Max Verstappen put in a dominant display and managed the race excellently after the conditions turned from dry to wet and came home to win the 2023 Monaco Grand Prix. The Dutchman managed to convert a brilliant pole position qualifying lap into a race win at Monaco, with Fernando Alonso finishing second; with a gap of a massive 27.9 seconds.
His teammate, Sergio Perez, had a poor weekend after his crash in qualifying left the Mexican starting last on the grid. He could only make up a few places and came home to finish 16th, due to Lance Stroll and Kevin Magnussen's retirements. Checo would pit five times in a race he will certainly want to forget.
Carlos Sainz against Esteban Ocon was a ferocious battle throughout the race but the French driver held off the Ferrari brilliantly to come home and finish third.
There were a few penalties handed out, with George Russell receiving a five-second penalty for coming back onto the track unsafely and consequently hitting Sergio Perez. Nico Hulkenberg also received a five-second time penalty, after making contact with Logan Sargent in the Williams
Now we will have a look at each team and rate their performance out of ten, as well as what this means heading into the Spanish Grand Prix.
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Red Bull: 7/10
Max Verstappen - 10/10
Sergio Perez - 5/10
Max Verstappen once again had a perfect weekend, winning the Monaco Grand Prix by over 27 seconds. The Dutchman handled the changing conditions excellently and eased to his fifth victory of the season. After securing pole position in qualifying Verstappen made no mistake in the race.
Sergio Perez began the race last after his crash in Q1 on Saturday. The Mexican came home to finish 16th, after a series of incidents and contact with Kevin Magnussen and then Russell gave him damage. Perez did all he could to fight back but was very unlucky today.
Red Bull remains at the top of the constructor's championship and added to their lead today.
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Aston Martin: 6/10
Fernando Alonso - 9/10
Lance Stroll 2/10
Fernando Alonso carried his qualifying performance through into the race and came home to finish in second place after minimal errors and showcased an excellent and talented drive.
Lance Stroll began the race from 14th, after a poor qualifying session. The Canadian had a troubled race and would eventually end up retiring on lap 63 after sliding into the barriers at the hairpin.
Aston Martin remains in second place in the constructor's championship, with Alonso earning them more points this afternoon.
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Mercedes: 7/10
Lewis Hamilton - 7/10
George Russell - 6/10
Lewis Hamilton finished the race in 4th position, a vast improvement for the team from recent race results; due to the upgrades to the W14 that were implemented at Monte Carlo.
George Russell managed a 5th-place finish in the race which was an excellent result. However, Russell's race performance was hindered by a five-second penalty after unsafely rejoining the track and making contact with Red Bull's Sergio Perez.
This was a really uplifting result for Mercedes and showed the recent improvements to the car were working well.
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Ferrari: 4/10
Charles Leclerc: 6/10
Carlos Sainz: 4/10
Charles Leclerc finished his home race in 6th place, with very few errors which was a very respectable result.
Carlos Sainz came home to finish in 8th place and had a slight moment where aquaplaning caused his car to be diverted off the race track.
However, the real issue with Ferrari's race performance came from their strategists. They got it all wrong and decided to pit both drivers onto a set of medium tires when the conditions were clearly ready for intermediates (as the rest of the field began pitting to fit the inters). This meant that both drivers would lose valuable time as they had to box the next lap to change onto the intermediate tires.
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Alpine: 9/10
Esteban Ocon: 10/10
Pierre Gasly: 7/10
Monaco provided an absolutely brilliant weekend for the French team with Esteban Ocon finishing third and securing his third podium of his Formula 1 career. The Frenchman did an excellent job at keeping Carlos Sainz at bay throughout and converted his sublime Q3 performance into a podium today. A near-perfect race from Esteban Ocon. His best previous Monaco result was 6th place.
Pierre Gasly finished in 7th place, his best finish so far this season for his new team. Gasly ran a very good race and was able to maintain his 7th-place position from the starting grid.
This was a very good weekend as a whole for Alpine with the team securing an excellent amount of constructors points and nailing their strategy with the changing conditions. Alpine's best previous result in Monaco was last year with Fernando Alonso finishing 7th place, an excellent improvement from the team today.
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Mclaren
Lando Norris - 8/10
Oscar Piastri - 8/10
Mclaren have had it tough this season so to have both drivers finishing within the points is an excellent result. Lando Norris came home to finish in P9 after showcasing his skill with a brilliant overtake on Yuki Tsunoda in the final laps. Lando's best finish at Monaco is third place but with the state that the Mclaren is in this season 9th place is a resounding success.
Oscar Piastri finished in 10th place in the race which is a great result for the Australian rookie. Like his teammate, he also performed a brilliant overtake on Yuki Tsunoda to finish in the points in the final few laps of the race. Piastri's best finish for Mclaren was 8th, meaning this is his second-best result and the second time in the points for Mclaren.
With both drivers gaining one place on their starting grid positions and securing double points finish, this weekend can most definitely be seen as a step in the right direction for the team.
Maybe the triple crown livery gave the team a spot of luck this weekend?
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Hass: 2/10
Kevin Magnussen: 2/10
Nico Hulkenburg: 2/10
Haas came into the race today off the back of a poor qualifying session, finishing 17th and 18th. Kevin Magnussen would come home to finish in 19th place after a DNF and had nothing to show in the race.
Nico Hulkenberg did finish the race but picked up a penalty, after an opening-lap collision with Logan Sargent, and it was downhill from there. The German finished in 17th place.
It was a weekend to forget for Haas with no world championship or constructors points gained and a quite frankly awful race result.
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Alfa Romeo: 5/10
Valterri Bottas: 5/10
Zhou Guanyu: 5/10
Valtteri Bottas finished the race in 11th place, agonisingly just out of the points. He qualified in 15th place so to make up four places is not the worst result - but still no points gained for his team.
Zhou Guanyu finished in 13th place, after qualifying in 19th so to gain six places is not a bad result for the young Chinese driver. Again though no points for the teams leaves a lacklustre result from both drivers.
Both drivers have equalled their second-best finish for Alfa Romeo this weekend, so this cannot be seen as a bad result. However, no points gained means it cannot be seen as a success either. Overall a very average weekend.
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AlphaTauri:
Yuki Tsunoda: 2/10
Nyck De Vries: 5/10
Yuki Tsunoda qualified in 9th place, so the team were expecting a potential points haul from Monaco. However, the Japanese driver finished in 15th place which is far from where the team wanted to be. The car is not up to standards this season but Tsunoda will have felt disappointed by the result and felt he could have gotten more out of the weekend. He suffered numerous amounts of brake issues during the Monaco Grand Prix which hindered his chances of a points finish. He has not scored points in his two previous visits to the principality and this is his worst result for the team this season. An all-around terrible result for Yuki Tsunoda.
In comparison to Yuki Tsunoda, De Vries had a decent race. He qualified 13th and also finished 13th meaning he did not gain or lose a place all race. His best finish for the team in his rookie season so far was 14th so this is his best finish this season. All in all a decent race for Nyck De Vries.
AlphaTauri's factory in Faenza has been subjected to huge floods recently and Tsunoda has been heavily involved in the clean up which may have affected the performance today. However, no points gained can be seen only as a failure for the Red Bull sister team.
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Williams: 3/10
Alexander Albon - 3/10
Logan Sargent - 2/10
Today's result saw Alexander Albon equal his worst finish of the season so far. He did finish today, unlike last year, but only came in 14th and has been struggling this weekend. He crashed in FP1 and has really struggled with the circuit throughout his Formula 1 career.
Logan Sargent began the race in 16th position and ended up finishing in 18th and nowhere near the points; he was actually the last place out of all the finishers. It's Sargent's first time racing at Monaco in a Formula 1 car and this have proved evident as he has really struggled as a whole this season, stopping on track in previous sessions and also in the Grand Prix this afternoon.
A poor performance from Williams sees them gain no points and remain bottom of the constructor's championship. Overall a very bad weekend for the British team.