Formula 1: Is the Monaco Grand Prix the best chance to stop Mercedes?
By Asher Fair
Is the Monaco Grand Prix the best chance for either Ferrari or Red Bull Racing to stop Mercedes throughout the remainder of the 2019 Formula 1 season?
Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport have made history with their hot start to the 21-race 2019 Formula 1 season, as they have recorded 1-2 finishes in each of the season’s first five races.
Five-time Formula 1 champion Lewis Hamilton has won three of these races ahead of teammate Valtteri Bottas in second place, and he has finished in second behind Bottas in the other two. Never before in Formula 1 history had a team recorded more than three consecutive 1-2 finishes to open up a season.
This Sunday, in the season’s sixth race, the Monaco Grand Prix, at Circuit de Monaco, the Silver Arrows are set to go for their sixth consecutive 1-2 finish to open up the season and their eighth consecutive victory going back to last season.
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But will this 78-lap race around the 19-turn, 2.074-mile (3.338-kilometer) Circuit de Monaco temporary street circuit in Monte Carlo, Monaco provide the best chance for another team to stop the Brackley-based team?
Only two other teams, Scuderia Ferrari and Aston Martin Red Bull Racing, aside of Mercedes have won any of the last 123 races going back to the 2013 season, so if Mercedes’ run ends up being halted this Sunday, it will likely be halted by one of these teams.
The good news for these two teams is the fact that Ferrari won the 2017 Monaco Grand Prix and even secured a 1-2 finish in the race as well as the fact that Red Bull Racing won last year’s Monaco Grand Prix and nobody passed Daniel Ricciardo for the lead all race.
Bottas and Hamilton finished in fourth and seventh place, respectively, in the 2017 Monaco Grand Prix, and they finished in fifth and third, respectively, in the 2018 Monaco Grand Prix.
The bad news?
The Monaco Grand Prix is one of only two races remaining on the schedule that Mercedes did not win in either the 2017 season or the 2018 season, their worst two seasons since the start of the V6 turbo hybrid era in 2014 but two dominant seasons for them nevertheless. On top of that, they have had a strong start this weekend in practice.
Aside of the Mexican Grand Prix, which was won by Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen in both the 2017 and 2018 seasons, the Monaco Grand Prix could provide the best chance for Ferrari and Red Bull Racing to win a race this season.
But if neither one of these two teams can cause Formula 1’s dominant force to trip up in the principality, we could very well be looking at more and more speculation as to whether or not Mercedes can go 21 for 21 and win every single race on the 2019 schedule.
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Will Ferrari or Red Bull Racing earn their first victory of the 2019 Formula 1 season in this Sunday’s Monaco Grand Prix, or will Mercedes’ stranglehold on the rest of the field tighten? Tune in to ESPN at 9:10 a.m. ET for the live broadcast of the race from Circuit de Monaco to find out.