Start, Monaco, 2021

Rate the race: 2021 Monaco Grand Prix

2021 Monaco Grand Prix

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What did you think of today’s race? Share your verdict on the Monaco Grand Prix.

RaceFans has held polls on every F1 race since 2008 to find out which fans thought of each round of the season.

Join in the latest poll and give your verdict on the race: 10 being the highest and 1 the lowest. Please vote based on how entertaining and exciting you thought the race was, not on how your preferred driver or team performed.

What were the best and worst moments of the race? What was the main thing you’ll remember about it? Rate the race out of ten and leave a comment below:

Rate the 2021 Monaco Grand Prix out of 10

  • 10 (2%)
  • 9 (2%)
  • 8 (3%)
  • 7 (8%)
  • 6 (15%)
  • 5 (13%)
  • 4 (10%)
  • 3 (15%)
  • 2 (13%)
  • 1 (19%)

Total Voters: 344

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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144 comments on “Rate the race: 2021 Monaco Grand Prix”

  1. Pretty decent for Monaco’s standards.

    1. Really? Did we watch the same race?

      1. Jeez, how can anyone take it serious, Monaco is just 78 parade laps. It exists to appease the rich.

    2. I’m coming round to your place next time @jerejj. Your TV must be awesome, because it looked absolutely terrible on mine.

    3. I think some F1 fans must have been beaten into submission to think that was anything but a waste of two hours.

      1. Sorry, but that was a pretty highly-dosed televised sleeping pill even for Monaco GP standards. ‘Nuff said, next one.

    4. Definitely in the top 5 dullest races ever.
      I saw 1 overtake (SCH on MAZ) but worse that that, no one even getting close enough to try. To top it off, the most exciting challenge for position was GAS and VET going side by side up the hill, for the director to cut away and show a car missing a corner.

    5. There wasn’t a single overtake on track after the first corner. There really wasn’t a fight for the win. There were no safety car periods, or any potential for order reshuffles. Heck, we didn’t even get the polesitter and the championship contender battle it out.

      The race result made the championship interesting… But the race in itself was one of the worst I’ve seen.

      1. There wasn’t a single overtake on track after the first corner.

        There was a brave pass (Mick to Nikita) in the hairpin. Pretty much agree with the rest.

        1. Besides the brave hairpin pass, there were 5 more overtakes, all in the first few turns:
          Stroll and Kimi on Dan Ric
          Alonso on Tsunoda and Russell
          Latifi on Tsunoda
          For a grand total of six. Plus a few good overcuts

  2. 0.1 out of 10.
    Absolute garbage.

    1. Steveetienne
      23rd May 2021, 15:51

      That high? You’re being generous.

    2. I gave this race 1 point.
      Firstly, there is no “0” option.
      Secondly, I love Serena Williams.

  3. I mean, the race itself was pretty meh other than a few laps during the pitstop period. But as Monaco races go, it wasn’t bad. I certainly enjoyed having a more shaken up grid with Red Bull, Ferrari, Aston Martin and McLaren ahead of Mercedes. I’m gonna enjoy this because I fully expect normal service to resume once more from Baku.

    1. I agree with you guys @mashiat, @jerejj. Given that these cars are as they are, the race was quite decent. Saturday really was interesting. And on Sunday we got heartbreak early on for Leclerc, then a bit for Bottas. We had Giovinazzi hounding Ocon for much of the race without making an impression, we had Norris defending from Perez and we had Tsunoda all over the back of Latifi as well.

      And a nice show where the pace can be with the fast lap from Hamilton. The thrill is seeing them going 100 kmh average through the city for 78 laps.

      1. @bascb This race was incredibly dull, don’t get me wrong, but the reason I don’t think it was that terrible is that the expectations were already low. I went into this race knowing that it wouldn’t be the most exciting race, and I was just glad that we didn’t get a VSC or SC right in the middle of the pit window meaning everyone rejoins from the pits in the same order as they were in the first stint. The worst races for me are the ones in which we hold some expectations, but there is literally nothing going on all around. Abu Dhabi last year, or the 2019 French GP are the ones that come to mind, where you tune in maybe hoping to see some battles, but it just is a procession. Not to mention that watching a car around Monaco does not offer the same entertainment value as watching a car go around Paul Ricard or Abu Dhabi.

  4. Processional

  5. Monaco is a specialist in failure.

  6. 3 bit of a let down, the dirty air has only gotten worse and worse as these cars mature. Hopefully the new regulations will reintroduce some overtake attempts around here in the future…

  7. petebaldwin (@)
    23rd May 2021, 15:47

    I enjoyed it but I imagine this is going to get rated extremely low considering Hamilton was a non-factor. There’s never much (if any) overtaking but it was good to see some other names near the front, it was a great drive from Norris and Vettel. Shame Leclerc couldn’t start the race as it would have been great to see Max vs Leclerc.

    1. petebaldwin (@)
      23rd May 2021, 15:52

      If Hamilton has an easy win, there are some on here who will always rate the race low. Equally, if Hamilton has a bad race, there are others who do the same.

      1. nonsense , don’t drag Lewis into this, the race was a joke. If Lewis did win it would be rated lower because the anti-HAM brigade would claim its too easy for him because his MERC spaceship is too dominant. How ironic that if he does not finish on the podium everyone whines that he is finished..

        “its great to see other names at the front” so you like random lottery races like the 2020 season?
        yes its nice to see different drivers get big points haul but i rather they earn it than at the expense of the other stronger teams DNF or having bad weekends setup wise

        i rate this race a 1 . I feel robbed of a nice Sunday watching this boring zzzz race

      2. I have a criteria. If Hamilton wins, subtract 3 from the score. Non-Merc winner, add one. Someone other than Merc and Red Bull on podium, add three points for each.

        So doing the math, this race got a 4.

        1. It’s weird: non merc winner, you have a +1, 2 people from non merc and red bull on the podium, you’d have a +7, there’s no relation with that and 4.

    2. pastaman (@)
      24th May 2021, 5:11

      Race is/was garbage, Hamilton has nothing to do with it

  8. Had Lewis won, the results would be 1-3…
    Nothing changed except the winner – we have seen no action or battles, and someone even votes 7…

    What a *facepalm* hypocrisy

    1. Or maybe it’s nothing to do with Hamilton and people enjoy watching a mixed up podium and cars lapping close to the barriers around Monaco…

    2. Had Lewis won the poll would have been better.
      Monaco this year jut looked too easy, Q was anti-climatic and the race quickly fell apart. In the past few super stale Monacos we had tension, this one was a walk in the park. F1 ended in 2010, this 2014 formula has no redeeming qualities

  9. The event is second to none, quali is fascinating, but F1 cars have outgrown Monaco on race day. A 4/10, with a few interesting moments with the pit stops

  10. Highlight of the race: S. Williams holding the flag like a racket.
    A solid 2/10

    1. Serena’s input into an already dreadful race was appalling. You would think that the people invited to flag would take five minutes the day before to understand what is expected from them. Reminded me of Pelé missing the winner crossing the line at Interlagos.

      1. The only time I yelled at the TV was to say “figure of eight! figure of eight! Gah!”

  11. That was drowsy!

    Thanks Mercedes for livening up a little.

  12. Good comedy value with BOT’s retirement. Otherwise, boring, no suspense whatsoever other than whether STR would come back ahead of OCO and GIO when he’d pit, which became really obvious he would when OCO started to lap at the same pace as MAZ

  13. Utterly boring.
    The race had two dramatic moments: the first was that the pole position winner was forced to retire before the race even started, and the second great moment happened when a driver stopped to swap tires and something on the wheel was broken.
    What a joke.

    1. Following the sport since 1996 and currently watching Indy500 qualifying, i can only be laughing out loud at your comment… after laughing at above comments, so true.

  14. I believe there were zero overtakes, so it can’t score too highly. I gave it a 5. Could have been so much better if Charles Leclerc had started from pole position.

    1. Kyle (@hammerheadgb)
      23rd May 2021, 15:56

      Same score for the same rationale. There was at least some movement up and down the field as the under/overcut strategies played out, and the drama of Bottas’ race disintegrating in the pit lane. But no overtakes after lap 1 does cap the score.

    2. @f1frog How bad would a race have to be for you to rate it less than 5?

      1. Every Car breaks down with engine failure before turn one perhaps?

      2. @racer I don’t know. I always enjoy the races. I think the last time a Grand Prix finished and I genuinely thought it had been a dull race was France 2019, and even that had a thrilling final lap. Before that it would probably be China 2019, and before that Japan 2016.

        1. What if there was a reverse grid?

          1. I feel like we’ve been here before ;)

            I’m sure today’s race would have been a lot more exciting if there was a reverse grid, but it would not be worth it for F1, the top level of motorsport, to lose its purity and become the same as every other motorsport series. F1 is unique, and should stay that way. Sometimes we get boring races now, but they really don’t happen too often.

          2. Still be the same but 10 minutes longer

          3. @f1frog Yes, I was being playfully provocative :)
            In all seriousness though, it could be said that that purity is what has driven today’s score as low as it is.

            Given that Monaco is pretty universally viewed as a unique event, would it not make sense to have a unique set of challenges here? The current format clearly doesn’t work with these cars, and the next set of cars won’t solve these problems here, either.

    3. There was one overtake at lap 1.

    4. You have to pay better attention. There was actually 2 overtakes. Quiz of the day. Who overtook who?

      1. Mick to Nikita and I missed the other one. But I gather that Alonso made two overtakes on the start

        1. Besides Mick to Nikita in the hairpin, there were 5 overtakes in lap one:
          Stroll and Kimi on Dan Ric
          Alonso on Tsunoda and Russell
          Latifi on Tsunoda
          For a grand total of six. Plus a few good overcuts

  15. This was not really a race, was it? Not a single overtake (apart from Schumacher on Mazepin on the opening lap if I am not mistaken), there was basically no chance for the chasing car to overtake. Lewis on a much faster car giving up on overtaking the car ahead and pitting for fastest lap.. Maybe it is time to let go of this track

    1. No! Then drivers won’t get the triple crown any more!

    2. Plus, now I think about it, look at how mercedes performs at monaco compared to the other circuits over the last few years: some tabu track is needed, they’re strong enough as is.

  16. F1 needs tyres of 2010 (super hard) for qualifying and of 2011 (softs) for the races and do away with mandatory stops.

    1. Even that wouldn’t make a difference at Monaco. Even if the car in front didn’t have wheels on, the driver behind wouldn’t be able to overtake

      1. But a few years ago they were able to overtake, what changed? Schumacher and coulthard made incredible recoveries in the 2000s, and even verstappen recovered well in more recent times in 2018.

  17. Miltiadis (@miltosgreekfan)
    23rd May 2021, 15:50

    It’s the usual every year,a stunning Saturday and a horrendous Sunday. I personally didn’t enjoy this one at all, so i gave it an 3/10.

    In the pre-hybrid era, with Kers being a factor, at least we could see some moves into the Fairmont hairpin…

  18. I think I just scraped the race off the sole of my shoe.

    That’s how bad it was.

    1. Ahah, that’s a fun one.

  19. Normally around this time I’d be grateful for the Indy 500 coming up in a few hours, but we don’t even have that this year!

    Pretty dreary even by Monaco standards, made all the more frustrating when you just know that watching Verstappen relentlessly attacking Leclerc all afternoon would have been a good watch.

  20. Boring, aside from a few diferent strategies on track

  21. In 32 years of watching F1 this was the first race Ive ever switched off at half way and just kept half an ear on it with the radio, and Monaco is one of my favourite tracks as well…

    1. What about countless other boring races that have come before just like this one, including most other Monaco additions? It was suddenly just this one out of the blue that turned you off after 32 years?

    2. Then what were you expecting? To me it was just an average Monaco race.

      1. This was far from an average Monaco, not even a single car trying different lines to be a distraction in the mirrors of the car in front, let alone a sniff of a divebomb into a corner (first lap MSC was just the whole pack bunching up at hairpin, if he hadnt of divebombed He probably of run into the back of Him), like I say I normally enjoy Monaco but I found myself looking at the rain through the window at times till I switched off and just half listened to the radio, even they struggled and ended up talking about how to remove screws that have there heads sheared off after BOT’s pitstop.

  22. I mean, a classic boring Monaco race, but I actually rather enjoyed the strategy battles today. We have seen overcuts as well for once.

    1. That sums it up for me, not great racing but very tense with the strategy and cars will always look spectacular around Monaco.

      1. @glynh Exactly! I am happy to have this one dull race during the season. The quali is season’s best, I quite like the whole spectacle, and the onboards are truly mesmerizing and make me appreciate the drivers’ skill. To me, the pros outweigh the cons. It’s just part of the F1 circus and it wouldn’t be the same without it.

  23. Absolute garbage. Zero on track overtakes.

    1. Zero on track overtakes. If that is what you think then you obviously weren’t watching the same race as everybody else.

      1. Well, do overtakes on lap 1 count? Do overcuts count? To me there were 0.

  24. Not the best race but I’ve watched worse races at Abu Dhabi, Paul Ricard and Barcelona.
    Drama before the race, pit stop drama, intriguing strategy in the midfield throughout (especially with Vettel successfully using the overcut), the tension of Perez catching Lando and a mixed up grid. Plus watching these cars drive that quickly in the narrow streets is a spectacle in itself. I’m normally very critical of Monaco but the race piqued my interest throughout

  25. The only worthwhile way of watching Monaco is to record it and start watching after the first 60 or so minutes.

    The suspence then is will the race be over before you have finished fast forwarding all the boring bits. (This year Fast Forwarding won, but only by a lap.)

  26. 4/10
    A race of what could have been:
    1. Had Ferrari started on pole
    2. If Mercs had a good pitstop
    3. If there was a safety car
    4. If it was possible for any car to make a turn 10 overtake
    But kudos on strategy to Aston Martin and Red Bull. Put the over cut to perfect use.

    1. I’m not sure 1 and 2 would have made a difference. Hamilton is one of the best overtakers in the best car and he just had to sit behind Gasly all race. It would have been just as boring but with an even more predictable outcome. At least the finishing order was mixed up a bit from the starting positions

  27. Adam (@rocketpanda)
    23rd May 2021, 15:59

    Tad processional but I enjoyed the result, it was nice seeing both Sainz and Norris on the podium for Ferrari & McLaren. Biggest issues really happened off track to Leclerc and in the pits to Bottas and really the only drama was how salty Hamilton was getting. Kinda fascinating how both Vettel & Perez jumped him.

    Must admit I’ve found other races quite dull this year, so maybe I’m biased on just enjoying that there was no Mercedes anywhere near the podium. It was refereshing for that, at least.

    1. Absolutely agree on the mercedes part, it’s good to see other cars ahead, that was true also for qualifying, which I think is universally agreed was a good one, unlike the race.

  28. 2 maybe?
    Highlights of the race: Leclerc out before the race, Mercedes virtual wipeout including perhaps the dullest drive I’ve ever seen from Hamilton (perhaps not primarily his fault, just saying) and Vettel jumping a few places. Max deserves the praise for his race, blocking off Bottas bravely and then finishing the laps. Yuk. Qualifying has some excitement, but Monaco is not a race track. Racing involves the possibility of overtaking, period.

    1. (or specifically: not a race track for present-day Formula 1)

    2. TBF Hamilton, Perez and one or two others at least made regular attempts to get within second of the guy in front, only to have to drop back after a lap or two. I thought we might have seen a few coming out of the tunnel at least within striking distance, but I don’t think we even saw one half chance.
      Still at least we can blame LeClerc for spoiling both race and qualifying climax.

      1. Really, I can watch cars driving around a high speed track in an uneventful race and at least enjoy the zen-like tranquility, zoning out pleasantly to the noise and commentary chatter while being mildly entertained by strategy, tyre preservation and all the other non-overtaking bits. But Monaco doesn’t even offer that. One flat out tunnel, one very slow hairpin where time seems to stretch into a parallel universe, and the rest a procession of cars driving in synchronized fashion round a multi-story carpark. OK with a bit of rain it is usually a lot more interesting. But then so is anywhere.

        1. I thought this was actually an ok race for Monaco! I’d give it 5/10. If you compare it against a normal race then yeah that rating will come down. These cars are now just too big for this circuit for any overtaking. If Hamilton can’t even pose a mild threat against 6th position then there’s no chance. You might as well just give the points out for the qualifying positions!

          1. There’s always the reliability concerns.

  29. Who on earth gave this a 10?! Regardless of who won and if your a fan of theirs, this is was NEVER worth a 10.

  30. That was one of the worst races I’ve seen in 20 years! There was literally zero on track action. Mercedes screwing up at least made it a tiny bit more interesting. Hopefully next year’s car make it a tiny bit better but never going to be a classic

    1. There was action. It was when Vettel came out of the pits. But they decided to show us some replay of Stroll.

      1. @rvg013

        I remember watching that moment… It was the first exciting incident of the race..and it was a fraction if a second away from an overtake attempt and potential contact, before it cut to a driver driving by himself with no worry in the world.

        I’d be shocked if that race director still has a job after doing such a shoddy job.

        1. Indeed, that was a disaster cut.

  31. Zero overtakes. Could’ve been interesting if Charles had started from pole to see if he could’ve held off Max. The most exciting moment of the race was cut away from by the director (Vettel coming out of the pits almost alongside Gasly and LH). Perez hunting down Lando threatened to be an interesting moment but fizzled out. It’s Monaco though, so to be expected I guess. I still like having it on the calendar vs replacing it with some other cookie cutter circuit.

  32. Not a single yellow flag. Is that a first?

    1. If you throw in Serena it makes not a single flag at all.

  33. Can we finally understand and start focussing on what actually makes races boring?

    It clearly isn’t just who wins, how close the cars are or how many highway passes are carried out. RBR pulled off a blinder with Perez and Merc imploded, yet that was by far the least interesting race of the year. The only on-track overtake I saw was Mick on Mazepin, which turned out to be pointless in the end. Even the lack of a Safety Car didn’t help. So short of changing the Formula fundamentally, how can this race/every race be improved?

    1. Hold it somewhere else, for starters

      1. I think Monaco should stay on the calendar, but the race should be scrapped (at least until the cars are way way more race-able). Monaco is considered the most glamorous race of F1, so maybe a change in format can be justified here.

        Maybe Monaco should just have qualifying, with points awarded based on lap times. Some modification of a time trial format is what I’m thinking.

  34. When the commentators start banging on about the likelihood of a safety car, in the hope something might happen, you know you’re in for a dull race. It’s not 100% the track either as Formula E managed a decent one.

    Hopefully better luck next year but a total borefest.

  35. Terrible race but I dont care because the result is absolutely awsome!!

  36. ady (@sixwheeler)
    23rd May 2021, 16:18

    Who rated this a 10? Christian Horner?

    1. @sixwheeler Surely too busy jumping in a pool in his finest invisible swimwear.

  37. Pat Ruadh (@fullcoursecaution)
    23rd May 2021, 16:18

    There was also Vettel coming out of the pits to jump Hamilton and Gasly, which the director cut away from, twice!

    1. @fullcoursecaution So weirdly fixated with Stroll going in slow motion over a curb he mixed the only bit of excitement in the entire race. Stellar job.

  38. For a Grand Prix, it was a nice parade.

    That said, I thoroughly enjoyed the display of Sainz, Norris, Gasly, Vettel and Ocon biting a couple points. The podium celebrations were really nice.

    I feel really sorry for Leclerc and the Wingman. They both deserved better, Bottas even more.

    DannyRic lapped by Norris, ouch.

    Track limits at Monaco… is this rock bottom or is it the stage where one doesn’t feel anything already?

  39. Neil (@neilosjames)
    23rd May 2021, 16:27

    Gave it a well-deserved 1.

    The only moment which brought me any joy was being advised, midway through, that Sky Q customers could watch highlights of the race alongside the live coverage. Can’t begin to imagine how much fun it would have been to watch an endless loop of Bottas parked in the pits while his mechanics tried to remove his wheel, given that was the only thing that actually happened after the first lap.

    No action, no suspense, and even the most optimistic fan couldn’t have convinced themselves that any of the processions might produce an overtake. Added to the disappointing end to qualifying yesterday, I’d put this up there as one of the least enjoyable race weekends I’ve ever had to endure.

  40. What an absolute joke of a race, 1 is too high of a rating for this snoozefest!

    Why is Monaco still on the Calendar? it isn’t the 80s anymore modern hybrid cars are too long and wide for this prehistoric tax haven.

  41. Max won so I gave it a 10.

    1. That is a reasonable decision, it gives a bit more competition to mercedes, however I’ll have to average out the result and the actual race, will make a complete comment below.

  42. Please remove this “race” from the F1 calendar.

  43. Why was Lewis not able to overtake Gasly? That’s the biggest let down of this race. Or is it that Gasly had the better car?

    1. Maybe Hamilton just isn’t better than everyone else after all?

      1. It was a bad weekend from hamilton overall, he was never on it, mercedes didn’t look particularly competitive, at some point bottas was faster than verstappen (early on), but then he couldn’t keep up and sainz started gaining on him, in any case there was plenty of pace in the hamilton vs gasly battle, but the cars are just too wide now I think for monaco, I saw a handful of drivers within a second of each other but no one ever really made an attempt, not even at the chicane after the tunnel.

  44. Davethechicken
    23rd May 2021, 16:56

    0/10
    The track spoils all prospect of a race. A stuck wheel was the entire excitement. Wow!

    Monaco is the only track I have been to more than one GP at, but it is just dreadful every single year.

  45. Disaster. Not even a single overtake! I don’t count M. Schumacher and Mazepin “battle” as they are teammates.

  46. OK for Monaco. But in comparison to other tracks on the calendar, racing was simply non-existent and dull to watch. A (very generous) 4.

    I’m going to see how the race goes next year with the new regs, but if the new aerodynamics serve up another snoozefest, I think it’s about time consideration is made about dropping Monaco from the calendar. There’s a reason why F1 is more popular than the village parade, but Monaco very much behaves like watching the floats slowly amble through the local town.

  47. John Toad (@)
    23rd May 2021, 17:20

    Last seasons race was much more exciting.

  48. 4. Pitstop period was cool and a nice mix of different cars in the top 10 but pretty boring overall. My jaw dropped when Brundle reminded us that the cars are 5 meters long. Ridiculous for Monaco

  49. Dissapointed with the Charles incident. Sorely disappointed with the FLAP point gifted from RBR to Merc (they did it too early but incredibly it sticked). Max could never do it, Carlos Jr. was too close. But Checo had a free stop and a perfect chance to score it and he didn’t. At the end of the season one point can be decisive, we’ll see. Race’s a 4. could have been better. Greatest moment: Seb’s and Checo’s successful overcuts (but missed by the TV twice)

    1. Yes, it could, but honestly very rarely happens that a point ends up being decisive (although it’s 2 points here), especially with the current points distribution, it was a bit more realistic in the 80s.

  50. 2, because it had some lap where was some position switch because of pitstops. But if it happened in Paul Ricard or Abu Dhabi than it will be the worst F1 race ever because pAuL rIcArD iS bAd HaHa. :/

  51. Absolutely GARAGE race! One of the worst I’ve ever seen!

  52. This is Monaco! It is part of F1 history and should be on the F1 calendar for ever if you ask me. Although it can be boring from a racing perspective. I like Monaco because it is Monaco. I liked this race for all the emotions. I liked this race for the drama. I liked this race particular for the mixed podium. Furthermore I rather see someone defending his position lap after lap than to see a dull DRS overtake on a high speed circuit. I rated this race a 10. Not because this was the best race I ever have seen but just because it is Monaco.

    1. “Defending his position” from 2 seconds?

    2. I don’t get that at all. Everyone is entitled to their opinions and things they like so I’m glad you enjoy Monaco. But they honestly shouldn’t bother with the race. Just do a qualifying session to see who will win the race and then spend the rest of the weekend showing pretty sites and famous people walking around. At least that would be interesting and might actually surprise someone. A tour of the bigger yachts would be interesting.

    3. Davethechicken
      23rd May 2021, 22:10

      Monaco is a major social event for the mega rich and famous. They get to watch the show ponies from their yachts or apartments.
      It has become a social rather than a sporting event.

  53. I reserve 1/10 for races that are abysmal or have something horrible happen in them. This one was just boring, so 2/10. The TV direction (thanks Tele Monte Carlo, hopefully FOM will take over in the future) was bad and missed some of the only action on track, the race lacked any sense of excitement, and apart from Leclerc DNS and Bottas DNF really nothing of note happened. At least it was over quickly.

  54. An absolute waste of time. I literally found it more interesting to watch some dashboards at work to see how our systems were performing. I wish I was kidding, but I literally spent the race seeing if I could tweak things or find some issue with our servers.

  55. What is actually sadder than that pathetic “race” today is the fact that even with the changes they’re making to improve overtaking next year and reduce downforce…it will have absolutely no effect on Monaco. It will still be a parade/procession with these big cars on those skinny streets.

  56. I’d watched every Monaco GP since 1994. And this is easily in the top 3 worst out of the 28 so far. A 1, but if I could give a minus mark or zero, I would

  57. Absolute snoozefest. Only one exciting on-track moment – when Vettel jumped Hamilton and emerged side-by-side with Gasly. And that was interrupted on TV by a replay.

  58. Granted, there is some fascination in watching the skill involved in the drivers consistently coming milimeters close to the barrier on the narrow track.

    As a race? There was no race.

    There may have been a single edge-of-the-seat moment when VET came out of the pit ahead of GAS. But it’s mostly rumours, since someone decided that it wasn’t fit for us to see.

    But, heck, at least, the cake I shared with my brother-in-law while watching was really good, so there’s that.

  59. As a GP weekend I think there was quite a lot of interesting stuff going on. Other cars in the mix, a crash in qualy, Mercedes failing for once, new leaders in both championships and Max winning it!!

    The incredible speed on these streets never get boring

    As a race not a lot happened

    I give it a 7

  60. It wasn’t a race. Just a drive.

    Doesn’t matter who won because it wasn’t a contest. I love seeing Formula One cars in Monaco, but it shouldn’t be for championship points – it should be for bragging rights and for fun. A standalone event.

  61. 1. Please stop racing here. The commentator were talking up the challenge and I’m sure it is challenging. But in the end, this is boring to watch.

  62. A terrible race coupled with a terrible TV direction.

  63. I am going to score this race a 1 extremely boring.
    New idea: Give Bottas, Verstappen & Hamilton 12 points each and have them not compete for a race (same race). That will mix things up, give the winner of that race regular points…

  64. I gave it a quite generous 6. Generous compared to many people.

    It somehow maintained my interest but I did only watch the C4 extended highlights in the U.K. There was some drama around the pits stops and always 1 or 2 battles going on.

    The main issue is that when the cars get close to each other in normal racing conditions, they cannot stay close enough to overtake. This is doubly so at Monaco. Where is the triumph of cutting edge engineering in this? It’s awful for the drivers and the viewers and I so hope this will be put right from 2022 onwards.

  65. After the start & turn one at Saint Devote…
    I think that the Mick Schumacher passing over Nikita Mazepin at the hairpin was the only one of the race!
    Did someone miss this processional GP last year?
    Everyone hoping that next years cars would be better, let’s hope that they can do something in these streets!

  66. When you see that even Hamilton is giving up a fight for an extremely lowly 6th place, you know that this circuit must be changed or shouldn’t be for championship points. “You cannot be serious!” as John McEnroe said.

  67. Why do we still bother with Monaco? The History and Glamour are just nonsense. It’s totally outdated as a venue. Ok it might be challenge to drive it but it’s terrible to watch.

  68. 2 and I am being generous. Literally fell asleep during the race and it was on at 9AM in the US. Need to race carts at this track.

  69. Jockey Ewing
    24th May 2021, 0:18

    The ratings have very high spread, huh. For me it was not exceptionally bad, just uneventful. Nothing happened, but nothing shameful happened either, stewarding not decided the GP, no blunders by the organizers, but sadly Leclerc DNF-ed before the start. Considering what I have seen in the revent years, and what I have expected form a Monaco weekend, it is a 5 for me.
    One of the worst moments was: Vettel was in a wheel to wheel battle against someone (I forgot), and the picture was taken away to show some pretty boring things in the middle of the battle. That was a real own-goal.

    Interstingly the camera job was quite good otherwise, because: drones(?do they use drones, or not yet, as those are not safe yet enough for this purpose?) or well placed cameras, which was relatively zoomed much less in than usually, because, obvoiusly then you would see nothing from the whole race, because of the narrow track and the short straights. At least this way we had a bit more perception of the speed and momentum.

    Although Monaco GP is a jamboree with an unique atmosphere, and I have no problem with that, I like to see it from season to season. It is not all bad. I can still remember Schumacher pwning the field in the great downpour, and Herbert’s crazy race, and likely I have missed out on listing some more remarkable ones from the Monaco GP’s I have seen. Building cars which can race well on exceptional and legendary tracks is still more honest, than building tracks to suit very expensive cars, and then let some of those tracks to be taken back by the forest a few decades later. But of course this track is likely too slow and narrow even for F2, it is a nice F3-F4 track :) )

    1. Yes, schumacher in 1997 was great, you probably missed the 1996 race where only 3-4 people finished and panis won in a midfield car! 1984 was also great in the rain with senna.

      1. Jockey Ewing
        24th May 2021, 10:27

        No I not missed 1996, but sadly I forgot about that that the winner was Panis instead of Herbert :) That was one of the most incredible endgames I have ever seen. According to Wikipedia, only 7 drivers were classified, and only 3 were actually checkered.

        It was not all bad later on as well, Danny Ricciardo’s win with a surely slower car was also pretty good. To me things like this can be amazing, even if no overtakes are happening on the track.
        Sadly I have seen less from the Senna-Prost era, just the end of it.

  70. 1 (19%)
    2 (13%)
    3 (15%)
    4 (11%)
    5 (14%)
    6 (15%)
    7 (8%)
    8 (3%)
    9 (1%)
    10 (2%)
    Total Voters: 280

    Very very difficult vote, as far as the racing going on it deserves 1, as in the minimum possible, because there weren’t overtakes aside from lap 1.

    As far as the mixing up of the field, as in no mercedes ahead, and other than red bull, ferrari, mclaren, alfa and aston in the positions ahead it deserves a 10.

    Taking into account how hard overtaking at monaco is, I’d tend to err on being nice towards the race and give it 6, but make no mistake: had this been a mercedes 1-2 it’d have been an 1 for me.

    A shame for leclerc, if he had been in the race he could’ve probably held off verstappen, with only under and over cuts being a danger obviously, but at least he caused this due to his own qualifying mistake, also a shame for bottas who had no fault of his own and extracted the best he could from a relatively weak mercedes, was close to verstappen at first, but then started to lose out and sainz was catching up to him, so he would’ve been battling for 2nd or 3rd.

    1. Ah, obviously, the overcuts were good, but very rare, there wasn’t really any serious overtake attempt as the race went on, some drivers at some point were close to others, like hamilton to gasly, perez to norris, giovinazzi to ocon, tsunoda to alonso and latifi in different parts, but never really close enough to attempt example after the tunnel.

  71. ady (@sixwheeler)
    25th May 2021, 7:21

    One of the most memorable races in my 26 years of watching F1. I really admired the skill of the commentators in managing to sound excited all the way through, despite a near total absence of anything to talk about

  72. The race was only exciting for fans who support a specific team or driver. But you have to have skills to put this race to an end without damaging the car. So for a racefan it was good. Drivers on the edge of danger and skills. Gave it a seven, as Dutch I would put it at a 10 of course but that wouldn’t reflect the fact there were no overtakes here just one action of Vettel which was great. Surprise: Mercedes acting worse than Ferrari.

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