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/
 
Artist, that's only the pit lane time, not the actual pitstop itself. But let's go with it any way. Where do you get Button coming out 3.3 secs ahead of Vettel? Cheer, Artist.
 
Artist, what was Vettel's lead over Button at the end of Lap 15? Just out of curiosity? And, then, as you say, he re-joined the track about 3+ seconds behind following his Lap 16 pitstop. Wonder what happened, other than that 3.3 seconds extra stop. Curious!
 
Ray.... Race gaps at the end of each lap can be found here: http://www.fia.com/en-GB/mediacentre/f1_media/Documents/mco-race-history.pdf

At the end of lap 14, the gap between Vettel and Button was 3.775

Lap 15, Vettel did a very slow lap (1:21.288, compared with his previous lap of 1:20.049). This suggests that his tyres were beginning to fade... Vettel's outlap was also slow - I believe it was (in total) 1.9 slower than Button's....

Whilst it is possible that without the mistake, Vettel could have come out of the pits ahead of Button, I still maintain that it would have been mighty touch and go, and it is perfectly possible that Button would have sent one up the inside at the chicane whilst Vettel was getting tyre temperature!
 
Thanks, Artist!

Perhaps a good part of Vettel's out lap being 1.9 secs slower than Button had more to do with Button being on (the faster) Super-Softs in relation to Vettel's Softs. Meaning that, perhaps, Button was faster because he was on a faster tyre and, perhaps, he was "too fast" - i.e. took too much out of them in an effort to build a gap whilst Vettel was "taking care" of his slower tyre. Ya? Cheers, Artist!
 
This thread has gone on long enough for everyone to have had their say - and therefore it has been locked
 
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