The Official 2017 Monaco Grand Prix Thread **Spoilers**

[Hungrymc]

What an exciting qualifying session. Great work by Kimi but I think Seb will be in front at T1 and if he isn't, I think Ferrari will ask Kimi to drop back and protect Seb. Unless Bottas gets into P2 and then Kimi will be free to race.

I wonder what Bottas found in that last lap? He (both Mercs) had been miles off the Ferraris up until that point, he either stuck his neck out a long, long way or found something that settled the car.

Lewis's car looked evil. Very lucky not to have a big shunt. Back end seemed to be stepping out everywhere. He would have gotten into the final session, but was going to be over a second down. He's not been shy at Monaco before so I suspect they will find an error in car prep.

And, I enjoyed the performance of both McLarens. Good to see!

[lee_fr200]

Are they allowed to even change Lewis's setup now? Or is it parc ferme conditions now?

[ClockworkCupcake]

lee_fr200 said:

Are they allowed to even change Lewis's setup now? Or is it parc ferme conditions now?

I think Crofty or Brundle said that if they can show that their setup was dangerous, and present the proof to the stewards, then they may be allowed to change it.

But, ordinarily, you are quite right.

[Derek Smith]

HustleRussell said:

Based on what we saw in Spain, Bottas isn't brave enough on the braking to get by a Ferrari. I only hope he doesn't take Raikonnen out again.

I had the feeling on the day that Bottas was under instructions and followed them to the letter. Might he be told to go for second?

[wevster]

I'm sick of the penalties ruining people's races, 15 place grid drop is stupid.

I bet Ferrari switch Vet and Raik at the pit stops. Vettel for the win...

I hope Jenson has a good race.

Also hope Lewis can pick up some good points.

Monaco usually a bit of a borefest when the weather is hot...

[glazbagun]

Yeah I suspect Ferrari will do a Red Bull in Spain (not Monaco!) to engineer a Vettel win if they're 1-2.

Although Kimi is popular enough and Vettel is a good enough driver that they don't need to.

[ERIKM400]

lee_fr200 said:

I just don't like him and I think he's over rated, even k mag and palmer beat him and they don't even drive for top teams, ok mclaren isn't doing very well but I still class them as a top team, and I thought how Ron treated jb was wrong, and I actually think after helping to develop the car in hondas first years of it was to come good this year which it was meant to I believed that alonso and jenson deserved the car they had worked hard to help create and for Ron to do what he did was wrong!

Q1:
7 Stoffel Vandoorne 1.13.476
11 Jenson Button 1.13.723

Q2
7 Stoffel Vandoorne 1.13.249
10 Jenson Button 1.13.453

Q3
9 Jenson Button 1.13.613

So, even with Stoffel crashing, during the entire qualification session Jenson was never faster than him but you still think Vandoorne has been "outqualified"?

Strange man you are.

But don't let the facts get in the way of your opinion.

[Dermot O'Logical]

Ferrari have a problem with Raikkonen on pole. This season, several key driver contracts run out, and there are rumours that Vettel has already signed some form of pre-contract with Mercedes. Ferrari will want to retain him, which they will only do if they can provide him with a winning car.

If he wins the Championship in a Ferrari this year, he's likely to want to extend his contract.

This weekend, his primary challenger is several rows back on the grid. And being several rows back on the grid at Monaco means that any meaningful points finish will be difficult to achieve without some form of divine intervention or major incident.

I wonder if Kimi might suffer a slightly longer pit stop tomorrow. Just a second or so. Sticking wheel nut, perhaps. They wouldn't want to jeopardise a 1-2, because there are Constructor's Championship points to consider.

[Vaud]

Dermot O'Logical said:

Ferrari have a problem with Raikkonen on pole. This season, several key driver contracts run out, and there are rumours that Vettel has already signed some form of pre-contract with Mercedes. Ferrari will want to retain him, which they will only do if they can provide him with a winning car.

If he wins the Championship in a Ferrari this year, he's likely to want to extend his contract.

This weekend, his primary challenger is several rows back on the grid. And being several rows back on the grid at Monaco means that any meaningful points finish will be difficult to achieve without some form of divine intervention or major incident.

I wonder if Kimi might suffer a slightly longer pit stop tomorrow. Just a second or so. Sticking wheel nut, perhaps. They wouldn't want to jeopardise a 1-2, because there are Constructor's Championship points to consider.

You can hold pre-contracts with multiple teams, they aren't mutually exclusive.

Equally, Kimi will want to be the team player as he is out for contract as well... They want the 25 pts for Vettel. Kimi knows the reality.

[rallycross]

wevster said:

I'm sick of the penalties ruining people's races, 15 place grid drop is stupid.

is hot...

Agreed its spooling the show.
Would have been great to see if Button could do something from 9th on the grid.

Penalty is pointless in this case.

McLaren have zero points and are in deep mechanical strife.

Had Button been allowed to start from 9th and done well it would have generated loads of good (and valuable) press coverage for F1 and F1 needs some positive stories.

[RichB]

Dermot O'Logical said:

Ferrari have a problem with Raikkonen on pole. <clip> I wonder if Kimi might suffer a slightly longer pit stop tomorrow. Just a second or so. Sticking wheel nut, perhaps.

They won't need to disguise it. Ferrari have always run a lead driver and a support driver and over the years have made no qualms in swapping them to get the lead driver in front. It's a team sport and that's the way they play it.

[Vaud]

RichB said:

They won't need to disguise it. Ferrari have always run a lead driver and a support driver and over the years have made no qualms in swapping them to get the lead driver in front. It's a team sport and that's the way they play it.

"Sebastian is faster than yoooo"

[Zoobeef]

rallycross said:

wevster said:

I'm sick of the penalties ruining people's races, 15 place grid drop is stupid.

is hot...

Agreed its spooling the show.
Would have been great to see if Button could do something from 9th on the grid.

Penalty is pointless in this case.

McLaren have zero points and are in deep mechanical strife.

Had Button been allowed to start from 9th and done well it would have generated loads of good (and valuable) press coverage for F1 and F1 needs some positive stories.

It is annoying but what could be done?
Maybe docking WCC points would be more apt?

[768]

Zoobeef said:

It is annoying but what could be done?
Maybe docking WCC points would be more apt?

Maybe we're overlooking something, but I think that's a much better way of doing it.

[ClockworkCupcake]

Zoobeef said:

It is annoying but what could be done?
Maybe docking WCC points would be more apt?

I agree. As you intimate, the regulations currently limit the number of engines and engine comportments allowed, and if those regulations are broken then the team has to be penalised in some way.

I guess WCC points would be the only other way of penalising the team, and would have an impact on them as the standings in the WCC directly impact the following year's budget.

Fines would be irrelevant though.

The only other alternative would be to abandon those regulations, but we'd be back to several engines per meet with special qualifying spec engines that go bang after a few laps. I mean apart from McLaren-Honda's current engines.

[vonuber]

You could do a time penalty which is added to your race time.

[lee_fr200]

Vettel will get him on lap 1 I reckon and then there will be a safety car

[HustleRussell]

I'm going to be really disappointed if Kimi doesn't win. The Ferraris tend to have fairly even starts and I can't see Vettel getting by on the circuit, which leaves the Vettel overcut or explicit team orders for Kimi to lose it. I hope it's not all over for Kimi in turn one.

[ukaskew]

rallycross said:

Had Button been allowed to start from 9th and done well it would have generated loads of good (and valuable) press coverage for F1 and F1 needs some positive stories.

Agreed, I was thinking about this earlier. Button returning was quite a big thing (even outside the UK) yet 'F1' has just shot itself in the foot in terms of a potentially great wide reaching story.

Barely a quarter of the way into the season and already we're talking about engine limits being reached and the annoying penalties that brings. Got to be a better way.

A bit of a contrast with Alonso at Indy, it's not even raceday yet but they've really made the most of it.

[MG CHRIS]

Did anyone else notice how soft the front of Hamilton car was never seen a f1 car pitch that much from side to side even when he was weaving on his out lap. Bottas car was similar but not nearly has bad. Either they went to soft or something broke with his car.