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

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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/
 
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So, an exciting race in prospect:

We have the two Red Bulls sandwiching Button, with Alonso in close company. Can Jenson make a better start than at Barcelona, or can Fernando repeat his Spanish slingshot start? Maybe Webbo can exact 'revenge' on his teammate for Catalunya. So can any of these three get to Ste Devote first, or will the flying German still be in the lead as they exit that corner?

Then we have Michael Schumacher, who is in his best grid position for a long while. Could he, using his wily old head, end up on the podium? Or can his young teammate re-exert his authority in the team after having been refused his request for Michael to let him through in Spain? These two surround Massa, who again has looked a little more determined and competitive than a week ago. Will he be able to catch his Ferrari partner?

Wow! Maldonado, a Monaco expert in GP2, in the top ten for the second consecutive race. Can he and Williams finally get a decent points finish to turn their season around?

A word here for Sergio Perez: another great qualifying performance shattered by that awful crash. What a relief he's going to be ok; best wishes to him.

Then we have Hamilton, who might have been on pole, but for whom yesterday went all wrong, then got worse. Can he use the charging tactics that he is famous for, and/or some clever tyre strategy, to salvage something out of the 'wreckage' of this weekend, or is Monaco just too difficult a track on which to pass? Will his head be right; will his anger lead to a historic come-from-behind win or a reckless, race-ending mistake at the swimming pool?

In the midfield there are the Renaults (strangely off the pace) sandwiching Barrichello in the second Williams, the Force Indias and the Tori Rossi. Can any of these wannabees make headway to make a name for themselves with a surprise result, or at least make life difficult for some of the frontrunners ahead?

Will there be the first safety car of the season? Or even the second and third?
Will there be rain?
Or Will Super Seb simply waltz off into the distance and put another finger on the WDC trophy?
 
Brogan said:
He definitely put Kamui in the shade today.

Was there any reason why Kamui had such a relatively poor qualifying?

Or was it just that Sergio had a very good day?
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I think Koboyashi got hit up his rear by one of the Torro Rosso's in Q1, and some of his diffuser / rear wing came off. I'm sure this lost him performance. So that possibly explains some of it. A good performance from Perez either way. Everyone said both Perez and Maldonado were specialists round here and they proved correct.

Brogan said:
His Q2 time with the softs was just 0.278 seconds slower than Jenson's Q3 time on the super softs...
I'm not sure how that will translate over 10+ laps though.
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I don't think Hamilton set his Q2 time on soft tyres, I think it was on super-softs? If he did indeed set his Q2 time on softs, then he would have 100% got on pole with super-softs. Do you have any confirmation on that?

I think the option is definitely quite a bit faster than the prime over a single lap, however, on the long runs they did on Thursday, they seemed very similar and the fact that the prime degrades less, actually meant it was quicker after a few laps.
 
Ah yes, I forgot about Alguersuari hitting Kobayashi, thanks for the reminder.

I didn't think any of the big teams use super softs during Q2, did they?
I could be wrong though, I usually am :D
 
Brogan said:
Ah yes, I forgot about Alguersuari hitting Kobayashi, thanks for the reminder.

I didn't think any of the big teams use super softs during Q2, did they?
I could be wrong though, I usually am :D
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Just re-checked and they were all on the red super-softs in Q2. :)
 
From BBC 'Qualifying As it happened' commentary during Q2:
1335:
Button is third (1:14.545) and then it's Alonso (1:14.569), Webber (1:14.742) and Rosberg (1:15.283). Schumacher has come in and put another set of super soft tyres, he's still seventh. Massa, who has been a messy over the last couple of laps, tidies things up with a 1:15.786 and is fifth. Barrichello, Petrov and Heidfeld are some of those in trouble.
1333:
The drivers are on the red super softs now. And Hamilton goes quickest with a 1:14.275... here's Vettel... let's see what he can do... and it's a 1:14.277. Oh that's close. "I wouldn't like to measure that, how close?" says Coulthard."About as thin as your wallet," quips Brundle. Nice.
1330:
Schumacher is still on the options and sets a 1:15.850 and that is beaten by Mark Webber, on the same tyres, with a 1:14.996. Now, Alguersuari nudged into the back of a Sauber coming round La Rascasse in Q1 and BBC pit-lane reporter Ted Kravitz says the Toro Rosso driver has been hauled up to appear in front of the stewards. Kravitz adds that Karthikeyan did not take part in Q1 because of a rear suspension failure.
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For the race today, does anyone think Vettel will be beaten? I've re-watched the start of the last few Monaco Grand Prixs and you have to go back to 2007 for a time that the guy in P2, didn't lose his place to P3 in the corner. So for Jenson to jump Vettel would be a monumental effort. I just hope Jenson is ultra aggressive. He has nothing to lose.

Vettel always ruins his tyres at Monaco in the race, he did badly in 2009 and even last year, the reason Webber kept on pulling away was because Vettel was using his tyres more. I think the Pirelli's might wear a bit more than people expect today as the track has evolved and got much faster. This is probably the only way that Vettel could lose, unless he has a pit stop problem, an unfortunate safety car, or puts it in the barriers.

I think Button and Alonso should have the pace to stay with him, so possibly they could undercut him?

It's such a shame Hamilton isn't up there in the mix, would have been a classic between him and Seb. From 9th on the grid, Hamilton can only hope he does what Barichello did last year and gain a few places at the start. I wonder if he has the choice, whether it's best to start on softs or super-softs. I think by starting on super-softs he has the chance to pit and then hope a safety car occurs soon after - that is probably his only hope of a podium.

Does anyone know if Hamilton will start in the 10th grid slot or 9th? I know he will effectively be starting 9th, but will he move forward into the 9th grid slot, or start from 10th, with nobody in the 9th grid slot (I've seen that happen before).
 
So looking at the FIA timing then, there seems to be around 1 - 1.5 seconds between soft and super soft.
Couple that with traffic and the inability to pass, and anyone starting on softs will soon be left behind.

Hamilton will start in the 9th grid slot.
 
Brogan said:
So looking at the FIA timing then, there seems to be around 1 - 1.5 seconds between soft and super soft.
Couple that with traffic and the inability to pass, and anyone starting on softs will soon be left behind.

Hamilton will start in the 9th grid slot.
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I don't think there is such a big difference between the soft and super-soft on race fuel. After a few laps, because the soft degrades less than the super-soft, the soft can actually become the faster tyre. I noticed this in Thursday practice.
 
Bushi said:
What a disgrace to let HRT race. They haven't put a time under the 107% the whole weekend.
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Bushi....

If the Hispanias had set their P3 time in Q1 yesterday, they would have been within the 107% rule.... I'm fairly sure that's why they've been allowed in!
 
Some have even suggested that Kolles' willingness to drop the diffuser protest, coupled with an agreement not to go out in Qualifying and impede the other teams, was part of an agreement which would definitely see them on the grid...
 
Brogan said:
Some have even suggested that Kolles' willingness to drop the diffuser protest, coupled with an agreement not to go out in Qualifying and impede the other teams, was part of an agreement which would definitely see them on the grid...
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Yeah, i was thinking the same way actually.
 
Brogan said:
Their FP3 times were within the Q1 107%.
Click to expand

Q3 times:
Vitantonio Liuzzi HRT-Cosworth 1:20.115 5.682
Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1:20.278 5.845

Pole
Sebastian Vettel RBR-Renault 1:15.606

Q1 107% Time 1:20.471

Notwithstanding the political reasons behind the decision on this race, I think this time allowance needs to be reviewed. 107% may have been reasonable in the days when competitors were each separated by half a second or more but with todays speeds and the relative "closeness" (is that a real word? Looks funny) now in 100th's of a second a 5sec gap is ludicrous. We're looking at the minnows being 4 or 5 laps down by the end of the race today. That's worse than some teams do in a six hour endurance race!
 
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