While others lost their heads in the rain at the Monaco Grand Prix, Max Verstappen proved the coolest of customers to extend his championship lead by 25 points in what proved a comfortable win in the principality.
The two-time world champion had warned this weekend was his toughest test of the season but the manner in which he turned its first half into a procession must leave Formula One bosses scratching their heads as to how to improve the show.
He beat Fernando Alonso off the line and immediately pulled away. It left his rivals praying for a rain or a crash, and they got both, the rain coming down in the final third and causing mayhem on the grid.
At that stage, Aston Martin made the bizarre decision to pit Alonso for medium tyres at a time when the rest of the field were opting for the intermediates. So bad was the call, he came in a lap later to join the rest of the field on inters.
It cost him an additional 19 seconds and denied him what was a clear-cut chance to get the jump on Verstappen, take the lead and have aspirations for a first F1 grand prix victory in a decade.
In the end, he was left to ponder what might have been some 25 seconds behind race winner Verstappen. The inquest at Aston Martin could prove a painful one.
The other big losers in the rain were Ferrari who had to bring both their drivers back in again for the inters to deny what had looked like a podium push for both drivers at one point. Instead, it proved sixth and eighth for Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz respectively.
Monaco had been the race where Mercedes had brought their first upgrades of a difficult 2023 season but, such are the vagaries of the street circuit, how good those are will have to wait at least another weekend.
But Lewis Hamilton ended up in fourth place with teammate George Russell a spot behind in fifth despite a five-second penalty for an unsafe return to the track after sliding off track saw him hit by Sergio Perez.
In contrast to his pole-win double a year ago, Perez had a torrid weekend, languishing at the back throughout amid crashes and repeated pitstops, the Mexican’s tag of king of the street circuits not so befitting this weekend.
It was a small wonder that no safety car was required at any point for all the barrier hits and disappearances into the run-off areas. In fact, there were just two race retirements, that of the second Aston Martin of Lance Stroll crashing out on lap 57 and then Kevin Magnussen late on.
Verstappen had a miniature scare late on when he clipped the wall a little bit coming through turn 15 but no damage was done and, as the track dried, he disappeared off into the distance.
For Alonso, it was second with Esteban Ocon completing an excellent weekend for the final podium spot.
