.:: 2010 Monaco GP - 13-15-16 May ::.

.:: 2010 MONACO GRAND PRIX ::.

Welcome to the 2010 Monaco GP Thread. cjek and mjk1 will keep the thread updated with the latest times as they happen.

RANDOM FACT

Despite Ferrari's dominance of the past decade, the Maranello team only ever won this race once in the past 10 years.

CIRCUIT STATS

2010 Race Number: 6
Circuit Event Number: 57
Circuit Length: 2.075 miles
Number of Laps: 78
Lap Record: 1:14.439 (M.Schumacher, 2004)

2009 Podium
1. Jenson Button (Brawn GP)
2. Rubens Barrichello (Brawn GP)
3. Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari)

POINTS OF DISCUSSION

1. What do you feel is the underlying factor for Massa not being as competitive as Alonso? The accident? Alonso being better? If not, what?
2. Should Monaco qualifying be split as suggested by Bruno Senna, or is it fair to keep everyone in and have the element of luck?
3. What can the pinnacle of motorsport do in order to make the crown jewel race more of a spectacle?
4. With tyre management critical in Monte Carlo, can Button repeat his dominant win from last year, or will the Red Bull prove too much with its superior advantage?
5. With support for the circuit seemingly dying down, where would you rank this GP in order of importance to you? If not top, which circuits are more important to you?

SCHEDULE FOR WEEKEND (All Times UK)

Thu 13 May: Practice 1 0900-1030; Practice 2 1300-1430

Sat 15 May: Practice 3 1000-1100; Qualifying 1300

Sun 16 May: Race 1300

WEEKEND WEATHER

THURSDAY: Heavy Rain Shower, Max. 18 deg. cent.
SATURDAY: Heavy Rain Shower, Max. 17 deg. cent.
SUNDAY: Heavy Rain Shower, Max. 17 deg. cent.

PRESS CONFERENCE SCHEDULE

WEDNESDAY:Sebastien Buemi (Toro Rosso), Jenson Button (McLaren), Timo Glock (Virgin), Robert Kubica (Renault) & Felipe Massa (Ferrari). 1PM GMT.

THURSDAY:John Booth (Virgin), Tony Fernandes (Lotus), Christian Horner (Red Bull) & Martin Whitmarsh (McLaren). 2PM GMT.

QUALIFYING:Mark Webber (Red Bull), Robert Kubica (Renault) & Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull).

RACE:Mark Webber (Red Bull), Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) & Robert Kubica (Renault).

BBC CIassic GP's
1980 | 1984 | 1988 | 2004 | 2009
Extended Highlights: 1984 | 2009

The Red Light: Monaco GP Preview

BBC Presents the 2010 Monaco GP

PREVIOUS SESSIONS
Thursday Practice 1
Thursday Practice 2
Qualifying
Race
Forum (Unavailable)

The car suits Alonso and Alonso is a better driver simply put.

If it shows what a dumb idea it is to race at Monaco go for it. The cars should qualify as they do at any other circuit.

Get rid of it and move the monicker to a place more deserving. Belgium's Spa for example.

Red Bull will take another win at a canter.

Next to last, with Barcelona, Singapore and Valencia.

FIA tweaks Monaco chicanes kerbs

Formula 1's ruling body, the FIA, has decided to raise the elements behind the kerbs of two chicanes of the Monte Carlo circuit for this weekend's Monaco Grand Prix.

The FIA said new, higher elements have been placed after the kerbs at the Nouvelle chicane (Turn 11), as well as the one after the Swimming Pool (Turn 16). The move is aimed at stopping drivers from cutting through them at high speed.

The governing body also said several parts of the circuit have been resurfaced. The pitlane surface is all new, as is the stretch from Ste Devote corner to the junction of Avenue de Monte Carlo.

Also re-surfaced are sections from Place du Casino to the Tunnel du Portier entry and from the tunnel exit to the chicane.

SOURCE: Autosport.com

1. Massa isn't as good as Alonso, the car doesn't feel right to him, and also there's pressure with having such a strong teammate. A mix of factors.

2. Qualifying should stay as it is, we want absolute chaos if possible because it's one of just two things that Monaco is good for. The other is the incredibly exciting onboard laps we get to experience; they get so close to the wall each lap it's a miracle anyone reaches the finish.

3. Pump the water from the sea and turn the downhill sections into a water slide.

4. Whoever gets pole should dominate the race really, it's just so hard for anyone to challenge the polesitter unless a particularly quick car has a poor qualifying and is 2nd-4th on the grid.

5. Monaco is a really boring race usually, but something gets me excited about it. Watching the cars from onboard is absolutely thrilling and the fact that they're on these tight streets in a picturesque Mediterranean town-like setting is something very unique. It's important to keep in my opinion, although I usually hate it about 2 laps into the race. Other dull circuits like Valencia and Barcelona can be ditched because they have no redeeming features, no history and no prestige.

DRIVERS RESIGNED TO DIFFICULT QUALIFYING

Jenson Button believes he and his fellow Formula 1 drivers will have little option but to simply get on with trying to find a clear lap in qualifying at Monaco this weekend - as further fears were voiced about likely traffic problems.

With attempts to impose a one-off split qualifying having been rejected by F1 teams, almost every driver on the grid thinks that they will face a particularly hard challenge getting the clear lap that they need to guarantee passage to second qualifying.

But despite the chorus of disapproval, Button thinks that there is little point is worrying about it now.

"It is going to be tricky for all of us," said Button in Monaco. "Normally if you find traffic you can back up to try and find space for the next lap, but this time I think you have to keep hammering around.

"I think it is going to be tricky in Q1, but we will cope. A few of us will be angry and not happy, but we will deal with the situation."

Ferrari's Felipe Massa reckons it would have been better to split the qualifying up, because then it would not have made the session such a lottery.

"Always when you go to qualifying and you can't do a lap it is not nice," explained the Brazilian. "Here is the worst track for that. We did a good job until now in the qualifying Q1, Q2 and Q3, but here it will be a big problem especially in Q1.

"It would have been nice to have a different qualifying, at least to make it more real, to give the possibility for every driver to do the best, because I think here to find a free lap will not be easy."

Pedro de la Rosa thinks that traffic problems at Monaco would not be confirmed to just qualifying though - with him expecting trouble throughout practice as well.

"Q1 will be especially difficult, but not only Q1," he said. "Any lap in free practice, especially with new tyres, you will struggle. Because of traffic and because of the speed differential between cars you have to open a bigger gap to the car in front, just to avoid catching it in the last sector. That's going to be a challenge.

"Then on top of the fact that Bridgestone's tyre selection will make it difficult to be able to slow down in the last sector as much as you want, because you have to push to keep up the temperature in the tyres. So it will be even more difficult for the drivers to open a gap to get a clean lap.

"So it's going to be difficult, but all we can do is try to get the best gap available. It's the same for everyone."

Lotus driver Jarno Trulli reckons everybody will be affected by traffic, even the slower teams.

"My point of view is that we all are going to have traffic, especially in Q1, because there's a lot of cars out on track," he said. "And then it's a question of luck, because maybe a quicker car slows down in front of me while I'm having a quick lap.

"On the other hand maybe I'm on a quick lap but I'm not quick enough for a quicker car so he's going to catch me up by the end of the lap. Both ways is not going to work. But at the moment we can't really think about it. We just have to go and see what we can do and try to be free of traffic and do our job."

Trulli does believe the qualifying lottery could give his team a good opportunity to get an unexpected result.

"Anything can happen in Monaco, even though you are so far away from the established teams. It's enough to get one good lap that you get by running and running around. For us it's more difficult to get it in, but Monaco is the place where you are going to have more chance."

SOURCE: Autosport

Diamonds are forever... McLaren's Monaco gimmick.

SOURCE: Official F1 Website

PRACTICE 1

Pos  Driver         Team                   Time              Laps
 1.  Alonso         Ferrari               1:15.927            31
 2.  Vettel         Red Bull-Renault      1:16.000  + 0.073   26
 3.  Kubica         Renault               1:16.016  + 0.089   28
 4.  Webber         Red Bull-Renault      1:16.382  + 0.455   24
 5.  Massa          Ferrari               1:16.517  + 0.590   29
 6.  Schumacher     Mercedes              1:16.589  + 0.662   21
 7.  Hamilton       McLaren-Mercedes      1:16.647  + 0.720   32
 8.  Button         McLaren-Mercedes      1:16.692  + 0.765   29
 9.  Sutil          Force India-Mercedes  1:16.805  + 0.878   23
10.  Buemi          Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1:16.857  + 0.930   30
11.  Rosberg        Mercedes              1:17.149  + 1.222   14
12.  Barrichello    Williams-Cosworth     1:17.331  + 1.404   28
13.  Liuzzi         Force India-Mercedes  1:17.704  + 1.777   26
14.  Petrov         Renault               1:17.718  + 1.791   38
15.  Alguersuari    Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1:17.991  + 2.064   36
16.  Hulkenberg     Williams-Cosworth     1:18.397  + 2.470   39
17.  de la Rosa     Sauber-Ferrari        1:18.434  + 2.507   37
18.  Kobayashi      Sauber-Ferrari        1:18.547  + 2.620   32
19.  Glock          Virgin-Cosworth       1:19.527  + 3.600   23
20.  Kovalainen     Lotus-Cosworth        1:19.606  + 3.679   31
21.  Trulli         Lotus-Cosworth        1:19.902  + 3.975   30
22.  di Grassi      Virgin-Cosworth       1:20.566  + 4.639   18
23.  Senna          HRT-Cosworth          1:21.688  + 5.761   27
24.  Chandhok       HRT-Cosworth          1:21.853  + 5.926   6

All Timing Unofficial

AUTOSPORT

DAMON HILL TO SERVE AS STEWARD

Former world champion Damon Hill is the driver adviser on the stewards' panel at this weekend's Monaco Grand Prix.

The FIA introduced a system this year where a former racing driver will offer input to race stewards at grands prix.

Former F1 drivers Alain Prost, Alexander Wurz, Derek Warwick and Johnny Herbert have all fulfilled that role at races this season.

Hill will work alongside Paul Gutjahr, Jose Abed and Dr. Christian Calmes in Monaco this weekend.

AUTOSPORT

PRACTICE 2

Pos  Driver         Team                   Time              Laps
 1.  Alonso         Ferrari                 1:14.904            36
 2.  Rosberg        Mercedes                1:15.013  + 0.109   39
 3.  Vettel         Red Bull-Renault        1:15.099  + 0.195   47
 4.  Massa          Ferrari                 1:15.120  + 0.216   44
 5.  Schumacher     Mercedes                1:15.143  + 0.239   38
 6.  Kubica         Renault                 1:15.192  + 0.288   38
 7.  Hamilton       McLaren-Mercedes        1:15.249  + 0.345   32
 8.  Sutil          Force India-Mercedes    1:15.460  + 0.556   42
 9.  Button         McLaren-Mercedes        1:15.619  + 0.715   37
10.  Webber         Red Bull-Renault        1:15.620  + 0.716   28
11.  Petrov         Renault                 1:15.746  + 0.842   44
12.  Buemi          Toro Rosso-Ferrari      1:16.276  + 1.372   46
13.  Hulkenberg     Williams-Cosworth       1:16.348  + 1.444   48
14.  Barrichello    Williams-Cosworth       1:16.522  + 1.618   37
15.  Liuzzi         Force India-Mercedes    1:16.528  + 1.624   42
16.  de la Rosa     Sauber-Ferrari          1:16.599  + 1.695   36
17.  Kobayashi      Sauber-Ferrari          1:16.818  + 1.914   45
18.  Alguersuari    Toro Rosso-Ferrari      1:17.023  + 2.119   28
19.  Kovalainen     Lotus-Cosworth          1:18.184  + 3.280   47
20.  di Grassi      Virgin-Cosworth         1:18.478  + 3.574   38
21.  Trulli         Lotus-Cosworth          1:18.667  + 3.763   13
22.  Glock          Virgin-Cosworth         1:18.721  + 3.817   41
23.  Chandhok       HRT-Cosworth            1:20.313  + 5.409   35
24.  Senna          HRT-Cosworth            1:22.148  + 7.244   11

All Timing Unofficial

AUTOSPORT 

With regards to the whole monaco debate personally i think F1 would be poorer without it on the calendar. I mean can you imagine if the say berine proposed the idea of running a gp around the streets of monaco people would think he was nuts, and in terms of a spectacle there is nothing like it. That isn't to say it produces great racing but it does have enough history to justify it's status.

Taking this a step further and looking at the F1 calender as a whole i think having somewhere like monaco which offers a different kind of spectacle is a good think. Now that isn't to say i support the idea of using gimmicks like night races to give new tracks some kind of spectacle, what i would rather see is that new tracks earn there place on the calender because they provide exciting racing, and from there they can develop there spectacle because there core racing is good enough to keep people interested.

I think the problem f1 has at the moment is bar a few tracks, such as brazil, there isn't enough on track action to hold people's attention and so people start pointing fingers at anywhere they deem dull. If on the other hand a greater proportion of 'overtaking' tracks then i think people wouldn't care if we had a race like Monaco, or even singapore, on the calender as they would be seen to offer something different.

Anyway rant over, hope it makes sense as it was very much off the top of my head, if i get time i may try and write a more structured article on this which will hopefully make more sense.

That is unbelievable. Kubica had that in the bag, and Webber comes from nowhere!

Oh, and 5 place grid penalty says hello, Felipe.

Red Bull again? Who would have guessed.

I think had this been at another track Massa would be given a penalty without a doubt but it seems a lot of drivers had been slowed by someone else. So maybe they figure if they give one guy a penalty they'll have to give one to everyone who slowed someone.

And wow, go Kubica! 

It seems that Mr 5 place grid penalty and Mr Massa didn't hit it off as well as Mr Armco and MR Alonso did and it appears the first couple won't be starting tomorrows race togetherRacky_rules

Indeed so - I guess for now I'll worry about where on earth Webber came from :lol:

I wish I'd seen quali and Alonso's crash :( but I have to agree with SchumiF1 if Massa was to receive a penalty almost everyone should have been (especially if we go by the 2006 traffic ruling of Monza....) KimisApprentice

I think in all fairness, everyone knows that was a terrible mistake, Monza '06. The only reason I'm singling out Massa is because his was the only blatant impeding that we saw, even though Massa won't have meant to have done it. At least everyone else pretty much sped up as soon as they saw a car behind or, in Schumi's case, pulled very odd moves to get out of the way :lol:

Another commanding win from Webber, well done to him :) Red Bull seem to have got their heads around the reliability issues they've had hopefully for them they can keep it up.

Excellent bit of strategy and driving from Alonso to get 6th, most of the rookies ... I take that back, it appears Schumacher nosed ahead of Alonso and snuck into 6th ahead of Alonso by taking advantage of a new rule for 2010, sneaky!

Back to the rookies, not many managed to make it to the end of the race (if any) so Monaco is still a car and driver beater.

DotD: Mark Webber - hands down.
SotD: I can't think of any so Mark Webber again just for really clobbering the field twice in 8 days.

Watching it today, for some reason it didn't appear as bad as what it did during qualifying.

Thanks Schumi for making me now have to wait to sort out predictions championship!

EDIT: Legit pass by Schumi, just need the confirmation from the stewards now.

Funny old race, shame about the crap TV direction though. Accidents should always be cut to immediately, but lately they seem to have lost the ability to do so. It really kills the drama, which is exactly what F1 doesn't need right now.

FIA Sporting Regulation rule 40.13:

If the race ends whilst the safety car is deployed it will enter the pit lane at the end of the last lap and the cars will take the chequered flag as normal without overtaking.

Ya this sounds like it will turn into another rule mess -_-SchumiF1

It may well do. At first it seemed clear that 40.13 should have applied in this situation, but there is debate over what finishing under the safety car actually means.

If they wanted to finish the race under the safety car, then perhaps there should have been a message to say 'race will finish under the safety car', in which case the cars would file over the finish line in order, without speeding up, and with SC boards and yellows waving. The safety car could still have pulled in at the end of the final lap to satisfy 40.13 in this situation. This race would therefore be 'finished under the safety car'.

What actually happened was that they said 'safety car in this lap', and so when the safety car pulled in, and the final SC line was crossed, racing conditions were resumed. There were green flags and all drivers were accelerating to racing speed. This would perhaps not be a 40.13 situation because perhaps the race finished under racing conditions.

Two different situations, but both of which end with the safety car entering the pits on the final lap, with different rules applying.

It looks fairly clear at first, but actually it isn't. Yet again the vagueness of F1 rules means that we'll have to wait.

What is the point of going green if they can't overtake.XSamFisherX

Race has to finish under green flag racing conditions, but they must continue racing as if the SC is still out. Strange one, I know.

A comparison to Monza 2009, before anyone tries to make one, cannot be made. The SC was called out on the final lap, meaning the lead driver (Barrichello) would not catch the SC until he crossed the finishing line anyway - which in that case, you do have to wonder why they didn't just wave double yellows in the section Hammy crashed at.

People have already started, so let's continue with the Driver of the Day and Star of the Day nominations. As per usual, 5PM BST on Monday will be yer closing time.

DotD: Mark Webber
SotD: Mark Webber

Surely, nothing else can be said. If it was Star of the Weekend though, I'd give it to Kubica. He gave it everything, but even then, those pesky Red Bulls are just too good right now.

MERCEDES APPEALS STEWARDS DECISION

The Mercedes GP team has decided to appeal the decision to penalise Michael Schumacher in the Monaco Grand Prix.

Schumacher lost his sixth-place finish after illegally overtaking Ferrari's Fernando Alonso on the last corner of the last lap of the race.

The German was given a post-race drive-through which translated into a 20-second penalty that dropped him from sixth to 12th position.

Mercedes, however, has appealed the decision, which will now be handled by the FIA's Court of Appeal.

The FIA said the appeal is strictly against the decision, not the penalty itself as drive-throughs cannot be appealed.

AUTOSPORT

The problem i have with this decision is that it seems to me Schumacher is being punished for a mistake made by the FIA in the rules. It's like spa 08 again and all that happens is the F!A alienates even more fans in giving out a punishment for something that most people at home won't see any problems with.

Also it seems a bit harsh to give Schumi a 20 second penalty, surely the resonable thing to say is that it was a grey area in the rules and therefore will give the place back to Alonso and change the rules to make it clear for everyone in future.

This article by planet -f1 does a better job of making the point i was trying to make.