Who’s hot 🔥 and who’s not 👎🻠around the streets of the Principality? Motorsport Week takes a look at how teams and drivers have fared at the Monaco Grand Prix.
Wins ðŸ†
A quartet of drivers on the current grid have mastered the streets of Monaco in Formula 1.
Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel have taken two wins respectively for the two teams with which they have enjoyed their greatest successes.
Hamilton triumphed for McLaren in wet/dry conditions in 2008 and eight years later finally added a second win, this time with Mercedes, in similar weather.
Vettel claimed honours in a tense tyre-limited finale en route to his second title in 2011 for Red Bull and two years ago was on top as Ferrari held the aces.
Kimi Raikkonen, now plying his trade with Alfa Romeo, ruled the streets in 2005 while last year they were the domain of Daniel Ricciardo, who dominated the weekend to secure the final of seven wins with Red Bull.
Podiums 🎉
Hamilton and Vettel have both taken six podiums overall in Monaco to go with their two wins, with the German runner-up in the race on four occasions.
One-time winners Raikkonen and Ricciardo have four rostrums to their name, with the current Renault driver having made it into the top three through 2016-18.
Robert Kubica starred in Monaco during his first career and will need an extraordinary repeat if he is to add to his two podiums, while Sergio Perez pocketed a Monaco trophy in 2016 as he and Force India profited from the mixed conditions.
Poles 💨
Between them Hamilton and Vettel have over 130 pole positions in Formula 1 but they have mastered Saturday’s session in the Principality just once each.
Vettel was on top in 2011 while Hamilton finally scored a pole in 2015 – a race he infamously went on to lose after a late strategic blunder.
It is in fact Raikkonen and Ricciardo who are the joint Saturday kings among the current grid on two pole positions – 2005 and 2017 for Raikkonen, and 2016 and 2018 for Ricciardo.
What else? ðŸ”
It is not the best of circuits for Max Verstappen. The Dutchman has suffered weekend-defining crashes on three of his four visits to the track, leaving him with a best of fifth in 2017; can he make amends this time around?
Valtteri Bottas is another driver with a subdued Monaco record, failing to score in four attempts with Williams before adding a best of fourth in 2017, and fifth last year. It’s one of just two circuits on the current calendar where he has failed to pick up a trophy.
Monaco is the only current venue at which three different teams (Mercedes 2016, Ferrari 2017, Red Bull 2018) have won across the last three years.
