Formula 1 returns to action this weekend with the Monaco Grand Prix, one of the most prestigious and famous races on the calendar. Before the action begins, I need to know is your all-in-one guide with tons of stats, trivia, information, and more. You can also see how fans have voted using our F1 Play Predictor Game.
Opening day of testing in the Principality will take place on May 26, followed by qualifying day on May 27 and finally the Grand Prix itself on May 28, with another exciting weekend of F1 action. reserved.
READ MORE: Download the F1 race calendar to your device
vital statistics
- First Grand Prix – 1950
- Runway length: 3,337 km
- Lap record: 1m 12.909s, Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 2021
- Most pole positions: Ayrton Senna (5)
- Most wins: Ayrton Senna (6)
- Curiosities: Monaco was one of the seven venues on the inaugural calendar of the F1 World Championship in 1950
- Pole run to turn 1 braking point: 142 meters
- Passes made in 2022 – 21
- Safety Car Chance – 71%*
- Virtual Safety Car Chance: 57%*
- Loss of pit stop time: 20 seconds
*Of the last seven races in Monaco
FAN VIEW: Max Verstappen tops the F1 game voting with just over 50% of the players picking him for victory, but his Red Bull teammate Sergio Pérez also has huge support. ‘Czech’ has just under 30% so far, while Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc is around 12%.
The driver’s verdict
Jolyon Palmer, former Renault F1 driver: Monaco is a beautiful circuit and a real drivers track. It feels like crazy in an F1 car; even compared to other street circuits, it’s very narrow, the roads are warped, it’s narrow and twisty and there are challenges everywhere…
I love coming out of Sainte Devote, Turn 1, which is a challenge in itself. It is so steep at the exit that you are looking at the sky going to Massenet and Casino. You have to hug the inside line at Massenet, otherwise you slide into the barriers on the outside.
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The fork is a little more straightforward, but you feel like you’re there for forever, bouncing around while everything is bumpy. You exit the tunnel and choose a braking point for the chicane, where you have to get as close as possible to the armco on the left hand side.
Occasionally you see people get too greedy and just bite into it, causing a puncture and a bit of damage, but you also see a lot of people going straight through the chicane, especially early in practice, just trying to find the correct braking point. It’s one of the few places where you have a bit of a margin for error, so people will pick up on it quicker.
ON BOARD: Charles Leclerc’s 2022 Pirelli Pole Position Award Lap at Monaco Grand Prix
The last five pole sitters of the Monaco GP
- 2022 – Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
- 2021 – Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
- 2019 – Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
- 2018 – Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull)
- 2017 – Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari)
The last five Monaco GP winners
- 2022 – Sergio Perez (Red Bull)
- 2021 – Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
- 2019 – Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
- 2018 – Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull)
- 2017 – Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari)
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FAN VIEW: Verstappen is favorite in F1 game to be the fastest in a single lap this weekend, but it’s not a given. Monaco offers a unique challenge and Perez, a street specialist, has just under 20% of the vote, while local boy Leclerc is also attracting support.
Strategy and preparation keys
Bernie Collins, former Aston Martin F1 strategist: Monaco is the ultimate street track where qualifying and securing track position is everything. With this in mind, the teams will carefully plan their tire use over the weekend to ensure they have the maximum number of new sets available for qualifying.
But qualifying brings its own challenges, with 20 drivers scrambling to find space on just 3.337km of track in the opening session of Q1. Temperamental GPS has also caused headaches in the past, with this vital tool for informing drivers of traffic and available gaps in both qualifying and the race.
Sessions are often interrupted due to crashes or stoppages, which means an early lap in qualifying is important, while it can be more difficult to get a sense of long-term performance due to red flags or traffic, although, as mentioned above, this is not that important. deal breaker here.
When it comes to race day, the narrow start/finish straight and natural right-hander mean some drivers have a hard time seeing the start lights, while also having to deal with the tightest pit lane of the year. , with very small spaces between the garages. .
Under a Safety Car, of which there is a high risk in the Principality, the 60km/h speed-limited pit lane can be very busy and ruin any advantage of stopping cautiously, so sometimes it is better to stop an extra lap late when there is a little more. space to work.
In fact, it’s so narrow that pit wall brackets are usually placed on the second or third floor of garage buildings, meaning the pit wall can see the pit lane from above but not the start line. /arrival, nor in their respective garages.
Given the high downforce nature of the track, the barrier-fringed edges and the limited number of ‘straights’, overtaking is a difficult task over a race distance, which comes in at 260km, as opposed to the usual 305km. , due to the lower speeds.
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Another point to mention is that teams can have two versions of some components: light and heavy. They will run the stronger version in Monaco, which in the past meant steel tie rods or other suspension components. Also, they may require a different steering rack than normal for the fork.
Lastly, it wouldn’t be Monaco without the nightlife and party atmosphere, adding another unique twist to the weekend in which the track surface is ‘reset’ each night by goers at La Rascasse bar and other venues. .
FAN VIEW: Reborn Fernando Alonso not quite locked in for a 2023 fifth podium finish via F1 gamebut it’s not far. As for outsiders, it is again the second Ferrari of Carlos Sainz and the Mercedes pairing of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell who are most likely to crash the highly anticipated party.
current form
Red Bull is yet to be beaten in 2023, having racked up wins in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Australia, Azerbaijan and most recently Miami, with Verstappen and Perez enjoying their time behind the wheel of a fast RB19 machine.
Monaco’s recent history is also on Red Bull’s side, with Pérez winning the 2022 event and Verstappen triumphing in 2021, while Daniel Ricciardo’s victory in 2018 means the team has won three of the last four races held at the track (the 2020 event is not being staged due to the COVID-19 pandemic).
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But if there is a ‘weakness’ for Red Bull this season, it is that its lap pace has tended to be a step below its race performance. With track position being crucial here, if a rival driver can pull ahead in qualifying, there’s a good chance he can stay in front on race day.
Could that open the door for Aston Martin to achieve a breakthrough result? Fernando Alonso has taken four podiums from five races so far and is in the hunt for what would be a famous 33rd Grand Prix victory, having recently passed the 10-year mark of his last F1 victory.
Ferrari also continues to show flashes of pace, having claimed pole position at the last two Monaco Grands Prix thanks to local hero Leclerc, while there is much intrigue over the major upgrade package Mercedes will unveil this weekend – and whether it can carry the Silver Arrows in contention.
FAN VIEW: According to F1 game In the voting, Alpine’s Pierre Gasly is expected to be back in the points, while his teammate Esteban Ocon also has plenty of support. Meanwhile, McLaren’s Lando Norris is another driver that players believe he will be in the top 10. AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda is a popular pick here after missing out on Miami.
iconic moment
There are plenty of memorable moments to choose from when it comes to the Monaco Grand Prix, given the number of legendary pole laps, rain-affected races and tense battles that have taken place over the past seven decades of F1 competition.
But those of you who visited our website over the weekend will have seen a link to watch a replay of the 2008 racewhich started in the wet and gradually dried up, while featuring a series of incidents, the appearance of the Safety Car and some daring overtaking.
Although Ferrari pairing Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen started on the front row of the grid, it was Lewis Hamilton who emerged as Monaco’s maestro in an encounter that had it all, including an incident that left the McLaren driver with a flat tire and seemingly out of contention. .
Watch all the drama as it unfolds in the video player below…
2008 Monaco Grand Prix: Race highlights