Strategy analysis: McLaren and Ferrari go aggressive, Mercedes’ odd strategy has one explanation | Monaco GP. McLaren and Ferrari played aggressive strategies at the Monaco GP.

The Monaco GP offered no surprises, not even with the two-stop strategy. More action had been expected, but there were very few position changes compared to the starting grid. Ferrari and McLaren executed their plans as expected, especially because, after a slight hesitation at the start, Norris understood he needed to push in order to stay safe. Once that strategy was applied, he got into a comfortable position to maintain first place. There was some pressure from Verstappen and Leclerc, but in the end, it all came to nothing.

Pirelli’s comment
Before analyzing the race itself, let’s look at what Pirelli motorsport director Mario Isola had to say at the end of the day: “The new regulation introduced definitely increased curiosity, not just among professionals but also fans. While it’s true that today we had the same top four as in qualifying, it’s also true that there were five lead changes and three different drivers led the race, with plenty of action happening behind them. Much more than last year,” he told Pirelli media.

“From a tyre perspective, as expected, the Medium and Hard compounds were the most used: both proved capable of practically covering the full race distance without a stop. The Medium maybe needed a bit more management, but overall showed more than acceptable degradation. This weekend, the C6 compound proved to be a good qualifying tyre, but more importantly, played a tactical role, pushing teams to use the Medium more—which was last year’s Soft. That was our goal and now we look forward with interest to Montreal to see how it performs on a different type of track,” the Italian manager concluded.

To be honest, as said this morning as well, the writer had expected much more use of the C6 Soft. A lesson to be learned for future races.

Two-stop strategies don’t disrupt qualifying order
The first takeaway is that Monaco remains Monaco. Whether one or two pit stops are used, the qualifying order remains largely untouched. The only changes came from Lewis Hamilton, who went from seventh to fifth, and others moving up one position due to Alonso, who had to give up crucial points today after a technical issue (Fernando was potentially in sixth place when he retired on lap 39).

The usual recap
Thanks to the two stops, we must account for multiple strategies: M-H-H for Norris and Piastri, M-H-M for Leclerc and Bearman, H-M-S for Verstappen (only one lap on C6 at the end), H-H-M for Hamilton and Stroll, M-S-H for Hadjar (very early first stop) and Lawson (late first stop), M-M-H for Ocon and Albon, H-M-M for Sainz (very late first pit stop) and Colapinto, H-M-H inexplicably for the two Mercedes cars, M-H-M for Bearman who finished 12th with a pit stop on lap 1, M-H-S-M for Bortoleto, the only driver to do three stops, and S-H-M for Tsunoda who finished 17th behind the Racing Bulls, far from the points. Alonso and Gasly retired.

Ferrari and McLaren attack, Max Verstappen tries the impossible
Even though we saw a wide range of strategies, the most talked about were Max Verstappen’s and Mercedes’. While most teams tried to complete both stops early—especially McLaren and Ferrari who went on the attack right away, trying to create a gap for safety—Max attempted to extend his middle stint as long as possible, hoping for a late-race neutralization. It was his only chance to reach the podium (in the final laps, his only hope was a red flag), but the opportunity never came. Verstappen had to pit on the last lap and finished fourth.

Mercedes’ strategy has only one explanation
As for Mercedes’ plan, there is only one possible explanation. Both cars extended their first stints in the hope of a Safety Car that never appeared. Once it became clear that both drivers were unlikely to score points, they sacrificed Antonelli by having him slow down, copying the Williams strategy, to create a sufficient gap for George to retain P11 after both stops and a drive-through penalty for passing Albon by exceeding track limits. Once the goal was achieved, Kimi was called in for the two mandatory pit stops, but by that point, last place was inevitable.

If Mercedes’ tactic can be explained in some way, Yuki Tsunoda’s strategy appears absurd—running a middle stint of 72 laps on Hard tyres, perhaps hoping for a Safety Car. As with Kimi, Yuki’s slide down the order was unsurprising. The Japanese driver ended up 17th.