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.
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
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.
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.
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
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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