A drenched finale: What fans Googled during the 2023 Monaco Grand Prix

As the European chapter of the 2023 Formula 1 season unfolds, all eyes were set on the prestige of the Monaco Grand Prix for the seventh round of the championship. Following the unfortunate cancellation of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix due to severe flooding, Monaco's race provided an added touch of anticipation. And it didn’t disappoint. What started as the usual procession of cars we’ve seen in the last couple of years, characteristic of Monaco’s tight streets, rapidly turned into a battle in which the drivers did their best to squeeze themselves between their competitors and walls. The climax came with an unexpected rain in the final 25 laps, turning the course into a slippery spectacle that disrupted the order. But not for Max Verstappen, who secured his fourth season victory. Alongside him on the podium were Fernando Alonso of Aston Martin, clinching second place, and Alpine’s Esteban Ocon, who celebrated his third career podium finish. As I sit here and watch the podium ceremony and post-race interviews, I’m turning to Google Trends—a tool that analyzes the popularity of search terms and related queries— to investigate the most popular search topics related to Formula 1 people were searching for during the race and where these searches originated from.

At 15:12 UTC on Sunday, May 29, 2023, I entered “formula 1” into Google Trends to identify the most popular worldwide queries from the past hour. This timeframe covers the last 36 minutes of the race, which started at 13:00 UTC, Verstappen's finish at 14:48 UTC, and the next 24 minutes.

Global search interest peaked at 14:55 UTC, seven minutes after Max saw the checkered flag (Figure 1).

During this hour, the top Formula 1-related Google searches (Figure 2) included the popular Driver of the Day, an award letting fans vote for whoever they believe performed better at the race, the actor Tom Holland (who waved the checkered flag), and the current season standings.

I also looked for related topics, which are queries sharing an association or concept (Figure 3). These included Esteban Ocon, his team, Alpine, Mercedes’ driver George Russell and AlphaTauri’s driver Yuki Tsunoda, who was having a great race until he experienced brake issues. Interestingly, LaLiga 2, Spain’s second-tier professional football league, also appeared, possibly due to the two matches taking place that day.

Regarding the origin of these Google searches, three countries (Figure 4) stand out: Spain, home of Fernando Alonso and Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz; Italy, which hosts two races each season and is home to the Ferrari team; and Mexico, the home country of Red Bull Racing's Sergio “Checo” Pérez, who had an unfortunate weekend due to a collision with the walls during Saturday's qualifying.

I’ve been examining these Google Trends since the season’s first race. Doing so offers curious insights directly from fans worldwide and is a fun way to handle the post-race blues. This brief analysis revealed viewers were keen on voting for the Driver of the Day, probably interested in why Spiderman waved the flag and wanted to learn more about Esteban Ocon, who hadn't been in the spotlight since his win in Hungary in 2021. Fun fact: this was the first race I attended in person.