F1 2018: 5 Talking Points from the Monaco GP

TOPSHOT-AUTO-PRIX-F1-MON-PODIUM
Ricciardo has now won two races in 2018

Daniel Ricciardo won the Monaco Grand Prix on Sunday after holding off Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton in all of the 78 laps.

Not only was it Red Bull's second win of the season, but was also the Australian's second victory in 2018 to place him right back in contention for the Driver's Championship.

Ricciardo was on lightning form all weekend from topping all practice sessions to being the fastest in all three qualifying segments.

Ricciardo's other win was at the Chinese Grand Prix earlier this year.

This now puts Ricciardo third in the driver's championship with 72 points, 38 behind leader Hamilton.

A successful weekend all round for Ricciardo and Red Bull.


#5 Leclerc messes up home race

A day to
A day to forget for Leclerc

The big build-up to the weekend's race had a lot of focus on Sauber's Charles Leclerc who was racing at his home Grand Prix.

There was buzz that the 19-year-old could reach a top 10 finish on Sunday, with his recent form seeing him score points in Spain and Azerbaijan.

But Leclerc's amazing form had come to an end when he smashed into the back of Brendan Hartley's Toro Rosso when exiting the tunnel.

It seemed Leclerc's car had braking problems leaving Hartley unaware of what was going on behind him.

At the time, Leclerc was 14th on the grid with just a few laps remaining. It looked highly unlikely a third consecutive top 10 finish was on the cards.

#4 Alonso suffers first retirement

Fernando Alonso of Spain  and McLaren F1 Team   returns to...
It was back in the pits for Alonso

2018 has been a rather not so bad campaign for Fernando Alonso, but the Monaco Grand Prix hosted his first retirement of the season.

This is after Alonso had finished in the points in the opening five races in Australia, Bahrain, China, Azerbaijan and Spain.

It was a broken gearbox that forced the Spaniard to accept a DNF.

Alonso was seventh in the race and looked to be settling for another top ten finish until his McLaren started slowing up and was then parked off the track on turn 1.

With teammate Stoffel Vandoorne finishing outside the points zone, this helped Force India and Toro Rosso close the gap on McLaren in the Constructors' Championship.

It was a year ago Alonso missed the Monaco race to enter the Indy 500. And he may not be seen in Monte Carlo this time next year as the 36-year-old is expected to take on the Indianapolis challenge again.

#3 Ocon strengthens Force India's bid for top 4

Esteban Ocon  of France and  Sahara Force India F1 Team  on...
Force India looked to be getting stronger and stronger

Esteban Ocon had a very good weekend by finishing in sixth place for his team Force India.

The Frenchman started the race in sixth and he went onto finish the sixth round in sixth place which could prove to be a vital eight points for the driver and Force India.

There is a real battle for fourth in the Constructors' this year with Force India being in amongst McLaren, Renault, Toro Rosso, and Haas.

The top three is already looking to be between Mercedes, Ferrari, and Red Bull.

Force India finished fourth in last year's Constructors' Championship and will find it difficult to repeat that result.

But with Sergio Perez's podium finish in Azerbaijan and Ocon's hard efforts, it gives them something to work on.

#2 Verstappen puts Saturday behind him

F1 Grand Prix of Monaco
A mixed weekend for Verstappen

Saturday was a disastrous day for Red Bull's Max Verstappen who missed out on qualifying after his crash in Free Practise Session 3.

This very much put Red Bull's chances of completing a 1-2 finish out of the window as the Dutchman started the race from the back of the grid.

Daniel Ricciardo knew he was to be fighting at the front on his own from lights out as the Australian was no doubt the team's priority throughout the 78 laps.

But despite the nightmares Verstappen was receiving on Saturday, the 20-year-old put qualifying and practice behind him and performed one of the drives of the day.

Verstappen finished the race in ninth place just ahead of Renault's Carlos Sainz.

Verstappen may now be put under pressure when the championship next moves to Montreal in two weeks time, but Verstappen displayed what he is capable of and why the team put faith into him in the first place.

#1 Ricciardo in Championship contention

F1 Grand Prix of Monaco
Smiles all round for Ricciardo

Redemption never tasted so much sweeter for Daniel Ricciardo after producing a race-winning drive where his colleagues are still wondering how he won it.

Ricciardo's Red Bull was having power problems throughout most of the duration of the race, but the calm attitude from the smiley assassin got him first across the finish line.

When Ricciardo's engineer reacted to his win via the team radio: "I don't know how you did that," just shows the Aussie is a potential world champion.

It can be hard to believe Ricciardo will be out of contract at the end of the season, but Ferrari and Mercedes are waiting for him outside the Red Bull garage.

Depending on how the rest of the season pans out, it is crucial Red Bull produce more wins to have any chance of convincing Ricciardo to stay with them for 2019.

Ricciardo won Formula 1's Driver of the Day and it for sure goes up there with 'the race burglar' win in China.

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