[volkman10]

Verstappen snatches pole position from Alonso in thrilling Monaco GP qualifying session.

[attinder]

One of the best qualifying. I support Max but would have liked Alonso on the pole.

[amitoj]

Monaco probably the only circuit where qualifying is more exciting than the race
Hamilton provided all the excitement in the first 2 rounds with barely managing to scrape by and then in the final session, everything came to life! Ocon, Alonso, Leclerc but finally Max had to show them all how it is done! Supreme driving from Max and I am not his fan, but I can appreciate a good drive. Also, Perez
The race start will be interesting. And then I will doze off.

[supermax]

The only time we'll ever get to see overtaking here is if drivers happen to be on different tire compounds in rain, like we saw Gasly executing some cool overtakes on slick shod drivers when he himself was on intermediate wets in 2021. The first corner will hold interest, and after that, it'll be like our republic day tableaux!

[Fx14]

Originally Posted by supermax

The only time we'll ever get to see overtaking here is if drivers happen to be on different tire compounds in rain, like we saw Gasly executing some cool overtakes on slick shod drivers when he himself was on intermediate wets in 2021.

IIRC it was Gasly in the 2022 race who risked being on intermediate wets and overtook those who were on the full wets.

[supermax]

Originally Posted by Fx14

IIRC it was Gasly in the 2022 race who risked being on intermediate wets and overtook those who were on the full wets.

Yes indeed, and I just realized that we've all been necrobumping last year's thread instead of creating a new one for this year! The dates are almost the exact same as last year too!

[Aditya]

2023 Monaco Grand Prix | Monaco Street Circuit | 26-28th May, 2023 - Posts moved to a new thread.

[corvus corax]

All thanks to Checo. Bro binned it in Q1 instead of Q3 and we got all that exciting last lap dashes. Now looking forward to see who will come out of turn 1 unscathed.

[supermax]

Originally Posted by corvus corax

All thanks to Checo. Bro binned it in Q1 instead of Q3 and we got all that exciting last lap dashes. Now looking forward to see who will come out of turn 1 unscathed.

Would have been quite the anticlimax if Checo had binned it in Q3, and their already tense interteam relationship would have been worsened perhaps beyond repair. I wonder when it was last that a team had its drivers in P1 and P-Deadlast.

About Perez's championship, the host of the F1 Nation podcast had an interesting point; a lot of things have to come together to help Perez to win a race, including but often not limited to a weak qualifying performance by Max, for him to finish on the top step of the podium, but Max pulls out victories from the jaws of defeat. Indeed if Max had started on pole and Perez on P9 in Miami, even the most hardcore fans would not be expecting him to come up and win the race unless there was an incident ahead that took out Max and perhaps the next two cars for good measure.

[Cyborg]

From time to time we have had era’s of a particular driver/team. It’s the Max/Red Bull era currently.

I don’t see anyone consistently beating Max in these times unless he has a bad day or technical glitch with his car. Max is like a machine chasing perfection with hardly any real flaws. The way he took P1 in qualifying was one such clear example.

Perez while being a very good driver can never beat Max consistently enough to be a contender for becoming world champion. He will always be number two, occasionally winning something.

Cheers

[bmw_lover]

Does checo even deserve that Red bull? Time and again he has gifted away what has been served to him on a platter.

[bmw_lover]

What a pretence of a race. Got to see everything except racing. Why not to declare race winner based on qualifying itself. Always heard that its very hard to over take here but its the first time i realised it. Not a good advertisement for F1 and its new fans.

Perhaps its time to take Monaco circuit out of calendar. Lots of entertaining ones waiting in queue. Legacy be damned.

[supermax]

It was very disappointing to see Aston Martin's ill-planned and ill-executed pitstop for Alonso, deciding to put him onto medium tires, and changing to inters just a lap later. It might have made for some exciting racing, had they made swap directly onto inters. Alonso would have gotten track position, or landed just behind Max after both had pitted for new inters.

Originally Posted by Cyborg

From time to time we have had era’s of a particular driver/team. It’s the Max/Red Bull era currently.

I don’t see anyone consistently beating Max in these times unless he has a bad day or technical glitch with his car. Max is like a machine chasing perfection with hardly any real flaws. The way he took P1 in qualifying was one such clear example.

Perez while being a very good driver can never beat Max consistently enough to be a contender for becoming world champion. He will always be number two, occasionally winning something.

Cheers

Indeed. It's time Perez accepted thie reality of his position. When Redbull is as fast as they are right now, Perez's skills are good enough to ensure 1-2 finishes, but if others start stepping up, Max could still fight for victories, but Perez will start getting knocked back. He can only win when Max has had a bad qualifying, or car trouble. In order to be a championship contender, it's not just about having a lot of points after the first three or four rounds, but being able to deliver even when the chips are down, which is not something Perez has been able to do satisfactorily.

Originally Posted by bmw_lover

Does checo even deserve that Red bull? Time and again he has gifted away what has been served to him on a platter.

Redbull and Marko are notorious for being impatient, and while he's not in danger right now, I'd be very surprised if Redbull were not looking at other potential options for the second seat. Iwasa might get a call-up for a testing session soon, and if he starts compiling lap-times which are close enough to that of Perez, the latter's time may be up. I don't believe Ricciardo is going to get a call-up again.

Originally Posted by bmw_lover

What a pretence of a race. Got to see everything except racing. Why not to declare race winner based on qualifying itself. Always heard that its very hard to over take here but its the first time i realised it. Not a good advertisement for F1 and its new fans.

Perhaps its time to take Monaco circuit out of calendar. Lots of entertaining ones waiting in queue. Legacy be damned.

It's the best race for the schmooze. Monaco is only interesting in changeable weather. Saw Gasly pulling off a cool move today though.

[Yusha]

Originally Posted by bmw_lover

What a pretence of a race. .

Perhaps its time to take Monaco circuit out of calendar. Lots of entertaining ones waiting in queue. Legacy be damned.

Legacy matters in F1. It's not for nothing that Monaco is the only race on the calendar which does not have to pay hosting fees?

Agreed, that the racing in Monaco can be boring but this race was not. As new fans grow older with the sport they will come to realise the importance of Monaco and how lack or surfeit of overtaking makes a race thrilling or not.

[danlalan]

Originally Posted by bmw_lover

What a pretence of a race. Got to see everything except racing. Why not to declare race winner based on qualifying itself. Always heard that its very hard to over take here but its the first time i realised it. Not a good advertisement for F1 and its new fans.

Perhaps its time to take Monaco circuit out of calendar. Lots of entertaining ones waiting in queue. Legacy be damned.

All the hype for this race goes out the moment the light go off and there we are in train mode again.
They really need to modify the track maybe coming out of the tunnel remove that chicane so as to alteast have one place to overtake.