2023 Monaco Grand Prix Preview | 5 things to look out for | GRR
The Monaco Grand Prix is always a special weekend on the F1 calendar. While few of us are expecting fireworks on race day, you can’t beat the visual spectacle of an F1 car being hustled within millimetres of the barriers as they fly past the numerous iconic Monte Carlo landmarks.
It remains on the calendar for now, but history doesn’t count for much in F1 these days as the sport’s ownership is keen to explore new horizons and offer a broader appeal to an increasingly expansive audience. As such the Monaco Grand Prix is one of those venues we need to appreciate and enjoy while it lasts, because you can guarantee the same questions will be raised, as they always are post-race, of the circuit’s suitability to modern F1. It’s true, Monaco is as tight as ever, and the cars are simply too big for its confines these days, to the point that racing is virtually impossible, but more often than not the qualifying session on this most glamourous of weekends is one of the most exciting of the season.
The stage is set. The barriers are in position. So let’s take a look at the five things you’ll want to look out for at the 2023 Monaco Grand Prix.
1. Four teams gunning for the win
All signposts in Monaco this weekend are pointing towards an incredibly tight battle at the front of the field. Red Bull will see their performance advantage stifled by a lack of straight lines, while Ferrari and Aston Martin appear confident that their own cars will be well suited to Monaco’s twists and turns. Meanwhile, Mercedes have finally been able to bolt on their much-awaited upgrades, so there is plenty of room for optimism when it comes to the performance of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell.
Quite how these eight cars will line up on the grid is a bit of a lottery. As I write this, Carlos Sainz Jr. has topped the timing sheets for Free Practice 1, ahead of Fernando Alonso, Hamilton, Sergio Perez, Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen. Red Bull will of course pick up the pace by Saturday afternoon, and you have to think Leclerc will do what he always does in qualifying and find pace that very few others can. But Fernando Alonso has been the outstanding performer so far in 2023, so his name has to be included in any conversation about the win on Sunday.
Whatever happens, let’s just hope that all four of the leading teams can bring their A-game to the race on Sunday and that we have a genuine battle for the podium places, if not the very top step.
2. Mercedes upgrades finally break cover
Following the awful events surrounding the cancellation of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola, Mercedes were forced to postpone unveiling their much-awaited upgrades until this weekend at Monaco. Changes to the side pods, floor and front suspension will see the car look very different from how it left Miami at the beginning of May, but the big question for all looking on will be: ‘But how much faster is it?’.
Toto Wolff has been quick to ensure that expectations do not rise too high this weekend because Monaco is not considered to be the best showcase for this upgraded car’s potential, but it will be interesting nonetheless to hear what the drivers have to say after their first proper runs.
The Mercedes team needs these upgrades to work. Following the pain of 2022, and the disappointing start to this season following so much hard work to figure out the issues they had, another misstep now would be catastrophic. Will it be enough to start challenging Red Bull for wins? We’ll get our answer soon enough.
3. De Vries under pressure
It’s been a tricky start so far for all three of F1’s rookies in 2023. For all of the promise that Nyck De Vries showed in his debut outing for Williams at last year’s Italian Grand Prix at Monza, his first full year in the sport has so far not lived up to the hype.
We’ve mentioned already that he has struggled to keep up with his team-mate Yuki Tsunoda in the AlphaTauri, but things appeared to get worse for the Dutchman during this prolonged break when Helmut Marko came out in the press making it clear that his chances would run out if performances didn’t improve quickly.
Depending on which way you look at it, then, the timing of the Monaco Grand Prix could either be perfect, or disastrous for De Vries. Those barriers are going to look horribly close over the next three days, especially after his accident-filled weekend in Baku. Equally, we’ve seen on many occasions that Monaco often throws up opportunities for drivers to score points, or even wins, where usually they would have no chance.
4. McLaren runs special one-off livery
If you missed it, McLaren will run a special one-off livery for the entirety of the Monaco Grand Prix weekend. It’s a showcase of the three cars that sealed the first of each of the team’s Triple Crown victories.
A black front end pays homage to the 1995 Le Mans-winning McLaren F1 GTR, a white mid-section calls back to the 1984 Monaco Grand Prix-winning McLaren MP4/2, and the Papaya back end is remembering the 1974 Indy 500-winning McLaren M16C.
McLaren need a break, after a run of very disappointing results, so perhaps this livery will somehow unlock a trove of hidden performance from somewhere deep inside that car. More likely, McLaren will have to once again try and score as many points as possible ahead of Alpine and the rest.
5. Could Fernando Alonso take his first win in a decade?
The great Spaniard’s last F1 win was for Ferrari at the 2013 Spanish Grand Prix, on the 12th of May. How can it be that this great man, by all accounts one of the very best drivers of all time, has not won a Formula 1 grand prix for more than a decade?
Considering he hasn’t had a car capable of winning a grand prix since the end of that year, it’s not wholly surprising, but even so. What’s perhaps more surprising is that even after all of this time – let’s not forget that 2013 was some seven years after he won his second world championship – he remains one of the best drivers on the grid, revitalised at last at Aston Martin.
In fact, this weekend in Monaco might well be Alonso’s best chance to win so far. The form book is so often thrown out of this window at this unique event, where driver skill becomes a genuine factor that can outweigh differentials between the cars. We’d love to see him win again.
Images courtesy of Motorsport Images.