Like Ricciardo’s wounded Red Bull, the Monaco Grand Prix has taken a beating from fans of Formula 1 following Daniel’s impressive and courageous victory on Sunday.

On social media, fans have likened Sunday’s race to watching slow moving traffic, disappointed that unlike previous races this season the Grand Prix was not filled with overtaking, crashes, and upsets.

Over recent years annual criticism of the racing at Monaco has been as regular as the Grand Prix itself – however this year appears to demonstrate somewhat of a crescendo of negativity.

Not only is this vocal outrage unwarranted of a race that constantly raised questions over strategy and tyre life but demonstrates the increasing nature of F1’s fan-base requiring constant, instant gratification over savouring the drama and intricacies of a full Grand Prix distance.

It is an unfortunate signal that the core fan-base of F1 is dwindling. Those of us content to accept that not every race can be like Azerbaijan in 2017 & 2018 are now in the minority. It is an agenda pushed, in part, by the new American owners of the sport that see the number of overtakes in IndyCar and NASCAR as a measure of what “good” racing should be. In this author’s opinion this could not be further from the truth.

Driver’s criticising the event added further fuel to the fan’s fire following the race; Alonso, Hamilton, and Raikkonen all described it as “boring”. One wonders if this opinion would be maintained had they been standing on the top step of the podium. It doesn’t take a genius to work out the likely answer. From Daniel Ricciardo’s perspective the Grand Prix was anything but boring as he nursed his stricken Red Bull 60 laps without the use of 7th and 8th gears as well as losing the MGU-K – 160bhp of electrical energy gone, around 15% of the PU’s total output.

The race demonstrated a detailed and unexpected challenge regarding the Pirelli tyres – and as fans derided Mario Isola’s comments prior to the weekend that the hypersoft, which made its debut in Monaco, would last the full race distance, graining and degradation of the tyres forced teams to consider two-stopping. A decision made all the more difficult as the teams frantically calculated whether the loss of track position would be made up by the 3 to 4 seconds a lap that could be had in clean air on new tyres.

Red Bull’s gamble to bring, nearly exclusively, the hypersoft tyre to the Grand Prix almost backfired as it turned out the hardest tyre for this weekend, the supersoft, was the most consistent race tyre. One only had to observe the difference between Hamilton’s and Bottas’s tyres at the end of the race to see the stark contrast in performance.

Further unknowns were thrown into the mix as Max Verstappen started at the back of the grid following a crash in FP3 hours before Qualifying, forcing him out of a chance to go for pole. Verstappen proved on two occasions that overtaking at Monaco is possible if one is willing to take the gamble and out-brake a rival out of the tunnel. A move that almost cost him the race as he tangled with Renault’s Carlos Sainz.

All the above might be seen as enough to give the viewer sat at home almost two-hours of entertainment, indeed for this author it did, but as new fans to the sport measure excitement in the number of overtakes alone much was lost on them at the weekend.

This raises the question as to whether the commentary team did enough to inform the audience as to all of the challenges being faced on track. Furthermore, were the on-screen graphics provided by FOM really highlighting the challenges being faced by stretching the stint-lengths of the ultra and hypersoft tyres?

The ever-present knee-jerk reaction in Formula 1 once more has people calling for drastic rapid changes to the Monaco Grand Prix, some even suggesting it should be dropped from the calendar, but these fans forget what Monaco represents. It is a constant assault on the driver’s senses as they push through a Grand Prix millimetres from the barriers that at any moment could spell disaster.

It showcases their superhuman ability to pilot extraordinary machinery through streets that were never designed for racing. The physical and psychological effort required to complete 78 laps around the principality unscathed is phenomenal. One only need pick up the controller to an F1 video game to get some idea of how unrelenting and unforgiving those two-miles of claustrophic tarmac can be.

However, we appear to be in an age where pessimism and derision of sporting spectacle is the go-to reaction from the very fans it seeks to serve. Rather than counting the passes made during the race, should we not be celebrating Ricciardo’s incredible victory? Were the races in which Michael Schumacher achieved a podium whilst being stuck in 5th gear or where Senna won in front of his adoring Brazilian fans whilst battling with a gearbox regularly only providing him with 6th gear given the same criticism? Absolutely they were not.

Why are we not celebrating a courageous rookie performance from Charles Leclerc at his home race prior to his collision with Brendon Hartley? Why are fans not discussing the challenges faced by a Williams team who’s drivers appeared to be attracted to hitting the barriers as if by some act of magic? Why are fans not discussing another remarkable performance from Alonso in an underperforming McLaren vs his teammate? Why are we not remarking at Lewis’s stunning qualifying performance in a car that looked all at sea throughout free practice?

Instead fans are counting overtakes.

It is perhaps no wonder Liberty are pushing ideas about sprint races when they read this cacophony of complaints following a GP that is anything less than 100 minutes of continuous action. Ideas which, ironically, get just as much kickback from the fans they are seeking to satisfy.

Fans need to learn the appeal and patience of delayed gratification. Not every race is required to be all-out action from lights out to chequered flag, nor should it be. To quote Syndrome from Disney Pixar’s THE INCREDIBLES, “When everyone is super, no one will be.” – the same is true of Grand Prix racing.