Monaco GP Thread - Will contain Practice, Qualifying and Race spoilers

[Fernando]

First topic message reminder :

Spoiler:

Round six of the 2012 Formula One World Championship sees the teams and drivers head for the Monaco Grand Prix, the jewel in the sport’s crown and a race which this year celebrates its 70th anniversary.

The tight and twisting streets of the Principality first played host to the world’s best drivers and machinery in 1929, when William Grover-Williams triumphed in a Bugatti, and in the decades since it joined the F1 calendar in 1950, the Monaco Grand Prix has lost none of its glamorous lustre, with stars of stage and screen rubbing shoulders with royalty, business tycoons and racing heroes throughout the high-glamour, high-octane weekend.

For the race drivers, however, it’s one of the most demanding racing weekends of the season at a circuit where the closeness of the walls and the slippery, unpredictable nature of the road surfaces mean that the tiniest error is often severely punished.

As such, ultra-refined high downforce aero packages will be the order of the day, as will Pirelli’s Super Soft tyre, which makes its first appearance of the season here in Monaco, alongside the more familiar Soft compound. The Super Soft is unchanged from last year, and while in 2011 teams expected the tyre to last just 10 laps, in the race drivers used them for anywhere between 12 and 32 laps in their first stint. Maximising that compound could prove crucial here.

Formula One also heads to Monaco with the possibility of remarkable record being set this weekend. The 2011 season has seen a different winner at each of the opening five races. That last happened in 1983 (Nelson Piquet, John Watson, Alain Prost, Patrick Tambay, Keke Rosberg) but six different winners at the opening six rounds has never happened in the sport’s 62-year history.


CIRCUIT DATA

Circuit de Monaco

Length of lap:
3.340km
Lap record
1:14.439 (Michael Schumacher
Ferrari, 2004)
Start line/finish line offset
0.000km
Total number of race laps
78
Total race distance
260.520km
Pitlane speed limits
60km/h during practice, qualifying and race

CHANGES TO THE CIRCUIT SINCE 2011

Various sections of the circuit have been resurfaced in order to remove bumps that were present in 2011.

Tyre walls have been replaced by TecPro barriers in turns 1 and 14.

One ‘planter’ has been removed on the right in the pit exit thereby allowing a straighter line out of the pits.

The crane situated on the end of the barrier in the run-off area at the chicane has been removed thereby providing nearly 15 metres more space.

An abrasive surface has been laid in the run-offs at turns 1, 5 and 10.


Monaco GP
Fast Facts
► This will be the 70th Monaco Grand Prix, the race stretching all the way back to 1929. It is the 59th Formula One race here, with the principality making its bow on the first F1 tour in 1950. It then took a break until 1955 but has featured on the calendar every year since.
► Ayrton Senna holds the record for the most wins here, with six. Five of them were back-to-back, scored between 1989 and 1993. Michael Schumacher and Graham Hill are next on the list with five apiece. Hill became known as ‘Mr Monaco’ in the 1960s, winning from 1963-’65 and also in ’68 and ’69.
► Alain Prost won four times in the 1980s, his first victory arriving in 1984. His tally, plus Senna’s, led to the unbelievable statistic that for an entire decade from 1984-’93 just two drivers won here.
► In 1955, Alberto Ascari drove through the chicane and crashed into the harbour. He survived that brush with death and swam to safety only to be killed four days later, testing a Ferrari at Monza. The only other driver to end a race in similar style was Australian Paul Hawkins who crashed into the harbour after 79 laps of the 1965 race. He also swam to safety, but like Ascari, racing took his life and Hawkins fatally crashed out in a sports car race at Oulton Park in 1969.

► The 1982 race had possibly the most exciting end to any race here, with five leaders in the final two laps. Prost led with rain failing but slid off. Riccardo Patrese then led but spun and rejoined. That left the way open to Didier Pironi but amazingly he ran out of fuel, as did the next man on track, Andrea de Cesaris. Derek Daly took over but his already damaged car stopped on the final lap, leaving the win to Patrese who had managed to bump-start his car. The Italian had no idea he had just claimed his first grand prix win.
► 1984 saw one of the most memorable Monaco races. In heavy rain Alain Prost hung on to the lead from pole position to take the win when the race was stopped after 31 laps. Had it gone on any longer, though, the Frenchman would surely have been caught by either Ayrton Senna, who had risen to second from 13th on the grid, or Stefan Bellof, who had driven superbly to reach third from 20th on the grid despite the conditions.
► Olivier Panis scored his only F1 win here in a rain-hit race in 1996. The attrition rate was so high that just seven of the 22 starters were classified, though by the time the race had reached its two-hour limit just four were still running. Panis’ caution earned him a narrow win ahead of David Coulthard and gave his Ligier team a first victory in 15 seasons.
► Panis won his race from 14th on the grid. That makes him something of an anomaly, as in the past 20 years he is the only driver to have won from further back than third on the grid. Pole, however, is not as important as it seems, with 10 of the past 20 winners starting from second or third.

Race Stewards
Biographies
NIGEL MANSELL OBE
1992 FORMULA ONE WORLD CHAMPION; 1993 CHAMP CAR CHAMPION
Nigel Mansell, 58, is the FIA driver steward at the Monaco GP. This is one of the few major events he failed to win during a 16-season career in F1 spanning 187 starts. After seven DNFs in 10 races here, Nigel’s final attempts reaped his best results here, two second places, in 1991 and ’92. He also scored pole position twice, in 1987 and 1992. During his F1 career he raced for Team Lotus, Williams, Ferrari and McLaren, winning 31 GPs, scoring 482 points, with 59 podiums and 32 pole positions. He switched to Champ Cars in 1993, taking the title in his rookie year, before quitting single-seaters in 1995. He returned to race in the British Touring Car Championship in 1998 and has since continued to compete occasionally.

JOSÉ ABED
FIA VICE PRESIDENT
José Abed, an FIA Vice President since 2006, began competing in motor sport in 1961. In 1985, as a motor sport official, Abed founded the Mexican Organisation of International Motor Sport (OMDAI) which represents Mexico in the FIA. He sat as its Vice- President from 1985 to 1999, becoming President in 2003.
In 1986, Abed began promoting truck racing events in Mexico and from 1986 to 1992, he was President of Mexican Grand Prix organising committee. In 1990 and 1991, he was President of the organising committee for the International Championship of Prototype Cars and from 1990 to 1995, Abed was designated Steward for various international Grand Prix events.
Since 1990, Abed has been involved in manufacturing prototype chassis, electric cars, rally cars and kart chassis.


PAUL GUTJAHR

PRESIDENT OF THE FIA HILL CLIMB COMMISSION, BOARD MEMBER AND PRESIDENT OF AUTO SPORT SUISSE SARL
Paul Gutjahr started racing in the late 1960s with Alfa Romeo, Lancia, Lotus and Porsche, then March in Formula 3. In the early ‘70s he became President of the Automobile Club Berne and organised numerous events. He acted as President of the organising committee of the Swiss GP at Dijon from 1980-82.
From 1980-2005 he acted as President of the Commission Sportive Nationale de l’Automobile Club de Suisse and in 2005 he became President and board member of the Auto Sport Suisse motor sports club. Gutjahr is President of the Alliance of European Hill Climb Organisers and has been steward at various high-level international competitions. He was the Formula 3000 Sporting Commissioner and has been a Formula One steward since 1995.

Source: FIA

[Fernando]

This is my problem with todays tyres. The order will fininsh as is becsuse everyone is nursing their tyres. No attacking just a procession. May as well go to the pub right now - but someone may have a go at the death so will stick with it.

You could just drink at home and claim it's family time

[The Special Juan]

It is the 2nd worst race on the calendar; there's no doubt about that. In terms of watching it on TV of course.

[GSC]

It doesn't help that Monaco provides little chance to overtake

[Fernando]

Jean Eric Vergne pitting for Inters could be an epic gamble this

[Fernando]

Button retires after incident with Kovalainen and people are struggling with grip seems slippy

could Jean Eric Vergne be set for a shock win?

[Fernando]

The rain has stopped and Vergne is screwed

[The Special Juan]

I want that 2 hours of my life back.

[GSC]

Yeah this has been awful. The only man to make any ground did so via strategy and didn't actually overtake anybody after the first corner.

[Fernando]

I want that 2 hours of my life back.

You made the choice to watch it therefore no you can with the memory of this very awful unentertaining race

[Fernando]

There's a protest after the race about the RB cars

Mark Webber wins in Monaco!!!!!!!

Rosberg 2nd,Alonso 3rd, Vettel 4th (impressive) Hamilton 5th, Massa 6th

[GSC]

Trying to manufacture excitedment because they're all close.

They could be within .000001 seconds of each other and they couldn't pass. Won't look forward to this one next season

[The Special Juan]

Even Webber sounded bored on the radio.

BBC Headline:

"Mark Webber wins a thrilling Monaco Grand Prix by less than a second from Nico Rosberg, with Lewis Hamilton in fifth"

What race were they watching?

[SteveG]

Well thats it it's as you were. As a Hamilton fan this is probably the most disappointing race so far as I expected alot more from a circuit where the driver can usually make the difference. Fast in qualifying and slow in the race is now becoming a permanent pattern for Mclaren. Worrying.

[GSC]

Lost out to Alonso and got beat by Vettel on strategy.

The most important part of the Monaco GP is qualifying.

[The Special Juan]

Can Rosberg challenge for the title now?

[harryspiv]

Without a doubt the dullest race of the season. May as well have walked round and seen who was quickest on their toilet break.

The tyres made this race look an absolute embarassment

[SteveG]

At Monaco quali is king Vettel would have swapped places with hamilton at the start any day. The bottom line is Vettel should never have gotten in front. This goes back to Mclarens race pace or Hamiltons engineers not putting him in the picture- I was tracking his pit radio and they kept on blowing bubbles up his jacksy telling him how fast he was driving which didnt tally with what was actually happeng first with Alonso and then Vettel.

[SteveG]

Can Rosberg challenge for the title now?

Anyone can. This season is open season.

[GSC]

Vettel's strategy was completely dependent on Webber backing everybody up while he ran in clear air.

[The Special Juan]

Hope Nico can do it. MSC has some horrific bad luck at the moment.

As for the race, they could have had some dancing grannies to spice it up a bit.

[SteveG]

And here comes Horner out of the blocks for the BBC interview. He's like Lord Lucan when Red Bull lose.

[SteveG]

Hope Nico can do it. MSC has some horrific bad luck at the moment.

As for the race, they could have had some dancing grannies to spice it up a bit.

Ha Ha. Didnt they have them last night in Eurovision.

[SteveG]

Ten minutes after the race and its raining - HEAVILY.
Typical.

[The Special Juan]

Yep Would have made that race much better

Too little too late.

[SteveG]

Webber didnt look too pleased at the press conference. Probably confirms that he was told to back the pack up for Vettel and in the end nearly got jumped himself. Even when hes winning the battle with Vettel he's losing the war with Red Bull which would explain his demeanour.

[Dave.]

Indy will be better. Greatest race in the world.

[Guest]

Appaling race and agree with SteveG about tyres once again. McLaren's race pace shocking once again! Serious questions need to be asked.

[Critical_mass]

Im just going to point out that i said it would be a boring race and it was. Webber did get a reasonably good win, but only reason vettel got where he was is due to webber backing the pack up.

Ferrari looking like they've started to get things together and massa performed better. Mclaren though not a completely bad race, i was expecting more of Lewis and was hoping for a 3rd position finish minimum.

Roll on Canada, more my kind of track. canada will be Lewis's first win of the 2012

[HERSH]

What a weekend

[dyrewolfe]

Can sum up this year's Monaco GP in 1 word...YAWN.

Shame really as the last couple of seasons its been fairly interesting. Today it all came down to the last 10 laps or so but even then you never got the feeling there would be much racing going on, so much as each driver hoping for the guy in front to make a mistake.

Congrats anyway to Webber. Took the opportunity of being moved up to pole with both hands. Led for the majority of the race, except when Seb was building up his lead to jump a few places during the pit stops and never really looked like losing it. Good weekend for Red Bull with Vettel executing the team's strategy for him perfectly and getting some useful points.

Similar story for Mercedes and Rosberg, although sadly for Schumi qualifying was as good as it got. Involved in a wheel-to-wheel-to-barrier scuffle with Grosjean at the start which Roman lost, he lost places anyway and ended up retiring with a fuel supply problem. Poor guy wouldn't have any luck at all if it weren't for bad luck.

A weekend to forget for McLaren with Hamilton falling victim to superior performances and race strategies by both Red Bull and Ferrari, losing his 3rd place to Alonso and eventually 4th to Vettel. Didn't seem especially slow and didn't have any problems that we know of.

For my part I'm just putting it down to Monaco being a tight, twisty circuit, with short laps and finer margins for error than most other circuits. I don't think the McLaren is particularly suited to slow, high downforce circuits and Alonso and Vettel were able to capitalise on their superior strategies.

The less said about Button's race the better. Again poor pitstop planning (and maybe failure to put in quick enough laps on Button's part) saw him stuck behind Kovaleinen's Caterham. You know you have problems with your car setup when a Caterham pulls away from you out of corners.

Decent race for Ferrari, with Alonso making up 2 places to claim the final podium spot and Massa finishing in the top 6.

Good race for Force India too with both Di Resta and Hulkenberg making up ground to finish 7th and 8th respectively.

Not such a great race for Williams, Lotus or Sauber with all 3 teams losing a car early on. Senna managed to finish 10th, Raikkonen came home 9th and Perez finsihing just out of the points in 11th, despite starting 23rd and having to serve a drive-through penalty.


In summary, thank god thats out of the way and we're back to proper circuits (Valencia apart) for the rest of the season.

[dyrewolfe]

Without a doubt the dullest race of the season. May as well have walked round and seen who was quickest on their toilet break.

The tyres made this race look an absolute embarassment

Explain your comment about the tyres please. In what way did they make this race embarrassing? Bear in mind Pirelli's compounds the previous 2 seasons were even softer, yet the races were, as I recall, pretty lively.

[dyrewolfe]

Appaling race and agree with SteveG about tyres once again. McLaren's race pace shocking once again! Serious questions need to be asked.

The McLarens of the last few seasons seem to have struggled at low speed, high downforce circuits. This would obviously be exacerbated at Monaco.

Even so they didn't look that slow to me. Hamilton in fact finished just 4 seconds behind Webber and was able to keep pace with the leading group quite comfortably. Hardly "shocking".

McLaren typically rely on haivng a straight-line speed advantage and using KERS/DRS to pass on track. Since you can't really do this at Monaco, they were always going to struggle.

Ferrari and Red Bull appear to have better strategists, as well as better pit crews, so are able to use pit stops more effectively.

[harryspiv]

Without a doubt the dullest race of the season. May as well have walked round and seen who was quickest on their toilet break.

The tyres made this race look an absolute embarassment

Explain your comment about the tyres please. In what way did they make this race embarrassing? Bear in mind Pirelli's compounds the previous 2 seasons were even softer, yet the races were, as I recall, pretty lively.

The race was all about tire preservation, nobody really attacking to overtake, i know monaco is a difficult place to overtake but drivers were actually backing off to save their tyres, I WANT TO SEE RACING!

[Fernando]

I doubt think it would make any difference with fresh tyres they still couldnt get past so i don't think tyres were the cause this week.

[Gregers]

Gregers' diver of the day and Turkey of the day will be up tomorrow!

[SteveG]

Even so they didn't look that slow to me. Hamilton in fact finished just 4 seconds behind Webber and was able to keep pace with the leading group quite comfortably. Hardly "shocking".

Hamilton struggled to keep up with Ross and Web. After an ok 10 or so laps he kept falling further and further back into the clutches of Alonso and at one point he was over FIVE seconds adrift of Ross (Eight from Webber) . By the time he pitted he was going about as fast as a tractor. This released a backed up Alonso who pumped in a phenomenel inlap and came out ahead easily (despite his stop only being 0.7 secs quicker than Hami). Mclaren seem to have a big problem with tyre wear in comparison to Ferrari and its not just this race - seemingly when track temperatures drop. Theres a definite pattern emerging of being fast over one lap but slow in the race and it needs sorting. Although Hami did get back into contention towards the end - helped by a spinkling of rain the damage was already done. TWICE.

[Gregers]

So here we are, the eagerly anticipated Driver and Turkey of the day!

As always five contenders for driver of the day:

Driver of the Day Contenders

1) Mark Webber - Finally got a race win under his belt again, drove a pretty much perfect race out front.

2) Filipe Massa - Maybe an odd choice but given the pressure he was under the perform this weekend I thought he did it very well indeed. A solid, if unspectacular 6th for the Brazilian and he seamed to be in a better place mentally.

3) Jean Eric Vergne - He tried something different in the Torro Rosso and almost made it work. Had he finished 7th then he would have been a shoe in but the pit stop loses him it.

4) Heikki Kovalainen - Another driver who didn't score a point but drove the wheels of his Caterham. Heikki proved once again why he is a great driver and had there been rain he might have nicked a point.

5) Sebastien Vettel - 9th to 4th, supreme strategy and raced brilliant. This might just be the race that shuts up the haters for a bit. Well done Seb.

Honourable mentions: Paul di Resta, Nico Hulkenberg and Nico Rosberg

----

And the winner is...

Sebastien Vettel!

Could it be anyone else? What a drive that was and pulled off a different strategy to the leading cars and managed to jump Hamilton rather easily.

---

And now Turkey of the Day, harder this week.

Nominations:
Torro Ross for bringing in Vergne when he was in a strong position. But as his tires had gone I guess they can't have it.
The Tyres, but I enjoy the tyres unlike a lot of people
The rain!

And the winner is, The Lack of Rain! The one thing that could have made it really exciting just didn't materialize.

[Guest]

Dyrewolf, I'm not trying to start an argument but how on earth can you say that McLaren's recent race pace has not been totally inferior to that of it's main rivals. It's getting embarrasing now.

''What is going on at McLaren?'', were the words that came out of ted kravitz's mouth and were supported by various pundits. Completely out-raced (if you accept that F1 is racing nowaday, which it's isnt) & also totally outdone in strategy. Not just in Monaco but in multiple races this season. It's only down to the sheer natural speed and aggression of Hamilton that can get a result in a underperforming car, whereas Button is simply being shown up and backs up the idea the guy is appaling when not in the 'perfect car'.

The end of the first stint for Hamilton was embarrasing and Alonso gobbled him up for dinner, did you miss that? The McLaren is simply dreadful on its tyres. As for the tyres..........well where do we start. It was a complete pacing exercise from start to finish and was painful to watch. Pirelli have decided to bring in qualifying tyres for next season, so therefore they are in my opinion backtracking and openly admitting that they have got it wrong during Q3.

Thankgod Monaco is over and one of my favourite tracks is next. Canada is simply Hamilton's playground, so there is a high chance of getting a 7th winner, however with the brainless whitmarsh at the helm and the continual tractor pace of the mclaren it looks doubtful. Alonso winning the WDC table.....unbelievable driver!

[SteveG]

I agree Alonso is looking more and more the complete driver and it looks like Ferrari have turned a corner since Mugello (the testing that MW coudn't be bothered with). It has to be said however that Hamilton should be comfortably leading the WDC and isnt by no fault of his own.

It's still early days of course but its funny how Mclaren can develop a bad car into a good one but can't seem to develop a good car into a brilliant one.

[harryspiv]

The end of the first stint for Hamilton was embarrasing and Alonso gobbled him up for dinner, did you miss that? The McLaren is simply dreadful on its tyres. As for the tyres..........well where do we start. It was a complete pacing exercise from start to finish and was painful to watch. Pirelli have decided to bring in qualifying tyres for next season, so therefore they are in my opinion backtracking and openly admitting that they have got it wrong during Q3.

Exactly my point, I am beginning to think that 'Racing' is playing second fiddle to technology. It is frustrating to watch a driver unable to defend because an average driver is able to open up their rear wing and glide past, just as frustrating is the fact that drivers cant full on attack because of how quickly the tyres go off.

As for qualifying tyres next season, that is good news, perhaps maybe we'll see the Hamilton of old.

[dyrewolfe]

The end of the first stint for Hamilton was embarrasing and Alonso gobbled him up for dinner, did you miss that? The McLaren is simply dreadful on its tyres. As for the tyres..........well where do we start. It was a complete pacing exercise from start to finish and was painful to watch. Pirelli have decided to bring in qualifying tyres for next season, so therefore they are in my opinion backtracking and openly admitting that they have got it wrong during Q3.

Exactly my point, I am beginning to think that 'Racing' is playing second fiddle to technology. It is frustrating to watch a driver unable to defend because an average driver is able to open up their rear wing and glide past, just as frustrating is the fact that drivers cant full on attack because of how quickly the tyres go off.

As for qualifying tyres next season, that is good news, perhaps maybe we'll see the Hamilton of old.

Funny how you omit to mention all the equally boring, processional races we've had at Monaco prior to Pirelli's involvement in F1. How do you explain those?


@harryspiv: in case you hadn't noticed Hamilton has been qualifying pretty well in general. In fact, that has been his strongest suit so far this season. His problems have tended to occur during races.

[monty junior]

So here we are, the eagerly anticipated Driver and Turkey of the day!

As always five contenders for driver of the day:

Driver of the Day Contenders

1) Mark Webber - Finally got a race win under his belt again, drove a pretty much perfect race out front.

2) Filipe Massa - Maybe an odd choice but given the pressure he was under the perform this weekend I thought he did it very well indeed. A solid, if unspectacular 6th for the Brazilian and he seamed to be in a better place mentally.

3) Jean Eric Vergne - He tried something different in the Torro Rosso and almost made it work. Had he finished 7th then he would have been a shoe in but the pit stop loses him it.

4) Heikki Kovalainen - Another driver who didn't score a point but drove the wheels of his Caterham. Heikki proved once again why he is a great driver and had there been rain he might have nicked a point.

5) Sebastien Vettel - 9th to 4th, supreme strategy and raced brilliant. This might just be the race that shuts up the haters for a bit. Well done Seb.

Honourable mentions: Paul di Resta, Nico Hulkenberg and Nico Rosberg

----

And the winner is...

Sebastien Vettel!

Could it be anyone else? What a drive that was and pulled off a different strategy to the leading cars and managed to jump Hamilton rather easily.

---

And now Turkey of the Day, harder this week.

Nominations:
Torro Ross for bringing in Vergne when he was in a strong position. But as his tires had gone I guess they can't have it.
The Tyres, but I enjoy the tyres unlike a lot of people
The rain!

And the winner is, The Lack of Rain! The one thing that could have made it really exciting just didn't materialize.

Surely Rosberg who finished a competitive second deserves a place much more than Verge who pitted early but his tyres were shot and had no real hope of finishing in the points. Massa drove much better at the weekend but at the end of the day i don't see why he's a driver of the race as he was still whupped by his teamate in terms of the final placings, for me it was Webber, Rosberg, Alonso, Vettel and Kovalainen.

[harryspiv]

The end of the first stint for Hamilton was embarrasing and Alonso gobbled him up for dinner, did you miss that? The McLaren is simply dreadful on its tyres. As for the tyres..........well where do we start. It was a complete pacing exercise from start to finish and was painful to watch. Pirelli have decided to bring in qualifying tyres for next season, so therefore they are in my opinion backtracking and openly admitting that they have got it wrong during Q3.

Exactly my point, I am beginning to think that 'Racing' is playing second fiddle to technology. It is frustrating to watch a driver unable to defend because an average driver is able to open up their rear wing and glide past, just as frustrating is the fact that drivers cant full on attack because of how quickly the tyres go off.

As for qualifying tyres next season, that is good news, perhaps maybe we'll see the Hamilton of old.

Funny how you omit to mention all the equally boring, processional races we've had at Monaco prior to Pirelli's involvement in F1. How do you explain those?


@harryspiv: in case you hadn't noticed Hamilton has been qualifying pretty well in general. In fact, that has been his strongest suit so far this season. His problems have tended to occur during races.

Although I am bemoaning the lack of action in this years Monaco gp I am still a firm believer in that DRS and these tyres are watering down the sport, not just at Monaco but every circuit. As it has been previously mentioned drivers are just pacing their tyres to avoid degradation constantly and it takes away the element of drivers going flat out to 'Race' after all this is meant to be 'Motor Racing'. As for Hamilton he has been excellent in qualifying but I believe on more durable tyres he'll be the best driver on the grid on a par with Alonso.

As for the processional Monaco races prior to Pirellis involvement, they were all more watchable than this weekend.

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