Tuesday 28 May 2019 19:18, UK
The Monaco GP is the race every driver wants to win, and here we review and rate all the performances from the F1's showpiece weekend. It was nervy until the very end in the Principality, and there were several standout performances - from the front of the grid to the midfield...
Lewis Hamilton had to display all of his battling qualities to win his third Monaco GP. It was a performance Niki Lauda would have been proud of.
Hamilton didn't appear to be the quickest man in qualifying but made it count when it mattered, acing his final lap while his seemingly faster team-mate Valtteri Bottas struggled. And you could also argue Hamilton wasn't the fastest car in the race - never opening up a huge gap over his rivals, while Max Verstappen was all over the back of his Mercedes for more than 60 laps.
But while Hamilton was agitated on team radio, understandably so on degrading tyres after Mercedes' strategy error, the world champion fought. Fought like a man who knew this would open up a commanding 17-point gap in the championship. It's no wonder Toto Wolff claimed Hamilton "saved us".
Not at his scintillating best, but Hamilton wouldn't be stopped.
Rating out of ten: 9
It's odd to be talking about Sebastian Vettel's best result of the season after a relatively scrappy weekend.
Vettel admitted he didn't have the "ultimate trust and performance" in his Ferrari throughout the Monaco GP, and he wrestled with his car on Saturday - crashing in final practice before knocking against the barriers more than once in qualifying as he finished 0.7s off pole.
Sunday was much better, and Vettel hung on the coat tails of the Mercedes and Verstappen through the first stint, but while he was well-placed to capitalise on penalties or mistakes in third after the pit-stops, he never looked likely to challenge Verstappen and Hamilton. Indeed, Red Bull clearly had the faster car this weekend.
Still, at least Vettel held off the other Mercedes, while he remains the more consistent Ferrari driver.
Rating out of ten: 8
Valtteri Bottas' Monaco GP result could have been a lot worse. But it also could have been a whole lot better.
After sustaining damage in his pit-lane crash with Verstappen, Bottas was lucky only to have lost one place, considering the Red Bull's penalty, with his extra stop. But the Finn will also be ruing an opportunity missed. He was the fastest man throughout qualifying and felt he had an extra few tenths, at least, in his locker before he messed up his warm-up lap at the end of Q3.
If Bottas was on pole, you can assume that he would have held on for a victory, like Hamilton did, but from fourth Bottas just couldn't find a way past the Ferrari. Bottas should arguably have won both the Spanish GP and the Monaco GP but lost out in the crucial moments - these are the fine margins that may just swing the title battle.
Rating out of ten: 8
Max Verstappen's fine form continues. A year on from his last memorable on-track error, Verstappen produced his best-ever Monaco performance and, considering how hard he pushed Hamilton, he's incredibly unlucky to finish off the podium.
If anyone was going to beat the Mercedes, it was going to be Max. He was their closest challenger in qualifying, and then nearly passed Bottas into Turn One before, perhaps wisely, pulling out - a sign of a more mature driver. After a pit-lane penalty that he can take no blame for, Verstappen was dogged in his pursuit of Hamilton and while his lunge into the chicane was certainly optimistic, the fact he got so close was a sign of Verstappen's, and Red Bull's, pace.
Hamilton knew he had been in a fight.
"Of course I would have liked to be on the podium but if we look at the pace and performance, we were strong," Verstappen, who looks likely to be Mercedes' main championship challenger, told Sky F1.
Rating out of ten: 9
Steady improvements for Pierre Gasly and this was his best qualifying and race result in the Red Bull. But after six races, Gasly is still nowhere near Verstappen. In fact, the gap is the biggest between team-mates on the whole grid.
Gasly, though showing glimpses of speed in qualifying, still finished 0.4s behind Verstappen. In the race, while well ahead of the midfield, Red Bull felt Gasly was far enough behind the top four that they decided to pit him to collect a fastest lap bonus point.
Red Bull have the second-quickest car this season, but Verstappen is carrying the fight to the Mercedes single-handedly. Gasly has to pick up the pace.
Rating out of ten: 6.5
"My Dad always told me, if there's a place to shine - it's Monaco." And shine, Carlos Sainz did.
Sainz has never been out-qualified in Monte Carlo and maintained that record by making it into Q3 ahead of McLaren team-mate Lando Norris, while his start to the race is worth a second, third and fourth watch.
That double overtake into Turn Three made his race, and after benefiting from Ricciardo and Magnussen's ill-advised stops, Sainz then comfortably kept his rivals at bay to secure sixth, the second time he has done so in Monaco. After an unlucky start to the season, the Spaniard is beginning to make his mark as McLaren's leader.
Rating out of ten: 8.5
Daniil Kvyat's F1 revival continues, so much so that the Russian believes he is now driving "better than ever".
In a strong Toro Rosso car, Kvyat led much-praised team-mate Alex Albon in qualifying (8th) and the race (7th), and at times was the quickest man on track. A great result.
Rating out of ten: 8
Alex Albon impressed throughout the Monaco weekend and though he was out-paced by his team-mate, the Thai driver was rewarded with his best-ever F1 finish. He really has settled in well, and those links with Gasly's Red Bull seat are likely to persist for a while yet.
Rating out of ten: 7.5
Not quite the same Monaco feeling for Daniel Ricciardo as it was in 2018, but an impressive weekend nonetheless. Ricciardo qualified seventh, making Q3 ahead of team-mate Nico Hulkenberg, and then looked well-placed to finish 'best of the rest' after overtaking Kevin Magnussen early on. But a pit-stop under the Safety Car, while usually a good idea, cost Ricciardo and he lost places to Sainz and the Toro Rossos. In the end, ninth was the best he could hope for.
"We definitely could have done better and got a great result as we had all the cards in our hand," said last year's winner.
Rating out of ten: 8
Romain Grosjean was off the pace compared to his Haas team-mate throughout the Monaco GP weekend - not helped by a Gasly block in qualifying - but in the end, a mammoth first stint helped him collect his team's only point. Hamilton's 67-lap stint on medium tyres understandably attracted a lot of attention but reserve some praise for Grosjean, who lasted on the soft compound for 50 laps.
Rating out of ten: 7
Ultimately, this wasn't the Monaco Grand Prix debut Lando Norris would have wanted, as he just missed out on a points finish in 11th place. Yet, while he would have hoped for more, he was able to play his part in Sainz's stellar sixth place as a long first stint all the way to lap 47 kept Ricciardo and others at bay in the fight for points.
"For myself maybe not great and perhaps I could've got a point, but I'm still happy," said the Englishman, as thoughts began to turn to a Montreal debut.
Rating out of ten: 6.5
Considering Racing Point's lack of pace here, Sergio Perez's 12th-place finish is actually a good result. While Perez also deserves credit for managing to narrowly avoid the marshals as they ran across the track…
Rating out of ten: 6.5
As Nico Hulkenberg rather uniquely put it in one of his post-race interviews, there wasn't an awful lot to say about his race. His early clash with an attacking Charles Leclerc at Rascasse over 11th place punctured his tyre and put paid to the hopes of any points.
He came home 13th and believes neither he nor Renault are getting the rub of the green right now: "With a clear track at the end, we showed very good pace. The car had more performance and potential than what the result showed," he bemoaned.
Rating out of ten: 6
"I don't even want to go into all that happened, otherwise you'd have to write a book about it."
It's clear Guenther Steiner wasn't happy with Haas' afternoon - and Kevin Magnussen would certainly have expected more than 14th after starting up in fifth. A fine Saturday turned into a disastrous Sunday.
Like Ricciardo, Magnussen lost ground after pitting under the Safety Car but unlike Ricciardo, Magnussen couldn't make his way back into the points and then lost more time for an incident with Perez.
Rating out of ten: 6.5
No wonder George Russell described that a "really enjoyable" afternoon of racing. 'Fun' is not something either Williams driver has been able to truly have much off in races this year, so being attached to the back of the midfield pack on Sunday was certainly as good as it has been so far.
Russell finished ahead of Racing Point's Lance Stroll and both Alfa Romeos, with the added late fillip of being told over the radio that he was matching the leaders' pace (caveats do apply). Russell could be more than content with that.
Rating out of ten: 8
That's 10 Q1 eliminations in a row for Lance Stroll, and after another disappointing qualifying, it was always going to be difficult to recover. A five-second penalty didn't help, but Stroll was never going to challenge for points here.
Rating out of ten: 5
Perhaps it was an omen when Kimi Raikkonen told Alfa Romeo he didn't want any fuss about his 300th grand prix appearance. There was ultimately nothing to celebrate here.
Missing out on Q3 set the tone and Kimi finished where he ended lap one, albeit with some scrapes and incidents along the way. Alfa will be keen to nip back-back scoreless weekends in the bud next time out.
Rating out of ten: 6
Robert Kubica has yet to out-qualify his team-mate this season but may well have had as impressive a race, if it weren't for his collision with Antonio Giovinazzi.
Rating out of ten: 6
For Antonio Giovinazzi, see Kimi Raikkonen. The Italian's 2019 Monaco fate was sealed when he qualified only 15th and then compounded when a grid penalty for blocking Hulkenberg dropped him to 18th.
He ended up battling Robert Kubica early on, the pair collided at Rascasse, caused a brief blockage and things didn't get any better than there. Believe it or not, Giovinazzi was sixth-fastest in final practice, but that ultimately counted for nothing.
Rating out of ten: 5
Not Charles Leclerc's weekend. He messed up his first flying Q1 run with a Rascasse lock-up but he still should have been afforded another run - after all, Vettel was given that luxury after a qualifying mistake of his own. Leclerc therefore started 15th and following a great move on Grosjean at the aforementioned corner, he clattered into the barriers when trying the same move on Hulkenberg.
As Leclerc said, he wanted to be "extreme" with his overtaking - but that was certainly a step too far.
Rating out of ten: 5.5
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