Formula One Monaco Madness: The Most Exciting Race of 2019

F1 insiders often describe the Monaco GP as the ‘Jewel in the F1 Crown’ and it would be easy to understand why if you had access to Champagne and super yachts, but for us mere mortals existing far from the glamour of the principality the race has often been, to be frank, a little bit dull. The race has in recent years been a bit of a procession with wide cars struggling to overtake on narrow streets with the occasional crash thrown in to liven things up. As a die-hard Formula 1 fan I will obsessively watch all of the races but I must admit I was not really looking forward to Monaco this year. To my great surprise I found that I not only enjoyed the race, but probably enjoyed it as much as any of the other races so far this season. Is this a damning indictment of the races so far in 2019 or was Monaco more watchable than it has been in previous years?

The build-up to the race was characterised by the usual razzmatazz that marks the arrival of F1 in Monaco and a qualifying that seemed pretty nip and tuck between the top teams, less a strategy mistake by Ferrari resulting in Charles Leclerc going out in Q3, the first phase of qualifying. With hindsight this would lead to a lot of the excitement in the first phase of the race. The qualifying session is usually one of the high points in a Monaco race weekend with lots of on track action for most of the session as teams jostle to find a gap to set a good time and make the most of the significant track evolution that occurs. This is a pleasant exception to the norm which often sees cars only going out for the first and last few minutes of each qualifying period.

When the lights went out at the start of the race Verstappen had a good, but unsuccessful, crack at Bottas. Other than contact between Stroll and Raikkonen the order seemed to be settling down in a manner remarkably similar to qualifying. It may well have stayed that way but a hard charging Leclerc had nothing to lose and put in a couple of excellent overtakes on Norris and Grosjean before connecting with Hulkenberg, gaining a puncture in the process. A driver in a calmer state of mind might have slowly made his way back to the pits trying to minimise the damage to his car but not Leclerc. He charged back to the pits at breakneck speed spraying bits of his floor across the track en route. This resulted in a safety car on lap 11 which created a situation that would help to keep the race alive till the finish. The safety car was a little early for a one stop strategy but nonetheless the majority of the drivers pitted for new rubber following Lewis Hamilton in. Mercedes opted to put their drivers out on mediums whilst the majority of the field headed out on the hard tyres. An unsafe release by Red Bull during the stop would see Max Verstappen collide with Bottas resulting in a five second penalty for Verstappen and a puncture for Bottas. Mercedes then had to pit Bottas again onto the hards. This left just Hamilton out front on the medium tyres, with Max Verstappen behind him on the more durable hard compound needing to get past to make up the five second penalty.

What followed for the remainder of the race was not that different to any other race at Monaco, a high-speed procession with little chance of overtaking, but on this occasion it was entertaining. The cars were undeniably able to follow each other more closely adding to the sense of drama. The impetuous Max Verstappen was constantly seeking some sort of opening from Hamilton to exploit and Hamilton was almost constantly on the radio exclaiming that there was no way his tyres would reach the end of the race. Ultimately Hamilton’s tyres would make it to the end of the race with him maintaining the lead, aided by the difficult task of overtaking at Monaco, but for some reason this victory did not feel like a given. You could suspend your disbelief and imagine a situation where Max would find a way around and build a five second lead to win the race.

The tragic loss of Niki Lauda before the race added to the sense of occasion and Hamilton’s reaction after the race whilst wearing a red Niki Lauda cap certainly suggested that it was indeed high drama, going as far as to state ‘That was probably the hardest race I’ve had, but nonetheless I really was fighting with the spirit of Niki.’

Will this race be remembered as a classic? Almost certainly not, but it did have an exciting narrative and sense of occasion that has been sadly lacking from the other races so far this season.

Words by Mike Whitmarsh

Image Credits: F1.com, GPFans.com, Newserupt.com