In the end there were very few failures among the cars, but one struck Alonso, who lost a handful of points when a technical issue forced his retirement. On Indy 500 day, it was the perfect ammunition he needed to kick F1 when it was down.

“Probably it’s the most boring race ever in Formula 1,” Alonso said. “I think in Monaco with these wide cars, no Safety Cars, no yellow flags, nothing… I think probably we need to give something to the fans at the end of the race to pay a little bit back their ticket.

“I think it’s just Monaco. We know how it is. I think it was quite boring, without a Safety Car, without anything. We just start in our qualifying position more or less, and we run until the checkered flag in that position.”

He added to that later with a tweet about being about to watch the 500, calling it “the RACE of the day.” It’s funny, but I don’t remember Fernando bemoaning a lack of action or overtaking when he won Monaco in a dominant car in the good old days of 2007…

Admittedly 11 years ago the cars were somewhat smaller, but it’s almost like the drivers were surprised that overtaking was so difficult this weekend. These are the same drivers that wanted faster, more spectacular cars to drive, which they got last year, and which resulted in Ricciardo setting a new lap record on his stunning qualifying lap.

Image by Glenn Dunbar/LAT

That lap was special because it was the car on the absolute edge, millimeters from the barrier on an all-or-nothing attempt to secure the most crucial pole position of the season. You don’t get that every week, and that’s part of the beauty of Monaco.

On Sunday, none of the complaints came from Ricciardo, who finally got the success there he deserved victory after being robbed of a win two years ago. Of course he didn’t care how boring the race had been: he’d just won Monaco. And that’s what really matters to the drivers — getting their own place in the history books.

It’s not about great wheel-to-wheel battling or massive drama, though the track can still provide it. It’s about needing to pull your best performance out over one qualifying lap on Saturday and winning in front of all sorts of A-list celebrities, sponsors and bosses.

It’s where everyone wants to be seen, and every driver wants to be seen to win.

Hopefully those having a knee-jerk reaction to a processional race can cast their minds all the way back to Australia, where a lack of overtaking was bemoaned as a disaster. Then came three thrilling races with plenty of passing, and all was right in the world again.

Image by Steve Etherington/LAT

The 21 different circuits on the schedule this year will feature all sorts of different tests for the drivers and their cars. That’s part of what makes the championship such a challenge, and in a season like this, provides opportunities for different winners. We’ve had three different teams winning two races apiece so far, after all.

Monaco doesn’t need changing, F1’s attitude does. The boring races shouldn’t be labeled as the end of the world, and the great ones shouldn’t be construed as having made everything OK.

I can guarantee there will be more of both types of race between now and then end of the season. Not knowing which one you’re about to be treated to is part of the fun.

-Chris Medland