F1 | 2023 Monaco Grand Prix Result, Lap by Lap, Review & Summary

F1 returns to Europe for the fanciest Grand Prix of the season, and as ever our summary covers the 2023 Monaco Grand Prix Result for the big event and so much more.

This 2023 Monaco Grand Prix Result, Lap by Lap, Review & Summary gives you just enough to catch up with. With just a hint of cynicism, bias, opinion and colour. The perfect bite sized review for those who couldn’t be bothered, or don’t have enough time.

And to see how close our bold predictions were – look back on our 2023 Monaco Grand Prix Preview.

READ MORE:
2023 Monaco Grand Prix Preview
2023 Miami Grand Prix Review
2023 Miami Grand Prix Ratings
Our 2023 F1 Calendar & Results

2023 Monaco Grand Prix Result Main Race Summary

Didn’t see the race live? Don’t have time to watch the whole race? Well here are the top laps where stuff happened. We write these live as we go, sort of like a minute by minute for the football, but marginally more interesting.

Setting the scene – Max Verstappen took pole position and his team mate binned it in Q1 and starts from the back of the field, so a dream scenario for the owner of the fastest car on the grid. But it’s not as dominant this weekend as others. It was a sensational qualifying session with a number of drivers genuinely a chance of pole. Fernando Alonso may feel robbed, but he’s still second and fast. Rain looks possible, hitting halfway through the race, which could liven up the race which is usually in full procession mode by then.

GRID (Starting Order) – VER ALO OCO SAI HAM LEC GAS RUS TSU NOR — PER (20th)

Lap 1 – Pole sitter Max Verstappen keeps the lead on F1’s shortest run to the first corner, and behind Alonso gets away well but not good enough to steal first, and he almost puts it into the wall on the outside of turn One. Nico Hulkenberg dares to overtake Lance Stroll into Mirabeau and they clash but continue. Replays show Stroll runs into Albon too. Stewards hand Hulkenberg a five second penalty a few laps later. Those wondering about Sergio Perez, he is 18th after the first lap after pitting with Hulkenberg and Zhou.

ORDER – VER ALO OCO SAI HAM LEC GAS RUS TSU NOR

Lap 3 – George Russell noted by stewards for starting in the wrong position, he’ll help himself to a penalty very soon. Nope, all good they say. 

Lap 5 – Sergio Perez sets fastest lap from 18th place. His team mate Max Verstappen doesn’t need to, as he is a comfortable two seconds ahead of Alonso.

Lap 9 – If you want an idea of how fast the Red Bull is, Sergio Perez has already caught the cars in front of him despite a pit stop. That’s about 15 seconds or so in seven laps. Alternatively, Esteban Ocon’s race pace isn’t as good as qualifying form. He’s nine seconds behind Fernando Alonso.

ORDER – VER ALO OCO SAI HAM LEC GAS RUS TSU NOR (Copy/Paste at this stage)

Lap 10 – So we found this website – which forecasts a decent amount of rain around 4pm local time. Which is 45 minutes away. That will be welcome.

Lap 11 – Carlos Sainz has a go at Esteban Ocon for third into the harbour chicane. He mis-judges it and breaks his front wing. Better still, he didn’t pit to fix it and is continuing after the loose bit dropped off. Sainz’s pace is ok though, still within a second of Ocon with bits missing from the front wing. It looked a pretty amateur attempt from Carlos.

Lap 13 – Fernando Alonso is on the radio asking whether he has a puncture. The team says no, and let’s hope for the sake of the race it isn’t.

Lap 17 – Kevin Magnussen manages a clean overtake of Logan Sargeant into the Mirabeau corner for 15th. Sargeant has been an F1 pied piper for the last five to ten laps. Lance Stroll and Sergio Perez all join the party later in the lap. The American drops from 15th to 18th in one lap without spinning or going off. Replays show Valtteri Bottas overtaking Alex Albon for 13th. Nico Hulkenberg also gets past Sargeant a lap later. It’s an overtaking party and everyone’s invited except Williams.

Lap 21 – Going back to Alonso’s claim of a puncture, there appears to be something wrong as he is now ten seconds behind Max Verstappen and closer to Ocon than the leader.

Lap 27 – Even the drivers are getting bored, they are asking when the rain is coming over the radio. Meanwhile Max Verstappen is still way out in front (by 11 seconds), Alonso keeps sliding backwards, Sainz continues to drive with a damaged front wing, and the rest of the top ten are status quo. The position from the start not the overrated band.

ORDER – VER ALO OCO SAI HAM LEC GAS RUS TSU NOR (Copy/Paste at this stage)

Lap 31 – Max Verstappen sneaks up behind his team mate to lap him and his friends. He loses time to Alonso but will gain it when it’s the Aston Martin’s turn.

Lap 32 – Lewis Hamilton is the first top ten driver to pit for tyres. He drops from fifth to eighth. Ocon pits a lap later from third and rejoins 7th. Sainz joins the pitting party and stays in front of Hamilton. Ferrari didn’t change his front wing either. Other drivers/teams are hanging on for new tyres for now, maybe waiting for the rain?

ORDER – VER ALO LEC GAS RUS OCO SAI HAM TSU NOR

Lap 35 – Sergio Perez pits for a new front wing after running up the back of a Haas. Not one of his better weekends. Lance Stroll ran into a Haas as well but continues.

Lap 40 – Where’s that rain you ask? It’s coming we believe, but can it come before the top five cars have to pit? Like a parent promising a treat they have no intention on doing, the time for the rain keeps getting pushed back. Meanwhile we’ll keep ourselves amused with the continuing Stroll v Magnussen battle, where they touch at least once a lap.

Lap 45 – Charles Leclerc has given up on waiting for rain and pit for tyres. He comes out behind Lewis Hamilton. Gasly pits on lap 48 and comes out behind Leclerc.

Lap 50 – Red Bull radio saying drops of rain on the circuit around the group of corners before and after the hairpin. George Russell says spits of rain at turn three. Here we go…..

Lap 52 – Full on raining now. Cars struggling to stay on track. It’s all about the timing of getting to the pitlane, and if someone is brave/stupid enough to stay out. So far Stroll and Bottas pit. 

Lap 53 – Conditions are slippery but not quite bad enough to change to wet tyres. It is at its worst around the hairpin where the cars are going around at walking pace.

Lap 55 – Fernando Alonso pits for more dry tyres. He’s not convinced. Esteban Ocon pits for…..wet tyres and so does Lewis Hamilton. Sergio Perez pits again. It is really wet in that hairpin section now. Carlos Sainz has gone off and falls behind his team mate. 

Lap 56 – It’s properly raining now. Max Verstappen pits for inter wet tyres. Alonso looks to be on the wrong tyres. Alonso realises his mistake and puts for wets. Shame for him, if he takes wets he may well take the lead. Both Ferraris pit for wet tyres but sadly for Sainz they have to stack. That will hurt. Everyone on wet tyres now except Kevin Magnussen who must be mad or a genius. Replays show Max Verstappen clipped the barrier near the tunnel entrance. 

ORDER – VER ALO OCO HAM RUS LEC GAS SAI TSU PIA

Lap 58 – Kevin Magnussen is into the barriers near the pit lane entry, but recovers to pit for wet tyres and goes off at turn one a few laps later. Logan Sargeant drives wide at the hairpin too. Perez makes his fourth pit stop for full wet tyres replays show why, he ran into the wall at the Swimming Pool.

Lap 61 – Fernando Alonso is catching Max Verstappen at over a second a lap, who looks to be struggling. To be fair everyone is.A lap later Max gain two seconds, so mini crisis over.

Lap 63 – Lance Stroll is the first retirement of the race. He has sort-of earned that with a number of clashes in the midfield.

Lap 65 – Max Verstappen holds a 19 second lead over Alonso and so that’s probably the race win sorted, unless Max gets bored. Alonso is equally comfortable in second now as well. The main battle is for third between Esteban Ocon and Lewis Hamilton. George Russell isn’t far behind either but he has a five second penalty to serve for rejoining the track after going off like a Honda driver at a supermarket carpark. Yuki Tsunoda asked by team to find pace, a suggestion about braking is offered, the drivers asks whether his team are trying to crash him.

Lap 69 – McLaren heading for double points as Oscar Piastri overtakes Yuki Tsunoda for 10th like his team mate had done recently for 9th. Yuki Tsunoda goes off at Mirabeau a lap later losing more positions.

Lap 73 – Sergio Perez pits for what must be the fifth time, or maybe sixth. Not sure why, he loses track position, and can’t set a fastest lap due to the wet. 

Lap 76 – McLarens are the fastest cars on the circuit late on, which is the opposite over the usual.

Last lap – Another master class from Max Verstappen who makes it all look easy. Not free from error, but he did enough again as always. Nearly half a minute in the end over Fernando Alonso, and Esteban Ocon completes the podium.

FINAL ORDER – VER ALO OCO HAM RUS LEC GAS SAI NOR PIA

Here we go through the field and highlight the very best (Great) of the race, and the plodders, the over-ambitious, the out of luck, and simply hopeless (Grape).

These points get added to our Driver of the Season scores. Five points for a great nomination, and -5 for the worst or grapest driver in the pack. Then it is +2 /-2 for honourable or dishonourable mentions.

THE GREAT-EST – MAX VERSTAPPEN

Pulled a mammoth final sector out of the fire in qualifying to snatch pole position. Dominated the race, made the right decisions. All the while, he team mate and championship rivals was weak as piss.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

FERNANDO ALONSO – So close, yet so far this weekend. Could have taken pole but fell just short. Could maybe have won the race, but pit for dry tyres a lap before he pit for wet tyres. But best of the rest again.

ESTEBAN OCON – Really good qualifying, and looked to be going backwards in the race. Came alive again in the wet and held on to his podium despite heavy pressure from Lewis Hamilton in the late stages of the race.

MERCEDES DRIVERS – A good race for both Hamilton and Russel in terms of they finished ahead of both Ferrari drivers. The newly re-worked car looks marginally faster than the previous model.

LANDO NORRIS  – Drove pretty anonymous race before the rain, but 9th is a good reward.

OSCAR PIASTRI  – Points in his first F1 race in Monaco. Was the fastest driver in the field late on. A reminder that he is actually quite good.

THE GRAPE-EST – SERGIO PEREZ

Putting it into the wall in Q1 ruined his weekend, and allowed his team mate and championship rival a free pass. Perez set a fastest lap early in the race, but any progress was ruined when he needed a pit stop for a new front wing around halfway.

DIS-HONOURABLE MENTIONS

LOGAN SARGEANT – Lost three places in one lap at one stage, eventually made his way to the back of the field.

LANCE STROLL – His dad may own the team, but that can’t help Stroll this weekend. Missed out in qualifying which left him in the lower midfield, and a stream of clashes meant he was nowhere near the top ten, all while his team mate was the second fastest car on the track.

KEVIN MAGNUSSEN – Stayed out on dry tyres too long, then went off on wet tyres which left him at the back of the field.

CARLOS SAINZ  – Started fourth, finished eighth. Ran into Ocon which meant his front wing was less optimal than usual. Pit stop timing and a little adventure saw him fall down the field.

Was it a good race, loads of action, tense, or just a big, fat, snooze-fest.

We rate the big race itself so we know which races to go back and watch in the off season or one to simply remember the winner for the post season quiz nights.

Note: this is for the combined races.

SEASON IMPORTANCE –  7 / 10

Monaco is always important, as is the chunk of points Max Verstappen wraps up. One important season pointer is Sergio Perez’s performance. Showing that he may be quick and capable most of the time, but he is not up to a season long push for a title. The Championship battle looks more likely between Alonso and Verstappen.

ON TRACK ACTION – 8/10

It was dull at times, but this is Monaco, so is to be expected. But the rain livened things with 20 or so laps to go. But there was enough clashing and midfield racing to keep us interested before the wet.

ENDING 8 / 10

Rain helped make the ending closer than it would have. Sadly the drivers are very professional these days, so there were very few mistakes. But is did mix up the end a bit.

OVERALL RATING 23 / 30

A Monaco Grand Prix experience you could have guessed. Exciting opening laps, dull procession at times, rain teasing through the first hour then arriving to spice things up a little. If we’re honest, we were hoping for more chaos with the rain.

2023 SEASON RATINGS SO FAR

Want to know what we thought of previous races? Or which ones to to back and watch? 

R1 – Bahrain Grand Prix – 
R2 – Saudi Arabian Grand Prix – 10/30
R3 – Australian Grand Prix – 23/30
R4 – Azerbaijan Grand Prix – 8/30
R5 – Miami Grand Prix – 20/30

2023 F1 Season Power Rankings

Stay tuned for our Power Rankings from the race soon as it is currently being calculated and will be ready on Monday.

Who not check out last season: Our 2022 F1 Season Driver Ratings

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