The Official 2018 Monaco Grand Prix Thread **SPOILERS**

[Vaud]

I'm going to guess on

Quali
1) Kimi
2) Vettel
3) Honey Badger

Race
1) Vettel
2) Honey Badger
3) Hamilton

[Mr_Thyroid]

stevesingo said:

Mr_Thyroid said:

Six drivers (both Red Bulls, both Renaults and both Williams') have chosen to bring only one set of each of the two harder compounds. For Red Bull in particular this seems odd - they must've realised they would have a very good chance to win here even without going aggressive on strategy so why do this?

Doesn't this paint them into a corner of using the hypers in Q2 (because they'll need to understand the harder compound to know if it's viable for Q2 which means practising on it, which means it'll be no good for Q2). So they'll start the race on hypers before going onto either a used tyre or one they haven't practised which makes them vulnerable to an over-cut.

Or they might have to stop twice - when was the last time a two stopper won in Monaco?

Track position is king and all teams will be going all out for the best qualifying position possible, and with such a short lap, the delta between 1st and 10th will be very small so using a harder tyre in Q2 might lead to being knocked out.

Given track position is king, it is easy to one stop by just driving slower.

Yes, ok - I failed to note that everyone quallied on the softest compound in every session last time.

[HustleRussell]

If it hadn't been for the Spanish grand prix I'd predict a Ferrari front row but Ferrari looked decidedly off colour last weekend and it has made me wonder whether some of their toys have been taken away or toned down. If they were blowing the diffuser, for example, and now they can't, Vettel is going to be adversely affected.

Of the Red Bull drivers I can't see Ricciardo securing pole so I'm going to make a shock horror Verstappen pole prediction

Q Verstappen, Raikkonen, Vettel

R Vettel, Raikkonen, Ricciardo

I reckon Mercedes are going to struggle here based on nothing other than a trend.

[suffolk009]

HustleRussell said:

If it hadn't been for the Spanish grand prix I'd predict a Ferrari front row but Ferrari looked decidedly off colour last weekend and it has made me wonder whether some of their toys have been taken away or toned down. If they were blowing the diffuser, for example, and now they can't, Vettel is going to be adversely affected.

Of the Red Bull drivers I can't see Ricciardo securing pole so I'm going to make a shock horror Verstappen pole prediction

Q Verstappen, Raikkonen, Vettel

R Vettel, Raikkonen, Ricciardo

I reckon Mercedes are going to struggle here based on nothing other than a trend.

I think you're right - Ferrari do appear to be short of something. And they won't have all that extra downforce from their wing mirror arms this week either!

Q RAI, VET, RIC

R RAI, HAM, ALO

[Derek Smith]

suffolk009 said:

HustleRussell said:

If it hadn't been for the Spanish grand prix I'd predict a Ferrari front row but Ferrari looked decidedly off colour last weekend and it has made me wonder whether some of their toys have been taken away or toned down. If they were blowing the diffuser, for example, and now they can't, Vettel is going to be adversely affected.

Of the Red Bull drivers I can't see Ricciardo securing pole so I'm going to make a shock horror Verstappen pole prediction

Q Verstappen, Raikkonen, Vettel

R Vettel, Raikkonen, Ricciardo

I reckon Mercedes are going to struggle here based on nothing other than a trend.

I think you're right - Ferrari do appear to be short of something. And they won't have all that extra downforce from their wing mirror arms this week either!

Q RAI, VET, RIC

R RAI, HAM, ALO

Merc have been playing the no-hopers for Monaco since Spain, telling everyone they'll struggle on the tyres. I believed them when they first said it but, to misquote Hamlet, methinks they doth protest too much. There will be at least one Merc in the top three on the grid.

[DanielSan]

Dr Z said:

I sincerely hope not. If there's one guy who desperately needs a good result this year, it's him.

Must be very very tough to be top of the pile in one discipline and look all at sea at another. I mean it's not like he has been massively off pace compared to Gasly. I just hope things go his way a little this weekend, hope he gets in the groove as soon as he hits the track on Thurs and stays there!

Drivers who are yet to make their mark (in a good way) this year:

Hartley
Grosjean
Sirotkin
Ocon
Vandoorne

Hartley’s main problem this year has been when Gasly has had good days he’s still run at roughly the same grid and race positions as Gasly’s bad days no matter what. Not sure if that’s down to his pace, which I find unlikely, or not getting a handle on the car yet. But time is quickly running out for him if he doesn’t.

Grosjean hasn’t made all that positive a mark through 90% of his F1 career so wouldn’t hold your breath now.

Sirotkin has some potential but unless he can buy himself into another seat of the Williams gets massively better he won’t be in F1 for long.

Ocon, think that’s more down to the car than the driver. The FI is massively under funded this year so being behind on development won’t help. He’s matching his team mate at very least bar the freak podium, some good luck just needs to come his way.

Vandoorne, the cars probably still a bit of a dog and he is being compared to Alonso. But even so he’s doing a good job of not getting a drive in the Mclaren next year. To be consistently 3-4 10ths behind your teammate doesn’t put you in a good position. It either puts into question how bad the car was last year and he just coped a bit better or could Alonso not really be arsed to push it at times

[HustleRussell]

DanielSan said:

Ocon, think that’s more down to the car than the driver. The FI is massively under funded this year so being behind on development won’t help. He’s matching his team mate at very least bar the freak podium, some good luck just needs to come his way.

I reckon Perez is probably the most underrated driver on the grid so by extension I think Ocon must be a great driver.

[DanielSan]

HustleRussell said:

I reckon Perez is probably the most underrated driver on the grid so by extension I think Ocon must be a great driver.

Can’t disagree with that, I’d say Perez is a better driver now than when he made the move to Mclaren.

[Vaud]

DanielSan said:

HustleRussell said:

I reckon Perez is probably the most underrated driver on the grid so by extension I think Ocon must be a great driver.

Can’t disagree with that, I’d say Perez is a better driver now than when he made the move to Mclaren.

I agree, He was too much in the limelight at McLaren. He seems to have blossomed in recent years, though I think Ocon is the marginally better driver.

[DanielSan]

Vaud said:

I agree, He was too much in the limelight at McLaren. He seems to have blossomed in recent years, though I think Ocon is the marginally better driver.

I’d say possibly marginally faster, overall Perez still just edges it for me. It’s not a coincidence he’s been the only none top 3 teams driver to get a podium in the last few seasons.

[Vaud]

DanielSan said:

I’d say possibly marginally faster, overall Perez still just edges it for me. It’s not a coincidence he’s been the only none top 3 teams driver to get a podium in the last few seasons.

It's definitely close. If I wanted a no 1 driver for a midfield team, I'd go Perez. If I wanted a 5-6 year driver to develop, I'd go Ocon. He has the pace and the balls.

[TheInternet]

Player	Lap
Jasandjules	FP2
Stan the Bat	Q2
hairyben	Q3
Angpozzuto	1
99dndd	2
suffolk009	3
vaud	4
The Moose	18
glazbagun	26
Drive Blind	33
TheInternet	40
Gaz.	45
stevesingo	FP3
Big Nanas	FP1

When Will Grosjean fk Up?

Player	Lap
vaud	FP2
Jasandjules	FP3
Drive Blind	Q2
suffolk009	formation
The Moose	1
Gaz.	2
Glazbagun.	clean race
Big Nanas.	FP1

[Stan the Bat]

TheInternet said:

=Player=||=Lap=||

Jasandjules	FP2
Stan the Bat	Q2
hairyben	Q3
Angpozzuto	1
99dndd	2
suffolk009	3
vaud	4
The Moose	18
glazbagun	26
Drive Blind	33
TheInternet	40
Gaz.	45
stevesingo	FP3
Big Nanas	FP1

When Will Grosjean fk Up?

Player	Lap
vaud	FP2
Jasandjules	FP3
Drive Blind	Q2
suffolk009	formation
The Moose	1
Gaz.	2
Glazbagun.	clean race
Big Nanas.	FP1

Will waiting for the results of this be more exciting than the race.

[RZ1]

I’m looking forward to this one, let’s see how good the mclaren chassis is

[Drive Blind]

RZ1 said:

I’m looking forward to this one, let’s see how good the mclaren chassis is

Ah, the mythical McLaren chassis

It'll feature on a Wikipedia page soon next to Bigfoot and the Loch Ness monster

[sandman77]

Drive Blind said:

Ah, the mythical McLaren chassis

It'll feature on a Wikipedia page soon next to Bigfoot and the Loch Ness monster

Agreed. Having the same power unit as Red Bull is not doing McLaren any favours.

[HustleRussell]

Mercedes have asked for a clarification on oil burn which suggests that Ferrari have been up to something.

[sandman77]

HustleRussell said:

Mercedes have asked for a clarification on oil burn which suggests that Ferrari have been up to something.

Speaking of Ferrari and burning oil does it still spew out a cloud of black smoke on start up like it did at the first couple of GP's this season?

[glazbagun]

sandman77 said:

HustleRussell said:

Mercedes have asked for a clarification on oil burn which suggests that Ferrari have been up to something.

Speaking of Ferrari and burning oil does it still spew out a cloud of black smoke on start up like it did at the first couple of GP's this season?

I thought that was the most obvious pisstake IMO and I'm surprised it didn't come up earlier when even TV pundits were mentioning it. Merc power was thought to be burning oil as fuel so it gets limited. The very next year Ferrari look like they've brought a diesel with them.

[Deesee]

sandman77 said:

HustleRussell said:

Mercedes have asked for a clarification on oil burn which suggests that Ferrari have been up to something.

Speaking of Ferrari and burning oil does it still spew out a cloud of black smoke on start up like it did at the first couple of GP's this season?

Just read the article published https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/mercedes-query-... , this could well explain the smoke as above and also the extra lever on Vettels steering wheel..