Memes Summing the 2018 Monaco Grand Prix

The 2018 F1 Monaco Grand Prix culminated with Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo leading a lights to flag victory. Behind him, Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel and Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton finished 2nd and 3rd respectively. Most the most part, the race was fairly uneventful save for Max Verstappen scything his way up the order.

For those who were unlucky to miss the race, through the power of social media and memes, we present to you, the 2018 Monaco GP in memes.

Ricciardo’s Victory

Ricciardo may have won, but it wasn’t a cut and dry win for the Australian. Midway through the race, he began to report a loss of power. Naturally, Ferrari found out and Vettel went on the attack. Fortunately, the circuit’s narrow nature was a major blessing in disguise.

Vettel closed up on several occasions but was unable to stick a nose in. As it turned out, Ricciardo was racing with a nearly 2-second deficit. The pace had been slowed down to such an extent that Hamilton, Kimi Raikkonen and Valtteri Bottas had all caught up.

Soon there was a 5-car train consisting of Both Mercedes, Both Ferraris and Ricciardo’s Red Bull leading them. They gapped each other for a while before they bunched up again, with 6th placed Esteban Ocon nearly joining the party.

Boring Race

Most of the drivers pretty much were in their own little F1 race apart from Max Verstappen who was steadily climbing the order. The top 5 were all on their own with a 20+ second gap to Ocon’s Force India and the rest of the pack. Unsurprisingly, given Monaco’s tight nature, overtakes were few and far in between.

The status quo was maintained for a fairly long time until Fernando Alonso’s points streak was rudely halted, a handful of laps from the finish. The race simmered down for a fair bit until the last 10 laps when Brendon Hartley was suddenly speared by local driver Charles LeClerc. Both drivers were out and the virtual safety car was called out. When it ended, the status quo remained until the chequered flag.

Verstappen bites the barrier

Max Verstappen cannot seem to catch a break this season. There has not been a single F1 weekend where the car was not in pieces. This time, the crash was during the final free practice session when he clipped the inside of the barrier at the Swimming Pool section and hopped over the sausage kerb into the barrier at the other end. Missing the Qualifying only ruined his Monaco Grand Prix.

Incidentally, the Dutchman had an identical crash back in the 2016 F1 race and history kind of repeated itself. As a result, he had to start from the back of the grid at the Monaco Grand Prix and fortunately, scythed his way back up the order. Who knows what could have been had be been able to take part in qualifying. Maybe he could have challenged teammate Ricciardo for pole and even the win.

With Max having a reputation for being overly aggressive and even the Haas drivers having a similar reputation, many expected sparks to fly. Fortunately, it did not come to that and everyone had a relatively clean getaway.

Williams’ Rotten Race

Oh Williams Martini! what are we to do with you? This weekend, this looked promising with Sergey Sirotkin entering Q2. But their luck seemed to run out come race day. It started with Sirotkin getting a 10-second stop and go penalty for not having his tires fitted on time at the Monaco Grand Prix.

Some would think the move a bit harsh but what was done was done.Then, they were under investigation again because it seemed as if they were working on the car while the Russian served his penalty. Fortunately, they were cleared of wrongdoing and Sirotkin continued on his merry way in last. Then, Lance Stroll in the other car clipped one of the Toro Rossos and got a puncture. He joined his teammate at the back.

Then things got worse as they made several trips to the pit lane to change tires as their strategy was shot to pieces.