The Official 2017 Monaco Grand Prix Thread **Spoilers**
Discussion
Monaco is a funny old race and a funny old place, it's effectively an overcrowded concrete ghetto filled with economic migrants, they just happen to have pots of cash and very defined cheekbones.
If it was anywhere else in Europe they'd have the law cracking down on the foul mouthed teenage hooligans ragging their cars around the estate, but since the local guv'nor owns the local cozzers they let them get away with it.
Anyway did anyone see the after-race bit with DC, SW, MW & the Welsh bloke, approaching in the far distance behind the group you could see the blurred image of a leggy blonde approaching, every so often the camera view changed so you didn't see it as she passed by but at that moment, Mark Webber seemed to loose his train of thought completely and gaze off into the distance before the blood slowly returned to his brain...
If it was anywhere else in Europe they'd have the law cracking down on the foul mouthed teenage hooligans ragging their cars around the estate, but since the local guv'nor owns the local cozzers they let them get away with it.
Anyway did anyone see the after-race bit with DC, SW, MW & the Welsh bloke, approaching in the far distance behind the group you could see the blurred image of a leggy blonde approaching, every so often the camera view changed so you didn't see it as she passed by but at that moment, Mark Webber seemed to loose his train of thought completely and gaze off into the distance before the blood slowly returned to his brain...
I remember a cracking race at monaco only a few yrs ago when jenson was overtaking just about everyone on the track and he got upto 2nd I believe and then it was red flagged for a major crash involving quite a few cars but if it hadn't been red flagged and the redbull allowed to put fresh tyres on under the red flag he would have won! I loved that race and plenty of overtakes! Yesterday's race was an absolute s
te joke of a race
te joke of a race
Just looking at Google Maps
https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1GgcsZro8...
Could they extend the track? I'm thinking as they come out of Casino they go straight onto "Allees des Boulingrins" Right onto then back to Mirabeau via "Avenue de la Madone"
Or maybe from Anthony Nogues out onto "Avenue du Port" or maybe "Tunnel de Serravalle" and then loop back via "Rue Princess Caroline" or something
https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1GgcsZro8...
Could they extend the track? I'm thinking as they come out of Casino they go straight onto "Allees des Boulingrins" Right onto then back to Mirabeau via "Avenue de la Madone"
Or maybe from Anthony Nogues out onto "Avenue du Port" or maybe "Tunnel de Serravalle" and then loop back via "Rue Princess Caroline" or something
The Crack Fox said:
DJFish said:
Monaco is a funny old race and a funny old place, it's effectively an overcrowded concrete ghetto filled with economic migrants, they just happen to have pots of cash and very defined cheekbones.
A sunny place for shady people. I've been many times over the years and it's rather a stinky little pond. Worth visiting and then leaving; there are much nicer towns nearby. Old Nice is pleasant but touristy.
I was quite taken by Grasse as a town.
Rich_W said:
Just looking at Google Maps
https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1GgcsZro8...
Could they extend the track? I'm thinking as they come out of Casino they go straight onto "Allees des Boulingrins" Right onto then back to Mirabeau via "Avenue de la Madone"
Or maybe from Anthony Nogues out onto "Avenue du Port" or maybe "Tunnel de Serravalle" and then loop back via "Rue Princess Caroline" or something
I think its the width, rather then the length which is the problem. https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1GgcsZro8...
Could they extend the track? I'm thinking as they come out of Casino they go straight onto "Allees des Boulingrins" Right onto then back to Mirabeau via "Avenue de la Madone"
Or maybe from Anthony Nogues out onto "Avenue du Port" or maybe "Tunnel de Serravalle" and then loop back via "Rue Princess Caroline" or something
cuprabob said:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlene,_Princess...
Allegedly, she tried to do a runner before the wedding...
looks like shes had some work done Allegedly, she tried to do a runner before the wedding...
Edited by cuprabob on Monday 29th May 21:35
looked much nicer before
apar the king doesn't mind a bit of noir on the side
HustleRussell said:
Vaud said:
Odd ball question for you... a friend lives in a Monaco (but isn't an F1 fan) and snapped this last night as he walked home.
I'd not seen this being done to tyres before - I assume it's a Pirelli QA / post race test for the tyre structure?
Y8RSP said:
HustleRussell said:
Vaud said:
Odd ball question for you... a friend lives in a Monaco (but isn't an F1 fan) and snapped this last night as he walked home.
I'd not seen this being done to tyres before - I assume it's a Pirelli QA / post race test for the tyre structure?
Otherwise seems a massive waste to not take them to the next race?
p1stonhead said:
What's the point in destroying unused ones? Or are they specifically 'monaco' tyres so can't really be used anywhere else anyway?
Otherwise seems a massive waste to not take them to the next race?
They're not unused tyres - they are from Parc Ferme; the sets that were on the cars at the end of the race.Otherwise seems a massive waste to not take them to the next race?
The tyres that will be used in Montreal are already there or are en route in freight arriving on Monday.
Having finally caught up with the race, this was a typical Monaco race wasn't it? Heavy dose of strategy and some crash bang wallop.
Was very happy that Kimi got pole, that lap was a great example of controlled aggression around these streets. Also, it was finally good to see Bottas around here in a decent car, huge commitment and balls for his Q3 lap...I expected Merc to be up there, but as the weekend wore on, Merc didn't have both their cars dialled in, so was not expecting Bottas to be as close to the Ferraris. A fine lap.
Both McLarens and Romain's Q2 laps to put their cars into Q3 was also a highlight.
In the race, it was funny that Button and Wehrlein had a critical role to play in shaping the race for the front runners. JB was saying he was going to come in and annoy a load of people, I'm sure he's done that now.
I agree with several posters here that there was no team orders or preferential strategy given at Ferrari, certainly not as blatantly as Merc in the previous races. Vettel took a bit of a breather in the middle of the first stint where he was around 2.5s behind, then came back at Kimi as the pit stop window approached.
Kimi didn't seem to have the pace to respond at that time to keep Seb at arms length, and unlucky for him, Button and Wehrlein pitting the 1st lap meant that he'd come up on them earlier on in the race to lap them than if they'd have ran a normal race strategy. This was a critical time during the race for me, as Kimi seemed to take an awfully long time to clear Button/Wehrlein which allowed Bottas/Verstappen/Ricciardo train to catch up, and more importantly if I put on the race strategist hat, the nice 21 second gap Kimi had to Sainz so he can pit into clear air had come down to 19 seconds.
Then RBR rolled the dice with Verstappen and Bottas/Merc responded the very next lap, but kept the positions. I don't think pre-race it was a given that the overcut would definitely work. I think the old ultra softs were just about as quick as the new super softs came up to temp, but again, not a given. The Bottas/Verstappen strategy play gave some important info to the front running teams in that the it wasn't a given that the undercut would work. Verstappen, Bottas and Raikkonen pitted on consecutive laps and by the time Kimi pitted they had enough of a gap to not get stuck behind Sainz. So, no foul play but whilst Kimi had some traffic on his out lap he was much faster on the new super softs than he was in the old ultra softs. So again, it didn't seem to have disadvantaged him much.
However, Vettel was going a bit quicker, I think a detail that's missed was that Ricciardo was also going a hell of a lot faster in clear air and was closing down Vettel, having now overcut both Bottas and Verstappen. In normal circumstances, Ferrari would have pitted Vettel the very next lap after Kimi. I believe Ricciardo's pace meant that they had to hold on for longer, and not surrender track position in case RBR were planning to keep Ricciardo out for longer and overcut both Ferraris. I think Ricciardo was unleashing some serious pace to have Ferrari worry about that possibility. It was then that Vettel put in some monstrous laps dipping into the low 15s. It was no coincidence that Ferrari pit Vettel immediately the lap after Ricciardo was pitted. I suspect they were waiting for Ricciardo to pit, so that they can be sure of no more funny business from RBR.
Of course, the side effect of this was Vettel jumping Raikkonen, which to my eyes is just pure racing and how the different circumstances played out as it wasn't simply a race between team mates that decided who won in the end, as it so often happened with Mercedes in the previous years.
It wasn't a good way to end his last race JB, and I sense some frustration in that move on Wehrlein. But equally, I wouldn't say it was a complete hail mary attempt, as Wehrlein had a poor lap before that and as he was being lapped into portier there was definitely a gap.
Oh well. At least Vandoorne was running well, and thanks to JB, McLaren have no points yet.
Final thought: is it coincidence that Bottas had his setup dialled in and has out performed Hamilton in the races where tyre deg is low, whereas Hamilton had outperformed Bottas in high deg circuits? I suspect if they could study why this might be the case, and why Bottas could get the car into the window and Hamilton could not, they could have some answers. It's stranger because the driving styles are not all that dissimilar.
Was very happy that Kimi got pole, that lap was a great example of controlled aggression around these streets. Also, it was finally good to see Bottas around here in a decent car, huge commitment and balls for his Q3 lap...I expected Merc to be up there, but as the weekend wore on, Merc didn't have both their cars dialled in, so was not expecting Bottas to be as close to the Ferraris. A fine lap.
Both McLarens and Romain's Q2 laps to put their cars into Q3 was also a highlight.
In the race, it was funny that Button and Wehrlein had a critical role to play in shaping the race for the front runners. JB was saying he was going to come in and annoy a load of people, I'm sure he's done that now.
I agree with several posters here that there was no team orders or preferential strategy given at Ferrari, certainly not as blatantly as Merc in the previous races. Vettel took a bit of a breather in the middle of the first stint where he was around 2.5s behind, then came back at Kimi as the pit stop window approached.
Kimi didn't seem to have the pace to respond at that time to keep Seb at arms length, and unlucky for him, Button and Wehrlein pitting the 1st lap meant that he'd come up on them earlier on in the race to lap them than if they'd have ran a normal race strategy. This was a critical time during the race for me, as Kimi seemed to take an awfully long time to clear Button/Wehrlein which allowed Bottas/Verstappen/Ricciardo train to catch up, and more importantly if I put on the race strategist hat, the nice 21 second gap Kimi had to Sainz so he can pit into clear air had come down to 19 seconds.
Then RBR rolled the dice with Verstappen and Bottas/Merc responded the very next lap, but kept the positions. I don't think pre-race it was a given that the overcut would definitely work. I think the old ultra softs were just about as quick as the new super softs came up to temp, but again, not a given. The Bottas/Verstappen strategy play gave some important info to the front running teams in that the it wasn't a given that the undercut would work. Verstappen, Bottas and Raikkonen pitted on consecutive laps and by the time Kimi pitted they had enough of a gap to not get stuck behind Sainz. So, no foul play but whilst Kimi had some traffic on his out lap he was much faster on the new super softs than he was in the old ultra softs. So again, it didn't seem to have disadvantaged him much.
However, Vettel was going a bit quicker, I think a detail that's missed was that Ricciardo was also going a hell of a lot faster in clear air and was closing down Vettel, having now overcut both Bottas and Verstappen. In normal circumstances, Ferrari would have pitted Vettel the very next lap after Kimi. I believe Ricciardo's pace meant that they had to hold on for longer, and not surrender track position in case RBR were planning to keep Ricciardo out for longer and overcut both Ferraris. I think Ricciardo was unleashing some serious pace to have Ferrari worry about that possibility. It was then that Vettel put in some monstrous laps dipping into the low 15s. It was no coincidence that Ferrari pit Vettel immediately the lap after Ricciardo was pitted. I suspect they were waiting for Ricciardo to pit, so that they can be sure of no more funny business from RBR.
Of course, the side effect of this was Vettel jumping Raikkonen, which to my eyes is just pure racing and how the different circumstances played out as it wasn't simply a race between team mates that decided who won in the end, as it so often happened with Mercedes in the previous years.
It wasn't a good way to end his last race JB, and I sense some frustration in that move on Wehrlein. But equally, I wouldn't say it was a complete hail mary attempt, as Wehrlein had a poor lap before that and as he was being lapped into portier there was definitely a gap.
Oh well. At least Vandoorne was running well, and thanks to JB, McLaren have no points yet.
Final thought: is it coincidence that Bottas had his setup dialled in and has out performed Hamilton in the races where tyre deg is low, whereas Hamilton had outperformed Bottas in high deg circuits? I suspect if they could study why this might be the case, and why Bottas could get the car into the window and Hamilton could not, they could have some answers. It's stranger because the driving styles are not all that dissimilar.
I was with a few mates at Brands this weekend at the classic races. Talk turned to Monaco as we were all missing it live but no one really cared.
All of us reckoned that it was likely to be the dullest race of the season and even if it wasn't it was not normally due to racing, but peripheral matters.
Yet, and it was a big Yet; we all reckoned that it was one of the circuits we would like to see an F1 race at. The conversation started about a group of us going. The downside was that our wives would want to go and there are an awful lot of shops there.
Rubbish race but a must see live.
All of us reckoned that it was likely to be the dullest race of the season and even if it wasn't it was not normally due to racing, but peripheral matters.
Yet, and it was a big Yet; we all reckoned that it was one of the circuits we would like to see an F1 race at. The conversation started about a group of us going. The downside was that our wives would want to go and there are an awful lot of shops there.
Rubbish race but a must see live.
Dr Z said:
I don't think pre-race it was a given that the overcut would definitely work.
Disagree on that point. Several teams (esp Merc) knew they were having trouble getting the tyres switched on and needed two warm up laps so the overcut was always going to be preferential to the undercut for those teams.t1grm said:
Dr Z said:
I don't think pre-race it was a given that the overcut would definitely work.
Disagree on that point. Several teams (esp Merc) knew they were having trouble getting the tyres switched on and needed two warm up laps so the overcut was always going to be preferential to the undercut for those teams.Gassing Station | Formula 1 | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff