2008 Monaco Grand Prix - Grand Prix de Monaco

[JoostLamers]

Fuel load predictions?

[swca92]

Fuel load predictions?

Im sure the Ferraris are runnung light to get ahead of everyone.I think the McLarens will have more fuel and would win in a straight fight,but hopefully it'll rain and we'll get an eventful race.Thought Id post this for weather updates:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/5day.shtml ... 4648&links
http://www.yourmonaco.com/weather

[phil1993]

Massa lightest, followed by Kovy, Kimi and Lewis and im off to watch eurovision

hmm, then again it wont matter if theres rain osweat:

[Fergie1]

McLaren must be heavy. Even Ron Dennis agrees with me. http://www.itv-f1.com/news_article.aspx?id=42760

[donald29]

Even as a dedicated Felipe fan who believes in him when others do not, I was surprised that he got pole.

[Soyyo]

McLaren must be heavy. Even Ron Dennis agrees with me. http://www.itv-f1.com/news_article.aspx?id=42760

I think that Massa is lighter than Kimi, but Kimi and Hamilton are more less in the same fuel-load strategy, with kimi heavier than Hamilton. and Heikki is the heaviest.
First Pit stop: Massa-Hamilton-Kimi-Kovalainen (if nothing happens)

[Soyyo]

Alonso escapes penalty after stewards meeting
Fernando Alonso was summoned to the stewards room after the final free practice session at Monte Carlo on Thursday.

The Renault driver was asked to explain why he had driven an entire lap of the tight Monaco street layout after his slide into the Ste. Devote barrier.

Rubens Barrichello, who it must be said is not the Spaniard's closest friend, showed his displeasure of Alonso's tactics by waving his finger at the 26-year-old as he passed the flailing R28.

The red flags had to be waved in the wake of the incident, so that marshals could clear the extensive debris, including Alonso's rear wing that broke off at the Mirabeau corner.


"I told them that I thought I had driven safely, without endangering anyone, and also that there wasn't any good areas to stop," Alonso is quoted as saying to the Spanish newspaper Diario AS.

The stewards decided not to penalise the former champion. "I thanked them, and that's it," Alonso added.

SOURCE: http://en.f1-live.com/f1/en/headlines/n ... 2416.shtml

[Soyyo]

Monaco: Barrichello escapes stewards without penalty
R
ubens Barrichello escaped penalty from the Monaco Grand Prix stewards after he was investigated for blocking Giancarlo Fisichella in the first part of qualifying this afternoon. Fisichella was on his final run in Q1 when he came accross Barrichello in the final sector of the lap, with the Brazilian touring on his in-lap.

Fisichella ended the session last, with the Italian set to start his 200th Grand Prix tomorrow. Fisichella explained: “My first run was not great, but the second was better but then I lost the chance to do a quick lap as I got caught behind Barrichello just after the swimming pool as he was slowing down. Very very frustrating.”

After hearing explainations from the drivers and their teams, the stewards decided not to penalise Barrichello, who will start tomorrow's race from 15th on the grid.

SOURCE: http://www.manipef1.com/news/2008/index.php?id=1208

[Soyyo]

Kubica: Lewis didn't hold me up
Robert Kubica has denied being held up by Lewis Hamilton during qualifying in Monaco, although having the Brit in front of him on the track was a problem.

Kubica last attempt at pole position around the streets of the Principality came up short when the BMW driver found himself behind Hamilton on the track.

But rather than being held up by the McLaren driver, Kubica says it was more a case of being distracted by the Brit that cost him a chance at the P1 slot.

"The last lap I had Lewis Hamilton in front of me, but he didn't hold me up, but when you have a car in front there is always a kind of risk," he told ITV.

"On the out-lap I tried build-up enough of a gap between myself and him, so that I didn't have to overtake him on my flying lap. I cooled my tyres down too much, so in the first sector I was much slower, three tenths off the run before.

"I managed to pull everything back from the last sector. But yes I was pushing all through qualifying, every single lap, and this was all that I could do."

SOURCE: http://www.planet-f1.com/story/0,18954, ... 88,00.html

[Soyyo]

Dennis suggests Hamilton is heavily fuelled
McLaren boss Ron Dennis has hinted that Lewis Hamilton could be on a different strategy to the two Ferraris after the Englishman was relegated to the second row in qualifying for the Monaco GP.

Having dominated in practice, Hamilton was the favourite to take pole on Saturday but was surprisingly eclipsed by both Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen.

However, with what may or may or not be a ruse or a telling hint, Dennis has insisted that McLaren can still win the race, on a circuit on which it is notoriously difficult to overtake, through a superior 'strategy'.

"We go to every race to do our best, and again we are very close here," said Dennis. "Until the strategies unfold, we won't really know whether we are behind or ahead.

"It is very easy to come to Monaco and say, right, we are going to qualify on the front row regardless, but if you go too far then you are going to lose the race because you are going to stop too soon.

"So we'll just have to see how things unfold. It is obviously very close, and we don't have an uncompetitive car, and there are lots of developments going through the system, so we have a long way to go."

In a broader hint that both Hamilton and team-mate Heikki Kovalainen, who will start the race from fourth, are more heavily fuelled than both Raikkonen and Massa, Dennis continued: "Especially in Monaco you can destroy your race with a smaller fuel load and it is easy to make a wrong decision in that respect," he said.

"With a good start, and if we can stay out longer, even from the second row it is possible to win here. We have a good strategy and I expect a very hard fought race in hopefully good weather conditions."

SOURCE: http://www.planet-f1.com/story/0,18954, ... 71,00.html

[flashman]

Qualifying - selected driver quotes

Ferrari’s Felipe Massa on overcoming his Monaco demons and scoring pole in the Principality; Red Bull’s David Coulthard on his dramatic Q2 crash; and Williams’ Nico Rosberg on an excellent sixth place. All 20 drivers report back on the action…

Felipe Massa, Ferrari (1st, Q3 - 1m 15.787s):
"Incredible! I have got pole on a track where I have always struggled. Now I am beginning to like it a bit more... I managed to do a perfect lap with a great car: this result shows that, if you work hard and with attention to detail, you can do it everywhere. After finishing the lap, nobody said anything to me on the radio and then, unexpectedly, Rob (Smedley, Felipe's race engineer) screamed, "incredible, you're on pole!" and I was laughing all the way around my in lap as I just couldn't stop. Now we have to maintain our concentration for the race tomorrow, which will be a very difficult one. It could rain which would complicate things even more. Starting at the front means I have the best possible conditions, but we will have to do everything perfectly. We worked a lot on the set-up to improve on the situation compared to past years and I think this decision has paid off."

Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari (2nd, Q3 - 1m 15.815s):
"Obviously, I would have preferred to be on pole and there's no point denying it, but two Ferraris ahead of the rest is a great result for the team. It's supposed to rain tomorrow, so the race could be a lottery and it might mean more overtaking opportunities, because in the dry the race risks turning into a boring procession. Overall, I am happy with the car: we just struggled a bit to get the best out of the tyres on the first timed lap, so that I was finding things a bit difficult through the first few corners on my second run in Q3. We had some doubts about our true potential on this track before the weekend, but this result confirms we have worked well and we have made a step forward compared to last year."

Lewis Hamilton, McLaren (3rd, Q3 - 1m 15.839s):
"Obviously I would have preferred to be on pole, but I am pleased with how the car felt and our strategy. The team did a solid job, and I didn't have any problems with traffic. My two flying laps in the final part of qualifying were good, but I lost a bit of time in the second sector, because I lacked a bit of traction accelerating out of turn eight, and in the third sector, at the last corners, I did not brake as late as I should. But we have a good strategy, and I am quite confident for the race - tomorrow anything can happen particularly with the weather forecast promising rain."

Heikki Kovalainen, McLaren (4th, Q3 - 1m 16.165s):
“I am little disappointed as I put maximum effort in my last qualifying run. The car felt good, so I don’t know where the small gap to the cars in front comes from. I did not put a foot wrong in all three sessions. I want to thank my team who had repaired the damage from this morning’s incident well, so I could make best use of my car without any problems. The race is a different affair, and I expect us to be in good shape.”

Robert Kubica, BMW Sauber (5th, Q3 - 1m 16.171s):
“Again we showed we have a good pace. I was pushing on every single lap of qualifying and this was all I could do today. Unfortunately on my last flying lap I had Lewis Hamilton in front of me. He did not hold me up, but whenever you have another car in front of you there is some kind of a risk. On my out lap I tried to widen the gap to Lewis so as to have no traffic. My tyres cooled down too much and I was very slow in the first sector of my quick lap.”

Nico Rosberg, Williams (6th, Q3 - 1m 16.548s):
"I am very happy, I got the most out of the car and this is a good result. I really enjoyed it out there today. It was good fun and I was really pushing it to the limit - I imagine it would be pretty exciting to watch my on-board camera footage because I was really attacking every bit of the lap. Qualifying in Monaco is different to anywhere else and being able to get to the limit here is just great. If it rains tomorrow it will be madness, so I’ll just have to be very careful and keep it on the track. With a good strategy, I can have a good Monaco Grand Prix."

Fernando Alonso, Renault (7th, Q3 - 1m 16.852s):
“In Monaco qualifying is more important than anywhere else and our goal today was to make it through to Q3. It is very difficult to overtake, but I think it is quite an open race and as we are not fighting for the championship we can approach this race aggressively and take a few risks. It will be a competitive race, that is for sure, but we just have to wait and see what the weather does.”

Jarno Trulli, Toyota (8th, Q3 - 1m 17.203s):
“Today was a good qualifying but it was tough. All weekend I've had some problems with getting the most out of the package and even during qualifying I wasn't completely happy. Here in Monaco if you don't have confidence it is difficult to push to the limit. So I am glad to be in the top ten again and I also have high hopes for the race. A big thank you to the team and the mechanics because they worked really hard during Thursday practice when we had several problems so it's good to give them a good qualifying session.”

Mark Webber, Red Bull (9th, Q3 - 1m 17.343s):
“We had a clear run with no problems. I was locking up quite a lot, but there was no particular sector of the lap that was worse than the others – we’ll just have to see how things go tomorrow. Seventy eight laps is a long race and there’s some uncertainly over the weather, so hopefully we can get some points.”

David Coulthard, Red Bull (10th, Q3 - no time):
“I was doing around 185kph when the incident happened, and I went into the wall quite hard. When I hit the brakes the car turned, I was going over a rise so it’s possible I locked the rear axel, but normally when that happens, you can just release the brake a little bit. We’ll check the car and see if anything was going wrong at the rear, as it turned very quickly. It’s normal for the rear to go light when you brake there, as we don’t have engine braking or anything like that, but you drive with that in mind, so I’m surprised what happened was so violent. But, we’ll get the car back, look at the data and then we’ll know.”

Timo Glock, Toyota (11th, Q2 - 1m 15.907s):
“It was frustrating to miss out on Q3 today because the weekend had been going well. I don't know what happened. I did a decent first lap in Q2 but on the last set of tyres it just didn't work out. I had a good first sector but the last two sectors didn't come together and I missed Q3 by less than a tenth of a second. The consolation is that I have a free strategy for tomorrow. The weather could still play a part and we'll push to make up ground.”

Jenson Button, Honda (12th, Q2 - 1m 16.101s):
"We spent the session working on the balance, trying to remove understeer from the car in the high-speed corners, which we achieved and the balance was improving. On my last run, the car felt good and I gained almost two-tenths in the first sector on my previous best time, then in the second sector Coulthard had his incident which unfortunately meant I couldn't improve my time because of the yellow flags. The car was well set-up for my final run in Q2 and the last sector is where we would have improved further, as we had a better front-end for the high-speed corners. Sadly the yellow flags prevented us from realising our full potential. We're not in the top ten and it's disappointing. That's Monaco for you and what is important is that we know the car was quick enough to have improved."

Nick Heidfeld, BMW Sauber (13th, Q2 - 1m 16.455s):
“Unfortunately I don't have much to say: my qualifying result is disappointing. Here in Monaco I can't heat up the tyres quickly enough.”

Kazuki Nakajima, Williams (14th, Q2 - 1m 16.479s):
"It was a difficult qualifying for me because I was having trouble hooking everything up on my quick laps. I made some mistakes on one of my clean laps, so I need to go away and think about that and see how I can improve. Nico did really well today. He set a really good lap time, so I think I should have been better. Conditions were slightly different out there this afternoon in comparison to this morning’s practice session, and the forecast isn’t settled for the race, which could make it interesting."

Rubens Barrichello, Honda (15th, Q2 - 1m 16.537s):
"It was certainly a disappointing second session for us. Unfortunately I didn't have a good first run because of traffic and then my second outing was interrupted by the yellow flags. It's a shame as the car was certainly competitive enough to get into Q3. However there is no place for 'if only' in Formula One and we are down in 15th, so it will be a tough race from there."

Sebastien Bourdais, Toro Rosso (16th, Q1 - 1m 16.806s):
“On my first lap I got caught up with Massa and my second was definitely going to be better, but that would not have changed anything. I am finding it very difficult to read what the car is doing, especially under braking when I am locking wheels a lot. In fact that was what caused the problem on my next run, because as I knew I had been locking the rear coming out of the tunnel, I moved the balance just one click to the front and sure enough, this time I lost the front. Also, as a general comment the car feels loose on the entry to most corners. Our situation was not helped by the fact we still lack experience with the new car and had nearly no dry running this morning. You have to pick up the pace by around a second and a half and when you’ve never done it in an F1 car in Monaco, it’s a bit harder than anywhere else.”

Nelson Piquet Jr, Renault (17th, Q1 - 1m 16.933s):
“I am very disappointed. I had a small problem with the brakes in Q1 and I was not on the pace. The car was very sensitive, but we saw with Fernando that it improved gradually throughout the session, which is all the more frustrating for me. A race from the back of the grid is always difficult, especially in Monaco, but I will give my maximum tomorrow, although my only real chance is to hope for rain, which will mix things up.”

Sebastian Vettel, Toro Rosso (18th, Q1 - 1m 16.955s):
“My first lap time looked quite promising. After that, I feel we should have stuck with the prime tyre as the option was giving up during the first timed lap. I was unable to maintain a good level of grip over the whole track, so I was losing time, especially towards the end of the lap. It’s a shame, because with my penalty I will be at the back of the grid. So I’m hoping for rain…..lots of rain!”

Adrian Sutil, Force India (19th, Q1 - 1m 17.225s):
“I felt my first laps were quite good, but then I had to pass a couple of cars in the first sector. It is really only two tenths or so, but from that point on it's difficult to get in the rhythm. We had planned to do two laps but you never know whether there will be traffic so we left some margin with the fuel and I could stay out for a few more laps to get some better ones in. There were some positives though: at least we have got the tyre problem fixed and they are working well now.”

Giancarlo Fisichella, Force India (20th, Q1 - 1m 17.823s):
“It was a disappointing qualifying session and, in fact, whole day. This morning I had a problem with the gearbox and we had to change it, so I would have been penalised five places anyway, but then it was only ready about 14:05 so we didn't have enough time to do three runs. My first run was not great, but the second was better but then I lost the chance to do a quick lap as I got caught behind Barrichello just after the swimming pool as he was slowing down. Very very frustrating.”

formula1.com

What I can tell about the quali is that I'm surprised a bit with the results - both Ferraris on top, Rosberg on very good P6, Heidfeld P13 . Well, I expected Nick to be at LEAST in top 10, but 13 . He said that he couldn't heat up the tyres quickly enough. Damn, he's the only one who has such a problem. For me it's a bit surprising that such an experienced driver like Heidfeld can't heat up the tyres, especially that it's not the first time - same issue in Turkey

[HandoZiZle]

I wonder if Kimi can overtake Massa through the pits. O well, i just hope it rains tomorrow so we can have a good race.

[flashman]

I wonder if Kimi can overtake Massa through the pits. O well, i just hope it rains tomorrow so we can have a good race.

Oh yea, rain would make it very, VERY exciting

[Soyyo]

Honda drivers rue Coulthard shunt

Both Honda drivers blamed David Coulthard's accident at the end of Q2 for their failure to make it into the top ten in qualifying for the Monaco Grand Prix on Sunday.

Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello were both forced to abort their final flying laps as Coulthard's Red Bull shot-off down the escape road at the chicane after the tunnel, and both drivers believed they had the speed to make it onto the first five rows of the grid.

Jenson Button, who eventually qualified 12th, said: "We spent the session working on the balance, trying to remove understeer from the car in the high-speed corners, which we achieved and the balance was improving.

"On my last run, the car felt good and I gained almost 0.2secs in the first sector on my previous best time, then in the second sector Coulthard had his incident which unfortunately meant I couldn't improve my time because of the yellow flags," he added.
"The car was well set-up for my final run in Q2 and the last sector is where we would have improved further, as we had a better front-end for the high-speed corners. Sadly the yellow flags prevented us from realising our full potential.

"We're not in the top ten and it's disappointing. That's Monaco for you and what is important is that we know the car was quick enough to have improved."

Barrichello felt exactly the same, and starting from 15th on the grid, the Brazilian is hoping for rain on Sunday.

"It was certainly a disappointing second session for us," said F1's most experienced driver. "Unfortunately I didn't have a good first run because of traffic and then my second outing was interrupted by the yellow flags.

"It's a shame as the car was certainly competitive enough to get into Q3. However there is no place for 'if only' in Formula One and we are down in 15th, so it will be a tough race from there."

SOURCE: http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/67701

I really think that at least Button had a chance to get into the final 10, but not Rubens. Button finish .262 behind Coulthard and .274 behind Alonso.

[Soyyo]

Alonso planning to take risks in race
Fernando Alonso says he is ready to take a few risks in tomorrow's Monaco Grand Prix after qualifying in seventh position.

The Renault driver, winner in Monte Carlo in 2006 and 2007, struggled for grip during today's qualifying but still managed a good result.

Alonso got a stroke of luck in the dying moments of qualifying, when an accident by David Coulthard made it impossible for the Spaniard's rivals to try to improve.

"In Monaco qualifying is more important than anywhere else and our goal today was to make it through to Q3," he said.

"It is very difficult to overtake, but I think it is quite an open race and as we are not fighting for the championship we can approach this race aggressively and take a few risks.

"It will be a competitive race, that is for sure, but we just have to wait and see what the weather does."

SOURCE: http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/67693

It all depends from the weather. IMO Alonso as usual is running light, so if it doesn't rain he won't have any chance to get at least better than seven (if none of the previous runners retire) and none to obtain a podium finish.
If it rains, anybody could be a winner: a russian roulette race, but with Renault grip problem maybe he won't get any points.