Anyone who says that a Spanish victory in the Monaco GP is close is wrong, or at least optimistic. Red Bull’s superiority at the start of the season is unquestionable and many evolutions of several single-seaters have to arrive for the game to change. status quo from F1. Until the European races in the summer (for example Silverstone, the usual scene of improvements) it is unlikely that nobody will stand up to the RB19 of Verstappen and Pérez in normal race conditions and on dry asphalt. In addition, Checo is the king of the streets, the favorite on urban circuits: this year he has won in Jeddah Corniche and Baku, and in 2022 he also won in Monte Carlo or Singapore. That, plus Verstappen’s rides this year in Bahrain, Australia and Miami, forces one to think that a Red Bull will win this weekend.
But… but it may well be now or never, because no other circuit allows you to defend the position on the track with a car that is out of position, worth the redundancy, like Monaco. If Alonso classified the Aston Martin in the front row, as he did in two semi-urbans recently (Miami and Arabia), on Sunday he would fight for the victory. If Sainz does the same (Leclerc signed two pole positions in the Azerbaijan GP with the SF-23), Ferrari can try to make up an adverse start to the season with the most valuable trophy of the year. In any other scenario, the Red Bull drivers would open the DRS in the first few laps of the race and disappear over the horizon, but in the Principality you cannot go through where there is no room.
There are reasons, not fantasies, to expect at least one good weekend from AMR23: its strengths are slow cornering and traction. The Red Bull takes off straight, medium and fast curve (although it is the best in everything), and these capacities are not relevant in the most famous urban in the world. It is true that references are missing. You cannot resort to the hackneyed third sector of Barcelona that so well represented what happened later in Monaco, because it has not yet competed there. Just as true is that Ferrari has always been fast in Monte Carlo, They have worked well on the ‘set-up’ in the most specific circuit on the calendar. Sainz was second in 2021 with a weak car and also in 2022, just as Leclerc took pole position in the last two editions, although he was not able to finish off on Sunday.
“Monaco, Budapest or Singapore…”
Alonso himself hinted in Miami that a win is not impossible this season. Can you win one or two races in 2023?” Martin Brundle asked him. Ferdinand replied: “I think so. In the slowest circuits on the calendar, such as Monaco, Budapest or Singapore, it is where we will have our greatest hopes.. I hope soon, I don’t know. It seems that we have a car that is not the fastest on the straights, we must improve that, but we are very good in the curves, summed up the Spaniard. You have to take advantage of opportunities if there are any. In the Monaco casino you can also win. For starters, there is a chance of rain greater than 50% throughout the weekend.