Everything you need to know about the coming 2023 Monaco Grand Prix
The 2023 Formula 1 continues a week after the correct cancellation of the race at Imola due to the tragedy created in the Emilia Romagna region by inclement weather causing floods and landslides. The 2023 Monaco Grand Prix will be the sixth round of the 2023 Formula 1 World Championship season and it could mean a new dominant win for Red Bull with Max Verstappen and Sergio Pérez fighting for top spots or a surprise from Aston Martin, Ferrari, or even Mercedes with its new package of upgrades for the W14 car.
Will Red Bull's winning streak end?
Monaco is definitely a unique site for a Grand Prix, although street circuits are becoming quite usual in the calendar. Still, Monaco's essence is different from any other event and a win at the site could be the highlight of a career, regardless of how boring many could claim that the races are in the Principality.
The races in the 2023 F1 season have not been action-packed as of now and it all comes down to competitiveness. Can Aston Martin, Ferrari or Mercedes push Red Bull in what's left of the season? The budget cap and teams adhering to it definitely limit how much performance a team can add to its car throughout the year and early advantages could last for close to the entire season.
Dominant starts to a Formula 1 season have ended at Monaco in the past, with Mercedes' run of 1-2s to start the 2019 campaign ending at Monte Carlo, for example.
Moreover, Michael Schumacher's run of five wins to start 2004 ended in the tunnel after a crash with Juan Pablo Montoya, and the same happened to Williams' Nigel Mansell in 1992, with his own streak of five consecutive wins to start the season falling in Monaco at the hands of Ayrton Senna.
Can it happen in 2023? Sure, but it just isn't expected as of now. Red Bull has won every race so far with ease and it has been in a variety of track layouts. Qualifying had been close at Australia and it went in favor of Ferrari in Azerbaijan, but Red Bull had a big gap against its rivals in the most recent race at Miami, which could be the case again at Monaco. Red Bull definitely needs a smooth Saturday to dominate the Grand Prix on race day, and that's where a lot of the focus will be during the event.
Current 2023 F1 Championship Standings
Verstappen is currently leading the World Drivers' Championship with 119 points and three wins in five races, followed by his teammate Pérez with 105 points and a couple of wins. Fernando Alonso is third for Aston Martin with 75 points and four podiums in five events, followed by the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton with 56 points.
Max Verstappen, Sergio Perez and Fernando Alonso
The Ferrari pair of Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc is fifth and seventh in the WDC with 44 and 34 points, respectively, while Mercedes' George Russell is in between with 40 points. Among the drivers of the Top 4 teams, Lance Stroll is eighth with 27 points and is coming off a 12th-place finish at Miami.
In the World Constructors' Championship, Red Bull is leading the way with 224 points, followed by Aston Martin (102), Mercedes (96) and Ferrari (78).
Behind the best teams, McLaren (Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri) follows with only 14 points, matched with Alpine (Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon).
Haas (Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen) remains seventh with an eight-point tally, while Alfa Romeo (Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu) has scored six points.
AlphaTauri (two points with Yuki Tsunoda and Nyck De Vries) and Williams (one point from Alexander Albon and Logan Sargeant) round out the World Constructors' Championship positions.
2023 Monaco GP Facts & Figures
This will be the 80th Monaco Grand Prix in racing history, and the 69th celebrated under the World Drivers’ Championship format, since 1950.
The first Monaco Grand Prix was held in 1929, and William Grover-Williams took the victory for Bugatti, while Juan Manuel Fangio won the first Monaco race that was part of the World Championship, in 1950, in what was the first of his 24 Grand Prix wins.
The race was not part of the World Championship from 1951 to 1954, while one non-championship race took place in that span (1952). In 2020, the race did not take place, and it ended a run of 65 official Monaco Grands Prix in a row, since 1955, but it returned successfully in 2021.
The Monaco round is the most prestigious in Formula 1, and it is also one of the biggest motor races in the world, as it is a part of the motorsport ‘Triple Crown’ with the Indianapolis 500 and the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
A win at Monaco often means something similar to a World Championship for a driver, and only 36 racers have won at the prestigious street circuit in Formula 1 history. Out of those 36, only 16 have more than one victory at Monaco, and the legendary Ayrton Senna leads the all-time table with six wins at the principality and some iconic performances. In 1984, Senna finished second in a wet race and had the pace to win on a Toleman car that was not the most competitive on the grid.
Two-time champion Graham Hill was another Monaco master in his prime, winning five times around the streets, a tally surpassed by Senna and matched by Michael Schumacher. Four-time champion Alain Prost is the only other driver with at least four wins at Monaco, followed by Stirling Moss, Jackie Stewart, Nico Rosberg, and Lewis Hamilton (leader among active racers) with three wins each.
In terms of the highly important Pole Position at Monaco, Senna also leads the table with five, followed by five-time champion and two-time winner at Monaco, Juan Manuel Fangio, two-time champion Jim Clark, three-time champion Stewart (three-time winner) and Prost with four poles at the track.
Senna also had the most podiums at Monaco, with eight. He is followed by Graham Hill, Michael Schumacher, Lewis Hamilton, and Sebastian Vettel with seven podiums each.
Among teams, McLaren has the most wins at Monaco with 15, achieved by seven drivers.
The Pole Position will be hugely essential for the results of Sunday’s race, as 44% of the Monaco GPs have been won from first on the grid (31 out of 68 - Verstappen won in 2021 from first on the grid, as pole-sitter Leclerc didn’t start the race). Overall, 85% of the Monaco races were won from the Top 3 places (58 out of 68) which makes qualifying surely one of the most important of the entire season, if not the most important.
In 1996, Frenchman Olivier Panis won a crazy race after starting from 14th place on the grid (the lowest grid position for a Monaco winner in F1 history), but changeable weather conditions and many mistakes from seemingly every driver helped Panis and Ligier.
The last two editions saw first-time winners of the Monaco race, with Verstappen and Pérez winning for Red Bull.
Circuit de Monaco track info
A twisty, challenging track that allows no mistakes from the drivers, the iconic Circuit de Monaco will make drivers pay for any issue throughout the entire weekend. The track, which has not had major changes throughout its history, beyond some corners added or reshaped, is currently 3,337 km long and has 19 corners.
In Formula 1, the track layout has had some changes throughout its history to increase safety, and the most notable change in Monaco's history is the shape of the chicane at the tunnel exit, which was super fast in the early days and until the early 1980s. Now, the chicane forces the cars to enter at slower speeds, but it offers a slight chance of overtaking.
Other changes were the addition of the Piscine ‘S’ and La Rascasse for the 1973 race and the new shapes of the Sainte Devote and Anthony Noghes corners from 1976. The chicane at the tunnel exit was a simple left-right, fast chicane ever since the race was part of the World Championship, but it was changed for the 1986 race and it has maintained a similar feel since.
Small changes have been made since 1986, but the track has maintained its essence.
Though overtaking is highly difficult at Monaco, the circuit has seen some extraordinary battles in the modern era of Formula 1, especially in the 1992 race between Ayrton Senna and Nigel Mansell, or Max Verstappen’s hot pursuit of Lewis Hamilton in the 2019 edition.
The lap records for the track are held by Lewis Hamilton (1:10.166 in the 2019 qualifying - outright record) and 1:12.909 for the Fastest Lap during a race (2021).
2023 Monaco Grand Prix - Tyres
The dry tyres for the 2023 Monaco Grand Prix will be the C3 as P Zero White hard, C4 as P Zero Yellow Medium, and C5 as P Zero Red soft.
Pirelli explained their choice with a statement from Mario Isola, Pirelli’s head of motorsport: "We’re heading to a Monaco Grand Prix that’s somewhat different to what we expected. It should have been the second race of a European triple-header but instead it’s going to be the first due to the cancellation of Imola. Those images of devastation are still fresh in our minds and we want to express our solidarity once more with the families of the victims, as well as all those who have suffered such huge losses.
Monaco has written its own chapter in the history of Formula 1. The characteristics of this unique circuit, largely unaltered for more than 60 years, make it a true one-off that has often sprung surprises. No other track can allow a driver to compensate for any technical shortcomings of their car in the same way, and just one incident can shake things up entirely. The difficulty of overtaking can sometimes detract from the spectacle in the race, but that only makes Saturday’s qualifying all the more exciting, as grid position assumes a particular importance to the final result on Sunday. As is often the case on street circuits, Pirelli has nominated the softest tyres in the range.
One of the peculiarities of Monaco is the fact that the track is opened to normal traffic every evening, which means that it's very hard for rubber to build up on the racing line, making the surface even more slippery. With Imola having been scrubbed, Monaco could now become the debut for the new Cinturato Blue full wet without tyre blankets, obviously depending on weather conditions: another potential random factor this weekend.”
The minimum starting pressures for the tyres will be 21.0 PSI (front) and 19.5 PSI (rear).
2023 Monaco Grand Prix Weather Forecast
The action in Monaco will start on Friday.
Friday, May 26th - FP1 & FP2
Conditions: Sunny
Max. temperature: 24°C
Chance of rain: 9%
Saturday, May 27th - FP3 & Qualifying
Conditions: Mostly sunny
Max. temperature: 23°C
Chance of rain: 24%
Sunday, May 28th - Race
Conditions: Thundershower
Max. temperature: 22°C
Chance of rain: 84%
Who will be on the 2023 Monaco Grand Prix Podium?
Qualifying will almost certainly decide the 2023 Monaco Grand Prix, as usual. The chances of rain aren't as big as in 2022, when Sergio Pérez won the event, and Red Bull could enjoy a dry, normal race around the Circuit de Monaco.
2023 Monaco F1 GP podium: 1. Sergio Pérez (Red Bull Racing), 2. Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) & 3. Max Verstappen (Red Bull Racing)
Still, many expect Aston Martin or Ferrari to push Red Bull in the Monaco weekend given the unique characteristics of the circuit and how the Austrian team hasn't been clearly ahead in a couple of Qualifying sessions in 2023.
Whether we will see Fernando Alonso become a three-time winner of the Monaco Grand Prix or not will be heavily reliant on Qualifying and Sunday's Turn 1 affairs, but it could definitely be exciting if we get to see a change in the pecking order at last in 2023.
Red Bull's Sergio Pérez has done well on street circuits and he could pull off a second consecutive win at Monaco if his weekend runs smoothly and without any mechanical issues.
The prediction for the top three of the 2023 Monaco Grand Prix is 1. Sergio Pérez, 2. Fernando Alonso, 3. Max Verstappen.
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My top 3 prediction is PER-VER-ALO.
I think Checo could be the driver to beat, although if Alonso somehow manages to qualify first, he'd have a realistic chance of winning on merit despite Red Bull's general race pace advantage.
Precipitation probability for Sunday afternoon is only 25% presently, so most likely a dry race as things stand & the same for the other sessions.
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