Thoughts on the Monaco Grand Prix

[Tim]

Another thrilling race, even more so than Imola given that Monaco is known to give us processional races.

The tyre rule is clearly working.

Raikkonen dominated the race and by the looks of it Juan Pablo Montoya would have been up there had he not started from the back

Good to see Williams do well. Lets hope the improvements they made are not just for Monaco.

Alonso nearly finished second despite struggling with tyres from mid-race. His team-mate Fisichella struggled even more and ended up in 12th!

Ralf Schumacher managed to finish in 6th despite starting from the back. That was an excellent result. His team-mate must have damaged something as he passed Fisichella!

The 2 Ferraris finishing 7th and 8th was another poor result for the team. Michael crashing into Coulthard as a result of Albers' spin and Barrichello stalling then speeding in the pitlane. On the bright side Michael set the fastest lap so they just need to work on their qualifying.

Both Red Bull's (Star Wars) retired, Coulthard was hit by Michael while Liuzzi had a puncture as a result of hitting a barrier. I don't think Liuzzi will be racing next week.

Your thoughts ?

[K-D]

Another thrilling race, even more so than Imola given that Monaco is known to give us processional races. - Yes, a blow to those who wants to get rid of this track.

The tyre rule is clearly working. - Yes. I don't quite like how it is, but those are the blows.

Raikkonen dominated the race and by the looks of it Juan Pablo Montoya would have been up there had he not started from the back - Agree, except Kimi was on another planet today, Ron Dennis had read NewsonF1, and noticed the sage argumentation for a 1 stop race. Kimi did all he had to, and more flying away from the field. Montoy drove a strong race, but serves him right to not get on the podium, this may help in the long run to have him perform at the level that he can perform for a full weekend, and not just one of the days.

Good to see Williams do well. Lets hope the improvements they made are not just for Monaco. - Agree, but I would like some happy faces there. Both drivers finish the rcae in their best position ever, and both are a little "not happy" about it. Especially Webbber (whom I more and more do NOT like - so this is now an emotional statement) could have done better than say "good for the team, not for me".

Alonso nearly finished second despite struggling with tyres from mid-race. His team-mate Fisichella struggled even more and ended up in 12th! - They opted for soft, should have gone hard.

Ralf Schumacher managed to finish in 6th despite starting from the back. That was an excellent result. His team-mate must have damaged something as he passed Fisichella! - Ralf continue to be a better racer than Trulli, and have been all season. Problem is that Trulli is the one driver best at getting one fast lap out of a car, so it's an uphill struggle for Ralft every race, plus he is disliked by many, both fans and media. So rarely gets the credit he should. Trulli once more became the cork in a bottle, and Rald raced up froma way back.

The 2 Ferraris finishing 7th and 8th was another poor result for the team. Michael crashing into Coulthard as a result of Albers' spin and Barrichello stalling then speeding in the pitlane. On the bright side Michael set the fastest lap so they just need to work on their qualifying. - It is no good to be the fastest car, if it takes 22 laps to get up to speed. Ferrari and Bridgestone needs to find some qualifying speed soon. Schumacher may have gotten away with touching the yellow line, we only saw it once here, so I am not sure. And actually not sure if he has to break it, or touch it to get a drivethrough. Barichello continue to struggle more than Michael, and is not helping his own cause by stalling the car, followed by speeding.

Both Red Bull's (Star Wars) retired, Coulthard was hit by Michael while Liuzzi had a puncture as a result of hitting a barrier. I don't think Liuzzi will be racing next week.

Your thoughts ?

[Bundy]

Good to see Williams do well. Lets hope the improvements they made are not just for Monaco. - Agree, but I would like some happy faces there. Both drivers finish the rcae in their best position ever, and both are a little "not happy" about it. Especially Webbber (whom I more and more do NOT like - so this is now an emotional statement) could have done better than say "good for the team, not for me".

You'd be pissed off too if your team had butchered your race like that....MW had 2nd in the bag until Williams got NH passed him in the pits...I'm sure he would have been happier if it wasn't his own team that screwed him BUT it was still a good result.

[rah]

You'd be pissed off too if your team had butchered your race like that....MW had 2nd in the bag until Williams got NH passed him in the pits...I'm sure he would have been happier if it wasn't his own team that screwed him BUT it was still a good result.

I agree mate. It was his first podium and he got screwed. I wouldn't be happy either.

[Graham Ross]

That was a great race!

I thought after the start nothing would happen but the spin and the safety car and then the Renault struggling in the end creating a long que of cars just waiting for the right moment to get ahead

Kimi did have a good race but to me Montoya starting from way back was the driver of the day for me. He managed 5th and nearly got Alonso. He is still in the running. Perhaps the penalty gave him extra motivation to perform!

It was a pity Webber lost second place but in the first pit I think Heidfeld had to wait behind him so they may have given Heidfeld an advantage in the second stop. Or they really didn't think Heidfeld would be faster on a heavier fuel load.
But in either case the Williams drivers are aweful when it comes to enjoying the moment. Maybe they didn't show it but they didn't seem to congratulate each other at the finish despite both having their best ever finish. In the press conference they weren't happy either. I didn't like that at all
To be honest too, Heidfeld's move on Alonso was much cleaner and Alonso couldn't do anything about it.

Surprising that Renault struggled with their tyres but I think Alonso is one driver to keep an eye on. He is a fighter that kid! Just looking at how Fisichella gave up all those places tells you a lot about Alonso's ability

Michael didn't impress me at all, he drove into the back of Coulthard when the others behind him didn't crash into him!
And at the end of the last lap of the race he gets by Rubens and that was in my view a driver swap. On replay you see Rubens opening the door for him then pretending to close it.

[Julian Mayo]

That was a great race!

I thought after the start nothing would happen but the spin and the safety car and then the Renault struggling in the end creating a long que of cars just waiting for the right moment to get ahead

Kimi did have a good race but to me Montoya starting from way back was the driver of the day for me. He managed 5th and nearly got Alonso. He is still in the running. Perhaps the penalty gave him extra motivation to perform!

It was a pity Webber lost second place but in the first pit I think Heidfeld had to wait behind him so they may have given Heidfeld an advantage in the second stop. Or they really didn't think Heidfeld would be faster on a heavier fuel load.
But in either case the Williams drivers are aweful when it comes to enjoying the moment. Maybe they didn't show it but they didn't seem to congratulate each other at the finish despite both having their best ever finish. In the press conference they weren't happy either. I didn't like that at all
To be honest too, Heidfeld's move on Alonso was much cleaner and Alonso couldn't do anything about it.

Surprising that Renault struggled with their tyres but I think Alonso is one driver to keep an eye on. He is a fighter that kid! Just looking at how Fisichella gave up all those places tells you a lot about Alonso's ability

Michael didn't impress me at all, he drove into the back of Coulthard when the others behind him didn't crash into him!
And at the end of the last lap of the race he gets by Rubens and that was in my view a driver swap. On replay you see Rubens opening the door for him then pretending to close it.

Pics in todays SMH, and Age show Webber as first peson to Nick

[Graham Ross]

Oh and one more thing, JV's pass on Massa, that was bad, real bad and will make JV's days at Sauber numbered again

Sorry JayVee but imagine Heidfeld doing that to Webber what would Julian say!!

[Bundy]

he didn't look overly enthusiastic though does he!!!

mind you he is hiding his rage a hell of a lot better than i would have

[Julian Mayo]

That was a great race!


Surprising that Renault struggled with their tyres but I think Alonso is one driver to keep an eye on. He is a fighter that kid! Just looking at how Fisichella gave up all those places tells you a lot about Alonso's ability

Michael didn't impress me at all, he drove into the back of Coulthard when the others behind him didn't crash into him!
And at the end of the last lap of the race he gets by Rubens and that was in my view a driver swap. On replay you see Rubens opening the door for him then pretending to close it.

Fisi was hung out to dry by the kamikaze toyota, and could not get back onto the clean line until the "crocodile" went past

Its Schuey, Graham, its in his contract Kappy willi be spewing

[Julian Mayo]

Oh and one more thing, JV's pass on Massa, that was bad, real bad and will make JV's days at Sauber numbered again

Sorry JayVee but imagine Heidfeld doing that to Webber what would Julian say!!

Nothing.

For about a week, to anybody.

[Julian Mayo]

he didn't look overly enthusiastic though does he!!!

mind you he is hiding his rage a hell of a lot better than i would have

I'm airmailing the axe,express delivery

[lemon_martini2]

The Schuey/Barrichello move looked worse on ITV as we didnt actually see the pass,we just got the cars arriving out of Rascasse to take the flag and the commentators noted that Barrichello was slowing as he went round the corner and Michael just got to the line first,so it appeared that RB had done another Austria and moved over on the last bend.
Interesting how Michael can sit behind Rubens for 15/20 laps without being able to pass and suddenly manages it 3 corners from home...

[Julian Mayo]

Schuey was saving himself for a big finish

[sgd]

Alonso nearly finished second despite struggling with tyres from mid-race. His team-mate Fisichella struggled even more and ended up in 12th!

They opted for soft, should have gone hard.

The bad thing is that they had the hard one indeed...

JV - bad. (took 3 points away from the team -> to ferrari )
Montoya and Ralf - 9/10
Renault - bad
Kimi - Good od course but no-pressure - no-show.
Driver of the race - Nick H. (giving overtaking leassons to Webber!!)
Ferrari - bad Q (2 sec off pace!!)
Barichello - The worse!(= Karthikeyan)
DC - Sad, he'd finished ahead of the bambinos...

[JayVee]

I enjoyed the race even when The Cute lost 2 places with 4 laps to go. Put anyone in that Renault and they would not have scored points. Fisichella finished 12th

I am with Villeneuve, he stuffed up and gave points to Ferrari

Michael the 7 times world champ crashed into Coulthard yet Massa (the boy) managed to stop in time .
He goes over the white (yellow) and gets away with it then thanks to Villeneuve he moves to 8th and is then handed 7th by Barrichello. That was a farce

Raikkonen had it easy but they now have the package to beat it seems, Renault and The Cute will respond though

To me Montoya was the driver of the day, moving to 12th at the start was something then finishing in 5th. Ralf Schumacher did well too. I am surprised that I am saying this!!

Webber is just playing games, he made it look that he was so unfairly treated that the team will make sure they'll do him a favour in the future.
Let me tell you, he wasn't. Heidfeld had to park behind Webber at the first stops so they put less fuel in his car and he was going to come in earlier and that is what happened. And usually the car that stays out benifits so Webber was expecting PT Does Webber drive for Ferrari

Bambino driver only gets PT

I also noticed that Webber and Heidfeld don't seem to get along, something about Williams and their drivers, strange that!

The Alonso - Webber duel was exciting to watch. I think both crossed the chicane so why penalise either ? Alonsos was more obvious but the rules don't say you can cross the chicane by a little but not by a lot

Enjoyed the coverage with Button too. The less I hear James the better. Martin is OK but he is starting to pick some bad habits from James !!