It’s no secret that I’m not a fan of the Monaco Grand Prix. It has always seemed to me that it’s all about the glitz and glamor of F1 cars driving around the Principality than a race event. With the majority of races turning into a procession of expensive cars. Overtaking is rare and when an overtake is made, it’s frequently through strategy during the pit stops, which is not what the pinnacle of motorsport should be.
And today’s race in the south of France was no different, Pierre Gasly made a few overtakes on track, but he was out of place on the track and on a different strategy. The change of positions for the points was made through pitstop strategy, which Ferrari messed up throwing away an easy win. And, the end of the race was a perfect example of why Monaco is not a race, Perez, Sainz, Verstappen, and Leclerc were line astern after the mid-race safety car period, with zero overtake attempts. Which in this case, I’m kinda happy about it, if Verstappen had passed Sainz, I feared Checo would have been forced to move aside for Verstappen, like the Spanish Grand Prix. Perez does not deserve to be screwed this early in the season.
Due to the street circuit nature of Monaco, the race directors, Eduardo Freitas and Niels Wittich apparently had a disagreement about the race start procedure after there was a sudden downpour before the race. This in itself is weird, my understanding of the race director situation was that Freitas and Wittich, were supposed to alternate from race to race, not be co-race directors. This disagreement resulted in a 1 hour delay to the start, which still ultimately started under the safety car, and meant that it ended a timed race. Race fans and pundits alike were vocal about why we were not racing, the safety car driver was sat in the pits instead of driving the track to assess conditions, another FIA clusterfuck!
The current deal for the Principality to host the race ended this year, and a new deal has not yet been agreed to. There are a number of issues including potential track layout changes, and taking the production of the show away from Monaco TV broadcasters, to bring it in line with every other circuit, where Formula One Management produces the entire show for consistency from race to race.
I suspect that a deal will be struck, to keep the “Jewel in the Crown of F1” on the calendar, but I have everything crossed that agreement cannot be found and the Monaco GP “race” goes away forever.
