Grand Prix 2018 Monaco Grand Prix Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

Monaco. The principality of Monaco to be completely correct. Its name comes from a 6th century BC Greek colony in the area who believe they descended from Hercules himself. Despite their laws trying to suggest otherwise they have a monarch who holds ultimate autonomy over the region. It's all very Game of Thrones. All this for an area that is just over 2km squared. The region has a population of 19,000 people with around 10,000 of these being motor racing drivers avoiding paying tax in their own country. Monaco is famous for 3 things - the rich and crooked, casinos and motor racing. Yes it's F1's 'jewel in the crown's where the colours are brighter and the crowd are all beuatiful people.

Ok let's have a look at some of our readers letters. Here's one:


Dear Raspy,

All street circuits in F1 are pointless with Monaco being doubly so. It's not fit for modern race cars and should be disposed off immediately. I resent paying for a Now TV subscription to watch it.

Yours faithfully

Angry of Scotland.


Well Angry of Scotland does have a point and his view is shared by many. It is pretty silly having race cars on a track like Monaco where overtaking has been virtually impossible for the last 30 years. To be honest though overtaking is virtually impossible at every track now so maybe it was a trend setter. Personally I like Monaco for the look and the fact it's a challenge for the drivers to even make it round. There will be no 'rejoin the track by going to the left of the bollard' here. If you leave the black stuff you're in the wall.

One of the things levelled at Monaco is that it's an exceptionally boring race. This is not always true but let's be fair how can it possibly be more boring than the steaming terd that was the Spanish Grand Prix? Yes we come here off the back of a 1-2 from Merc, a supreme drive from Lewis, a lackluster performance from Vettel and Verstappen actually finishing a race. Unfortunately it was all so boring that nobody really cares. Hamilton is very much in control of the championship now and is in good spirits so I fully expect him to be as unbeatable here as he was in Spain. Vettel has never been awesome here and I expect him to get some trouble from the Red Bulls.

Speaking of which Max Verstappen has to be one of the favourites to be first in the wall. Probably joint along with Grosjean and the two Williams drivers. My little boys pushchair takes corners better than that Williams so I fully expect them to both crash out. This race has always bought about a lot of retirements and we've often seen a cautious approach lead to big points. The track is also seen as a leveller for the cars and we are told this means driver skill is far more important than the car. What this means is we'll get a lot of articles in the build up about how this is Fernando Alonso's chance to take an amazing and shocking win. I guess we'll see when we get there.

Last and not least let's talk about Charles LeClerc. The home town boy. Not only a home town boy but one who choses.to race under a Monegasque licence as well. LeClerc comes here off the back of two really results in a Sauber which looks a lot better than people expected. Could he pull off some sort of miricale podium here? I wouldn't put it past him.

So who is going to bother to watch?
 
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Perhaps someone should explain to Max it's not a good idea to try and trash your team mates consistency by an over quick lap into the barriers, his quest to be infront of his team mate induces brain fade
 
Oh max you silly guy 10mins of fp3 should be survival. Going to take a miracle to get him out for qualy & do we congratulate Riccardio now or in 3hrs time

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I don't know if this is true but Christian Horner was fuming :o so maybe patience is beginning to run out on Max given he's had enough time in the time but he seems to be crashing more

A potential front row and 1-2 opportunity all gone in a bang:oops: How long is it before Max Verstappen gets labelled being more Maldonado/ De Crasharis like rather than Senna

I am trying to compare Verstappen's career to Hamilton's and I just can't remember the number of times Hamilton actually buried the car into the barriers as that often as Verstappen. People were on Lewis' backs waiting for him each time he got into an incident.... Verstappen is living on reputation at the moment. Lucky for him they are not people in the Red Bull hierarchy questioning his position in the team and touting for other drivers like some other famous orange and red coloured teams do
 
The big problem is that Verstappen has just arrived at the second winnable race of the season, and each time he’s ****ed it up by crashing the car.

If Ricciardo wins this race, as is likely, then he will have taken both of those opportunities that Verstappen blew. That’s not a good look for Verstappen, and the first real challenge of his fledgling career.
 
teabagyokel It had to come eventually where Max will face his toughest test

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I am cheating a bit but the F2 races ... disastrous weekend for all the Brits including Albon with poor race results except for Norris who stretched his championship lead to a massive 29pts already

Renault development driver Markelov moves to 2nd with a win in the feature race

Latifi whose Dad bought a stake in Mclaren could only muster 9th and 8th so hardly a case to justify promoting him to Mclaren next season
 
Max discounts Monaco as 6th consecutive incident - ignoring running into the back of Stroll in Spain but that is academic as he is at the back of the grid and lost a chance of a win and a certain podium . Costly mistake

Further down the grid the following deserves praise

Ocon- 6th - where did that come from ? Besides Verstappen missing from quali

Sainz 8th - he is a bit of a specialist on the track but not getting the results

Gasly 10th - just a reminder to Red Bull that Sainz is not the only driver trying to get the Red Bull drive

Sirotkin 13th - That to me is some performance given how awful Williams were last race and he has struggled but he has managed to put 0.5 seconds on Stroll and make it into Q2 - I hope he is not still trying to use his PS4 to learn the track. I did not think Williams were going to make it out of Q1
 
I am VERY disappointed by Verstappen's position on the grid as it will provide the usual bolloxy drivel from every commentator in every language on every channel about how difficult it is to overtake, references to Coulthard, comparisons with Mansell/Senna.
No matter where he finishes, as long as he finishes, his drive will be lauded as magnificent. If he scores points it'll be through strategy and others's misfortune and not through his own skill.
>:(
 
So long as he finishes behind any car not driven by Daniel Ricciardo, his overall performance at the Monaco Grand Prix will have fallen below expectations.

In fact, given the hype-machine, nothing less than a win should be acceptable. :popcorn:
 
We had a lovely day out, if not a bit humid, got in and fast forwarded qualifying to the last 6 minutes and then went about my day. Stupid circuit, pointless race.
 
Superb lap by Ricciardo. Good luck to him tomorrow. As per Max, it's 6 races in a row that he crashes. He needs a shrink.
 
He's just a kid. There's no substitute for years - not even GP starts - and he proves it. He'll figure it out in time.
 
Galahad He had better figure out soon because I think Red Bull might be start wondering did we bag our eggs in the wrong basket. Usually the Red Bull production line as a string of drivers ready to take over so it wont be long they start discussing the pairing should be Sainz and Gasly

I thought what Ricciardo said was telling that at Monaco you can't overdrive the car. Now Verstappen binned quiet badly at Monaco twice
 
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Il_leone you have to wonder. We know its likely that red bull will lose a driver in 2019. Now will they think that Verstappen is just too hassle for the worth. Will keep the consistency & depenable Riccardio his new contract. Verstappen would be wanted at mercedes maybe ferrari, but i think leclerc has jumped him in the queue replacing kimi
 
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