Grand Prix 2012 Monaco Grand Prix Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

For the first time in 3 decades there have been 5 different winners in 5 races and it's not exactly been the status quo winning races as not many people would have had Rosberg and Maldanado winning this early in the season and after Australia not many people would have bet on Alonso winning before the start of the European season. This is also when drivers like Hamilton, Webber, Raikkonnen and Schumacher havent won this season and the way things are going there could be 8 winners after 8 races which could almost be unprecedented.

Indeed, one thing that 2012 has shown is that no one team has been consistently fighting for the win at all five 5 races, while Lotus have possibly had the most consistent pace of the top teams, problems in the first two races meant they were unable to be competing for the win while Kimi might have been unlucky to not come away with at least one win in Bahrain and Barcelona where strategy troubles robbed him the top step but two podiums have shown that he still has the pace despite being away from the sport for 2 years.

The big surprise of the weekend was a first victory for Maldonado and a first victory for Williams since the 2004 Brazilian Grand Prix, a win which was merited with no outside help apart from the disqualification of Hamilton from qualifying and the effect of this is unknown as to how the race would have been different but in the race Pastor drove the wheels off the car and did extremely well to keep a rejuvenated Fernando Alonso behind in an updated Ferrari on home soil. Considering Ferrari's early season struggles, for Alonso to be joint leading the Championship with Vettel is no mean feat at all.

The field is very tightly packed as well with the top 7 drivers being separated by 20 points, this time last year it was nearly 100 with Vettel claiming 4 of the first 5 races. This year that is not the case and for once Barcelona served up a classic which in my opinion was the best race of the season, finally there was close racing from 1st down to last with the outcome not being decided until the last few laps.

Going into Monaco there is no point prediction what the running order will be as the likelihood is it'll change again, for all we know the Force India's could suddenly be at the front and Lotus might only be fighting for points, it certainly makes for extremely fascinating viewing as no-one is dominating the Championship, in the city of the high rollers and casinos, it remains who will strike lucky in Monte Carlo and claim the big win, it will certainly not be boring, after all, if even Barcelona can provide an entertaining race, surely most places can (with the exception of Valencia!)
 
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Brogan said:
Indeed.

I'll say it again though, Vettel lucked in once more - I still think he should have been made to yield the places he gained by cutting the first corner. I know he took avoiding action but he shouldn't have benefited from it as he did, gaining a few places.
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I watched the incident again, it was this incident that allowed Heikki through the field, as Button and a few others were pushed wide by a flying Sauber. I think that many teams gained a very significant advantage. Understanding that the way to avoid these kind of incidents is to be further forwards, but a normal circuit would not have provided that option, as the route taken was also faster.

I am not sure what could have been done though, as I saw about 5 or 6 drivers taking that route, and giving them all a penalty would have been a bit harsh.

Oh well, onwards and upwards!!
 
F1ang-o said:
hopefully McLaren 'On It'......those guys have got to learn to think on their feet.....today, they should have got in there first... , set the pace , be the one,,.... let the others follow.......set the :1st: It's the only way to success../
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I don't think it is as simple as that there is no point in pitting someone if they are going to feed back out into traffic especially at Monaco...

And of course they were all waiting for rain which contributed to making the event such a massive pile of
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Does anyone have any more information regarding Hamilton's radio message about something falling from the pit wall and hitting him on the head?
 
I heard the radio message I thought he said someone was throwing something off of the pit wall but it could have come from a balcony on the other side maybe somebody nodded off and dropped a half eaten sausage roll...
 
When he was interviewed after on sky he said it was the numbers they put on the pit boards falling down and bouncing off his visor. It happened few times afterwards as well - sounds a bit scary to me.
 
Kewee said:
Grosjean's become a menace at the starts. He seems to be quite good at first corner collisions. Alonso got a better start and was at least three quarters of a car length past him, Grosjean had no one in front of him and had no need to turn into Alonso. What was he thinking, not much I fear. Why turn into someone when they've all but passed you.
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Did he turn into Alonso? Or did Alonso clip him on his way past? Racing incident I'd say.
I blame the corner myself; something similar has now happened in the Grand Prix, the GP2 race and the GP3 race. The track narrows towards Ste Devote, which nowadays has less room on the outside with the inside kerb having been progressively pushed out into the available space (so much so that there is now a whole pit exit lane that runs between it and the barrier), so that this sort of incident is becoming more and more likely. I know the Grosjean accident was a little way before the corner compared to the other two races, but I think the root cause was still the same.
 
Jos the Boss I am the last person to discard a half eaten sausage roll, although if I were given both a sausage roll and a pork pie to throw (and the rules stated that I had to throw one) the flight path of a pork pie is far more predictable so I would throw that. Likewise if I only had a sausage roll and had to throw it I would probably eat some of it beforehand. So, on reflection, it would be a fool who threw a sausage roll but a real thinker to throw a half eaten one.
 
Well done to Webber for a controlled drive, but entertaining it most certainly was not. I'm really struggling to get enthused by this season, as the knife-edge tyres are making each race a lottery. When you get a race like today's, where all the teams are watching each other to see who blinks first, and telling their drivers to drive to a tyre-preserving limit, then you have to point at Pirelli and say: "you went too far".

I switched off at the chequered flag and listened to England decimate the Windies second innings while working on my Sturmtiger, I found it all so dull- and coming from such an F1 fan as myself, that's saying something. :bored:
 
Chad Stewarthill said:
Did he turn into Alonso? Or did Alonso clip him on his way past? Racing incident I'd say.
I blame the corner myself; something similar has now happened in the Grand Prix, the GP2 race and the GP3 race. The track narrows towards Ste Devote, which nowadays has less room on the outside with the inside kerb having been progressively pushed out into the available space (so much so that there is now a whole pit exit lane that runs between it and the barrier), so that this sort of incident is becoming more and more likely. I know the Grosjean accident was a little way before the corner compared to the other two races, but I think the root cause was still the same.
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The in car footage appeared to show a good car width on Grosjean's left. Schumacher hadn't come up alongside him at that point which is why I wondered why he turned right into Alonso's rear wheel.
 
Although McLaren and Ferrari clearly considered a protest – technical directors Paddy Lowe and Pat Fry met in the Ferrari truck after the race – the teams appear to have decided that it was in the best interests of the sport to not question the Webber win in the most prestigious race of the year, and in effect risk being seen as bad losers.
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http://adamcooperf1.com/2012/05/27/...discuss-red-bull-floor-controversy-on-monday/

What a strange decision.
So both teams think it's illegal but don't want to be called poor losers?

How many other sports would this happen in?
 
Apparently the system has been on Redbull's car since Bahrain so I guess it would look more like attempting to close the stable door after the horse has bolted. Also if it was that black and white Charlie would've declared it illegal during scrutineering without the need for a protest from rival teams. It is worth noting that Mercedes have been allowed to keep the F-duct version 2.0. Redbull have once again exploited rule ambiguity to good effect and the rest will just have to suck it up and get copying.
 

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