Grand Prix thread Official Not606 Monaco Grand Prix Chat and Predictions

Ferrari need International Assistance. Or an International Arsekicking.

 

I had not noticed that Riccy did not set his fastest lap in Q2 on Ultra soft!!! So he will be the only one not starting on Ultra Soft!!! Could be interesting.....

 

Yeah, Mercedes seem to their ultra-softs out pretty quickly. So Ricciardo is in a sweet place anyhow.

 

Gaah. Forgot to vote.

EMSC, Put me down for Rosberg please. Ta!

 

Twat face will spin it to make it look like RB's Success ................

 

So True

 

Well it certainly justifies their decision to go with a TAG engine over a Renault. Good job Jack!

 

What happens to Ricciardo?

 

He'll probably win it, but voting for him at this late stage is a bit of a cheat, so I'll take a punt on Rosberg sticking it to him in the first corner.

Actually hope Ricciardo wins this though.

 

Yeah I realised afterwards hah, Rosberg is a safe bet to be honest.

 

Hasn't the upgrade come courtesy of Renault though and not their own development with TAG?

 

It was tongue in cheek.

 

Hmmmmm.......

 

It looks like the start is going to be very interesting tomorrow.

I was amazed only riccardo pulled the tyre trick off.

I mean... bar the start there's no real room to pass? So.... won't he be on a bit older super softs after a while? Will he be under pressure then left out while others pit and try under cuts galore?

Why did Mercedes not go this way too?

Thoughts?

 

I think Merc just thought that they would have the front row and as such could control the race. I think Red Bull have been sand bagging till Q3. Riccy did a great job, as Red Bull haven't really mentioned any major updates (other than normal Monaco aero package) so Renault will be getting good credit, for once, for the PU.
The start will be interesting. The Ultras might give Merc a better getaway but they aren't great at starts lately. If Riccy can get a decent start he should be able to control the race. Others will pit early as their Ultras will have less life which will give Riccy a 30 sec lead. Not sure even on new Ultras Merc will be able to get thru the traffic to reduce the 30sec. Even if Mercs are in front at first corner they will still pit and Riccy will take lead. Plus Riccy may be able to do just a single tyre change!
Then there may be rain!!!!! This might actually be a good race.

 

A dry start with rain arriving would be ideal, a wet start is just asking for a safety car start.

 

Another Benson classic, so I've resummarised it for balance - was quite fun to write - I'm wondering whether I could start a sideline blog doing this for all of his articles under the pseudonym Andrew Bensoff (his Russian cousin obviously).

Lewis Hamilton: Mercedes problem cost me Monaco pole position

The Briton will start third in Monaco behind Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo and team-mate Nico Rosberg and says an engine issue "cost me pole".

"There is one part of me wants to go in all guns blazing" said the world champion of talking to his mechanics who had reacted superbly quickly to the issue and got him back out in time to make a qualifying run.

Reinforcing what a massive setback having only one lap was, to overcome Ricciardo's pole time (incidentally set on his first flying lap) - Hamilton, who not two days ago had underlined his staggering superiority over the field by immediately putting in quick times in first practice - added: "It makes a big difference when you have a banker lap and work on it and build on it."

Hamilton, who earlier had spoke of setting a good example for his mechanics and motivating them, rather than just ranting at them like usual, ended his interview with the motivational comment "I am just hoping the car stays together [in the race]."

Meanwhile a classy Rosberg, admitted that Ricciardo had beaten him fairly and squarely saying "I don’t think it really went away from me; it never was with me, because Daniel was just quick today. They got a well deserved pole and that’s it. I just wasn’t quick enough.”

As Ricciardo, with a smile as wide as Lewis' face was long, celebrated his magnificent first pole - the first for a long time achieved without Mercedes shooting themselves in the foot - Toto Wolff was left to pick up the pieces of his lead driver's emotional outburst. "Lewis wears his heart on his sleeve." he commented, whilst biting his lip to avoid mentioning the smacked arse he wears on his face most of the time. Wolff went on to mention that the Mercedes team "are all upset that he keeps having these gremlins.", again showing his political savvy to avoid vocalising the suggestion that this is mainly because it was a lot easier to handle their drivers when all the issues were affecting Rosberg.

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Well done Daniel and good luck tomorrow (should at least give me some more good source material for a follow up).

 

Oh Hamilton, the majority of the grid would kill to start 3rd... His long and quite miserable face after Qual is something I tried to ignore. He aborted lap after lap waiting for the track to evolve, he just threw it away in the last sector, not the engineers fault, not the setup, not the engine, just you. Life isn't perfect, you ain't getting handed your 4th title like the other two.

How do they expect to stay consistently at the top without team players?

Gone are the days drivers like Mika etc, just ****ing got on with it without uttering a word.
Rant over, Night.

 

Yeah... F1 drivers moaning when **** goes wrong. That's a new phenomena!

 

What exactly went wrong? His engine turned off, they switched it back on.

He then had more than half the session to get a decent lap in. 3rd isn't exactly what he hoped for but it definately does't justify his attitude after.