© Vladimir Rys

Streets Ahead – Five Wins In MonacoLast weekend we picked up our fifth Monaco Grand Prix victory. Here we take a look at our wins around the Monte Carlo streets.

FromthemomentDavidCoulthardsteppedontotheMonacopodiumin2006wearingabrightredSupermancapetocollecttheTeam’sfirsttrophyinF1forhisthird-placefinish,it’sfairtosaywe’vehadaprettyspecialrelationshipwiththePrincipality.ButwhiletherehavebeenplentyofdramaticMonacomoments,it’salwaysthewinsthatstandout.

From celebratory plunges into the Energy Station pool to knife-edge wins aided by safety cars and red flags, to redemptive drives to victory despite battling failing machinery, we’ve seen it all on the streets of Monaco and we have the silverware to prove it.

Charging On To Celebrate© Vladimir Rys

Last weekend’s superlative drive by Max gave us our fifth win on the Circuit de Monaco and, for the first time since 2013 the lead of both championships.

Max’s victory sets up an epic summer of racing ahead, with the duel for supremacy between him and Lewis Hamilton becoming ever tighter and tense.

The battle begins again in a week’s time on another street circuit in Baku, but in the meantime let’s look back at how we’ve mastered the original of the species – the Monaco Grand Prix.

Monaco Shining Bright© Vladimir Rys

2010,MarkWebber-StartedP1,FinishedP1

A first win in Monaco is always an emotional moment, for a driver and for a team, ours was no different. Closely similar to the car that had given us our first wins in F1 in 2009, 2010’s RB6 was competitive from the off and gave us five straight poles at the start of the season and at a circuit on which qualifying is everything that boded well for our hopes in Monaco.

And on Saturday Mark delivered in style, powering the RB6 to the front of the grid with a stunning Q3 lap despite coming under pressure from an inspired Robert Kubica whose bravura showing for Renault pushed the Aussie to even greater heights.

Securing pole is one thing but sealing the deal on Sunday is another and as Mark opined after qualifying, Monaco is a “vicious venue for motor racing”, where calamity awaits the unwary around every ferociously tight corner.

Mark Picks Up Monaco Pole© Red Bull Content Pool

But Mark was fully tuned into the risk and after nailing a perfect start to seize the lead ahead of Sebastian Vettel who had snuck past Kubica into Ste Devote, the Australian driver was faultless. By lap 15 he’d built enough of a gap to Vettel for BBC commentator to say that Webber was “driving in a class of his own”.

The gap was erased on lap 32 when Rubens Barrichello crashed out and the safety car was released, but after controlling the restart beautifully Mark then drove the rest of the race flawlessly. He rebuilt the gap to Sebastian and after being instructed to throttle back and bring the car home, the Aussie managed his lead expertly to cruise to victory just half a second ahead of Sebastian, with Kubica third.

“It's a special day, the greatest day of my life I suppose. As a Formula One driver you really hope that you win races and if you have a choice then the blue riband event is very, very special for any driver. To join Ayrton Senna and the likes round here is a very special thing.”

So special that after the podium ceremony he headed straight for the Energy Station where he kicked off a raucous victory party by launching himself into the ES swimming pool. His swan dive that afternoon would become the default celebration for our Monaco winners.

Webber Celebrates Our First Monaco Win© Getty Images

2011,SebastianVettel-StartedP1,FinishedP1

Mark won our first Monaco in the RB6 but it was Sebastian Vettel who would go on to win the 2010 championship and the young German carried that momentum through to the following season, taking the even more competitive RB7 to four poles and four wins from the first five races.

Vettel’s dominance (only Webber had beaten him to pole, in Spain, and only Hamilton had taken a win from him, in China) thus augured well for the Team’s defence of his 2010 Monaco win.

On Saturday he got the first half of the job done by taking his 20th career pole position, though not in the easiest circumstances. Sauber’s Sergio Pérez crashed heavily at the Nouvelle Chicane and would later be ruled out of the race and his crash caused a long suspension. But when the session resumed Seb’s provisional pole proved enough to earn him top spot on the grid.

Sebastian Vettel On Track In Monaco 2011© Getty Images

On a track where overtaking is nigh impossible and with the grid’s fastest car at his disposal that should have been the cue for a stately and victorious Sunday drive to the flag.

Monaco doesn’t often work that way, however, and though Seb took an early lead, his first pit stop went badly wrong with the team not ready for the German. The delay meant he re-joined behind McLaren’s Jenson Button and the win looked in jeopardy.

This was the era of new tyre supplier Pirelli’s cliff-edge tyres, however, and McLaren opted for a three-stop strategy. And when Button headed in for his second stop Seb regained the lead.

Sebastian Starts Off Strong© Red Bull Content Pool

The Team then adjusted Seb’s strategy to a one-stop and asked the champion to run a marathon second stint to the flag. He complied but owing to a safety car period and fading tyres it looked like he’d be reeled in and passed by Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso and third-placed Button.

But then, with just seven laps to go, the race irrevocably swung back towards the Red Bull driver. Renault’s Vitaly Petrov crashed at the Swimming Pool as part of a multi-car collision. The Russian was briefly trapped in his car and the race was red flagged. The field returned to the pit lane where it was permitted for work to be conducted on damage and crucially for Seb, for tyres to be changed.

When the race resumed with six laps left, Seb was on fresh tyres and after managing the safety car restart well, he was able to hold off any challenges and after 78 laps took the flag, his first Monaco win and the Team’s second at the legendary venue.

Sebastian Vettel Wins Monaco 2011© Getty Images

“It's difficult to describe; it's a great feeling,” said Seb. “Today it was a crazy race. It's difficult to imagine you can one-stop at this race, but that's more or less what we did. We took a lot of risks, but that made today's win even sweeter. Towards the end of the race the tyres I had were nowhere close to fresh – but I saw the only way to win the race was to stay out.

“I had 20 laps where I was under pressure from Fernando and Jenson, it would have been a difficult final six laps, but there was another safety car and a suspended race, so we were able to change the tyres. I'm extremely happy. I'm really, really happy. A fantastic result and a huge honour to put my name on the list of Monaco race winners. We fully deserved this win, we took the risk and we got the reward.”

2012,MarkWebber-StartedP1,FinishedP1

F1 had never seen six different drivers win the first six races of a season until 2012. No-one was betting against it, however, when Mark Webber lined up on pole.

Mark wasn’t the fastest man in qualifying, that honour went, for one last time, to Michael Schumacher – but with the Mercedes driver having a five-place penalty hanging over him from the Spanish Grand Prix, Mark was well aware he’d done enough.

Mark On His Way To Pole© Getty Images

He had a good start, getting to Ste. Devote ahead of the pack, and then never looking back. 78 laps later the first six crossed the line nose to tail, but this was rather more exciting than the traditional Monaco procession.

The drama started on the first lap with the safety car being deployed after a spin for Romain Grosjean and a crash for Pastor Maldonado. After that it was business as usual. Nico Rosberg from P2 was the first man to ditch the supersofts, stopping on lap 27. Webber followed two laps later and got out comfortably in front of his rival.

Sebastian Vettel, in the sister Red Bull had started on soft tyres, having failed to set a time in Q3 and was going for a long stint and led the race in clean air, pumping in a sequence of fast laps, hoping to build up a pit window over Mark.

The Aussie began to pace himself against his teammate and Vettel’s lead never got above 18 seconds. Finally, it began to decrease as his tyres went away: he pitted on lap 46 and emerged in fourth.

Leading The Pack On The Streets© Getty Images

In a dry race at Monaco it’s tempting to think that would have been the end of affairs, passing being largely reliant on the man in front making a mistake and the calibre of drivers at the top of this field rarely doing so – but rain was forecast and that changes things. Teams were expecting a light shower with the possibility of a heavy downfall later on.

It started to spit with ten laps to go. Webber dropped his pace by a few seconds and the leaders bunched behind him. Jean-Eric Vergne, running seventh for Toro Rosso, took the ultimate gamble and came in for intermediate tyres. He was throwing away a good result for the possibility of a great one. His throw of the dice failed, the rain ceased, and the leaders were soon back to their original pace. Despite the first six being covered by two seconds, no-one attempted anything desperate in the final laps. Webber took victory, pushed across the line by Rosberg, Fernando Alonso, Vettel, Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa.

“It was a very, very special victory today, and hopefully there’s more to come,” said a jubilant Webber, the 11th man to become a multiple winner of Formula One’s most famous race.

2018,DanielRicciardo-StartedP1,FinishedP1

Daniel Ricciardo won the 2018 Monaco Grand Prix, leading from start to finish, hounded – though not challenged – all the way by Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton. It looked smooth and serene. It wasn’t.

Daniel Drives Through The Monaco Tunnel© Vladimir Rys

Pirelli’s prediction was for a one-stop race and in the first stint it looked distinctly like no alarms, no surprises. Boring, in fact. The field got away smoothly and, given the difficulty of following closely, soon spread out to comfortable distances. Overtaking on the narrow streets of the Principality looked like a non-starter, with no-one inclined to try – except Max, starting from the back and grinding his way up to ninth after an FP3 crash exiting the Swimming Pool left him unable to qualify.

Daniel established a gap over his challengers. He didn’t respond when Hamilton made the first stop but, when Vettel stopped from P2 on lap 16, Ricciardo pitted the following lap. After losing the race from this position with a failed pit stop two years earlier, there was understandably a little tension in the shoulders of the Red Bull pit crew – but the stop went smoothly, Daniel swapped from hypersoft to ultrasoft tyres, and emerged with a comfortable lead of around three seconds. That should have been job done.

But it wasn’t. A few laps later the Red Bull RB14 started to fail, suffering ERS problems, then losing seventh and eighth gears, then the lack of ERS started to cause the rear brakes to deteriorate.

“From lap 18 we had problems. I went on throttle and had around half the amount of power I have normally,” explained Daniel afterwards. “I expected my race to be over shortly after that. For a few laps, I was stressing out. I asked the team if we could do anything, and they said ‘no, this is you for the rest of the race now.’ I still don’t know how we did it.”

Daniel On Track In Monaco© Vladimir Rys

Daniel appeared to glide around the circuit but under the surface he was working furiously with switch changes. The gap didn’t change. Even a wounded car is impossible to pass at Monaco if it gets through the corners positioned well, and the RB14 was positioned very well.

The second half of the race was largely processional, only to be enlivened by a huge crash with seven laps to go. Coming down the hill Charles Leclerc appeared to lose control. He got up onto the kerbs but couldn’t avoid slamming into the back of Brendon Hartley, ripping off the Toro Rosso’s back wing, destroying the front of his Sauber and showering the braking zone for the Nouvelle Chicane in debris.

The Virtual Safety Car was deployed and the race resumed with four laps to run. There was a sense this was Vettel’s chance – but he never challenged Ricciardo who sailed over the line untroubled. In 2016 the luck wasn’t with him. In 2018 it was. Having made flawless decisions all weekend, he was left with one last choice to make – whether to jump in the Energy Station swimming pool or the harbour.

“If I don’t jump in, people will throw me – but that pool looks pretty murky,” he said, looking slightly apprehensive about the oncoming ordeal.

Daniel Dives Into The Monaco Pool© Vladimir Rys

2021,MaxVerstappen-StartedP1(ish),FinishedP1

In the past, the Monaco Grand Prix hasn’t been very kind to Max. He failed to finish on both attempts for Toro Rosso with accident damage and despite having seen the chequered flag on all three attempts for Red Bull Racing, had never been on the podium. That changed this weekend with a lights to flag victory… sort of.

Charles Leclerc took provisional pole position for the 2021 Monaco Grand Prix and then crashed out on a second Q3 attempt. His clatter brought out the red flags and, with no time left for a restart, ended the session. Max, who was on a flyer of his own, throttled back and returned to the pits. Would he have been on pole? We’ll never know – but he was going quicker than he had on the first run.

Parking Up In P2 On Saturday© Getty Images

Leclerc’s damage ultimately prevented him from taking to the grid so Max, who officially started P2, had no-one in front – but he did have Valtteri Bottas only 8m behind and on the better line. If that rattled Max, he didn’t let it show and, despite a little wheelspin, got into Ste. Devote first and then controlled the race.

Mindful, perhaps, of his previous relationship with the Circuit de Monaco, Max didn’t seek to dominate. He simply built up a gap of five seconds to Valtteri Bottas, sufficiently comfortable to guard against the undercut and held it there.

He then hedged against the potential for a safety car or virtual safety car to allow anyone a quick stop by the simple expedient of staying out a little longer than his rivals. Bottas and Lando Norris pitted on lap 30 (Bottas did not emerge), Carlos Sainz, now running second, pitted on lap 32 and Max came in on Lap 34. He swapped the soft tyre for the hard and maintained an easy gap to the Ferrari, ultimately taking the chequered flag with a nine seconds margin.

Red Bull Gives You Wings© Getty Images

While Covid-19 meant there wasn’t an Energy Station in Monaco, and thus no Swimming Pool into which he could be thrown, the team had the consolation of leaving the Principality leading both Championships – for the first time since 2013.