Round 7 F1 GFT AI Driver Rankings: Max Verstappen Wins Monaco GP, Alonso P2 Aston Martin
28 May 2023
By Bob Francis, Managing Editor
Go Full Throttle Racing News
MONACO — Some might say that since the top 3 finishers of the 2023 Monaco Grand Prix where the same top 3 in Qualifying, it must have been a boring race with no overtakes. I disagree. While Max Verstappen did dominate (AGAIN) and kept his and Red Bull’s 2023 winning record intact, there was much drama and changing tire strategies when rain showers moved in with 30 laps to go in the Grand Prix. Verstappen, Alonso, and Esteban Ocon each survived the chaos that ensued in the closing stages of the race.
With the win and teammate Checo Perez’s 16th place finish, Max Verstappen increases his points lead to 39 over Perez. With another 2nd place finish, Fernando Alonso is only 12 points behind Perez and 24 points up on 7x Champion Lewis Hamilton.
Ocon’s impressive qualifying effort and P3 finish helped him move up 3 spots in the rankings to P9.
Mercedes Upgrades? W14 upgrades no impact at Monaco Grand Prix
With the “zero-sidepod” philosophy officially abandoned, Mercedes rolled out their much-publicized upgrades at Monaco, but Toto Wolff was quick to remind fans that the upgrades will not be a ‘silver bullet.’ Most F1 technical experts also noted Monaco is not the type of course where the upgrades would move the dial and to look forward to next weekends Spanish Grand Prix to benchmark any performance improvements. Lewis Hamilton made positive comments after qualifying and Sunday’s race, saying he was “really happy” with the Mercedes upgrades package and that the new upgrades improved his car and helped him finish fourth ahead of team-mate George Russell in Sunday’s Monaco GP.
UP NEXT: FORMULA 1 AWS GRAN PREMIO DE ESPAÑA 2023
2023 Spanish Grand Prix, which takes place over 66 laps of the 4.657-kilometre Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on Sunday, June 4.
