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

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/

 

[Brogan]

Terrible start by MS, compounded by the punt up Hamilton's rear.
Good opportunistic pass though.

 

[Slyboogy]

Masterfully done

 

[Fenderman]

Personal Posting Policy No. 1 : I have made my point. You may take it or leave it. I will not argue. If I am found to be wrong you will find my post edited later on

http://cliptheapex.com/threads/nonsense-lunacy-and-general-stutterings.2707/page-5#post-52525

 

[Slyboogy]

Personal Posting Policy No. 1 : I have made my point. You may take it or leave it. I will not argue. If I am found to be wrong you will find my post edited later on

That's got me chuckling away!!! That bored smiley just makes it ultra legendary!

 

[F1Yorkshire]

Slightly off topic post here but what is the highest number of posts for a single race discussion? We have just passed 700 now and there's no sign of it letting up between now and Canada!

 

[KekeTheKing]

no sign of it letting up between now and Canada!

You know it F1Y!

I'll soon have a clip posted of Mark Webber barreling past Paul di Resta and the Safety Car on Lap 34.

I did see Webbo press a button right after this happened, maybe he just pushed 'Reset' on the game console and nobody saw what happened on his first try.

 

[jez101]

I think we are being overly harsh on Button and at least his half of the McLaren garage, aren't we? His second stop was second guessing a likely safety car for Glock when he had a lead growing to 14s. If Vettel had stopped after the SC he would have lost track position (and quite a few places, I suspect), Button would have stayed P1. If there had been no SC, Button already had half a pistop in his pocket and was 1s/lap faster. He could easily have emerged from stop 2 (say lap 40) in P1 with brand new super softs and been able to make up enough time for pitstop 3.

I think the margins were very fine, McLaren took a chance when circumstances beyond their control killed plan A. For a change, McLaren were proactive. So, it didn't work because Vettel pulled the rabbit out of the hat.

 

[Fenderman]

...except that all Vettel had to do was drive (albeit excellently) McLaren as a team kept on squashing their rabbits. I don't think their approach was aggressive (found something to disagree with Hughes about) I think it was conservative and nervous. Had they been bold then Jenson should have bagged it. But hey, hindsight again

 

[RickD]

I really like my new policy of keeping my mouth shut until I;ve read more posts and just clicked the like button. The "truth will always out" as our American friends say.

You're just copying me now..

 

[Slyboogy]

He could also at least attempted a move on Alonso when he his tyres at his best...but no he didn't...he stayed quiet a distance back from Alonso, at one point he was 2 tenths behind Alonso, but not once did I see him look threatening.

Harsh it may be...he put in a great performance, but now that people have pointed a few things out, I see it that the other two deserved the win a little more.

 

[Fenderman]

You're just copying me now..

What? You mean, you said that as well? If I were immodest I'd say "great minds think alike"

Apologies for this being in this thread. I am more than happy to delete it if asked.

 

[Slyboogy]

What? You mean, you said that as well? If I were immodest I'd say "great minds think alike"

Apologies for this being in this thread. I am more than happy to delete it if asked.

Great minds?

 

[RickD]

I don't keep up to date enough to post before someone else has already generally said what I want to, makes it easier to press like all the time..

 

[Fenderman]

I don't keep up to date enough to post before someone else has already generally said what I want to, makes it easier to press like all the time..

I'm conscious of some advice recently posted with regards to veering off topic here:

http://cliptheapex.com/threads/off-topic-posts-and-other-issues.2818/

Happy to converse on the "general stutterings thread"

 

[Slyboogy]

Amazing lap! Just missed the barrier by millimetres when he turned in to that corner before the hairpin

But guys, one thing I noticed watching this, it might just be me, the Monaco track there really does look less tighter than it is now for some reason. Could just be the way Raikkonen's driving around it, but it does look less tight.

Also, how weird does that car look with the front tyres being the same size as the rear?

 

[Brogan]

Seb V's pole time was even quicker than that this year!

 

[Slyboogy]

But didn't they carry fuel loads that day? Or is that stupid rule of doing a low run fuel, and then race fuel apply here?

Love that sound of the V10s rather than the moped sound we get now

 

[RayInTorontoCanada]

I think we are being overly harsh on Button and at least his half of the McLaren garage, aren't we? His second stop was second guessing a likely safety car for Glock when he had a lead growing to 14s. If Vettel had stopped after the SC he would have lost track position (and quite a few places, I suspect), Button would have stayed P1. If there had been no SC, Button already had half a pistop in his pocket and was 1s/lap faster. He could easily have emerged from stop 2 (say lap 40) in P1 with brand new super softs and been able to make up enough time for pitstop 3.

....except...except that poor Vettel had lost a solid lead he'd built up because RBR screwed up his Lap 16 pitstop!

You're forgetting that Vettel led the Grand Prix HANDILY but lost track position when his team cost him an extra 5 seconds in the pits.

That's the ONLY reason why Jenson had the lead!

Let's not forget that!

Had it been a normal pitstop, Vettel would have joined ahead of Button...i.e KEPT HIS LEAD.

How can you be anything but harsh on Button?

Jenson had a GOLDEN opportunity to win a race that the RBR pit crew handed to him...but Jenson ate up his tyres. Jenson couldn't manage the Super-Softs and had to pit THREE times!

Who's fault is that?

Vettel was awsome, over-coming his team's cock-up.

Jenson threw away a win in a car with what Whitmarsh acknowledged was "race-winning" pace.

McLaren and their drivers should be kicking themselves for blowing a win...and Vettel made them pay dearly.

Vettel - at 23 - is now dictating strategy and pulling it off.

That's ominous.

 

[KekeTheKing]

As promised earlier, here is the footage of Webber passing di Resta and the SC on Lap 34. Apparently you can just slow down, wave, and then forget that it ever happened.

 

[RayInTorontoCanada]

Keke, the marshals - two different sets of them - were waving Yellows on the start/finish straight and Yellow lights were flashing before he got to Ste Devote...yet he just sailed passed the SC and PdR up the hill!

Perhaps Mark was looking at his buttons and his dash as he rounded Ste Devote instead of that piece of road...and only just realized he'd passed them at the last millisecond? Apparently the driver workload has gone up over 30 percent in terms of cockpit controls with KERS, break-balance, DRS, etc. this year.

Fun!