P1 with Matt and Tommy - Monaco GP Race Review

Episode Date: May 25, 2025

“Farcical, ridiculous and not suitable for F1.” It turns out the crazy, topsy-turvy race we expected… didn’t happen. The mandatory two-stop race threw up some baffling decisions up and down the grid, as we’re still left wondering if F1 even works at Monaco anymore. You can listen to an extended version of this Race Review podcast over on our Patreon NOW! Sign up to also get every P1 episode ad-free, early access to live tickets and merch, and access to our Discord server where you can chat with us and other F1 fans! Click here to sign up now!Follow us on socials! You can find us on Twitter, Instagram, Twitch, YouTube and TikTok. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello everybody and welcome back to the B1 podcast with Matt and Tommy. Tommy very slowly waving. The man is relaxed as it usually is. But this, look, I think we just start things a little differently. And Tommy, I think you need to say a few words to everybody listening. Before we dive into the Monaco Grand Prix, hyped up by Tom Bellingham, the words of the Oracle sometimes is that it was going to be chaos

and what would you like to say to those viewers? I want to say two words and it's I'm depressed Could that technically be three? Because it's I'm anyway Yeah, I'm sorry It's fine mate you don't actually have to apologise Of course we were excited

A lot of us were excited for the unknown If anything But we'll dive into all of that and a lot more And usually our podcasts when we get a bit ranty, people enjoy them even more. So get yourselves locked in, put your seatbelt on, because this is probably going to be the most entertaining part of your Monaco Grand Prix weekend.

But before we dive into everything, a quick shout out to our wonderful patrons who will be getting extra chat at the end of every single race review this year. And of course we'll have more chat, more ranting and more popping off in the segment after we've done everything we usually talk about. So, Tommy, let's get into your most memorable moment. What could it possibly Are there any memories?

Just sad ones Mine is of course the mandatory two stop I ever hyped it I will admit I'm trying to bring laughter but I'm actually just genuinely gutted I'm actually just

I'm actually just sad because I'm literally basically halfway through that race I watched a basically a part of my childhood and that I love about Monaco, it just hit me. Like, I've defended it for years and years and years. You know, we mention nostalgia, all this kind of stuff. And halfway through that race, it just hit me like, it's, Monaco is not suitable for F1. It's just, it's, and it's that sad realization that I discovered during that Grand Prix, it was

farcical it was ridiculous and the mandatory two-stop made it even more of a joke that basically you know we have we have circuits uh that we've we've mentioned about it's so hard to overtake even like Suzuki and things like that um and and we know I can I could I could I could have a rant about the cars are too wide but that's for other circuits no other circuit can you go five seconds a lap slower, you know, you can't, you just can't pass. You literally cannot pass. So even when we got actually something exciting at the end, where the leaders were close, my heart was racing a little bit and there's always that 0.01% of you going, oh my God, the top three are separated by milliseconds. But then the other 99% of my brain is going, well, we've seen a car go five seconds

a lapse slower and can't even pass then. So why would we see an overtake now? And it was a depressing watch, watching a race that I really thought might work, completely not work, and just be an absolute embarrassment, to be honest. So there we go. Wow. Wow. Soak that in everybody.

Tommy has finally dropped the shield where all the arrows have been flying towards the Monaco Grand Prix and Tommy has said no more. I will join you. I'm wounded. Look, the main bow and arrow. mandatory two stop, it was farcical. I think that was one of our, maybe, we kind of mention it in our concerns, perhaps in the

watcherongs or maybe it was in predictions where we thought this first year could well be quite chaotic, quite fun, but the minute they've done that once, they would then know the teams that is what to do to make sure they utilize Monaco to its best possible way and to score as many points as possible for the team. we didn't realize they knew the answer immediately, which is really sad. Well, V-Cab did, certainly. They certainly did. They were the first ones to deploy the teammate strategy.

It was just, it was sad to watch. I think that's the main thing, right, is that our expectations were higher than the literal ground, like it usually is for a Sunday at Monaco. and it turned out to be that exact same amount of overtaking, but worse. It didn't feel like Formula One. It felt like a circus. It felt like we were,

this, I think, you know, we've always been concerned, haven't we, like bringing DRS, Kerr's back in the day. What will feel gimmicky, what will not feel gimmicky?

That was a gimmick, what we witnessed today. There was nothing that particularly felt natural about what we were watching. And that was mainly forced due to the, the teammates working together and going not just five seconds a lap, sometimes seven. You had Olly Behrman pitting on lap one, going five seconds a lap quicker than Max Verstappen at one point. It's just, it's not racing.

I don't agree. I think one thing that's worth mentioning is I don't agree that the fact that it's a mandatory two-stop, I don't think was the gimmick here, is the gimmick that it allowed teammates to do what they did, it block even more. You don't even see that, that, you know, in the one stops. And that's what made it a joke. I don't think, I don't think a mandatory two-stop would be a gimmicky thing to happen at other circuits. But it worked so badly at Monaco because people were trying to get that free pit stop by basically blocking the whole field. And it happened right from the very start. And then as soon as people cut it on, because surely that's it gone for next year now, right? because they know that every team has got the race or the two-stop?

Well, they've signed a massive contract, don't they? Yeah, they have. They have indeed. Look, I do, I will say on a positive note, I appreciate them trying something. Yeah. And maybe, you know, there are some tweaks to be made. But, you know, there are plenty of things that have been suggested already. Like, well, don't let them go five seconds a lap slower and things like that and have a minimum time.

But how do you measure that? Where's the line? Because, of course, tires degrade during races. Things happen in races and even in qualifying, they have a minimum or maximum delta, sorry, and they just submit a little excuse of, yeah, I was letting someone through. And then Stewart's like, ah, don't worry about it then. You get away Scott Free. It's such a difficult thing to try and fix that you just need to sort of extend the tunnel section for about two kilometers.

So however which way you want to do that. A lot of sea to build in. Maybe we just build a purpose built straight into a hairpin and comes back into Monaco. So let's get into a question. P1 Patreon member, MG Piper. Was this race better than last year, or did the two stops just confuse us so much we didn't realize that it was a meh race?

I will say, in the initial phase before the teammates ruined it, I was enjoying it more, obviously, than a zero stop round Monaco. Yeah, I mean, Charlotte Ler won last year, and you know, I joke about that, and it's an amazing result. But as for the race itself,

it was the worst race I've ever watched. last year. This year, I quite like the fact, you had Ollie Berman at the back. He's going five seconds a lap quicker. How's that going to unfold? And it was the unknown, but the thing is, we now know that doesn't work. So it can only happen and work once for us in terms of intrigue, because now everybody knows that it's just the hold-up Grand Prix. Last year was so bad because, and we had that instant realization, didn't we? The second, it was a red flag. This is a no-stop race. the race is over. It's a it's a it's a run down to turn one and even turn one you know it's too short of a run to to be able to make a move in there. So yes it was it was better but I think what made it

more depressing was the fact that it you know and I will admit I was wrong I hyped it up. A lot of people also hyped it up you know Pirelli saying this could be absolute carnage you know we don't know what people are going to do and instead they just they did unfortunately find that loophole where, you know, the whole grid could just do what they wanted and, and Lawson basically immediately just split the whole pack in half, which we thought might, they wouldn't be able to do that now because you then go under pressure from the people behind you because then you'd just go, well, if I'm being held up, I'd pitted. But apparently, Mercedes didn't want to do that, but we'll talk about that later.

We certainly will. They definitely will. They definitely will. take the award for the worst strategy that's ever been seen in Formula One history. P.1Pet, remember PGO Stick 1 asks, is it time to retire Monaco? No, it's not time to retire Monaco. It didn't work this year. It was a terrible race last year. We're off the back of a few stinkers. And Monaco in general is Monaco.

What we have said several times and what we will consistently keep saying is that, yes, Monaco is very hard to overtake, but we have seen overtakes around here when we've had smaller cars and the ability to race a little bit easier. So for us, as Formula One fans, I think as Formula 1 themselves, we all accept, some begrudgingly, that Monaco is going to stay because it is an incredible circuit, the fact that cars go around there in qualifying, and it's the best Saturday, and we're constantly say that every year, it's the best Saturday of the year, but it is. There's no disputing that in my opinion. So it's just the acceptance as we kind of head into Formula One just rolling the dice and trying to make, you know, fix things and we need to make

things better. We just have to accept that Monaco is going to be a difficult Sunday and just kind of let it be. If we're going to make the car smaller, yes, please, I'm down for that. That's what will make things a tiny bit better. But Monaco is always going to be difficult to overtake. So I'd like to also explore, can we please get rid of that last corner or reprofile it? Because it is the worst corner to get any kind of run out of. Just smooth it out. I don't know if there's some particular landmark or we can't touch the road for a particular reason. It dips down, doesn't it? It dips down. It's horrible. It just does not work. So I'm keen for little tweaks like that. I'm keen for the ideas of why don't we just race around a different part of Monaco?

Why don't we go up here, round here, down here, left it? No. It has to be Monaco as it was and is otherwise. There's no point to it really because it would still be a terrible circuit in other kind of ways for racing because it would be incredibly tight and difficult to pass. I'm a broken man at the moment, so is it time to retire Monaco? not the not to monaco from existence but we get back we get back to friday next year and i'll be watching every practice session going this is what i love about monaco but i feel so deflated after

that race that i'm like it just doesn't work as formula as a formula one race anymore and you know you go to four you can watch a formula race there and it's absolutely banging every year by the way if you if you you you know get the opportunity to watch it do watch it we do watch alongs uh of it as well. And you genuinely get like 180 overtakes every single race and you think I'm exaggerating here. No, that is the literal number of how many races like overtakes you get because the cars are much smaller. They're much, you know, they've got different things in place to put it in. But unfortunately, the sad reality of Formula One, and I'm sorry to make this the depressed Tommy podcast, but it's not going to happen. We're not going to get smaller cars for it to ever be suitable

again. So what do you mean? There are 150 millimeters less. wide going to 26. That's going to do a huge amount. That'll do it. It's just every every bit of it is too difficult.

You know, the tunnel you know, it's not, the tunnel is where you get a great run but you're not, you don't have a proper breaking zone or an opportunity to get there, even without the wide cars. Rastcast would be an amazing opportunity.

That's where Shell got really close. But unfortunately, you know, two, too bumpy on on the curbs and you don't ever get a slingshot and is it really a wonder when you know you're doing a 90 second lap in qualifying it's too short the straits are too short now you can never really get close to do it and you know don't get me wrong we'll get back to monaco next year and i'll be saying oh this is just the best um what i can't do we have to accept that it's a a race where a practice session is better than the race, I understand now why some people

don't like it, and it's a sad thought. It is a sad thought, but what's that over there? Hold on, is that, that's the Monaco defence shield. Let me just pick that up for a second. Hold on. I'm going to hold it up, right. I've got mine, my literal coaster that says Monaco on it. Oh, wow. I'm just using my fist, but I'm holding a Monaco defense shield right now because I am going to argue that I have had a lot more fun watching all of the practice sessions and qualifying compared to any other race weekend on the calendar. Yes, Sunday is the big dog. It's where the points are given and it's where we expect the most action, of course, and the most controversy. But we have much worse race weekends overall than what Monaco is. From a grand scheme of entertainment,

we have much worse weekends. So I am still very much of the opinion that we keep Monaco. If qualifying was also dead, then I get it. You bin it off. But I had so much fun. And you might, if you're listening, you might not watch the practice sessions. You might not have time, whatever,

not that interested. I loved every single minute of FP1, FP2, FP3 because of the fact that it's Monaco and they're just tearing around the streets fast as well, because they all know they don't really prepare for race trim it's all about quality trim so they are just pummeling around the circuit

constantly so I'm going to defend it yes it was a farce today don't get me wrong but I have been much less entertained in some other Formula One weekends and racetracks than what Monaco has delivered

over the course of this weekend okay next question AJ Cruise 6 can we just have Monaco as an exhibition race if they want to keep it on the calendar. No, because nobody would watch. And they won't turn up. Why would the teams turn up to a non-championship race?

It's not the 60s anymore. You know how we usually have record attendance? It says quarter of a million, 300,000. Record low attendance. 10,000 people would go to watch it, but the teams wouldn't turn up. No, people wouldn't watch it on television. Yeah, points. If you've not got points available.

Well, it might be an obligation, Tommy. An obligation. You have to do this as part of it. But there's no point. That in itself just kind of. kind of, you may as well just take it off the calendar. That's Formula One admitting it that it's dead. Yeah, exactly.

And then what's the point? What would an exhibition race? You may as well race if you're there and you're doing a race. It's, yeah. So I disagree with this one. I think that you have to commit to Monaco or you get rid of it completely. But we've discussed in the past, haven't we, around these newer circuits and the ones having no character very bland.

This is the absolute opposite. And goodness, gracious me, I have become. the Monaco Defender. I know. Monaco Defender. Who am I? It's probably because Charlotte can finish

P2 and it's the only base track. You just want an easy I'm going to see good results. You're guaranteed LeCler podium a year. Stick it around forever. We keep Monaco until

it doesn't happen. P1Petri member Nemu asks what could be tried next year to improve racing? Considering the contract is until 2031, only two tire compounds?

I've got it. Okay. So we'll do that the soft, the medium, the hard. We'll do the intermediate and the wet. Okay, so they have to use all five. And then maybe we introduce a little super duper ultra soft as well to make it six.

Obviously, we joke. But there's definitely something. There's nothing. There's nothing now to improve it. There's got to be something, Tommy. There's not. Okay, negative Nancy over here, Tommy. We have to explore the question.

It's the circuit now. You know, I do think you're right in the fact that you open. up some of the corners like, like Abu Dhabi, right? They did the tiniest little change and it's still difficult to overtake, but it's not impossible. And the problem is the Monaco Grand Prix is perfectly designed for you to be able to go so slow and then just power out of the corner. It's perfectly designed to be a road. Exactly. Exactly. And yeah, you can go as slow as you want because you can never overtake. That's exactly what we saw in that race. I don't. I don't. I don't think I really backed it that this could work,

but unfortunately the nature of the fact that it just being literally impossible will mean that teams can play a game with two cars. I've got an idea. Okay. So the two stop remains, the mandatory two stop remains, but we have two races, each with one driver from a team.

So therefore we can't get team games. And then it's a 10-man race. We have it for an hour. then we have another 10 man race. Oh my God, I'm cooking. I reckon. Oh my God. Have I just fixed Monaco?

Formula 2 split the two. Yeah, but for the race. But it's for the race. Ah. And then it's a half pot. How many points would you get? I'm, let's try it. Let's try it.

F1 are listening. Monaco listening. I mean, we may as well. That was a disaster. So the mandatory T's up with my brainwave. This is yours. I just, I just actively try to fix. I just act.

We've actually tried to fix the teammate problem, and that's the only way of doing it is by fielding one driver. Because this is what people are saying, aren't there? They're like, oh, could you do this? Could you do that? You can never stop the teammates doing, abusing the rules. And the teams will always, and it's a bit like the regulations themselves and the designs of the cars. The teams don't care about the sporting integrity or how kind of. of good it looks on TV. They do care about it, but they care more about the points.

James Vowes, for example, was a great example of that. He understood it was fast. He was saying, this is not how I want to go racing. However, am we going to do this to score as many points as possible? And it's as simple as that. And that, yeah. And one thing I would say at the start that we've not kind of mentioned yet is you could tell that they were so scared. about throwing a safety car during that race. Yeah, the front wing was on the track. A literal front wing on the track and they were like, no, we don't want to mess it up.

And I think that arguably, I think that made it worse because it just allowed the front runners to still have their massive gaps. If you'd have had that safety car, people at the back would have pitted and then it would have been a race to see if they could eke out that gap. So, yeah, ironically, they made it kind of worse for that. but they were so paranoid about trying to do anything to basically ruin the two-stop idea and instead a certain Mr Liam Lawson did it all for us instead. He did. But he had every right to do it because he also scored some good points himself, so it worked. Where did he finish in the end, Mr. Lincoln-Lawson?

I'm so done with that race. I've not even got the result. I said he scored points. I just wanted to check that he absolutely did. Yeah, 8. P8 for Lawson. considering he was going three days a lap slower at one point, Hajar finishing P6 as well.

So a really good day for racing balls, but that was created from a decent qualifying for the pair of them. Absolutely, est the bed with their strategy in every single race, apart from the Monaco Grand Prix to ruin it for everyone. They're not the only ones to have done that. Of course, Williams deployed themselves as well. But yeah, I think before we dive into my most memorable moment, is there a scenario where this mandatory two-stop would have worked?

Like, can we think of a way, not in terms of fixing it and stuff, but like if we were lucky, what could have been thrown at the right time, a safety car, a VSC, a red flag, in order to actually have given us something of interest? A safety car, yeah, they had it, they had it. The safety car for Bortolete, so then everyone pits at the back. Some may even do two, and then you've got the two stops out of the way, then Gazley has his crash and you throw a safety car again because it's a safety car and then you do have people doing their one-stops then they're behind the two-stoppers

you follow me now that now they're behind the two-stoppers and people at the back like your colapintos your Holcomburgs whatever have done two stops and they're ahead of the one-stoppers and then you basically then then your people like Verstappen Norris Leclair, Piazsche would have to overtake.

And they wouldn't have because nobody can overtake around here if you're going seven seconds a lapse lower. So,

yeah, it still would have been rubbish. We just would have got a new win. We just got the most random

top five ever and would have gone oh my God Holcombbeg's won the race. Is this good or bad? I don't know.

Is this good for F1? No, probably not. Right. Let's go to my most memorable moment where, of course,

you wouldn't be surprised to hear that it's about about Shal of Clod Claire and the fact he was very close to winning, but also not really. Mohammed 187-47562 asks, was that a defensive masterclass from Lando? No, you can't sort of say anything bad about Lando's performance. I think he did everything he needed to do to win the Monaco Grand Prix.

He was on pole. He maintained the lead at the start, although locked up very heavily. and then managed it very well. Of course, Charles got insanely close at times. But all Lando needs to do is not make a mistake. Make sure he deploys the battery out the final corner, down towards term one,

get a good exit into the tunnel. And I know, it sounds very easy from, you know, a sofa. But, you know, those are the things that he has to tick off. The rest of it, he can go slow as he wants. There's nowhere for Shal to go. But he did play that very well, I think. think Lando. He didn't come and he didn't sort of close up to Max for Stappen and have Max

cause any kind of problems for him. He just slowed down even more and then again, ticked off all the boxes of where to defend from Shal. And as soon as Max went into the pits, he obviously went and popped in the fastest lap of the race. So I think it was the perfect race for Lando in how he managed it, didn't put a foot wrong. I wouldn't call it a defensive masterclass as such because it's Monaco, but he did everything he needed to do. Yeah, it's absolutely not a defensive masterclass from Lando because it's Monaco. He was never getting overtaken. We saw that with, you know, every other driver that did that strategy that could hold up the field. You could go as slow as you possibly like. And then the fact that Lando pulled that gap on

Charle at the end showed that he had absolutely the pace and advantage. It was just because he was getting blocked by Max. He wasn't struggling on his tires at all. It was just because Macs was in the way and Charle was behind him but you just need to basically put your car in the right place and accelerate out of the corners and that's not being

unfair to Lando. Lando won the race because he did an absolutely unbelievable qualifying lap held the lead at the start didn't panic with this whole two-stop rule, pulled gaps when he needed to be able to make his pit stops that is what won Lando the race

and he deserves all the credit in the world for it. He's won the Monaco Grand Prix, absolutely fair and square, fantastic drive from him under pressure. It's not like, oh my God, it's not like an Alonzo at Hungary against Hamilton, for example, or something like that where you feel like he's done everything to defend. That's just the nature of Monaco. Where Lando gets all his credit, was that unbelievable qualifying that he did yesterday, and just putting his car at the right place at the start, and then pulling the gaps when he needed to. Exactly.

Question from P1P. Remember, Heathermore or less, did George saying he'd just take the penalty result in him getting a harsher penalty? So I actually did, I think, because I'm looking at the stewards' dock. Of course, George got two drive-through penalties, I believe, or at least he got a penalty at the end

because he hadn't taken all of his... He didn't really care at that point, did he? They had the worst strategy in the world. but the document says it was clear from the radio message where he said that he would take the penalty that the overtake was done deliberately as he felt that he was being held up. Anticipating that situation such as this might happen at the Monaco Grand Prix, all the teams were informed before the race that the stewards would look carefully at a deliberate leaving of the track at turn 10 to overtake a car or a train of slow cars. That communication also made it clear that the guideline penalty of 10 seconds may be insufficient for this deliberate infringement

and that the penalty applied may be a greater penalty than 10 seconds. We therefore considered that the deliberate infringement warranted a drive-through penalty and we so imposed. So, yes, I think that honestly, I had to do it, didn't they? They had to do it, although I'm pretty sure he was, it was so obvious that it was a deliberate overtake. I respect him for the kind of hilarious him pretending that, oh no, got off. I couldn't fight the car. Yeah, erratic driving from Albon. He's going slowly and going around the corner.

so I've decided to straight line out the tunnel like I'm playing the Formula One game with my mates. It's like Bray, you should have done that like 40 laps again. Yes, I know, literally when you're not two laps down and you haven't done one stop yet. And the funniest thing was as well, even with a drive-through penalty, he still came out ahead of the Williams,

which is just absolutely incredible. It was an absolute joke, wasn't it? The whole thing. And they had to do that with the harsher penalties. You know, it's funny because we have said so many times on this podcast, you can't take into account what, what the, you know, rules are rules. But unfortunately at Monaco, you kind of have to because,

and it's a good, and it's fair play to the stewards for seeing that loophole and making it happen because that's something I've said many a times, isn't it, that you cut the corner because it might just happen at Saudi, for example. You know, he got that five second penalty, but he kept the lead, ran in clean air, and easily got to P2 and was under no pressure. and we've seen it in the past of, well, could you just cut the corner? But on this,

they rightfully made sure it was a very harsh penalty to do it. But, you know, he certainly made people think that maybe it's time for a Jokalap for Monaco Grand Prix. Maybe that's the fix.

Yeah, what? You get one per race. Just straight land of the chagin. Just out of Monaco, up to Nies and then background? What are we thinking? You know, let's really spread out of the field. I mean, I think, some of them could with how slow Lawson was going at the start.

It might have actually been quicker. Oh, Lord. People on Pitt remember Zingy 13 asks, why didn't Merck pit at least one of their cars sooner to at least try to cover off any safety car or red flag? Leaving them both out just seemed silly. I don't really understand this strategy from Merck. I imagine they've sort of in their little playbook thought, all right, we'll go along on the hards, hope for a safety car or red flag or whatever.

you know, maybe they were thinking people would get their stops done earlier, get slightly better track position and then pray for a red flag. I don't know what it was, but it was a hopeful strategy all the same. To be honest, they were screwed either way, but I think the way they did it was the screwiest of screwed. Yeah. Because they were two laps down, had not said, had not had one pit stop. And they were just in no man's land.

I bet that is George Russell's most irritating race. he has ever been involved in. And ever will do. Yeah, for sure. You will never have a worse race, I don't think, being stuck on the same set of tyres around Monaco, behind a car that's going five, six seconds a lap slower purposefully. So I do feel very sorry for George and for Kimmy,

but it is strange that they didn't try something a little bit different. At least split the strategies. One go early, do a pit stop early, the other one go late. At least you then sort of vary the strategy ever so slightly. But I think it made them look even worse because they both chose the terrible strategy. I still, I just cannot believe they didn't do it. In that situation, it is the clearest thing to do. And what it screams to me, and I could be wrong, is it's kind of looking at a computer and data and saying that,

well, actually, you want to go and kind of go hard tires and run as long as possible. which works at every other circuit but Monaco you can't do that is it really a surprise that someone like Lawson and then of course Albin did it later and science did it later was going to run that strategy what were they hoping to achieve maybe they were hoping that all the other cars in front of them

did just bail into the pits at the first opportunity and get those two stops out of the way and then they could run longer and make it work and hope that they could change during a safety car but I think it's absolutely ridiculous that they didn't at least split the strategy. When you've got a car in 14th and 15th, why you don't go different? Because I said yesterday, you basically, you do the normal strategy, you might get lucky, but you're kind of in a losing situation.

The advantage was that they could roll the dice and do something crazy, and they basically decided not to do that. And the fact that they put them on the same strategy, so they were both stuck together for the whole race was just absolutely ridiculous. And also they were so slow to react. Why once it was happening? Do you not just go, sorry, Kimmy, like, we're just going to have to bail out now, get some mediums on, catch the pack up, we'll put another set of hards on or whatever,

and at least do something different. They were never going to score points. Why would you not try it? Because we joked about being screwed. You're kind of screwed anyway. but Olly Bermann did actually get to 12 for that early pitstop and he had a four year long pit stop at the start of the race so I just can't believe they didn't do that.

Prime Michael Schumacher so it's just crazy they didn't try that absolutely crazy. Yeah I am mystified and I think it maybe comes back to what I was sort of leaning towards of like they're not going to give up track position around Monaco to do something crazy and not as Mercedes. We're not going to be the team to do something ridiculous and prayed for a miracle, but they were praying for a miracle anyway, and it turned out it just didn't work for them. And they just committed to,

what were they hoping for two red flags come the end? I'm not really sure, because they were, I think, at lap 72, they're hoping the stewards forgot about the, maybe they were hoping the stewards went, God, this mandatory rule is actually awful. Let's just get rid of it. And then they're like, okay, we'll finish 11th, great. Yeah, like, it was a horrific strategy. But also at the same time, I don't know how they would have scored better. In the way that the race unfolded, I don't know how they would have got into the top 10 with the exact same holding techniques that we saw

from the likes of racing balls. I don't agree with that because the Williams got 9th and 10th. And if they'd have done their two stops early and caught up to the back of that pack, as soon as they'd have had to do their two stops, they would have definitely leapfrogged them. But I don't know about that. I mean, again, it's a very difficult race to replace.

in my mind as we've done it, but they would then be pitting and be stuck behind the drivers that they'd be in the train. They'd be, they pit early, they do two stops. They catch up that train because Liam Lawson was going incredibly slow. They're stuck behind Alex Albin and Carlos Hines who haven't done a pit stop for ages. And you're only six cars behind them. We've done both your stops. So the Williams can't hold them up really for, well, they could, but they'd have had to hold them up for 50 seconds, which. Well, no, but that's what they did. That's what, that's what, will you, I mean, Carlos had had zero stops. Carlos had zero stops and then Albon helped him and held up the rest of the pack for that, that gap to be made twice with the pit stops.

Was it a two, two gap? Carlos had zero, Albon had two, and they managed to get Carlos Pinten. Okay, I take it back. So literally in five laps got Carlos a pit stop and then did it again. So the loophole was just impossible for him anyway. Yeah, so I think they were screwed and it's all down to qualifying. the fact that Russell, sadly, I think he was feeling good in qualifying. And so it's just a mess, isn't it?

What a strange race we have, at least we had things to talk about, rather than a zero stop like last year. Yeah, true. But I'll take the result. I'll take the result. Okay, well, we've got more pain coming your way shortly. Actually, right now, Tommy. P1Petry member, DK-164414. When will Alonzo catch a break?

He was running deep in the points with a free pit stop and ends up in the runoff out of Raskas. I mean, come on, guys. At this point, I'm questioning whether Adrian Nui is like finish, last in the constructors. The new regs are going to look in a bit crazy right now. And I need as much wind tunnel time as possible. Let's just press the engine blow up button. There we go. Lovely stuff.

Sorry, Alonzo. We showed the world what you're capable of. But we can't be scoring any points because especially Tommy's crazy prediction for the season was that Aston might have score less than 50. points. Maybe it was you, Tommy. But it was a very emotive reaction from you, Tommy, on the watch-along. You dropped an F-bomb. It felt like the rolls had reversed, and I enjoyed every second of it. I'm not going to lie to you. Obviously, not Alonzo conking out, but your reaction, wow, I was holding a laugh in. I just can't believe it, because Alonzo was running so well, and I even made the joke of, well, how can he not score points in this situation?

And then, of course... It was literally 30 seconds later that happened. Literally, yeah, I didn't know about 30 seconds later as engine goes. unbelievable time. He is just so, so unlucky. And yeah, it's just a joke because he's having a great season. Not a great season, but he's been up in the points. He has, yeah, last few. And basically, you know, I'm continuing to get baited every single time.

Someone reminds me that Lance Roll has 14 points and Alonzo has none. But Alonzo... How many? Shut up. and it's just so annoying because you know he's absolutely trancing lance in qualifying it's I saw actually he's outqualified Lance 20 races in a row now wow which is mad Lance Charles 14 points clear that's crazy yeah and yeah every time he gets in the points this year it's just like no you're not allowed any and your car breaks down it's not not his fault at all

and he should have you know a good chunk on the board um by now Had things been fair, but life is not fair for Fernando Alonzo, sadly. Life is not fair. Question from P1 on Patreon member, Matty P1. When will Lance Stroll be respected as the number one driver at Aston Martin? That's a really good question. When he out, qualified his teammate for the first time in 20 races. Oh, yes, bite half the fishing rod off there, my friend.

I love it. The actual question was from P1 on Petrieve member Jacob Flo. Should Blue Flags be banned? No. No. What is this rubbish? Like, come on guys. And I hear it, especially around like the places where it's hard to overtake, the Monaco's, the Singapore's, whatever.

Yeah, it'd be better racing action. No. It would make it worse. It would make it more trained. So Landau would just be stuck behind a certain car that doesn't have to let him through. And then it would just be the most bizarre Grand Prix ever. It's not. Do you know what it's mentioned?

You know what it's mentioned? Why? It's mentioned. when implementing it would actually make for a better race but you don't think about the times, or not a better race, but like it would help close the gap up to the leaders. But you don't mention that, it never gets mentioned that if you did implement it

and it ruined a race and completely like ruined the excitement because someone was just stuck behind lap cars. Or, Ocon literally showed us what Blue Flags would be like to be banned when he took out Vastappan in Brazil. That kind of stuff. We don't want to be talking about lapped cars potentially coming together with lead cars. They shouldn't be racing them, in my opinion.

And it's been like that forever. I don't know when the last time they didn't have blue flags in it, but it's been a very, very long time. And I completely back having blue flags. Because look, the element of lap cars is a slight curveball. Or will the lead lose a bit of time? Will they not?

They still lose a bit of time. will they're not. That's enough for me. Anything past that is just a bit silly. So I do not think the last thing that race needs is more gimmicks and farcical chances to be blocked. Oh, more gimmicks. You said the two-stop management was not a gimmick, so which one? Well, as in for the Monaco Grand Prix. That's fine, it's fun, because you said that it's fine. Right, okay, people on picture, about drippy, has Monaco become a pre-Indy 500 nap? Yes.

Yes? Maybe. This is a shame because unfortunately for Formula One, the traditional and the triple crown of motorsport is Monaco, Le Mans and Indy. And for the WEC and Indy car, those two races are two of, if not the best races for their season. So it makes sense. So we change it to Monza. So Charles already has one.

Difficult to pass. Charles already has one of the three people crown then. Same thing. Charlton Indy 500 confirmed. Yeah, maybe. That is why it's so disappointing and why I've struggled for so many years for it to accept this. Because Formula One should not kill their heritage. and they've got to think about history as well.

But it is just getting ridiculous now with Monika, and that's what's making me so depressed about it is because it is just, it's a shame because you want those historic races, but it's easy for, you know, Indy 500 to stay on the calendar because it's always at an absolute banger and they get this amazing spectacle. But Formula One, you do not get that.

The thing is, as well, that Monaco isn't the only track we're talking about, when it comes to not being able to overtake. This isn't as if this has come up out of nowhere, and we've had a banging season so far with loads and loads of overtakes. We reflected, didn't we? Recently, Tommy, about the amount of tracks

that are difficult to overtake nowadays. And Monaco, of course, as we become into this sort of qualifying championship, of course Monaco is going to get worse and worse and worse if we're not even seeing overtakes around traditional circuits. True, but I will be the person, unfortunately, that, you know, you're now me in this situation that I've been saying that for years,

but it's proof now that it's just impossible. It's just impossible. It's impossible to overtake a moniker. It literally is. You have to do a one lap dive bomb. Kimmy Antoni did a dive bomb and it took someone out the race. And that's the only way you can pass. You have to go for something absolutely ludicrous on lap one.

Otherwise, it's impossible. So you just can't pass. You literally cannot pass. Can't pass. The other circuits, yeah. No, but. But we say like, we can't really say, oh, there are other sockets you can't overtake because you kind of can. It's very, very, very, very, very difficult, like Suzuki and stuff, but you do see six, seven, eight overtakes a race from the midfielders.

Yeah, no, I was just more kind of saying that a few years ago, you would see the occasional pass at Monaco. Like, I'm not talking many. And I'm saying that that has now got a step worse because we're now celebrating when lap cars are getting overtaken, because that's the only things we see when cars actually swap position. So perhaps if Formula One go in a better way When we do see I don't know They never will This is what I was so depressed about

Is that we're not going to Like dream on that we're going to get FormulaE Size cars again It's never going to happen Unfortunately And formulae You know It's great around Monaco

But there's many reasons Why it works around Monaco They have a lot less Reliance on downforce And so on and so forth So yes it's Wow Monaco is struggling

but we just have to appreciate it for what it brings us on a Saturday. Okay, wow, Tommy is really in the mud right now when it comes to Monaco, it's crazy. Let's move to biggest winner, driver or team. I feel like I've forgotten to put this in the podcast for the last few.

I literally read it and I was like, I don't remember the last time we did this. I don't even know if I've done it this year and I'm sorry, I could not remember. You've just thrown it in here and I've Ron Bergen did it and read it out and are we doing this? Do we want to include it? Why not? Let's do.

Sure. Just for Monaco. Just for Monaco. Yeah. It's not a good. Okay. Liam Lawson. You know, because he won and everyone else lost. I mean, kind of has to be Lando because it was an amazing weekend from him. And despite all the criticisms he's got this year, he's only three points behind Oscar Piastri now.

It's absolute game on. what a time to deliver but I also would throw RB into the mix because they have finally they've actually you know pocketed some points from a car that has looked very good and they've rocketed right up to

seventh and only a few points behind sixth now so yeah very tasty yeah a normal answer would be Lando but for banter answer I'm going to say Liam Lawson and biggest loser driver or team for me the biggest loser

has to be Fernando Alonzo or Mercedes, one or the other. I think Alonzo just from a potential points score and his first of the season. So I'm going to lock in Alonzo. I'm going to lock in Mercedes because they're, oh, the Constructors Championship. The fight for P2 in the Constructors' Championship's unbelievable. Mercedes 147, Red Bull 143, Ferrari 142. Game on for P2. McLaren absolutely miles to double the points of everyone.

Okay. That's done. Well done, McLaren on the constructors. Yeah, congratulations. I hope you're happy with the money. So let's reflect now on our predictions that we made on Wednesday and see how we did. And it is 1914 to Tommy. So I went for a good surprise, Charles LeCler.

Come on. Come on. Ridiculous. It could have been even better. But we'll take it. Thank you. Not as ridiculous as mine. I went for Esther Banach on.

Yeah. I mean, look, he could have finished sixth, didn't. so that is no points. What a performance. We've not mentioned our gun, and we will sing his praises and driver ratings, but what an unbelievable performance from God. Yeah, driver ratings is going to be very interesting, this one.

How will you possibly give Lawton a 10? Because, well, he ruined everybody else's races. So, yeah, points for both of us for good surprise. A big flop. I went for McLaren. So. Both on the podium again. Not a one two.

You cannot force McLaren off that podium, can you? I really can't. really can't. And I went for Lewis Hamilton, who was 50 seconds almost behind his teammate. Yeah, but that is the beauty of Monaco, Tommy. Yeah, I know. I don't think I can have that guy. No, don't you dare.

Like, relax yourself. A P2 and a P5, it's not a flop, is it? No, it's not. It's not. 50 seconds. Right, let's get a pole position where I went for Charlotte. And that was so close, but so far. And I went for Oscar Piastri, which is also so close but so far.

But slightly further away. In third place, I went for George Russell. Clace, he might have got there if there was another 700 laps. And I went for Alex Albin. It was another guy that just decided, didn't fancy pitting. We'll take it to our own hands at the end. In second place, I went for Max Verstappen. Incorrect.

I went for Oscar Piastri. incorrect. Incorrect. And then in first place I went for Chau Leclair, which was so close yet so far.

And I went for Kimi Antonelli. Kimmy Antonelli. Kimmy Antonelli. Didn't he finish last? He did finish last, yeah. He finished last

three lapsed out. That's your biggest flop territory. That is the greatest. The reverse. That is amazing. Okay. I won crazy prediction.

I went for No McClarin in the top three. I went for no one from the top three in qualifying end up on the podium and they did and they were in exactly the same order because it's Monaco Oh no Tommy Oh take us back to Wednesday

Oh take me back and I could have done the most depressed predictions ever And just say it was going to be a boring race And we might have had a banger I know And if you'd put Landon or us to win Then he would not have won So there you go Before we move on

Oh my God that does need to be studied though Because we even posted a clip of you celebrating LeClair and I said, you know, we need to congratulate Lando Norris on the win because we've actually not predicted him for the first time in ages

and he gets pole and wins. Paul and win. I can't be bothered. What am I supposed to do here? I've backed him and I've said there's loads of potential there and the minute I go for Charles Leclair,

Landos like, all right, I'll turn up. Yeah, don't worry about that. Let me get pole on the win. Let me lead every lap. Not every lap to be fair. Max was doing Max things. Our Patreon prediction,

I went for Lissies. LeCleur on the podium. We take those. We take those every day of the week. Thank you, LeClair, for getting me another point. Williams podium, no. So what does that make the score? So we both got a good surprises.

I think I gained one point maybe on you. We gained one point. So I'm now on 20 and you are on 16. Oh, Sherlock Clare's number. We love to see it. Four in it. Will Tommy actually go for normal predictions for Spain, we will have to wait and see.

Oh, my goodness. Speaking of Grace and the family, the family top three. It's currently 5-2 to the Bellingham's. Boo. In third position, my dad went for Charlotte Clare. Not quite. Too low, too low. My dad went for George Russell, not quite.

I was nodding when he did that because I was like, yeah, that's what I went for as well. I think this is going to happen, and then they had the worst race of their lives. P2, my dad went for Lando Norris. and my dad went for Oscar Piastri. No. And in first place my dad went for Max for Stappen because apparently he's unbeatable and he was beatable. He was at Monaco, that's for sure.

And my dad went for Lando, so we've got a point. How? I came into this thinking we were gaining a point and it's not what's happened at all and I've forgotten that your dad's gone for Norris P1. Unbelievable. What is crazy as well, you said this during the race, that had Max got that lucky red first,

flag at the end, your dad would have got all three because of course Norris, it was the Stap and Norris shell at the end, very close. Yeah, my dad is just so close to cooking perfection but just doesn't able to put it through. That's happened twice actually, hasn't it with you? Yeah, because he got one point when he could have got three if it was switched. And this one, it was lap 71 and this was correct.

So that's ridiculous. Oh dear. All right, well, we are done here for the main race podcast. We are now going to head over to our wonderful page. for an extra juicy bit of chat. So come and join our Patreon if you haven't already. It's patreon.com 4 slash MapP1 Tommy if I am not mistaken. And if I am mistaken, then search Mapi 1 Tommy Patreon.

But yeah, we're going to go continue chatting there. But thank you everybody for watching and for listening. Tommy, what are your final thoughts? Final thoughts? I can't wait to get to a proper race circuit we can overtake on the circuit to Barcelona, Catalonia. At least the chicade's gun, right? Oh, yeah, at least that one, that's fixed it, hasn't it? I mean, at least we've got, you know, straight into a breaking zone.

That's, that's exciting. True. It's kind of not a breaking zone anymore because it's just going. But it's close enough. Let me look at Barcelona weather right now before we go very quickly. Oh, please. Come on, please. No, no rain forecast, just sunny intervals. Probably going to be absolutely boiling. Oh, 5% chance of precipitation next Sunday.

We're back. We're so back. Right, thank you, everybody. We'll see you very soon. It's another race week, literally tomorrow, as we are. going to Spain and we'll see you then. Lots of love. Bye. P1 is a Stack production and part of the A-cast's creative network.