If Formula One is to make its boldest decision yet and part ways with the Monaco Grand Prix, the iconic streets of the principality could hardly have put on a more trademark farewell.
With a contract past yesterday’s race yet to be agreed there is a divide among the sport’s fans as to whether Monte Carlo is fit for purpose in modern day F1.
However, Sergio Perez’s mayhem-filled victory exemplified everything that Monaco gives - and takes away.
After a typically tense qualifying session ended with chaos as the Mexican spun into the barriers and was tagged by Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari, it was the start of the race that sparked scenes that at times bordered on farcical.
A sudden downpour five minutes before lights out led to an unavoidable delay as mechanics scrambled wet tyres up the circuit’s antiquated pit lane, before race directors took the baffling decision to impose another delay and allow the puddles to grow yet larger before a failed attempt to start the race.
F1’s preference for waiting the rain out looked foolish as a second, far heavier downpour came and went without any racing to fall back on - before proceedings finally got underway over an hour after the scheduled start. Few locales outside of the Monegasque microclimate can deliver such unpredictability but rather than revel in its impact on the grand prix, the race directors had hidden away the cars under tarpaulin.
Finally underway, Charles Leclerc had his second cruise to victory in as many weeks snatched away from him. In Barcelona it was a relatively unavoidable mechanical issue whereas in Monaco it was the sort of strategy hash that, over the years, Ferrari have become unavoidably attracted to.
With Perez swooping in ahead of Carlos Sainz and Max Verstappen after the rain eased and dry tyres were bolted on, Leclerc was left to trundle home in fourth as his home-race curse continued. This, at least, was his first finish around the principality in four attempts in F1.
Sainz threatened a thrilling climax as he chased down Perez on more durable tyres yet Monaco’s most guilty affliction took hold and denied the two-metre wide Ferrari any serious opportunities at an overtake.
Not only at the front, Fernando Alonso’s tootling around in seventh place created a rush hour-esque traffic jam that at one point back stretched as far as 18th.
Held up behind the Spaniard to come home eighth, Lewis Hamilton said afterwards: “I didn’t find it frustrating, it’s what you expect here in Monaco. Once I qualified behind one of [the Alpines] I knew it was going to be something like that. I was hoping the rain would open up some opportunities but it didn’t work this weekend.”
And so this grand prix brought about both the best and the worst of Monaco. Still one of the most historic, dazzling and unique venues on the planet, its sizable trade-off at the expense of the sporting action leaves F1 with a difficult decision.
