MorrisF1

Well, I always lambast Monaco for being boring and this year was quite the exception, providing a delayed and somewhat truncated race but one that was altogether more engaging than usual. There was chaos at the delayed start (16 minutes later than planned) as unexpected rain and a formation lap (laps, as it transpired) behind the safety car necessitated full wet tyres and engineers frantically changing wheels. After a couple of these and heavier rain it was deemed too wet to race (probably rightly). We then had quite some time hanging around while rain fell. When it calmed enough for a rolling start after following the safety car, things got underway. The top quartet started pulling away from those behind and, for the most part, it was formation flying. Leclerc pulled perhaps 5-7s on Sainz but otherwise there was just a couple of seconds between the top chaps. At this stage, all looked rosy for the Monegasque at his home race. And then Ferrari did a Ferrari. The question w

Qualifying is usually the exciting bit of the Monaco Grand Prix weekend and it had its moments this time out too. In the first session, there was a slightly premature red flag when Tsunoda clocked a barrier and destroyed a wheel. He ended up making it through, but the timing stopped Gasly (his team mate) setting a quick time and the Frenchman just barely missed the lights for a second attempt after the red flag ended, so he was a shock departure in 17 th . Stroll was likewise compromised. Both Williams failed to proceed and Zhou Guanyu was slowest of all. The track was improving a lot, and Perez continued to look like the lead Red Bull, with Sainz also clearly in contention for pole. The top quartet had no trouble escaping Q2, but both Haas cars failed to proceed despite having some reasonable pace. Tsunoda was 11 th , with Bottas 12 th and Ricciardo a lacklustre 14 th . Come the final part of qualifying Leclerc was initially the fastest, ahead of his team mate, with Per

And so to the tedious procession that is Monaco. Well, not every race weekend can be at a good circuit. In first practice Leclerc was quickest but Perez was less than four-hundredths behind him, with Sainz similarly close to the Mexican. Verstappen was only a tenth further back. Best of the rest was Norris, a few tenths down the road, narrowly ahead of Gasly, Ricciardo, and Russell, with Vettel and Hamilton bottom of the top 10. Second practice was a Ferrari 1-2, Leclerc leading Sainz by four-hundredths. Perez was next but three tenths off the pace, with Verstappen almost a tenth behind his team mate (the Mexican has always been good at street circuits and seems to have a better grip on this year’s car than last season’s). Norris was again best of the rest, ahead of Russell, Gasly, Alonso, Vettel, and Tsunoda. At the moment, Norris is looking interesting (8.2 for a podium with Betfair). If Red Bull can sort themselves out then Perez (22 for pole, Betfair, or 15 each way with Ladbro

  This circuit can sometimes be a bit of a tedious procession, but this time the event was pretty entertaining. My bet was red, but this was a misjudgement rather than misfortune, so I can’t complain. Initially, every driver started on soft except for Hamilton (medium). Alonso opted to take a new engine and start at the back seeing as he was pretty close to it anyway. Off the line, Leclerc did well to fend off Verstappen and retain the lead while Sainz lost out to both Perez and Russell, with the Briton ending up ahead of both the Mexican and the Spaniard. On lap 1 Magnussen got too close to Hamilton and caused a collision that put them to the back of the field and forced Hamilton to pit early due to a puncture. At this stage, the most successful driver in the sport’s history was ready to give up to save the engine the mileage (his team disagreed, and he continued). Sainz had a weird spin, by himself, which seems to have been caused by a gust of wind, and put him well down the