Top five during the Monaco stage according to Hinchcliffe

Former IndyCar driver James Hinchcliffe, in his column on the official World Championship website, named five drivers who, in his opinion, distinguished themselves in the Monaco Grand Prix.

Perhaps only the name Charles Leclerc seems a completely logical choice, because after six attempts, including two pole positions in previous years, he finally realized his dream when he crossed the finish line first at the Monaco Grand Prix and won his home track. But it wasn’t just the Ferrari driver who impressed Hinchcliffe…

Valtteri Bottas – 13th place

In a race in which there was virtually no overtaking on the track, Bottas managed to gain more positions than the others. This became possible thanks to the fact that at the first start Valtteri overtook Sergio Perez (who soon dropped out of contention after a terrible accident) and then showed good pace, although Sauber chose far from optimal tactics for him.

The Finn started on hard tyres, but when the race was stopped by red flags, he was forced to switch to medium tyres. Since everyone in front of him was now trying to cover the remaining distance without pit stops and he was one of the last, the Swiss team decided to invite him to the pits on lap 15 to install a new Hard kit on his car.

As Bottas then completed laps almost 4 seconds faster than the driver in front of him (this was Guanyu Zhou, his Sauber teammate), he quickly overtook the peloton, after which he calmly stayed behind, especially since everyone was at a moderate pace, in a attempt to protect rubber.

Valtteri moved up a position when Lance Stroll pitted and was able to stay ahead of Zhou and Logan Sargent to become the driver with the most positions gained. That’s why I put him on my list, even though it wasn’t a good weekend for Sauber as the team couldn’t find an effective lineup suitable for Monaco.

Pierre Gasly – 10th place

The start to the season wasn’t great for Pierre Gasly and his Alpine team, but it was in Monaco that they got the chance to show a good result. At this circuit they were not hampered too much by the lack of engine power and other shortcomings of the A523 chassis, which manifested themselves in the car lacking downforce in fast corners.

At the same time, everyone knows that for a good result in the Sunday race you have to work perfectly on Saturday. Pierre did excellently and qualified for the final qualifying round for the first time this season, although he later admitted that there were probably traces of his Alpine tires on all the bump stops around the circle.

Then at the Grand Prix, Gasly did everything right and earned his first points this season, although the hard contact with his teammate Esteban Ocon’s car, which occurred on the first lap, almost ruined all the efforts made.

Alex Albon – 9th place

In the list of circuits with historically suitable Williams cars, Monaco is at the bottom. Furthermore, James Vowles, team leader, admits that the FW46 chassis suffers from excess weight. But the team is working hard to address the car’s shortcomings, and in Monaco Williams were rewarded for all their efforts.

Albon qualified well on Saturday, although no one could predict that he would earn points on Sunday, even from 9th position.

During the Grand Prix he managed to avoid problems, controlled tire wear from the start and ultimately achieved the first points for Williams this year.

Fernando Alonso – 11th place

Alonso was another driver who managed to make up positions on Sunday: he started fourteenth and finished eleventh. The surprisingly poor qualifying continued a trend that started in Miami: Aston Martin failed to unleash the potential of its cars on Saturday.

Alonso was partly helped by Haas’s disqualification, but he became another driver unlucky with red flags on the first lap, as this meant he had to complete the entire remaining distance of the race on one set of Medium tires, and even one broken into. The task is not easy, but Fernando is always ready to take on such a challenge.

The team made things even harder for him when they asked him to hold off everyone behind him so that Lance Stroll, his teammate, could get rid of the Medium tires and finish in the top ten.

But the Canadian suffered problems with a puncture, after which Alonso believed it was his job to hold off Visa RB driver Daniel Ricciardo, who was driving behind him, and try to earn points himself. Fernando was able to maintain the required pace to preserve the life of the tires, but at the same time not give his opponents the opportunity to overtake. It is surprising that he could only finish 11th and receive no points, although his work on the track certainly made a very good impression.

Charles Leclerc – 1st place

Competing in Formula 1 is an activity that inevitably involves extreme pressure. But when a driver drives for such a legendary team as Ferrari, this pressure rises to a new level.

Now add to that the fact that in the history of Formula 1 there have never been any drivers from Monaco who have won on their home circuit, and it becomes clear the psychological stress Charles Leclerc had to deal with.

In addition, because the race was interrupted by red flags already on the first lap, a completely unique situation arose where, in order to reach the finish without pit stops, the drivers needed specific tactics: laps had to be completed approximately four seconds slower than they were for this purpose able.

When you drive a race car at this pace, it’s very easy to make mistakes. But despite this, and despite all the previous failures at his home circuit, Leclerc was simply perfect all weekend.

We can say that Charles won this race not so much thanks to his talent, but thanks to his good psychological preparation and decisive attitude.