F1 GRAND PRIX DE MONACO 2013: RACE *** SPOILERS ***

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Agree. I was surprised with the whole safety car pit deal that pushed Hamilton back to fourth, but other than that Monaco is simply a circuit that mainly requires you to qualify well. The race stoppage really took away any advantage that Lotus would have possibly had in a single pit race, so everything worked in Nico's favor here.

Let's see how things shake out at the end of the season before drawing too many conclusions. I was REALLY disappointed in the Scuderia...three blown and crappy races so far this season. They need to get their act together or they're going to McLaren-away their chances to win this season.

 

agreed. once lewis adapts to the car and team i think he will start to really dominate nico. he also still has a sizable lead in the championship over his team mate.

 

I think he needs to still adapt to the car/team, but I don't know that he will "dominate" Nico. Nico is a fast driver who was previously successful in GP2 and was a competitor to LH. I still believe Lewis is a top 3 driver on the grid and that should show over the long run. That said, I simply believe what we are seeing with Nico is his growth as a driver and development of the confidence it takes to be effective. I see him as being a JB-like driver who can excel when given equipment he is happy with.

 

And same with Ferrari in Spain . That's the problem with loopholes (not fair for the rest), but it is what it is.

Glad Nico won his first race 30 years after his dad, but if he hadn't illegally blocked Vettel twice at the beginning of the race (of if he had been penalized, as he should have been), he'd have lost the lead. He also got super lucky with the safety car, since RB would have been 1-2 otherwise. But luck is always a big factor in Monaco. And yes, it's a procession, not racing. No way in hell any new circuit even twice as safe as Monaco would pass FIA standards... but money talks. It's always from boring to boring as hell .

 

I think it was Lewis who blocked Vettel. I don't think he would have lost the lead with the safety car either as Hamilton was holding the field back to give Nico the space to come out in front of the Bulls.

I think the luck was with the race stoppage. If Merc were on a 2-stop strategy and Lotus one (which we don't know), that could have cost them the race. As it was, Massa's crash enabled everyone to emerge with new rubber.

On another note, I don't believe Massa's crash was the result of driver error.

 

Simple, because the worse Nico is rated, the worse that made MS look....and some here didn't want MS to be seen as good. Why? No idea.

Plenty of people on here thought Nico would immediately be thrashed by Lewis because he and MS were pretty close in performance, and MS was some old guy who shouldn't be in F1.

As it turns out, I guess MS was pretty good. Nico is no slouch.

 

Except that FerrariPilot, who is arguably one of the biggest MS fans on here, rated Nico as "vanilla" and "very average" while driving against MS.

And I would agree with that assessment as it also fits Nico's career, which by now goes back a very long time with little success.

He is a solid driver, but not one of the fastest. So why isn't he beating Hamilton yet? Maybe might have something to do with how he is treating his tires vs Hami's more aggressive style. We'll see. Regardless I doubt Nico will ever win a WDC. And yes, I'm willing to take a bet on that.

 

Weird, hey? It can only mean that Lewis is vanilla and very average, which does, of course, mean that his other previous team mate, Alonso, must be LESS than vanilla and very average, because Lewis was (near enough) to his equal in his first year in F1!

Damn it....I guess all those pesky F1 drivers and very average and vanilla!

 

Except Kimi!!

 

I'm faster than them all.

 

Nico is a great driver, he has proven that very well last Sunday, but he just like most every other driver is vanilla compared to Michael On race form, Michael's race acumen even in his 40s was remarkable, especially in 2011. That is why Michael is the greatest to ever sit in an F1 car, we will never know if Senna could have been capable of such technique in his 40s which is the only reason I say otherwise. One hand through swimming pool........at 42, unbelievable.

 

If MB build a car for it, Nico will bag a WDC before Hamilton does with MB. Nico does beat on his tires a bit more than Lewis so it's going to be a very tough call the remainder of 2013. Neither are beating the other by any means though, if anything Nico has the upper hand by Lewis' count.......by far. Nico has beat Lewis at his own game, qualifying. Nico is also just 15 points shy of Lewis, with Nico's car not completing 2 races already this season. Lewis was worth the price tag, but Nico is really proving his worth and then some.

 

I missed the whole damn race!. I missed the Indy 500 too....F'ing Time Warner.....they suck!

We had a cloudburst here in Austin Friday afternoon and it wiped out my service with Time Warner at home, no phone, no TV, no internet. Where I live there is no cell service either or I would have been watching on F1 Mobile app. Tech support/getting crew out you deal with someone outsourced overseas who barely speaks English......

First time I missed Qualifying and the race when not at the track myself.

TV came back on later in the evening with only two channels Fox and ESPN classic.

Only reprieve was and more than a bit surprising as ESPN Classic was airing SENNA which I watched again for the first time since I saw the grand premier at SXSW a few years back.

Memorial Weekend without racing????? At least Senna was looking after me from above ;-)

 

Was that the same storm that killed someone?

 

Imagine if you lived somewhere that was in the sticks !!

How do the phones NOT function due to a cloudburst ?

They are designed to worked when nothing else does, and if they work then ADSL should be ok provided the core network is ok

 

It seemed to me like Alonso's car was just a boat in the real tight turns. Like his steering was set up where he couldn't turn as tightly, thus leaving the door open for passes? He frequently took a much wider radius at the tight hairpins than the other drivers.

Pretty disappointed with the race. I'm so used to FA qualifying about 5-6th and then working his way to the podium that it was tough to see him go backwards. That said, he is playing the long game. As he sees it, why risk mixing it up with the midfielders of the world (McLaren - feels good to say that / Force India) and end up with nothing? Since passing is so difficult, Zo would pressure Kimi in front for a bit in case he made a mistake then drop back and try to protect his position. Fortunately, Kimi decided he would take up the challenge from the likes of Perez and look where that got him. Though we lost some points to Vettel we gained some on Kimi. TBH, I was a little irked that Raikkonen got a point because that means he will probably break MS's record now.

Perez was driving like a wild man and Alonso was being ultra-conservative, but that's the difference between having something to lose vs. not. That said, I think this race was an anomaly and Ferrari will be back on the pace in the coming races.

Massa...well, I didn't expect much out him at Monaco to begin with. Was glad to see he wasn't hurt after the big crashes.

Mercedes is getting interesting - both the tire test and LH vs. Rosberg. There was an article on Autosport today about reconsidering opinions on MS's comeback. Rosberg's form is hard to ignore. Being consistently faster than the guy who was supposedly the quickest in F1 has surpassed even my expectations.

Can't wait for Canada.

 

Pretty much sums it up!.....

http://www.pitpass.com/fes_php/pitpass_gallery_display.php
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So funny!

 

Good one!

 

I'd be willing to bet "someone" could find almost the exact same cartoon printed 20-30 years back too!..... It's Monaco! It's always been that way! And it's always been points scoring - Long may it continue.

Cheers,
Ian
PS - I guess they'd be smoking & drinking while sitting in the train rather than punching each other's lights out, but the principal in the Principality remains the same.

 

Witty, but I think you meant 'principle'.

>8^)
ER

 

Can someone help me understand why the circuit is considered a great race track?

There is more "following" than racing.

If a car starts on the front row in Monaco, what are the chances of winning? I imagine the number is quite high.