Just a few days after the race at Imola the Formula 1 convoy had trooped along the Ligurian coast, crossed into France and arrived in Monaco for the 81st running of the Monaco Grand Prix - without doubt the most picturesque setting on the Grand Prix calendar. Little wonder that the combination of the prestige of Monte-Carlo, natural beauty of the harbour and the history of the track attracts the world’s rich, famous and glamorous to the race, which I was very fortunate to have been able to attend. After the race at Imola, Mike Krack, Team Principal, had said, “Our focus is on extracting the full potential of the AMR24 for the races to come, starting next week in Monaco.” To ensure that potential might happen, Aston Martin brought a few more upgrades for the car, specifically a Monaco specific ‘B’ rear wing, to ensure the right amount of downforce. How did that go?
On a slightly overcast Friday the AMR24’s seemed to have a decent start to the weekend during the Free Practice sessions. In the first hour all the cars were trying to get some heat into the tarmac and build up their confidence on this very tight, twisty, barrier-lined street circuit, where there is little margin for error and any slight mistake is penalised instantly, as there are no run-off areas, just walls, barriers and Armco’s! One driver to find this out was Zhou when his Sauber snapped away at Sainte Devote corner, thumped the wall and littered debris over the track with less than 15 minutes to go, which brought out the red flags. At that point Alonso, driving car number 14, was 14th and Stroll was 16th. After the restart both of them managed to improve and Alonso ended the session 6th, with Stroll just behind in 7th. At the second Practice session, later in the afternoon, there was no drama, despite a few of the drivers clipping the walls. Most of the teams were trying out all the tyre compounds, with the softest providing the fastest times, on which Alonso moved up the order, finishing 3rd and Stroll maintaining 7th. It was encouraging to see both AMs showing promise.
At Saturday morning’s final practice session, the green Aston Martin’s glistened and looked resplendent in the Mediterranean sunshine and the backdrop of the harbour and Principality. The same could not be said for Bottas in the other Sauber, when he hit an Armco coming out of the piscine area, sustained front suspension damage and came to a halt at the Rascasse hairpin, just 13 minutes into the session, which was immediately red flagged. After the restart, the circuit became very crowded as the drivers all tried to run their practice simulations but in much less time. Halfway through the session Stroll was only 12th & Alonso 14th. During a less crowded moment Alonso managed to put himself 2nd, but the track got busier again and at the end of the session he could only manage a time that was 10th fastest, with Stroll 15th.
With any final tweaks made to the cars during the interlude, out they all came for the all-important Qualifying session, more so than at any other circuit as Monaco is renowned for not being able to overtake. Once again the track got very crowded as all the drivers headed out to get a provisional lap time on the board and attempt to secure safe passage into Q2, with many of them staying out for a number of laps. With 10 minutes to go, Stroll was 4th & Alonso 3rd, so they seemed safe. However, with the track improving, the lap times tumbled as drivers built up confidence. This time Stroll went to 3rd, but Alonso was only 10th. The closing minutes brought one final sequence of laps on more soft tyres, during which Ocon squeezed his way into Q2 at the expense of Alonso, who, along with Perez, were the surprise names to get eliminated in Q1. Result - Alonso only 16th and Stroll 13th. In Q2, Stroll put up a valiant effort to try and get into the top 10 and Q3. He was 9th after his first run but dropped to 11th on the next one. He hit some traffic during his final flying lap, that cost a couple of tenths of a second which wasn’t fast enough to progress to Q2, ending up only 14th. For the record, the pole-sitter would be hometown driver, Charles Leclerc, in a Ferrari. Would Red Bull’s much expected gallop off into the distance with the Championship be curtailed by the prancing horses?
Prior to the race on Sunday came the news that both Haas cars had been disqualified from Qualifying due to their rear wings being non-compliant, meaning that they would start the race from the back of the field, elevating Stroll to start 13th and Alonso 14th. The eagerly anticipated start appeared to be clean, as all the cars seemingly cleared the first, sharp right-hand corner at St. Devote Church, with just minor contact between 3rd placed Sainz in his Ferrari and front row starter Piastri in a McLaren. But at the back of the grid, going up the hill towards Casino Square, Magnussen touched wheels with Perez’s Red Bull, spinning him into Hulkenberg and then all 3 tangling with each other and leaving a ton of debris on the track. Meanwhile, Sainz’s minor contact escalated to a puncture and he came to a stop in Casino Square. However, at that moment the race was red flagged due to the 3-car incident and Sainz was able to limp back to the pits. Not only that, it was confirmed that the order for the restart would be the same as how it stood when the 3-car accident unfolded, meaning that Sainz would be allowed to restart in 3rd. The AMs would restart 11th & 12th, due to Ocon having to retire his car after it sustained too much damage in an incident with Gasly when the race was halted. This time the 16 remaining cars did not have any incidents and the race settled down to somewhat of a parade. By lap 6, a train of cars trailed behind Alonso, but they just couldn’t get past. 25 laps later the AMs were still 11th & 12th, but the gap from Stroll to Alonso had increased to ~9 seconds and Riccardo was all over the back of Alonso. Just after the halfway stage the leading Ferraris and McLarens had reached and passed Alonso, who was obliged to make way for them, meaning they were more than 70 seconds ahead in terms of pace! On lap 44 Stroll, who had been given medium tyres at the restart, came into the pits for a fresh set of tyres, in the hope that he would make up the gap to Gasly ahead of him in 10th in the battle for an all-important point. Such was the gap he still came out 11th. However, on lap 50 Stroll smacked a barrier and had to return to the pits for another set of new tyres, while the carcass of his punctured tyre had rolled off near the pit lane. This time he came out last and Alonso was elevated to 11th. On lap 57 Stroll, with the benefit of the new soft compound tyres managed to make the only overtakes of any driver in the race, passing Zhou in the tunnel and Sargent going up the hill on the next lap and into 14th place. That is how it finished – Alonso 11th (2 laps down on race winner Leclerc) and Stroll 14th. No points scored this time round. Leclerc was a very popular winner and with Verstappen only managing 6th place and the McLarens in great form the good news for Formula 1 is that this may not be a cruise to another World Championship for Red Bull.
Commenting on the race, the two AM drivers and Team Principal were of the view that, “we chose the hard tyres to start the race aiming to go very long in the first stint, but with the red flag on lap 1 we had to change and fit the medium tyres hoping we could go to the end of the race which was tortuous and it just didn’t work out. We took the opportunity to fit some hard tyres on Stroll’s car to compete for the final point. Unfortunately it wasn’t meant to be."
The next stop on the calendar is back over the Atlantic to Montreal, with the Canadian Grand Prix taking place on the weekend of 7-9 June, which will be considered a home race for Lance Stroll. Maybe he will benefit from the hometown advantage that Charles Leclerc just did?
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