Alonso senses chance to end dominant Red Bull’s run

Fernando Alonso
Photo: PHOTOSPORT

Fernando Alonso is sensing a chance to end dominant Red Bull’s run of success at the most glamorous and historic of street circuits.

Monaco kicks off Formula One’s flood-delayed European season this weekend with Fernando Alonso sensing a chance to end dominant Red Bull’s run of success at the most glamorous and historic of street circuits.

Monaco kicks off Formula One’s flood-delayed European season this weekend with Fernando Alonso sensing a chance to end dominant Red Bull’s run of success at the most glamorous and historic of street circuits.

A home race for Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, Monaco would have been part two of a triple-header with Italy and Spain but the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix scheduled for Imola last weekend was called off due to devastating floods.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez have won all five races so far this season by some distance, and the last two in Monaco.

They will be favourites again but, despite a history of processional races in the principality, the metal-fenced streets of Monte Carlo can bite back — particularly in the wet.

Italian Jarno Trulli took the sole win of his career there in 2004 and Frenchman Olivier Panis in a wet 1996 race, with only three cars still running at the finish.

Aston Martin’s Alonso, winner in Monaco with Renault and McLaren in 2006 and 2007, will be ready for any opportunity that comes his way after securing four third places so far in 2023.

“We seem to have a car that is maybe not the fastest on the straights. We need to improve that, but we are very good on the corners,” he told Sky Sports television when asked where he might win.

“I would say that the slowest speeds of the championship, let’s say Monaco, Budapest, Singapore; these kind of circuits, I think we put our main hopes at the moment.”

Leclerc has secured pole for the last two years but has yet to stand on the Monaco podium as a Formula One driver.

Mercedes are bringing an upgraded car and Monaco is one of seven-times world champion Lewis Hamilton’s favourite circuits with three previous wins there.

“We are introducing the first step in a new development direction,” said team boss Toto Wolff. “It won’t be a silver bullet; from my experience, they do not exist in our sport.

“We hope that it gives the drivers a more stable and predictable platform. Then we can build on that in the weeks and months ahead.”

Double world champion Verstappen, the 2021 Monaco winner, needs no extra encouragement to assert himself and will want to turn the tables on Perez after losing to him last May.

The Mexican crashed in qualifying but still ended up third on the grid and ahead of Verstappen at a circuit where overtaking is extremely difficult.

Verstappen appeared to nurse a grudge for months and refused to give a place back to Perez in Brazil in November, alluding to “something that happened in the past”.

F1 cars race past the Monte Carlo Casino
Photo: PHOTOSPORT

Dutch media reported it as payback for Monaco, with Perez having to deny deliberately crashing to prevent Verstappen lapping faster.

The Mexican, now 14 points behind Verstappen, will be looking for a repeat win to get back in the battle.

“This is the race every driver wants to win growing up and I was lucky enough to achieve that last season. That has only made me more hungry to stand on the top step once again,” he said.

Formula One statistics for the Monaco Grand Prix, the sixth race of the 22-round season:

Lap distance: 3.337km. Total distance: 260.286km (78 laps)

2022 pole position: Charles Leclerc (Monaco) Ferrari

2022 winner: Sergio Perez (Mexico) Red Bull

Race lap record: Lewis Hamilton (Britain) Mercedes 1:12.909, 2021

Start time: 1300 GMT (1500 local)

MONACO

Monaco is the shortest track on the calendar, and the race with most laps. It is also the only one to cover less than 300km and only 34% of the lap is at full throttle.

The 180 degree turn six hairpin is the slowest corner of the year, with cars taking it at 45kph.

This year’s race is the 69th edition in championship history and 80th since the first grand prix in the principality in 1929. There have been 36 different winners.

The late triple world champion Ayrton Senna holds the record for most Monaco wins — six, including five in a row with McLaren between 1989 and 1993.

A safety car deployment is highly likely.

McLaren are the most successful team in Monaco, with 15 wins since their debut in 1966.

In 1996, Frenchman Olivier Panis won from 14th on the starting grid — the lowest winning start position to date. Since 1950, only 10 times has the race been won by a driver starting lower than third.

Four former Monaco winners will be racing on Sunday: Fernando Alonso (2006, 2007), Hamilton (2008, 2016, 2019), Max Verstappen (2021), Perez (2022).

Leclerc can become the first Monegasque to win at home.

WINS

Hamilton has a record 103 career victories from 315 starts but has not won since Saudi Arabia in December 2021.

Red Bull’s double world champion Verstappen has 38 wins from 168 starts. One more would make him the driver with most wins for the team.

Red Bull have won all five races so far this season, four with a one-two finish, and 15 of the last 16.

Aston Martin’s Alonso has 32 wins, most recently in his home Spanish Grand Prix in 2013 with Ferrari, from a record 360 starts.

POLE POSITION

Hamilton has a record 103 career poles.

Red Bull have been on pole in four of the five races, with Leclerc taking the top slot in Azerbaijan.

Leclerc has been on pole in Monaco for the past two years.

PODIUM

Four teams and five drivers have made a podium appearance this season — Red Bull, Aston Martin, Mercedes and Ferrari. Verstappen has yet to finish outside the top two.

POINTS

Verstappen leads Perez by 14 points.

FASTEST LAPS

Four different drivers have taken fastest laps this season – Alfa Romeo’s Guanyu Zhou, Verstappen, Perez and Mercedes’ George Russell.

MILESTONE

Haas will be starting their 150th grand prix.

Ferrari are one podium finish away from their 800th in Formula One.

Monaco Grand Prix
Photo: PHOTOSPORT

-Reuters