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Figures after Monaco GP | Red Bull almost perfect, Mercedes heavily inadequate

Figures after Monaco GP | Red Bull almost perfect, Mercedes heavily inadequate

24-05-2021 16:54
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GPblog.com

The race itself may not have been too exciting, but there was plenty happening over the weekend of the Monaco Grand Prix. A number of teams managed to make good gains in the constructors' championship, while others made mistakes. Here are the marks the teams got on their report card!

Mercedes - 3

Boy, oh, boy. Where did it go wrong? All weekend Mercedes, especially Lewis Hamilton, were not sitting comfortably. Valtteri Bottas seemed to save the honour for the team driving in P2 until the first pitstop, but a damaged wheel nut forced the Finn to retire. Hamilton's strategy was poor and he had no good word to say about his team after the race, finishing as the only one of the two in a poor seventh place.

Red Bull Racing - 9

After a poor start on Thursday, Max Verstappen was on the verge of pole position in qualifying. Charles Leclerc's late crash in Q3 meant the Dutchman was unable to improve and hence he started in P2, which was effectively pole after Leclerc's DNS. In the end he controlled the race from start to finish and took victory on the streets of the principality. Sergio Perez drove a decent recovery race by maximizing a good strategy and finished in P4.

McLaren - 8

The car was clearly good, as Lando Norris showed that in Monaco, and for the second time in 2021 he got to the podium on behalf of McLaren. But what is going on with Daniel Ricciardo? If Norris can bring that car to P3, the Aussie should be able to do the same. However, it is clear that the British team is on its way back to the top and will once again fight for the third place in the Constructors' standings.

Aston Martin - 8.5

Aston Martin's car is significantly slower than they had hoped for, but a very strong strategy from both Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll saw both drivers gain places. Vettel finished fifth and picked up his first points for Aston Martin and Stroll finished inside the top 10. An excellent weekend for the British team.

Alpine - 6

Fernando Alonso didn't make it out of Q3, so Esteban Ocon had to show it in Monaco. In the end, he drove a fairly invisible race and finished on P9. Alonso didn't score any points, so Alpine has to settle for a six.

Ferrari - 7.5

This was supposed to be Ferrari's weekend. Unfortunately, it ended much differently than hoped for. From the first free practice, the Scuderia was on a roll. And pole position was even taken by Charles Leclerc! Unfortunately he crashed the car after that fast time and apparently it was never checked properly. On the way to the grid it became clear that the car had more damage than expected and he couldn't start. Carlos Sainz saved the honour with a second position in the race. It was a very mixed weekend for Ferrari with much more to come.

AlphaTauri - 7

AlphaTauri will have to rely on Pierre Gasly, just like in 2020. After a pointless start in Bahrain, the Frenchman has managed to score time and again. This time with a great strategy that saw him come in just ahead of Hamilton after his pit stop. Gasly finished sixth, but Tsunoda was only in P16 behind the two Williams cars.

Alfa Romeo - 7.5

Slowly but surely Alfa Romeo seems to be catching up with the midfield. In Monaco, Antonio Giovinazzi scored their first point of the season, taking the team's lead from zero. Kimi Raikkonen finished just behind him in P11.

Haas F1 - 5

During practice, things weren't looking too bad for the American team. Nikita Mazepin and Mick Schumacher were lapping close to P15 and the team seemed to have a real chance of making it out of Q1 in 2021. Unfortunately, Schumacher crashed badly at the end of FP3, leaving Mazepin to do it on his own. But unfortunately, in qualifying the fifteenth place was not there. The race was not great either, although there seems to be some improvement. They finished P17 and P18, ahead of only the two retirees, and three laps down on the leaders.

Williams - 6

Again no points for Williams. The team were invisible at the Monaco GP, with the best performance arguably being the fact that Nicholas Latifi's battered car was repaired in time for qualifying.