Monaco GP: Hot Laps and Hotter News

Welcome to the 371 of you who joined us in the last week.

Today we’re going full throttle because we’ve got a pretty long email for you, but at the end you’ll feel like a master in all things Monaco GP.

🛑 No Imola GP reschedule in 2023.

The president of the ACI Angelo Sticchi Damiani has confirmed to TuttoSport that the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix will now not happen at all in 2023. – Read more(IT)

🎥 Say goodbye to the local flavors of the Monaco Grand Prix broadcast, because F1 is now officially in the driver’s seat​​!

Instead of Tele Monte Carlo’s traditional coverage, which has been the norm for years, F1 is ready to take over the broadcasting reins from its base in Biggin Hill​​.

We’ve seen this shift from local to in-house productions throughout the 2000s, with Monaco being the latest one to join the club after the Japanese Grand Prix.

And for those of you who were frustrated with missing out on key race moments due to cut-away graphics (like that infamous Lance Stroll incident in 2021), hold onto your hats, because things are set to change for the better under F1’s watchful eyes​​. – Read more

🟢 Who said copying Red Bull? Aston Martin’s flying solo!

Aston Martin’s Engineering Director, Luca Furbatto, sets the record straight: there’s no Red Bull effect behind their stunning F1 season start. When Racing Point morphed into Aston Martin, their ambitions soared – they eyed becoming World Championship contenders.

Now with a high-tech factory, aggressive recruitment, and a unique engineering approach, Aston Martin is punching way above its former minnow status. This transformation owes much to Furbatto’s engineering brilliance, the technical prowess of his team, and the stunning performance of Fernando Alonso.

Aston Martin’s surge has sparked whispers of Red Bull copycat designs, but Furbatto shrugs it off. The team’s blend of Mercedes components and unique aerodynamic perspectives make a straight Red Bull clone impossible. So, to all the doubters: Aston Martin’s success is a team effort, not a borrowed blueprint! – Read more

🟠 Oscar Piastri is apparently the “Next Big Thing” in Formula 1, or so says McLaren’s boss Zak Brown​.

Piastri’s been so impressive in F2, McLaren even kicked Daniel Ricciardo to the curb a year early just to get him onboard.

Despite the McLaren MCL60 acting like a moody teenager with excessive drag and sensitivity to low-grip conditions, Piastri still managed to score his first F1 points and seems to be on a roll​​.

Brown’s crystal ball shows Piastri as a future F1 champ, provided McLaren can deliver a car that doesn’t have a mind of its own​​.- Read more

😰 Pierre Gasly, dodged the race ban bullet​​.

The cancellation of last Sunday’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola removed the risk of Gasly getting any more penalties before the previous ones expired.

But don’t be fooled, he’s still the reigning champ of the penalty leaderboard​.

Despite the stewards focusing on unsafe driving this season, Gasly’s penalty resume features a colourful mix of collisions, speeding and track limit violations. Let’s see if he can keep this ‘penalty diet’ up. – Read more

⚽️ Driver’s Football game turned into social media drama.

Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz took a hard knock in a charity football match, sparking rumors he’d have to bow out of the upcoming Monaco Grand Prix. Plot twist: he won’t!

Sainz, along with fellow speedsters Charles Leclerc and Pierre Gasly, swapped the race track for the football field in H.S.H. Prince Albert’s annual charity match. But his day on the pitch ended prematurely when a rough tackle left him with a souvenired bruise on his right thigh.

Cue the social media meltdown, with speculation swirling that Sainz might have to sit out the Grand Prix. But our resilient racer quickly put those rumors to rest.

Hi everyone. Just wanted to let you know that I am well and completely ready to race this weekend in Monaco. What happened yesterday was simply a contact during the traditional charity football match, but it was not an injury. I enjoyed playing football as I always do and now I…

— Carlos Sainz (@Carlossainz55) May 24, 2023

💅🏼 Berger: Keep F1 classy, not sassy

Ex-F1 driver Gerhard Berger thinks it’s all well and good that F1 is revving up popularity stateside, but cautions against the sport donning the star-spangled banner too tightly.

After the recent Miami Grand Prix shindig, featuring LL Cool J and more fanfare than a royal wedding, many drivers found it more of a sideshow than a main event.

Berger’s all for F1 winning over Uncle Sam’s heart, but he’s hoping the Broadway-style introductions don’t replace the more dignified European tradition.

While I’m writing this from Europe, I think there’s room for all types of show in this sport and we should focus more on the racing.

The more action on track, the less time we have to think about popcorn vs. foie gras. – Read more

🤑 Newey’s Aston Martin: Beauty meets beastly budget!

F1 genius Adrian Newey had a costly fling with the Aston Martin Valkyrie, almost sinking the company into bankruptcy, according to Red Bull’s Christian Horner.

Newey, not a man to count pennies when innovation is at stake, created a car that was as breathtaking as its price tag. – Read more

👁 “Blink and you’ll miss it” takes on a new meaning in the world of Formula 1.

Studies show racing drivers blink in sync around the track. This synchronized eye-juke could be a sign of their cognitive state while they’re playing high-speed chess with a car on the circuit. Who knew your eyelids could be so in tune with your brain, right?

This discovery came from Ryota Nishizono and his team in Japan who tracked the blinks of three professional drivers during practice laps. Despite each having their own personal blink tempo, they all seemed to flutter their eyelids at the same spots on each circuit.

The speedier they went, the less they blinked – talk about keeping your eyes on the prize! – Read more

Welcome to the most glamorous event on the F1 calendar, the Monaco Grand Prix.

If F1 were a movie, this would be the glitzy red carpet premiere.

The event takes place in late May or early June, and is like the Oscars, the Met Gala, and the Super Bowl all rolled into one — but with added horsepower and the waft of burning rubber.

This world-famous racing spectacle, which first revved its engines back in 1929, is held on the Circuit de Monaco. And let me tell you, this isn’t just any racetrack. Picture this: sleek, high-powered F1 cars zipping through the narrow, winding streets of Monaco.

Throw in an exciting tunnel, eye-watering elevation changes, and you have yourself a track that’s not just demanding; it’s as dramatic as a season finale of your favorite binge-watch series.

Now, before you start thinking that this is just about making really, really fast left turns, let me hit you with a dose of prestige.

Read the article

⚙️ Honda will return to F1 in 2026 by supplying engines to Aston Martin. – Read More(IT)

😒 Awkward Opinion of the Week Award”: Helmut Marko on Lewis Hamilton: “Lewis Hamilton is upset that he is not the highest paid driver.” – Read more(IT)

🤝 Red Bull has decided against selling AlphaTauri or moving it away from its Italian home base, but revealed the team will expand its UK presence. – Read more

❤️ ICYMI – Alpine’s Instagram Live was full of absolut chaos and we loved it – Read more

🟠 McLaren will run a temporary colour scheme at the next two F1 races in Monaco and Spain, which incorporates the three livery designs of its cars that won the 1974 Indianapolis 500, the 1984 Monaco GP and the 1995 Le Mans 24 Hours. – Read more

😤 Ralf Schumacher: Marko has ‘a problem with the Schumacher name’ – Read more

👎🏻 Liberty Media’s president has assured F1’s owners are not looking to sell the sport – Read more

❤️ Tsunoda reports for clean-up duty in Faenza, Italy – Read more

🔴 Haas boss Gunther Steiner admits that his team’s reliance on Ferrari parts restricts its ability to pursue different aerodynamic concepts. – Read more

🏎 The best tech images so far from Formula 1 2023 – Read more

🇲🇨 Scheduled: 26-28 MAY

TL;DR

1️⃣ First GP in 1950
📐 Length: 3.33 km
🛞 Corners: 19
💨 Lap Record: 1:12.909 (Hamilton in 2021)
🚀 1 DRS Zone
🏁 Number of laps: 78

🏆 Previous winner: Sergio Perez – Red Bull Racing – 1:56:30.265

Tire info for the grand prix

We’ll have the C3, C4 and C5 on track for the weekend.

There’s very little grip and limited wear. The softest compounds offer a good level of adhesion when it comes to traction but mechanical grip is limited. This doesn’t prevent some sliding: a determining factor in surface graining.

All types of tyre brought to Monaco were used in the variable weather of last year’s grand prix: Cinturato Blue full wet, Cinturato Green intermediate, and all three slick compounds. On a dry track, the race is nearly always a one-stopper for everybody, but last year most drivers stopped three times.

The new Cinturato Blue full wet tyres that don’t need tyre blankets should have made their debut at Imola but can now be used in Monaco – as well as throughout the rest of the season.

The weather forecast for the upcoming weekend in Monaco shows that there is a possibility of rain hitting the track on all three days of action, meaning we could be in for a dramatic Grand Prix. Scroll down below for a more complete weather forecast. – See detailed forecast.