Five Formula 1 Winners & Losers: Monaco Grand Prix

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The Jewel in the Crown has come and past, and this year it made two bits of history.

One was amazing.

The other…was not.

Here are the winners and losers from Monaco.

Losers

5. Monaco

For the first time in Formula 1 history, the top 10 finishing order was the exact same as the qualifying order.

That’s bad!

It’s well known that passing at Monaco is impossible, and I don’t think they should get rid of the Grand Prix altogether, but man oh man. Something has to change.

4. Daniel Ricciardo

A former master of Monaco who once again was soundly beat by his teammate.

Liam Lawson is waiting in the wings for next year, and it was going to be a battle between Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda to see who wins out to be Lawson’s teammate.

Ricciardo is losing. Comprehensively.

3. Haas

It was an amazing weekend for Haas, with both cars qualifying very high up.

Except their car was illegal. So they were disqualified from qualifying and had to start on the back row of the grid.

Their race only lasted one corner as well, as Kevin Magnussen created an accident collecting him, Sergio Perez, and his teammate Nico Hulkenberg.

A weekend so promising, ended so terribly.

2. Sergio Perez

I know Red Bull struggled this weekend.

Hell, even Max only qualified 6th.

But 18th?

18th????

And I know the accident wasn’t his fault, but it was in a way as there is no reason for him to be that far back.

Just a horrible weekend.

1. Esteban Ocon

But you know what’s worse than qualifying poorly?

Divebombing your teammate when both of you are in the points ruining your race and almost ruining his as well.

Ocon went for a move that was never going to work, and ruined a great chance at double points for an Alpine team that desperately needed it.

There’s even a possibility that Ocon is dropped before the Canadian Grand Prix, which shows there must be something behind the scenes, as Ocon has outperformed teammate Pierre Gasly so far this year.

Winners

5. Zak O’Sullivan

Remember earlier when I said nobody can pass at Monaco?

Well, in the Formula 2 feature race, Zak O’Sullivan won the race despite starting 15th.

Absolutely unheard of, and deserving of a mention, even if he’s not in Formula 1.

4. Pierre Gasly

Gasly’s excellent qualifying effort put Alpine in a great spot to get points and, despite getting slammed into on the opening lap by his teammate, he was able to do so and finished 10th.

That Alpine is not a good car, so that’s a great result.

3. Alex Albon

But slightly outdoing Gasly during qualifying was Alex Albon, who qualified and finished 9th in the race getting one extra point for Williams.

Saturday is the most important day at Monaco, so a good performance there sets you up perfectly.

2. Oscar Piastri

Lando Norris has been outstanding this year for McLaren, so it’s easy to forget that Oscar Piastri has been just as impressive this year.

But he reminded everyone this weekend, outqualifying Lando Norris and getting a podium for McLaren.

1. Charles Leclerc

But the weekend belonged to the Monegasque driver.

In 2021, Leclerc won pole position, but crashed on the following lap damaging his car beyond repair and he couldn’t race.

He put it on pole in 2022 as well, but a pit stop error found him off the podium entirely.

But this year, on the third time of trying from pole position, Charles Leclerc became the first Monegasque driver to win the Monaco Grand Prix.

It was an amazing moment for him and for his family, and an excellent light on what was an overall boring weekend.

But hey, I’ll take boring races if it leads to great moments like that.