2018 Monaco Grand Prix

2018 Monaco Grand Prix
Race 6 of 21 in the 2018 Formula One World Championship ←  Previous race Next race  →
Layout of the Circuit de Monte Carlo, Monaco
Race details
Date	27 May 2018
Official name	Formula 1 Grand Prix de Monaco 2018
Location	Circuit de Monaco La Condamine and Monte Carlo, Monaco
Course	Street circuit
Course length	3.337 km (2.074 miles)
Distance	78 laps, 260.286 km (161.734 miles)
Weather	Sunny
Pole position
Driver	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer
Time	1:10.810
Fastest lap
Driver	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer
Time	1:14.260 on lap 60
Podium
First	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer
Second	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari
Third	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes
Lap leaders

The 2018 Monaco Grand Prix (formally known as the Formula 1 Grand Prix de Monaco 2018) was a Formula One motor race that was held on 27 May 2018 at the Circuit de Monaco, a street circuit that runs through the Principality of Monaco. It was the 6th round of the 2018 FIA Formula One World Championship, the 76th time the Monaco Grand Prix had been held, and the 65th time it had been a round of the Formula One World Championship since the inception of the series in 1950. It was the last victory for Daniel Ricciardo until the 2021 Italian Grand Prix.

The race was won by Daniel Ricciardo in Red Bull, with Sebastian Vettel in Ferrari coming second. Lewis Hamilton in Mercedes finished third, maintaining the championship lead over Vettel. Mercedes also led in the Constructors' Championship ahead of Ferrari. ^[1]

Report

Background

Tyres

The race marked the competitive début of Pirelli's new hypersoft tyre compound. ^[2]

Chassis updates

Following controversy over the use of winglets above halo-mounted rear view mirrors at the previous round in Spain, the FIA banned the winglets ahead of the race weekend. ^[3]

Penalties

Romain Grosjean was handed a three-place grid penalty for causing a collision on the opening lap of the Spanish Grand Prix. ^[4] Max Verstappen received a 5 place grid penalty for an unscheduled gearbox change, and a 10 place grid penalty for use of a third MGU-K, although this made no difference to his starting position, as he already was at the back of the grid. ^{[5] [6]}

Practice

Daniel Ricciardo was fastest across all three practice sessions, improving his time in each successive session. ^[7] In FP3, Max Verstappen crashed heavily at the Turn 16, meaning his car was damaged beyond repair for qualifying. ^[8]

Qualifying

Max Verstappen was unable to compete in qualifying as his mechanics were unable to repair the car in time after a crash in the final practice session. ^[8] Daniel Ricciardo set a new qualifying lap record to take pole position for the race. ^[9] Red Bull capped both ends of the grid, Ricciardo starting first and Verstappen starting last. Pierre Gasly made Q3 for the second time, however his teammate, Brendon Hartley, after showing promise with P7 in FP3, qualified in P16 after being held up in traffic as well as being unhappy with the balance in his car. ^[10]

Race

Ricciardo led going into the first corner with the top 6 staying in the same order. On lap 28, Ricciardo, still leading the race, complained of a loss of power to the team. ^[11] Ricciardo was left to manage a wounded car for the remaining 50 laps of the race, with what was later revealed to be an MGU-K failure (giving him 25% less horsepower than usual), and with only six out of eight gears functioning. ^{[11] [12] [13]} For the rest of the race he came under pressure from Sebastian Vettel, however due to dirty air and the track being difficult to pass, Vettel was unable to attack Ricciardo. Vettel lost a lot of time after Stoffel Vandoorne, around a lap behind Vettel and Ricciardo, came in between them both after pitting for a second time.

Sergey Sirotkin was given a 10-second stop-go penalty after his tyres were not fitted to the car at the 3 minute signal. ^[14] On lap 53 Fernando Alonso retired at Sainte-Dévote due to gearbox problems, his first retirement of the 2018 season. ^[15] A virtual safety car came out on lap 73 when Charles Leclerc's left front brake disc failed just before the Nouvelle Chicane, causing him to crash into the back of Brendon Hartley. Both drivers were forced to retire due to damage. ^{[16] [17]} This was the first Monaco Grand Prix since 2009 where a (full) safety car did not make an appearance, although there was a brief virtual safety car period. ^[18] It was Ricciardo's most recent victory in Formula One until the 2021 Italian Grand Prix. ^[19]

Post race

After the race Hamilton and Alonso both complained that this was "one of the most boring races ever"; drivers were lapping several seconds a lap slower than they could have been to conserve tires and avoid making a second pit-stop. ^[20] Alonso also pointed to the spread out field, "as there were barely any yellow flags or safety cars." ^[15]

Classification

Qualifying

Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Qualifying times			Final grid
				Q1	Q2	Q3
1	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer	1:12.013	1:11.278	1:10.810	1
2	5	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1:12.415	1:11.518	1:11.039	2
3	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:12.460	1:11.584	1:11.232	3
4	7	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	1:12.639	1:11.391	1:11.266	4
5	77	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	1:12.434	1:12.002	1:11.441	5
6	31	Esteban Ocon	Force India-Mercedes	1:13.028	1:12.188	1:12.061	6
7	14	Fernando Alonso	McLaren-Renault	1:12.657	1:12.269	1:12.110	7
8	55	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Renault	1:12.950	1:12.286	1:12.130	8
9	11	Sergio Pérez	Force India-Mercedes	1:12.848	1:12.194	1:12.154	9
10	10	Pierre Gasly	Toro Rosso-Honda	1:12.941	1:12.313	1:12.221	10
11	27	Nico Hülkenberg	Renault	1:13.065	1:12.411		11
12	2	Stoffel Vandoorne	McLaren-Renault	1:12.463	1:12.440		12
13	35	Sergey Sirotkin	Williams-Mercedes	1:12.706	1:12.521		13
14	16	Charles Leclerc	Sauber-Ferrari	1:12.829	1:12.714		14
15	8	Romain Grosjean	Haas-Ferrari	1:12.930	1:12.728		18 1
16	28	Brendon Hartley	Toro Rosso-Honda	1:13.179			15
17	9	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber-Ferrari	1:13.265			16
18	18	Lance Stroll	Williams-Mercedes	1:13.323			17
19	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas-Ferrari	1:13.393			19
107% time: 1:17.053
—	33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer	No time			20 2
Source: [21]

Notes

• ^1  – Romain Grosjean received a three-place grid penalty for causing a collision in the previous round. ^[4]
• ^2  – Max Verstappen failed to set a Q1 time within the 107% requirement and was allowed to start the race at the stewards' discretion. He also received a 15-place grid penalty: five places for an unscheduled gearbox change and ten places for use of a third MGU-K. ^[8]

Race

Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer	78	1:42:54.807	1	25
2	5	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	78	+7.336	2	18
3	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	78	+17.013	3	15
4	7	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	78	+18.127	4	12
5	77	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	78	+18.822	5	10
6	31	Esteban Ocon	Force India-Mercedes	78	+23.667	6	8
7	10	Pierre Gasly	Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda	78	+24.331	10	6
8	27	Nico Hülkenberg	Renault	78	+24.839	11	4
9	33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer	78	+25.317	20	2
10	55	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Renault	78	+1:09.013	8	1
11	9	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber-Ferrari	78	+1:09.864	16
12	11	Sergio Pérez	Force India-Mercedes	78	+1:10.461	9
13	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas-Ferrari	78	+1:14.823	19
14	2	Stoffel Vandoorne	McLaren-Renault	77	+1 lap	12
15	8	Romain Grosjean	Haas-Ferrari	77	+1 lap	18
16	35	Sergey Sirotkin	Williams-Mercedes	77	+1 lap	13
17	18	Lance Stroll	Williams-Mercedes	76	+2 laps	17
18 1	16	Charles Leclerc	Sauber-Ferrari	70	Collision	14
19 1	28	Brendon Hartley	Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda	70	Collision damage	15
Ret	14	Fernando Alonso	McLaren-Renault	52	Gearbox	7
Source: [22] [23]

Notes

• ^1  – Charles Leclerc and Brendon Hartley did not finish the Grand Prix, but were classified as they completed more than 90% of the race distance. Although Hartley completed his 70th lap before Leclerc, Hartley is classified behind Leclerc due to a 5-second time penalty for speeding in the pit lane.

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos. Driver Points 1 Lewis Hamilton 110 2 Sebastian Vettel 96 2 3 Daniel Ricciardo 72 1 4 Valtteri Bottas 68 1 5 Kimi Räikkönen 60 Source: [24]

Constructors' Championship standings Pos. Constructor Points 1 Mercedes 178 2 Ferrari 156 3 Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer 107 4 Renault 46 5 McLaren-Renault 40 Source: [24]

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

See also

• 2018 Monaco FIA Formula 2 round

References

1. "Monaco 2018 – Championship". StatsF1. Retrieved 3 June 2018.
2. Cooper, Adam. "Sainz: F1 Monaco GP qualifying will be 'madness' on hypersoft tyres". autosport.com. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
3. Cooper, Adam (12 May 2018). "FIA tells Ferrari it can't run halo mirror winglets after Spanish GP". autosport.com . Motorsport Network . Retrieved 12 May 2018.
4. Coch, Mat (14 May 2018). "Grosjean penalised for Spanish GP shunt". speedcafe.com . Retrieved 14 May 2018.
5. "F1 2018 Monaco Grand Prix Starting Grid – Penalties Included". www.thisisf1.com. Archived from the original on 4 January 2019. Retrieved 4 June 2018.
6. "Verstappen first driver to exceed power unit limit after Monaco change". Crash. 27 May 2018. Retrieved 4 June 2018.
7. "Results". Formula1.com. Retrieved 26 May 2018.
8. "Verstappen fails to qualify after Monaco practice shunt". Formula1.com. Retrieved 26 May 2018.
9. "Qualifying: Ricciardo crushes opposition to take Monaco pole". Formula1.com. Retrieved 26 May 2018.
10. "Brendon Hartley disappointed after qualifying 16th for Monaco Grand Prix". Stuff. 26 May 2018. Retrieved 6 February 2019.
11. Davies, Tom (27 May 2018). "F1: Daniel Ricciardo wins Monaco Grand Prix – as it happened TheGuardian : TheGuardian". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 February 2019.
12. "Conclusions from the Monaco Grand Prix | PlanetF1 : PlanetF1". www.planetf1.com. Archived from the original on 28 May 2018. Retrieved 28 May 2018.
13. "Ricciardo: Monaco Grand Prix win is 'redemption' | PlanetF1 : PlanetF1". www.planetf1.com. Archived from the original on 27 May 2018. Retrieved 28 May 2018.
14. Mitchell, Scott. "Sirotkin convinced Monaco proves Williams has cleared F1 2018 nadir". Autosport.com. Retrieved 4 June 2018.
15. "What the teams said – race day in Monaco". Formula1.com. Retrieved 28 May 2018.
16. "Brake disc failure to blame for Leclerc-Hartley collision". Formula1.com. Retrieved 29 May 2018.
17. "F1: Daniel Ricciardo wins Monaco Grand Prix – as it happened". Guardian. 27 May 2018. Retrieved 7 June 2018.
18. "RACE: Ricciardo overcomes engine issues to beat Vettel in Monaco". Formula1.com. Retrieved 27 May 2018.
19. "'Deep down I never lost faith or belief' says Ricciardo after taking first win since 2018". Formula1.com. Retrieved 14 November 2021.
20. "Monaco GP: Lewis Hamilton & Fernando Alonso critical of 'most boring race'". BBC Sport. 27 May 2018. Retrieved 28 May 2018.
21. "Formula 1 Grand Prix de Monaco 2018 – Qualifying". Formula1.com. 26 May 2018. Retrieved 26 May 2018.
22. "Formula 1 Grand Prix de Monaco 2018 – Race Result". Formula1.com. 27 May 2018. Retrieved 27 May 2018.
23. "Monaco 2018 - Result". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
24. "Monaco 2018 – Championship". StatsF1. Retrieved 6 February 2019.

External links

• Official website ^{[ permanent dead link ]}

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