Grand Prix 2011 Monaco Grand Prix Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

Status
Not open for further replies.
Well how about that then, in a similar case in 2010 the doom and gloom merchants have vanished with a cracking grand prix in Spain. With the champagne still flowing we move on to Monaco a week later.

Mclaren will be a lot happier after running Red Bull all the way to the finish at a circuit where Red Bull normally run out of sight and could be favourites going into the Monaco race. Red Bull, however, will be the team to beat after 4 wins out of 5 races with Vettel looking unbeatable at the front but Spain showed that he wouldn't have it all his own way with Hamilton chasing him all the way to the end, even if Vettel extended his ever growing lead at the top of the championship

Ferrari seemed to have dropped back again after a superb start in Spain and eventually Alonso wound up 5th. But no doubt the Scuderia will be challenging the Mclarens and Red Bulls come the Grand Prix on Sunday. Felipe Massa's early season promise has vanished and he's back to his 2010 level and his seat will be back under scrutiny if he continues this lack of speed

Michael Schumacher will have reason to be optimistic after a strong race, beating his team mate and finishing a strong 6th as he best of the rest behind the Ferraris,Mclarens and Red Bulls. Mercedes no doubt have become the 4th fastest team over Renault who are now fighting over the lower points with Sauber and Force India.

However the big question on everyones lips will be DRS which didnt help overtaking in Spain (which is better) but more importantly where it will be placed on a circuit where straight track is at a premium so safety is a concern.

HRT continue to improve and are taking the fight to Virgin which for them is a massive achievement and its not long before they overtake them while Team lotus's optimism on Saturday didn't replicate on Sunday with a DNF for Kovalainen. But on a track where they would be weak, to get into Q2 is a massive achievement.

Hope seems to have returned to F1 after a surprisingly exciting race in Spain and it seems as if the feared Red Bull domination has been alleviated by the charging Mclarens and while Monaco is never a classic due to the nature of the track, it's certainly a spectacle

For Galahad's superb write up see here http://cliptheapex.com/pages/circuit-de-monaco/
 
For Hamilton it's a case of coulda woulda shoulda, but even though I was willing him to go and get a stunning photo finish pole lap he didn't. Vettel did and that's what matters. Potential for success is one thing but taking advantage and converting that into the best result is how you get points. I desperately want Hamilton to beat Vettel but I'm also objective enough to give credit where credit where credit is due.
 
I'm also objective enough to give credit where credit where credit is due.
I think most people have ;)

Expect Vettel to extend his lead by a significant margin tomorrow.

I can't see him doing anything other than winning and the closest man to him is 7th on the grid.

I would say Vettel is driving better than he ever has done, right now.
 
Want some cheese with that whine?
Save it for 606.

Whilst I couldn't say if he would have managed it or not, we were clearly denied a spectacle today given how close Vettel and Hamilton were in Q2. I look forward to the race but it for me at least it starts under a cloud.
 
Can we not turn this into a "my driver's better than your driver" thread?

It's about the Monaco GP and the last time I checked, there are 23 drivers participating - it has been confirmed Perez won't start.

Nobody is, it just creates the impression here that only Lewis Hamilton is challenging Vettel, I think he is making mistakes, or at least McLaren are. That said good to see Jensen pulling out of the fog for some attention, decent bloke and good enough driver to, bit second fiddle at McLaren at the best of times.

Massa has a dissappear button on his stearing wheel, or so Lewis Hamilton thinks, how much more room did he need?
 
Phew i'm back, although not sure anyone noticed. :P Been locked out of my account because my stupid password software decided it wasn't me anymore. It's so secure, even its user can't get into it. :crazy:

First things first, so glad Sergio Perez is okay. It is another victory for safety in F1. I was just sitting there, like most of us probably was, praying he wasn't seriously or fatally injured. God bless Jackie Stewart for leading F1 this way all those decades ago, but in a way i do agree with Stirling Moss. Stirling says that F1 has become too safe and what i think he means by that is reference to all the runoff areas and having safety cars go round and round for 20 laps because there is a little bit of rain. I don't think Stirling or anyone would argue about the way the cars are made for safety though. It is a massive technological achievement that cars can hit barriers at 150mph or flip upside down and drivers will often just hop out and walk back to the pits. F1 should do everything it can do to make a car as safe as possible, but the racing itself...

I think it is ludicrous that they were talking in commentary about them having to look at that corner where we've seen quite a few accidents. F1 is, and should be, a dangerous sport. Accidents should happen when drivers make mistakes, and cars should be made to take that accident and protect the driver inside, which i think they have done brilliant for nearly 2 decades now. When Lewis Hamilton arrived on Thursday, the reason he gave for why Monaco is so exciting to drive around is the danger. The adrenaline of driving at over 150mph that close to the wall must be insane and it is why we love it as viewers. Sure it probably wouldn't have been a good idea to allow the DRS through the tunnel, it's got to be dangerous within reason, but i can't see any reason why they need to change that corner because of 2 crashes, albeit 2 big ones.
 
BTW, Seb's pole today puts him at joint 10th on the list for number of pole positions, level with Fernando and Damon.
 
As for Quali itself, i think Lewis was slightly unlucky not to have a run at pole. Did anyone else think that the commentators and teams were being a bit naive at the end there. I couldn't see any way that they could improve their times. Lewis had to run because he hadn't set a time. Pastor and Nico needed to run as well - Pastor had another impressive day :thinking: - but everyone else should've just sat in the pits for 2 reasons. Firstly, the track had been left for nearly 30 minutes without a car on track. We saw how quickly the times came down throughout the session after cars laid down rubber, what made the teams think they could improve after the track was left bare. Secondly, i don't think we can expect drivers to go out and beat a time they set after seeing such a big crash and having such a big distraction.

Also, at the end of Lewis' run i thought they should've brought him in. He would've qualified 9th, but with the choice of fresh tyres at the start. I think this is by no means set in stone this year. The sheer number of safety cars i expect to see could make strategy very interesting. DNFs could cause some drama in themselves, bring on tomorrow.
 
Don't think Maldonado really needed to go for a run, could have saved tyres as he wasn't going to beat anyone ahead of him as they are all in better cars.

But he probably did so to start on the clean side of the grid as neither he or Perez set a time before, therefore Perez would have started ahead of Maldonado as both didn't set a time, and Perez was quicker in Q2?

Correct me if I am wrong
 
I highly doubt alonso had anything to do with massa holding hamilton up, but massa should have gotten out of the way.
 
With everything that's happened, it's a shame no-one saw fit to mention that Maldonado is in the top 10, ahead of Barrichello.

A fine job by him.

Oh and Michael beat Nico...

I don't think Schumacher has any life left in any of his tyres!!! How many laps did he do? He did at least 2-3 laps in every session.

But well done by both, and Perez aswell beating Kobayashi, and Petrov outqualifying Heidfeld once again ;)
 
I highly doubt alonso had anything to do with massa holding hamilton up, but massa should have gotten out of the way.

He did, where was he supposed to go though? It is the nature of Monaco and the very fact the FIA stewards haven't found any wrongdoing is indicative that Massa did all he could to get out of the way.
 
I highly doubt alonso had anything to do with massa holding hamilton up, but massa should have gotten out of the way.

Hmm...i'm bias to Hamilton as much as anybody, but i have to agree with the commentary team on this one. There wasn't really anywhere for him to go. It's just one of those things you get with Monaco. He was never going to go out of his way to get out of Lewis' way.

EDIT:as said above
 
Hmm...i'm bias to Hamilton as much as anybody, but i have to agree with the commentary team on this one. There wasn't really anywhere for him to go. It's just one of those things you get with Monaco. He was never going to go out of his way to get out of Lewis' way.

EDIT:as said above

Yip, the five finger salute was totally out of order, Massa had nowhere to go.
 
I don't think Schumacher has any life left in any of his tyres!!! How many laps did he do? He did at least 2-3 laps in every session.

But well done by both, and Perez aswell beating Kobayashi, and Petrov outqualifying Heidfeld once again ;)

I wonder if tyres might play a bigger part than people think. They allow for a flexible strategy and it looks like a few teams might have got a bit complacent because of the lack of overtaking in Monaco.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top Bottom