Monaco Grand Prix: Rate the race

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What did you think of the Monaco Grand Prix? Rate the race and leave a comment below:

Rate the 2009 Monaco Grand Prix out of 10

  • 10 - Perfect (3%)
  • 9 - Fantastic (3%)
  • 8 - Great (9%)
  • 7 - Good (20%)
  • 6 - Not bad (17%)
  • 5 - A bit dull (18%)
  • 4 - Often tedious (9%)
  • 3 - Boring (16%)
  • 2 - Rubbish (3%)
  • 1 - Terrible (3%)

Total Voters: 1,997

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Read more: 2009 and 2008 Rate the Race results

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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95 comments on “Monaco Grand Prix: Rate the race”

  1. Boring race, boring championship.

    1. Another tedious procession with very little ‘racing’.

  2. anyone know where i can watch the race online?

    1. Will be on BBC iplayer later

    2. Try TorrentStream

    3. Don’t waste your time.

  3. 1/10. New ‘exciting’ rules. Championship pretty much over. This is not good

  4. Oh how can you rate Monaco?
    Processional but always the most spectacular event on the calendar.

  5. 6/10 Not bad, but I’m getting really bored with the new ‘domination’ of Brawn GP, unlikely that any team can beat them now, unless Brawn runs out of money!

    Although it’s great for Button…

    1. Kimi may have beaten Rubens…his 2nd pitstop was slow though.

  6. Agreeing with Mr Soap. How the hell can the media claim this as a brilliant thing for F1? Last year – exciting (last corner, last lap, last race anyone?). This year tiresomely predictable and utterly boring.
    Rule changes, while making cars prettier, were utterly terrible. Plus media claiming it as the greatest story on F1. Total crap.

    1. I agree with everything you just said. It’s not a fairytale, its boring. If this was McLaren or Ferrari everyone would be saying this is boring. It’s not good for Formula One this championship is RUBBISH!!!

    2. I agree also, apart from the prettier cars comment!

  7. I started to find it really boring about half way through, i enjoyed the race more last year.

  8. Well I voted perfect, why? Cos you know what’s even more boring, you lot complaining constantly. I enjoyed watching the whole race, and the top 4 drivers were great!

    Why if you constantly complain about the sport, do you even like. Go home.

    1. Prisoner Monkeys
      24th May 2009, 16:23

      I have a theory as to that: everyone has an idea of how the races should be run, and every time a race plays out differetly to that view, they see it as confirmation that they are right and the Powers Tht Be are wrong.

      Yes, Monaco is processional, but hopefully that’s it for now. The last four races have been on circuits notorious for producing processional races: two Tilke-dromes, the most notorious testing circuit and the streets of the Principality. Istanbul might be another Tilke circuit, but the likes of turn eight and he anti-clockwise direction at least give it a bit of soul.

    2. I voted Perfect and, TD, you got it spot on… there ain’t nothing boring about this race… I love F1 and this race had my emotions on a high! Top 4 were great!

  9. I think the descriptions of the numbers are misleading. 5 – bit dull – correct. 6 – not bad, not accurate monaco description. but i want to give it 6/10!

  10. Shut it you whingers! :)
    If you want the results to be unpredictable, go and watch nascar or something. And were you actually expecting racing at Monaco?
    Brawn have designed the best car, and you lot are going to hold that against them!?

    1. We don’t hate Brawn. We just want a race! Only the Brawn fans find this interesting. They enjoy Brawn more than F1.

    2. mmmmm i agree with you jim !!! are all the whingers on here really true F1 fans ? me thinks not . we have now the prospect of having a new british champion elect a nice guy who has been in a terrible car for years but who has stayed loyal to his team & is now showing us all just how good a driver he is. so i say well done to all at brawn for giving us all something to smile about & making it a very interesting season much to the displeasure of the big boys !!! so go & win it jenson us true fans are behind you all the way !!!

  11. mark my words. mclaren will win this race. i’m damn sure of it. just look at their record. you’ll be left with a hollow feeling after the race

    words marked

    1. HounslowBusGarage
      24th May 2009, 20:30

      Cruel. Heh heh heh.

  12. We all know before going into Monaco that there will be little to no overtaking. So please answer the question conditional on that information!

    1. That`s the problem, Navs.
      I thoroughly enjoyed it. The Brawns were faultless. The Ferraris have made leaps & bounds.
      Yet, how do we rate Monaco as a race when the drivers can`t truly race there? It doesn`t detract from my enjoyment of the spectacle nor of my admiration for the drivers ability to maintain concentration around those narrow streets.

  13. The racing was never going to be all that exciting, but the first 15 laps were brilliant. I enjoyed watching the race, I appreciate the skill of the drivers round this kind of track, didn’t make it boring for me at all. What was boring was seeing people have some sort of vendetta against Brawn and Button.

  14. Was a good race. 7/10

  15. By mid season Button/Brawn can claim the championship. They would then go for long holiday and let us watch same good races.

  16. Bigbadderboom
    24th May 2009, 15:25

    I don’t undertstand some people posting here, we talk about the technical side, the stratagies, and all the other back stories, but how can it be described as boring, I watch with the F1 live timing and there was some great startegic battles unfolding, the option tyre wear on the red bulls and the anticipation of how the Feraris would deal with it in the final stint. Watching how BMW and Toyota are totally failing to understand their car.
    I think some people are watching the wrong series, any F1 fan knows in the current regulations much of the winning is done in the design rooms, the pit lanes and in the heads of those working out the strategies.
    I voted 6/10.
    Well done JB, RB and Ferrari, McLaren wasted an opportunity this week!

    1. Hear, hear, Bigbadderboom. You just put it much more succinctly than I ever could.

    2. Yet these strategies never came into play. The Brawns were well ahead before the Ferrari’s and Webber switched to the super softs. Noone on a different strategy was behind them

      Maybe the first 20 laps or so were exciting, but after that it was basically a done deal.

    3. I think that a lot of F1 fans would claim that things like two vastly different compounds of tyre, and refuelling to ‘spice up the show’ are actually bad things in terms of racing.

      For me, away from the reasoning, I just don’t feel that into the championship yet – but I guess that’s just subjective. Perhaps guys like Button and Vettel are just too likable! :)

  17. That was great, I felt. And no, TommyB and all the haters, I don’t support Brawn. (I’m a Red Bull fan) Plenty to talk about and analyse. As Monaco races go, I thought that was par/above average. (I voted 7/10 btw)

    As Keith said in the race liveblog, and me to some people on our local forums, this is NOTHING like 2004. Button’s car certainly wasn’t the fastest in Bahrain, probably not the fastest in Spain and here, but a combination of critical errors by rivals and Brawn and Button being absolutely supreme has resulted in this.

    The past three races could well have gone Trulli – Vettel/Barrichello – Kimi. There might be many who would have preferred that, but I know I’m enjoying myself marveling at Button’s awesome drives, and Brawn getting their strategy spot on.

  18. KingHamilton&co
    24th May 2009, 15:27

    Yyyyyyyyyyyyyaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwwwwnnnnnnnnnnnn…..

    blimey, even monaco is dull this year……all we want is a different winner!

    Earwell, I guess Ill go watch Nascar or something….

  19. Greg Beckett
    24th May 2009, 15:33

    Monaco has me gripped. Normally you need as much concentration as the drivers, one toilet break and damn, why the hell is the safety car out when you come back?

    It was interesting in the opening stages with the Vettel train, however for Monaco it was a pretty processional race.

    Some tracks are judged on overtaking, I’d judge this one on attrition and surprise results, and just seeing a faster driver push a slower one in front to the limit. Like Button v Trulli when he just missed his first race win. Sadly the cars were rather spread out, there wasn’t much going on by the end. There were some nice moments of drivers stringing the cars out and saving back ends.

    I’d rate it as an average Monaco race.

  20. To all those complaining of a vendetta against Brawn. Lets look at the facts Button is now 26 points ahead of Barrichello, Brawn is 43.5 points ahead of Red Bull. We are already talking about Button easing off to maintain champoinship. That was round 6! If he was called Schumacher and he drove a red car then we’d be complaining of how dull it was.

    1. Yes, it might be dull for some, but half of the point of F1 is designing a better car than everyone else.

    2. I suspect that the people who would cry boring would be those claiming that this was a great race.

  21. I thought it was a good race.

    The first 15-20 laps had lots going on, we got a bit of an engine saving phase in the middle with some more action towards the end.

    I thought the cars were better to watch this year, plenty of movement through the corners and some good 4-wheel drifts along the barriers for a few of them. Watching Massa really pushing it close to (and at times over) the limit of the track was great.

    In the context of the Championship we’ve seen the start of the Ferrari fightback, they had some good speed and managed to avoid any major errors and will hopefully push on in the next few races. Toyota & BMW seem to be going backwards while Force India were only one position away from scoring their first point.

    It might not have been a classic, you normally need rain at some point in the weekend for that at Monaco, but I thought it was good and gave it 7/10.

    I still think the new rules don’t go far enough and that we need to see another massive reduction in aero grip.

  22. The team that got 1-2 in qualifying two races ago is dead last and people still call this season dull? If you wanna complain, complain about Kimi not getting a better start or Lewis for screwing his chances yesterday. But dont complain about Brawn and Button who just flawlessly do their job.

    About the race, we got some close battles and even odd overtaking in Monaco. There were crashes of people high up the order. So not a bad race IMO.

    1. That’s very true.

  23. StrFerrari4Ever
    24th May 2009, 15:47

    The early phase of the race was exciting but as things settled down the race began to become boring however i kept watching with interest to see if Webber would catch the Fezza’s and to see Bourdais get a point but surprised by lack of safety car since Monaco is prone to them

  24. 5/10.

    The first 10 laps were amazing – after that it was pretty dull. Button’s lap of honour was funny, though!

  25. Massa predicted Brawn by June and it seems he was right. A couple of more races and this thing is over. Wide interpretation of rules has caused F1 to suck pretty badly this year.

  26. I enjoyed the race, I am a Brawn fan… but just as much a Ferrari one. just because the Brawns are at the front doesnt mean you cant watch the rest of the pack… Apart from Brawn the championship is pretty tight. I find that exiting even if theyre not competing for the top spot. Maybe thats just me.

  27. Last year was a battle between Ferrari and Mclaren.

    This year is a battle between Brawn and ummmmmm well who else?

    It seems these new regulations have actually made the racing even more boring.

  28. Why didn’t Massa get a penalty for all his chicane cutting? Even if the gain is only a tenth or so, it’s still an unfair advantage.

    Good show from Webber. Really a shame that Vettel crashed out, because it would have been better for Webber if he had beaten the chosen one on track.

    Also a bit unfortunate that Hamilto got rammed by Kubica. Otherwise we might have seen some nice overtaking. Kubica really is a bit of a ploinker. When things don’t go 100% he just drives like a jerk. Well actually even when they went 100% did he manage to get into an accident with Vettel …

    1. Bigbadderboom
      24th May 2009, 17:11

      Agreed Patrick, he was about 2-3 tenths quickeer when he was getting away with iy, he was carrying a lot more speed through.

    2. Massa was warned.

      And yes, Kubica and the rest of the BMW team apart from Heidfeld are plonkers.

    3. Why are you lying about Kubica-Hamilton accident?

    4. heeeeeeyy now there with the Kubica bashing! The guy drove like a total champ last year and now they give him a tractor – like your motivation/concentration wouldn’t suffer? Plus in Oz it was Vettel’s slip that caused the accident. So there.

  29. The moment Barichello got pat Kimi, you just knew the race was going BrawnGP’s way. With no refueling next year, it will only get worse. Despite how slow Vettel was at one point, he only had to move maybe 6inches off line and no way past.

  30. BORING

    1. i’ve just watched the indy 500, my first indy viewing in years. i slept through the 1st half of it, and watched baseball for the 2nd half. final score:
      ULTRA BORING

      nascar is starting its 600 mile race soon. the pre-race show had that digger-versus-frenchie cartoon, and that’s about as far as i made it. final score:
      NASCAR BANNED FROM MY HOUSE

  31. I always thought Jenson was a great driver, his first season in F1 was a blinder and he was great against Villeneuve. I’ve watched for years hoping he’d finally get a good car again and prove me right – can’t believe it’s finally happened and I’m delighted. Am I the only person who’s actually enjoying this?

    1. HounslowBusGarage
      25th May 2009, 20:13

      No. Actually, I am too.
      i thought he had genuinely rotten luck at BAR and deserved better, Sure he nade a conplete pig’s ear of the contract situation re Williams, but the lad is basically a good driver.
      More deserving than most of the current crop.

  32. I voted boring, I dipped in and out and then switched off after 30 minutes. Think it’s Brawn all the way to November, so no need to watch. Why don’t they just award the championship now, cause it’s over.

    1. Bigbadderboom
      24th May 2009, 17:12

      The name of this site “F1 Fanatic” not sure many of us would turn off!! Anything can happen!!!

    2. Yeah, what nonsense is that? How can you even say it was boring when you didn’t see the whole race?

    3. The name of this site “F1 Fanatic” not sure many of us would turn off!

      That genuinely made me laugh out loud :-)

  33. It was an excellent Monaco race. More overtaking than ever as I can remember in the last 15 years.

  34. We’d see better racing IMO, if the teams could test, given the ban on it, plus most teams not going the way of the DDD…

    But none of that would effect the processional that is Monaco.

  35. theRoswellite
    24th May 2009, 16:46

    Rating this race, as any other race, is a completely subjective matter. Instead of asking, “How good was the race?”, it might be more meaningful to ask, “How much did I enjoy the race?”

    And, as always, one’s enjoyment of anything is determined as much by what YOU bring to the event in question, as what happens in the event itself.

    Some of us appreciate only very close racing with plenty of passing. Some (few in F1 I hope) even require accidents to enliven the “show”. While many, perhaps long time “enthusiasts”, derive enjoyment from seeing excellence demonstrated in all the elements, from design to preparation, that are required to place a car and driver at the top of the podium.

    For me, Saturday alone is a highlight of the year, but I’ll long remember this Sunday when a complete laughing stock of a team in ’08 returned to finish 1-2 at one of the most demanding races of the year. Plus, I especially enjoy “the idea” of a driver who could, of late, only be found shadow dancing in the wake of Britain’s newest mega-star World Champion…now standing in total sunshine, with the promise he showed in his youth finally on display.

    It was quite a memorable race.

    1. I’d like to think most people who read this site are in it for more than the crashes :-)

    2. While many, perhaps long time “enthusiasts”, derive enjoyment from seeing excellence demonstrated in all the elements, from design to preparation, that are required to place a car and driver at the top of the podium.

      (To quote the BBC) This… is Formula 1.

      For me, Saturday alone is a highlight of the year, but I’ll long remember this Sunday when a complete laughing stock of a team in ‘08 returned to finish 1-2 at one of the most demanding races of the year. Plus, I especially enjoy “the idea” of a driver who could, of late, only be found shadow dancing in the wake of Britain’s newest mega-star World Champion…now standing in total sunshine, with the promise he showed in his youth finally on display.

      Spot on!

      My enthusiam for F1 has been re-ignited this year (a big part of that I have to say is down to Keith and F1-Fanatic, cheers Keith) , and I feel excitement and intrique at every race. I’ll freely admit that also a lot of that is down to Button & Brawn and watching the big teams try to come back from the back of the grid… and also seeing BMW fall off the cliff.

      Anyone who says Button is not top shelf stuff is clearly blind… I’ve always rated Button and loved his smooth style. Sure having the right car underneath you is a big plus (how many drivers have been Champion without one of the fastest cars under them… very few if any I would say) but it is what you do with it that counts. Rubens (widely acknowedged to be a fast race winner) apart from Barcelona has been left in amongst the competition, this race no exception with the Ferraris. Button has simply driven so much better and so much more consistently over all race conditions. The man has raised his game and, as said, we are simply seeing what has always been there since he arrived on the scene waiting the right car and right time… like all champions have and currently continue to do (Alonso, Hamilton & Raikkonen… and Vettel, Massa, Webber yet to be).

  36. 7/10, not too bad action, but boring domination by Button.

    Better performance by Ferrari as well.

  37. TommyBellingham
    24th May 2009, 17:11

    @Chua Not like 2004? Because Button is british and not in a Ferrari!? It is like 2004, 6 races in and the championship is pretty much over, no rivals to challenge for the world title and just one driver and team winning almost every race

    1. Exactly. I find it amazing how the same people who called 2002 and 2004 boring because of Ferrari domination feel that 2009 is somehow unpredictable.

    2. The cars are much closer matched now though. For half the races the Red Bulls have been faster or as fast as the Red Bulls.

      In 2004 the Ferrari’s were at least 7 tenths quicker than any other car during qualifying. That’s boring. Even when they completely messed up, they would still win.

      Now when Red Bull doesn’t think properly about their strategy, Brawn wins. Haven’t seen Brawn or Button make a mistake yet though.

  38. This year has been absolute garbage. The only good race was maybe Sepang where Red Bull won. Whop di do a new team is dominating worse than the years of schumacher

    1. I thought Australia and China gave us decent races as well, and Bahrain wasn’t bad. The last two haven’t been especially memorable.

  39. Roger Carballo AKA Architrion
    24th May 2009, 17:36

    Race itself was good… but what we all are saying here is that this championship is rubbish. Congrats to FIA. Leading its way to legalize double diffusor just to destroy unity of FOTA has make the most boring championship since the Schu-Brawn era. Fantastic job, Bernie and Max.

    Please. Does someone know what email can we use to give the pair my best wishes?

    1. Just think of Brawn weren’t leading we’d have a really close championship. All the teams are swapping positions each race apart from Brawn

  40. StrFerrari4Ever
    24th May 2009, 17:48

    Tim you dont know what your talking about Red Bull didn’t win at Sepang they won at Shanghai…

  41. 6/10 – not the best Monaco race by any means, but still far superior to the awful Spanish Grand Prix. There were a few good moves, overtakes, and almost-overtakes throughout, a few good coming-togethers with walls. No idea about the strategies being of any interest as I don’t pay attention to them.

  42. Are those claiming it’s the same as the Ferrari dominance years just looking at the results?

    Only a couple of tenths separated several cars in Q2. All season, Red Bull have been on a similar pace to Brawn. And Barrichello is only a few points ahead of the RBs.

    The difference is that Button is driving spectacularly well in all conditions on all tracks. Rather than bemoaning it being boring we should be commending it and calling on the other drivers, Vettel especially, to pull their fingers out and do something about it.

    1. Are those claiming it’s the same as the Ferrari dominance years just looking at the results?

      My sentiments entirely. Yes Brawn are doing extremely well but it’s not as one-sided as 2004. That year, as soon as Ferrari had that test at Imola before the season began, on the hugely quick new Bridgestone compound, it was obvious the title was going to Schumacher.

  43. I really hope that the RedBull starts to show its true potential, gets a lucky break, and pushes at the front. I was a huge Ferrari fan until 2004. That made me give up, and from that moment on all I wanted was close racing. The 2007 and 2008 championships were fantastic! I really hope that a couple of teams can really get up there later this year, and that Brawn start to have a few issues, this will at least make it interesting.

  44. I slept for the last 2/3rds of the race. Or rather, I was only conscious for the first round of pitstops.

    And I didn’t even miss anything. I was expecting half the grid to be missing.

    The only good thing to watch was Button doing his little jog to the podium, that was almost a Rocky moment!

  45. who cares only one other team has won besides brawn and jenson, who is going to win if a brawn car is going to win. Because Brawn even though he says he isn’t is defiantly doing team orders.

    1. So they ‘ordered’ Rubens to lap 1.5 seconds slower on the same fuel load and tyres with no traffic in front of him?

  46. Martin Brundle seems to have lost his edge.
    Lewis’s crash into Heidfeld which took the end plate off his wing was caused by Lewis crossing the blend line before the corner and hence was in conflict with Nick.
    Later he alluded to Sutil comimg around Alonzo out of the pits and out accelerating him. Sutil was on the track and came around the corner. He did not exit the pit behind Alonzo.
    Sloppy/

  47. It was a great race 8/10. What a track!
    Would have liked to see Webber get on the podium, but he get some good points. Good to see Ferrari up there too. Would have lied Ruben to win it bc of his b/day.
    Hamilton (aka Rocky) did well too, moving up 1 place & all… :)

  48. Whatever happens in the race, Monaco is always a bit special.

    If you had a race where there were no changes of positions, no battles, no incidents, but it was at Monaco, it’d still be more exciting that the same race happening at Bahrain or Catalunya, because the track is so dramatic.

    1. I think that’s why this time it was just so dull – there just wasn’t any drama. I even fell asleep watching a re run!

      It’s like one of those moments when someone tells you a joke they find funnier than you do: you probably had to be there to appreciate it.

    2. Mark Hitchcock
      25th May 2009, 15:19

      Exactly, Keith.
      The drama and excitement at Monaco comes largely from the fact that you know every driver is concentrating 100% for the entire race and one tiny mistake could send them into the barriers and out of the race.

      People often say that Monaco is the ultimate drivers circuit. That’s why it’s good. It’s all about appreciating how well the drivers who finished had to drive.

  49. As Brundle mentioned on the BBC, with slick tyres Monaco has less potential for mistakes, and at Moncao sometimes that’s what the race needs IMHO.

    As an ‘event’ however, it’s still an amazing occaision for F1. Button running down the main straight was just great.

  50. For me, the cool part was seeing Hamilton picking off a few cars in the opening laps. I ahte seeing Lewis on the back of the grid, but when it happens, he always creates some interesting moments.

    Other than that, it wasen’t exceptionally exciting after the opening laps. As with Spain, I fell asleep about halfway through, only to wake up to Button jogging around the streets. For a second, I was wondering if he had retired from the race and was doing a Carl Edwards imitation in trying to finish the race out of his car ;)

  51. theRoswellite
    25th May 2009, 18:59

    “Monaco is always a bit special…because the track is so dramatic.” Keith C.

    Exactly.

    If Senna could crash, a totally…”unforced” error, while in the lead, on a dry track, then no one is safely home till the flag falls on their backside. That is drama enough for me.

  52. theRoswellite
    26th May 2009, 0:56

    “Monaco is always a bit special…because the track is so dramatic.” Keith C.

    Exactly.

    If Senna could crash, a totally…”unforced” error, while in the lead, on a dry track, then no one is safely home till the flag falls on their backside. That is drama enough for me.

  53. William Wilgus
    26th May 2009, 20:54

    As always at Monaco, simply a high-speed parade. If it weren’t for the harbor and its ability to berth the mega-yachts of the rich, Monaco would have disappeared from the F-1 calendar years ago.

  54. Did anyone notice how many empty seats there were in the grandstands? Can anyone remember the last time we saw that in Monaco? Seems to me that a lot of the races over the last couple of seasons have not met crowd capacity, which should be worrying FIA/FOM far more than the antics they are currently preoccupied with.

    I thought the race itself was a little on the dull side. Better than Catalunya for sure, but it just didn’t seem to uplift and excite me for some reason. Can’t explain why, I usually love Monaco. It ties with Melbourne & Spa as my favourite races. I have higher hopes for Turkey.

  55. A bit dull. Just because it’s Monaco doesn’t make it OK to have a boring race.

  56. I gave it a 7/10, but it still wasn’t anywhere near as exciting last years race, that’s for sure.

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