![]() ![]() The pair quickly set the pace and pulled away from third-place man Valtteri Bottas and the two Red Bull’s of Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo. Kimi Raikkonen, after a sublime pole-winning lap on Saturday, led the field cleanly through the first corner with teammate Sebastian Vettel behind. The Canadian GP is one of Hamilton’s favourite circuits and one that he has always excelled in.Victory around the Monaco streets had eluded Ferrari for sixteen years until yesterday’s comprehensive one-two victory. Up Next in the Land of the Polar Bear: Canada! He also managed to skilfully avoid the midfield tangle. Following this pit, he lost a single place to Carlos Sainz and eventually finished 7th. The strategy worked, as Hamilton had made up 7 grid places by the time he pitted at Lap 46 in 6th place. Mercedes decided to run Hamilton long and take advantage when others pitted. But he continued without losing his position. Perez collided with Daniil Kvyat – who went out of the race.Īt the restart Ricciardo hit the wall at Sainte Devote while under pressure from Bottas. Vandoorne slid into the barrier while passing Perez. It was this safety car that started a series of collisions that enlivened the otherwise ‘processional’ race.Įricsson crashed out under the safety car. Jensen Button’s ‘one off’ appearance this season (with Alonso at the Indy 500) started light heartedly – with Button joking to Alonso that he was going to ‘pee in his seat’ and ended with disappointment when he crashed out after colliding with Wehrlein on Lap 66. Verstappen was similarly annoyed by his team’s pit tactics and referred to Red Bull’s strategy as ‘a disaster.’ He had been switched to ultra-softs to give him a chance to pass Bottas – but he failed to pass Bottas after pitting first, while teammate Ricciardo went from 5th to 3rd after running long and pitting later. Whatever the truth, this was an incredible day for Ferrari they last won here in Monaco with Michael Schumacher in 2001 and today they took 1st and 2nd place. Obviously, it’s still second place but it doesn’t feel awfully good.” Raikkonen hasn’t won a race since the Australian Grand Prix in 2013 (with Lotus), today was arguably his best chance to win again – and it was scuppered by the team.Īnd he wasn’t the only one to sense a strategy Hamilton “It’s clear to me that Ferrari have chosen their No.1 driver…for the leading car, it’s very hard for him to get jumped by the second car unless the team decide to favour the other car.”īut Vettel claimed that it wasn’t part of a plan “when Kimi stopped I was just going flat out as fast as I could. But was it deliberate? Raikkonen certainly seemed to think so, “Nothing to say really. It was this move by Ferrari that gave Vettel the lead and ultimately the win. He then increased his lead to 10 seconds over the next 8 laps. Meanwhile, Vettel stayed out longer and managed to achieve some strong laps before pitting on Lap 39 – when he had a 2 second lead. Raikkonen led at the first corner and then both Ferrari’s proceeded to edge away from Bottas, Verstappen and Ricciardo.įerrari pitted Raikkonen on Lap 34, with no obvious reason for them to do so, and when he re-joined the race he emerged into traffic. With a ‘one pit only’ plan, would Ferrari engineer a strategy so that Vettel won? It would appear so… Hamilton had too much to do today, following a disappointing qualifying session (involving driving errors and problems with tyres) and he started 13th on the grid. Vettel had made mistakes during qualifying, but started in 2nd place to make it a Ferrari one-two. Raikkonen was in pole, for the first time in 9 years. Passing is always nigh on impossible on the Monte Carlo street circuit and with this season’s wider cars, seemingly more so – giving qualifying and pit strategy an even greater importance. “The battle’s not over, boys.” (Hamilton) A favourite Formula One race for many, today the Monaco Grand Prix proved fairly uninspiring the late safety car following Button’s crash providing the only flurry of excitement.
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