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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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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On to Monaco! It’s an insane place to hold an F1 race or any race for that manner, but they do and love it.

This is a max down force and grip track, a very green track for the initial practice session, and very twisty with somewhere in the neighborhood of 4000 gear changes for the race. Passing is at a premium in Monaco so qualifying is as important as the race. It is a good bet that the only way to gain position during the race is through attrition.

You can get more about the track in the Monaco Grand Prix Page

Aerodynamics

Down force and grip are the words that dominate aerodynamics talk. With so many low speed corners down force has it’s importance in braking and acceleration. Mechanical grip is the key through these corners much more than down force.

Tires

Monaco is known for a good, easy on tires surface. This along with the low speed cornering makes a tire issue a non issue. The tires from Bridgestone this weekend will be soft and super soft compounds.

Engine

Monaco itself isn’t hard on engines with very little spent at full throttle, but although the track surface is usually smooth, the nature of the roads makes them bumpy. An issue drivers face is over revving of the engine if the wheels leave the ground too much. Taking care of your engine requires a smooth drive with good traction at the very low revs.

Suspension

With the ride height of the car higher than normal due to the bumpy track, teams can play more with suspension which is very important in Monaco. Softer suspension is used to help the car and driver deal with these bumps. Using the anti-roll bars, the suspension can bee loosened to allow more movement of the wheels over the bumps. if teams get this right, their car should be a fairly drivable car.

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The grand prix of all grand prix. It’s coming this week with all it pomp and history. Celebrities, models, politicians, and so on, but that’s not what makes the Monaco Grand Prix the Monaco Grand Prix, these are:

I’ve taken a look at some memorable Monaco Grand Prix over the years and put up 5 I remember (or saw on video because I’m not that old). I went back as far as 1950, one in the 80’s, a couple in the 90’s and one in 2006. There are so many great moments from the Monaco Grand Prix, but these are a few I like. If you have a great memory of any Monaco Grand Prix, let us know.

1950

The wave. All the excitement was on lap one. Farina took off first but as he approached Tabac Corner for the first time, mother nature sent the Mediterranean onto the track. Farina crashed out, but Manuel Fangio managed to get through. The next 8 cars all crashed out in a large puddle of water and fuel that spilled everywhere.

Of course I wasn’t even born yet, but have watched this race on video a few times.

1982

I remember watching this race and couldn’t believe my eyes. Late in the race a short but damaging rain caught everybody by surprise and the final 4 laps told the story here. 6 lead changes as no one could manage to get to the finish line first. . One of the strangest finishes, but one of the most exciting. Murray Walker called at least 3 drivers as sure winners in the last few laps.

1992 :

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