Race Changing Moments - Monaco Grand Prix 2023

The highlights from the race that was anything except a procession.

The

2023

Monaco

Grand

Prix

was

tale

two

drives,

with

one

the

Bulls

collecting

their

fourth

win

the

season,

and

the

other

having

manage

being

the

back

the

grid.

Here’s

how

the

story

unfolded

over

the

weekend...

Re-live the action

Three Is The Magic Number

As the seconds ticked down in Q3 of qualifying provisional pole swapped positions several times. Esteban Ocon set a time of 1:11.553 to go top, then Charles Leclerc knocked him off the top. It was Fernando Alonso’s turn next and he went top. Max was on his final run and behind in sector one and two. He then had the perfect run in sector three and eclipsed Alonso’s time by just 0.084s to take the 23rd pole position of his career, and his first in Monaco.

Nose Out In Front

Heartache For Checo

In Q1 Checo’s first flying lap saw him placed in P2 behind his teammate and it looked like it was going to be business as usual for the Bulls. However, disaster struck for the Mexican Bull. At the start of his second flying lap Checo, with an Alpine to his right in the pit lane exit, lost control of his RB19 on the entry into Sainte Devote. He broadsided the barriers on the outside of the corner and suffered significant damage to the left side of his car, which ended his qualifying, and would see him start the race from P20.

54 Laps On A Medium

When a tyre manufacturer says that a tyre will only last a certain number of laps, the teams tend to listen. So, when Pirelli say the medium tyres will last 40 laps, you’d expect to see the teams pitting their driver around that number – often quite a few laps before. But not at Monaco. With the threat of rain on the horizon, the Team decided to keep Max on track on his yellow-walled tyres for as long as possible. Max was able to complete 54 rotations of the track before the rain started to fall. He was then able to go straight onto the intermediate tyres and keep the lead of the race, and ensuring his win.

And The Crowd Goes Wild

Managing A Tough Tyre In Tricky Conditions

Once Max was on the intermediate tyres he had to manage them perfectly. There are several problems that come with rain in Monaco. Firstly, the fastest section of the track is always dry as it’s the tunnel, the second is that due to the track being slow and twisty, it’s hard to get the tyre up to temperature, meaning that the driver could potentially slip and slide all over the track (which we definitely saw happening this year)

Max was able to keep control of his inters, even with a few slides, and was able to take the win more than 27-seconds ahead of Alonso in P2.

Monaco 2023 Race Gallery

The Stunning Sights Of Monaco

The Inconicc Tunnel

Fire Marshals Watch On

That Monaco Winning Feeling

The Race The Stars Come Out For

Started Dry, Ended Wet

And The Crowd Goes Wild

Another One For the Collection