Racing returned to the streets of Monaco this past weekend, for Round 8 of the Formula 1 World Championship, Round 5 of the FIA Formula 2 Championship, and Round 4 of the FIA Formula 3 Championship.

Formula 3

Sprint Race

Saturday’s Sprint Race around the Principality saw a maiden victory in Formula 3 for ART Grand Prix’s Nikola Tsolov, making history as the first Bulgarian driver to win a race on a F1 weekend.

Tim Tramnitz (MP Motorsport) finished in second place after passing Tsolov’s ART teammate Laurens van Hoepen on the opening lap into Sainte Devonte, holding the position amidst pressure in the remaining laps, leaving the Dutchman to take the last step of the podium in P3.

Tsolov made a charge when the lights went out to retain first, but Tramnitz made a move to leapfrog the ART of van Hoepen to take second place into Turn 1. 

The first contact of the race occurred coming through Casino Square, with the third ART of Christian Mansell and PREMA Racing’s Arvid Lindblad meant both met the wall in a race-ending fashion. Their clash had knock-on consequences for AIX Racing’s Joshua Dufek, MP Motorsport’s Alex Dunne and Hitech Pulse-Eight’s Cian Shields, with all three drivers unable to take avoiding action of the collision.

While a Safety Car was initially brought out by Race Control before the first lap was completed, this soon changed into a Red Flag, due to the five cars that needed to be cleared and recovered.

The race restarted on Lap 4 with a rolling start, which saw the Top 3 unchanged, with Noel Leon in fourth for Van Amersfoort Racing ahead of Rodin Motorsport’s Joseph Loake in P5. There were some fluctuations in the gaps between the top 10 drivers in the early phases of green flag racing, as Tsolov was able to keep Tramnitz from staying within 1 second, stopping MP Motorsport’s driver from gaining a DRS advantage.

At the halfway point in the race, the gap between Tsolov and Tramnitz was up to 2.5s in the Bulgarian’s favour, while Tramnitz had van Hoepen sitting uncomfortably close to his rear wing just 0.3s back, while Leon sat a further half second back.

Another Safety Car was deployed during Lap 13 after contact between Kacper Sztuka and VAR’s Sophia Floersch saw Sztuka stopping on the inside of Turn 1 with a puncture, having to be recovered from the track by the marshals.

Racing action resumed going into Lap 16, however on Lap 17 race control had noted race leader Tsolov for weaving, with a potential to receive a 5-second time penalty as punishment, ART ordered the 17 year-old to push with the aim of increasing the gap over Tramnitz. Tsolov extended his gap to 3.4 seconds by lap 20, however race control then confirmed there was no further investigation on the matter, with this all but sealing Tsolov’s win over Tramnitz and his teammate van Hoepen.

The chequered flag beckoned the drivers over the finish line with Nikola Tsolov winning by over four seconds, with Tramnitz earning second for MP and his third podium of the year. Van Hoepen held onto P3 for his third podium fo the year also, with Leon close behind in P4.

Joseph Loake finished P5 for his best finish in Formula 3, with Mari Boya of Campos Racing finishing in sixth. Dino Beganovic finished P7 for PREMA, in eight was Luke Browning, Leonardo Fornaroli was ninth and Oliver Goethe rounded out the points in 10th.

Feature Race

PREMA Racing’s Gabriele Mini secured a lights-to-flag victory, leading from Pole Position to the chequered flag in a Monte Carlo Feature Race full of drama.

The Italian overcame three Safety Car restarts to keep at bay the ART Grand Prix’s Christian Mansell and Hitech Pulse-Eight’s Luke Browning who finished in second and third-place respectively.

Mini had a good launch off the line to hold onto the lead over Mansell into Turn 1 as Browning followed in third position. The first of 3 safety cars were deployed in the latter stages of Lap 1, when Jenzer Motorsport driver Charlie Wurz was left in the barriers at Portier after contact with Rodin Motorsport’s Piotr Wisnicki. The Polish driver was left given a 10-second time penalty for the incident.

Lap 3 saw the resume of full-paced racing with Mini retaining the lead over the grid but he had Mansell right in his wheel tracks. Joseph Loake proved overtaking was possible around the Principality, passing Mari Boya’s Campos Racing car pm the inside at La Rascasse on Lap 6 to claim seventh place for Rodin.

With 10 laps to go, Mini had broken Mansell’s pursuit for the race lead and was over a second clear at the front of the pack.

Lap 20 saw the second Safety Car deployed as a result of a three-car collision at Turn 5 involving Leon, Saturday’s Sprint Winner Nikola Tsolov and Trident’s Sami Meguetounif. The Trident driver was left on the track out of the running, however the other two cars were able to rejoin. Tsolov attempted to pass on the inside of the VAR of Leon, however misjudged the gap and clipped the VAR into a spin, leaving Meguetounif unable to avoid the incident. ART’s Tsolov was handed a 10-second time penalty as a result of the incident.

The Safety Car made its way off the track on Lap 23, and normal racing resumed, with Mini getting a good enough restart to keep Mnasell behind him.

Van Hoepen brought out the third and final Safety Car of the feature race as he looked to gain an advantage on the Rodin of Joseph Loake down towards Tabac, however, lost control of the car and slid into the barriers.

The marshals worked quickly to repair the barriers in time for a final lap shootout with the Safety Car withdrawn with one lap to go.

Mini secured his first victory of the season and his second Feature Race win on the streets of Monte Carlo, with Mansell following him in P2 and Luke Browning earning a well fought third place for Hitech.

PREMA’s Arvid Lindblad finished fourth ahead of Trident’s Leonardo Fornaroli, with Mari Boya seventh ahead of Tramnitz, Loake and Oliver Goethe, who took the remaining point in 10th after the final incident involving van Hoepen.

Formula 2

Sprint Race

Taylor Barnard put on a dominant performance around Monte Carlo in the Sprint Race to go from reverse grid Pole to earn a Maiden win for both himself and AIX Racing in Formula 2.

The British driver fended off Invicta Racing’s Gabriel Bortoleto and a late Red Flag period caused by Zane Maloney and Kush Maini, to take the top step on the rostrum in the Principality. Bortoleto finished second, with MP Motorsport’s Dennis Haugher finishing in third.

Despite initally having a slower get away from the line than second place starter Bortoleto, Barnard was able to keep the lead while Haugher tucked into third place. However, the first Safety Car of the race was needed as a result of Victor Martins making contact with the barriers at Turn 1. 

The ART Grand Prix driver appeared to collide with the DAMS Lucas Oil of Jak Crawford and Campos Racing’s Josep Maria Marti, taking off his front wing and sending him into the wall.

Barnard managed to keep ahold of the lead after the restart, however the Safety Car was again deployed on Lap 6 after Marti crashed into the wall in the swimming pool section after his steering wheel snapped to the side on the exit of Turn 15.

The Virtual Safety Car was deployed on Lap 11 after Richard Verschoor damaged his front wing after hitting the apex at Mirabeau – later footage reviewed showed the Trident driver appeared to make contact with the AIX Racing’s Joshua Duerksen which caused him to lose control, with the AIX driver slater by handed a 10-second penalty for his involvement in the incident.

At the halfway stage of the race, Oliver Bearman reported that he had made contact with the wall at the final corner and had suffered damage, although he was able to continue.

Championship leader Zane Maloney’s race came to an end at La Rascasse after he locked up going into the corner and then a collision with Juan Manuel Correa caused him to spin. This collision left Kush Maini with nowhere to go causing him to stop next to Maloney. As a result of the track being blocked a Red Flag was waved around the track with the racing being paused, so the cars could be removed.

At the end of the 28-lap Sprint Race, Taylor Barnard crossed the line in first place, with a gap of five seconds, giving him and AIX Racing their maiden Formula 2 victory. Bortoleto finished P2 while Haugher finished P3 to round out the podium.

Antonelli finished 4th for the third time in the last four races, ahead of the second MP car of Franco Colapinto. Trident’s Roman Stanek finished in sixth ahead of Hitech Pulse-Eight’s Paul Aron with Campos Racing’s Isack Hadjar taking the final point in P8.

Feature Race

Zac O’Sullivan made it a weekend of maiden wins for Formula 2 around the streets of Monte Carlo, winning his first ever Formula 2 race in the most dramatic of fashions, following a late Virtual Safety Car which gave him an advantage over the rest of the grid.

The ART Grand Prix driver went the distance on his first stint after starting the race in P15, and the VSC caused by AIX Racing’s Joshua Duerksen stopping on track came on on the second-to-last lap, meant O’Sullivan pitted from and came out in the lead.

He held off a charging Isack Hadjar on a final lap fit for screens, with the Campos Racing driver taking second place while Paul Aron finished in third.

The front two drivers had very different starts to the Monaco Grand Prix, with Richard Verschoor making a fast start from Pole in the Trident, whereas Victor Martins fell down the order, with the ART Grand Prix #1 car not having the best start off the line.

Oliver Bearman had a blinder of a start making his way from 12th to P7, with Gabriel Bortoleto utilising his Supersoft tyres to go round the outside of Dennis Hauger at the Turn 6 hairpin to put him up into eighth.

DAMS Lucas Oil driver Jak Crawford did not have the start he would have wished for, stopping on track at Turn 7 after colliding with the Invicta Racing car of Kush Maini.

Around Lap 16 came the first signs of trouble for Trident and Richard Verschoor, with the Dutchman coming over the radio to report an issue with the car. He was able to keep the car moving but his three second gap over Isack Hadjar had all but disappeared.

Verschoor’s struggles continued as he tried to manage the issue and by Lap 29 he was now at the opposite end of the field. He then to drop back even further from the pack when he had to serve a five-second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage before retiring the car.

On Lap 36, Hadjar reported to his team that he had made contact with the wall, but he was able to continue, although now he was coming under attack from Aron. This lap seemed to attract contact between drivers, with Maloney and Barnard making contact at the Turn 6 hairpin, with the AIX racer losing a part of his front wing.

On Lap 40, Joshua Duerksen decided to take his mandatory pit-stop but collided with Maloney at Turn 1, with the AIX driver stopping on track, while the Rodin Motorsport driver was able to continue on.

This gave race leader Zak O’Sullivan, the last runner on the alternative strategy that had yet to pit, the chance to pit from the lead. Whilst pitstopping under VSC is not allowed, the timing of the team calling him into the pits before the Virtual Safety Car was deployed, meant the the ART was completely legal to make its stop.

The British driver rejoined the track crucially ahead of Hadjar on the penultimate lap before holding him off in one of the most tense final laps to take his maiden victory in Formula 2.

Paul Aron crossed the line to finish third to take the Championship lead, finishing ahead of Bearman in fourth and Correa in fifth, while Haugher finished in sixth place. PREMA’s Andrea Kimi Antonelli ended up in P7 ahead of Bortoleto and Martins, with Maloney rounding out the points positions in 10th.

Formula 1

Charles Leclerc has finally taken the chequered flag at the Monaco Grand Prix, taking vicory on home soil, having enjoyed a mostly relaxed drive from lights to flag around the streets of the Principality.

The first lap drama that has occurred over the entire weekend also plagued the F1 race, with the red flags being thrown before the first lap of part of the triple crown had even been completed. A huge collision between the Red Bull of Sergio Perez and the two Haas cars of Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg, meaning all three cars were out of the running.

45 minutes later once all the cars had been recovered, debris had been swept away and barriers had been repaired, racing resumed, with Leclerc again leading the pack cleaning. Another name missing from the race restart was Esteban Ocon, who was forced to retire after making heavy contract with his Alpine team mate Pierre Gasly on Lap 1 in an overly-ambitious move that has now caused questions as to whether the number 31 driver will compete in Canada.

After the first lap drama, the rest of the 78 lap race was relatively unchanging, with only a handful of overtakes between backmarkers, meant that the Top 10 in qualifying was exactly the same at the line.

Leclerc crossed the line seven seconds ahead of Oscar Piastri, who put in an assertive drive in the special Senna-inspired livery and held off a late challenge from Carlos Sainz, making it a double Ferrari podium. Lando Norris finished fourth, chasing Carlos Sainz in the latter stages in the race but the chequered flag came too soon for the Briton to make it onto the podium.

George Russell – who was running a new front wing upgrade on his Mercedes to finish fifth, with Championship leader Max Verstappen in sixth. Lewis Hamilton followed in seventh to add to the Silver Arrow’s point tally.

Yuki Tsunoda had another solid race finishing eighth in the RB, whilst Alex Albon and Pierre Gasly both scored their first points of the year for Williams and Alpine in ninth and 10th respectively.

Fernando Alonso just missed out on points having finished P11 for Aston Martin, ahead of the second RB of Daniel Ricciardo in P12 and Valterri Bottas as the lead Kick Sauber in P13.

The second Aston Martin ended the race in P14 after suffering a puncture following a pitstop, with the second Williams of Logan Sargeant following in P15. Zhou Guanyu was the last classified driver in 16th for Kick Sauber, with four cars retiring on the first lap.

Ocon retiring following his collision with Gasly, meant that he could not be given his 10-second time penalty during the race and therefore it was converted into a five-place grid drop for the next race in Canada.

Formula 2 and Formula 3 return to Barcelona on the 21st-23rd June 2024, with Formula 1 returning to Canada on the 7th-9th June.