The Monaco Grand Prix 2023 was the 6th round of the 2023 F1 season, and took place at the Circuit de Monaco in Monte-Carlo, Monaco, during the weekend of the 26th to the 28th of May.
Max Verstappen won the race from the pole, followed by Fernando Alonso, and Esteban Ocon completing the podium.
Final results
Race evolution
Pit Stops
There were a total of 37 pit stops during the race.
The most popular pit stop windows were:
- Laps 31-34: 4 stops
- Laps 50-57: 23 stops
The fastest pit stop was Pierre Gasly's, stopping the clock at 23.902 seconds during his pit stop on lap 47, while the slowest one was was Kevin Magnussen's, who stopped the clock at 51.052 seconds, 27.150 seconds slower than Gasly, during his pit stop on lap 56.
These times include the time the driver spent going through the pit lane, as well as the actual time he stopped for the mechanics to work on his car.
Strategy
The race was not obvious in terms of pit stop strategy, with different teams and different drivers choosing to make anywhere from 1 to 5 stops.
The race winner, Max Verstappen, was on a 1 stop strategy.
1 stop
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4Valtteri Bottas
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6Lance Stroll
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6Yuki Tsunoda
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-Nyck de Vries
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3George Russell
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1Oscar Piastri
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-Max Verstappen
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2Kevin Magnussen
2 stops
-
6Guanyu Zhou
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1Alexander Albon
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1Lewis Hamilton
-
-Esteban Ocon
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4Carlos Sainz
-
-Charles Leclerc
-
-Pierre Gasly
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1Lando Norris
-
-Fernando Alonso
3 stops
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1Nico Hülkenberg
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2Logan Sargeant
5 stops
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4Sergio Pérez
Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 1 stop strategy lost an average of 0.33 positions, the ones on a 2 stops strategy lost an average of 0.33 positions, the ones on a 3 stops strategy lost an average of 0.5 positions, while those on a 5 stops strategy gained 4 positions on average.
This difference in possitions gained, together with a deeper nalaysis of each strategy, reinforces the conclusion that a 5 stops strategy was the best option, even if Max Verstappen managed to win the race making 1 stop.
It is important to note that this might not always be the case for other races held at the Circuit de Monaco, as the conditions might change from year to year, in terms of wheel degradation, accidents, safety cars, etc.
Incidents
There race went on mostly with no incidents. Only 2 divers were involved in circumstances that were severe enough to prevented them from finishing the race.
These included, Kevin Magnussen, who retired dure to damage caused by a collision with other cars on lap 70, and Lance Stroll, who had to retire due to an accident on lap 53.
Collision damage
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Kevin MagnussenLap 70
Accident
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Lance StrollLap 53
Qualifying
Max Verstappen dominated all the qualifying sessions and took the pole by 0.084 seconds, with a final lap time of 1:11.365. Right next to him, completing the first line of the grid, was Fernando Alonso.
Track evolution
As the qualifying session went on, with the track rubbering in, and the drivers testing the limits of the grip of their cars, the times per lap dropped, and all of the drivers that took place in Q2 improved their times in this second session.
The Q3 is the time were all the remaining drivers put all their cards on the table, even those with a superior car who might have been managing their times in Q1 and Q2 push their cars to the limit in Q3. It therefore comes as no surprise that all of the drivers that took place in Q3 managed to improve their times in this last session.