Ferrari did have it going on for this race. Kimi did really well, he moved right up through the field after that flat tire issue. Imagine if that didn't happen? Maybe a podium finish for him? He would have at least been pushing Nico.

Hopefully Ferrari is back, if this turns out it be true then Red Bull really has no excuses.

 

+1

Kimi had one heck of a great run back up to the front from dead last...

Funny how Torro Rosso spanked Red Bull, they are both running Renault engines, maybe if Red Bull would peal off those Infinity decals their engines would run better.

(I am a long time Renault fan, but I have been more than a little surprised at last years performance and what I have seen so far this year).

I am also surprised that the Honda engines are down on power and reliability, I figured with the quality of engine they provide the Indycar series the unit they developed for Williams would be a bit .... better.

Waiting for HAAS F1 to hit the scene...

Motor on!

 

Yup, Vettel could have easily done a 2 stop with or without the SC. Here is a cool graph from Pirelli. He did 17 laps on used options, and 20 on new ones. Hamilton only got 20 out of his primes, and 14 out of his new options...

 

Looks like tomorrow could be an exciting race. Glad to see Ferrari continuing to perform well.

 

It will be a tall order to beat last year's race.

Anyone else vexed with the charge for live timing app this year?

 

It's frustrating - but given that the only races we watch live are Monaco, Montreal (if we're not on vacation) and Austin the live timing isn't of too much value to me...

I think BBCSport offers some free live timing and commentary on their website, but it may be georestricted - I'm not positive though...

 

Live Timing site(s)


http://www.planetsport.com/live/f1/


http://speedtv.stats.com/matchcast/r...dtv/index.html

 

Thanks! I had "planetsport", but didn't realize SPEED was still doing F1.

 

My favorite race of the year has past. Monaco is hands down the coolest circuit IMO. I'll die a happy man when I blast around that track for a few laps.

Any Hamilton fans here?

 

I agree... even the racing can be dull in Monaco, I love the visuals of those cars skipping across the curbs in the hairpins... Is it me, or did the curbs seem a lot lower this year?

As for Mercedes - WTF? Talking about throwing a driver's race away... Niki had it right post race, there was absolutely no reason to bring Lewis in. 15 laps left on that track and in reality no real concern about the tires - the risk just wasn't there to pull Lewis in even if the gap that they thought was there actually was there.

There were so many reasons why this call was stupid.
If Ferrari had pulled in Seb to attempt the undercut, Seb would have come back BEHIND Kyviat who prior to the Safety Car was just 10 seconds behind Seb. Fresh tires or not, the odds of Seb passing Kyviat, AND Rosberg (who who he couldn't pass all race), AND Lewis in Monaco with 15 laps left were infinitesimal...
Nobody knew how long the safety car would be out... Even if the 20+ second gap to Nico was still there when he was pulled in, a slow pit stop (and Lewis' second stop was over a second slower than the first) could easily cost him a position - and the longer the car was out the fewer laps Lewis would get to reclaim that position.
It was late enough in the race that if Max was seriously injured or the techpro was damaged severely enough that the race could have either finished under the Safety Car or with more than 3/4 of the race distance completed the race could have been red flagged and ended with full points awarded. Either way would have meant Lewis would never regain the lost position.

 

We drove around some of those roads on our honeymoon in 1988 in a 1973 Mini 1000 that barely made it from Manchester to Monaco. Some of the track was one way on the other direction for normal traffic, but we did the hairpin, the tunnel, Casino Square, etc. Great fun.

Conspiracy theory time anyone? Not enough German wins in the German car?

 

Agreed, makes a driver really wonder what they were thinking... a track that is one of the most difficult to pass on, having the advantage of being out front in clean air, even if they could have pitted for new Super Softs they would be very hard pressed to pass to pass for the lead with only <10 laps to go.

Motor on!

 

Nah... If that was a concern then why would they sign Lewis in the first place, let alone renew his contract? Go after Seb or potentially Hulkenberg and run an all German team.

Besides, Niki Lauda who is the "non-executive chairman" is Austrian not German, and Paddy Lowe who is among other things the Chief Strategist is believed to have made the call is British. Plus even though it's technically a German team - most of the team and team operations are in Brackley, not Germany...

Dr Zetsche, the Mercedes chairman may be German - but he was pissed over what happened. It may have been a win by a "German" (who is German by birth only - he was raised in Monaco) driver in a German car, but the decision makes the Mercedes pit wall look like a bunch of bumbling idiots. That was hardly the famed German precision that Mercedes wants to be known for.

 

That's awesome!


Of course there's a lot of talk going around. The oddest part was Toto's "Sorry" at the end of the race IMO. Almost like they knew it wasn't right. Odd situation.

 

I didn't seriously think so, but you know, there's the con-trails, and the HAARP mind control, and WTC 7 so you never know...

 

Yup, and the simpler - they just signed a reported $150m contract with a driver, it's highly unlikely that they'd then sabotage said driver...

 

I read they didn't want to pull Hamilton in, and he pushed for new tires. Check it:

“We told him to stay out and Lewis said “not good” and that the tyres had lost temperature,” Wolff said of how the situation unfolded. “We had one second to react and, combined with our wrong timing data, we made the mistake of calling him in.”

Hamilton also said on his radio "I lost this, haven't I?", implying he was partially at fault. Plus did anyone notice that the Sauber held him in his pit box? They couldn't release him and that's why it took over 4 seconds. Take away that and make it a 2.5 second stop and he might have just beat Rosberg out...

 

Yes and no... The Formula1 Race Edit tells the story a little differently than what we saw and was broadcast...

Yes Lewis' race engineer told Lewis to stay out when the Safety Car was deployed. Lewis responded and asked about pitting claiming the the tires had lost temp and expressing concern that those behind him were going to the softer tires, and in the race edit the near immediate response was for him to box... This is where the Chief Strategist should have stepped in and told Lewis to stay out - it doesn't appear that they considered bringing in Nico, because if they did Nico was guaranteed to come back behind Seb and most likely Kyviat. Ferrari may have been out of the garage - but again, there was a 10 second gap back to Kyviat - if they brought Seb in, even with fresher tires in Monaco there was no way he was going to then be able to pass both Kyviat and Rosberg let alone Lewis with less than 10 laps left.

Lewis doesn't know where the other cars are - the pit wall does. And somebody on the pit wall is supposed to have the situational awareness to have known that regardless of Lewis asking about the tires - that strategically the risk of bringing Lewis in was much greater than the potential benefit.

Yes, Lewis radioed back "I've lost this haven't I" and I take it as exactly what it appeared to be - the realization that what appeared until the Safety Car as a surefire win, now wasn't...

As for the Sauber - I'm not sure, but that's always a risk when you pit in these conditions. Other teams have the right to exit the pits - and if there was another car within the exit window, Mercedes doesn't have a choice, they have to hold their driver up. Charlie Whiting has shown no mercy when it comes to unsafe releases - if they sent Lewis out there would have been a grid penalty and I believe a time penalty and a fine on the team...

 

Ya they should have kept him out, they reacted too quick when he asked about coming in. With how little laps were left and the fact that this was Monaco they never should have considered it. I'm not blaming the Sauber at all, just pointing out that if it wasn't there we might not be having this conversation. I Just think some people in the F1 media are being too hard on Mercedes when you look at everything that happened. Lewis always seems to question their strategy too, maybe if he wouldn't complain about their tire choice so often (like he did in Malaysia) they wouldn't have been so quick to buckle. Just a thought, doesn't really matter anyway now...

 

+1... Agreed

 

Absolutely!

 

How about Montreal, hey?

Seb is an animal. Despite not placing he really is a talented driver.

 

Yes, Vettel is back in his element with Ferrari. And we now see that Adrian Newey was worth whatever Red Bull was paying him.

 

Things I'd like to see: Hamilton and Vettel in identical cars - who's fastest? And why? That would be a great match race.

 

It could happen if the suits at Ferrari open their checkbooks.