Hamilton 'counting down the days' as TITLE RACE is on - GPFans Monaco GP Hot Takes

Charles Leclerc may have taken an emotional victory in Monaco, but the lack of overtaking action has split opinion on the future of the grand prix.

For the first time in F1 history the top 10 finished in their starting grid order, not a great advert for a grand prix circuit.

READ MORE: Red Bull DISASTER diminishes championship lead

Furthermore, dramatic first lap incidents emphasised why this current generation of cars are unsuitable for the streets of Monte-Carlo.

The Red Bull of Sergio Perez was involved in a terrifying collision with both Haas drivers’ on the hill following Turn 1, destroying their cars and race weekends.

With Monaco's contract expiring at the end of next year is it time we said goodbye or should the iconic circuit remain on the calendar?

Here’s what our GPFans journalists had to say about the Monaco Grand Prix…

GPFans Journalists on the Monaco Grand Prix

Stuart Hodge - Chief Editor

The Monaco Grand Prix might struggle for overtaking and, yes, the pile-up at the start may have provided the bulk of the intrigue - but you cannot take this iconic race away.

It's a brilliant occasion and a unique date in not just F1, but the global sporting calendar.

And we have a SEASON, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls.

Ferrari and McLaren are getting better and better and Charles Leclerc's scream on winning his home grand prix came from the depths of his soul. It was a brilliant moment!

He's closed the gap in the drivers' standings and the constructors' title seems like a full-on battle now, given Sergio Perez's continued troubles.

Good to see Checo emerge unscathed from that brutal crash, though, and Canada cannot come quick enough for me...

READ MORE: F1 Monaco Grand Prix hit by TERRIFYING boat crash

Dan Ripley - Deputy Editor

Granted, Monaco is normally one of the worst races of the year - nothing new there. The freak nature of the circuit that brings unique strategies ("you're not going slow enough") also means we still don't quite know how much Ferrari have closed the gap to Red Bull and Max Verstappen.

Still though it is a test of a driver and when you have 24 races on a calendar, you do need variation of challenges to give a range of different types of grands prix - especially when even all the other street circuits look the same now.

Monaco still has a charm to it. Even for one of the most uneventful races even by modern standards, how can you not watch Charles Leclerc take victory, and given his rotten luck at his home race, not raise at least a smile for him?

And yet had Lance Stroll's tyre fallen away a corner sooner... just how much would the race have changed under a safety car? Finer margins than it looked really - only Monaco.

READ MORE: Red Bull F1 car destroyed in BRUTAL multi-car smash

Ronan Murphy - Social Media Editor

An iconic winner on an iconic track. Charles Leclerc wins his hometown race in Monaco. A wonderful story, but by God, was it dull.

Lap one was extremely dramatic, but the rest of the race was an entertainment void, just as it has been in the past few years.

Monaco is one of the most legendary races in motorsport, but isn’t it time we admitted that it’s no longer needed? Despite the Prancing Horse making history, it is time to put this horse out to pasture.

Sentiment is all well and good, but there is no room in Formula 1 for a track where it is impossible to overtake. That is evident by the fact that the top 10 finished in exactly the same order that they started the race.

So if we want to keep Monaco around, just make it qualifying-only, because races here are pointless.

READ MORE: FIA confirm F1 team DISQUALIFICATION in Monaco shock

Tom Fenton - GPFans USA Journalist

The more things change, the more they stay the same. The sight of two Ferraris and a McLaren on the Monaco podium had a distinctly 2000s feel to it, and with the rapid improvements shown by both teams in recent races, one suspects we’ll be seeing it a lot more in the years to come.

Two things are clear after that race; for all of its flaws, the Monaco GP is going nowhere, and Charles Leclerc has lost none of his magic.

One man desperate to join the Monegasque in the famous red next season is Lewis Hamilton, who cut the figure of a man counting down the days until he can swap his Merc cap for something a bit more Scarlet this weekend.

Remarks before and during the race seem to indicate all is not well between the seven-time world champion and his team.

With tensions rising amid poor performances, one of the most successful driver-team partnerships in F1 history could be heading towards a very sour final chapter.

Speaking of sour, a penny for Esteban Ocon’s thoughts, who’s surely regretting his first lap antics. The Frenchman’s aggressive driving style and take-no-prisoners approach have pushed the limits in the past - but his brainless overtake attempt on Pierre Gasly may have been a step too far.

After this weekend, I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see both Ocon and Kevin Magnussen replaced at the end of the season by Jack Doohan and Oliver Bearman respectively. The future is now, at both ends of the paddock.

READ MORE: Cullen ‘living’ with new star after Hamilton split

Sam Cook - F1 Journalist

I said last week ‘bring on Monaco’, and now I’ll say ‘bring on Canada’.

Once again, the Monaco Grand Prix was not a classic, although the result was certainly a head-turner with Charles Leclerc winning his home race for the first time.

Some Kevin Magnussen and Esteban Ocon madness on the first lap provided two scary crashes, in which thankfully all parties walked away from unharmed.

There are questions to be answered though. Cars are simply too big to go around Monaco in 2024, and that provides two things:

1. Danger for drivers and 2. A boring race.

There was a fairytale ending as Leclerc won his first race since the Austrian GP in 2022 on Saturday with a fine qualifying performance - but the lack of overtaking made it a tough watch for some fans.

READ MORE: FIA announce Monaco penalty verdict for Ferrari star

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