[morini]

Max keeping things interesting in what is usually the dullest of races...there was very little between the 2 when it came to me voting.

Yep, fair play. Respect your opinion.

I'm not sure many people could have taken those tyres 67 laps and still held off those behind. For me it really was like a replay of 1992 but with a British driver defending and prevailing.

Max was great today, by the way. Very measured, mature and calcualted. The Max of three years agi would have taken them both out. He is the most improved driver on the grid and is having an awesome season so far.

[forzaferrari]

Danny & Kev `suck my balls` Mag also done the same amount of laps on each tyre as LH....not saying they could have kept Max behind.....no scrap that yeah I think Danny would have been savvy enough although wouldnt have had the drive/power LH had coming out of Portier for the run through the tunnel.

[morini]

Danny & Kev `suck my balls` Mag also done the same amount of laps on each tyre as LH....not saying they could have kept Max behind.....no scrap that yeah I think Danny would have been savvy enough although wouldnt have had the drive/power LH had coming out of Portier for the run through the tunnel.

Different kind of pressure in the midfield fella.

At the end of the day Lewis was on the wrong tyre for almost the whole race (christ knows why they put the mediums on when hard was available), VB was very, very lucky cos he was also on the mediums too for 1 lap but swapped one lap later and lost nothing because the SC stayed out so long. Hamilton was under extreme pressure the whole race yet still brought it home. On chat we were thinking the best approach would to bolt and try to build a pitstop. Merc chose the slow route though. Nobody I saw today deserves DOTD more than Lewis. A 6xWDC kind of drive.

I was very impressed anyway. Not least because he kept it out of the barriers.

[morini]

Where the championships stand post Monaco

WDC table

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WCC table

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Williams though, seriously. Zero points from 6 races. Nobody wants that people. It is now time for a changing of the guard.

[forzaferrari]

Sure makes for grim reading.

[Jody Barton]

I think we're looking at Montreal as a race Bottas MUST beat Lewis at already. He has to try a get a bit of momentum back, because Lewis was in a league of his own in Paul Riccard, and is fairly handy round Austria and he's not half bad at Silverstone. Lewis is the only driver with back to back wins, if he makes it three wins on the bounce you get the feeling the strain and pressure might break Bottas already. He sounded so defeated after this race, really felt for the poor sod.

[Antilochos]

Seems all have been said that needs te be said about the race today.

To back up Forza in the case of Verstappen being driver of the day; I too think he deserves it (I don't vote; lazy as can be). If Hamilton would be dodd, it would be fine as well. Both drove excellent. The difference is, I think, is that Verstappen is 1) the initiator of the action and only action on this silly circuit and 2) Hamilton being that drama queen is not very appealing for people. Besides, Verstappen is often the man of action in a race, which helps to give him that fan favourite image and more likely to be voted for, while Hamilton is driving a superior car (and people often cheer for the underdog).


Anyway, Hamilton did what he needed to do; drive and don't let anyone pass. They made it a bit harder for him with the tyres, but still, what a shite track this is.
Verstappen did great again. Cool head again in that first corner with Bottas. Bad luck in the pitlane (he deserved a third place on podium at least). Lovely how he pushed Hamilton and forced Vettel and Bottas as well to keep up.
Vettel was flawless, but I keep wondering what is going on at Ferrari.
Bottas, bad luck on a track where you can't afford bad luck.
Leclerc messed up. Forcing to hard. He seems to be where Verstappen was a year ago.

[DRicc]

Seems all have been said that needs te be said about the race today.

To back up Forza in the case of Verstappen being driver of the day; I too think he deserves it (I don't vote; lazy as can be). If Hamilton would be dodd, it would be fine as well. Both drove excellent. The difference is, I think, is that Verstappen is 1) the initiator of the action and only action on this silly circuit and 2) Hamilton being that drama queen is not very appealing for people. Besides, Verstappen is often the man of action in a race, which helps to give him that fan favourite image and more likely to be voted for, while Hamilton is driving a superior car (and people often cheer for the underdog).


Anyway, Hamilton did what he needed to do; drive and don't let anyone pass. They made it a bit harder for him with the tyres, but still, what a shite track this is.
Verstappen did great again. Cool head again in that first corner with Bottas. Bad luck in the pitlane (he deserved a third place on podium at least). Lovely how he pushed Hamilton and forced Vettel and Bottas as well to keep up.
Vettel was flawless, but I keep wondering what is going on at Ferrari.
Bottas, bad luck on a track where you can't afford bad luck.
Leclerc messed up. Forcing to hard. He seems to be where Verstappen was a year ago.

but still, what a shite track this is.

Look forward to plenty more of the same (street circuits), if Liberty have their way.
Btw, been away in Prague for 5 days. Good to know I didn't miss much by not seeing the race. The Czechs are not big on F1

[NeilP]

Well, thank goodness that is behind us. The only interest if that is what you can call it was can Hamilton make those tyres last until the end of the race, he did and took a deserved win. I think the win means a lot to him personally and the team because of the loss of Niki Lauda this week. Rather than driver by drivers lets go team by team.

Mercedes: Emotional win for them to have a car 1st and 3rd consolidates an already huge gap in the Constructor Championship which is surely theirs already. Got unlucky with the pit incidence otherwise I think it may have been a first and second and who knows if Bottas may have passed Hamilton and who knows if team orders would have come in to play.

Ferrari: I would think Vettels second place will be a consolation at the end of the day and was probably all they could truly hope for. Today we saw the inexperience of Leclerc he needed to take his medicine today and just get as high as he could, somewhat surprised at the team not trying to cool him down. That said Ferrari are in a tough place and perhaps more saliently its a place they were not expected top be in pre-season. We have seen a spread of track types and with the exception of Bahrain they have been found wanting. If this was the Premier league (sorry Guys) Binotto would be gone.

Red Bull: I would think they will be very happy with the result after the pit incident with Verstappen. Gasly had a decent race. I am not as high on Verstappens drive as perhaps a lot of you are. First off he was lucky with his penalty and yes I know its a team issue not driver but is there any doubt he gained an advantage to the detriment of Bottas! His missed corner, yeah okay it happens but the incident with Hamilton, please. That was nothing more than a desperate lunge he was miles behind Hamilton and yet again he is being praised for it I dont get it. If that had been Vettel he would be getting crucified. Then he blames Hamilton for going off track. Laughable.

Toro Rosso: Forget driver of the day this was the team of the day. Great performances by Kyvat and Albon who are proving to be a great pairing for Mr Grumpy Tost and Co. Kyvat seems to have got his mojo back and Albon is frankly a revelation to me at least. Albon in for Verstappen 2021???

McLaren: Great performance by Sainz and an acceptable one by Norris. The team are absolutely making strides this season and are frankly embarrassing their engine suppliers works team. Not sure they can do any better than nthey are which is a great after the last few years.

Haas: Mixed bag, expected Magnussen to do better but Grosjean finally got a decent race under his belt. I guess they are where they should be but I cannot help but feel they need an injection of new blood at the wheel. Maybe Rossi for Grosjean next season?

Racing Point: Another poor outing for a team that despite allegedly spending more money than when under VY Mallya are going backwards. I thought Stroll had a decent time with Williams, not brilliant but potential. He does not belong. He is the new Markus Ericsson. Prez on his day is okay but he too is struggling. I dont know what has gone wrong here but something has.

Renault: Good result for Ricciardo not so much for Hulkenberg. After a slow start Ricciardo is proving the better driver of the two in my eyes but the team is under achieving with its resources. McLaren are killing them with their own engine I find that embarrassing and wonder how much longer Abiteboul can survive.

Alfa Romeo: Expected a lot more of them, not so much at this track but they are dropping back. Maybe its track based performance. Its early but I dont think Giovinazzi belongs.

Williams: Russell again beating Kubica which is about all he can do I guess that said 15th place looks good given the car he drives. Major changes needed in this team its in danger of dying

[Jody Barton]

I'll respond NeilP...

Mercedes: If Bottas hadn't been side swiped by Verstappen in the pits he'd have been Lewis' first line of defence from Max. Given how Bottas has chewed through his tyres more than Lewis this season I think question marks would remain as to whether or not he'd have got to the end on hus Mediums, but it would have made Lewis' job way easier. I have a sneaky suspicion it'd have been another 1 - 2 if it wasn't for the pitlane incident.

Ferrari: Vettel did what champions do and get the absolute maximum available to them, and probably way more than they thought they'd get going into the race. He's not the best on the grid, but I wish more people would acknowledge he's a good driver. Leclerc... after yesterday I think the red must descended. I don't think it was Max Verstappen esque today actually. His moves prior to his cock up were more controlled, I just think he had a bad day at the office. Thing is Leclerc seems to analyse these things and learn very quickly from them.

Red Bull: I think they'll look at today and view that as a podium lost. Great recovery drive from Gasly, and a mostly mature drive from Max. Silly late lunge, but he had to give it a go I guess, no harm so no foul. The pitlane incident was a penalty, but honestly at the point they dropped Max to let him go Bottas was only just coming round the Ferrari pit, the Monaco pits are tight and I think that's what did for them.

Toro Rosso: I 100% agree. I think if Gasly doesn't start improving rapidly Albon could find himself with a shiny new car in 2020. Don't think we'll see Kvyat promoted again unless it's desperate. Four Honda engines cars in the top 10, more than any other manufacturer. Honda are starting to come good.

McLaren: Things are starting to turn around for my team. They've made some great appointments, they have a cracking young driver line up that I think could serve them well for years. The biggest problem will be not being a works team... speaking of which...

Renault: Embarrassing. Cyril hasn't managed the influx of quality new staff very well at all. It's a mess, and with the money spent, and the the driver's they have they should be doing far better. Ricciardo is finding his feet though, so maybe when they get the back log of updates on the car in France we'll see them go forward.

Haas: Magnussen was unlucky with the safety car and getting stuck behind Kimi who was pootling around. Grosjean just isn't cutting it for me again, lucked into 9th place, then a silly driver error drops him to 10th. He's not good enough.

Alfa Romeo: similar concept to Ferrari, similar problems. The cars not got the right philosophy, Giovinazzi is struggling. However, I think they should stick with him, lots of people rate his engineering and technical no how and that's useful when developing cars. Kimi had a crap race today, but he's gone well so far this season.

Racing Point: Never rated Stroll, still don't. I'd take Ericsson over him. He's bloody awful. Perez I think is starting to phone his races in. He's a good midfield driver in my opinion, but he's not a team leader, and he's not a technician. Racing Point are clearly missing the input of Ocon who is well know in the paddock as a solid development driver and good with the engineering stuff. Rumours are that's why Mercedes picked him over Wehrlein.

Williams: Painful. There needs to be big changes at that team. Kubica needs to admit he's not good enough, and Williams need to bring a better option in. Russell is doing a sterling job in a shyte car, I hope they can start moving closer to the rest of the pack soon. Big updates apparently planned for France.