But I think if LH wants one more championship, Mercedes need to do more in car setup. The proof of that is the Aston Martin used the wind túnel of Mercedes and they had achieved a good aerodynamic car.
Let’s wait for Spain and couple other GPs to see how Merc upgrades work. Monaco seemed full of promises but the track is too singular to really draw conclusions.
Alpine seemed to have made good progress too and Ferrari didn’t release their upgrades yet.
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Mercedes’ upgrades that are understandable should make the car worse in slow corners, like the anti dive properties and the lesser camber gain. So the fact that they seemed fairly quick in Monaco is promising. Lewis and Ocon were actually the quickest on track in the last 10 laps or so.
…?
Nicely done for Merc today. Ferrari 
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Snooze fest, but on the positive maybe Mercedes will make it a race by the end of the season with some more upgrades.
An interesting race if you exclude Verstappen. Perez recovered well. Leclerc’s performance is bewildering, maybe his chassis is cracked?
I really don’t think they nor anyone are anywhere near close enough to make it a race. Max had a pit stop in hand before even half distance - lap 25 or something. That’s a huge advantage to make up.
Roll on 2026 
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I believe Toto said that if Hamilton pushed he would’ve been around 15 seconds behind verstappen at the end of the race. Still a big gap, but better than nothing
15 seconds with or without Max last stop for fastest lap softs, which he really didn’t need to make?
Honestly, the RB are in a class of their own. I don’t see that changing unless FIA rules their suspension system illegal for next year or we get to ‘26.
I don’t think max pitted for fastest lap
It’s strange how unbeatable they seem, yet the gaps at the end of the race aren’t huge. Like Mercedes’ used to be a second faster than the next best car, and would lap everyone, and sometimes lap people twice. But red Bull seems just as dominant but they aren’t nearly that far ahead at the end of the race. Maybe they just aren’t pushing it.
I think RBR’s thinking is to have enough lead for a pitstop in hand just in case, but not much more. There is really no upside to taking on more risk in passing more backmarkers than required.
In the age of the budget cap you really need to win at the slowest and least stressful speed possible. For all we know they may be adding an extra race or two in terms of lifing parts. So ‘true’ pace is probably masked by a lot of teams.
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I didnt think it was a boring race at all even if you include Max. Max is a peak form and the RB is a beast perfectly suited to him. I find it awesome to watch perfection and mastery on the track in its own right.
But beside that, the race was really interesting. There were 65 overtakes after all! A return to actual race tracks is very welcome as well in my opinion!
Watching the Merc’s massive improvement and ability to stomp both Aston and Ferrari was really cool. The off-track development is a race in and of itself! I mean hell, Russell was the first car to start behind a Red Bull and beat it this season! Russell going P12 to P3 was fantastic. Russell passing Stroll and then Hamilton passing Alonzo a few second later really sent an exciting message.
Zhou had a great race and is looking better and better as he gets comfortable in F1. I’m excited to see how he develops over the next few years.
Alpine had a good weekend. Gasly had a brilliant qualy. P4 on merit was pretty spectacular. The race did not go quite as well, but I think they showed that they are indeed faster than the McLaren and the rest of the midfield.
Sure, there was not a whole lot of tension (perhaps a moment when it was thought Perez could hunt down Russell), but it was a great race in my opinion!
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Another (to predictable) F1 race . . . 
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Another predictable f1 moment:
With PGA merging with LIV golf it appears the whitewashing plan is going great!
Hulkenberg was robbed of his P2 grid position. I understand a rule for safety, but I don’t see how he could have complied with it in any away based on when the red flag came out and where he was on the track.
In the end it won’t make much difference as I’m sure it will be yet another non-race with Max scampering off into the distance.
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Yeah chalk that one up to ‘shit happens’
Should be an interesting mid field race at least, I do like wet Quali/ dry race events. It tends to generate some good scraps as those who had less aero for Quali knowing it would be dry for the race battle to get past the guys who opted for higher Quali aero to get a better grid position, at the cost of race pace.
I think russel bit on max car, and left all fight to the end of race between LH and FA! 
Alex Albon 
Lewis was certainly going for it until Alonso put the hammer down in the last few laps.
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