pounded. Terrible weekend all round. Hamilton seemed AWOL on track and in spirit. It feels different to when Ferrari were ahead a few times at the start of seasons. Ferrari also surely messed up big time, though much of the blame goes to Leclerc for his qualifying mishap. 1-3 was on for them, maybe even 1-2, they had the pace. Horner’s glee when Leclerc didn’t start was palpable and actually quite funny. They look confident now and Mercedes should be worried.

    1. AJ (@asleepatthewheel)
      23rd May 2021, 16:21

      Not really. This is an unusual track, and in all probability, Bottas would have finished on the podium on an ‘off’ weekend for Mercedes had it not been for that vague mishap.

      1. @asleepatthewheel Probabilities aside, the actuality is that he didn’t though! I’m not sure the mishap is a one-off misfortune, they’ve had the issue before, though it’s never caused a DNF.

        1. His point is the pace for a correctly driven mercedes was there, an in form hamilton would’ve done even better.

  9. Max got lucky with Leclerc’s issue, but he used the opportunity to the max.
    Now that he’s leading the WDC, so will be interesting how long he can stay in the lead.

    1. As Hamilton got lucky when both Mercedes-program drivers crashed in Imola. So in a way it’s good to see luck won’t be seen as a title decider from now on. Both top 2 drivers have been lucky.

      1. @omarr-pepper Disagree. Did Lewis not move up one place after the Leclerc issue as well? By my guesstimate, Lewis was given a very very lucky second chance to grab at least 15 points. I still maintain that Lewis is the ever so slightly better driver of the two, but Max has been better than Lewis this year so far.

      2. Not comparable. The imola shunt saved a big driver error. Lecs dns was his and his team’s doing, no luck there. If he had not crashed, most probably the pole was for max.

        1. @j-l and erikje, I know it’s not comparable, but it at least gives me some peace of mind that so far, The championship kind of “starts again”. In a way let’s hope Mercedes doesn’t cry out for the RB wing. It seems everyone is caught “cheating” except them. Or they are really that good as a team that the others (Ferrari 2019, supposedly RB this year) can only catch up when something is illegal in their own cars, or Mercedes are given some extra leniency by FIA (DAS passed the initial regs, so it was legal. Mercedes was found not guilty in the Copy-gate even when much info couldn’t have appeared at Racing Point on their own, track limits that apply only to other teams but not to Mercedes, etc).

          1. @omarr-pepper To be fair, every team does this. Last year, it was RB protesting DAS on the Mercs. And they should, it’s their job to exploit loopholes and question the legality of competitors’ cars. With that said, it’s a bit silly sometimes. The championship is equaled, but I still maintain Max should have been circa 20 points up on Lewis instead of 4 on pure merit.

  10. It’s surprising that even after all these years, Mercedes still manages to stumble over themselves when things don’t go their way. They mess up the set-up, they can’t connect the dots in qualifying, they start publicly in fighting, and come race day they blunder on strategy and then even manage to have that lead to one of their cars retiring from the race.

    1. petebaldwin (@)
      23rd May 2021, 16:34

      @cashnotclass – I don’ think it’s surprising. They’re not used to things not going their way. They usually are miles quicker before they’ve even focussed on the setup so everything is calm and controlled. This week, they struggled and didn’t know what to do about it. It’s like a boxer who has won 50 matches without having a punch land on them – whey they finally get cracked across the jaw, it staggers them more than someone who is used to getting hit and fighting through the pain.

      It’s similar to how Red Bull have made strategic mistakes recently largely because they aren’t used to controlling a race from the front.

    2. True, they only perform well when they’re at the front @cashnotclass

      1. Sounds like every other team that has dominated Mclaren, Ferrari, Red Bull

    3. They messed up the set-up? Ok so the team is responsible for the car and the set-up…? Kinda takes the shine off a little of his 7 titles doesn’t it?
      I know a lot of drivers are involved in their set-up… So why didn’t Lewis tell the team what they needed to do? I think they simply couldn’t manage the tyre temp as it was quite cold on Saturday and Sunday.. and maybe he should have picked a different strategy and could have stayed out longer… But he didn’t. I guess the car and the team are mostly to credit for his success after all.

      1. I’m not separating Hamilton from Mercedes, he’s part of Mercedes. There’s certainly reason to single him out in so far as he failed to match Bottas, which he should be able to do pretty much every race, but that was just a part of their botched weekend.

      2. Lewis’s been vocal about telling Mercedes what he preferred for Monaco but being ignored (you haven’t paid attention to Hamilton haters criticising
        Had you watched “Ford Vs. Ferrari” or “Rush”? How about Brundle, I think, interviewing Toto and Lewis and getting the info about Lewis pointing a direction which helped sorting a stability issue from previous car (if I’m not mistaken: the 2019 car). All driver should be listened to.
        Peace and health.

        1. Tell em!

  11. Davethechicken
    23rd May 2021, 16:21

    Thank goodness we don’t have to watch another Monaco GP for a year. Boring boring boring.
    No on track overtakes. None after lap1.
    You could have substituted Max for Van De Garde and you still would have had a Dutch winner.
    Pathetic by Hamilton in qualy and just as bad in race.
    There was absolutely no racing at all, all race and just leisurely tyre management.
    As always Monaco was awful.
    The only positive is Seb scored some points (Seb fan hat on)

    1. Yes it was so boring. The one exciting thing was vettel over cutting two cars and going into casino side by side with gasly but the director cut away from it AND from the replay. I feel like in the past you might see one or two lunges into the chicane or st devote but no one got a sniff of a pass.

      1. @dmw It was incredible to cut away from that the only exciting on track action. The director was very poor this time. In qualy he mostly showed warm-up and cool-down laps.

        There’s a lot of talk to make F1 a better product, and right there is such a huge red flag that’s been going on for decades. True it’s not hair-pullingly bad as before, but this shows the level.

        1. Davethechicken
          23rd May 2021, 21:50

          Balue, Monico is much worse than ever.
          There used to be the odd chance (and I mean the odd chance) to overtake at turn 1, out of the tunnel or at the lowes hairpin, but now the cars are too wide, big fat rear tyres adding too much traction out of the corners and short braking distances all conspire to make overtakes nonexistent.

          1. Not to mention they’re very long… the challenge that is Monaco is still a cool spectacle but you wouldn’t want to race there every weekend.

      2. Sure it was boring, but for me as a dutchman watching VER still nerve wracking as errors can be made any second

  12. Adam (@rocketpanda)
    23rd May 2021, 16:22

    First race since Vettel joined Aston Martin that he looked outright better than Stroll which is enormously encouraging. Ricciardo getting lapped by Norris on the podium is quite shocking, he seems to be struggling far more than any other ‘moved’ team-mate and McLaren are going to start to need him to actually perform or they’re going to lose out to Ferrari.
    Going on Ferrari, Sainz seems to be settling in pretty well – I expected him to struggle more than he has. Perez pulled out a decent race, but then Albon would do the same – qualify poorly and drag the car back up in the race.

    Difficult to gauge Alonso, given Alpine don’t seem to be really bothering this year and are betting all or nothing for next year.

    1. Yeah it’s been rough for Ricciardo, but I wouldn’t say he’s struggling significantly more then the other moved drivers.

      Sainz has definitely got up to speed the fastest, whether the extra tests with Ferrari have anything to do with it no one knows.

      Vettel has only just gotten up to speed and he’s a 4x WDC, and possibly his pace is flattered against Stroll whereas Daniel has a far more capable teammate that he’s being compared to.

      Alonso has been in just as much struggles as Hamilton which seemed to be overlooked because of Alcon struggling in Bahrain. Keep in mind Alonso was out in Q1 whereas Ocon nearly made Q3. Alonso is also a 2x WDC and one of the greatest of all time as well as competing against a competent teammate.

      Perez is the hard one to gauge. He’s had good results to show why there’s more faith in him then Gasly and Albon, however he’s also more often then not only done just as much as they did. He is also up against Verstwppen and in that 2nd Red Bull so idk where to put him.

      Overall, Sainz is the only one that’s definitely up to speed in my opinion, maybe Perez is as well and Vettel might be too but I’m not confident in that just yet. Let’s see in Bahrain and if Vettel dominates Stroll and Perez is at least keeping up with Verstappen and helping RB in strategy, then I’ll be more confident that those 2 have gotten up to speed. Alonso and Ricciardo need to get up their sooner rather then later though.

    2. Ferrari seem to always lose by themselves, as today. Leclerc really screwed it up yesterday, but as a team, they should have made sure they took the 5-grid penalty and ran at least. So at least that way McLaren (and Ric’s reputation) is saved by now.

    3. @rocketpanda Yes that was good from Vettel and shocking from Ricciardo. Lapped by the same car is really career-damaging.

  13. Verstappen and rbr performed flawlessly. Everyone at Mercedes from wheel nut guy to Hamilton will have nightmares about this race. It was so bad you can’t even talk about set up direction or the failure to overcut gasly or whatever. It was just individual and organizational failure. Ironically it’s probably only bottas, the usual weak link, who can say he put in proper work this weekend.

    1. @dmw True, including about Bottas.

    2. Davethechicken
      23rd May 2021, 16:36

      True, although there was no race. Usual Monaco bore fest. Verstappen Sr would have won if he could have fitted din Jr’s car!
      Still, spices up the championship nicely!

    3. Verstappen and rbr performed flawlessly

      Max Did. RBR? I’d agree if they had gone for the FLAP (when Perez had a free pitstop 4 laps from the end)

      1. Hopefully someone asks Red Bull about that, but I suspect that on any other track they might have gone for it, but here it was too big a risk with their positions relative to Mercedes. They were going to take a lot more points with P1 and P4 without the fastest lap than with P1 and Pérez stuck in the wall somewhere. Hamilton’s lap was really quick.

        1. +1 exactly

        2. I think beating hamilton’s lap was possible, it was a 1.12.9, only 1,1 sec faster than the previous fastest lap, but yes, not worth the risk probably.

      2. Davethechicken
        23rd May 2021, 21:53

        Flawless would have included pole. Once Leclerc and Bottas’s fates were sealed the whole of the current F2 grid would have guided that RBR to the win.

      3. Yep, they missed a trick there. No way Perez was going to pass Norris, so good opportunity to deny Hamilton & Mercedes a point.

  14. Crap Race. Unwatchable. Monaco race should be scrapped. 0/10. I turned it off after 35 laps.

    1. 100% agree . I was going to post the same comment! I Couldn’t believe that there was still 35+ laps to go after the first round of pit stops, first time in decades that it felt like a chore to watch.

      What a joke bore fest of a race, time to remove Monaco from the calendar or make it a non championship race because cars have out grown the track.
      Go back and watch the 1995 race and see how ‘small’ the cars used to be making overtaking somewhat possible, high torque hybrid cars wider than a SUV with cheese Pirelli tyres now make overtaking near impossible

    2. Give it to Formula E!

    3. why u r wasting time to comment for an unwatchable race than.

    4. petebaldwin (@)
      23rd May 2021, 19:42

      I enjoyed it. I wouldn’t expect someone called “AMG44” to enjoy it though to be fair… :D

    5. Was that after LH pitted? :)

      Perhaps as non interesting for die hard Mercedes fans as much as it was brilliant for die hard Red Bull fans….

      So nice to see Ferrari back in podium contention.

      1. Even win contention for ferrari, if leclerc had started on pole, or even sainz (red flag stopped his lap too) they had a chance.

  15. Worst race in F1 history. No overtakes and no chance of overtakes, literally zero ‘racing’, just drivers driving to instructed limits.

    1. There was 1 overtake: Mazepin passed Schumacher on lap 30. But with only retirement (Bottas, also lap 30) and one pitstop not forced by regulations (Hamilton, lap 67) this was statistically probably the worst (most boring) race in Grand Prix history.

    2. @kpcart, you forgot to mention your real argument: Max won.

      1. Davethechicken
        23rd May 2021, 21:56

        I am a Seb fan,, and I was really pleased to see him score good points.
        But, Monico is an annual borefest.
        It has no place on the calender with the characteristics of this generation of F1 cars.
        But money talks.

  16. The usual Lewis fans here are disappointed. I get that it was a terrible weekend for Lewis. Lots of errors, damaging his car in quali and under performing the car.
    The team made some dubious decisions that added insult to injury.
    The big competitor on the other hand had an flawless weekend and even Perez was able to pass Lewis by strategy.
    The cracks in the Mercedes empire are showing, and whining and moaning tell the story.

    Good for the season though.
    So more to come..

    1. usual Lewis fans here are disappointed

      Sorry to steal your thunder by acknowledging how bad it was :oP

      1. David, that’s a statement I didn’t understand, does that make you a hamilton fan or not?

    2. Davethechicken
      23rd May 2021, 21:57

      Great to see the WDC spicing up nicely. Wether Max or Lewis wins there will be tears and excuses on this forum, guaranteed!

  17. It’s a tough ask, but I hope he can somehow hang on for his maiden WDC crown! Merc going one worse than Hockenheim 2019 operationally was totally unexpected. I feel for BOT, who didn’t deserve any of that grief. Gutted also for LEC, but chuffed to bits for VET!

  18. Suddenly how good f1 is when mercedes is out of podium contention.

  19. There is absolutely no way that DRicc has the same car as Norris. No way. Just comparing both cars around Monaco, it is clear that Norris has a car that is better able to gain traction out of corners and absorb the bumps. It is obvious to the impartial observer just by looking at the TV coverage.

    DRicc is a consistent performer. You cannot seriously tell me that he no longer knows how to drive.

    1. Can do much when you qualify that bad at Monaco. Lets see in the next few races how he fares

    2. Not saying I agree, don’t see why would mclaren give a far worse car to norris than ricciardo: they’re fighting for p3 with a ferrari that seems to have the upper hand!

      I’m however impressed: norris lapped ricciardo in 50 laps, so he was on average 1,5 sec quicker!

    3. Why would they do that? Because they dont want to beat Ferrari in the WCC? We better assess Ricciardo. What are his achievements? Beat Vettel and ‘beat’ very briefly a very very young unexperienced Max (and probably Kvyat, but well..) Vettel we know is an useless tool in traffic and Max soon outshined Ricciardo big time to the extent he choose to leave a top tier team. Think about that. I think it might be time to put Ricciardo where he belongs, as a mediocre midfield driver, the likes of Hulkenberg, Perez, Sainz, Bottas, Coulthard, Webber, Massa etc etc. He is far more sympathetic than all of them, for sure, but it really shouldnt be translated to his skill set.

  20. Flawless from Verstappen. Hamilton was nowhere all weekend, considering Bottas had a regular performance. #44 was a solid 2 out of 10, and got his 7 measly points on “merit”. I still find excitement in watching Monaco, for different reasons than other circuits.
    On a sidenote, whomever in charge of the images on display did one awful job today. They actually managed to miss every single bit of action that there was, and I don’t know how can you do that with just a handful of overtake attempts.

    1. Have to agree – TV production was us very poor.

      1. TV production was the worst for years. Apparently not a regular team doing this. Whomever was in charge yesterday: please do not call us for a repeat, we wont call you either

  21. I was thinking btw, in the first laps of the race, that most likely verstappen had never led a monaco gp before since he lost chances where red bull was competitive due to qualifying mistakes, like 2016 and 2018, in 2019 he did well but again track position was key, so basically as soon as he got the chance to lead in monaco he almost led the whole race and won, but then again with 0 overtakes and good reliability nowadays it’s not too unexpected!

    1. No, but to him the challenge was to keep it out of his beloved barrier, which he kissed a lot in the past ;-)

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