The Monaco Grand Prix was this past Sunday. I watched it from an airplane seat during a morning flight between Boston and Denver. Being tired from such an early flight, the race provided a great chance for me to catch up on some sleep. Thankfully, I was awake for the flash of drama that was a very unfortunate pit stop for Valtteri Bottas.
Monaco is heralded as a significant moment on the F1 calendar. I think that’s mostly because it used to be an amazing venue to watch tight racing action. Today though it’s just about the pageantry of the pre-race spectacle. And it’s also a chance for crazy wealthy people to party and show off the size of their yachts. As for the racing quality today, Monaco is insanely boring. And when the director of the race visuals had a chance to show any bit of excitement, the broadcast cut away from a moment of pit-lane-exit excitement that lead to an aggressive and strong move to get ahead of the pack as the cars entered turn 1. In fact, they cut away from that moment twice.
One small piece of metal that turned the race on its head ????#MonacoGP ???????? #F1 pic.twitter.com/JIkFcDk18D
— Formula 1 (@F1) May 24, 2021
For poor Valtteri though, his race was clean and he sat in a strong position to pester Max Verstappen in P1. Right up until his pit stop, when the tire gun essentially machined the nut and ruined the axle of the car. The wheel could then not be removed quickly, and he simply had to retire the car. His day done and his hopes for a podium finish dashed. And any chance for the viewer at a potential 1-2 shootout down to the wire were also squashed.
Sure, it was great to see Sergio Perez, Carlos Sainz Jr, and even Sebastien Vettel driving rather well. And it is awesome and fun to watch the rise of Lando Norris. But the race was insanely boring. The two spots of potential excitement were the mind-numbing strategy of Ferrari to ruin its own weekend before the lights went out and this shit moment for Bottas who didn’t deserve to go out like that.
Watch his day end in a slow-motion flash of metallic confetti in the tweet above.
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