The crown jewel of Formula 1 will be in the spotlight again for the 76th running in 2018. This year, with Sauber’s Charles Leclerc on the grid, there’ll be a Monégasque driver competing in the Monaco Grand Prix for the first time since Louis Chiron did so in 1955.
For other drivers who have raced in the Principality, Monaco is considered a home race. Nico Rosberg claimed the moniker of “home race winner” three times with Mercedes between 2013 and 2015. In fact, until last year, Mercedes had dominated the race since 2013, but while the winner has been predictable, the race itself has been anything but.
Scuderia Ferrari need a positive result after Spain
After a blistering start to the season that included wins in Australia and Bahrain, Scuderia Ferrari German driver Sebastian Vettel finds himself under pressure heading into race weekend. A 17-point lead has transformed into a 17-point deficit following three races without a podium. Another disappointing weekend and Sebastian may struggle to get his bid for a fifth championship back on track. The fact that the Maranello team is expected to be one of the strongest performers around the streets of Monaco could be the saving grace for the German. Saturday is expected to see a peak in temperatures after which conditions will cool. Race day is expected to be cloudy and a few degrees cooler than Saturday, and not as warm as last year’s grand prix either. Rain does not appear to be a threat at the moment.
Mercedes worried
Make no bones about it, Mercedes are heading into the Monaco Grand Prix with ‘damage limitation’ their number one priority. For some reason, and even Mercedes are not sure why, the W09 just does not like the corners of the famed street circuit. Team Principal Toto Wolff summed up the sentiment in the Silver Arrows camp with two simple words, saying he was “bloody worried.” If Mercedes can do better than last year’s 4th (Bottas) and 7th (Hamilton) and not give up too many points to their main rivals at Ferrari in the process then they will probably consider the weekend a relative success.
Red Bulls to shine?
One thing that most F1 watchers seem to agree on is that Red Bull will be in amongst the podium places this weekend. Daniel Ricciardo showed a glimpse of what to expect on Sunday at Barcelona last time out when he was super quick through the Circuit de Catalunya’s tight, final sector. Red Bull bosses will be hoping that Ricciardo and Max Verstappen will be able to make the most of the advantages the RB14 is expected to have around the twists and turns of the principality and make up some ground in what has been a distinctly average season so far.
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