How Verstappen dashed Alonso's Monaco victory hopes

Fernando Alonso had the misfortune of waking up the beast Max Verstappen. Challenged to the slightest tenth in qualifying, the Dutch lion responded authoritatively by taking pole position right under the nose of the Spaniard, defeated by only 84 thousandths after having had a 2 tenths lead at the end of the race. second sector.

A small blow for the Asturian who kept repeating that Monaco was probably the best place to hope to win. In the end, he will have to wait a little longer to add a 33^e victory to his record because the Batavian simply did not give him the slightest chance in the race.

A play in several acts

Titulated in qualifying, Max Verstappen took second on Sunday. And the least we can say is that he carried out his mission in the Principality perfectly. First, he controlled his start by maintaining his position in front of Fernando Alonso. The hard part was practically done for the double reigning world champion since he knew that his rival was not going to tempt the devil on a track where overtaking attempts do not always end well.

Sheltered by the Bull of Asturias, he then set his own pace. After having a lead of around 2-3 seconds in the first laps, he gradually let go until he had a margin of around ten seconds. Enough to leave him alone when making his only pit stop

Verstappen unshakeable, Alonso helpless

And even when the stop took place in difficult conditions due to the sudden arrival of rain, Verstappen did not tremble. In distress at the exit of the hotel hairpin, he even almost sent his car into the wall when arriving at the doorman. Luckily, Fernando Alonso was still far away. Aston Martin having misjudged the weather, the Hispanic first stopped to put on the mediums before returning a lap later for the intermediates where Max only made one pit-stop.

Rain in Monaco means one thing – chaos on track! 🤯#MonacoGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/cavvZEuRPa

— Formula 1 (@F1) May 28, 2023

The pilot Red Bull then had to deal with a soggy tarmac where many of his colleagues broke their teeth. He didn't flinch. Not even when Fernando Alonso took several tenths back from him during a few consecutive laps. The championship leader took his time, did not rush and made it clear to his competitor from Aston Martin that victory was not for him.

« It was incredibly slippery, he was having fun. When you're in the lead with that much lead, you don't want to push too hard, but you don't want to lose too much time either. So it's quite difficult in this scenario. I touched the walls several times, it was very difficult, but it’s Monaco! (…) It’s very nice to win, even more so in the way we did it. » For Fernando Alonso, the 33^e victory will wait a little longer. For Max Verstappen, the road to his 3^e crown seems to be clearing up more, especially after the misfortunes of his teammate and runner-up Sergio Pérez on whom he inflicted a 25-0 to increase his lead to 39 points. Max Max Max Super Max!

Fernando Alonso may have found a way to finally win. © Florent Gooden / DPPI

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