The unlikely rule of mandatory double pit stops promised wonders that never materialized. Lando Norris claimed his first Monaco victory ahead of Leclerc, Piastri, and Verstappen, just as they lined up on the grid. As often happens, the finishing order was the same as the starting order. Monaco remains Monaco, with all its flaws.
At least Lando Norris got it over with quickly. For his first home victory – like most of his F1 peers, the day’s winner has chosen to reside in the Principality – he did not disappoint. The Briton may have bored us, but at least he had the grace to do it quickly. Over the last fifteen years, his victory is the second fastest (1 h 40’33”, behind Verstappen in 2021 1 h 38’56” and ahead of… Button 2009: 1 h 40’44”) and that deserves as much praise as his podium in Monaco.
The ordeal was therefore quickly swallowed and the punishment not too hard to digest as it revives the Drivers’ Championships (13 points reclaimed in two weeks by the day’s winner over Australian leader Oscar Piastri, third yesterday) and Constructors’: Mercedes, in decline since Imola, has seen Red Bull and Ferrari close in on it and the three teams are within five points of each other.
“A dream since I was a child”: Lando Norris euphoric after his victory at the Monaco GP
That’s all the positives to take from this Monaco Grand Prix, which is, you’ll agree, quicker to list than any unattempted attack on this brilliant last Sunday in May. For those who hoped for a wild race, a strategic frenzy, incessant changes of leader, they will have to wait at least another year. Or accept that Formula 1 is primarily a sport and, only then, a spectacle.
Yes, Monaco has often been boring. It’s in its nature and essence. Even this unlikely rule imposing a double pit stop did not alter the DNA of this circuit. To make it more attractive, it would need to change its layout or reduce the size of the cars, not invent artifacts that promise the moon and deliver only its shadow, at best. Last year, after a soporific procession, Leclerc’s victory in front of his own people saved the day. Norris’s victory will only delight his camp. And his mother. Without winning over the crowds gathered at Port Hercule who, they, need nothing or no one, to get drunk and forget.
Fred Vasseur, the boss of Scuderia Ferrari
“We know that in Monaco, the race is often decided on Saturday. That’s the way it is, we have to accept it and not be stubborn.”Miracles were expected, but all we got were small yet ingenious calculations, like Racing Bulls, who sacrificed their pawn, Liam Lawson, to offer their bishop, Hadjar, big points and already recognition in the field. Last night, Fred Vasseur, whose team was one of the few to try something (for Lewis Hamilton), defended, for both Scuderia and McLaren, this relative caution and the very different nature of this track. “We know that in Monaco, the race is often played out on Saturday,” he summarized on Sunday evening. “That’s the way it is, we have to accept it and not be stubborn.” After the press conference, Charles Leclerc’s boss, who achieved his second podium of the season, and Hamilton, who moved up from 7th to 5th thanks to a clever strategic move, asked the present journalists about their feelings, sensing that the attempt was far from successful.
Max Verstappen tried, with Red Bull, to pull off a madonna move to snatch the victory promised since Saturday night to Norris and his McLaren. “Even if we made ten stops, it wouldn’t work,” the driver summed up with his usual frankness. “Even with my tires dead at the end, no one could pass me.” Like the strategists of F2, the world champion stayed on track until the end, hoping for the impossible, an accident strong enough to bring out more than the safety car and the red flag which, alone, would have allowed him to win. Mercedes, stuck in the pack, tried an extravagant mayonnaise as far-fetched as Williams’, leaving a bitter taste from this Grand Prix, a feeling of missed opportunity for lovers of spectacle who don’t care about the sport or the imposed purge that solved nothing.
“Twice as many chances to mess up”: at the Monaco GP, the mandatory double pit stop is debated
Perhaps next year the drivers will have to stop at the Casino to taste the marriage of chinotto and Emmanuel Pilon’s asparagus or try the aioli at Marius, the replacement for Stars and Bars, to try something different. Verstappen, never short of ideas, even suggested copying Mario Kart and throwing bananas, showing how immense the task is. Unless we really accept that in Monaco, everything is beautiful, everything is good, everything is grand. Until the start…
If the revolution did not touch Monaco, it will – perhaps – take place next week in Barcelona. For the next Spanish Grand Prix, the teams will have to modify their car and present a new front wing, less flexible than the previous one. “A decisive turning point,” hopes Fred Vasseur, who has been preparing his troops for this change since the announcement of this rule in January.
