Monaco Grand Prix: A Historic Duel on Racing's Grand Stage

The 2023 Monaco Grand Prix promises high-stakes excitement with Verstappen vying for new records and iconic victories. With the shortest and slowest track in the championship, surprises are inevitable. Notable past winners, challenging turns, and top teams like Red Bull, McLaren, and Ferrari set the stage for a thrilling race.

Formula One statistics for Sunday's Monaco Grand Prix, round eight of the 24-race championship: Lap distance: 3.337km. Total distance: 260.286km (78 laps)

2023 pole position: Max Verstappen (Netherlands) Red Bull One minute 11.365 seconds 2023 winner: Verstappen

Race lap record: Lewis Hamilton (Britain) Mercedes 1:12.909, 2021 Start time: 1300 GMT (1500 local)

MONACO Leclerc can become the first Monegasque to win at home since the championship started in 1950 but he has yet to stand on the podium in Monaco.

Monaco is the shortest and slowest track on the calendar, and the race with most laps. It is also the only one to cover less than 300km and only 34% of the lap is at full throttle. The 180 degree turn six hairpin is the slowest corner of the year, with cars taking it at 45kph.

This year's race is the 70th edition in championship history and 81st since the first grand prix there in 1929. The late triple world champion Ayrton Senna holds the record for most Monaco wins -- six, including five in a row with McLaren between 1989 and 1993.

A safety car deployment is highly likely. McLaren are the most successful team in Monaco, with 15 wins since their debut in 1966.

In 1996, Frenchman Olivier Panis won from 14th on the starting grid -- the lowest winning start position to date. Since 1950, only 10 times has the race been won by a driver starting lower than third. Five former Monaco winners will be racing on Sunday: Fernando Alonso (2006, 2007), Hamilton (2008, 2016, 2019), Max Verstappen (2021, 2023), Perez (2022), Daniel Ricciardo (2018).

Verstappen's last two Monaco wins were races in which he led from start to finish. CHAMPIONSHIP LEAD

Verstappen has led the championship for a record 46 successive races dating back to Spain in May 2022 and arrives in Imola 48 points clear of Ferrari's Charles Leclerc. Red Bull are 56 points clear of Ferrari.

WINS Verstappen has won five of seven races this season, with Ferrari's Carlos Sainz triumphant in Australia and McLaren's Lando Norris in Miami.

Sainz and Norris are the only drivers to have beaten Red Bull since 2022. Hamilton has a record 103 career victories from 339 starts but is chasing his first since 2021 -- a run of 52 races without a win.

Red Bull won 21 of 22 races last year, with Verstappen victorious in a record 19, and have won 36 of the last 40. The team have won 118 races and are fourth in the all-time list of winners. Ferrari lead with 244, McLaren have 184 and Mercedes 125.

Verstappen has won 59 grands prix and is third on the all-time list. Michael Schumacher is second on 91. POLE POSITION

Hamilton has a record 104 career poles, his most recent in Hungary last year. Verstappen has taken the first seven poles of the season, equalling Alain Prost's 1993 record, and eight in a row including the last race of 2023 -- equalling Ayrton Senna's 1988-89 record.

PODIUMS Verstappen has 104 career podiums, Hamilton 197.

The Red Bull driver set a record of 21 podiums in a season last year but Michael Schumacher remains the only driver to have stood on the podium in every race of a season (2002). Verstappen cannot equal that this year, having retired in Australia. MILESTONE

Should Verstappen take pole in Monaco, he will be the first driver to take nine in a row. He will also be the first driver since Italian Alberto Ascari in 1953 to hold simultaneously the outright records for most consecutive wins (10) and poles.

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