From Daniel Ricciardo’s redemption to Charles Leclerc’s unwanted statistic and Kimi Raikkonen’s Monaco paralysis. Here are all the best stats and facts from the 2018 Monaco Grand Prix weekend!
It was a perfect weekend for Daniel Ricciardo. For the first time in his career, he dominated the weekend, setting the fastest lap in all three practice sessions, all three qualifying sessions and walking away with the Grand Prix victory.
Let’s begin with Saturday. Ricciardo took his second pole position, and his second in Monaco. It was Red Bull’s 59th pole position and their fifth in Monaco. Ricciardo joins Graham Hill, Nigel Mansell, Mika Hakkinen, Fernando Alonso, Mark Webber, Nico Rosberg and Kimi Raikkonen in the group of drivers to have two poles in the Principality.
Ricciardo’s pole time was 1.368 seconds faster than the 2017 Monaco Grand Prix pole time.
On Sunday, Ricciardo recorded his seventh victory in Formula One, and his first win from higher than fourth on the grid. His win marks the first time the Monaco Grand Prix has been won from pole since 2014. It was Ricciardo’s 29th podium appearance, and his fourth podium appearance in Monaco. He joins David Coulthard, Eddie Irvine, Fernando Alonso, Gerhard Berger, Jackie Stewart, Kimi Raikkonen, Mark Webber, Nico Rosberg and Niki Lauda as the tenth man to have four podiums in Monaco.
Daniel Ricciardo’s first win in Monaco means he’s the 34th different driver to have won the race since it became a round of the Formula One World Championship in 1950.
The Australian’s seventh victory moves him up to 37th on the list of all time F1 wins, equaling Rene Arnoux and Juan Pablo Montoya. It was the 42nd win for an Australian driver.
The win marked Red Bull’s fourth Monaco victory and their first since Mark Webber took the win in 2012. Red Bull have a history of performing well at anniversary events. They won their 100th and 150th races and have now marked their 250th race with a victory. It was the 57th win in the team’s history.
Daniel Ricciardo’s win margin of 7.336 seconds is largest win margin since Nico Rosberg’s victory in 2014, which he won by 9.210 seconds. The 2018 margin is the third largest from the last ten years.
Sunday marked the 29th time that the Monaco Grand Prix has been won from pole since 1950 and the 44th time it has been won from the front row.
The Monaco Grand Prix has been held on 27th May six times since it became a part of the F1 championship. On all but one of those six occasions, the race has been won from pole.
Sebastian Vettel finished on the podium for the 102nd time in his F1 career on Sunday, and recorded a top four finish for the ninth time in the past ten Monaco races. Vettel remains the current driver to have scored the most points in Monaco, now with 150.
Lewis Hamilton maintains his 100% finish record in Monaco and extends the record of most consecutive races in the points to 31.
With their second and third place finishes, Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton equal Alain Prost with six Monaco podium appearances.
After six races in the 2018 season, Sebastian Vettel, Lewis Hamilton and Daniel Ricciardo have recorded two wins each.
For the second race in a row, both the track record and the race lap record were beaten. Max Verstappen took the fastest race lap for the third time in his career.
Kimi Raikkonen hasn’t finished higher than his starting place at the Monaco Grand Prix since the 2007 season.
Aside from the Mercedes drivers, Ferrari drivers and Daniel Ricciardo, Carlos Sainz is the only other driver to have reached Q3 at every race so far this season. Ahead of the 2018 event, he had never been out-qualified by a team-mate at the Monaco track and this remained true, as he beat Nico Hulkenberg on Saturday for the first time in a fair fight. With his tenth place finish, he continues his 100% points record at Monaco.
The 2018 Monaco Grand Prix marked the first F1 event in the Principality since 2009 to not feature a full Safety Car period.
The 2018 Monaco Grand Prix saw a joint-record for the most number of finishers at the track. There has never been a Monaco race with more than seventeen finishers.
Saturday marked Max Verstappen’s first Q1 exit since the 2017 Chinese Grand Prix, Kevin Magnussen’s first Q1 exit since the 2017 Mexican Grand Prix and Nico Hulkenberg’s first Q2 exit since the 2017 U.S. Grand Prix.
Marcus Ericsson and Lance Stroll have never progressed past Q1 at the Monaco Grand Prix.
Charles Leclerc has qualified in fourteenth in all of the last three races. He suffered the first DNF of his career, and became the first Monegasque driver to retire from his home event.
At Force India, Esteban Ocon gave the team their best qualifying result of the season so far as he lined up sixth on the grid. Sergio Perez has reached Q3 in Monaco on all but one of his eight appearances, and converted his top ten slot into a points finish for the third time.
Pierre Gasly drove a strong race to finish seventh. In thirteen appearances, Toro Rosso have failed to score at the Monaco Grand Prix only twice.
Sergey Sirotkin finished ahead of his team-mate in a Grand Prix for the first time. Lance Stroll had a woeful afternoon, and made the most pit-stops of any driver, with three.
Fernando Alonso recorded his first DNF and first non-score of the 2018 season. It was his third DNF at the Monaco Grand Prix. Alonso is the only driver to have beaten his team-mate in every qualifying session so far this year.
