Grand Prix 2023 Monaco Grand Prix Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

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Assuming there is no more rain of biblical proportions, this weekend see's the annual F1 parade around the streets of Monaco. As a test of the ability of the driver I suspect there is no race which is more challenging. As a spectacle to watch on the medium of television, which most of us will do, there are few races which are less interesting.

Today's F1 cars are even less suitable for racing round Monaco than, perhaps, ever in the history of F1. At around 5.5 metres long (that's 18 feet in old money and longer than a Range Rover) and 2 metres wide, not only do the cars struggle to go round some of the tight corners of the principality there is also little room on the narrow streets to even pretend to be able to over take. To put this in context, there is a "requirement" to leave a cars width should a driver throw their machine down the inside at a corner. The width of the track at Monaco is 8 metres at its narrowest and 11 metres at its widest. It doesn't take an engineer to work out how easy it is keep another car behind should you really want to. The only track which is narrower at any point is Baku, with that stupid bit which goes through the castle.

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Last year we saw Sergio Perez take third on the grid and go on to win the race. Since then there have been lots of dark mutterings about how Sergio deliberately binned it when the cars went out for their final qualifying laps to ensure that Max started behind him. The race itself started wet and then dried out, and featured the excitement of Mick Schumacher managing to break his Haas in half at the swimming pool complex. The red flag and subsequent delay nearly saw the race end under the two hour rule, but Perez nipped home in 1 hour 56 minutes and 30 seconds. That's an average speed of just over 68 mph, or 110 kmh. The Formula E race at Monaco a few weeks ago had an average speed of 115 kmh. I know, I'm not comparing apples with apples, but it does give some perspective on just how unsuitable Monaco is in 2023 to host an F1 race.

For those in the UK watching live, this is the Sky schedule

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I wanted to include all detail about the reports Ted Kravitz will be providing as I know SOOO many of you on this forum love what he does. Console yourself with this thought though Kravitz's skeptics, Louise Goodman is still wheeled out to cover the BTCC on ITV, complete with her jingle jangle bracelets and the single "what happened out there?" question.

I hope it rains in Monaco, just to spice things up a little. Although the risk there is that Fernando Alonso might win, which would mean building a chimney the size of those Fred Dibner use to knock down to cope with the amount of smoke the Sky F1 team would blow up his a@#e.

The Indy 500 takes place afterwards, so there is something to look forward to on Sunday.
 
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i dont think they blew at the wet weather pitstop because im not sure if they wouldve found enough time even if they taken the huge risk to go on the inters, i hold my hands up i thought the rain wouldnt turn up like it did & mediums was the correct decision. inters was too much a risk to throw away a 2nd place

but i thought it was a no brainer go on to the softs at the start, it was alonso only hope
 
Even though the track conditions were improving during final qualifying, Verstappen's final sector couldn't have been any closer to the ragged edge. I'm pretty certain he ran it around the barrier with his wheels scraping along it. So you have to give a tip of the hat for that.

As for the race result, meh.

6 races in and Red Bull have had 6 wins, 5 poles and 4 1-2 finishes.

Wonder who will win the championship?
 
6 races in and Red Bull have had 6 wins, 5 poles and 4 1-2 finishes.

Wonder who will win the championship?
perez had to keep it within 20 pts to keep up any hope of him winning the title & as soon as he put in the wall at sainte devote it is all but title over. 39 pts, perez has got to hope for 2 retirements & to win both, which when you see that in this new era of car. max verstappen retired from 2 of the 1st 3 & has scored points in every race since

as much as its pains me to say, because nobody wants to give the "villians" credit. mercedes & ferrari are to blame for this terrible season & not red bull. they are the only ones to develop over the winter & as soon as it was clear in bahrain that red bull went forward but mercedes & ferrari had gone backward. this wasnt going to be a vintage season
 
Yeah, it's a shame he chose to leave Red Bull but they've done well even without him.

I've heard he took a job with a firm of accountants ensuring budget cap compliance but I'm not sure if that's true?
 
heres a question about Monaco & as it was something a friend said while we argued about monaco as we do every year. because i defend it & he hates it LOL

of course i said why have that brilliant qualifying would you want to lose monaco, he suggested a compromise that we still race at monaco but you make it a time trial, & you give points for qualifying. i couldnt fault it but no idea if that would even work
 
A time trial would only work if they were all in the same car and it came down to who could do the best set up and who had the biggest balls.
 
I thought the history of Monaco on C4 before the qualifying was good, but what did you think of the Bandini crash the marshals on the track putting out the flames and getting Bandini out whilst the field drove through the flames, certainly was different times. The big surprise was that this years race wasn't stopped because of the rain, possibly because the speeds were low.
 
At least the marshals did something unlike when Roger Williamson was killed.

Very different times as you say.

Deaths in motorsport in the 60's were treated with the same shrug of indifference as deaths in the Isle of Man TT are today.
 
I thought the history of Monaco on C4 before the qualifying was good, but what did you think of the Bandini crash the marshals on the track putting out the flames and getting Bandini out whilst the field drove through the flames, certainly was different times. The big surprise was that this years race wasn't stopped because of the rain, possibly because the speeds were low.
yes i found that on all 4. i really enjoy it. id feel it was a few years old but it was still brilliant. i stirred up all the feeling i have for monaco it probally is the historical element of it, but there something magical about that weekend & that might be why i defend it so much

but yes that bandini one was a shocking icident, i couldnt believe how long it would take to get out of the car. it is surprise he got to hospital if he unfortunately succumbed the following day. no matter how times i hear jackie stewart always scares me. when he says when you take photograph at the start of the season you know its a good chance that 1 in 3 of those at the picture wont be alive to be at the next years photograph

i disagree about the rain & it probally my biggest gripe about modern F1. that wasnt really wet another 15 laps & we would be back on slicks. 1996 was far worse & even fuji 2007 & britain 2008 in the careers of drivers still on the grid would be cancelled now. its like there scared to race in full wet conditions any more
 
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i disagree about the rain & it probally my biggest gripe about modern F1. that wasnt really wet another 15 laps & we would be back on slicks. 1996 was far worse & even fuji 2007 & britain 2008 in the careers of drivers still on the grid would be cancelled now. its like there scared to race in full wet conditions any more
One wonders whether Liberty Media have anything to do with it as as Indy never raced in the rain, not sure it's the drivers, though some are more averse to racing in the rain than others.
 
One wonders whether Liberty Media have anything to do with it as as Indy never raced in the rain, not sure it's the drivers, though some are more averse to racing in the rain than others.
maybe but that is a factor. but we still had canada 2012, off the top of my head pre liberty when safety car stays out & we wait until intermediate conditions. talking about drivers lewis hamilton really worried with his radio message "its really dangerous" i dont want to say he wussed out as they are braver, & more talented than me. but it was far wetter in 2008 that he won & that any point in 2023. so i don't know why he wanted it red flagging
 
As drivers get older they become more aware of their mortality, which is why they tend to be slower later in their career and need more of a car advantage. When Prost and Lauda raced one another Niki would concentrate on having a good race set up as he knew he couldn't match Alain in Qualifying. When Prost and Senna raced one another Alain took on the Lauda role.

Niki wasn't a great fan of driving in the rain, particularly after his huge accident at the Nurburgring. Remember he retired from the Japanese GP in 1976 purely because of the weather conditions. It should also be remembered that Prost hated racing in the rain as a result of seeing what Didier Pironi looked like after his career ending crash in Germany in 1982. He retired his car at the British GP in 1988 because of "handling" issues. This was what he had to say after the race:

"The handling of my car was terrible from the start. Understeer here, oversteer there...I was getting into huge slides, taking huge risks, to run 15th. Why risk a big accident, maybe break a leg or something, and put myself out for the rest of the year – so I can maybe be 12th or something? Everyone does what he wants with his own car and his own life. I know maybe I lost the championship today, but I decided to stop."
 
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