2018 Monaco Grand Prix – The Good, Bad and Ugly

Some may say the 2018 Monaco Grand Prix was one of the most boring Formula 1 races of all time, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder – of the TV remote after midnight in Australia that is. For Daniel Ricciardo defied a car down on power, and being pressured by two drivers with 8 World Championships between them, to win the 2018 Monaco Grand Prix on Sunday night, and it is all good as far as being an Australian F1 goes.

Sure there was very little passing outside of Max Verstappen’s recovery from the back of the grid after his adventures in Qualifying on Saturday, but the tension of the lead battle should have been enough to keep most F1 fans interested.

No matter, the result was great, and was some redemption for Ricciardo after having victory taken away by his own team in 2016.

It was surely a great weekend for Ricciardo, but who else was good, and bad? Read on for the Good, Bad and Ugly of the 2018 Monaco Grand Prix, and the season tally so far.

2018 Monaco Grand Prix  – THE GOOD

DANIEL RICCIARDO

Good, good, good, good. It doesn’t get much better than this weekend for the Australian. He was super fast in practice, breaking the lap record, and continued that form into qualifying where he broke the lap record again and took Pole position. Even better, he saw his highly rated and slightly more loved team mate crash out of qualifying, which few could blame him if he had a quiet chuckle to himself given the preference of signing Max over him at Red Bull.

He did everything he could in the race too, leading from the start, doing the right thing at pit stop time, and overcoming a car issue and some extreme pressure from Sebastian Vettel for more than half a race to win.

It probably doesn’t get much better, and if hadn’t already proven he is ready for a World Championship after China, only the most cynical or bitter of F1 judges would disagree now.

SEBASTIAN VETTEL

The Red Bull’s had the slight advantage this weekend, but Sebastian Vettel got the maximum out of his weekend, with a hard charging and feisty second place behind Ricciardo on raceday.

The German needed a decent result this weekend after an 8th and two fourths in the last three races, and it is fair to say that second place is on the right track. And it looks as if Ferrari are right on Mercedes tail, if not ahead.

LEWIS HAMILTON

Third place isn’t the greatest moment of Lewis Hamilton’s career, but on a weekend where the Mercedes looked a genuine third fastest he limited the damage and kept the lead in the World Championship.

And it’s onto one of his favourite tracks next time around in Canada.

ESTEBAN OCON

Another best of the rest weekend for Ocon, in qualifying and the race. Not all that far away from the big boy at the end and throughout the race. Continues to impress.

PIERRE GASLY

Doubling up the good results for the French, Gasly took 7th in the race with another quality showing on race day. Ocon ran as high as 6th on a different strategy after qualifying 9th, and is thankfully showing all the promise from his Championship winning days in Formula 2.

RED BULL

Finally got a chance to show speed, and they certainly did that over the weekend. The Verstappen crash and Ricciardo car issues during the race were a worry, but the promise is there. Hopefully not just a one off.

FORMULA 2

If F1 gets too boring for you, look in the TV Guide and help yourself to the next level down. Like the English Football League, Queensland Cup, second tier does not always mean second best. In fact, the best racing of most F1 weekends is in Formula Two.

2018 Monaco Grand Prix – THE BAD

WILLIAMS

It is a sad duty to continually place this once great team in the bad after each race, but it has not been a great season in 2018, and doesn’t look like getting any better soon.

A half decent qualifying was wasted with a poor race where penalties and incidents saw the two drivers go to the back of the pack early and stay there for the race. At least they weren’t the worst on pure pace this weekend.

BRENDON HARTLEY

Rumoured to be close to the chopping block heading into the weekend, the Kiwi driver needed a good result, and to be fair 11th wasn’t too bad until he was smashed out of the race by the brake-less Leclerc.

Given how ruthless Marko can be with drivers, and his apparent lack of love for those from Australia and NZ, the end could be soon if there isn’t a big result. It doesn’t help when your team mate is shining bright.

2018 Monaco Grand Prix – THE UGLY

MAX VERSTAPPEN

Up to Saturday night you would have classed Max’s weekend as a shocker. In the wall in qualifying as he team mate takes full advantage of his car’s rare race at the front and takes Pole.

The Sunday come back was always on, but Max Verstappen did the job well, eventually finishing 9th from the back of the grid. He showed he can race without incident, but it also highlighted how difficult it is to overtake at times, given his superior speed. So his Sunday should have been good.

In between is Ugly, which is a decent middle point for his weekend.

CHARLES LECLERC

After being wrapped before the weekend as the next big thing, big things were expected for Leclerc at his home Grand Prix.

Leclerc outqualified his more experienced team mate again, and was in front of him during the race. Continuing the good job he has done so far in 2018.

However his race fell apart at the same time as he brakes failed heading into the chicane in a nasty looking crash that took the unfortunate Brendon Hartley out.

Although there are legit excuses, it was still and ugly exit.

HAAS

After being one of the surprise packets thisseason so far, Monaco was pretty ordinary for the American squad.

They qualified at the back of the grid, and weren’t much further up by the end of the Grand Prix.

THE MARTINI / MINARDI MEDAL AND CHAVES / COLONI PLATE RETURN

Back by popular demand of one person is our awards for the best F1 Driver / Team for the 2018 season.

After each race we will assign points for the Good, Bad, and Ugly described above, and some other useful tidbits of Grand Prix statistics like Overtaking, Fastest Laps, and Retirements.

With offering points for good, and taking them off for bad, we were accused of being a little too negative last year, given very few drivers and teams made it into positive territory. This season we have revamped all of our many reader and fan.

The Martini / Minardi Medal goes to the best Driver / Team for the season..
The Chaves / Life F1 Plate goes to the worst Driver / Team for the season.

2018 MONACO GRAND PRIX MARTINI MEDAL / CHAVES PLATE RESULTS

Here’s where we post the rolling results for the season. Note some will have zero points for being good and bad, others will not be named as they haven’t done anything good or bad.

Most statistics from the outstanding RaceFans website.

MARTINI MEDAL / CHAVES PLATE

THE MINARDI MEDAL / COLONI PLATE

THE POINTS EXPLAINED….

2 Points for featuring in the GOOD (Driver/Team) – as above
-1 Point for BAD or UGLY (Driver/Team) – as above
1 Point for Outqualifying Teammate (Driver) – as per Grid
1 Point for Pole Position (Driver/Team) – Ricciardo / Red Bull
2 Points for Race Win (Driver/Team) – Ricciardo / Red Bull
1 Point for Podium (Driver/Team) – Vettel / Ferrari  — Hamilton / Mercedes
-1 Point for Last on Grid (Driver/Team) – Max Verstappen / Red Bull
-1 Point for Penalty Taken for Mechanical (Team) – Red Bull / Haas
1 Point for Top Non Big 3 Car in Top 6 in Qualifying (Driver/Team) – Ocon / Force India
1 Point for Top Non Big 3 Car in Top 6 in Race (Driver/Team) – Ocon / Force India
1 Point for Fastest Lap (Driver/Team) – Max Verstappen / Red Bull  
1 Point for Most Places Gained on Lap One (Driver) – Max Verstappen / Red Bull
1 Point for Most Places Gained in Race (Driver) – Max Verstappen / Red Bull
1 Point/-1 Point for Best/Worst Pitstop (Team) – Mercedes / Williams
-1 Point for 1st Retirement (Driver/Team) – Alonso / McLaren
-1 Point for Avoidable Accident (Driver) – Verstappen