Why is Monaco different? 2024 Monaco GP Preview

[00:00:02] Before we begin, I wanted to give a huge shout out to the folks at Amazon Music for partnering with us on this episode of the Inside Line F1 Podcast.

[00:00:10] But more on this later. Right then, let's get right into today's episode.

[00:00:27] It's time for Monaco. It's time for Formula One to go racing in Monaco.

[00:00:41] Only for everyone to turn up on the Monday after Monaco and continue asking the question,

[00:00:48] whether Formula One should still race in Monaco.

[00:00:52] This debate has been around for so many years.

[00:00:55] I'm pretty sure we're going to have this debate on the Inside Line F1 Podcast.

[00:01:00] It's just unfortunate that Samuel Arora, who's been the voice of the Inside Line F1 Podcast, is still on holiday.

[00:01:07] He's decided to take a holiday in the middle of a doubleheader,

[00:01:11] which is why I just have the famous F1 stats guru with me, Kunal Shah, on this week's episode of the Inside Line F1 Podcast.

[00:01:19] In V, we are going to preview the Monaco Grand Prix.

[00:01:24] And this is actually different than most other previews. Why?

[00:01:27] Because Monaco is different than every other circuit, every other race,

[00:01:32] every other challenge that is thrown to drivers and teams on the calendar.

[00:01:37] And you're going to hear this several times through the weekend.

[00:01:40] The typical FIA grade circuit is a minimum three and a half kilometers long.

[00:01:45] But hey, the Monaco Grand Prix circuit is only 3.3 kilometers long.

[00:01:49] So that's an exception.

[00:01:51] We're going to hear that a minimum race distance is 300 plus kilometers, 305 if you want me to be specific.

[00:01:58] But hey, guess what? The Monaco Grand Prix is just 260 kilometers long.

[00:02:04] A funny but a title that I really like because I used to sell sponsorships in Formula One is that the Monaco Grand Prix has never had a sponsor ever.

[00:02:15] But I know that there is a lot more that makes Monaco different.

[00:02:20] And Sundaram, I know you have a list of things that make Monaco different.

[00:02:26] But that's a list that's not publicly discussed too much. Let's get on with it.

[00:02:31] Exactly. It's not been as spoken about in this circuit.

[00:02:36] But I'm going to throw a question towards you.

[00:02:39] Do you know who is the first ever driver to stand on the podium at Monaco?

[00:02:44] And trust me, you don't need a lot of knowledge and history for this.

[00:02:49] The first race in Monaco was 1929. I have no clue at that time who was racing.

[00:02:55] Anthony knows the good old grandfather, now actually great-great grandfather of the Monaco Grand Prix.

[00:03:02] Then Monaco along with Silverstone, Spa and Monza has been a part of the F1 calendar since 1950.

[00:03:12] Did you mention Spa?

[00:03:14] Monaco, Spa, Silverstone and Monza. Four of them have been around.

[00:03:19] Four of them.

[00:03:20] And the originals. I don't know. You just said don't think too much.

[00:03:26] I'm going to just go with it. The first ever F1 world champion was Nino Farina.

[00:03:30] My daughter Antara's favorite Formula One driver.

[00:03:33] There was Fungio that season as well. So it's one of those two, I guess.

[00:03:37] Either one of those two, since there are three drivers who can stand on a podium.

[00:03:43] You are way off. Way off. You just have to go back to 2017 because

[00:03:48] the first ever to actually step on the podium at Monaco was Sebastian Vettel.

[00:03:52] Now you might be thinking I'm nuts.

[00:03:54] The thing is Monaco never had a podium until 2017.

[00:03:58] They always had the Royal Box where drivers would go up to collect the trophies.

[00:04:03] They would play out the national anthem.

[00:04:05] But the podium, the rostrum in itself was implemented only in 2017.

[00:04:10] The first driver to get onto the podium was Sebastian Vettel.

[00:04:13] So that's what I said. A lot of these things are not very well known.

[00:04:16] And they don't speak about this enough.

[00:04:18] And I'll give you one more. Something that you have to look forward to after this weekend's race.

[00:04:24] See usually in Formula One what happens is when you step onto the podium, drivers first, they listen, they play out the national anthem.

[00:04:31] The drivers and everyone listens to that.

[00:04:33] And then the trophies are handed out by the dignitaries and VIPs and those and then the champagne, champagne pops.

[00:04:39] It's the opposite in Monaco. And it always has been.

[00:04:42] So drivers, they go up to the podium ceremony and the Royal Family gives out the trophies first.

[00:04:47] And then they play the national anthem.

[00:04:49] So you should watch out for this one this weekend.

[00:04:51] And like I said, this and so many other details about Monaco which make it so much more different than any other circuit, any other Grand Prix weekend.

[00:04:59] It's very iconic. And I'm not sure if a lot of people remember this.

[00:05:02] Monaco before used to have a break in between.

[00:05:06] We used to have free practice on the Thursday and I think Friday was the day when it was the day off and the roads were open for the regular public.

[00:05:15] Then Saturday and Sunday we would resume.

[00:05:17] Michael Schumacher during that time would go back to Fiorano.

[00:05:20] He would test the car. If he had any issues with the car, he would go back and test that in Fiorano.

[00:05:25] And iron out a little bit of the flaws that the car would have and then come back, fly back from Fiorano back to Monaco.

[00:05:31] Then they would resume on Saturday.

[00:05:33] So a lot of stories about Monaco's history which I'm sure we'll uncover as we speak in this episode.

[00:05:38] Incredible. I remember my last visit to Monaco was actually 2013, I believe.

[00:05:46] It was when Nico Rosberg won at a really, really slow pace.

[00:05:52] Something that you can do in Monaco.

[00:05:54] We'll talk about that. Things to look forward to in Monaco.

[00:05:57] We'll actually talk of that.

[00:05:59] And I remember that was the break day.

[00:06:01] One of the reasons you also have the break days, you have all those parties that happen.

[00:06:04] So the joke used to be you need a day to recover from the hangover before you get back in the car or get back in the pit wall doing your things.

[00:06:13] But yes, Monaco used to produce its own feed which is why the TV direction of Monaco used to be abysmal as compared to everything else.

[00:06:21] A couple of years ago when they renewed Monaco's contract, FOM, Liberty Media took away those rights.

[00:06:26] Saying you cannot produce a feed. Thank you very much.

[00:06:29] It has to be with FOM.

[00:06:31] That's why it's now far more standardized as Monaco as we call it.

[00:06:36] But I know one more thing that makes Monaco different.

[00:06:40] One of those few circuits, Sundaram, which you rightly pointed out was about when teams and drivers actually use corner names

[00:06:49] while talking in debriefs rather than corner numbers.

[00:06:53] At least the debriefs I've been a part of it was always corner numbers, not corner names.

[00:06:58] But I know that as time has progressed probably that's also what's happened.

[00:07:01] I mean you look at the podium and you notice the sequence of events.

[00:07:06] And I'm like, wow, I have never done that.

[00:07:09] I'm one of those guys that the minute the flag falls, I'm back to the data screen.

[00:07:13] Has anyone made an overtake? What's happened?

[00:07:16] Has someone overlapped? How many people have used a different strategy or not?

[00:07:20] In fact, so what so that my three-year-old daughter, she doesn't watch Formula One.

[00:07:24] She hears the commentary.

[00:07:26] And now she asks to watch the data screen.

[00:07:29] She's like, Papa, where's the data?

[00:07:30] And it was a very funny thing.

[00:07:31] She said, Papa, I want to see the date.

[00:07:33] And I said, OK, you're three years old.

[00:07:35] For her, the date today is 89th of August.

[00:07:38] That's how she'd throw it.

[00:07:40] And then I said, wait a minute, what date?

[00:07:42] And she's like, Papa, you know, there's a date that you watch when you watch the race.

[00:07:47] And I'm like, are you talking of data?

[00:07:49] And she's like, yeah, I'm talking of data.

[00:07:51] And she's watching her data screen.

[00:07:53] So she understands everything.

[00:07:55] I don't understand it.

[00:07:56] But hats off to you for watching a podium ceremony,

[00:08:00] noticing that this is what's switched and different.

[00:08:02] And I wonder with the royal family there,

[00:08:04] do you think there are any protocols on how you deal with the royal family?

[00:08:08] I remember a couple of times ago,

[00:08:10] somebody sprayed the champagne on the royal family, if I recollect.

[00:08:13] Is that even allowed?

[00:08:15] Seb did that.

[00:08:16] Seb's done that and he's gotten away with it.

[00:08:20] I think it's not as bad.

[00:08:21] But Lewis Hamilton in Russia,

[00:08:22] he sprayed champagne on the president of Russia at that point.

[00:08:27] And his bodyguards, they stepped in.

[00:08:29] I think his bodyguard had a word with Lewis Hamilton the next time he was on the podium in Russia.

[00:08:35] And Lewis said, no, no, that wasn't me.

[00:08:37] That was some other guy.

[00:08:38] You should actually go back and watch the cool down room of,

[00:08:41] was it 2017?

[00:08:43] The 2017 Russian Grand Prix.

[00:08:45] There's a very interesting exchange that happened between the bodyguards

[00:08:48] or his personnel and Lewis Hamilton.

[00:08:50] But I'm not sure there's any such protocol because the royal family in Monaco,

[00:08:55] they seem quite friendly, quite chirpy and in a cheerful mood.

[00:08:58] So I think they all just joined the celebrations in Monaco.

[00:09:02] For all the Indian listeners out there, we know there's a lot of y'all.

[00:09:06] This reminds me of when Harbhajan Singh,

[00:09:08] the Indian spinner who played for Mumbai Indians,

[00:09:11] when Mumbai Indians, the IPL team,

[00:09:13] one of the champion teams in the IPL,

[00:09:15] the Indian Premier League actually lifted Neeta Ambani,

[00:09:18] almost the first lady of the celebration,

[00:09:22] almost the first lady of Indian cricket, Indian sport.

[00:09:28] But I'm going to leave that reference aside.

[00:09:30] Let's switch to what are the challenges around Monaco?

[00:09:34] Because that, to me, especially the challenges that are thrown upon a driver,

[00:09:39] are the most exciting ones.

[00:09:41] Everyone talks of is Monaco good enough to host Formula One?

[00:09:45] Should we go elsewhere?

[00:09:47] The races end on a Saturday and there's no overtaking.

[00:09:50] And then there are people who throw these stats of Formula E had 174 overtakes

[00:09:54] and let's see how many Formula One comes up with and various things.

[00:09:58] To me, Monaco stands apart from everything that we spoke of that makes a difference.

[00:10:03] The challenge of Monaco itself is very different.

[00:10:06] Monaco is one of those races where the driver makes a really big difference.

[00:10:10] And we are actually coming at the back of Imola

[00:10:13] where the driver actually made a difference as well.

[00:10:17] The ability to extract performance and time from the car

[00:10:22] is absolutely down to the drivers.

[00:10:24] Yes, teams will bring upgrades.

[00:10:26] Yes, they will have set up specific to Monaco.

[00:10:30] But none of that works if the driver doesn't have confidence.

[00:10:34] And by confidence, Sundaram, one of the key things is having confidence under braking.

[00:10:39] Because some of the drivers I've worked with and spoken to,

[00:10:42] they said you make gradual steps under braking.

[00:10:45] You're not gaining a lot under braking.

[00:10:47] But where you gain time is how much margin you leave to the walls.

[00:10:51] Which is why after qualifying a lot of drivers actually talk about leaving time on the table.

[00:10:56] Which means they didn't get as close to the walls as they would have liked to, to gain lap time.

[00:11:02] It's a very interesting point that you mentioned.

[00:11:05] Whenever you come around Monaco, this question pops up automatically.

[00:11:08] Do we even need Monaco on the circuit?

[00:11:11] I have two points.

[00:11:13] The first one is like you mentioned earlier on.

[00:11:16] There were four circuits that were there in the very first season in Formula One.

[00:11:20] The first one was in the eastern Monaco, Spa and Monza.

[00:11:24] The thing is the quality of racing that you see here is unlike anywhere else.

[00:11:29] Which is also why I loved Imola.

[00:11:31] The circuit is very different to a lot of the modern circuits that we see.

[00:11:35] And hence the driving challenge in itself is quite different.

[00:11:38] Which is why I also believe Formula One also needs to retain its tradition, its history, its legacy.

[00:11:44] And Formula One and the track organizers or the race organizers,

[00:11:48] they have to figure out a way so that these circuits remain on the calendar as much as possible.

[00:11:53] That's one thing I really believe.

[00:11:56] Nürburgring was not there.

[00:11:58] In Germany probably the popularity of the sport or motor sport in general is probably not as high as it was a decade ago.

[00:12:06] But I believe these circuits definitely have to remain in the sport.

[00:12:10] And the second point that I was referring to is how do you consume the Monaco Grand Prix?

[00:12:15] Because if you tell me that I want to have 50 overtakes, then what I would probably watch is Interlagos 24 times a season.

[00:12:22] Why don't we go racing in Interlagos 24 times in a season?

[00:12:25] The reason we race across multiple continents, we race across multiple time zones and weather conditions and track lengths and distances

[00:12:34] is because every single track provides a different challenge.

[00:12:38] It doesn't have to be the same.

[00:12:40] I've never heard people complaining about having 120 overtakes in China back in 2016.

[00:12:45] They loved it because it gave you those many battles.

[00:12:48] In Monaco, the challenge is quite different.

[00:12:50] Here you have the narrow confines of the track.

[00:12:53] It's the narrowest track out there.

[00:12:55] And all you have to do is make no mistake because you can't afford a mistake.

[00:13:00] Max Verstappen had a very scratchy Friday.

[00:13:03] He said the car had a lot of understeer, had a lot of oversteer.

[00:13:06] He can't afford to have that, nor can his mechanics, nor can his team.

[00:13:10] So Monaco is a place where the driver, the car, the team, everything comes together and everything has to work like clockwork.

[00:13:19] You cannot afford a mistake.

[00:13:20] Otherwise, you're either a lap down or you're 10 seconds down and you don't want to have that.

[00:13:25] And unless the drivers come back and tell us that we don't race in Monaco anymore, it's boring.

[00:13:30] I don't think Formula 1 should really consider or even think about pushing Monaco away.

[00:13:36] That's a great point. Don't listen to the fans.

[00:13:38] Listen to the drivers. All the drivers love Dimola.

[00:13:42] I'm pretty sure all the drivers will love the Monaco, especially the Saturday.

[00:13:46] And I think no other Saturday qualifying session has more importance than the one in Monaco.

[00:13:53] And some of the other driver insights that I've received over the years is

[00:13:58] you will see a lot of drivers make steering wheel changes around the typical qualifying lap.

[00:14:04] They're changing brake bias or the usual settings which help them extract more from a particular corner on a single lap.

[00:14:12] In Monaco, they can gain a lot of lap time if they actually make those changes,

[00:14:17] but they may not even find the time to make those changes.

[00:14:22] It's such a short and small circuit, like you said, narrows.

[00:14:25] The walls are right there and so on.

[00:14:27] And I can't think of any other race which literally offers such a challenge where,

[00:14:32] hey, I don't even have time to fiddle the buttons on my steering wheel.

[00:14:36] And at least for the likes of George Russell, there is one less excuse if he ends up putting it in the wall or going behind someone that's there.

[00:14:44] So it's still the same.

[00:14:46] This happened. It's happened in Monaco. Nikita Mazza has been a couple of years ago.

[00:14:50] Probably not the best example, but it happened during the race.

[00:14:53] His race engineer was telling him to make a couple of changes on the switch.

[00:14:56] And he said, I can't do it. I'm racing at Monaco. I don't have the time to do this.

[00:14:59] He said on the straight. He said, no, I still can't do it.

[00:15:02] I'm doing it in Monaco.

[00:15:03] And I think the very next race his race engineer asked him, can you make the change?

[00:15:07] He said, yeah, it's OK. I can do it right now. We're not in Monaco anymore.

[00:15:10] I actually for once remember this, right?

[00:15:13] But talking of teams, it's a logistical challenge for the teams as well.

[00:15:19] The pit lane is narrow. The pit lane entry is really cramped up as well.

[00:15:23] The garages are cramped up.

[00:15:25] Let's remember everything is cramped up or what's really blotted over all these years are the cars.

[00:15:29] The cars are too big for the circuit.

[00:15:31] The cars are too big to overtake unless you really, I think, slam your wheels into someone and make some space for yourself.

[00:15:39] But the garages are so cramped.

[00:15:41] So from a logistics point of view, the trucks are actually parked far away from the garages as well.

[00:15:47] So the teams need to manage logistics, repairs, spares as well.

[00:15:51] The pit wall actually isn't really a pit wall.

[00:15:54] It's from what I remember from my visit, you sit on top of the garages.

[00:15:58] So it's like a gantry that you sit out of and you have people sort of working from really tight confines and spaces.

[00:16:05] And again, that's what adds to the challenge of Monaco.

[00:16:09] The pit wall since I spoke of the pits.

[00:16:11] Actually, this is one of the three races on the calendar where 60 kilometers per hour is the speed limit.

[00:16:17] The other two are Singapore and Sunfoot.

[00:16:20] Right. So that also becomes one of the challenges in terms of pit lane time that when you consider a time loss that happens when you pit, you actually are going slower down the pit lane as well.

[00:16:33] And then you have a very funny or not a funny, but a very factual thing for everybody going to Monaco, especially on the Thursday track walk.

[00:16:42] Sundaram, why don't you tell us what happens?

[00:16:44] Yeah, I don't know if this was explicitly mentioned somewhere, but I think as our track walk video at Monaco and what you usually see is on the Thursdays drivers, they step out on the track to see if there's any difference in the circuits from last year.

[00:16:58] If there's any bumps or anything, how can they ride the curbs and everything in Monaco?

[00:17:03] I think I saw a video of Yuki Sunoda walking around the edge of the track because regular traffic was still flowing on Thursday.

[00:17:10] They do not close traffic down or at least there's still these trucks and cranes still going around and drivers have to limit themselves closer towards the barriers and look at the track from there because traffic is still flowing.

[00:17:23] And that's another one of the reasons why Monaco is so different. Things happen so differently compared to the other tracks, even street circuits.

[00:17:30] Yeah, so we've spent 17 minutes discussing how different Monaco is. That's how different it is.

[00:17:36] We've had 17 minutes to fill and tell you all how different it is and what the challenges are.

[00:17:41] I think why don't we actually dig into one of the common things that we heard in Formula One about how important track position is right in Monaco because of all the challenges that are there.

[00:17:52] Track position is vital on the Saturday, even more vital on the Sunday as well.

[00:17:58] So what teams and drivers actually do is they optimize the car for a single lap pace.

[00:18:04] And I remember from last year Max Verstappen hitting the wall on the front straight grabbing pole position.

[00:18:11] Fernando Alonso right there. The biggest surprise for me was Esteban Ocon in their Alpine being right there as well.

[00:18:19] And this, like we are seeing, the driver makes a far bigger difference in Monaco than most of the other circuits as well.

[00:18:27] So watch out for qualifying. Watch out for drivers actually putting in all they can in qualifying.

[00:18:34] And again, another driver insight I've had over the years is sometimes qualifying itself is so much of an adrenaline rush that the drivers don't get enough rest through the night because that's just the crescendo.

[00:18:47] Because Sunday is all defined by where you actually start the Grand Prix and we'll come to race strategy.

[00:18:54] But that's just how crucial and how adrenaline pumping and important qualifying is.

[00:18:59] And we've seen the stats Sundaram. I mean, we keep hearing of how Olivier Panis won here in 1996 from 14th place.

[00:19:08] But the stats actually are fairly simple, right? In terms of pole position winning.

[00:19:14] I think seven out of the last 12 races in Monaco have been won from pole position.

[00:19:19] Zero out of the last 10, last 12 races have been won from outside the top ten.

[00:19:25] And also, I think in the last 12 years, P1 has won seven times.

[00:19:33] P2 has won three times and P3 has won two times.

[00:19:38] That's Sergio Perez controversial win in Monaco in 2022 and then 2016 Lewis Hamilton.

[00:19:46] But I know since I have Mr. F1 stats crew, you probably have even better stats to explain how important track position is.

[00:19:53] So you mentioned Olivier Panis, which was back in 1996 and he won from P14.

[00:19:59] And since then, which is nearly three decades since, no one has won outside the top three grid positions.

[00:20:05] And that's why qualifying is so important.

[00:20:08] There's another stat that I'm actually working on, which is trying to find out the last time when we had a change for the lead on track and not from the pit stops.

[00:20:19] And I've been literally watching the previous Monaco Grand Prix and I have a very faint feeling.

[00:20:25] It last probably happened before I was even born.

[00:20:29] I have a feeling I'm going to come up with this stat very soon once I have full proof that I have complete proof.

[00:20:39] I can sense the excitement.

[00:20:41] This is something I've been planning to do for the last two years.

[00:20:44] It did not happen, but I really want to find out when was the last time we had a pass on track.

[00:20:49] For the lead of the race.

[00:20:51] Probably also one of the, for the lead of the race because it usually happens in the pit stops and probably another thing that people have to watch out for.

[00:20:58] Usually here are a lot of undercuts and overcuts.

[00:21:01] Usually here are a lot more of undercuts, which is also what happened last week.

[00:21:05] Oscar Piastri, he went into the pits.

[00:21:07] He had fresh attires and by the time Carlo Sainz, he came in four laps later, Piastri was ahead of him.

[00:21:13] And that's because Piastri went on to fresher, newer tires and that had more pace than Carlo Sainz's older tires.

[00:21:20] And it happens the opposite in Monaco.

[00:21:23] In Monaco, the overcut is more powerful than the undercut.

[00:21:27] And you're probably wondering how is that possible?

[00:21:29] Because obviously would have newer tires.

[00:21:31] How can someone on older tires have faster pace?

[00:21:34] The reason for that is Monaco is a street circuit throughout the season, throughout the year.

[00:21:39] There's no racing that happens.

[00:21:41] So there's not a lot of rubber that's laid on the track.

[00:21:44] And usually when they come back to Monaco every year, the track is very green.

[00:21:48] And there's a lot of track evolution as they put more and more rubber through the track.

[00:21:52] But still, that's not enough to heat up the tires when they go up on especially hard tires.

[00:21:58] So it takes drivers to take a good three to four laps before the tires actually fire up and put a fast lap.

[00:22:04] And before this, and if there's a driver who's still out there doing 20 laps, they can still go faster.

[00:22:09] A very good example of this was, I think a couple of years ago, Sergio Perez was down in P8.

[00:22:14] He was stuck in a train of in the DRS train with four other drivers, Sebastian Vettel, Lewis Hamilton and I think Pierre Gasly.

[00:22:21] They all went in first.

[00:22:22] They all went into the pits and Sergio Perez put two or three fast laps, went into the pits and came out P4.

[00:22:29] He crossed four cars.

[00:22:30] And I remember we spoke about this.

[00:22:32] I think I was making a post about it.

[00:22:33] And that's one of the things you really need to keep an eye on.

[00:22:36] There's one way you can win in Monaco and that's through strategy.

[00:22:40] If you have a good pit strategy and if you can make the overcut work, then that's possible.

[00:22:45] Otherwise, you really need to qualify high up, preferably in the top one, two, three.

[00:22:49] That's why it's so important for the likes of Max Verstappen, Landon Oris, Charles Leclerc.

[00:22:53] Maybe if Sainz and Piastri want to have the hope of winning in Monaco, then they really have to qualify well.

[00:22:59] I am going to actually add a couple more insights to what you just so nicely explained about undercuts and overcuts.

[00:23:05] One of the reasons also why the undercut, sorry, the overcut is so powerful in Monaco is in Monaco,

[00:23:13] people try and extend their stint length waiting for a safety car because the impact of the safety car is so high.

[00:23:19] So what it means is if you're starting on the soft tire, which is Pirelli's coming with the softest range,

[00:23:24] so you will probably use one of the softer compounds to start the race with.

[00:23:27] And if the soft tire can do, say, 20 laps, you will run your race to a pace where you can extend your stint length.

[00:23:36] So by doing that, what you're doing is you're artificially curtailing the speed of your car and hence everyone else who's following you.

[00:23:44] So it means that when somebody gets free air, like you just explained in the case of Checo Perez, there is enough and more pace available to extract.

[00:23:52] And also this is one of those circuits where tire degradation isn't really an issue because of the very fact that it's got lower average speeds that don't really chew up the tires.

[00:24:02] But also those lower average speeds is one of the reasons why it's so difficult to get tires up to temperature after you've made a pit stop, making the overcut even more powerful.

[00:24:15] And I'm actually glad because I grew up in Formula One and this is of course a long time.

[00:24:20] Undercut and overcut were both powerful options, right?

[00:24:24] Because you also had fuel strategy, different tire manufacturers and so on.

[00:24:28] Now when we go to races, it's typically the undercut that is always more powerful than the overcut.

[00:24:34] And to simply put this, what happens in all the other races is that you want to win the race in the fastest possible time, in the shortest possible time.

[00:24:45] It's not fast, it's the time is short.

[00:24:47] You have to remember that.

[00:24:48] If it's a 70 lap race, you want to finish it as it's as short a race duration as possible.

[00:24:54] In Monaco, that's not enough or that's not the focus.

[00:24:58] The main focus is to not allow your rival to get track position over you.

[00:25:04] Period. It doesn't matter how long you take to win.

[00:25:07] We've seen Daniel Ricciardo win with 60 percent engine power.

[00:25:10] We've seen of, like I said, 2013 the Mercedes cars, Nico Rosberg.

[00:25:15] I remember when I was there in 2013, I used to write race reports on my blog and I wrote it was not the silver arrows but the silver buses in action in Monaco.

[00:25:26] They were driving so slow.

[00:25:28] So stint lens time management is not the reason but stint lens just so that you just pick once and you do not risk anything else is one of the key reasons as well.

[00:25:38] And some Monaco facts, if I may go for it.

[00:25:41] But on that point, you know, on stint lengths, you know, there's one way to kind of spruce up the excitement in Monaco.

[00:25:48] I would tell everyone to pick twice.

[00:25:50] You need to put twice. You need to use all three type compounds.

[00:25:53] And then we'll see what sort of a strategic battle you might see at Monaco.

[00:25:56] I think that's one way of making it a more exciting race if people say they just go and put in and they just tend to hold position and not really pass.

[00:26:05] I think that's one way you can really try and make it more exciting.

[00:26:08] Make it more exciting because this is the world's smallest country.

[00:26:11] Doesn't have an army of its own, if I remember this.

[00:26:15] Only 30, less than 40,000 people.

[00:26:18] Number one in the GDP rankings in the world because the millionaires or millionaires live here.

[00:26:24] A home race to, I don't know, all the drivers, most of the drivers.

[00:26:28] OK, I know Yuki Sanoda lives in Fianza.

[00:26:30] I know that. I don't know where everyone is.

[00:26:32] He's been forced to live in Fianza.

[00:26:35] I'm not sure Oscar Piestri has yet moved to Monaco but he could move there.

[00:26:40] But yeah, it's a race for, it's a race for, a home race for most of the drivers.

[00:26:45] And then I remember Leclerc, there's always this talk wheel.

[00:26:49] Of course you heard it through the country weekend.

[00:26:51] What to look forward to. Why don't we get into that?

[00:26:53] We've just told you all race strategy what to look forward to.

[00:26:55] Leclerc's bad luck in Monaco.

[00:26:57] That's definitely something to look forward to.

[00:26:59] And ironically, Monaco's motto or whatever you call it, the country is with God's help.

[00:27:08] If there's anyone who needs God's help in Monaco for all those God believing people out there, it's Charles Leclerc.

[00:27:15] Who of course has been involved in some extremely cool banter along with Oscar Piestri on social media.

[00:27:24] But why don't we get to some of the more real stuff?

[00:27:31] Not whether Oscar Piestri's Monaco ask or if Charles Leclerc is going to adopt him or not.

[00:27:40] But we should talk about the driver market because Leclerc's teammate, Carlos Sainz, of course looking for a seat for 2025.

[00:27:48] Sky Sports F1 has just about done, Craig Slater's done a report saying Carlos Sainz may run out of time and will have to accept Sauber Audi's proposal.

[00:28:00] Because Mercedes is confirmed that they either wait for Max Richtappen in case he's available or they put Kimi Antonelli in the car.

[00:28:08] And Red Bull are back and forth with Carlos Sainz on whether they want him or not, which means Carlos Sainz might just have to take Sauber Audi.

[00:28:19] Along with of course performance clauses that in case a faster car comes and your car's not fast for yet another season, then I will jump the ship.

[00:28:27] And maybe that's also what's going to happen because to me it doesn't seem sensible that Max is going to jump for 25.

[00:28:32] But could he jump for 26? And if he jumps for 26, because of the regulations changing and whatever.

[00:28:39] And we've seen lots of drivers do that. Lewis Hamilton famously did that in 2013 and so on.

[00:28:45] So maybe that's what's going to happen.

[00:28:47] But the strange theory in all of this to me, Sundaram is Carlos Sainz, his career got compromised in Formula One when he was up against Max Richtappen.

[00:28:57] The talent of this generation.

[00:29:00] OK, he's already being overlooked by Mercedes for the talent of the next generation.

[00:29:07] Can you imagine? For a driver of Sainz's caliber.

[00:29:12] Wow. And that's what aches me because at a time when we're speaking about we need more seats, more competitive seats in Formula One.

[00:29:20] You have someone who's probably just coming of age.

[00:29:23] He just had his first win two years ago.

[00:29:26] He had a brilliant win this year also last year in Singapore.

[00:29:29] And a driver who is of that caliber is being squeezed out and probably not to another good team.

[00:29:35] He's probably being squeezed out to a Sauber who's still known, still an unknown entity.

[00:29:40] How are they going to fare when they come back, come in 2026?

[00:29:43] So and considering his age, I think he's close to his 30s.

[00:29:47] And this is the time when drivers are at their prime.

[00:29:50] And Carlos might be feeling that he's settled right now and he doesn't.

[00:29:55] He wants his environment to be more settled.

[00:29:57] The one thing that I'm absolutely sure about Sainz is that he is very adaptable driver.

[00:30:02] He's done well with whichever team he's gone to.

[00:30:04] He's gone to McLaren.

[00:30:06] He's driven the Mercedes.

[00:30:08] Was it Mercedes then?

[00:30:10] No, no, no, it wasn't.

[00:30:12] It was McLaren.

[00:30:14] It was a Renault.

[00:30:15] Then he's gone to Ferrari as well.

[00:30:17] So he's quite an adaptable driver.

[00:30:20] I would really love to see him alongside Max Verstappen in the Red Bull.

[00:30:25] Will he allow that?

[00:30:26] That's another question.

[00:30:28] We've discussed so much about Checo Perez in the last races review as well.

[00:30:33] Is Checo Perez doing enough to hold on to that seat?

[00:30:36] Is he giving Max Verstappen the strategic benefit that hasn't been the case, I would say, even in the last year?

[00:30:42] Carlos Sainz could provide that.

[00:30:43] He's been very consistent and you don't see him making these sort of mistakes.

[00:30:47] I would love to see him in the Red Bull car also because he deserves to be in a front running car.

[00:30:52] He's a proven race winner.

[00:30:54] And I would love to see a battle between Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz.

[00:30:58] But if that doesn't come to fruition, unfortunately, he is going to be in an Audi Sauber.

[00:31:03] And I hope they do well in 26.

[00:31:05] But then before that, he has to race in 25 as well.

[00:31:08] He doesn't have a race seat at 25.

[00:31:09] Will he go to Sauber in 25?

[00:31:12] I really wouldn't like to see that.

[00:31:14] Not only will he endure a slow car, he'll also endure slow pit stops.

[00:31:18] OK, I mean, I'm just putting it as a joke out there.

[00:31:21] It's a joke out there. But yeah, true.

[00:31:22] You know, we've spoken of in the previous several episodes how Max's decision will impact Carlos's decision.

[00:31:30] And will Red Bull want to do any succession planning?

[00:31:33] I think that's going to be their concern.

[00:31:35] They're like, if Max just decide because Max is one of those who will just decide and say, hey, I'm leaving.

[00:31:39] And either he'll leave like Trostberg dead or he'll probably just go to another team, take a year's break or whatever.

[00:31:46] Right. So could Carlos be their fallback option for Red Bull Racing because there isn't another high profile race winner driver available on the market?

[00:31:57] Or could they then just get PS3 in a way that they just break his contract?

[00:32:02] Because Lando Norris will, I think now just stay even more committed to McLaren.

[00:32:06] But lots of moving pieces. But Sundaram, there's a question that came in from our Spotify.

[00:32:11] For those who listen to us on Spotify, we put out a question every episode.

[00:32:16] And people put in a lot of questions there. Very interesting one.

[00:32:19] Since we spoke of Red Bull and Renault, was Red Bull considered a customer team when they were racing with Renault Power units?

[00:32:27] Were they considered a customer team? So they were considered a works team when Renault left in 2012 until 2015.

[00:32:36] So at that time, Red Bull was a customer team.

[00:32:39] And even after the return, they were a customer team until they switched to Honda in 2019.

[00:32:45] But for those three years in between, that's when they were an out and out works team.

[00:32:50] Wow. Incredible. Okay. So continuing with what more to look forward to this weekend.

[00:32:58] You spoke of you want to see lesser mistakes from the drivers, right?

[00:33:03] How there are very few escape paths to actually do something.

[00:33:06] You're either in the wall or you had a really great qualifying position.

[00:33:10] I'm going to flip that around, right? Knowing our important track position is.

[00:33:15] We've seen drivers get cheeky before. Michael Schumacher, Lara Skars, Nico Rosberg going down the escape road at Mirabeau.

[00:33:23] Could we see some?

[00:33:25] Fernando also did it in Baku last year.

[00:33:28] Yeah, Fernando. Yeah. And then Checo Pérez spinning at Portier.

[00:33:32] Yeah, at Portier. That's something to look forward to.

[00:33:35] Could a driver just put it on pole and then park it somewhere and then be like, I'll take, you know, I'll just try and feign that it was a mistake.

[00:33:42] So that could be one. And the other one is, of course, celebrities.

[00:33:46] You know, everyone talks of how Monaco has been the crown jewel.

[00:33:50] It's been that race everyone always wanted to go to.

[00:33:54] My inbox is still filled with people saying, hey, could you help me get tickets for Monaco?

[00:33:59] Could you help me figure out where I can watch the race from?

[00:34:02] Is there a balcony I can just see? Is there a terrace I can be at?

[00:34:05] Can you? Yeah, you can.

[00:34:07] I haven't asked you this.

[00:34:11] I'm not going to answer publicly, but OK, the fact is, Monaco is, you know, you will have a Miami, you will have a Las Vegas.

[00:34:19] And in 20 years time, maybe they will all be the statuses of 21, 24 Super Bowls.

[00:34:24] But at the moment, that one Super Bowl that Formula One has is Monaco.

[00:34:29] Right. And that takes me to what our what are our predictions for this race?

[00:34:36] Sundaram, but before we actually get to predictions, why don't we actually dig one last question?

[00:34:40] What's your favorite corner in Monaco?

[00:34:43] There are 19 of them. You got lots of choices.

[00:34:47] I really like the happen.

[00:34:49] I really like the happen. That's also the slowest happen, the slowest corner in Formula One.

[00:34:54] And if I'm not wrong, they go around there at, I can't remember the value. Was it 60 or 60?

[00:35:00] 60, less than 60. It's 60. Yeah, 60 kilometers per hour to make that happen.

[00:35:05] And whenever I've played the game, I've never done it correctly.

[00:35:08] And also the last corner, Anthony Nogues, even though it's a very tricky corner.

[00:35:12] And I always look in amazement whenever drivers are able to really make a quick turn there and not hit the barriers.

[00:35:19] I've always had the barriers there and I've played the game.

[00:35:22] But another interesting nugget around the Anthony Nogues corner, he is the father of the Monaco Grand Prix.

[00:35:28] He was the person who brought Formula One or brought this race into existence.

[00:35:33] He's also the person who suggested that the checkered flag be universally or globally, not universally,

[00:35:39] globally adopted as a way to signal the end of a race across all motorsports.

[00:35:43] So he's also someone who came up with that.

[00:35:46] Incredible. Just why you should follow F1 stats crew on Instagram, right? For all these polls.

[00:35:52] The history of Monaco more than the stats and facts of Monaco.

[00:35:57] It's the history that really, really baffles me and surprises me.

[00:36:00] And although we've been watching this race for several years, decades now, every time we come back to this,

[00:36:06] this is what still baffles me and it amazes me.

[00:36:09] So that's what makes Monaco different for me as well.

[00:36:12] Incredible. For me, the swimming pool section.

[00:36:16] I love the way it sounds. By the way, the swimming pool wherever Max has crashed before,

[00:36:20] there's a small staircase you can take up and be in the pit lane.

[00:36:23] That's just how close it is to the pit lane.

[00:36:26] But the swimming pool section, you know, all those slower speed corners, we've spoken of them,

[00:36:30] how these cars are so floated and heavy and, you know, fragile through these corners.

[00:36:36] They're not agile, you know, so you're moving and then you're moving them again and they're like,

[00:36:40] Oh my God, I got to move again. You know, so these slow speed sections.

[00:36:43] I love these corners. I love the swimming pool going into Lara's cast and then Anthony Anthony knows.

[00:36:50] And even even the front straight is actually not really a straight.

[00:36:53] It's still turning right. And I think.

[00:36:56] Felipe Massa crashed on the straight two times in one race weekend, if I remember.

[00:37:02] He just couldn't turn that right when he had to before you go into send the walk.

[00:37:07] But that's just how iconic the corners are.

[00:37:10] I don't remember Massa doing it.

[00:37:12] But I remember Verstappen crashing there and I think this is 2015.

[00:37:16] He was trying to pass Romain Grosjean and he crashed into the very first corner.

[00:37:20] There were the barriers over there.

[00:37:21] We don't have Romain Grosjean to look forward to this weekend.

[00:37:24] But Max Verstappen is definitely one of the drivers on my list to look forward to.

[00:37:28] He was challenged in Imola every time he's challenged, every time he's almost defeated.

[00:37:32] He comes back with his vengeance.

[00:37:34] Can Red Bull get it right from the get go or will they also continue to play catch up in Monaco?

[00:37:40] Or let me twist it. Will McLaren and Ferrari be in the mix?

[00:37:46] Could some of the other drivers in slower cars be in the mix?

[00:37:50] Who else could we have on our list of teams and drivers to look out for this weekend, Sundaram?

[00:37:57] For once I thought in Imola I couldn't figure out who was going to go ahead with an advantage.

[00:38:04] And I think it's also the case in Imola because Max Verstappen had some trouble around some specific corners in Imola where he was not able to turn the car in.

[00:38:14] Especially those were slow corners.

[00:38:17] Is he going to have those sort of problems in Monaco?

[00:38:20] You would assume not, but it could still linger on.

[00:38:23] How is McLaren's hard tires going to fare on Monaco's green track?

[00:38:31] And Ferrari has also had some issue around slow corners.

[00:38:34] So I think it's quite level at this point of time.

[00:38:37] And teams do come in with circuit specific upgrades at Monaco.

[00:38:43] There are two tracks throughout the whole calendar, Monaco and Monza, where they come with very specific and radical upgrades only for those two tracks.

[00:38:51] So you'll see huge bandos on the back of teams' cars as for the rear wings in Monaco because they need that high amount of downforce to turn around these streets.

[00:39:02] But I really can't pinpoint for once who's going to be ahead.

[00:39:07] It could be either of Verstappen, Lando Norris, Charles Leclerc.

[00:39:10] Leclerc has been on pole here twice, but he's never won.

[00:39:13] In fact, it's been a bad track for Ferrari drivers, especially when they take pole because the last Ferrari driver to take pole and convert that to a win was 45 years ago in 1979, Jody Schecter.

[00:39:27] No one else has done it since.

[00:39:29] On the flip side, whenever Red Bull takes pole, they've done that six times here and they've converted five of that to a race win.

[00:39:39] So it really works well for Red Bull on the flip side. McLaren, they have only one podium.

[00:39:47] Maximum wins for all teams out here, but that's in history, right?

[00:39:51] Yes. This is McLaren's favorite track for a lot of reasons.

[00:39:55] They're the most successful here. They've had 15 wins here.

[00:39:58] Ed Inzena has had a punch, I think five consecutive wins in Monaco.

[00:40:02] He's also the most successful driver. Madness.

[00:40:05] Madness. He's also the most successful driver here.

[00:40:07] But McLaren have had only one podium at Monaco in the hybrid era, which was a P3 by Lando Norris in 2021.

[00:40:14] So lots of interesting things, obviously for Ferrari, the record's not going that way, but I'm super excited to see how the practice sessions fair, how these teams fair and practice.

[00:40:24] And if they have to bring in their simulator drivers once again on Friday evening to try and fix their balance issues for Red Bull.

[00:40:31] I'm very curious to see that.

[00:40:33] But I'll tell you something very interesting again.

[00:40:36] And you spoke of McLaren having slow speed corner challenges, Red Bull, Ferrari as well.

[00:40:44] Something interesting when you go to a non-Monaco circuit, teams would always look at a circuit and say, OK, here are 20 corners.

[00:40:53] And then they start compromising performance through certain corners.

[00:40:58] It just so happens that one of the corners they'll start compromising, depending on the setup options will either be the medium to slow or actually the slow speed corners itself.

[00:41:09] So McLaren, which they've traditionally struggled in slow speed corners, but that's because they've compromised those corners.

[00:41:16] And this is what the team also said.

[00:41:18] So when they're going to just set it up for only slow speed corners, as you normally would in Monaco, I expect what you said might come true, which is that the teams are even more closer as they go.

[00:41:31] I am actually excited to see Oscar Piastri.

[00:41:33] We saw what he did in Imola.

[00:41:35] He put the car on pole out there almost.

[00:41:39] You know, I mean, he was less than half a tenth away from Max Verstappen.

[00:41:42] He was ahead of Lando Norris.

[00:41:44] He had the grid penalty.

[00:41:46] I'm sure he's now waiting to build more confidence as it goes, as it comes.

[00:41:50] Could we have yet another Lando Norris, Max Verstappen 1-2?

[00:41:55] Who knows?

[00:41:56] They've had 1-2 for the last three rounds itself.

[00:41:59] And let's see how it all unfolds.

[00:42:02] But you know what you said about circuit specific upgrades, there will also be circuit specific setups, basically setups they don't use at any other circuit, but we'll do so in Monaco.

[00:42:13] So lots to look forward to.

[00:42:15] Who is your race winner?

[00:42:17] Or OK, let me flip it because we've given Saturday so much importance.

[00:42:20] Who do you think is taking pole and who do you think is going to win the race?

[00:42:24] Either Max Verstappen or I'm rooting for Oscar Piastri.

[00:42:28] For pole position or for a race?

[00:42:31] Pole position.

[00:42:32] OK, for pole position.

[00:42:34] I'm going to go for pole position for Charles Leclerc.

[00:42:37] Once again.

[00:42:38] Ferrari were very confident in Imola that it was the kerbs that were hiding their success with the upgrades.

[00:42:46] Leclerc is a one lap specialist, even more so in Monaco.

[00:42:50] I think I'm going to go with him for pole position this weekend.

[00:42:55] Who do you think is going to win the race?

[00:43:00] I think the person who finishes on pole is going to win the race, whoever that is.

[00:43:04] So you're just going absolutely with the stat that there is.

[00:43:07] Completely with the pole sitter.

[00:43:10] I think I'm going to extend that.

[00:43:13] I think the top three drivers, whoever is in the top three, is going to be the race winner,

[00:43:18] which of course also means the pole sitter could go and win.

[00:43:21] But I just get a feeling that Max is probably not going to get pole,

[00:43:25] but might be able to snatch a win just because that Red Bull knows what it's doing, the pit wall.

[00:43:33] Somehow everything that Red Bull does is so Formula One level, right?

[00:43:38] That the others are still playing catch up and I think still a few more races before the others catch up.

[00:43:43] If Max is not on pole, I don't think so he's winning it.

[00:43:47] That's what I feel.

[00:43:49] Which means he'll have to make an on track pass or they really have to make strategy work.

[00:43:55] I just have this gut feeling at this point, which is probably not going to happen.

[00:43:59] Which is true with these cars, you never know.

[00:44:01] Absolutely.

[00:44:02] And I know your favorite driver, the driver who you share birthday with, Fernando Alonso.

[00:44:08] He needs a really good qualifying session.

[00:44:10] He's at two really bad sessions, which is very unlike Fernando.

[00:44:13] The upgrades have come.

[00:44:14] The car has become difficult to drive and extract more performance out of.

[00:44:19] You've seen for a strange reason Fernando Alonso struggle not Landstroll.

[00:44:23] But again, another prediction.

[00:44:25] Do you believe there's going to be a driver in the wall, either in qualifying or on the race?

[00:44:32] In qualifying, yes.

[00:44:33] Who do you think will that be?

[00:44:39] Who am I going with?

[00:44:40] Is it 20 of them?

[00:44:41] Who am I going with?

[00:44:43] Tell me why it's not Landstroll.

[00:44:44] It's not Landstroll.

[00:44:45] He's not going to win it.

[00:44:47] I have a feeling it's not going to be Landstroll.

[00:44:49] Who do I go with?

[00:44:50] I have a feeling George Russell.

[00:44:53] George Russell.

[00:44:54] Impressive.

[00:44:55] I think it's going to be one of the Alpine drivers.

[00:45:00] Possible.

[00:45:02] Or could it be Logan?

[00:45:03] That's it.

[00:45:04] Yeah.

[00:45:05] Or could it be Logan?

[00:45:06] Sorry.

[00:45:07] I was going to say Logan.

[00:45:08] Let me tell you one thing.

[00:45:09] I'll leave this episode with one stat.

[00:45:11] Logan Sargent, since he made his debut in 2023, he's not qualified or failed to set a lap time on five occasions in the last how many?

[00:45:21] 20 odd races.

[00:45:22] So five races, he's not set a qualifying lap time.

[00:45:25] You mean in five races?

[00:45:27] In five races and no one else has had more than one.

[00:45:30] Wow.

[00:45:31] So one of that was last in the last race as well in Imola.

[00:45:35] In the last race weekend.

[00:45:36] Yeah.

[00:45:37] Oh wow.

[00:45:38] Okay.

[00:45:39] Very interesting.

[00:45:40] Let's see what Mr.

[00:45:41] Logan Sargent does if he will have a mid season swap with Mick Schumacher.

[00:45:45] That's being rumored by some of the media outlets.

[00:45:47] I doubt that it's just too expensive to get Logan out of that contract.

[00:45:51] That's my feeling as much as Williams would love that is what I guess because you know, it's like this.

[00:45:56] If you haven't decided and no is the answer.

[00:45:59] And that's the case with James Wabbles and Williams.

[00:46:02] If they haven't decided on Logan Sargent, then the answer is no.

[00:46:06] It's a writings on the wall.

[00:46:08] But that's it from us for the Monaco Grand Prix preview.

[00:46:14] Somil will gladly be back for the Monaco Grand Prix review, which means I will relinquish all hosting duties and roles.

[00:46:21] I can tell you it's a lot of work to think of the right opening, to think of all the right questions, to put a structure.

[00:46:25] Usually Somil who does all the great work.

[00:46:28] But that's it from Sundaram and myself this week or this episode.

[00:46:33] We will see you after Monaco.

[00:46:35] Thank you.

[00:46:56] Thank you so much for tuning into this episode of the Inside Line F1 podcast.

[00:47:00] Before we end it, I just wanted to say a huge thank you to Amazon Music once again for partnering with us on this episode of the podcast.