Monaco GP: Antonelli dominates amid penalty mayhem and track chaos
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
The Athletic.
Who won the Monaco GP and what made it significant?
The race is on, and Kimi Antonelli became the youngest ever winner of the Monaco Grand Prix as pre-event favourite Ferrari floundered and title rival George Russell came away with nothing. But was there ever any chance of stopping the Italian?
What were the major penalties that affected the race?
And what was going on with the disintegrating track surface and avalanche of penalties? I'm Ed Straw, and joining me from Monaco are Scott Mitchell-Mowne and John Noble.
How did Kimi Antonelli secure his victory in Monaco?
Well, there's so much to talk about in this race, especially all of those penalties and the track falling apart. We'll get onto that in part two, but we want to talk about the battle at the front first. John, we'll come straight to you. Heading into the weekend, even after Friday practice, in fact, everybody, including those in the paddock, had Ferrari as favourite. So how exactly did all of that turn into Kimi Antonelli taking his fifth consecutive win from pole position?
What issues did Charles Leclerc face during the race?
Mercedes nailed its tyre prep and Kimi Janssen did an absolutely outstanding job. Phenomenal, struggled on Friday. It all looked, all those pre-event predictions that Ferrari would be favourites, the smaller turbo, the low speed.
What caused the track surface problems at Monaco?
advantage of that car the drivability the responsiveness Lewis in a happy place with the car Charles Leclerc was being good at Monaco it all seemed to be lining up that way McLaren were lost Red Bull has seemed to be close enough but not quite in the ballpark and Mercedes was struggling with rear tyre temps but overnight work back at Brackley Friday night in the simulator managed to sort out the mechanical balance, soften the car a bit, got the tyre prep all sorted. Add on top of that, Antonelli, you know, beautifully sorted in terms of his understanding of the sliding with these tyres, how to fire up on the preparation lap, nailed the prep laps, put it on pole, and then absolutely metronomic in terms of perfect starts, perfect execution, and the race pace was there, you know, class of his own.
Yeah, I'd say I was really impressed with Antonelli. I think this was his most complete Grand Prix weekend. Yeah, and Scott, the thing that really impressed me with Antonelli is not only did he have the pace advantage in the race, obviously the car is part of that. He could pull away from the Ferraris behind.
How did the pit lane speeding penalties impact the race outcomes?
But the fact that he had to do not one... Not two, but if you include the safety car restart, there were three opportunities for him to, if you like, lose the lead, particularly off those two standing starts. But he was just completely under control. This was a proper not put a foot wrong weekend, wasn't it?
Yeah, this is the most impressed I've been by Antonelli and the most impressive thing he's done collectively in an increasingly impressive season.
What were the performance issues faced by George Russell?
The idea that it's his title to lose is still something that I think... It's kind of hard to wrap your head around this early in the season, but it absolutely looks that way, not just because he's got this mammoth points lead now, but because of the way he's driving, how fast he is, how he's delivering in crunch moments like he did in qualifying here, like he did every time he was tested during the Grand Prix. And let's be honest, he wasn't tested that much during the Grand Prix in between those crucial moments because he was just absolutely dominant in terms of his pace. But When it came to it, he handled it. And so far, the idea of pressure or the weight of expectation around what he's doing isn't materialising at all.
It's not a thing. He's not phased in the slightest. In fact, I would say this weekend... was the first sort of real sort of sprinkling of Samantanelli magic that we've seen this year. He's been really good before now, but just like proper something special. And he looked and sounded like someone who was reveling in it as well, like really marinating in the moment after qualifying and then rightly so, lapping up the plaudits after a brilliant race win.
And 66 points he's ahead now, which long way to go. He's not got the championship, anything like one yet, but... weekend by weekend event by event he's getting into a stronger position he's becoming a more rounded driver consistently and John we're seeing George Russell struggling I was interested in qualifying in fact because you could see that Antonelli had the tyres in quite a good place for the whole lap I think he was second fastest in all three sectors not fastest in any of them but a good kind of even lap and that
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:02–0:13
2
Who won the Monaco GP and what made it significant?
0:13–0:25
3
What were the major penalties that affected the race?
0:25–0:34
4
How did Kimi Antonelli secure his victory in Monaco?
0:34–1:00
5
What issues did Charles Leclerc face during the race?
1:00–1:16
6
What caused the track surface problems at Monaco?
1:16–2:18
7
How did the pit lane speeding penalties impact the race outcomes?
2:18–2:47
8
What were the performance issues faced by George Russell?
2:47–51:52
Speakers
4 identifiedMore from The Race F1 Podcast
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