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By Hong Lau
We have hit the European stretch of the F1 calendar. We are praying for people in the Emilia-Romagna region, but we missed a week of F1 due to their flood!
It's great to have race weekend back, and we just finished off the weekend at the Crowned jewel of the calendar Monaco. To some fans, this may be a boring part of a year due to the lack of the ability to overtake. To others, it is an extreme measure of talent and mental fortitude. Cars have become much faster and more significant as the years have passed. Which has made it continually harder to drive on the circuit with modern cars. Cars don't really get to show their true speed and true potential on this track. It doesn't lack the ability to test drivers because one mistake or lapse of judgment and they are into the barrier / taken off the road, and their whole race could be ruined. The race doesn't allow for much room for error, and that itself is special every year.
This was the first time we got to see the new Mercedes W14 design in action. As noted by everyone, Monaco is not the ideal track to test it out on, but it was overall a beautiful car and, I think successful first run for the team. They slotted around the same spot where they normally sit with a new car design. I expect Mercedes, by the next 4-5 races to hone in on that second place for the constructors. I expect to see this team really lock in and become a potential contender in 2025. I think in 2024, they'll be .1-.2 behind Red Bull and fighting for wins on tracks that suit their car better. (Hoping that I'm incorrect here)
As a Ferrari fan, I just don't even want to talk about my team, lol. What a tough weekend, starting with Charles's penalty in qualifying and then the tough race weekend. I don't think Ferrari will ever actually move back into contention. I've said many times on our podcast that I don't believe team principals actually have the ability to make decisions and run a team. I do believe the Ferrari corporate structure to have a whole lot of say and red tape around any decisions (personal opinion, that's it)
I'll recap the race weekend quickly. By far as most fans are used to, Monaco is all about Saturday and Qualifying. In terms of putting yourself in the best position come Sunday and also entertainment value and this week didn't disappoint.
What a fun qualifying with Max Verstappen pulling out that massive last sector and Fernando Alonso having a blistering lap to put the pressure on Max to deliver maybe the greatest quality lap of his young career. Shoutout to Ocon on his incredible qualifying lap that put him on the second row. Charles Leclerc getting a penalty to block Lando Norris.
In terms of the race, it felt pretty standard in Monaco; you can pretty much count the amount of overtakes on one hand. The rain added a little fun towards the last part of the race. All in all, Red Bull and Max Verstappen continue to push forward with a chokehold on both championships.
We'll see you guys soon.
