Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) will try to recover this weekend, at ‘his’ Grand Prix, in Monaco -the seventh of the year-, the leadership of the Formula One World Championship who kidnapped him on Sunday, in Spain, Dutchman Max Verstappen (Red Bull); In a very hot race Carlos Sainz -partner of Monegasque- and Fernando Alonso (Alpine) -who signed on the return of the day- finished fourth and ninth, respectively.
Verstappen, 24, signed his fourth win of the season on Sunday. In Montmeló (Barcelona), where he left due to a mechanical problem and when he was leading comfortably, Leclerc -at the same age-, who, after signing his fourth ‘pole’ of the year, was intended to lead the championship at the most opportunity. iconic racing at the time, on the streets of Monte Carlo.
A request that slowed down, at the Spanish Grand Prix, ‘Mad Max’, leading the ‘double’ for Red Bull with his Mexican teammate Sergio Pérez signing his third second place spot of the season and, with it, his eighteenth podium because he was competing in F1.
The last world champion, who recovered the ‘1’ —which until nine years ago was always designated the winner in previous competitions — at the expense of the ‘33’ he has worn since his debut, added her twenty -fourth victory in the queen category; and now leads the World Cup with 110 points, six more than Leclerc and with a 25 advantage against ‘Checo’ whose brilliant contribution as a team player has allowed the Austrian team to also lead the Constructors ’World Cup, with 195 units, 26 more than ‘Scuderia’.
Formula One has undergone many changes in recent years – including its regulations – and continues to be modernized; but, today, F1 would not be understood without two of its key components: Ferrari, the most successful team in history, and Monaco, its most attractive Grand Prix.
So the team from Maranello will try to make a splash and make up for the failure suffered on Sunday at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on the streets of the Costa Azul principality. Where Verstappen won for the second time, after landing on that track, in 2016 and in his first career with Red Bull, the youngest winner in history.
Sainz, 27, who this year has three podiums and fifth in the World Cup -with 65 points, nine less than Englishman George Russell (Mercedes), third in Montmeló and fourth in the championship- Monaco is not bad.
Madrilenian was second last year, in the most important and most traditional urban circuit in the world; where he hasn’t stopped scoring since he raced in F1.
A 3,337 -meter circuit – with 19 curves (seven on the left) – for which it is planned to provide 78 laps on Sunday, to complete a 260.2 -kilometer route. Where Alonso achieved two of his 32 victories in the premier class: the 32 that Spain has needed throughout its history. The double Asturian world champion has won two consecutive wins in Monaco: in 2006, when he re-validated the title, along with Renault; and the following year, aboard a McLaren.
Alonso, 40, has been haunted since the start of the season by a series of misfortunes, ending it on Sunday with a sensational performance which got him to sign the great return of the day. Removed in Q1, on the seventeenth, he replaced the engine and started last, before finishing the ninth in Montmeló.
Where Mercedes -winner of the past eight constructor titles and showed a poor start to the season-, where seven -time English world champion Lewis Hamilton took fifth place -after also falling below the grid-, was showed a clear improvement that, if certified, would greatly encourage this World Cup.
Fernando reaffirmed his declaration to Efe in an interview held last year in Austria: that “what matters is not the age, but the stopwatch“However, the Spaniard from Alpine still occupies a position less than he deserves: he is fifteenth, with only four points.
In Monaco – where Leclerc didn’t finish either of the two runs he ran and last year he didn’t start, after signing on the ‘pole’ the day before – filming will begin this Friday, in the first two sessions of free training, with wheels from the softest range of compounds: C3 -hard, distinguished by white stripes- C4 -medium, yellow stripes- and C5 -soft, red-.
Rehearsals will be completed on Saturday, a few hours before qualifying, which will be most important on the narrow streets of Monaco. As ‘Checo’, born 32 years ago in Guadalajara (Jalisco), recalled, “Q3 (third round of the main timed session) in Monaco is almost definitive”.
The brave driver from Guadalajara, third in 2016, finished fourth on the streets of Monte Carlo last year. When Verstappen won, ahead of Sainz, a Grand Prix where no one won as much as Ayrton Senna. Brazilian mythology – wounded who died in Imola (Italy) 28 years ago – celebrated six wins in Monaco; where among the active the most successful was Hamilton, with three.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Wayne Wickman, a professional journalist and author for Today Times Live. My specialty is covering global news and current events, offering readers a unique perspective on the world’s most pressing issues. I’m passionate about storytelling and helping people stay informed on the goings-on of our planet.
