Second-highest score of the year so far for Monaco

2014 Monaco Grand Prix

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Always a highlight on the calendar, this year’s Monaco Grand Prix produced an eventful race which included retirements, Safety Car interruptions and even some overtaking.

Mercedes continued their domination with another one-two finish, their fifth in a row. But for the first time this year it was Nico Rosberg who led home Lewis Hamilton.

An eye problem meant Hamilton dropped back in the closing stages, but behind the Mercedes drivers there was no shortage of action. The race earned an average rating of just over seven out of ten – the second-highest score of the year.

Here are your views on this year’s Monaco Grand Prix.

Everyone loves an underdog

Jules Bianchi’s climb from the back row of the grid to score Marussia’s first points was viewed as being particularly well-deserved:

Way to go Marussia!
@Zimkazimka

Well done to Bianchi and Marussia, glad they finally have something to show for their efforts. A good race by Monaco standards.
AlexMcFarlane

Monaco coverage and director

The race direction at most grands prix is produced by Formula One Management. But Monaco has its own local director, and is often a focus of criticism:

Not a bad race. There were some great passes; too bad the coverage missed most of them and had to rely on replays.
@Soundscape

It seemed like 90% of the coverage was Hamilton chasing Rosberg, which was boring. Like probably everyone else I was waiting for the pit-stops as a chance for Hamilton to challenge for the lead, but that was thrown away with the safety car.

So while there was action further back, all we got were the highlights and not the actual battles.
@Velocityboy

Style or substance?

For some, F1 has long outgrown Monaco and as a result the races are usually processions. But many others appreciate the unique characteristics of this unusual race.

As far as Monaco goes, that was a stunner! Best dry Monaco Grand Prix I’ve seen, second best race of 2014 after Bahrain.
@Ddonovan1993

Several unexpected accidents/retirements which led to a thrilling finale with Bianchi in the top ten! I also noticed many drivers actually trying to overtake, which is good to see at Monaco.
@Fixy

Dullest race of the year. However the Hamilton-Ricciardo battle was epic!
@Cocaine-mackeine

It was terrible aside from a couple of interesting laps while Ricciardo was chasing down Hamilton.
@Textuality

Definitely the most exciting Monaco race I’ve seen in a long time. Battles all through the field, drivers taking chances that sometimes paid off and sometimes didn’t, nail biting finish for a few teams.
@Jennikate

What makes this race is the in-car camera and seeing how close they are to the barriers. Amazing really. Ricciardo deserved some good luck and a great third place.
Tasimana

As far as Monaco goes, that was a real cracker! Some fantastic overtaking, especially that move from Hulkenberg on Magnussen at Portier and Bianchi on Kobayashi at Rascasse. Thoroughly enjoyed it, especially with the oversteer from the new engines.
@Andae23

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2014 Monaco Grand Prix

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Image © Williams/LAT

44 comments on “Second-highest score of the year so far for Monaco”

  1. Not surprised! It was decent. I reckon there are more races that will beat it throughout the year though! :D

  2. Liam McShane (@)
    3rd June 2014, 12:07

    It was boring being there and it was boring watching the highlights on the BBC.

    1. It was boring being there

      @motor_mad Wait, you were in Monaco.. and you thought it was boring? How!???

      1. Liam McShane (@)
        3rd June 2014, 13:02

        We went for the experience really. You don’t see much when you’re there.

        1. @motor_mad And what did you think of the sound? What do you think of DC’s comments about it?

          1. Liam McShane (@)
            3rd June 2014, 14:28

            Around Monaco, the sound was loud enough and they sounded alright. The formula Renault 3.5s however sounded really great but where far too loud and after a while it became uncomfortable. I am unaware of DC’s comments so i cannot comment on them for you.

          2. @motor_mad Thanks for that. Basically DC was saying attendance was down 20% at Monaco and he was mainly complaining that the lack of screaming engines is a big part of the reason.

    2. I was at Barcelona and I found it boring, due to the almost complete lack of the engine sound, which made for almost no atmosphere. For the first time ever at a GP (my 36th) I deliberately missed an F1 session, simply as it did not seem worthwhile getting up early to attend it. I am enjoying F1 this season on TV, but for me, it is now a ‘TV-only’ sport, since it is so underwhelming in the flesh. I am gutted about this, as it has been my passion since I was 9 years old.

      1. @paulguitar Fair enough…another anecdote that completely supports what DC was saying about Monaco. I did wonder if the close quarters that Monaco brings would amplify the sound and help some, but there is only one Monaco, and it still wasn’t enough for DC. I feel bad that you are gutted about this and it reinforces my opinion that changing the sound/noise/volume to improve it cannot hurt and can only help. Nobody was asking for quieter engines…they just came with the territory of the changes to the regs.

  3. Overrated race, Melbourne was better & even that wasn’t great.

    1. No, Melbourne was not great, the first race of the season with such big rule changes doesn’t really feel like a normal race, it felt more like a test than a race.

  4. I still think Bahrein is overrated. The fight was a production of a very unlucky SC for Hamilton with some overtaking along the way. I’m saying that because now I feel Monaco was the better race of the two. Action everywhere, few shunts, some brillaint passes throughout the field, a Marussia in the points, Rosberg who beats Hamilton on track, some drama off-track, for a Monaco race it pretty much had it all.

    1. Bahrain was a good race even before the Safety car so I don’t get why people seem to think it was only good because of it.

      There was a very high number of good, exciting overtakes that race & 90% of them occurred well before the SC. In a way the SC hurt the race as a bit because it took away some of the fun of seeing how the strategies would have played out.

    2. Monaco had drama along the whole weekend, Bahrain got atleast 2 rating points extra due to the SC.

      1. ‘Monaco had drama along the whole weekend’

        doesnt matter. it’s rate the RACE, not weekend. thus monaco was a pretty standard race to me with an average vote from me.

  5. I don’t get what the people who go on about races been boring this year want from a race?

    Every race this year has had a lot of close racing, A good level of overtaking, Some interesting moments & some incidents.

    I think every race so far this year have been a big improvement over what we have had the past few years, DRS hasn’t been as big a factory, The tyres have not been the main taling point every race as they were in 2012/13, The overtaking has been exciting, The close racing has been exciting & the new cars are a much better spectacle to watch given the extra torque, lower downforce & harder tyre compounds.

    Monaco was great, Much like the Monaco of old (Pre-refueling) where there was some good, exciting overtaking & where there was some close racing with genuine opportunities to pull off an overtake. The drivers were not just sitting back managing the tyres or waiting for the next fuel stop, They were out there racing & pushing the guys around them & overtaking at times in some unusual spots, I thought it was great!

    1. Yeah exactly, people ask for more overtakes, so the FIA try to create this with KERS and DRS, but then other say that the KERS and DRS mean that F1 is artificial. It is one or the other…

  6. I do find it quite interesting how positive the remarks have been particularly about the overtaking that went on in Monaco, while at the same time some people like to spin it that NR’s pole was practically a guarantee of a win, such is the impossibility of passing in Monaco.

    1. When was the last time there was an overtake for the lead in Monaco? It’s true that there were a few overtakes down the field, but these always tend to be like the one that Bianchi managed on Kobayashi, IE it relies to a very large extent on the driver being overtaken giving a HUGE amount of room to save both from crashing out. If Hamilton had attempted something like that, it would have almost certainly resulted in a collision and the end of the race for both Mercs. This, in turn would have resulted in the greatest cavalcade of criticism of all time!

      1. Yes, exactly. I like Monaco for the spectacle and the glamour, it is such an archaic race, I know it probably shouldn’t belong in modern F1, but it is so different from the others and that is why people like it I guess.

      2. @paulguitar True but when was the last time two cars/drivers were so close to each other starting one-two? The fact is LH didn’t really get close enough to even attempt something, and you cannot say with near certainty that had LH had enough pace NR wouldn’t have left him room rather than collide, or that LH certainly only would have hit NR if he tried to pass him. I guess you are saying that any passing going on at Monaco is uninteresting because it is just a result of the car being passed leaping out of the passing car’s way, but I don’t buy that. I think that cars in Monaco have to make room, sure, but it is once the car behind has gotten some portion of his car beside the leading car that they do.

        1. I think with two cars of equal performance, it is probably effectively impossible. That’s partly why Rosberg’s error, deliberate or not, attracted so much attention, because everyone knows that it was practically guaranteed to be ‘game over’ from that point on, as far as the first two places were concerned.

          1. Fair comment. I agree many or even most thought it was game over, but to add…that they would be close, and I still envisioned NR’s task to be one of very high pressure to not make a mistake, and especially get a good start, which is what had me on the edge of my seat a bit, and I certainly was not going to hand NR the trophy until he had actually done said mistake-free race. I do feel like LH could/should potentially have gotten closer to NR more in order to try to force a mistake upon NR…but it feels like NR was left alone somewhat to deal with the pressure, ie. had the pace, and only a few brief times did he literally have LH breathing down his neck with his front wing ‘right there’.

  7. I think the canal footage made this a better race than I thought it originally was. Those onboards were awesome!

  8. if think this season has been dreadful. die-hard hanging on f1 fans will love anything f1, so will still vote high on a site like this. this Monaco race had nothing. marussia got a point because of a safety car… wow who cares, they probably wont be around in a season or so. ricciardos car came alive at the end of the race, but it was 100% predictable that his Renault powered car had no chance of passing the Mercedes powered car, even if he was 5 seconds a lap faster then Hamilton, that was disappointing, I hate seeing the merc drivers having a straight line speed advantage – there is no skill involved driving in a straight line. the engine disparity is a shambles, it would be ok if they didn’t do the ridiculously early homologation – the locked in advantage of Mercedes makes it hard to consider this a sport, and I was expecting this year to be better then last, but everything seems worse, the racing, the atmosphere, the speed, the sound…… cant wait for 2015, hopefully redbull will have a Honda engine so we can see some real competition again.

    1. Couldn’t disagree more. We have an amazing dual between two great drivers in great cars and the competition is as real as it gets when they are both in the same car and it is completely apples-to-apples. And sorry if RBR isn’t amongst them right now, but they seem to have admitted themselves that they underestimated the task, or at least Renault did, and the result is that they secured a Championship last year. Boo hoo.

      You also continue to harp on the fallacy that engine homologation has locked everything in place, whereas RBR/Renault, Lotus, as well as Ferrari continue to talk about power unit upgrades, so they seem far far less concerned about the actual engine block itself being homologated than you do. If your argument had any basis in fact, we would be hearing far more about it from the other teams that aren’t Mercedes powered by now.

      Part of the straight-line speed advantage Merc has is about a good chassis that allows them to get out of corners and on the power well.

      As to RBR moving to Honda engines…is there anything factual in that possibility, or have we not heard that Honda will be supplying Mac only? Then let’s see how Honda does. Then let’s see if RBR can and will want in of that is even an option. Then let’s see how the RBR/Honda merger might do vs. Mac/Honda who will have the jump on the merger.

    2. Yup couldn’t disagree with this whole post more either; this season has had some great moments, and I’m loving the rise of Riccardo versus Sebastian. Mercedes advantage isn’t “locked in”, the problem for Renault is they haven’t “unlocked” the potential of their power unit yet. Marussia were on for points even without the safety car, their car has improved greatly this year and they are firmly onto the back of the midfield, but it appears you wont be happy unless your preferred driver/car pairing is winning and don’t appreciate what is going on with the rest of the grid.

  9. Only a 7? Bloody hell people

    1. Should have been a Five at the most. The only good thing about the weekend was Marussia getting their first points. Other than that it was a yawn fest.
      Yes, each race has its own moments where the excitement level peaked, but overall the entertainment value of this season has been utterly non-existent.
      The battle between Rosberg and Hamilton has been good, yes, but it is predictable at this point and that is not all entertaining.
      If it is another One – Two finish for the mercs again in MOntreal then I am just going to go into the predictions championship page and preset all of my picks for the season to be Merc One – Two finishes with Red Bull 3 and Four and top it all off with the Hulk finishing in Fifth.
      I think the only people that find this season entertaining must be Hammie fans.

  10. The only reason I can think of the 2011 race scoring higher is people voting on last-lap impressions. I honestly do not remember the race at all, only the red flag and the Vetteltrain.

  11. i fully expected this to be very close to the bahrain grand prix. i voted both of them 9. i’m very confused it didn’t get better ratings, especially after the snooze-fest that was the spanish grand prix i thought people would rate it higher.

    1. I thought Spain was really rather good @rigi.

  12. Bahrain, Spain, Monaco in my opinion. Since the chance of overtaking always seemed higher in Spain.

  13. I found this being my best Monaco GP since 2008 especially considering the baggage train of last year. 2012 was almost on par, but had no drama and is comparable due to the unpredictability in ’12.
    Don’t know why it has an average of 7

  14. Monaco is an old venue, visited each year, but shouldn’t be on the calendar. It’ only there for the glamour. The circuit allows no decent overtaking, it’s always a train, except a few occasions. (rain, real mistakes, the time were there was refuelling, unrialibility,… all gone) I don’t get it that people even get exited the circus would in modern times ‘race’ a this vintage overrated track. In Fangio’s time it was a decent track, given the limitations of the cars and the then existent overtake possibilities, but now, for years on end, barring unrialibility, mistakes, it’s seems always a more then dull event for me. For 9 of the 10 last GP’s the poleman took the ‘exceptional’ win at this ‘great historic track’. It ‘s history has faded away, leaving nothing but the outcome pretty sure. It’s I my honest opinion a wast of time to get there simply get highlights of royals, big yachts and and yes a beautiful setting. A big 1 for me for those last items. Realise it a bout Bernie’s bucks and nothing else. Unless they change the track (they can’t and won’t) it wil be a sporting near zero in F1.

    1. In which case you totally miss the point of why Monaco is a great spectacle & why its the race every driver wants to win.

      Monaco is a true drivers circuits, Watching the drivers inches away from the barriers where a mistake could result in race ending contact is what racing used to be all about & what separates the great drivers from the good.

      I love Monaco, Always have not for the glitz/glamor or because I expect a great overtaking-fest but because I love the spectacle of watching the cars up close, inches from the walls where drivers have to keep there concentration levels high to stay off the walls.

      Every driver in every formula that races at Monaco wants to win there, That says everything about how special Monaco is & why it should remain a part of the F1 season.

      If you don’t like Monaco then its simple, Don’t watch it!

      1. Us motor racing fans were lucky enough to have thre premier events in three different categories to watch. Monaco, Indianapolis and Charlotte. Of the three Monaco was by far and away the least exciting to watch, with no lead changes and very little overtaking that wasn’t by invitation. The Indy 500 was in the balance until the very last lap with the lead changing a number of times through the race and Charlotte was a typically exciting Nascar race. So in my book Indianapolis was the most exciting, Charlotte next with Monaco trailing by a long wat in third. Notice that I say exciting not interesting as ,to me, motor racing is about excitement that gets my pulse racing with me sitting on the dge of my seat. Yes it’s interesting watching a F1 car drive around Monaco, the same way it’s interesting watching a film of a roller-coaster or a ship in heavy seas or a plane doing aerobatics. Interesting but hardly exciting. Monaco is an anachronism that would never be allowed onto the calendar if it were applying today. It’s long past it’s sell-by date and the sooner it’s replaced on the calendar the better.

        1. But your comparing completely different types of racing.

          The Indy 500 & Nascar races were ovals & you will always get more overtaking & closer racing in general on ovals because of the speeds & because of how slip-streaming works at those speeds.

          If you want to compare then look at Long Beach, Its a tight, twisty street circuit with limited passing zones yet is considered the biggest race of there season outside of Indy & like Monaco you always hear drivers talk about how they want to win there because of the challenge of the place. Its also Indycar’s best attended non-oval race.

          Charlotte was a typically exciting Nascar race

          I’ve not found Nascar to be that exciting since they started going down the artificial route through the 90s.

          Invisible debris cautions just to bunch the field up, The absurdly artificial GWC, Letting them get away with intentionally putting one another in the wall, The ridiculous chase for the cup system which is even more stupid this year.

          Nascar is no longer about racing, Its pure entertainment at the expense of racing & the chase system pretty much made sure its no longer a real championship with a real champion.

          Also interesting how the more artificial they go, The more fans they lose. There TV ratings & track attendance have been in decline the past decade since many of the things I listed were introduced.

    2. A healthy f1 calendar should contain a variety of tracks, each requiring a different skill set and approach. Monaco is at the extreme edge of the street circuits. It’s not about overtaking at all, its about keeping it out of barriers and driving fast.

      That’s obviously not enough for some people, but luckily you have DRS and all that other stuff that Bernie has given you to keep you happy.

      1. Surely it is possible for some folks to not like Monaco without the assumption that they therefore need DRS and ‘other stuff’? I quite like the challenge it presents to the drivers, but I also fully appreciate those who are irritated by how boring the race usually is.

        1. @paulguitar Indeed, just let my frustration get the better of me there because jan’s comment refers quite a bit to overtaking.

          My point was that if that is the problem with Monaco, there are plenty of other tracks (and overtaking aids) throughout the year that will satisfy those criteria. The variety of tracks and locations is part of F1, but please let’s not call for a track to be removed because of the lack of overtakes.

  15. Tom (@11mcgratht)
    3rd June 2014, 21:18

    Over the years I have been watching the Monaco Grand Prix, the race had always felt like an immense anti-climax after all of the incredible build-up the TV coverage lays on each year. Sadly, I found myself longing for an open track with more passing (although I was silently pleased the DRS doesn’t work at Monaco).

  16. So, @keithcollantine, you write a betting column… What odds would you have put on Monaco and Bahrain being the top rated races at this point? ;-)

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