After 6 races so far this season, interesting discussions are starting to take place in the internet forums and the media with 2 questions the center of attention. How good is Felipe Massa and who is the better driver on Ferrari at the moment? I could have posted those questions before the start of this season and the answers I received would have easily been Raikkonen as the better driver and Felipe Massa is ok, but mistake prone and not championship quality. They would have been stupid questions then. Now, I really do ask those questions because Felipe Massa is starting to turn some heads and finds more positive media than Kimi Raikkonen right now.
With preconceived ideas of who was the better driver, the season started in Australia with both Massa and Raikkonen making mistakes. It was an all around terrible weekend for Raikkonen who after car trouble only qualified 16th. In the race, Raikkonen succumbed to engine trouble, but had 2 ‘offs’ of his own making. Massa didn’t fair much better with a spin on lap 1 and a ‘kiss’ with Coulthard later. He also succumbed to engine trouble. So it was a bad race for Ferrari in general, both Raikkonen and Massa made mistakes yet in the days following, rumors started around the paddock that Massa’s days at Ferrari may be numbered. “He’s mistake prone, not consistent, etc..”, with these remarks stemming from previous seasons. Instead, look at 2008 as a separate year and don’t think about previous years and what you got was Australia poor for both drivers, end of story.

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Is Lewis Hamilton having fun or what!? The price of stardom in his case requires the need for a good calendar and a little discretion, something Lewis is still learning.

The Cannes Film Festival is where we start. It was here Lewis Hamilton attended the Indiana Jones film premiere with the current Miss Grenada Vivian Burkhardt. It was also at this time that the proud mother of Burkhardt told the Grenada press that the pair are an item.

But at for the Monaco Grand Prix weekend, Lewis invited singer Dannii Minogue to Monaco to party and watch the grand prix as his girl/guest. hmmm.

Now it gets fun, in Monaco Pussycat Dolls lead singer Nicole Scherzinger spent time mingling on the grid and some reporters too serious about their job to really notice just who people really are mistakenly thought she was Vivian Burkhardt who had actually gone home to Grenada so she wouldn’t distract Hamilton. Her mother said Lewis needs time and space to prepare for the grand prix.

After Lewis wins the grand prix and no Vivian Burkhardt, he celebrates his win with none other than Nicole Scherzinger and according to the tabloids she told friends that her and Hamilton are an item and have “been seeing each other on and off for three months.”

Now Lewis, do what you want to do, but don’t head off to Grenada of all places for a holiday with Nicole, but that’s what he has apparently done. Oh, and where’s Sarah Ojjeh in all this?

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It’s not very often that I get down on one particular driver for long stretches of time. Now however I am. The object of my discontent is Nelson Piquet Jr. Yes I use the ‘jr’ because he simply isn’t his father. Piquet Jr. has been dreadful this his rookie season and I don’t see it getting any better. Rumors are flying around the paddock as everyone tries to get a feel for what Renault is going to do about him.

Forget the fact that his team mate is Fernando Alonso who will out drive him on any given day. Forget the fact that the Renault isn’t up to the pace of the lead teams. There are other rookies in F1 this year much better than Piquet Jr, Nakajima for example who continues to improve and does it without any frills, unlike Piquet Jr.

Shortly after he was signed to Renault, his attitude changed to what is usually reserved for those who’ve earned it. He dropped his father as an ‘adviser’ and also dropped the Jr from his name. He also proclaimed that he intends to become an F1 legend like his father (that was in 2005 actually). Add these together and I got an unsettling feeling about him. I said to myself, you need to be a rookie and leave the ‘fluff’ behind.

To date Piquet Jr. hasn’t really done anything in F1 for Renault and now he’s clearly losing confidence and the pressure is on from Flavio Briatore and so it should. Briatore wants to win as in the past and needs to have drivers who can get the most out of the car as it is. He has a top 10 car at best and top 10 points for Renault are achievable for Alonso at least, but for Piquet Jr., there is no points.

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Monaco struck and Raikkonen was the prey or should I say Adrian Sutil. Anyway, Lewis Hamilton was the man of the day winning the race in fine style. Ironically it was an early mistake that set the tone for his win. Just a few laps into the race when rain was pouring down, Lewis got out of shape and brushed the wall. Punctured tire was all the damage, but when in the pits, the crew loaded him with fuel to go late in the race and possibly take advantage of the others taking earlier second stops. It did the trick! Hamilton drove quicker and quicker as the rain finally stopped and the track dried out. He switched to dry tires at just the right time and built a lead over Felipe Massa to almost 39 seconds. He then pitted and of course came out in the lead and went on to win easily.

It didn’t seem that this year’s Monaco Grand Prix would be Hamilton’s to win. Qualifying was good, but not good enough and Ferrari looked bullet proof. Last year a little controversy between him and Alonso sealed Hamilton’s fate to second when he felt he could have won the race. This is what you do with a disappointment, you take it and use it to motivate you next year and Lewis did just that.

I thought he drove a great race from his mistake on in. He was fast, on line, smooth and seemed to have little trouble in the changing conditions. He also stayed out of trouble. Love or hate him, he drove like a champion.

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1 L. Hamilton McLaren 2:00:42.742
2 R. Kubica BMW + 3.064
3 F. Massa Ferrari + 4.811
4 M. Webber Red Bull + 19.295
5 S. Vettel Scuderia Toro Rosso + 24.657
6 R. Barrichello Honda + 28.408
7 K. Nakajima Williams + 30.180
8 H. Kovalainen McLaren + 33.191
9 K. Räikkönen Ferrari + 33.792
10 F. Alonso Renault + 0 laps
11 J. Button Honda + 0 laps
12 T. Glock Toyota + 0 laps
13 J. Trulli Toyota + 0 laps
14 N. Heidfeld BMW + 0 laps

Did not finish

15 A. Sutil Force India F1 + 7 laps
16 N. Rosberg Williams + 17 laps
17 N. Piquet jr. Renault + 31 laps
18 G. Fisichella Force India F1 + 40 laps
19 D. Coulthard Red Bull + 70 laps
20 S. Bourdais Scuderia Toro Rosso + 70 laps

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Massa by only a hair on his last flyier takes pole and Ferrari locks up the front row with Raikkonen second. I must say Ferrari was on a mission to better their cars for Monaco and finally beat McLaren to pole.

Q1 saw the usual strugglers and maybe reality is starting to set in on Force India. After a dream start to the season and maybe some steady improvement, they’ve tailed off and here will start 19th and 20th.
Nelson Piquet is looking more and more out of place in an F1 car. Q1 was just too ragged and unorganized to be competitive and he’s starting a flattering 17th. When will it end for Piquet?

Nick Heidfeld was a surprise to me. Both BMW-Saubers started usually late in Q1 and Heidfeld’s times were not particularly impressive. When Q2 came around he remained in the garage until well into it. Knowing he was struggling, I’m not sure why he didn’t take more laps to ensure he’d get into Q3. The result, grid position 13.

David Coulthard on his last flyer in Q2 smacked the wall, big damage and a trip down the run off road. He made it to Q3, but thats all for him and he starts 10th.

Q3 was a great battle between McLaren and Ferrari. McLaren have always been better than Ferrari by a long shot at Monaco, but not today. Hamilton could not do anything about Ferrari speed and loses out to both Ferraris and starts 3rd.

Hey now, look at Felipe Massa. He’s been the best driver since he bombed in the first 2 races of the season and it is starting to look like he is a serious threat to challenge for the championship. Pole in Monaco is gold and he’s got it.

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Both Renaults bit the Monaco wall in the 2nd practice session this afternoon in Monaco. First was Nelson Piquet who half-spun and kissed the tire barrier from the rear. At a slow pace or maybe his normal pace he managed to get back to the pits with a damaged rear wing. It’s not going well for Piquet.

Next was Fernando Alonso who almost repeated the same move Piquet did at Sainte Devote corner but he missed the tire barrier and kissed the wall. Despite Alonso’s brush with the wall, he did post 7th fastest time. That’s both Renaults into the wall and on to the body shop.

Next in line was Jarno Trulli who liked the wall so much this morning he decided to do it again although only slightly at the swimming pool.

Que up another. Adrian Sutil took the front wing off of his Force India at the famous La Rascasse.

Of those who managed to go it unscathed Lewis Hamilton was tops on the chart 4 tenths ahead of a pretty fast Nico Rosberg. Have to check the fuel load in his car today. Nevertheless a good day for Nico in both sessions. Both Ferraris next in line followed by Heikki Kovalainen.

Jenson Button ran a good eighth with team mate Rubens Barrichello in 10th. Not bad for Honda on day one. Nick Heidfeld surprisingly ended the session with the 11th fastest time, but the ever present Robert Kubica Robert Kubica ran sixth.

Far to the back was Sebastian Vettel who hasn’t come to grips with the new Toro Rosso STR3, admitting that he is a bit lost in setting up the car.

One another note, there is one startled person in pit lane today who was strolling across and was almost hit by Lewis Hamilton as he exited his pit garage.

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It’s game on in Monaco with Thursday free practice, yes Thursday and no rain (yet). So far after all times in, the leader board doesn’t look all that different than other races. Kimi Raikkonen came out big on top with Hamilton right behind and Kovalainen rounding the top 3. Ouch, it was Jarno Trulli who was introduced to one of the walls first damaging his rear suspension. It was the first day for the new Toro Rosso STR3 and more of a 2nd shakedown than anything with Boardais 13th and Vettel 19th. Tech trouble today belonged to Nick Heidfeld and David Coulthard. Does Nelson Piquet ever need his dad now. If this is indicative of what he will do in the race, he may not have too much time left in F1.

I’m still hoping for dry weather for the race so we can have a good one without millions of dollars of car parts littering the track and at least half the field finishing the race.

1. Kimi Raikkonen Finland Ferrari-Ferrari 01:15.948
2. Lewis Hamilton Britain McLaren-Mercedes 01:16.216
3. Heikki Kovalainen Finland McLaren-Mercedes 01:16.248
4. Felipe Massa Brazil Ferrari-Ferrari 01:16.292
5. Nico Rosberg Germany Williams-Toyota 01:16.653
6. Robert Kubica Poland BMW Sauber 01:16.834
7. Fernando Alonso Spain Renault-Renault 01:17.498
8. Rubens Barrichello Brazil Honda-Honda 01:17.511
9. Mark Webber Australia Red Bull-Renault 01:17.798
10. Giancarlo Fisichella Italy Force India-Ferrari 01:17.835
11. Timo Glock Germany Toyota-Toyota 01:17.942
12. Jenson Button Britain Honda-Honda 01:18.153
13. Sebastien Bourdais France Toro Rosso-Ferrari 01:18.245
14. Nick Heidfeld Germany BMW Sauber 01:18.263
15. Kazuki Nakajima Japan Williams-Toyota 01:18.274
16. Jarno Trulli Italy Toyota-Toyota 01:18.360
17. Adrian Sutil Germany Force India-Ferrari 01:18.360
18. Nelson Piquet Jr Brazil Renault-Renault 01:18.955
19. Sebastian Vettel Germany Toro Rosso-Ferrari 01:19.176
20. David Coulthard Britain Red Bull-Renault no time

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Nick Heidfeld is beginning to sound like a guy worried about his drive for next year. The normally confident Heidfeld has not come close to Robert Kubica at any point this year and now it may be showing.
Although he has been strong during every race, he has had to battle from poor qualifying positions especially in the last 2 races where he qualified 9th and has started no better than 5th on the grid. Robert Kubica on the other hand has had a podium and BMW-Sauber’s first pole position along with finishing higher than Heidfeld consistently.

I think Heidfeld is a pretty good driver, not stunningly fast, and given a pretty good car he usually can get a lot out of it. This year that doesn’t seem to be the case as he has struggled with driving the F1.08 ever since it was launched. He even crashed it during a demonstration. Kidding aside, the F1.07 was a very different animal, one much more suited to Heidfeld’s smooth driving style. It was much easier to handle than the F1.08 which after much development in the last few months is quite fast, but twitchy and very stiff. It requires an aggressive driver, one who wants to tame the car and a driver who likes the car challenging him. Is this Nick Heidfeld?

Nick has complained about the car since the beginning as I said, but now his tone is beginning to soften a bit as he is now admitting that the car is good, but he’s just having a hard time driving it. Maybe he’s come to a realization that he may never be as comfortable in this car this year as he needs to be to be really competitive.

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Being such a prestigious race, everyone wants to do well in Monaco, but realistically who are the ones that can take advantage of this ‘wonky track’ and overachieve or surprise. It’s so hard to predict any outcome at Monaco especially this weekend with a serious threat of rain to make things even more outrageous than they already are. That said, who can up their game in Monaco?

Last year Lewis Hamilton lost to Fernando Alonso and we know what his reaction to this loss was. Not good. He acted like a spoiled child having a melt down and it didn’t go over too well in the media. This season without Alonso, Hamilton had a shaky start, but may be turning his season around with some better drives and finishes. Now in Monaco, Lewis is sure to be tough saying he has unfinished business in Monaco and maybe he has the car suited to Monaco to finish his business.

The MP4-23 has been good at this circuit and there is no reason to believe it won’t be this year. One advantage may be that the tires heat up very quickly on the car and traction may not be an issue for Hamilton. The tire fear of Turkey shouldn’t factor in at all. The corners are short, heating up the tires quickly, but cooling them down just as quickly making overheating a non issue.

Nick Heidfeld is looking up hill to possibly a win for him or Robert Kubica. Strong words, but I wouldn’t count BMW-Sauber out of this race.

The F1.08 is one of the strongest cars through slow corners and of course there are plenty of those in Monaco for both Heidfeld and Kubica to attack.
Robert Kubica may have the best ability to at least podium for BMW, but I can’t count Heidfeld out just yet. He has won 3 times in Monaco in his F3 and F3000 days and knows the circuit well.

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