The 2023 Monaco Grand Prix will be remembered as one of the most chaotic races as rain spiced up the latter stages of the race. F1's most iconic venue showcased to the world why it is the crown jewel of the pinnacle of motorsports.
Max Verstappen reigned supreme in the changing conditions of the Monaco Grand Prix, winning in the principality for the second time in his career. Fernando Alonso finished second while Alpine driver Esteban Ocon stole the limelight with his stunning drive for a third-place finish.
While Monaco is one of the rich havens in the world, there is no prize money for F1's crown jewel race. In fact, no race across the season distributes prize money to the drivers. Instead, F1 distributes the prize money to all the teams at the end of the season based on their position in the constructors' standings.
At the end of the season, the team that finishes on top of the standings earns the most money while the team finishing last earns the least. There is a step-wise decrease in the prize money from the top to the bottom.
According to the eighth Concorde Agreement signed by all the teams in 2021, the winning constructor receives 14 percent of the prize money while the bottom team receives 6 percent. Previously, the team finishing first earned 20 percent while the bottom team earned only 4 percent.
Based on the final standings of the 2022 season, around $900 million is distributed among the teams in the aforementioned manner. This money comes from a total F1 prize pot of around $2.2 billion. However, the financial figures distributed among the teams are kept a secret.
Drivers don't receive prize money from F1 but receive performance-based bonuses from the teams. Apart from the salary mentioned in the contract, drivers can earn such bonuses by winning races for the team.
The Monaco Grand Prix winner Max Verstappen earned the bragging rights of winning on the streets of the principality and a hefty bonus from his team.
Max Verstappen describes the Monaco Grand Prix win as a 'difficult one'
Starting the race in pole position, Max Verstappen was the favorite to win the Monaco Grand Prix. However, rain in the final few laps made life difficult for the Dutchman.
Despite the rain, Verstappen managed to master the changing conditions and held off Fernando Alonso to win his fourth race in the season. He reflected on the eventful race in the Parc-Ferme interview as he said:
"It was quite a difficult one because we were on the Medium initial and of course, Fernando was on the hard tire. We didn't want to go that long, but we had to. The rain was coming, so we didn't know really what was going on. Then it started to rain. Lap by lap, it was more and more, so at one point, we had to go on the Inters. It's quite difficult in that scenario."
Verstappen currently leads teammate Sergio Perez by 39 points in the drivers' standings.