Monaco GP Review | Charles Leclerc BREAKS THE MONACO CURSE

Hi. My name is Rachelle. And you're watching or listening to Box Box F1 pod. Welcome to the Monaco Grand Prix episode. This is a very emotional episode. because we finally, finally, finally got to see Charles Leclerc cross the finish line as a winner. It was super emotional. but also kind of a rollercoaster, but also, like, there were long parts of each emotion that we felt. So like first that was lap one, which was filled with so much drama. And then there was literally nothing for the rest of the race. And then Charles won and that was super emotional. And so it was just sort of like drama, boring, floods of tears. Happy tears. and I can't wait to get into it. But, what I will be preparing today is to commemorate Charles's win. I will be making his favorite food, which is a, according to him, a margherita pizza. I will, you know, he also likes Caprice and tiramisu. I don't any time soon, so I'll be making tiramisu. I will be making the Margherita pizza without the prosciutto because I don't eat prosciutto. I wish I did, but I don't. and I will be making a take on the Margherita pizza because I do not have the San Marzano tomatoes that you're supposed to have. I only have fresh tomatoes. And look how pretty they are. I can't just not use them. So this is what I will be cooking with today. Apologies to all the pizza purists out there. This will be a variation on the Margherita pizza in the back though. because I'm not using a tomato sauce, I am infusing garlic and basil into olive oil and I'll be using that as my base and as like a drizzle. so that's prepping in the back. In the meantime, I'll start chopping on my tomatoes, chopping up my mozzarella, and we will get into the Monaco Grand Prix. But before we can discuss Charles and and just this entire weekend, it's time for the digital warmup. Doo doo doo. Lap one Off-Duty F1. So the very first thing we need to discuss. I did watch this in advance. Yes, I was wondering. the first thing we need to discuss is the, Piastri le Claire joining a family's very getting thrones that occurred over on Twitter. x whatever. so the first thing we need to discuss is the original tweet, which I did mentioned briefly last week. and it was basically, if you've been following, Oscar on Twitter, he's been saying that he, he's been sort of trying to, find bits of his heritage, for each Grand Prix so he can claim at his home Grand Prix. He said his grandfather was, like 3/16 Chinese. So he's like, this is my home Grand Prix. and then he did the same thing for, Imola and, now he tried to do the same for Monaco as a joke, So Oscar tweeted, searching my family tree, trying to find any Monegasque roots. To which, Charles replied, I can adopt you if needed. To which Oscar replied, call me Oscar Jack Piastri Leclerc, hyphenating it. It and said can't wait to meet my brother Leo on Thursday if he can pop by McLaren. To which Nicole Piastri, Oscar's mother. replied. I have some questions. Then rolls around Monaco and everyone is now in on this joke. Literally everyone the including F1, the official graphic on the television was changed to Oscar Piastri Leclerc. and during FP1. Oscar was like on the in the top three and Charles was not. And so Charles replied to the tweet saying And so mixed feelings for the whole Leclerc family. And then, F1 kept the changed graphic all through qualifying and was very funny. what was also funny was, when that graphic went live, Nicole Piastri reshared it on her own Twitter and said in need of a new son and tagged at Yuki Tsunoda and was like, you game? To which Yuki never replied, but, also in the post qualifying, press conference, Carlos was getting like really jealous. He was like, can your mom cut my hair. Can your mom do this? And Charles was like, don't be jealous, Carlos. it was very funny. and then also the like joke extended to, to, Arthur Leclerc, Charles's brother. He was being interviewed, and he was like, oh, I'm so happy for my nephew. it just like, keeps going. after the race, Nicole Piastri tweeted, so happy for my sons and tagged Oscar and Yuki. To which, Like, I don't think you can even saw this is happening. I have no idea if he's aware. but I just find it so funny. And also ten out of ten choice from the Piastri. of all the people to adopt on the grid, Yuki is definitely the best option. So I fully support that. anyway, this joke is like, I don't know if I'll ever get old. Currently not getting old for me. and I just hope it keeps on going. Also after Oscar one, his caption for his post was, what a big week, a podium and an adoption. just everyone's in on it and it's great. All right. Other stuff that happened online Tommy Hilfiger, obviously sponsors Mercedes And so George posted a picture of him wearing Tommy Hilfiger. It's like a very dramatic post. And then, like with the wind in his hair and his clothes and, someone commented on the post who made this shirt? And another person replied, someone with zero fashion sense or taste looks like a tablecloth. And Tommy Hilfiger replied on the thread and said, hi, it's us, the people with zero fashion sense. Apparently. I love when they just let, social media admins go ham. Speaking of ham, I wonder if Tommy Hilfiger is going to move over to Ferrari with, Lewis or if they're going to stay at Mercedes because, like, Mercedes seems to be really losing sponsors because Monster went over to McLaren. and I thought they were like Lewis till they die. So that was interesting. so we'll see where Tommy goes. also, this is not exactly off duty, but, last week, after the Grand Prix, Fred Vasseur was asked, if he thinks Mercedes are making progress. And his response was the Mercedes. They were 28 seconds behind Charles at the end of the race. So yes, I think they're getting a little bit closer. which, like Fred, is literally just an icon. Everything he says is just gold. Everything he does, everything he says, and he's just like a little devil. anyway, speaking of French, both of our French boys over at. Over at, alpine, made their way over to Cannes. At separate events. God forbid they go to the same one, with their girlfriends. Estie Bestie went with his girlfriend Flavy, who is stunning. And also, by the way, this weekend in the Monaco Grand Prix, she walked up to the paddock with her textbooks and a laptop. as her accessories. And I just love it. It's just giving Legally Blond in real time in like the best way possible. she's studying medicine. She's hot. I don't know what she's doing with Esteban, but there we have it. okay. Everything's chopped. I'm just going for the oven to preheat and for the oil to finish, and then we'll get started. All right. Moving on. Pierre and his girlfriend Kika also went to, to to go to a Cannes event and they both looked stunning. Pierre was wearing a bit more fashionable pants. They were more like some loose fitted ones. He looked very cool. anyway, the next thing you want to talk about is not off the grid yet, but it will be during the race, George made a strategy request before saying, we're just ‘pootling around’ at the moment. Pootling is basically a like a very British word to mean to drive around like all chill and casual, like a relaxed drive, basically. And even though he's going 100 miles an hour, I guess it felt like pootling to him. but during in the media pen, when he was asked about it, they were like, you know, this is a like a Russellism. No one says that. I mean, he literally visibly like blanched and was like, shit, this is going to be a thing now. Isn't is going to follow me around on the internet. I shouldn't have said that. And I just love that he knows how meme-able he is because he is. He's such a meme. he's just so memorable he cannot help it. All right. Moving on. Lap two trackside in Monaco. So during the press conference, on media day, all the guys were asked their favorite movie. and they all gave such on on brand answers, it was actually funny. Esteban’s favorite movie is “The Dark Knight Rises”. Yuki loves “The Transporter” because he loves Jason Statham. George loves “Casino Royale.” He grew up watching James Bond. Max loves “The Wolf of Wall Street” or “The Hangover.” Alex likes “The Grand Budapest Hotel.” And Charles said “The Hangover” is a cool one, but Harry Potter has always been his favorite. When he was ten, he could, like, quote all the lines. And Max was like, did you know how to do this? You know, and like, waves his hand back and forth like he's holding a wand, which is I assume he meant like, do you know how to do the spells and I was like, yeah, I can do that. I can do this. and then Charles said, everyone used to tell him he looked like Harry Potter. And Alex was like, you know, I was just thinking with glasses and your hair at that time, you totally could. And then George waltzes in and is like, you know, the very first video I have saved on my phone from 2012 is, Charles, like, behaving like a wizard. And Charles is like, you keep the video to yourself while Max is like, I would like to see that video. And, I think his name is Tom Clarkson was like, you post that video, George Russell, George Russell has yet to post the video, but people did zoom in and George described the video as, Charles having a broomstick between his legs, pretending to fly around the track sounds town of ten. I pray that he releases that video. So there was this random video of, like, Fred and Toto doing some sort of junket, I guess, but in the style of this video, it looked like Fred was like grinding up against Toto and it looked like Toto was kissing Fred's head. It was very bizarre. And Ted, with the notebook or whatever from Sky, it was like standing there like looking really confused at them. but my favorite was someone to, responded to the tweet of this video and wrote, Fred is such a whore. He seduces him and then leaves him with no engineers. I giggle because it's true. Fred really did play Toto for literally his entire staff, including Lewis Hamilton, I don't know how Toto doesn't hate him because Toto loves a grudge. That seems a very gradual offense. Also, a couple of shout outs. Daughters on the grid. Kevin's daughter and him were walking. She was, on a scooter. And walking along with Kevin Magnussen. And she sees a fan, holding out a notebook for Kevin to sign, and he walk past it so she scooters over to her dad, pulling on his shirt and making him go back. And he went back and signed the person's notebook. And it was the cutest thing ever. And watching girl dad Kevin and trying to process that it is the same man who is two penalty points away from a race ban is truly difficult because it was just so cute. I think the kids like 3 or 4 and she's so cute. Little pink with a little bleach blond hair because they're Danish and She just stares at this woman with her notebook and, like, drags her father over. It was very cute. And Kevin comes just, like, trundling over, like, grinning like. Oh, man. Yeah. Sorry, dude. And she, like, as he walks, he signs it, smiles, walks away, and the girl is looking up at the person like, did you get what you need? Was that all you needed was that good? And then you just scooters away. It was so cute. In more and more father daughter news. there was a video going around of, P on Max's lap. playing the sim, and he was doing the pedals and, like, holding her, and she was doing the, stop. Once the couple do the wheels, she was driving. but it was really cute. Everyone's like, Max is never getting his sim back when they get home because she's, like, obsessed. All right, moving on. Lap three celebrities. While I talk about celebrities, I'm going to start, with the dough. I did not make my own dough. I did not make my own dough because, I didn't realize it had to rise. So I bought some of my favorite store. I really have is, like, ten, ten out of ten, so I don't doubt this is going to be excellent dough, but I did want to say I did not make it myself. so moving on to celebrities, I want to dedicate a separate moment to all the celebrities that we encountered on the grid walk, because that was like an entire experience on its own. but some of the, celebrities that were present that did not have the pleasure to be accosted by Brundle included John Legend, Becky G, Matt Damon, Jared Leto, Heidi. Klum. Emily Ratajkowski, Trent. Arnold. Who is a football player for any of my American listeners and Dacre Montgomery from, Stranger Things. the hot guy, Billy for anyone who doesn't know them. and Odell Beckham Junior, who's an NFL player for any of my who not American listeners. also not part of the grid walk, but, or part of this list of celebs. But Nicholas Galatzine was there. Who is of “Red, White, and Royal Blue” fame, as well as, that new Harry styles like fan fiction movie, that he was in with Anne Hathaway called,“The Idea of You.” so he was there and he was the the guy who gives out the Pirelli tire for the pole position in qualifying. So he met Charles. And first of all, just seeing that video of them together was iconic and I'm sure sent fandoms into absolute spiral But also there was a video that started going around of them, like signing the tire and taking a picture together that, you can see Nicholas telling, Charles is that, he was like, I just did a movie with Anne Hathaway, and she wanted me to tell you that she's a huge fan. She loves you. And Charles looked like he had just, like, passed away. You. They want me. Anyway, so moving on. the the actual Greg walk. So we had Mbappé. Okay, so this is going to be really random, but, Mbappé reminds me of M’Baku from, Black Panther, the name, because of m and the b. And every time I read Mbappé, I remember that one, press junket interview for Avengers or whatever. And, it was Winston Duke who plays in M’Baku and Sebastian Stan and Anthony Mackie, and they were reading out like, tweets or whatever. And one of the tweets was Sebastian Stan. Read it out and it was M’Baku can blow m-back out if he wants to. And it kills me every time I read and Mbappé's name, that's like all that goes through my head. But anyway, so, Mbappé was walking the grid, and he has literally zero interest in speaking to Brundle. Like, absolutely not. But Brundle is committed to getting a conversation in with, just any footballer really. He sees a footballer, he wants to talk to him. and Mbappé's security guard knows that Mbappé does not want to talk to Brundle. And so he's, like, kind of blocking him, like, not in a rude way. He's not like that big of a man. But, and so Brundle says, naturally, the one thing that will get him in front of, Mbappé is I'm in charge around here. And, you know, that didn't work. So he just tried to shovel his way in between security guards. He did get over to Mbappé. It wasn't a particularly great conversation. They didn't get very far because, Mbappé wants absolutely nothing to do with time. Brundle. but it was funny. And, he also we saw him at the very end run over to Charles before the race started to wish him good luck. And he was the one who waved the checkered flag when Charles crossed. And he looked pretty fucking thrilled. So I thought that was cute. Do you want to go out or do you just pull it? All right. The other person on the grid that I loved was Michael Douglas. and, Brundle went up to things like. Oh, so you're. I know you're a big F1 fan, and for Michael Douglas's immediate reaction is, Katherine's not here today. She's filming Wednesday, she's doing great. And Brundle was like, okay. And Michael Douglas like, oh, sorry. I'm just like, used to everyone asking, talking to me to ask about her. So I just prefaced with, she's not here. I'm here. Hello. And I was like, well, no, I kind of wanted to talk to you, too, sir. Michael Douglas, Academy Award winner, actor, and just, like, famous all on his own. but I thought that was really funny. And he's like, oh, yeah, I'm doing great. we love you a lot. and Brundle was like, great. I hope she loves seeing us on TV together. And then just, like, walked away. But. So I know what excited that, Wednesday is being filmed right now. Apparently they're moving away from it being romantic and they're making it more horror. And I personally thought there was enough horror last time. also on the grid was Joe Jones. which I found hilarious because Martin Brundle marches right up to him and in Joe Jonas’ face goes, this is a Jonas brother. And I could lie and tell you which one it is, but I'll be honest, I have no clue when Joe's like, hi, I'm Joe. and then Martin was like, oh, so do you like F1? Is this your first race? And Joe has the energy of one of those new fans, like, I was guilty of this. Also, he's like, no, I'm actually a really big fan of F1. I'm here with Pierre Gasly and I've been to many Grand Prix. I've been to Montreal, Miami, Monaco, blah blah. Let's listen love. And but I was like, oh, so you are a fan! and I thought it was really funny. And also when he said Pierre, I was like, Pierre, who? And then Joe like really wanted to like show, like I'm a fan and then just started, like whipping out all this jargon describing qualifying and what he expects to see today. And I just found it very amusing. I'm not judging Joe at all. I'm judging Joe for other aspects of his life, Sophie Turner, but I'm not judging him for how he's a fan of F1, because I think any fan of F1 is a fan of F1. also, Alexandra Daddario was there of white collar fame and of, White Lotus fame. Wow. Lots of white. So just put that together. and, Martin was like, you are in White Lotus like three years ago, but yes. she was in White Lotus and he's like, and what are you up to these days? And she's like, I'm in Mayfair Witches. And Martin's like, that sounds terrifying. and then he was like, and what are you doing to pass the time? and she was like, In the meantime, I like to go to as many Grand Prix as possible. And Martin was like, Like which ones? And she was like, oh, right. Yeah, I want to go to Japan or Singapore. And Martin was like, Singapore seems like a good option because I feel like she forgot that Japan happened. And then she also said, whichever one I'm invited to, which is so real because she really, like, really likes F1. One's expensive, even if you have white Lotus money. Anya Taylor-Joy was there, which is probably the biggest name so far that we've listed. she, happily spoke to Martin on the grid walk. She said this is her first real life race, but she grew up watching with her parents, and so she's super excited to be here. So I thought that was very cute. And she is here with Lewis because she said she's here to see some good racing to support a very, very good friend. And go I don't think she the word go, but go. Brundle walked by Diplo like ten times going like is I know famous here anyone anyone. I swear that was diplo on the grid that he just like, completely bypassed several times. he talked to Jack Doohan's dad, the, reserve driver for alpine, who I absolutely loved. He had, like, the most, like what, to me, sounded like the Cockney version of the Australian accent. And he was like, I don't know what all this is about, but love it. And he just seems like the least like dance mom dad there. he was like, I'm just here for a good time. Jack's doing great. Really proud of him. and then there was also Virgil van. Jack. Dick, die. I don't know how to pronounce his name, but he's a Dutch footballer who plays for Liverpool, and everyone wanted a piece of him like he was. He was a hot commodity. Ever want to talk to him? Particularly Brundle, who was very determined to get like 35 seconds with, Virgil, to the point where he queued up, he was like, I’ll wait, no worries. And like literally waited to speak to him. which I don't think I've ever seen Brundle do. He really likes football is what I'm gathering from this. But I think Virgil was there to support Max, which I love. Dutch. Dutch? anyway. That's it for the celebrities. I'm sure there were so many more that I've definitely missed, but, it's always a star studded affair at Monaco Grand Prix. and Brundle’s grid walk never ceases to amaze me. maybe next year you'll know the Jonas Brothers That's the least of his concerns. Next year, I'd like him to be able to identify Patrick Mahomes without being shouted into his ear that this random man that he's trying to accost on a grid walk is not Patrick Mahomes. Anyway, when that we conclude the digital warmup to do on to the race rhyme. This is a story all about how the curse of the Monegasque Prince was broken somehow. Our tale begins on the shores of the Monaco harbor, as locals, celebs, and millionaires lined up to watch the brother of Arthur. the Prince of Monaco, otherwise known as Charles Leclerc, pulled up to the track with his trusty sidekicks Leo and Pierre. Rumors of a curse have followed Charles through the streets, but this year he turned up, refusing to concede. His performance in quali was second to none as he stormed his way to pole. Followed closely by his adopted son. Saturday evening, Charles throw caution to the wind and ate a pizza! Because nothing says fuck this witchy curse like a nice margherita. And then it was Sunday and it was lights out and away we go. Charles took off like he was a hoe on the go. But before sector one could even be complete Three incidents shook the Monaco streets. Carlos and Oscar bump, giving the Ferrari a hole in its tire. Will Carlos survive or will he be forced to retire? Elsewhere in lap one, Estie Bestie was like aurevoir motherfucker and started une guerre. Leading to one DNF, five places grid penalty, and a very angry Bruno and Pierre. But the biggest crash of all happened like a scene right out of a movie from Cannes when two Haases collided into Checo, turning his car into a squished Red Bull can. This little incident caused a red flag and brought the entire race to a stop. And changed the entire course of how this race would handle pit stops. Because once the race restarted (in original order, by the way), every pit wall was like, you must drive as slow as possible. OK!? This is hard to do. And that's a fact that I'm not ignoring. But in the words of Max Verstappen, this race was fucking boring. That is until the very end, when suddenly the impossible seemed plausible and it became undeniable that a Charles win was unstoppable. With tears in his eyes and the eyes of everyone from here to Rome, he told Bryan on the radio that he's just going to bring it home. The entire country of Monaco erupted in cheers as Prince Albert forgot protocol and couldn't hold back his tears. Because while Charles may have always been a prince in the sheets, today, finally he is the prince of these Monegasque streets. The curse has been broken. So Monegasque which you can shove it. Charles Leclerc is here to slay. There's no doubt about it. Okay. Onto analysis. starting with quali. Both Haases had illegal rear wing wings, apparently, and were disqualified from quali and will start the race from the back of the grid. Really? Setting a foreshadowing. What's to come? Checo was out in Q1, which was wild. and also in Q3, Max hit the wall. So he was like still going by and a bailing because his car was just not doing great. And that's how he ended up in P6. He just made a mistake or he said he didn't make a mistake. He said it just happened. I don't really know what happened. Max. I'm loving P6 because he touched the wall. I think there was a very funny radio where Lando was like, fucking idiots. These blokes, all of them. Not all of them. Just. Just some of them. And his engineer goes. I won't ask you to name which ones are and aren't. That's nice. Carlos, also in the post quali conference, said that straight up his only job is to help Charles bring home the win, which I love. He just like, he's not even, like, putting any pretenses about it. He's just like, today's the only goal this weekend is like, Charles has driven well enough to deserve this win, and it is my job as his teammate to make that happen. And I just love that. Also, when Charles got pole, the yacht horns just started going fucking crazy. And I want to know people on the yacht also watching on the TV. Or are they only, like, trying to craning their necks to see them just to see the track? Like, how are they watching? How do they know to honk their horns? That's my question. Like, I really want to go to a live race, but I'm so like attached to the, commentary and to the replays and to being able to rewatch everything in slow motion and to hear the analysis that, like, I don't know how I can watch live because I can't even see the whole track. Like, I don't know what what would happen. Like it. It sounds stressful. Anyway, the starting grid, for Sunday is as follows Charles, Oscar, Carlos. Lando. George. Max. Lewis, Yuki, Alex, Pierre, Esteban, Daniel, Lance, Fernando, Logan, Checo, Valtteri, Guanyu and Nico and Kevin. Who are starting from the back because of their illegal wings. So on to the race. In my mind, this race can be split up into three parts. part one, lap one and all the incidents in Red flag. Part two. The rest of the race, just all of it. Just the entire rest of the race. Part three, Charles Leclerc. So that's exactly how we're going to go about this. starting with part one. So anything worth discussing? This race happens at the beginning. and the very first lap before the first sector. there were three incidents that were both all, like, insane, like so insane that it almost made up for the fact that literally nothing else happened for the rest of the race. But, we're going to go through them step by step. So the first thing that I want to discuss is Carlos and Oscar and Carlos. And of everyone today probably had the luckiest day humanly possible. basically, Carlos nipped Oscar in, like, the first turn of lap one. Carlos, had he had understood that he tapped Oscar, but described it as a slight loss of context in terms like he barely even felt it. but it caused a puncture in his tire, and he ended up, like, going off track, and everyone thought he was done. There were so many points in this race that we thought that Carlos was a goner. Actually, no, sorry. There was so many points within the first lap when we thought Carlos was a goner. First was when he drove off track like, oh, puncture, he won’t be able to move, but he ended up being able to slowly move his car forward into the pitlane where his tire could be changed. then then the red flag hit and we, weren't sure there was more damage and we weren't sure they would be able to fix it in time, but it was a puncture, so I don't know why. That was something we weren't sure. and also, another thing is, we weren't sure where he would start. The starting grid was a bit of a mystery because we weren't sure if the full grid had passed the first sector, because the entire grid has to pass the first sector in order for, the stews to be like, okay, we have a new order that we can, that we can reference, but unless if not everyone has passed, then we reference the starting order of the race. and so we were like, Will he be able to start? Won't he be able to start? Will he be starting third? We'll be starting him back on the grid. Like, where is he starting? but luck was on his side. And Charles aside, because I do think Carlos was pretty integral to Charles's win. We don't know what would have happened if he wasn't holding up, George. And if he wasn't, like, managing Lando, and if he wasn't, like, close enough to Oscar without both, like, just like so many things he was supposed to be responsible for. And he did ten out of ten. and I will talk about it in a second. But basically, the starting grid was the same as the race starting grid. So when we restarted the race, rewind up with the original starting grid, minus the people who DNF. Which brings me to alpine. Okay, I don't think I even realize something was happening with alpine until like, towards the end of the red flag when they mentioned that Esteban's car was being frantically worked on because they didn't really show us what was happening or it wasn't. They weren't P I don't know. But basically what happened is that Esteban attempted to overtake Pierre in Portier which is a very tight corner, that you just don't generally overtake people in. and there wasn't enough room. So he ended up going like on top of his car and like, bouncing all the way up and flopping down, which when I first saw it, I'm like, well, that was Pierre's fault because, like, Esteban flew in the air. But Esteban just forced himself on top of Pierre’s car like, the commentators were like, maybe if they had better grid position, maybe if this was further along in the race, maybe it wasn't your teammate. We could find an excuse for this move. But this move can't be excused on a track like Monaco on your teammate in lap one, like you do here, there's no really excuse for it. and we were still being told that his car was being worked on, but then we saw a clip of Esteban in his jeans during the red flag. So the he was out of the race. Basically, everyone is furious with Esteban. Esteban takes takes responsibility for it. He apologizes to the team. He doesn't apologize to Pierre. He apologizes to the team and says he hopes that the team can score a point today still. But everyone is furious. Bruno is fucking angry. And he went to the media. He refused to do any, interviews, except for one where he said that Esteban's attack was completely out of line and exactly what we didn't want to see. There will be consequences and we will be making tough decisions. What, like. I understand you're annoyed, but you can't say that to the media. You're the team principal. You have to say some bullshit like, yes, this is a kind of a mistake, but we're going to talk about it as a team. It'll all be fine. Like, you can't but you can't threaten your your your driver. You can't, not in public. the only good thing that come from this was that there's a bunch of memes of Esteban's face, with the LinkedIn graphic hashtag open to work. They're also running like that. Was it? I thought that was a joke, but apparently there are serious rumors that Bruno and the alpine team is considering suspending Esteban from the Canadian Grand Prix, which is insanity. Well, that is a complete overreaction to what happened. Yes, he did wrong. Yes. He shouldn't have made that move. But for such a drastic they sound like killed Pierre! He didn't do that like it was wrong. It was bad, but it was very standard. Esteban. And what was actually was the fact that they hired these two kids when they hate each other, why they, like, brought this civil war upon themselves. Like they they are to blame. I know they got worried about more, but like now the whole team is to blame. They cannot manage this relationship. They can say all they want, that they are friends and everything's fine. Nothing's fine. the FIA was equally annoyed, but we all know the FIA is just like persistently annoyed with us about like nothing he does well not annoy him, but they gave him a ten second penalty almost immediately after this happened. which, everyone's very confused about, because he wasn't racing. and then they later in the race converted that ten second penalty into a five grid place penalty. So he will start the Canadian Grand Prix five places behind wherever he qualifies, usually ten converts to three, but they really don't like Esteban. And I'm not like saying that, Esteban shouldn't be penalized. I think he behaved poorly. But to be threatened with being fired or consequences, whatever the fuck that means, like Bruno's in the friggin French mafia, and he's going to take Esteban out, and to, like, have a five place penalty and two penalty points. Seems a bit insane for this. Like, Pierre's fine, you know, like, I'm not condoning it, but, like, also, this seems like a gross overreaction. Anyway, going on to the biggest incident of the whole thing. The thing that caused the red flag, the thing that made all this, all of us get to this point is Haas and Checo. So honestly, for the longest time I thought it was Carlos and Oscar's thing that caused the red flag, which was very confusing to me because I'm like it was a puncture. but eventually they did show us what happened with Haas and Checo. I don't know if it was to like, make sure that Checo was okay before they put this on national television. So it was probably good, but it was very confusing for a bit. so the first thing I saw was Chico's car, which looked like a crushed Red bull can. It was just the cockpit. There was nothing else left of his car. and it was like actually while but Checo was sitting right next to the car, like, completely unscathed other than, like, emotional damage, like, he looked furious. He was so mad that, like, when the medical car came to take them all back to the paddock, he just refused to get in with the Haas guys. He, like, waved them off in the car, slammed door shut and walked off. basically what happened? I think Kevin had overtaken Nico and was really trying to defend his place and wanting wanted to stay ahead of Nico and ahead of him was Checo. So he so he Nico Checo. So he was a little he was trying to overtake Checo. But I think what his ultimate goal and this is what the commentators were saying, was that his ultimate goal was to stay ahead of Nico. That was more important to him than being, ahead of Checo. But, he ended up being somewhere he should not have been at all. that place, Monaco in general is very windy, and the part that he was in was particularly windy, and he was positioning himself as if he was like on a massive straight. And he had all this time to try and be side by side with Checo, and he just did not have the room or the time or the space, like, you know, any of that. this was the way he was behaving was just insane. And there is an argument that could be made. The Checo should have given him more room. Not that Checo had much more room to give because it's a very narrow, winding road. but there was perhaps an interest here that he could have granted to Kevin. Kevin shouldn't have been there in the first place, like some people were saying, Checo. Checo checked his mirrors so he knew Kevin was there, but I don't think he was expecting Kevin to lunge into the like smidge of a gap that was there. And he like forced Checo into the wall and then Nico was right behind them. Like the bird's eye shot of them is like Checo being surrounded by the two Haases, even though I think Nico's overall behind, Kevin. But it looks like they're just like advancing on him. I know there's a really funny meme going around of Kevin sitting on, in the garage with his daughter, and they keep putting quotes like, and that's how daddy got suspended. And now dad is two points away from the suspension, and that's how they felt that the whole grid, it's kind of funny, but it's also not funny because Kevin caused this, like, could Checo have done something else? Sure. But that I don't think that would have ultimately changed the course of this because of what Kevin was doing with this car. And the craziest part of this entire situation is that almost immediately into the red flag, it said, no further investigation. due to the turn one incident and everyone just assumed they met, Carlos and Oscar because that truly needed no more investigation. And then further, once we restarted the race, they released a statement saying, no further investigation to the Oscar, Sainz incident. And everyone was like, well, so was the first break the statement. And we realized that they had like almost instantly said that they were not going to be investigating this incident where Kevin killed to killed three cars in like, one go. Like it was insane. He turned Checo's car into a Red bull. Can, like, squashed like that with no wheels. Like it was insanely. And, he he had only two penalty points away from a suspension from a race. And, from what I'm understanding is that if FIA has, like, no intention of ever suspending anyone from a race, which, if that's the case, what the fuck is the point of the penalty points? Like, I'm not condoning people to be suspended unless I deserve it, but. Why are you, like, threatening with it if you like, but I actually, you're never going to get in trouble. Of course, Kevin's going to do these wild ass moves that he thinks he's never going to be suspended, and he's just going to follow through the rest of the year, like two penalty points away from the suspension, consistently causing there hasn't been a race in like two months without Kevin behaving absurdly on track and just like. So now we're just going to wait the whole year and then we'll be like, oops, time ran out. You almost killed off the track. But it's fine. You menace you. It's so weird. and the fact that Esteban was so strictly reprimanded, like you are such an aggressive, calling out. And what's worse is his teams aren't even going to fight the FIA on it because they're so angry at him for doing it to his teammate, when in reality, the fact that they even. The fact that he was penalized to this like state and Kevin did this, Pierre finished the race and got a point like Kevin destroyed the chance of any points for three cars. So the fact that he wasn't penalized and Esteban was is bizarre. Anyway, so, with half of the Red Bull scattered around the track, obviously this call down a red flag because I had to clean it up and it's so narrow. There's like no shot of doing it under any sort of safety car. well, but what the red flag caused was that everyone got to pit within the first lap, so they got the pit stop out of the way, which meant that there was going to be no pit stops for the rest of the race, which immediately took any interest out of this entire race. the best part about Monaco Grand Prix? The only thing to make it interesting or exciting are the strategies and the tire strategies and like the pit stop strategies and all that stuff is the only thing that makes Monaco interesting because it's so hard to overtake. And the fact that we were robbed of all that because of this red flag instantly set us up for the most boring race in history. so at the restart I already talked about this, but there was a huge question mark about, the order of the restart, but, which was primarily going to impact Carlos. but as we found out, it was the exact same as the regular start, minus the four people who, DNF. so the top ten at least weren't impacted at all. so, the rest of the race, part two, the name of the game was going slow as fuck. Oscar said at one point that he thinks that they were all going slower than F2. because basically all the teams knew that no one was going to pit. So all they could do was to, manage. They could manage the tires and make it through till the end, which meant everyone had to go slowly. and I'm not saying that's I'm not, I'm not. This race critique does not negate the difficulty of doing this. Being able to manage the tires while maintaining your grid position is insanely difficult. Carlos, for example, had to be a certain amount close to Oscar without without letting, like Lando and George through. And so he had to be managing all these things at the same time. and that's super difficult. The top few were pretty tired. Like, Charles was kind of tired, and then he said he could keep going. Oscar will kind of tire, but there's a lot of mental work that they had to do. But also driving slowly when your entire job is to drive fast is hard. like, it was so wild that at one point George said the pootling thing. Like I'm just pootling around the track. And his engineer goes, we gain nothing by going faster, which is never what you want to hear out of the mouth of an F1 engineer. Like it's just not what you want to hear. And in the last few laps, they've all finally got a chance to go a bit faster and literally, I think Yuki’s radio was like, whoo! Finally! And it was kind of funny. So there was a bit more speed in the last ten laps, but not like to the point where we weren't getting anything exciting happening. the funniest part of this entire race is Max's reaction to everything. and I'm not sure if I was picking up exactly what Max was putting down, but I think he was bored. That's just like what I think was going on. and I came to this conclusion based on the multiple radio messages to GP saying that this race was super boring, and then the post-race interviews, where he mentioned the word boring every time, if we had a drinking game for every time Max said this race was boring. we'd be drunk at the end of this race. but that's my funniest quote from him I think was like, also, he wasn't mad. Like especially in the post-race interviews. He wasn't actually mad at this race being boring. He was just like, kind of like in shock. Like, this is really fucking boring. but one of my favorite interviews from him was When he said, they were asking him about the one radio message two GP where he said, fuck me, this is boring. I should have brought my pillow. and she asked him. She's like, so you mentioned during the race that it was boring and he, like immediately interrupts her and deadpans, so how was it for you? Because it was boring. She's like, well, well, Charles won. And he was like, well, yeah, but the race was boring. Like, how was that relevant to the race being boring? And then there was a really funny moment in the media pen where him and George were bantering. He looks at George next to him, and he was like, me and George, are going to have to go for a run now because this race was like, we just got no exercise. And then he, like, giggled and goes, oh my God! And shakes his head. He goes, it was just so boring. And then like, smiles and George is just sipping his water. Next to him and goes, oh my god. Yeah. And they start debriefing the end of the race and George starts like an impromptu Max Verstappen podcast. and then George is like, you know, we just need to change something for Sunday. And Max is like mandatory pit stops, five stops the race, and you're just like, oh yeah, and Max is like a mandatory naps?! and George is like, we should do a lap on foot. it was just very amusing. Oh. And I just love that. I've never seen them really get along. Like, I know they're the same age and they share so many mutual friends, but they. I don't know if it's because George's teammates with Lewis, and that's why they don't really get along. But it's just been a bit. I just wasn't sure where they stood. Basically. Part three. Moving on to Charles Leclerc the first thing I want to talk about in this section is Carlos Sainz. So, Carlos did say he felt like he had the chance to overtake in the first 15 laps ahead of Oscar in the last ten, but ultimately felt like he just. He couldn't, and really, he kept openly admitting that his entire job, this entire, time was to help Charles get the win. Every single one of his radios during this race was discussing Charles strategy. Like, what is Charles doing? How is what he's doing going to impact Charles? What are the people behind him doing that could impact Charles? And that's like, literally all he was discussing with the team. and honestly, I think this was a great petition for, him as a strategist and as a team principal because, oh my God, the way his brain works at the speed I know he's on going on his normal speed, but he was still going above 100 miles an hour. And not only is he focused on his own, strategy. He's also focused on Charles strategy. So he's managing several strategies at once. Not to mention, not to mention that he needs to be contemplating and thinking about all the strategies of everyone around them. So, like the way his brain is working during this race is actually insane. And I don't think there's a single person, perhaps bar Fernando that can even come close to the way Carlos is operating. And I truly, truly think that when this is all over, he's going to be a principal. also want to talk about the fact that he mentioned during the press conference that him and Oscar just magnetically keep finding each other on track, and he just doesn't know why. Because, they get along so well outside of the paddock, and I just he's definitely addressing all the rumors they’ve both seen the rumors online about them hating each other. And he's like, actually, you know, we love each other so much. this has nothing to do with how we feel about each other. We just keep hitting each other on track. which I kind of believe, like, I definitely think they're fine, which I think the most obvious element of this is when they were waiting for Charles to join them during the post-race press conference. They both lay down on those couches with their feet facing each other on their phones, giggling, and it was just so cute. Oh, baby. Okay, obviously this isn't like a really traditional margherita pizza, but, so we got so moving on now to the one to like my heart, my soul, everything that I love dearly about this race. Charles. one thing I want to mention before we get into why I think Charles dominated this time is, I think, a huge thing that played into this. I know I'm, I'm definitely not saying this is the main thing that that contributed to his win, but I think a huge part of it was Bryan, his new race engineer. and Charles has said that the replacement of Xavi, his old engineer, had nothing to do with their communication and was just like internally in the making, which at all doesn't mean they had nothing to do with their communication. Just because he wasn't privy to the conversation doesn't mean that internally they weren't all discussing that Xavi needs to fucking go because he's like a menace to Charles's soul and mental state of being. I think the biggest proof that things have changed for Charles and his engineer, is like the fact that they were bantering during today's race, one of the most mentally straining races of Charles's career ever. Despite how boring it is. like, at one point he was like, would you like to know the margin? And Bryan was like, I would not like to know the margin. And Charles, like, are you sure? I could tell you the margin. Brian's like, we don't need to know the margin. And please don't tell us. And Charles was like, well, that's rude. and I just said, that's funny, because he never had the relationship with Xavi and the fact that he can joke around with Bryan and, Charles has had the Bryan isn't like, fully new. He's been his performance engineer for, like, ever. So it wasn't like they had to build a new relationship. But, it's just a new position that he's in. But they already had a relationship, and you can tell that they get along really well. Brian is my fave. I love Brian the way they're able to communicate ten out of ten. but what else can I say about Charles Leclerc? Honestly, he won the race in qualifying on Saturday. and Sunday was all about maintenance and keeping his position and just fingers crossed, praying, hoping that nothing unlucky happens to him, which has really been the cause of his demise almost every single year. But there were no extenuating circumstances today. He drove at the top of his game and he won. One thing that I will say is talked a lot about mentality in this race and his mentality, and he said this was one of the most difficult races in terms of managing his emotions and his mental state. and he knew that was the most important thing to focus on. But him saying like, the only thing I want to correct by that statement, this is also just my guess, is that has always been the most challenging thing for Charles in race. And, the fact that he knew that was a problem is because it has always been an issue. I mean, so he knew that what he needed to focus on, it wasn't in this race was more emotionally difficult than maybe was doing something that we don't know about. This race has always been the most emotionally and like most pressured race that he's ever had. And I think, the Monegasque witch aside, that's one of the biggest things that has played into him struggling to succeed here is his emotional and mental state. And like just folding under the pressure. And that's no judgment. I don't think any normal person would be able to handle that sort of pressure, because it's not just the entire country of Monaco staring down on you. It's not just Monaco, your home race being the most iconic race on the grid. And it's not that this was your father's dream who's now passed away. It's, that it was your God father's dream who has now passed away, and that you're bearing both of their wins on your shoulders. Almost. It's all of that combined that makes this, like, so insanely difficult for him. And so I don't think anyone's ever blamed him or thought worse of him because of this inability to do this. And so that makes I think this one's so much more special. I'm tearing up because Charles is just my little Disney prince, and he's had such a difficult life and he's gone through so much. And this when people who are trying to negate this win because they said it was a boring race, he won this race in qualifying and he kept his win, and he did it with more pressure than any of us could ever imagine. And he's been through so much. And the fact that he's persevered. Fred Vasseur said in an interview that he thinks that this we're about to see a new Charles Leclerc because just a massive pressure has been lifted off his shoulders. And I think he's totally correct. I think the Monaco Grand Prix specifically has been weighing on him, and I think it's impacted his entire performance. and I truly think he's now whiter, freer or more confident now that he has and confident. But like, you know what I mean? Like, it's just like when you sort of did, what you set out to do for all these people that you love and care about. And it's just like a whole thing. Like, I really think mental state, fortitude, control over your emotions was the biggest differentiator this year. Like, he was calm, confident, cool under pressure. And that's what won him the race, which was in turn what defeated the Monegasque curse. Believing in yourself was the key to defeating the curse. was right in front of us the whole time. because the answer to defeating the Monegasque curse was himself anyway. Post-race. When you cross the finish line, I swear there's nothing like it. Mbappe waved him in. He was cheering. The ships horns were sounding through the entire harbor, you could literally hear every Monegasque citizen shouting at the top of their lungs. His radios were so raw and emotional. They were literally the opposite. And, you know, the guttural “no” that we were forced to listen to so frequently where he was just, like, heartbroken. This was like the exact opposite, like equivalent in rawness, but just like ecstatic and thrilled and like cheering him, cheering and sobbing the whole time was just overwhelming. and in the post-race interview below the podium he shouted out Jules and he shouted at his father and he said, this was my father's dream for me to race in Monaco and to win in Monaco, and that I finally was able to do it. Boom. it's just it's just so sweet. And also, he was like, every step of the way. I saw my friends in their balconies. They saw me at every turn, like his whole life is there and they're all watching. Oh my God, I need to chill out. It's like it's not the same if like an American to win in America because America is huge, right? Monaco is like one four feet long. He basically knows everyone. Everyone knows him. People see him on a daily basis like it's it just means so much more. Well, I need to calm down. I thought it was so cute in the cool down room. Carlos was like, did you cry? And, Charles was like, I couldn't see anything for the last two laps of the races because there was just so much emotion coming up. and Charles was like. And I just kept saying, fuck, Charles. Not now. I thought it was so cute. And also there's so many videos online of like, the marshals crying and like, like all of them, all of them are Monaco citizens. And all of them just feel it on the same level as Charles. Alexis top. also, no cool down room. as we were having this conversation, Oscar came down and, pulled his chair, and they were sort of in a circle, and I thought that was really cute. And I don't know why no one has done it before, because it's so much easier to have a conversation. And also they were like actually having a conversation not debriefing the race. Because there was nothing to debrief. I'll tell you who was possibly more happy than Charles. on the podium. And that was Prince Albert, who, like, shook everyone's hand, was following royal protocol. And Charles appeared and just like protocol went out the window. And he saw Charles, and he just wrapped him in a bear hug. And he's wiping away tears. And this means so much to Prince Albert as much as it means to everyone else. And even Prince Albert knows he's not the real Prince of Monaco. Charles is the real Prince. Monaco and Charles got like a full Monaco flag and they kept flying away and it was like a whole situation. And then that champagne came out and Prince Albert had his own bottle this year, and he was spraying everyone too. And Fred was there representing the constructors Championship. And it was just like everything and more was so good. And my favorite part is one of the, there was a kid, part of the royal entourage and he hugged Charles, hugged him after the champagne spray, and you see the kid wait for Charles to turn back around and then he, like, sneaks like a little like he wipes some of the champagne off of his suit and then, like, licks it, I guess, he never had champagne before, but it was really cute celebrations. My favorite celebration was Fred and Charles jumped in the harbor to celebrate. Well, Charles shoved Fred into the harbor, and and there, like a flawless dive after him. A little deep, but he did a flawless dive after him. And the wildest part is, like in the cool down room he had put on all this fancy jewelry on top of them. I thought it was APM Monaco, but the commentator said it was his friends and he was choosing to put it on to like market his friends jewelry But he had his hat on, he had all this fancy jewelry on dives into the harbor. None of it fell off! None of it! Was it like glued on to him? That was crazy. but my favorite part of all this, by the way, when they jumped out of the harbor, him and Fred were sitting side by side, on the edge and holding hands. It was so cute. But, my favorite part was Red bull replying to the post on Instagram and said, you guys could have used our pool. And Ferrari replied, now you tell us which. Like I did think about because like diving into the Monaco harbor seems kind of gross. There's a lot of boats in there. Also on the radio, Bryan said that everyone from the team is staying in town, to celebrate. And Charles was like, you guys better? Jimmys better be ready. And Jimmy's was ready. In case you don't know, Jimmy's is one of the clubs in Monaco that all of these drivers frequent. And if you ever forget the names of the clubs in Monaco, just look to Max's cats who are both named after Monaco clubs Jimmy and Sassy. also, my favorite part was after all the celebrations, after all the interviews, someone caught Charles biking home and he was talking on speakerphone on his phone. So he's biking with one hand and shouting into the speaker phone in the other. And it was really funny. Yeah. I'm like his jeans tucked into his socks. It was just it was kind of crazy and also seems like highly ineffective. Like you're not able to talk on the phone well you're not able to bike well. Like, none of it seems like you're performing at the top of your game. he also seem to attend that, a gala with the Prince and Alex was by his side looking flawless. She's so straight. She is so straight. Like, is she straight? Because... of wealth? I can never be as straight as Alex. Even when I'm, like, standing properly. How does she look like that? Also, Fred was asked what his plans were after the race and he was like, the prince invited me to a party and I will go the French of the party. I say it every week. The French love a party. So he is going to be partying with the prince. I did see everyone on Jimmy's. Oh. I saw a video of Charles super drunk with the Monaco flag over his head, drunk at Jimmy'z. And I saw Carlos and Rebecca drunk at Jimmy'z. I was hoping for more videos, but alas, I did not see them. Anyway, the final result is that Charles was driver of the day, and he's just so easy to. root for, there is no other option. Maybe Carlos strategist of the day. But really Charles is driver of day to day. Alexa, start today and every day I just love him so much. Dick in the Box Box, Esteban. But also Alpine because like, what is this nonsense threatening your driver in public? Obviously Kevin Magnussen for doing like the most for no reason and not getting penalized for it, and the FIA for not penalizing for it. But really, I think the biggest, red flag of today was the red flag, because you just screwed us all up. Like, like that made the race so boring. So the final results are Jesus. Okay. I think it's a ready. So the final race results were Charles in first, followed by Oscar, Carlos, Lando. George, Max Verstappen. I don't know why I wrote his full name. Lewis. Yuki. Alex, Pierre, Fernando, Daniel, Valtteri, Lance, Logan, and Guanyu. And the DNFs were Esteban, Checo, Nico, and Kevin. The standings are as follows. Max with 169. Charles with 138. They are 31 points from each other. someone told Charles was 28 when he found it was 31. He looked crestfallen, but then he was like, I don't care about the championship. Charles 138, followed by Lando with 113, Carlos with 108, Checo with 107, Oscar with 71, George Russell with 54, Lewis Hamilton with 42, Fernando Alonso with 33, Yuki with 19. And then the constructors are Red bull with 276, Ferrari with 252, McLaren with 184 Mercedes with 96, Aston with 44, Honda with 24 RB sorry, RB cash, visa whatever 24, Haas with seven, Williams with two. Alpine with two and Kick Sauber with zero. But yay! Williams is now ahead. Alex for them two points. And that's it for the Monaco Grand Prix. I want to show you guys the, pizza. Hopefully this is good. This is the pizza. I think I turned out rather nice. Now, that's it for the Monaco Grand Prix. Next up is the Canadian Grand Prix. TBD whether Esteban will be there. But, make sure you subscribe share with any potential boxes. Please review and if you're listening to the audio version of the podcast. I mean so much to me and you can always DM me or email me with your thoughts, questions and ideas. I just love to hear from you guys. and in the meantime, make sure you follow@boxboxf1pod to keep up in between. See you soon! Box Box!