Infinite Improbability Drive of the Race - Monaco 2021

[Miguel98]

Post your nominations for Infinite Improbability Drive of the Race here!

[Enforcer]

Vettel. No drama, no mistakes, overcut on two drivers. Good weekend for Seb.

Norris. Another good result for Norris, who not only finds himself 'best of the rest' after Red Bull and Merc, but is actually 3rd in the Championship ahead of Bottas and Perez.

[You-Gee-Eee-Day]

1. Giovinnazi points!
2. Sainz I mean wow there's actually a Ferrari on a podium in 2021
3. Norris what a lad

[IceG]

(i) Aston Martin
(ii) Tsunoda for getting fastest lap, albeit only for a while

[RAK]

1) Sebastien Vettel: A lot higher up the places than he has been otherwise this season with a strong drive.

2) Lando Norris: Not only a podium, but well ahead of his teammate on merit as well.

Honourable Mention: Nikita Mazepin - not only did he not bin it this weekend, he managed to outpace Schumacher in the process.

[dj_vicious]

1. Vettel. It's an obvious one. A very good qualifying performance combined with some excellent team strategy to come home 5th. What a result!

2. Norris. Completely outclassed his much higher rated teammate once again and held it together to score a podium. I think we're coming to expect this kind of performances from Norris, so it may be unfair to say IIDOTR, but why not.

[Meatwad]

Sebastian Vettel probably had his best race in years, so it's an easy choice for me. I never expected him to finish so high, especially ahead of Hamilton.

Honorable mention to Ferrari – they were unexpectedly fast, what could have been without Leclerc's error... Also Mazepin for outperforming Schumacher for most of the weekend and actually looking like a proper F1 driver for once.

[Klon]

Carlos Sainz, Jr. - go ahead, tell someone four months ago that a Ferrari will finish second at Monaco on merit and see how they react.

[rachel1990]

HM- Giovinazzi- good weekend all round and got Alfa's first actual points of the season.
HM- Gasly. Good result for him and Kept his Royal Whinger behind him the whole race.

2- Lando Norris- Thrashing Danny Ric at this time and is getting those podiums. he is only 1 behind Bottas and 2 more than Perez. That says it all. And still is 3rd in the championship.

1- Sebastian Vettel. Once in a while (these times are fading) Seb will come along and will get a result that makes you go- that is why he is still a contender. Today's 5th place was one of those moments.

[Fetzie]

Seb Vettel. Got the over-cut to work on two drivers, finished 5th on merit.


Lando Norris: Podium, solidifying his position in the drivers' championship and establishing his credentials.

[Aislabie]

1 - Charles Leclerc; a Monegasque on pole at Monaco

2 - Lando Norris; third in the WDC (praise be)

[Ciaran]

1. Aston Martin, for their genius strategy calls which have nearly quadrupled their points haul.
2. Gasly, for adding to Lewis's salt.

Checo gets the honourable mention for his tyre management that lifted him to 4th.

[Chrisdude]

2. Sergio Pérez - 4th from 9th is pretty much pulling a rabbit out of a hat at Monaco even with the Red Bull's pace advantage. He was fastest car on track for many laps before the pit stops and had really good race pace.

1. Sebastian Vettel - Solid pace, aggressive move against Gasly. Who would have thought Seb would leave Monaco with nothing to complain about

[tBone]

Why is nobody nominating Ferrari? Having a top-2 car on merit was way beyond expectations on my opinion. Yes, they were unlucky with Leclerc on the end, but this was a remarkably strong weekend and race for them.

Sebastian Vettel deserves a nomination as well. A fine weekend, a great race result and he played a marvelous part in just about the only wheel-to-wheel action there was today.

[CaptainGetz12]

1) Carlos Sainz Jr. When Ferrari dropped the ball he got the car to finish 2nd on a course the prancing horses tend to struggle at. Well done.

2) Sebastian Vettel. Very smart drive and pit strategy to jump Hamilton and Gasly.

Honourable Mentions:
Lando Norris (Another strong performance, he may actually take 3rd in the championship if things break his way)
Yuki Tsuonda (For almost getting the lap record)
Antonio Giovinazzi (Fought hard to get that last point)

[Bleu]

1. Vettel. After difficult start to the season, great result, beating even Lewis Hamilton in the process fair and square.

2. Giovinazzi. Point.

[Spectoremg]

1. Seb. He deserves a bit of good news.
2. Sainz. Well done sir.

[SammiRei]

Not quite as many options here as for RotR, but still enough to have HMs to spare.

Winner goes to Sebastien Vettel: I've largely written off his ability to race over the last few seasons, so managing the double cut and making it stick, even at Monaco was surprising for him.
Runner up goes to Sergio Perez: Having seen Vettel get a double cut in the pits, he went one better and got a triple. Nice.

HM: Carlos Sainz. Helped by Leclerc and Bottas having to retire. but 2nd in a Ferrari is a lot better than we've seen from them in a couple of years.
HM: Lando Norris. Podium in a McLaren and back to third in the championship. Only an HM though, because this is the kind of performance I think I expect of him this year - he's really upped his form this year and i hope it continues.
HM: Antonio Giovanizzi. Point for you, nicely done.

[eagleash]

Perm any 2 from 3:

Sainz;
Norris;
Vettel.

[dr-baker]

Honourable Mentions:
Lando Norris (Another strong performance, he may actually take 3rd in the championship if things break his way)

Oh well done. You've only gone and cursed it now. He'll be lucky to get top-6 now, you mark my words.

[CaptainGetz12]

Honourable Mentions:
Lando Norris (Another strong performance, he may actually take 3rd in the championship if things break his way)

Oh well done. You've only gone and cursed it now. He'll be lucky to get top-6 now, you mark my words.

The Mclaren hat I got for Christmas hopes he does pull it off.

[dr-baker]

Honourable Mentions:
Lando Norris (Another strong performance, he may actually take 3rd in the championship if things break his way)

Oh well done. You've only gone and cursed it now. He'll be lucky to get top-6 now, you mark my words.

The Mclaren hat I got for Christmas hopes he does pull it off.

I hope he does it, but still... the commentator's curse.

[Batty]

Norris has been doing well this season, so I'm not going to bother voting for him.

1. Sebastian Vettel - Great driving, great move on Gasly and made the strategy work. It's a far cry from what we have seen this season. Shout out to Lance for a great drive for strategy.

2. Carlos Sainz - Hasn't been all that flash this season considering a change of teams but really put up his hand after Ferrari and Charles did their thing.

[Alextrax52]

Aston Martin: Up the Green Machines. Vettel was brilliant and Stroll mastered his strategy

Antonio Giovanazzi: I actually think he’ll be disappointed with just the 1 point because he drove excellently

HM to Nikita Mazepin: I expected a weekend similar to Massa in 2002 from him. Crashes galore and angering other drivers. Instead he wasn’t miles off the pace, kept his nose clean and beat his team-mate. If we’re not moaning about him it’s been a good day.

[Miguel98]

1. Aston Martin as a whole - Vettel's best drive in a long time. Absolute perfection and reminding us all why he's a four time champ. And Stroll used the alternate strategy to overcut the cars in front of him to get a double points finish for the squad - aided by Ocon's terrible race pace.

2. Carlos Sainz - Ferrari have been fast all weekend long, and Sainz's podium was the piece that it was missing. A mighty impressive drive from the spaniard.

Honorable mentions go to:

Sergio Pérez - Mega race pace to get up to 4th and almost 3rd. He still lacks qualifying pace, but once he nails that, he's a threat to the top. I just know it. His race pace is no slower than Max.

Esteban Ocon - Drove the wheels out of his Renault to score points with a sub-optimal strategy and a car that did not suit the Monaco track.

Antonio Giovinazzi - First points of the year for Alfa Romeo and a Q3 appearance. The kind of drive that assures your place in the team for next season. Kimi also had a strong weekend, especially on the race. But yeah, you can't really overtake on Monaco.

Lando Norris - Podium at Monaco, baby!

[Hermann95]

Sebastian Vettel: great drive, making the overcut work. A weekend to build up upon which might inject some well needed confidence into Seb and his team.

Carlos Sainz jr/Ferrari: hands down the most unexcpected result before the weekend. Ferrari showed great pace and could have won the race, if not for Charles and the inspection team to bottle it. Sainz showed yet again that he is the most comfortable with the car, out of the drivers who changed teams.

HM:
Lando Norris, for getting a podium on a track McLaren expected to struggle.
Alfa Romeo/Gio, for getting into Q3 and scoring their first point of the season.
Gasly, for annoying Lewis Hamilton all race long and getting a nice junk of points in the process.
Segio Perez, for another great recovery drive in the race. His pace on the saturday is still letting him down though.

[Francophone]

Vettel - Racing Point got the strategy absolutely spot on , more so than their more senior teams and Seb took full advantage of things.

Gasly - I was quite impressed how he was able to not be fazed for so long with Hamilton chasing him the whole race , so I'll nominate him.

[Aerond]

Gasly / Vettel


Sainz / Norris shouldn't surprise anyone anymore

[James1978]

Was struggling to decide so I'll go on the Autosport marks awarded - Vettel was the only 10 so I'll say him.

[Pacific Edge]

Tsunoda: For a few laps, actually held the track record before Hamilton beat it

Perez Thought he'd just sit and feel sorry for himself. He didn't.

Vettel Finally back towards the front

[Rob Dylan]

Sebastian Vettel: just a few races ago people were saying it was a matter of when, not if, Vettel would retire at the end of this year. Just this morning someone said "no way is he retiring before next year!"

Sergio Pérez and Red Bull strategy: for once nobody in Red Bull bathplugged up during the weekend, and indeed they all improved their positions on race day to take both championship leads. Good job!

Nikita Mazepin: was never far off of Schumacher's pace for the whole of Sunday. When Mick had an issue he was able to capitalise and get ahead within moments. He didn't hit any walls (unlike Leclerc lol). Maybe it was a one-off, but he seemed totally comfortable with that Haas for the first time this season.

Planet Sushi: getting more coverage during the post-race interviews than half the grid got during the race.

[Rob Dylan]

The poll is up! This was a difficult one as there were so many options to choose from, but not many with too many votes. As the editor, I have decided to disqualify Norris from the awards this race due to his reasoning being identical to the reason he got IIDOTR a few races back, and thus it isn't improbable.

But anyway, hope the available options are good enough for ya. Get voting, you have 48 hours

[Rob Dylan]

The results are in! Read our race report here