Everyone would like to subtract victory from Red Bull, but doing it under “normal” conditions seems really impossible. Aston Martin, Ferrari and Mercedes would need a crazy, atypical race. A bit like those that the very particular city layout of Monte Carlo. A demanding route, which presents pitfalls but which also offers possibilities. As anyone who enters the doors of a casino learns, there is always a pinch of luck to help the more daring, and for this, even for the Fantamanagers in Monte-Carlo the time may have come to review their schemes at Fanta F1, and therefore to field a less traditional formation.
Ferrari, the focus is on qualifying
In Monte-Carlo, the busiest day, and probably also the most exciting, is Saturday with qualifying. An hour of pure adrenaline, in which you can see the true talent of a driver called upon to extract the best from his single-seater and to give something more than 100%. Every detail can make the difference between pole position and disaster on such a particular track. Leclerc also demonstrated this in 2021 when, to try to keep Pole, he walled the SF21.
Sunday's race for those who have to recover becomes a real nightmare. The track is very narrow, so much confusion. What counts is the mechanics, the feeling with the single-seater, even more if limited to a reduced window of use. And the SF-23 may not need a lot of tweaking to do well. In fact, Ferrari already demonstrated in Baku that it can adapt to a track with winding sections and that it has found the desired traction. On that occasion the only Pole of the season arrived, at the hands of Leclerc. Qualifying, on the other hand, is not the RB19's most powerful weapon, used to performing better on Sundays, also because it struggles to immediately bring the tires into the correct window of use. Furthermore, in Monte-Carlo it will be difficult to benefit from the effect monstre of the DRS and this makes the game more open.
Charles' home race
The home Grand Prix for Ferrari, a Imola, was not held due to the emergency in Emilia-Romagna, heavily hit by floods that are still involving citizens, rescued in difficult operations due to landslides and flooding. This has forced the teams to revise their plans in this hat-trick which will end in Barcelona. Mercedes he preferred not to waste time and will bring the updated W14 to Monte-Carlo, with all the risks that this choice entails. Ferrari, on the other hand, seems intent on bringing big news only to Barcelona. But as we said before, this could be a good thing, considering the serious difficulties he could face if he relied on a new suspension, or other innovations precisely in Monte-Carlo.
Ferrari will still play at home this weekend, and will do so with their Monegasque driver, Charles Leclerc. Fortune hasn't particularly smiled on him yet. After a series of DNFs, in fact in 2022 Leclerc had to settle for 4th place despite him starting from Pole, due to an unforgivable mistake in his strategies. An error that then continued to mark the season of the Reds until the resignation of Mattia Binotto and his team entourage. Looking on the bright side, however, Charles finished a race in Monte-Carlo last year for the first time in his career. Which means that there could be other firsts, like the first time on the podium, the first win. It's only Tuesday, but allow us to dream. However, Pole must be compensated for with the commitment of the entire team, there is no escaping this. It will be a demanding weekend on all fronts, also considering the other wild card in the championship, namely Aston Martin, which is looking forward to victory with Fernando Alonso.
In conclusion, fielding a Ferrari is certainly a gamble but it is a compromise that we are ready to accept. After all, there is only one Monte-Carlo, right?
