5 F1 Request A Bets to Look Out for in this Weekend’s Monaco GP

Last season, Charles Leclerc famously managed to qualify his Ferrari on Pole Position for the Monaco GP having crashed his far on his final run when already in the lead, denying Max Verstappen the chance to go quicker.

Ferrari have arguably had the quicker car this season, but, due to errors from their drivers and superb driving by Verstappen, Leclerc currently trails the Dutchman in the World Driver’s Championship by six points heading into his home GP.

However, Leclerc has never managed to finish a race at Monte Carlo in his last five attempts in both F2 and F1. Notably, the Monegasque driver even crashed Niki Lauda’s 1974 Ferrari at a recent ‘Monaco Historic GP’.

If this weekend is to be the one where Leclerc shakes off his Monaco hoodoo, then he will likely win due to having a much more nimble car to that of Verstappen in the Red Bull.

Verstappen has managed to win every single race that he has finished this season, but, this Grand Prix will likely be one too far for the Dutchman to extend this record due to the Ferrari’s being better at cornering than the Red Bull’s this season.

Meanwhile, Carlos Sainz managed a second-place finish at Monaco last season, finishing just eight seconds behind Verstappen.

As mentioned above, the Ferrari’s will likely have a more dominant car this weekend if this season’s form is anything to go by, unless of course, they make mistakes.

Whilst last season’s race winner Verstappen will expect to be in contention for the win at stages during the race. Sergio Perez managed a second-place finish in Spain last weekend behind his teammate, with the Mexican understandably being slightly aggrieved at team orders preventing him from having a shot at winning the race itself.

In Spain, the two Mercedes GP cars looked far better, as George Russell challenged for a podium and managed to get it, whilst Lewis Hamilton recovered from a first-lap collision with Kevin Magnussen that saw him drop to last place to finish fifth place with a superb drive.

Fernando Alonso has shown plenty of pace throughout the season, most recently when he started last place in his home GP last weekend, producing a brilliant drive that saw the two-time World Driver’s Championship winner finish ninth.

Should Leclerc’s Monaco ghost not fail to disappear, then Verstappen will be there to pounce on any blunders or opportunities that present themselves. The Dutchman will know how key qualifying is to winning this race, due to the track parameters being so tight, with pole position often going on to win this Grand Prix.

Alonso has always been a driver that has been capable of spectacular drivers, such as when he finished on the podium at Qatar last year. The 40-year-old Spaniard was on course to finish Pole Position in Australia but for an Engine Breaking issue and will be hoping to show similar pace here.

Meanwhile, Hamilton has managed to score points in all but one race so far this season and currently lies sixth in the standings. The seven-time World Driver’s Championship winner has won the Monaco GP three times, doing so in 2008, 2016 and 2019 and will be hoping to put on a good show once again.

The final tip on this list involves both Sainz and Verstappen to finish on the podium here having done so last year. Notably, this excludes Leclerc due to his recent history at Monaco.

Lando Norris’ season has picked up dramatically since McLaren’s disaster in Bahrain, as the Brit has managed to score 39 points since then, including a podium at Imola. Last season, Norris made up the third podium place behind both Verstappen and Sainz.

As mentioned above, Russell has been superb in his debut campaign for Mercedes since his switch from Williams and has not finished any lower than fifth during this season.

Pierre Gasly has failed to score a point in any of his last three races, but, has looked good during practice in the run-up to this Grand Prix. The 26-year-old finished sixth in Monte Carlo last season and will be looking to do similar this time around.

Esteban Ocon is a driver that has had some spectacular showings since the start of last season for Alpine, notably winning at Hungary in 2021. The 25-year-old Normandy-born driver finished ninth here last season and has managed four sixth-placed or higher finishes so far this campaign.