Formula 1: 2024 Monaco Grand Prix Wrap Up

Staff Writer Will Black provides an in-depth summary of the 2024 Monaco Grand Prix.

A massive lap one crash, a curse broken, and a premiere finish for Williams. Let’s wrap up the Monaco Grand Prix.

Alpine

The running joke of Esteban Ocon crashing into his teammates was revived once again in Monaco after the Frenchman attempted a dive on Pierre Gasly at turn 7. Ocon bounced over the top of Gasly’s car and causing massive floor damage which took Ocon out of the race. Despite this lap 1 incident, Gasly was able to finish the race with some more points for Alpine in P10.

Aston Martin

Aston Martin didn’t seem to show much of anything in Monaco this year. Fernando Alonso stayed outside of the points in P11, and Lance Stroll was similarly underwhelming finishing P14. Stroll did create some excitement with a puncture but was close enough to the pitlane to hobble in to get it changed. 

Ferrari 

Ferrari were looking incredibly strong this weekend as Charles Leclerc was able to take pole position in Monaco for the third time in his career. Carlos Sainz was just behind him in P3 but a lap one incident (explained below) caused him to tumble down the order with a puncture. Following the red flag, Sainz was saved as the stewards allowed him to maintain his P3 start since not all the cars had passed through the sector 1 light gate.

Leclerc was finally able to convert a Monaco pole. He became the first Monegasque to win the race since 1931. It was pretty much smooth sailing for the Scuderia as both cars finished the race where they started. In fact, every car in the top 10 did so, making it the first time in history that the top 10 at the start of the race finished in the exact same positions.

Haas

Haas’ weekend didn’t start off brilliantly as both cars were disqualified for improper use of the Drag Reduction System (DRS). Both started from the back of the grid, with Kevin Magnussen immediately crashing into the side of Sergio Perez’s car, destroying it. This took out Magnussen, Perez, and the other Haas car of Nico Hulkenburg.  

Kick Sauber

As usual, Sauber were something of a non-entity. Valterri Bottas finished P13 and Zhou Guanyu P16. They thankfully didn’t even have to do a pit stop due to the red flag.

Mercedes

Mercedes seemed to have improved pace in Monaco. For the seventh time George Russel outqualified Lewis Hamilton for P5, with Hamilton in P7. Both cars were unable to push up the field but it was a positive weekend for the German team.

McLaren

Oscar Piastri showed a lot of pace this weekend qualifying and finishing P2. He was quicker than his teammate Lando Norris, who finished P4.

RB

Yuki Tsunoda was very strong in Monaco taking home some more important points for his team, finishing P8. Ricciardo was disappointing however as he finished outside the points in P13. There are serious questions regarding Ricciardo’s place in F1 next year, which is not helped by him being consistently outraced by his much younger teammate.

Red Bull

Red Bull were the most surprising in Monaco as Max Verstappen was only able to qualify P6 and his teammate Perez was knocked out of Q1 and qualified P16. Questions will be raised towards Perez’s place in the team next year as he is showing a severe lack of pace in one of, if not the, fastest car on the grid. Perez was taken out by Magnussen as previously mentioned but it doesn’t change the concern around his pace. It would seem that Red Bull’s lack of pace in Monaco is down to the suspension issues that Verstappen has been complaining about. Verstappen was unable to attack the curbs as aggressively as necessary while going around the circuit, possibly causing his surprising qualifying position.

Williams

Alexander Albon was very strong in Monaco putting his Williams car into Q3 and maintaining that position. He started P9 and finished there grabbing the team’s first set of points for 2024. Logan Sargeant did not show the same pace and finished P15.

Results

Looking Ahead

Race 9: Montréal, Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve, June 07-09