Red Bull Celebrates 250, Dominate Monaco Grand Prix
By Chris Emenyonu
A thrilling weekend it was in formula 1 as Red bull’s Daniel Ricciardo gave a scintillating drive cruising to victory in Monte Carlo at the Monaco Grand Prix. Celebrating 250 Grand prix, Red bull came out all smoking with drivers, Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen leading the pack right from practice 1.
Known for special victories, Ricciardo’s win at the Monaco Grand Prix was truly special as he required sensitivity and control rather than his usual overtaking driving style. From practice 1 to taking pole and eventually holding from pressure from race leader, Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel to win the Grand Prix, the Australian gave everything he could for his second victory this season with the first at the Chinese Grand Prix.
Despite all drivers had to manage tyres and drive through narrow streets, Ricciardo’s achievement of holding it together after he also suffered a loss of power that saw the MGU-K fail, a part of the hybrid system that not only recovers and regenerates energy from the rear axle but also through which hybrid energy for the car’s complex system is channelled.
For Ricciardo’s team mates, Max Verstappen who also had a wonderful drive despite starting from the last pit due to crash at qualifying, was the fastest man on track in Monte Carlo with a time of 1:14.260 to set a new fastest lap of the race and bagging the fastest lap award as he finished in pit 9.In 250 Grand Prix races, Red Bull have 57 wins, 59 poles, 58 fastest laps and 113 podium finishes.
While Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen only managed to finish in second and fourth positions, Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas finished third and fifth respectively as both teams could not catch up with the speed of the Red Bull all through the race.
Daniel’s win in Monaco means the 6 races of this season have been shared equally among the Mercedes, Ferrari and Red bull with Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel and Daniel Ricciardo all having 2 wins each so far. A podium finish for Hamilton means he leads the drivers’ standing by 14 points ahead of Vettel’s 96 points and Ricciardo with 72 points leap frogs into third position. Bottas and Raikkonen make up the top 5 with 68 and 60 points respectively.
On the constructors’ standings, Mercedes still look unstoppable with 178 points, 22 points ahead of second positioned, Ferrari as Red Bull maintain third position with 107 points.
With the Monaco Grand Prix done and dusted, all will lay low as teams will be preparing for the next race in Montreal as the Canadian Grand Prix holds between 8th and 10th June 2018.
