Formula 1 bosses should feel even more determined to remove Monaco’s unique control over the direction of the television coverage after another hopeless broadcast this year.
Unlike every other race on the calendar, the TV direction for Monaco is managed by the Automobile Club de Monaco.
It is something F1 wants to change when it renews the race’s contract. Fans must hope F1 is successful.
The broadcast of the 2022 event was a frustrating mix of missed passes and incidents, and a tiresome mismatch of FOM graphics over irrelevant ACM-directed images.
We found several unseen moments as we completed our post-race analysis. Doubtless, we haven’t even caught all of them.
Remarkably, the TV direction managed to miss three overtakes, a second clash between Lewis Hamilton and Esteban Ocon, plus countless instances of drivers going off-track, and Mick Schumacher almost crashing out several laps before he eventually did.
The Monaco GP can be a tough watch for a fan, especially in the dry. That is not helped when the TV direction, astonishingly, manages to miss several of the few exciting moments that do happen.
STROLL SENDS IT
When/where: Lap 19, Rascasse
Who: Lance Stroll and Yuki Tsunoda
What happened: Stroll had been all over the back of the AlphaTauri for a while but half a look into the Swimming Pool was the closest he got to getting a move done. Until just a few corners later, that is.
Stroll absolutely sent it down the inside at Rascasse and got all crossed up mid-corner, sliding through to the exit, but it was a clean and sweetly executed pass.
No wonder he was all smiles afterwards when he told us: “Not sure if you guys saw it, but it was quite nice.” We didn’t, of course, but he’s right – it really was.
HAMILTON VS OCON PART 2
When/where: Lap 19, on the start-finish straight
Who: Lewis Hamilton and Esteban Ocon
What happened: One lap after being robustly defended against into Ste Devote, Hamilton moved to the inside of Ocon on the start-finish straight. As Ocon came across, Hamilton was squeezed towards the pitwall. He suffered front wing damage after making contact with Ocon’s right rear.
RUSSELL JUMPS NORRIS
When/where: Lap 23, exiting Ste Devote
Who: George Russell and Lando Norris
What happened: The man at the centre of this move, Russell, was disappointed to discover this switch back onto the damp side of the track as Norris exited the pits didn’t make it onto the broadcast.
“He sort of came out of the pits directly in front of me and chopped across and I managed to overtake him on the wet spot,” said Russell, who was pretty pleased with himself for the pass that bagged him fifth place. But Norris wasn’t in the mood to be charitable.
“If that was a mega overtake, he’s done some s***e overtakes! I just came out of the box and he obviously gained a lap prior because the slick was the tyre to be on,” said Norris.
“He had warm tyres and mine were cold and he came past me. It was quite simple…”
SCHUMACHER’S ALBON CLASH
When/where: Lap 17, at Mirabeau
Who: Mick Schumacher and Alex Albon
What happened: Schumacher was in a fierce fight with Albon, and had tried one failed move around the outside of Mirabeau a couple of laps prior to this.
On lap 17, Albon went a bit wide through Massenet, which allowed Schumacher to get a run out of Casino. Albon defended into Mirabeau so Schumacher went very late on the brakes on the outside but seemed to move slightly over on Albon at the same time.
They made contact, Schumacher’s right-rear to Albon’s left front, and Schumacher was briefly sideways and locked up trying to get the car suddenly stopped.
“What an idiot,” Albon said of Schumacher, who got away with light damage on his front wing from grazing against the wall but was frankly lucky not to get completely stuffed into the barriers.
Given what followed a few laps later, perhaps it would have been a kinder exit.
LATIFI’S SNEAKY ATTACK
When: Lap 49, at Tabac
Who: Nicholas Latifi and Zhou Guanyu
What happened: After Zhou collected a lairy moment into the chicane by going onto the run-off and passing Yuki Tsunoda illegally, he slowed to let Tsunoda back past.
Latifi took full advantage of Zhou’s lost momentum and tucked beneath the Alfa Romeo between Tabac and the Swimming Pool with a lovely, opportunistic move.
