[deetjohn]

The crown jewel of F1' racing calendar is here!

Originally Posted by Andrew Benson, BBC

Monaco is an anachronism, but what a wonderful one it is.

The claustrophobic streets of a Mediterranean Principality built on a cliff are no place for a Formula 1 car, and yet the combination works to stunning effect, producing its own kind of magic. To watch a grandprix car driven around here is to suspend a sense of disbelief - at the brutal speed of the machinery and the breathtaking skills of its driver.

The other side of Monaco is money - more is allegedly made here in deals than at all the other races combined. In that sense, the Monaco Grand Prix effectively encapsulates a sport in its single most high-profile race. A unique sporting spectacle and a licence to make and spend lots and lots of cash, all wrapped into one; in many ways, Monaco is Formula 1.

The circuit


Race Strategy Briefing


Look at that weather forecast! Like the challenges this year weren't enough.


Some pictures from the recent past.






TV Listings. Lot of juggling here:

FP1: Thu, 1:25 PM (SS1)
FP2: NA
FP3: Sat, 2:25 PM (SS1, SSHD2)

Q: Sat, 5:20 PM (SS4, SSHD2)
Race: Sun, 5:20 PM (SS4, SSHD1)

Courtesy: JA on F1, AUSmotive

[Blue_V]

Will Nico beat Lewis here finally?

[anachronix]

@deetjohn, good job with the thread again

More than Nico beating Lewis, I am more interested to see if anyone could beat the Mercedes here.

Originally Posted by Blue_V

Will Nico beat Lewis here finally?

[Blue_V]

Spanish GP was high downforce circuit and Merc was a missile in quali and race. Only Red Bull may get close but not beat them.

[D33-PAC]

IMHO this is going to be one of the most interesting quali sessions this year. The superiors and inferiors of each team will be decided here I feel. Ham vs Nico, Vettel vs Daniel. Really looking forward to quali more than the race.

My money is on Ham for pole, Rosberg 2nd, and Ricciardo 3rd.

[deetjohn]

Originally Posted by anachronix

More than Nico beating Lewis, I am more interested to see if anyone could beat the Mercedes here.

Other teams need a big helping hand from the rains during Q for that.


And in other news!

[anachronix]

For some real news, he was banned for life in Monaco back in 2005.

http://bensweeneysf1blog.wordpress.c...e-from-monaco/

Lets go back to 2005 when a 21-year-old Maldonado was racing in the World Series by Renault. During the race, a crash prompted yellow flags and marshals took to the track – but Maldonado failed to obey the yellow flags and slow down, before he turned a corner, coming upon the wreck and striking a marshal. The marshal was seriously injured, but luckily survived the moronic incident.

Originally Posted by deetjohn

And in other news!
Attachment 1243072

[mp417]

The famous Monaco GP is here. Thanks deetjohn for starting this thread.

Monaco is an interesting race to watch because of the challenging tight circuit and the long legacy behind this race. First race was held in Monaco in year 1929.

It would be interesting to see if other teams can really challenge Merc.

First practice starts today at 1:30 pm IST.

[mayankk]

Ah!
A good year so far, except for the fallacies at Mclaren.
I predict another mercedes romp, and Nico following Lewis home.
I am keeping my fingers crossed for a McL to be there too....

[mp417]

Originally Posted by mayankk

Ah!
A good year so far, except for the fallacies at Mclaren.
I predict another mercedes romp, and Nico following Lewis home.
I am keeping my fingers crossed for a McL to be there too....

All the races except Australia has been really bad for McLaren this year. This team was one of the top teams in old days and for some reason they are unable to get back into the groove. Lewis moving the Merc was another jolt for McLaren. No wonder why Ron Dennis fired Martin Whitmarsh and decided to look into F1 personally. Per reports, McLaren are coming up with major upgrade at Silverstone. So I guess we won't see much firework in Monaco or next two races from McLaren.

Same here...keeping my fingers crossed to see better performance from McLaren.

[aditya@pune]

Anyone betting for Ferrari? Haven't heard any good news from recentely concluded testing as well. Any chance of rain on weekend?

[mp417]

Originally Posted by aditya@pune

Anyone betting for Ferrari? Haven't heard any good news from recentely concluded testing as well. Any chance of rain on weekend?

60% chance of Rain is predicted as mentioned in deetjohn's opening post.

Practice 1 results:
1. Hamilton
2. Rosberg
3. Ricciardo
4. Alonso
5. Vettel
6. Raikkonen
7. Bottas
8. Perez
9. Magnussen
10. Hulkenberg

Same story continues. Hamilton still in first place. He is ahead of Rosberg by 0.032 second. RedBull behind Merc by 0.235 second.

[sawnilrules]

Monaco is going to be a challenging race for one and all. If we look at all the past races, Mercedes is having outright straight line speed, which none of the other teams were able to challenge. However the braking down-force and cornering isn't that great. Renault cars are better in this aspect, they may marginally lose out on outright speed, but are very good at cornering speeds.

It would be great to see how they use this advantage to their benefit. Having said that they would just have the first few laps to do something, as once the Silver Arrows fly away, it would be difficult to catch up with them.

Ferrari have a great chassis, but the problem is with their engines. They are running on real low power and hence their speed is affected.

PS- I have been asked couple of times what is it that Mercedes has done right this season, that they are flying away these days. I simply answer them, its Niki Lauda's technical knowledge that has helped Mercedes come this long. His technical expertise of setting up cars is world known, and no wonder that can be seeing in the current Mercedes Benz F1 cars.

[zenren]

A totally unpredictable weekend ahead where anything can happen. I'm expecting 1 or 2 safety car interventions during the race which might add some spice to the whole equation and meddle with the plans and rhythm of teams.

Mercedes and Red Bull have good packages and this might be the only weekend where Mercs might not be able to build up a solid lead over the rest; unless someone from Force India or Williams manages to get into P3 at the start and slows down the rest of the pack. Ferrari seems to be much more hungry on the tyres than the Mercs or RBRs which might spoil their chances of jumping others during pit stops unless a perfectly timed safety car helps.

[Hatari]

Originally Posted by sawnilrules

Monaco is going to be a challenging race for one and all. If we look at all the past races, Mercedes is having outright straight line speed, which none of the other teams were able to challenge. However the braking down-force and cornering isn't that great. Renault cars are better in this aspect, they may marginally lose out on outright speed, but are very good at cornering speeds.

It would be great to see how they use this advantage to their benefit. Having said that they would just have the first few laps to do something, as once the Silver Arrows fly away, it would be difficult to catch up with them.

Ferrari have a great chassis, but the problem is with their engines. They are running on real low power and hence their speed is affected.

PS- I have been asked couple of times what is it that Mercedes has done right this season, that they are flying away these days. I simply answer them, its Niki Lauda's technical knowledge that has helped Mercedes come this long. His technical expertise of setting up cars is world known, and no wonder that can be seeing in the current Mercedes Benz F1 cars.

Straight line speed differences between cars here is the least compared to any other circuit.. it would be about 8 kms/hr. Other circuits it would go upto 25 km/hr. Engine power has the smallest role to play in Monaco. Traction out of corners and mechanical grip are key.

Merc F1 commercial boss Toto Wolf credits Ross Brawn with their success as he was the one who realised the technical leadership required to create a winning F1 team, they hired Paddy Lowe, Andy Cowell, Bob Bell, Aldo Costa, Geoff Willis, Ron Meadows.. all technical directors to work together.

F1 cars evolve dramatically every year.. it is among the most advanced engineering platforms on the planet. The technical know how Lauda gained as a driver in his time (30 odd years ago) will have not have much to add to the current lot of F1 engineers. He is more the sporting director, who ultimately convinced Lewis Hamilton to leave McLaren and join Mercedes.

The beauty of Monaco is how close the barriers are, drivers are centimeters away from a crash. Also, given its slow/winding street race nature and the fact that it is the shortest lap (3.3 kms vs say Spa 7 kms) the whole field gets bunched up together and gaps are smaller. You will not see Mercs running into the distance, 1.5-2 seconds faster than the rest here. This makes for very exciting viewing!