2017 Monaco Grand Prix Explained

Type:F1
Country:Monaco
Grand Prix:Monaco
Image Link:Monte Carlo Formula 1 track map.svg
Image-Size:200px
Date:28 May
Year:2017
Official Name:75e Formula 1 Grand Prix de Monaco[1] [2]
Race No:6
Season No:20
Location:Circuit de Monaco
La Condamine and Monte Carlo, Monaco
Course:Street circuit
Course Mi:2.074
Course Km:3.337
Distance Laps:78
Distance Mi:161.734
Distance Km:260.286
Weather:Sunny
Attendance:200,000[3]
Pole Driver:Kimi Räikkönen
Pole Team:Ferrari
Pole Time:1:12.178
Pole Country:FIN
Fast Driver:Sergio Pérez
Fast Team:Force India-Mercedes
Fast Time:1:14.820
Fast Lap:76
Fast Country:MEX
First Team:Ferrari
Second Driver:Kimi Räikkönen
Second Team:Ferrari
Second Country:FIN
Previous Round:2017 Spanish Grand Prix
Next Round:2017 Canadian Grand Prix

The 2017 Monaco Grand Prix (formally known as the Formula 1 Grand Prix de Monaco 2017) was a Formula One motor race held on 28 May 2017 at the Circuit de Monaco, a street circuit that runs through the Principality of Monaco. It was the sixth round of the 2017 FIA Formula One World Championship, the seventy-fifth time that the Monaco Grand Prix has been held, and the sixty-fourth time it has been a round of the Formula One World Championship since the inception of the series in .

Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel entered the round holding a six-point lead over Lewis Hamilton in the World Drivers' Championship, with Valtteri Bottas being third. In the World Constructors' Championship, Mercedes held an eight-point lead over Ferrari, with Red Bull Racing a further eighty-one points behind in third.

Kimi Räikkönen started the race from pole position, his first since the 2008 French Grand Prix. In doing so, he broke Giancarlo Fisichella's record for the most race starts between pole positions, with one hundred and twenty-nine starts since his last pole. Sebastian Vettel won the race, Ferrari's first win in Monaco since 2001. Räikkönen finished second as this was Ferrari's first 1–2 finish since 2010 German Grand Prix. Daniel Ricciardo finished third. With the result, Vettel extended his Drivers' Championship lead over Lewis Hamilton, while in the World Constructors' Championship, Ferrari reclaimed the points lead from Mercedes.

This was also the 306th and final Grand Prix start for World Champion Jenson Button.

Report

Background

McLaren driver Fernando Alonso missed the race in order to participate in the Indianapolis 500.[4] Alonso became the first active Formula One driver to race at the Indy 500 since Teo Fabi in 1984.[5] Jenson Button replaced Alonso for the race.

Prior to the national anthem, a minute's silence was observed on the grid before the race as a mark of respect to the victims of the Manchester Arena bombing earlier in the week.[6]

Free practice

Thursday morning's first practice ended with Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton setting the quickest lap with 1:13.425, approximately 0.2 seconds quicker than his championship rival Sebastian Vettel. Max Verstappen was third quickest and Toro Rosso's Daniil Kvyat was the fastest driver not in one of the top three teams, setting the sixth fastest time.[7] In second practice, Vettel was quickest with 1:12.720. Second through fourth were Daniel Ricciardo, Kimi Räikkönen, and Kvyat. The Mercedes team had a disappointing second practice as they finished eighth and tenth, off the pace of their championship rivals Ferrari. The session was stopped part way through for ten minutes due to a crash by Lance Stroll.[8]

Saturday's Free Practice 3 ended with Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel setting the bar at 1:12.395, besting his own time set in FP2 by 0.3 seconds to set a new lap record, whilst nearest rival and teammate Kimi Räikkönen was 0.3 seconds behind with 1:12.740.[9] The session was interrupted 8 minutes in by yellow flags when Esteban Ocon of Force India crashed in the swimming pool section,[10] mimicking an incident Max Verstappen had during the 2016 qualifying session. Free practice eventually resumed with 4 minutes remaining. Daniel Ricciardo had a brake-by-wire failure and ended up retiring from the session, leaving him sixth with 1:13.392. McLaren driver Jenson Button ended the session in twelfth, but incurred a 15-place grid penalty for changing the MGU-H and turbocharger, which would be applied after qualifying.

Qualifying

Ferrari's Kimi Räikkönen qualified on pole position for the first time in 9 years; his last pole position came at the 2008 French Grand Prix, also for Ferrari. His teammate and championship leader Sebastian Vettel qualified second, followed by Valtteri Bottas and Max Verstappen. Vettel's closest rival, Lewis Hamilton, qualified in fourteenth; he struggled warming up the tyres and his final flying lap in Q2 was impeded by Stoffel Vandoorne who had crashed towards the end of the session. Despite Vandoorne's accident, both McLarens had made it into Q3 for the first time in 2017; Jenson Button qualified in ninth place on his return, but due to his fifteen-place grid penalty would start from the back of the grid, and eventually opted to start from the pit lane.[11]

Race

Räikkönen led from the start until he pitted on lap 33. His teammate Vettel stayed out longer and when he eventually pitted, he came out ahead of Räikkönen and went on to win his 3rd race of the season and extended his championship lead to 25 points over Hamilton, who finished in 7th in a recovery drive after his poor qualifying. This win gave Ferrari their first 1-2 finish since the controversial 2010 German Grand Prix. Daniel Ricciardo finished in 3rd, despite lightly hitting the wall late in the race, jumping both Bottas and Verstappen by staying out longer on the ultra-softs in a strategy akin to Sebastian Vettel. Carlos Sainz had his best finish of the year so far with 6th for Toro Rosso. He was followed by Hamilton, Grosjean, Massa and Magnussen, who rounded off the points. It was the first time in Haas' history that they achieved a double points finish. It was also the first time in 2017 that both Force Indias finished out of the points with a late collision between Pérez and Kvyat, while running in the points, sent Pérez to last and Kvyat out of the race. Stoffel Vandoorne looked set to score McLaren's first points of the season before hitting the wall after being forced onto the breaking up asphalt by Sergio Pérez. Jenson Button, meanwhile, retired with suspension damage on his one-off return, much like his original retirement in the 2016 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, after colliding with Sauber's Pascal Wehrlein, leaving Wehrlein perched up vertically on the wall. The other Sauber of Marcus Ericsson retired after hitting the wall at turn 1 under the safety car. The Renault of Nico Hülkenberg retired early on with a gearbox failure, while running in 10th. Lance Stroll was another retiree.[12]

After the race Sergio Pérez and Jenson Button had two penalty points (each) added to their Super Licences, both for causing a collision.

Classification

Qualifying

DriverConstructor
Q1Q2Q3
17 Kimi RäikkönenFerrari1:13.1171:12.2311:12.1781
25 Sebastian VettelFerrari1:13.0901:12.4491:12.2212
377 Valtteri BottasMercedes1:13.3251:12.9011:12.2233
433 Max Verstappen1:13.0781:12.6971:12.4964
53 Daniel RicciardoRed Bull Racing-TAG Heuer1:13.2191:13.0111:12.9985
655 Carlos Sainz Jr.Toro Rosso1:13.5261:13.3971:13.1626
711 Sergio PérezForce India-Mercedes1:13.5301:13.4301:13.3297
88 Romain GrosjeanHaas-Ferrari1:13.7861:13.2031:13.3498
922 Jenson ButtonMcLaren-Honda1:13.7231:13.4531:13.613PL
102McLaren-Honda1:13.4761:13.249No time12
1126 Daniil KvyatToro Rosso1:13.8991:13.5169
1227 Nico HülkenbergRenault1:13.7871:13.62810
1320 Kevin MagnussenHaas-Ferrari1:13.5311:13.95911
1444 Lewis Hamilton1:13.6401:14.10613
1519 Felipe MassaWilliams-Mercedes1:13.7961:20.52914
1631 Esteban Ocon1:14.10115
1730 Jolyon PalmerRenault1:14.69616
1818 Lance Stroll1:14.89317
1994 Pascal WehrleinSauber-Ferrari1:15.15918
209 Marcus EricssonSauber-Ferrari1:15.27619
107% time

1:18.193

Source:[13] [14]
Notes:

Race

DriverConstructorTime/RetiredPoints
15 Sebastian VettelFerrari781:44:44.340225
27 Kimi RäikkönenFerrari78+3.145118
33 Daniel RicciardoRed Bull Racing-TAG Heuer78+3.745515
477 Valtteri BottasMercedes78+5.517312
533 Max Verstappen78+6.199410
655 Carlos Sainz Jr.Toro Rosso78+12.03868
744 Lewis HamiltonMercedes78+15.801136
88 Romain GrosjeanHaas-Ferrari78+18.15084
919 Felipe MassaWilliams-Mercedes78+19.445142
1020 Kevin MagnussenHaas-Ferrari78+21.443111
1130 Jolyon PalmerRenault78+22.73716
1231 Esteban OconForce India-Mercedes78+23.72515
1311 Sergio PérezForce India-Mercedes78+49.0897
1426 Daniil KvyatToro Rosso71Collision damage9
1518 Lance StrollWilliams-Mercedes71Oil pressure17
Ret2McLaren-Honda66Accident12
Ret9 Marcus EricssonSauber-Ferrari63Accident19
Ret22 Jenson ButtonMcLaren-Honda57PL
Ret94 Pascal WehrleinSauber-Ferrari57Collision18
Ret27 Nico HülkenbergRenault15Gearbox10
Source:[15]
Notes:

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings
DriverPoints
1 Sebastian Vettel129
2 Lewis Hamilton104
3 Valtteri Bottas75
4 Kimi Räikkönen67
5 Daniel Ricciardo52
Source: [16]
Constructors' Championship standings
ConstructorPoints
11 Ferrari196
12 Mercedes179
397
4 Force India-Mercedes53
5 Toro Rosso29
Source:

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: 2017 Formula 1 World Championship Programmes - The Motor Racing Programme Covers Project. Malcolm. Mitchell. Progcovers.com. 18 November 2018.
  2. Web site: Monaco - The Motor Racing Programme Covers Project. Malcolm. Mitchell. Progcovers.com. 18 November 2018.
  3. News: F1 reveals overall rise in 2017 attendance. Gpupdate.net. 8 December 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20171209011037/https://www.gpupdate.net/en/f1-news/361717/f1-reveals-eight-per-cent-rise-in-2017-attendance/. 9 December 2017.
  4. News: Fernando Alonso to race at Indy 500 with McLaren, Honda and Andretti Autosport. 12 April 2017. 12 April 2017. mclaren.com. McLaren. en. 20 May 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170520123447/http://www.mclaren.com/formula1/inside-the-mtc/fernando-alonso-to-race-at-indy-500-with-mcLaren-honda-and-andretti-autosport/. dead.
  5. 28 May 2017 . TSN . SportsCentre .
  6. Web site: F1 plans Monaco tribute to Manchester victims . Reuters . 24 May 2017 . 24 May 2017.
  7. Web site: Practice – Results – Monaco Grand Prix – 2017 – Formula 1. BBC Sport. 25 May 2017.
  8. News: Sebastian Vettel quickest, Lewis Hamilton eighth in Monaco. 25 May 2017. BBC Sport. 25 May 2017. en-GB.
  9. Web site: Formula 1 Grand Prix de Monaco 2017 – Practice 3. Formula 1 Official Website. 27 May 2017.
  10. News: FP3 – Ferrari 1–2 as Mercedes and Red Bull give chase. 27 May 2017. Formula 1 Official Website. 27 May 2017. en-GB.
  11. Web site: Qualifying - Raikkonen heads all-Ferrari front row in Monaco. Formula1.com. 16 June 2017.
  12. Web site: Race - Monaco win extends Vettel's championship lead. Formula1.com. 16 June 2017.
  13. Web site: Formula 1 Grand Prix de Monaco 2017 – Qualifying. Formula1.com . Formula One World Championship Ltd . 27 May 2017 . 27 May 2017.
  14. Web site: 2017 Monaco Grand Prix – Official Starting Grid . 28 May 2017 . . FIA.com . https://web.archive.org/web/20170603215824/http://www.fia.com/file/57726/download?token=Y6JByKHV . 3 June 2017.
  15. Web site: Formula 1 Grand Prix de Monaco 2017 – Race Result. Formula1.com . Formula One World Championship Ltd . 28 May 2017 . 28 May 2017.
  16. Web site: Monaco 2017 - Championship • STATS F1. www.statsf1.com. 19 March 2019.