F1 2018: Ricciardo wins in Monaco despite technical issue

Monaco GP
Ricciardo led home Vettel
The Red Bull Racing ace dominates on the streets of Monte Carlo despite technical gremlin costing him power

Red Bull Racing star Daniel Ricciardo claimed a dominant victory in the Monaco Grand Prix - despite suffering from a powertrain problem for the bulk of the race.

The Australian dominated the weekend, setting the fastest time in every practice session before qualifying on pole. He then controlled the early stages of the race ahead of Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, until suddenly suffering from a loss of power due to a failure of his energy recovery system of his car’s Tag Heuer-badged Renault engines.

Ricciardo was forced to drive without using his top two gears for the bulk of the event - with Red Bull estimating he lost around 25% of his engine’s power - but he was able to fend off Vettel on the tight street circuit, and even pulled clear in the closing stages when Vettel struggled with his tyres.

“The problems threw a lot of doubt in my mind for a few laps,” said Ricciardo after his second win of 2018. “Every lap I goy by with no extra problems was a little victory. I was happy to see the chequered flag.”

Here’s what else we learned from the Monaco Grand Prix.

Red Bull’s mixed fortunes

Ricciardo’s pole position was just the second of his F1 career - the first came back at Monaco in 2016, when he dominated the race until a bungled pit stop by his team. It also meant that Red Bull’s bookended the grid, with Max Verstappen starting last.

The Dutchman missed qualifying after crashing in final practice on Saturday morning, adding to the string of incidents he’s had this year. That prompted his team boss, Christian Horner, to say that Verstappen needs to change his approach. He added: “He needs to learn from it, and stop making these errors. He knows that more than anybody.”

Verstappen partly redeemed himself in the race, pulling off a string of overtaking moves on the tight streets of Monte Carlo to salvage a ninth place finish.

Title trio have all doubled up

Ricciardo’s second win of 2018 moved him up to third in the championship, behind Mercedes racer Lewis Hamilton and Vettel - who have also both won two races. Hamilton finished third in Monaco, one spot behind Vettel, and now leads the German by 14 points, with Ricciardo 24 further back.

Tyres are a talking point…

The race featured the debut of Pirelli’s softest compound. The hypersoft tyres offered a major pace boost in qualifying, but didn’t last long during the race, forcing the frontrunners to pit relatively early.

They then had to nurse their ultrasoft tyres for the rest of the race. Trouble getting them up to speed and concerns over their life meant the frontrunners lapping relatively slowly for much of the race.

“Ultimately we were turned down and just cruising around to make sure we got to the end,” said Hamilton. “I don’t know if that was exciting for you to watch. If it is, no problem.”

…as is the lack of passing

A combination of the soft tyres, the ultra-tight nature of the Monaco street circuit and a lack of safety cars or incidents ensured that the race, while tense thanks to Ricciardo’s problem, wasn’t exactly a thriller to watch.

Turned out, it wasn’t a thriller to drive in, either. Fernando Alonso, who retired when his McLaren developed a technical problem, called it: “Probably the most boring race ever in F1.”

Alonso was making his return to Monaco for the first time since 2016, having skipped last year’s event to race in the Indianapolis 500. He later tweeted his excitement about watching that race…

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