Mexican GP
Was the weekend exciting?
Oh yes but actually no. 
The free practices and qualifying were very good as the drivers showed their skills and their cars their capabilities with some surprise performances of both. (More on that later)
GRAND PRIX
The race was not racing. The mandated two pitstops for every car, three tyres of two different compounds, which was to try something different to spice up the racing failed. This rule was to avoid the processional 2024 Monaco race. There was a safety car on lap one where all the cars pitted, changed their tyres and then proceeded to the checkered flag. There were actually four on track overtakes in 2024 whilst in 2025 there were only two. The problem was compounded by Racing Bulls and Williams using slowdown tactics to provide a gap for the team mate ahead to pit without losing a place. The teammates would then swap positions and repeat the slowdown tactic. This was just smart use of the rules of the day to get both of each team’s cars into the points. The consequences of this were a train of cars going up to 6 seconds slower than the front runners and a very boring spectacle. It also led to the most lapped cars at a Monaco Grand Prix in the last ten races.
Why is there so little overtaking at this glamorous venue?
Comparing the Monaco GPs of 1963 and 2025 we see that the 1963 race had twenty plus overtakes on track compared to the 2 of 2025. The cars in 1963 were race cars. The cars in 2025 are the most technically superior aerocars*. Unfortunately, the 2025 version of a F1 car is large and heavy and takes up more than twice the area of a 1963 race car. The shortest F1 car to race was the 1958 Lotus Climax 12 which was 3.325m and weighed 320kg. The 2025 F1 cars weigh 800kg.
The grid start to checkered flag comparison is-
The respective lap charts-
Yes, the 2025 aero car is much more reliable with 2 DNFs compared to the 1963’s 11 DNFs. Only 4 of the 15 1963 cars that raced saw the checkered flag, though 9 were classified and the first 6 earned championship points. There were 28 entrants for the race of which 15 out of 17 qualified. A quite different era from todays fixed teams and drivers.
*(The word aerocar refers to the 1950-60s aeroplane/automobile convertible vehicle but has crept into F1 language.)
What can be done to improve the Monaco grand prix? In my opinion the only cure to stop the processional racing at this venue is a change to the circuit. Yes, smaller lighter cars will assist but the technology we have now will never enable a five square meter car or one of three hundred kilograms. The circuit that was laid out in 1929 has been modified before. A new modification which allows at least two overtaking places is not impossible. Will a new circuit stop people from attending the race? No, it will not. After all this is still the Principality of Monaco and even if the circuit was not mostly inside the Monte Carlo neighbourhood of Monaco it would still be special.
After the Monaco GP the drivers’ championship stood at-
Graphically for the top ten drivers
The constructors’ championship points-
Graphically-
Interesting convergence for second place, with McLaren dominating so far.
The more interesting bits of the Monaco weekend were the free practices and that exciting qualifying.
THE FREE PRACTICES
The tyres for the weekend are the same as at Imola, the softest C4, C5 and C6 as the hard, medium and soft respectively.
FP1 had an approximately 3 minute red flag, at 51:18, when Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) pulled onto the circuit in front of Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari. The consequences of this shunt was severe rear damage to the Astin Martin and front wing damage to the Ferrari. Lance was out of the session and gained a 1 place grid penalty. Charles was able to continue after a front wing replacement.
FP2 had two red flag periods. The first was for Isack Hadja (Racing Bulls) clipping the barrier at the exit of the tunnel. A lot of damage to the car but he managed to get it back to the pits. The second was for Oscar Piastri (McLaren) who braked too late to take the runoff at turn 1 and went nose first into the barrier. He got the car back to the pits.
FP3 had one red flag in the last 2 minutes of the session, this ended the session. It was for Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) who had a steering snap in turn 3 and crashed into the opposite barriers. A lot of damage to the car.
Throughout the free practices the lap times tumbled as the circuit rubbered in on each session. At various times there were many different drivers topping the timing charts. In all the three sessions Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) was the fastest.
The free practices’ times were-
And positions were-
QUALIFYING
Qualifying was the most exciting part of the weekend. There were so many session leaders and provisional pole positions as the circuit rubbered in. Pirelli give the Monaco circuit a 5 out of 5 rating for track evolution.
Q1
Session leaders during this 18 minutes session were-
- Alex Albon (Williams) …………………….1:22.067
- Carlos Sainz (Williams) ………………….1:20.617
- Esteban Ocon (Haas) ……………………..1:15.294
- Oliver Bearman (Haas) …………………..1:14.598
- Nico Hulkenberg (Kick Sauber) ………1:13.354
- Alex Albon (Williams) ……………………1:13.153 (second run, first run must have been a warmup, 9 seconds better)
- Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) ………………..1:13.063
- Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) …………..1:12.946
- Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) ……………1:12.878
- Lando Norris (McLaren) ………………..1:12.860
- Oscar Piastri (McLaren) …………………1:12.479
- Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) ………………..1:12.091
- Max Verstappen (Red Bull) …………….1:11.920
- Lando Norris (McLaren) ………………..1:11.596
- Oscar Piastri (McLaren) …………………1:11.385
- Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) ………………..1:11.229
All the drivers were on the soft C6 tyre except the two Alpine drivers Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto who ran on the medium C5 tyres.
Almost immediately after the checkered flag was waived and while some drivers were still on a fast lap, red flags were waived. Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) had just completed the second sector at the fastest time of anybody. The reason for the red flag was Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) had clipped the barrier on the way into the Nouvelle chicane (turn10). This was almost identical to Isack Hadja (Racing Bulls) crash in FP2.
Eliminated in the first session – Gabriel Bortoleto (Kick Sauber), Oliver Bearman (Haas), Pierre Gasly (Alpine), Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) and Franco Colapinto (Alpine).
Q2
The remaining 15 drivers now had 15 minutes to prove their mettle to get into the top ten shootout.
Nico Hulkenberg (Kick Sauber) was the first to set a time, but it was a very poor 1:22.400. Did he have a second warmup lap on those soft tyres? Yes, it was, as his third lap was a 1:11.864.
4 minutes and 44 seconds into the Q2 session, yellow flags were waved in the tunnel. A few seconds later the yellow flags were replaced with red ones and the session was halted. George Russell had lost all power in his Mercedes and stopped in the tunnel. Not a good qualifying day for the Mercedes team. Kimi Antonelli crashed and George Russell stopped.
After George Russell’s car had been recovered the session resumed.
With five minutes remaining, the order was the two Ferraris, Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton, the two McLarens, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, then Alex Albon (Williams) and Max Verstappen (Red Bull).
At the end of Q2 the order and gap between them was-
These top ten were all on the soft tyre except Fernando Alonso who was on medium.
Eliminated in Q2 were Carlos Sainz (Williams), Yuki Tsunoda (Red Bull),Nico Hulkenberg (Kick Sauber) and the Mercedes drivers George Russell and Kimi Antonelli with no time set.
Q3
After 6 minutes out of the 12 allowed, the order was Lando Norris (McLaren), Oscar Piastri (McLaren), Charles Leclerc (Ferrari), Max Verstappen (Red Bull), Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari), Esteban Ocon (Haas), Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin), Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls), Alex Albon (Williams) and Isack Hadja (Racing Bulls) who had not set a time. All on soft tyres except Esteban Ocon (Haas) and Alex Albon (Williams) who were on medium tyres.
When the checkered flag came, it was Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) who was 0.062 seconds ahead of Lando Norris (McLaren). Lando was still on another fast lap and, oh boy, was it fast. A new qualifying record of 1:09.954 to be over one tenth of a second ahead of Charles. Brilliant excitement could not have asked for more than that.
All the qualifying times-
Was the weekend exciting?
Oh yes but the race actually no.
Just fantastic in parts.
Next up Spain.
