F1 Grid Slot Stats: Monaco Grand Prix

The Monaco Grand Prix is such a procession that whoever takes pole will win, right? Well, not quite. The polesitter has won only twice in the last seven Monaco Grands Prix.

In 2021, polesitter Charles Leclerc failed to even start the race. His DNS and his fourth place finish from pole in 2022 are the only time in the last 18 Monaco races that the polesitter has not finished on the podium.

The polesitter here has not enjoyed the best of luck in recent seasons. An ill-timed pit-stop lost Lewis Hamilton the win in 2015, Daniel Ricciardo suffered a slow pit stop in 2016 which lost him the win and in 2017 Kimi Raikkonen lost out on victory due to strategy, which saw his Ferrari team-mate take the honours.

Perhaps surprisingly, from the 68 F1 races held here, the polesitter has won only 30 times, giving a pole to win conversion rate of well under 50%.

The polesitter at the Monaco Grand Prix has retired on 20 occasions. Leclerc’s DNS in 2021 was the first time that the Monaco polesitter failed to finish since 2002, when Juan Pablo Montoya was forced out of the race with engine troubles.

The driver starting second has won the Monaco Grand Prix three times in the last seven races. In the last 12 Monaco Grands Prix, 2013 and 2016 are the only occasions on which the driver starting from second on the grid has failed to finish on the podium. On both occasions, though, the driver starting here still scored points.

The last driver to not score points from second on the grid was Kimi Raikkonen in the rain-hit 2008 race. Since 2001, Mark Webber is the only driver to fail to finish in Monaco having started second. He retired in 2006 with an engine failure.

Sergio Perez took victory from third on the grid at the Monaco Grand Prix, marking only the fifth victory for the driver starting here this millennium.

In the four races before 2022, the driver starting third failed to convert their grid slot into a podium finish three times. Valtteri Bottas’ retirement in 2021 was the first from third on the grid since Kimi Raikkonen’s infamous retirement from the 2006 race, when he jumped on his yacht for beers instead of returning to the garage after an engine failure.

Between 1974 and 2010, Thierry Boutsen’s tenth place finish in 1989 was the only time that the driver starting third did not either finish on the podium or retire.

The driver starting fourth at the Monaco Grand Prix has finished on the podium in all of the last three races at the circuit. Sebastian Vettel and Carlos Sainz finished as runners-up in 2019 and 2021, while Max Verstappen finished third last year.

This grid slot has provided top five finishes in every Monaco Grand Prix since 2015. 2014 marks the last time that the driver starting here failed to finish the race.

Not since Jean-Pierre Beltoise in 1972 has the driver lining up fourth on the grid won the Monaco Grand Prix. The grid slot was also victorious in 1967 and 1969.

In 2019, Kevin Magnussen failed to score having started from fifth on the grid. That was the first time since 2011, when Michael Schumacher retired, that the driver starting fifth failed to finish in the top ten. Schumacher’s retirement is the only DNF for this grid slot in the last 17 Monaco races.

Since 2011, fifth on the grid has given three podium finishes – all third place results for Fernando Alonso in 2012, Daniel Ricciardo in 2017 and Lando Norris in 2021.

The driver starting sixth has scored in all of the last seven Monaco Grands Prix and has not recorded a DNF since 2012.

Historically, sixth on the grid has had a relatively high retirement rate, with more non-finishes from here than any other position in the top 11.

This is the highest grid slot at Monaco to have never scored a win. No one has scored a podium finish from sixth on the grid at Monaco since Nick Heidfeld in 2005. The grid slot supplied four podium finishes in five years between 2000 and 2005.

The driver starting seventh has finished where they started in all of the last three Monaco Grands Prix.

Like sixth, seventh on the grid has never given a win at the Monaco Grand Prix, though two runner-up finishes have been recorded from here, in 1950 and 1981.

The most recent podium finish to come from here was for Sergio Perez in 2016, who finished third. That’s the only time that a podium has been scored from outside the top six on the grid in Monte Carlo since 2007. The driver starting seventh has had three DNFs in the last nine Monaco races.

The very first Monaco Grand Prix to be held as a round of the Drivers’ Championship resulted in a podium finish for Louis Chiron, who started from eighth on the grid. The grid slot has gone on to score nine more top three finishes since then, including a win for Jochen Rindt in 1970.

While no one starting here has finished on the podium since 2000, in the last 13 races the driver starting eighth has scored nine times – the four times that they haven’t all being DNFs. The last retirement from eighth on the grid was recorded in 2016.

Between 1966 and 1988, the driver starting ninth in Monaco retired 19 times. The eight times that they didn’t all resulted in top four finishes.

Results in recent years have been less polarising. Since 2004, the driver starting here has had 12 top ten finishes, but has also suffered four retirements. In 2021, Sergio Perez finished fourth having started ninth in Monaco. It was the grid slot’s best result since 2012.

The driver starting tenth in Monaco moved up the order in both 2018 and 2019 and finished where they started in 2021, taking the total number of top ten finishes from this grid slot to 32 – more than any behind it.

Esteban Ocon failed to score having started tenth in 2022, finishing in 12th place. There have been 30 non-finishes from here in total, including four in the last 13 Monaco races.

Just two podium finishes have come from 11th on the grid. The last time it happened was way back in 1979. The driver starting tenth has had 27 top ten finishes at the Monaco Grand Prix, 20 of those resulting in points. It has also had 35 retirements; the second-most of any grid slot in the top 11. 11th on the grid has supplied three points-scoring finishes in the last five Monaco races.

The 12th grid slot has amassed 39 non-finishes in Monaco since 1950. In 2022, Valtteri Bottas finished ninth, becoming the first driver to score from 12th on the grid in Monaco since Jenson Button finished sixth in 2014.

This grid slot has supplied points on only 20 occasions, less than any other grid slot in the top 15.

13th on the grid has supplied four points finishes at the Monaco Grand Prix in the last six races. Between 2013 and 2015, there were three consecutive retirements from this grid slot. In 2022, Kevin Magnussen recorded the first retirement for the driver starting here since that streak.

There have been two podium finishes from 13th on the grid: second for Ayrton Senna in 1984 and third for Johnny Herbert in 1996.

The 14th grid slot in Monte Carlo is the only one outside of the top ten to have won a Grand Prix here. That happened in 1996, when Olivier Panis took an unlikely victory for Ligier.

While no one has done anything quite so impressive from the grid slot since then, the driver starting 14th has scored points in eight of the last 13 races at the track. Charles Leclerc’s late-race brake failure in 2018 brought to an end a four-year streak of points for the driver starting from 14th and the driver starting here has not scored since.

14th also supplied podium finishes for Chris Amon and Lucien Bianchi in 1967 and 1968 respectively.

In three of the last four Monaco races, the driver lining up 15th on the grid at the Monaco Grand Prix has failed to finish. In the last 14 races at the track, the driver starting from 15th has scored points only once. The last driver to score points from this grid slot was Nick Heidfeld, who finished eighth in 2011.

Felipe Massa’s seventh place finish in 2014 remains the last time that the driver starting 16th in Monaco has scored. In every race which the driver starting 16th finished between 1950 and 2002, they finished in the top ten – but they retired on 31 occasions during that time; including in every year between 1994 and 2002.

16th is the furthest back grid slot from which a podium finish has come at Monaco, with Clay Regazzoni finishing as runner-up in 1979.

Since 2005, Paul di Resta’s ninth place in 2013 is the only time that the driver starting 17th has scored points. There have been 17 top ten finishes from this grid slot and 27 non-finishes.

In the last 13 Monaco races, the driver starting from 18th has retired from the Monaco Grand Prix six times, and in the last 26 races the grid position has suffered 15 DNFs, more than any other in the timespan.

There was an even lower completion rate between 1981 and 2004, when the driver starting 18th finished the race just four times in 24 years! Ralf Schumacher, who finished sixth in 2005, is the only driver to have scored points from this position in the last 42 years.

Since 1988, Sebastian Vettel’s fifth place finish for Toro Rosso in 2008 is the only time a driver starting from 19th has gone on to score points at the Monaco Grand Prix.

While the position has finished in the top ten on 14 occasions, Louis Chiron in 1955, Marc Surer in 1981 and Ivan Capelli in 1987 are the only drivers, other than Vettel in 2008, to have started 19th and scored. Curiously, all three of those results were sixth place finishes.

On the plus side, the 19th grid slot has scored on more occasions than 18th or 20th.

Good news for the driver starting from 20th – Max Verstappen scored from this position in 2018. The bad news? Well, before that, Danny Sullivan was the last driver to score from the position… all the way back in 1983.

Between 2010 and 2013, the driver starting here never finished the race. The driver starting here has failed to even start the race on three occasions – Chris Amon in 1974, Domenico Schiattarella in 1995 and Jenson Button, who suffered a large accident in qualifying, in 2003. In 1984 Stefan Bellof even got disqualified from the race having started 20th.

It’s a position which brings a wide variety of results, but very rarely are any of those results points-paying positions. Sullivan and Verstappen are the only two drivers to have scored having started 20th on the grid in Monte Carlo.

At a track where overtaking is so difficult, starting from the pit-lane may sound counter-intuitive. While the last three drivers to start from the pit-lane at the track – Felipe Nasr and Max Verstappen in 2016 and Jenson Button in 2017 – all retired from the race, before that four drivers had scored points having started from the pit-lane.

Heikki Kovalainen finished eighth after starting in the pit-lane in 2008, Fernando Alonso finished sixth in 2010 and, most recently, Carlos Sainz finished tenth in 2015. But perhaps most impressive of all was Michael Schumacher who was demoted to the pit-lane following his qualifying antics in 2006. He went on to finish the race in fifth place.