In the Formula 1 World Championship, the vast majority of engineers who work in the teams follow the grand prix practically without watching the signal offered by television, because they trust more in the information transmitted by the countless sensors that have been distributed throughout the single-seaters than from the images of the track that the filmmakers click. Well interpreted, the data allows conclusions to be drawn that provide context, and those who leave the first eight stops on the calendar venture a change of scenery to the excitement of the fans, tired of the roller that Max Verstappen and Red Bull have endured in the last two years. The statistics of the last two seasons reflect an overwhelming dominance of the red buffalo brand, which went from winning 17 out of a possible 22 in 2022 (77%), to increasing that proportion and reaching record numbers, with 21 wins in 22 (95%). The success rate of the red buffalo team has experienced a severe slowdown this year, in which Red Bull has ‘only’ won five of the first eight grand prix, and one of the last three.
In Miami it was Lando Norris who made his debut in the championship, after a journey that was beginning to worry him (110 grand prix). In Imola, two weeks ago, the current champion went wide to prevent, ‘in extremis’, the British from winning again. This Sunday, in Monaco, ‘Mad Max’ had less dynamite than ever due to a disastrous qualifying that placed him sixth on the starting grid, his worst starting position since October of last year (Austin). Not even the magic that his hands normally do could take him to the podium in this case – he finished sixth – something that had not happened to the red buffalo brand’s racer since the 2023 Singapore Grand Prix. That night it was the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz who ended Verstappen’s streak of ten consecutive victories, and Red Bull’s 15. This time it was Charles Leclerc, who again won a race two years after the last one (Austria 2022). This is the first time that a Monegasque has climbed to the top step of the box at home, a circumstance that allows the ‘Scuderia’ to shine again on the most universal circuit on the calendar, something it has not achieved since 2017, with Sebastian Vettel. . Second place went to Oscar Piastri, while Carlos Sainz closed the podium, the fourth for the Madrid native this year, who is still looking for a car with a view to the future. Fernando Alonso, for his part, crossed eleventh, conditioned by a qualifying that took him away from everything good.
Not even the two exits that occurred as a result of the blow that Checo Pérez suffered right at the beginning questioned the dominance of Leclerc, who had been chasing glory at home for years, denied on some occasions by his own team. In 2021 and 2022, taking pole position was not enough for the Ferrari driver to reach the finish line first. This season everything was in his favor, and the pilot of ‘Il Cavallino Rampante’ went crazy, warning on the radio of the party that would arrive at night at Jimmy’z, the fashionable joint.
“It is the race that made me dream of reaching F1 one day. With 15 laps to go, I was only thinking that nothing would happen,” summarized the great protagonist of the weekend, owner and lord of the track since Friday. At more than 200 kilometers per hour and wriggling through the slides of his city, Leclerc’s head went beyond the walls that embrace the most trapped route that exists. “I thought more about my father than about driving,” commented the boy, in memory of Hervé, his father, who died in 2017.
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