In the eighth round Leclerc’s first “home” victory with Ferrari arrives in F1. A long-awaited triumph, peppered with many episodes that can perhaps be included, if not entirely, under the heading “bad luck factor” (more on that later). Bad luck now finally stopped, hopefully. A beautiful sporting story, for the emotional bond that Charles has with the principality, for the memory of his father and for the “curse” of Ferrari to Montecarlo, at least the recent one. Just to say: from 1979 there Ferrari he only won there seven times. There are many who will talk about boredom. How boring… we always talk about boredom Montecarlo.
But, sometimes, boredom can also be “relative”. In the sense that whoever wins a Montecarlo it’s not about boredom, but about joy. And whoever loses does not speak of joy but of boredom. It’s a cliché that has been repeated for decades. The undersigned saw his first grand prix Monk In the 1988. Not much has changed since then. One-off sensational races, but almost always a train of cars that rattles off for almost two hours in that curious and anachronistic residue of motoring archeology that is Montecarlo. Always seasoned with its veneer of glamour, crazy and non-crazy VIPs, displayed and non-exhibited wealth, mammoth yachts and so on.
All questions that are of very little interest to the true enthusiast, it cannot be otherwise. At a certain point Max Verstappen, appearing for once, asked for a pillow to sleep on. It doesn’t appear that you made the same request last year. As you can see, these are always relative discussions. However the F1 it wouldn’t be the same without it Montecarlo. I, for example, would have also kept the first free practices in the usual old Thursday format. Obviously this will earn me the accusation of being a conservative. And amen, patience.
Effectively Monk it’s not a liberating scream. It’s a strangled scream, held inside, partially imploded inside the soul. A joy in the middle, in the sense that there is almost never overtaking, the gamble pays off, the heart-pounding finale, a nice straight where you can unload all the horses in a brutal way. Yet it makes a lot of sense precisely for this reason. To those who love it F1 you can’t help but like it Monk. It’s true that the Saturday qualification probably becomes the predominant element and it’s true that with such narrow streets and such long and wide single-seaters, real whales, everything is amplified towards the boredom train effect.
Yet I find it a poignant beauty, motorsport speaking, how the pilots brush those curves, graze the guard rails to the millimetre, exploit every single centimeter available to go as fast as possible. And how sometimes they don’t succeed by doing patatrac. The greatest ones won, but they also made devastating blows. It’s not a casuality. In the midst of the matter he remains Perez. Not guilty, from what I understand, but he destroyed a frame and luckily nothing was done. Neither him nor the pilots. Some fear among the photographers stationed near the accident area, fortunately also unharmed.
In any case, bad times in Red Bull, at least for a grand prix. And therefore great joy for all the others who score points and see a much less “long” classification than the one predicted from the first race. Ferrari And McLaren primarily. Luckily for me, for several grand prix I haven’t heard screams and colors swapped and “raped” (fuchsia for purple) and therefore I don’t put up with the sirens of the “reopened championship”. Verstappen he is “predestined” to win this world championship, barring sensational twists. Then you know, sometimes the improbability becomes fact: you see the front row Ferrari right at Monk In the 2022.
However, in this case, the historical Scuderia Ferrari he had put a lot of his own into it, with brilliant strategies, pit stops often incorrect and so on with various and possible problems. But, of course, if they had told me at the start of the championship that two other teams would have won at least one Grand Prix after eight races well… I would have put my signature on it. Luckily, boredom, the real one that repeats itself and is obsessive, which destroyed an entire world championship, last year’s 2023, now seems averted. And, in times of long and uncontested dominions, this is no small matter. And to conclude… “Daggers Charles!”
F1, Monaco GP: Ferrari does nothing wrong on the shields
Leclerc. Rating: 16.
The victory was achieved with an amazing lap on Saturday. And then the long, nerve-wracking wait to finally be able to enjoy the victory he has been looking for for some time. For once, a prophet in his homeland.
Verstappen. Rating: 5.
Definitely a negative weekend, with just a few points scraped together. A little grumpy machine and several errors and errors…
Sainz. Rating: 7.
Qualifying not perfect, race with a flaw at the start, then a good third on the podium.
Perez. rating: NC.
Disaster in qualifying, car destroyed after a few corners at the start. He’s back Perez that we love…
Oco(gli)hon. Rating: Dunno
Fast will also be fast, okay. But like a sweet revenge Monk 2024 gives him back the 2017 (he who forgets is complicit!) with interests (do a little obstruction with the Ferrari and open the doors to Mercedes pursuers, he pilot of the Force India… to make the boss, alias Totone, happy Wolff, at the head of a different team from the one ours competed for. Something that would have happened with a motorized vehicle Ferrari there was a nice disqualification for the Red).
The problem of Or with…it is what it is Or with.
Mercedes. Rating: no man’s land.
How bitter life is when you sail in mediocrity… Dear Totone, come on, stay there for a few more years…
McLaren. Rating: 9.
It seems perhaps the most complete and balanced single-seater. And, taking into account the latest vintages of the renowned team, it is an incredible thing.
Plates: 9.
The only pilot who could, in some way, undermine him Leclerc. Talented and fast.
Magnussen. Rating: -10. And what do you want to tell him…
Marko-Horner. Rating: Moscow.
I would have liked to be a fly to see the faces of the “dynamic duo” on the weekend and especially on Sunday. I think I would have had a lot of fun…
Vasseur. Vote: the calm of the strong.
Time will tell if Vasseur it’s really the right choice for this one Ferrari. That is, the man in command he needed Maranello. Not everything is perfect and much is perfectible. But ours put a considerable weight on his shoulders and, perhaps, gave the perhaps most important thing that the red was missing. The tranquility, the serenity. From this point of view we can say that the mission is succeeding perfectly.
Speaking of woodworms. Here comes the Canada. And the 2019, with what happened and happened, every now and then comes back to haunt me in the night. As I imagine it remained a nightmare for many Ferrari fans…
Author: Mariano Froldi – @MarianoFroldi
Images: Scuderia Ferrari – F1Tv
