On Track
We’re in Monaco for the eighth round of the 2024 Formula One World Championship. Get the latest thoughts from Lance and Fernando following the Monaco Grand Prix.
Concluding the 70th edition of the Monaco Grand Prix, Fernando finished just outside of the points in P11 while Lance concluded the race in P14.
Sunday round-up and reaction
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Lance began the Monaco Grand Prix in P13 while Fernando started P14 after penalties from other drivers promoted them to higher starting positions.
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Lance made up a place on the opening lap before a red flag put an early pause to the race. Both drivers changed their tyres under the red flag, opting to restart on Mediums.
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Later in the race, Fernando was behind Lance and worked on building a gap, allowing Lance to pit at the end of Lap 42 without losing any positions.
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After a puncture on Lap 49, Lance made it to the pits for a set of Softs. He then made a series of overtakes towards the end of the race to finish P14.
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Fernando managed his Medium tyres well and completed the race without pitting.
#18 | Lance Stroll | Race
“I think we always expected the race to be about managing the tyres so that was no surprise, especially after the restart. You need a big delta to overtake here so we did what we could with the strategy. I had a gap over Pierre [Gasly] so we pitted for Hard tyres to try and race him in the second half of the grand prix.
“In the end it didn’t work out so we missed out on scoring a point. This weekend was not the easiest and shows we need to find some more pace.”
#14 | Fernando Alonso | Race
“We were a little bit unlucky at the beginning of the race. We chose the Hard tyre to start the race aiming to go very long in the first stint. With the red flag everyone changed tyres, we did the same but had to fit the Medium and go to the end which was tortuous. It was very difficult to keep the tyres alive.
“At one point we thought we’d try a different strategy with Lance – a pit stop to attack Gasly, we were out of the points with nothing to lose. It didn’t work but generally it was a disappointing weekend. We need to get better for Canada.”
Mike Krack | Team Principal
“After the red flag on the opening lap there were limited strategy options available today. Starting on the Hard tyres, we switched both cars to the Medium tyres in the hope we could go to the end of the race. Lance had a gap over Gasly so we took the opportunity to fit some Hard tyres to compete for the final point. Unfortunately it wasn’t meant to be. Fernando managed his tyres well, but we finished just outside the top ten.
“It’s been another tough day, compromised by qualifying outside of the points scoring positions on Saturday. Now is the time to regroup as a team, focus on improvements and come back stronger in Canada.”
Next up
We make our way to Montreal for the Canadian Grand Prix, which takes place 7-9 June.
Saturday
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Both drivers will start the Grand Prix outside of the top 10. Lance qualified P14 while Fernando will line up tomorrow from P16.
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Fernando was only 0.132 seconds away from getting through to Q2 during today’s Qualifying session.
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Earlier in the day, the drivers completed their final Free Practice before Qualifying, with both running 25 laps to gather more valuable data and maximise potential.
#18 | Lance Stroll | Qualifying
“I think more was possible today. I put in some strong lap times to progress through to Q1, but then hit some traffic during my final flying lap in Q2. That cost us a couple of tenths. It’s especially tough to pass here, so I expect we’ll have a difficult day tomorrow, but we’ll still be looking to fight for points.”
#14 | Fernando Alonso | Qualifying
“It was a case of wrong place and wrong moment today for me. This is Monaco and you need to find some luck here too! I lost quite a bit of lap time with the traffic in Q1 and there is nobody to blame as we can’t expect the traffic to vanish. Heading into Qualifying, we were thinking Q3 looked possible. It will be a tough day tomorrow, but we will take any opportunities that come our way.”
Mike Krack | Team Principal
“It has been a really tough day in Monaco and disappointing for our fans, the drivers and all of the team. There are no excuses, we simply did not have a race car capable of reaching the top ten today. The margins are very small, and we were on the wrong side of them.
“We now face an uphill battle to score points from P14 and P16, but we will do what we can to capitalise on any opportunities that might materialise in the long race tomorrow. Going forward we need to bring more performance to the AMR24.”
Next up
The Monaco Grand Prix takes place on Sunday at 14:00 BST.
Friday
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Lance and Fernando spent Friday’s Practice sessions gathering important data and gaining a further understanding of the new updates.
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Both drivers finished inside the top 10 in both Practice sessions.
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Fernando finished third in FP2 with a time that was only 0.388 seconds off last year’s pole.
#18 | Lance Stroll | Free Practice
“We got some good laps in during today’s Practice sessions so we’ll spend this evening looking through the data and maximising our learnings.
“I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s Qualifying. Driving around Monaco is always a lot of fun; it’s all about pushing to the limits. It’s always an exciting session, so we’ll see what we can do.”
#14 | Fernando Alonso | Free Practice
“It was good to get some track time today ahead of Qualifying tomorrow. We need to analyse all of our data overnight and let’s see what we can do in Qualifying.”
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Sophie Anderson, a UK-based writer, is your guide to the latest trends, viral sensations, and internet phenomena. With a finger on the pulse of digital culture, she explores what’s trending across social media and pop culture, keeping readers in the know about the latest online sensations.
