Monaco spoiled us this year, and provided everything in its powers to deliver an all-time classic, but Aston Martin didn’t quite get the memo.
Saturday had been what this place is all about. The thrilling finish to qualifying – when Esteban Ocon was usurped by Charles Leclerc and then by Fernando Alonso and finally Max Verstappen with a stunning final sector – saw the drivers clipping barriers in search of the finest margins, knowing Sunday so rarely offers opportunities to make major gains.
To that end, Aston Martin knew the only way it had a chance of beating Verstappen was through a different strategy, and Alonso was surprisingly one of five in the top ten to start on hard tyres, alongside the pole-sitter on mediums.
