The six drivers – including two rookies – who aced tricky Monaco strategy call

In the aftermath of the Monaco Grand Prix many questioned whether Aston Martin had missed an opportunity to win with Fernando Alonso’s strategy.

Alonso had started the race on the hard tyre compound and resisted the temptation to pit until rain started to fall around 50 laps into the race. But when he came in, Aston Martin fitted another set of slick tyres to his car.

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff said after the race Alonso could have won if Aston Martin had given him intermediate tyres instead. But which drivers did make the brave decision to eke their tyres out well past half distance and make it to the end of the race with a single stop?

Just four of them. First among those was race winner Max Verstappen, who started the race on the medium tyre compound. He came in for intermediates on lap 55, having hit the barriers at Portier on his slick tyres but surviving to make it back to the pits. Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said afterwards they should have brought him in a lap earlier – i.e., when Alonso came in and received his slicks.

Both drivers at Red Bull’s junior team AlphaTauri made the same strategy work. Yuki Tsunoda and Nyck de Vries both hung onto their medium tyres until they were able to switch to intermediates. For Tsunoda, that should have guaranteed a points finish, but he suffered glazed brakes and slipped back.

Other drivers who started near the back also gambled on running long in the hope rain would materialise. It paid off for McLaren’s rookie driver Oscar Piastri, who scored a point after taking the strategy his team mate wished he’d used.

Like Piastri, Valtteri Bottas also started on hard tyres and switched to intermediates. He was the first driver to make the gamble, and though the track wasn’t quite ready for them at that point, it ensured he finished four places higher than he started.

George Russell could have gained most of all from getting the strategy right. He’d started a below-par eighth, and pitted on the same lap Alonso took slick tyres. But while Alonso successfully navigated Mirabeau on his slicks, Russell skidded off on his intermediates, losing a shot at a podium as he did.

Finally, spare a thought for Kevin Magnussen, another driver who made it to the rain on his original set of slick tyres. Having risked that much, Haas gambled too far, leaving him out far too long and eventually switching to the full wet weather tyres.

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2023 Monaco Grand Prix lap chart

The positions of each driver on every lap. Click name to highlight, right-click to reset. Toggle drivers using controls below:

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2023 Monaco Grand Prix race chart

The gaps between each driver on every lap compared to the leader’s average lap time. Very large gaps omitted. Scroll to zoom, drag to pan and right-click to reset. Toggle drivers using controls below:

2023 Monaco Grand Prix lap times

All the lap times by the drivers (in seconds, very slow laps excluded). Scroll to zoom, drag to pan and toggle drivers using the control below:

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2023 Monaco Grand Prix fastest laps

Each driver’s fastest lap:

Rank	No.	Driver	Car	Lap time	Gap	Average speed (kph)	Lap no.
1	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1’15.650		158.8	33
2	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1’15.773	0.123	158.54	46
3	10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine-Renault	1’15.831	0.181	158.42	49
4	11	Sergio Perez	Red Bull-Honda RBPT	1’16.269	0.619	157.51	5
5	55	Carlos Sainz Jnr	Ferrari	1’16.449	0.799	157.14	43
6	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine-Renault	1’16.528	0.878	156.98	41
7	1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull-Honda RBPT	1’16.604	0.954	156.82	23
8	23	Alexander Albon	Williams-Mercedes	1’16.672	1.022	156.68	24
9	14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin-Mercedes	1’16.674	1.024	156.68	43
10	63	George Russell	Mercedes	1’16.798	1.148	156.43	48
11	24	Zhou Guanyu	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	1’16.926	1.276	156.17	5
12	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Haas-Ferrari	1’16.991	1.341	156.03	6
13	2	Logan Sargeant	Williams-Mercedes	1’17.302	1.652	155.41	32
14	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren-Mercedes	1’17.513	1.863	154.98	47
15	21	Nyck de Vries	AlphaTauri-Honda RBPT	1’17.561	1.911	154.89	43
16	22	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri-Honda RBPT	1’17.680	2.030	154.65	36
17	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin-Mercedes	1’17.769	2.119	154.47	18
18	77	Valtteri Bottas	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	1’17.824	2.174	154.36	19
19	4	Lando Norris	McLaren-Mercedes	1’17.844	2.194	154.32	46
20	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas-Ferrari	1’18.351	2.701	153.33	41

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2023 Monaco Grand Prix tyre strategies

The tyre strategies for each driver:

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2023 Monaco Grand Prix pit stop times

How long each driver’s pit stops took:

Rank	No.	Driver	Team	Complete stop time (s)	Gap to best (s)	Stop no.	Lap no.
1	10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine	23.902		1	47
2	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	24.192	0.29	1	44
3	11	Sergio Perez	Red Bull	24.217	0.315	3	53
4	55	Carlos Sainz Jnr	Ferrari	24.252	0.35	1	33
5	23	Alexander Albon	Williams	24.29	0.388	1	18
6	2	Logan Sargeant	Williams	24.376	0.474	1	20
7	14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	24.414	0.512	1	54
8	21	Nyck de Vries	AlphaTauri	24.539	0.637	1	53
9	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	24.594	0.692	1	31
10	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	24.656	0.754	1	51
11	4	Lando Norris	McLaren	24.663	0.761	1	50
12	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine	24.707	0.805	2	54
13	1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	24.798	0.896	1	55
14	11	Sergio Perez	Red Bull	24.887	0.985	1	1
15	24	Zhou Guanyu	Alfa Romeo	25.26	1.358	2	52
16	11	Sergio Perez	Red Bull	25.466	1.564	5	70
17	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Haas	25.672	1.77	3	59
18	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	25.713	1.811	2	55
19	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine	25.833	1.931	1	32
20	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	25.851	1.949	1	54
21	14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	25.916	2.014	2	55
22	2	Logan Sargeant	Williams	25.946	2.044	3	52
23	24	Zhou Guanyu	Alfa Romeo	26.141	2.239	1	1
24	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	26.685	2.783	2	54
25	23	Alexander Albon	Williams	26.99	3.088	2	52
26	2	Logan Sargeant	Williams	27.774	3.872	2	23
27	55	Carlos Sainz Jnr	Ferrari	29.3	5.398	2	55
28	11	Sergio Perez	Red Bull	29.337	5.435	4	57
29	10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine	29.949	6.047	2	54
30	77	Valtteri Bottas	Alfa Romeo	30.395	6.493	1	51
31	63	George Russell	Mercedes	30.98	7.078	1	54
32	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Haas	32.494	8.592	1	1
33	11	Sergio Perez	Red Bull	32.749	8.847	2	34
34	4	Lando Norris	McLaren	33.428	9.526	2	54
35	22	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri	33.706	9.804	1	53
36	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Haas	34.725	10.823	2	54
37	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	51.052	27.15	1	56

2023 Monaco Grand Prix

• Mercedes ready to “grind” their way to competitiveness after major W14 update
• Verstappen surpasses Vettel as winner of most races for Red Bull
• How the first team to fit intermediate tyres in Monaco got the call right
• Verstappen’s Monaco pole run was the completion of his 2021 Jeddah lap – Horner
• Haas thrilled as upgrade performance exceeds wind tunnel predictions

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