From the F1 paddock in Monaco | Ferrari celebrate with champagne

The train entrances were all open as normal on Saturday night, yet the return journey did not go entirely smoothly. One stop before Menton, the train stopped. There appeared to be problems further up in Ventimiglia, forcing the train to wait. The wait lasted a good 15 minutes, after which we completed the rest of the journey.

By the way, the message that there are problems is only communicated in French. While I can still somewhat follow French, I can imagine that not every tourist on the train knows the state of affairs. It was on the train, but not on the platform where people were getting some fresh air.

I found the easiest route to the paddock. I did not arrive completely at the desired time. I wanted to see the F3, but the train runs only once every half hour on Sunday. Fortunately, not that many people have to go to Monaco this Sunday. The organisers would do well to look at how they handle this in Zandvoort.

The parade in Monaco

After the exciting start, the Grand Prix was a slow process. As is often the case in Monaco, but all the more so now because no driver really needed to make a pit stop. After the race, several drivers therefore complained about the fact that overtaking is impossible in Monaco and something really needs to be done to keep racing here in the future.

For Max Verstappen, too, there was nothing more in it than sixth place. Even on newer tyres he could not get past George Russell. After the race, Verstappen again had a long talk with the media. Eight minutes this time, making Verstappen once again the last to leave at the so-called square, which in Monaco is not a square.

Ferrari celebrate in Monaco

Verstappen did not yet want to make any hasty conclusions after one race weekend. Yes, the competition is closer, but there is no man overboard yet. Red Bull will have to look for this weekend's problem. When asked by GPblog that Sergio Perez is not exactly helping his teammate at the moment either, Verstappen manoeuvred around with an answer that the team need to fix the problems first.

Afterwards, Ferrari were logically celebrating. Frederic Vasseur rarely jumps up in the air, but his grin was huge at Ferrari's photo moment. Vasseur in the middle and when Charles Leclerc finally arrived, he was carried forward on shoulders. The party was celebrated with bottles of Ferrari champagne.

After writing the final stories, it was time to make our way back to the apartment for the last time. Hopefully without closed entrances or trains with technical problems. Monaco has been a weekend I won't soon forget. In my view, it definitely belongs on the F1 calendar, but the organisers will have to put their pride aside to improve a number of things considerably. The peripheral issues, but also the main one: a sleep-inducing race on Sunday.