Grand Prix 2015 Monaco Grand Prix Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

There is something - indeed, almost everything - different about the Monaco Grand Prix. Free practice will take place on Thursday, and F1 will take Friday off. The race will be 40km shorter despite having more laps than any other Grand Prix, and its winners will jump out of the car straight to the 'podium', which will be made up, simply, of a red carpet. Most strikingly, Bernie Ecclestone does not ask for a fee from the organisers in order to include the Grand Prix in his Championship.

The track is old: it has scarcely changed since 1929. The building of the Ranier III Swimming Stadium in 1972 still represents the biggest change that has ever been made to the course. It is very slow by Formula One standards - pole laps frequently average less than 100mph, and the shortening of the distance does not prevent the winning time pushing over one and three-quarter hours even when the red flag has not been thrown. Some of that is also because the Safety Car is so much more likely to appear.

The Safety Car doesn't prevent overtaking in Monaco too much more than the layout itself does - with the pole sitter having won every dry Grand Prix there since 2004, with 2008 standing as the only wet event in that period, won by Lewis Hamilton from third having planted the wall at exactly the right moment! Track position is vital; an undercut is difficult to pull off, and passing someone on dodgy tyres is staggeringly hard. Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso found in 2011 that the only overtaking that occurs in Monaco is when they were overtaken by events.

Winning at Monaco is an interesting achievement. It can certainly underline your reputation as a great (Senna's 6, Schumacher's 5 and Prost's 4), although there are some conspicuous absentees (Clark, Piquet, Mansell). Some find a groove there that they don't maintain elsewhere (Webber, Coulthard, Trintignant), and some have their solitary moment in the sun there (Trulli, Panis, Beltoise). Either way, those that win at Monaco will tell you it is the best circuit on the calendar to win on. Graham Hill's legend will always be founded upon his achievements here.

Who will be the 2015 winner? Following on from Catalan victory, Nico Rosberg will be heartened by his own form in the principality, having won dominantly in each of the last two years. He'll also enjoy that Monaco has never served as a favoured circuit to his team-mate Hamilton (whose only win came courtesy of said lucky walling, and has not finished ahead of a team-mate who actually completed the distance otherwise), and has certainly not favoured Ferrari (who have only won there 8 times from their 61 attempts, and have not taken a victory there since 2001). Although the differences at Monaco are often exaggerated, sometimes constructors do find the circuit to their liking if they focus more on aerodynamics than power, which suggests that this may be Red Bull's best chance to challenge Williams this season.

However, predicting what might happen on a Monaco race day is often a fools' game. It could well be a tedious procession, but it could well be full of drama - a good position can often be thrown into the ubiquitous Armco, the lack of new engines for this circuit could lead to one going pop or a frustrated move down at the Grand Hotel could lead to a front-wing buckling. Last year, lest we forget, Jules Bianchi achieved his one-and-only points finish in Formula One - the only points for the new-for-2010 teams in 5 years of trying. There have been many tedious processions here, but there has been 1970, 1982, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996, 1997, 2004, 2008 and 2011 too. Lets hope to add 2015 to that illustrious list.
 
Seldom does F1 throw up such a massive "what the fuck" moment as that which we saw today. I thought Hamilton responded with remarkable dignity after the race.

In Rosberg's mind I wonder if this will act as a reset given his poor mindset at the start of the season .

Two years ago I would have expected this to effect Hamilton for two or three races but since he's seemed to get on top of things in his head I'd expect him to return to the top step in Canada.

In other news, congrats to Jense.
 
Rosberg lucked into a win but there are many drivers past and present that have done the same. I must admit I found his celebrations afterwards a little weird but hey a win is a win.
The team has apologised to Hamilton and he will pick himself up from this and continue to beat his team mate....he knows he's quicker than Rosberg and is still 10 points ahead.
Teams make mistakes just like drivers make mistakes, they are human after all.
 
This was such a stupid decision that I'm really starting to think conspiracy theories here. It's not the first time Mercedes have made a pretty fundamental cock-up with strategy - I seem to recall at least one very poor tyre call affecting Lewis last year. In fact his career has been plagued with them.
It's very convenient for the show that it's closer in the WDC again isn't it?
 
What was ironic was prior to the incident, Crofty and Brundle had been talking about taking unnecessary risks with regards to pit stops and had stated that the usual approach at Monaco is not to take a pit stop and keep track position.

I'll see if I can find it in the commentary.
 
Hamilton reacted like the childish prick that he is, spoiled little puppy.
He deserved to win the race, but didn't.


Here in the States the NBC broadcast ended, when Lewis entered the podium area, and was unfastening his helmet, which was all that we saw.. We didn't see the post race podium celebrations. What reaction did Hamilton give to be seen as acting like, a childish prick?
 
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1. Stopping his car on track.
2. Knocking over the third place board
3. Walking off after the trophies and not spraying champagne
4. What looked like being encouraged to go back for the interviews as it seems he was off home

So, to those who don't like Hamilton 'selfish prick' to those who do 'really hacked off'.

Vettel was happy though!
 
I can't blame the guy and anyone who does, well that probably says more about them than Hamilton.

He was denied a win at Monaco and for whatever reason, the drivers all go on about how having a Monaco win is special.

He lost a 17 point lead in the WDC.

It could mark an important shift in mindsets and the psychological front.

All through no fault of his own.

What makes it worse is Rosberg is now in the record books as having 'won' at Monaco three times in a row.
I'm not sure which is worse; this year or last.
 
1. Stopping his car on track.
2. Knocking over the third place board
3. Walking off after the trophies and not spraying champagne
4. What looked like being encouraged to go back for the interviews as it seems he was off home.


Knocking over the third place board, walking off after the trophies, and not spraying the champagne you need to come up with something better than that.
 
I didn't call him a childish prick?


I just saw the rebroadcast of the race, and the post race ceremonies, whereas I don't see where Lewis was acting like a childish prick........very disappointed yes, childish prick no, which you didn't call him..
 
I don't watch any of the pre-GP stuff so this was a bit of an eye opener.

On their first flying laps on a cold, grip-less track, Hamilton was an astonishing 8.5 seconds quicker than Rosberg. By the time the German had made a mistake and hit the barrier at the re-profiled Tabac corner a few minutes later, Hamilton was still four seconds quicker.

It took 10 minutes for anyone to get within two seconds of him - and that was Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/32871492
 
I thought Rosberg seemed quite genuine when he spoke to the BBC team on the highlights program. He made some decent comments about the incident. As has already been posted, the biggest effect may be on Rosberg's mental state in relation to his team mate.

Had Hamilton managed to find a way to pass Vettel, I wonder if Mercedes would have asked Rosberg to let Hamilton back through. It would have been the right thing to do.
 
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