Grand Prix 2016 Monaco Grand Prix Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

After the excitement of Spain, with a new Grand Prix winner added to the list, we now move to the French Riviera for the jewel in F1's crown. It would appear that Ferrari's place as the next best team after Mercedes has been taken by Red Bull. I suspect we will see a reaction from the red team but do they have the capacity move back ahead?

Monaco hasn't been a happy hunting ground for Lewis Hamilton with only a single win back in his McLaren days. Nico Rosberg has won the last three races at what is, in truth, his home race. Sebastian Vettel has only won here once as well which shows what a lottery this race can sometimes be. Kimi Raikkonen hasn't won since 2005, also in a McLaren.

Mercedes will continue to be the class of the field but Monaco can be a great leveler where fractions of an inch can be the difference between winning and sitting in a pile of carbon fibre wondering what happened.

Max Verstappen must be on cloud nine, can he take this confidence in to the race around the principality? Daniel Ricciardo will have something to prove after his teenage teammate's achievement in Spain. The Toro Rosso boys will also have something to prove; Carlos Sainz that he deserves a drive in the senior team and Daniil Kvyat to show he should have kept in place at Red Bull.

I'm sure Force India will be hoping for some serious points, Williams will continue to be poor and will probably be even worse round the twists on Monaco. Haas will have their first experience of French sunshine, Renault will have something to prove at the closest thing to a home race for the French team. They could well be battling it out for the minor points places.

At the back Manor and Sauber will battle for the wooden spoon. Sauber look to be working hard to ensure they get this as they continue struggle financially. Manor, at least in Wehrlein's hands, hasn't look too bad given their budget. I wonder if Haryanto will have to ask for a special dispensation as he hasn't got within the 107% time.

Fun in the sun? Monaco is always more exciting in the wet, I wonder if we will see a sprinkling of rain just to spice things up?

 

[Bill Boddy]

Horner was very good when the car was three seconds faster than the rest of the field on the first lap dropping to one second a lap thereafter. Now he does not have that advantage his decisions are dodgy to say the least. maybe he should be moved down to Toro Rosso with Graham Watson getting promoted to RBR.

That's the way Red Bull works, isn't it?

 

[Il_leone]

Bill Boddy Well maybe you could ask Dr Helmut Marko if incompetence or failure to deliver applies to managers as well not just drivers

 

[Il_leone]

cider_and_toast
Ricciardo certainly has enhanced reputation, and I agree Red Bull threw away a certain win but to Daniel it feels like he's lost

 

[F1Brits_90]

Last time out in Spain Red Bull couldn't be blamed because Ricciardo (& Vettel) were on the "right" strategy but just unlucky but Im 100% behind Ricciardo as I would've been absolutely crestfallen as he was Amazing all weekend 1 of the greatest pole laps i think he was angry was because he stormed them 2 laps after being called in . the fact he had a 13.3 sec pit stop & be side by side with Lewis shows what a massive margin for error they had if he'd lost it himself & being in 3rd best car like bottas at Silverstone you wonder if he thinks he may have lost his best chance to win a monaco gp

What a gamble from Lewis, I find it amazing that despite threading his way through the barriers which hard enough never mind wet tyres on a drying track with huge pressure from behind. He could still think back, use his negative experience last yr to know that he can keep ricciardo behind unless he made a unlikely wild lunge. But enjoy the Irony of Lewis Hamilton losing it on pit stop error & then 12 mths later he ends up winning because of another teams pit stop error

Although my phone ruined the race for me. Because I was listening to the radio 1 big weekend & decided to follow Scott Mills advice to watch them on the R1 website & my stupid phone infuriatingly decided to change website address bbc co uk/r1 that id type in to bbc co uk/f1

 

[teabagyokel]

Last time out in Spain Red Bull couldn't be blamed because Ricciardo (& Vettel) were on the "right" strategy but just unlucky

They weren't. Requiring overtakes in Catalunya is a fool's errand; added to that Vettel barely even had a tyre advantage.

 

[F1Brits_90]

They weren't. Requiring overtakes in Catalunya is a fool's errand; added to that Vettel barely even had a tyre advantage.

Reason I say "right statergy" us because all weekend everyone said best statergy was a 3 stopper. Just like the 2 number 1 driver did & im guessing both Mercedes would've done wasnt until kimi & max were 15 laps from the end nobody had even mention that a 2 stopper was a realistic option to the team

 

[teabagyokel]

I recall Karun Chandhok calling it a 2/3 on C4 before the race.

 

[The Pits]

Plus, with the split strategies, each team must have known that passing was required, right? I mean, Vettel would have had to pass Kimi to make the three stop work, so there is no way they couldt have known.

 

[F1enDatos]

How many overtakes at Monaco?

 

[cider_and_toast]

14 if I remember correctly.

 

[Bill Boddy]

No cider_and_toast, not the total ever, just this one race.

 

[NJB13]

I'm surprised if there were only 14 overtakes. I thought Max made quite a few before his brain fade. The rain certainly made passing possible, like back in 84 with Senna and that German guy that started from the back and ended up on the podium... but was eventually DQ'd if I recall correctly.

 

[Olivier]

I..., like back in 84 with Senna and that German guy that started from the back and ended up on the podium... but was eventually DQ'd if I recall correctly.

Bellof, Tyrell got red handed adding ballast to their fuel tanks.

 

[NJB13]

Bellof, Tyrell got red handed adding ballast to their fuel tanks.

First things first - I lurv the shark-nose. I remember seeing that as a boy and thinking nothing on this planet could be cooler. So 10/10 AFAIC for your avatar. I also lurv the fact that you have chosen one in Ferrari's official colour.

Meanwhile, back at on topic ... a very creative way of trying to keep up with those turbos

 

[FB]

 

[Olivier]