2022 F1 Monaco GP: Race Review

The 2022 Monaco GP was nothing short of thrilling. Chaos was rife even before the race had started and once it did finally begin, it provided fans with some truly memorable moments. One such moment came when Red Bull’s Sergio Perez crossed the checkered flag and bagged his third career victory. The other was when Ferrari's Charles Leclerc lost the lead due to an error in pit strategy.

All this to say that the race was one to remember, a rare occurrence in Monaco. So now that everything has been said and done (protests included), let’s take a moment to review the Monaco GP.

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The 2022 F1 Monaco GP review

How good was the race?

This is the most common and important question after every race: how good was the race actually? It becomes even more important when we remember that the Monaco GP is currently fighting for its place in the F1 calendar.

So, how good was it really?

Better than what anyone expected it to be!

Unfortunately, Monaco, being Monaco, could not offer a lot of wheel-to-wheel racing. The street circuit is just not wide enough. Despite this, the race had us on the edge of our seats. There was action. There were strategic gambles. There were even a few overtakes!

So, overall, we'd say the race earned its keep this year.

Who was the star of the race?

Sergio Perez was, without a doubt, the star of the Monaco GP. The Mexican arrived at the Principality on the back of a tough, and rather controversial, team order which required him to let his teammate take his lead in Spain. Many claimed that Red Bull had already put all of its eggs in the Max Verstappen basket for the championship despite it being so early in the season.

However, if that was the case, then the Austrian team was in for a surprise in Monaco. Last weekend, Perez was the quicker of the two and seemed to be more comfortable in the car. He outqualified the reigning world champion for the second time this season and put himself in the perfect position in the race to benefit from Red Bull's strategy. And voila, he won!

Sergio Perez cemented his place in the championship with his victory at Monaco and sent a clear message to everyone, including his own team, that he did not intend on being the 'No. 2 driver' at Red Bull.

Surprise of the day?

The surprise of the weekend was neither the crashes, nor the strategic gambles that the teams took; it was the sheer amount of overtakes we got during the Monaco GP. Mind you, the actual number is less than half of what most other races have, but since it's Monaco, one must be happy with whatever one can get.

Both Pierre Gasly and Sebastian Vettel pitted early in the race for intermediate tires and were flying through the field after that. Even on a track like Monaco, they managed to make overtaking seem easy.

Furthermore, despite having much bigger and bulkier cars this year, the F1 race managed to have more overtakes than the F2 feature race earlier in the day.

Who was the biggest disappointment?

Daniel Ricciardo made several headlines before the Monaco GP. The Australian was publicly put on notice by his boss Zak Brown. Ricciardo said that he did not mind since he had thick skin, however, one must wonder whether his words held any truth in them.

While the McLaren driver had scored the pole and then, the race victory in the Principality only a few years ago, last Sunday was different. He finished in P13 while his teammate Lando Norris finished in sixth place.

Monaco GP sympathy corner

The 'Monaco Curse' strikes once again. Charles Leclerc did everything he could this weekend to ensure that he would bag his home victory. However, both Fate and Ferrari had other plans. The Italian team made a strategic error and called the Monegasque into the pits. Red Bull countered Leclerc's pit stop by performing an overcut on Ferrari, which released both Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez in front of the Ferrari drivers.

With this, we wrap up the Monaco race review. It will be interesting to see where the cards fall at the Azerbaijan GP on June 12, 2022.