@ben_h: I must admit, bit odd how they did not blue flag Button when he was closer to Kimi than when they flagged Markus when he was in front of Kimi after the pit stops (it was too big a gap for me to be blue flagging Markus at that point as he had quite a big gap to the Ferrari so letting KImi pass would have left him a few seconds down on the lap).
Also, curious what you mean @dizzyhippos about changing the race? Monaco has always been a race of endurance of driver/car as well as racing each other.
Hamilton didn't do the super soft strategy everyone thought he would. He's starting on ultrasofts. There must be a reason but it still is hard to figure out why he would do that. Pretty much every driver has said they could do a full race on the ultrasofts.
No start drama so far. Ferrari has a bit of a gap going already. Bottas has some wobbles going on. Not looking very stable. I can't see him catching them unless there's a safety car.
I think what people are missing is that while the Ultrasofts last an entire racedistance they aint guaranteed to be the fastest during an entire racedistance. Going 78laps on Ultrasofts only makes sense if you have a good trackposition to defend.
I think Hamilton was looking for an early safetycar and then go for supersofts the entire race and gain a few places by doing an racelong undercut. Being quickest when the others pit and it matters most. When that didnt happen i dont know what his plan B will be, just tough it out maybe...
Sad to see Kimi basically strategied into being behind Vettel. I wanted him to win quite a bit. Hopefully he'll have more chances this season. He definitely has the car and speed to do it.
@johnlocke: Certain aspects of this race just seem to be the way they are because "they have always been that way". Passing is already incredibly hard in F1 and the narrowness of this street circuit amplifies it. I am also assuming the grip trouble that everyone seems to be having has something to do it not being a "proper" track.
@dizzyhippos: I think the lameness of all the other tracks is a bigger problem than a narrow gripless track like this. If all tracks where like this and how they should be the cars would have to adept.
When its just one odd track they can throw it away.
@rethla: The track being "cool" is not a substitute for a good race. I will take a boring looking track that has a ton of passing room over an interesting track where whoever qualifies first wins unless they crash or there car craps out.
@dizzyhippos: That is fair, although overtaking is possible on this track, just with how the new cars are set by the rules, overtaking is harder thus they can not sit behind each other as close as they used to. I get your frustrations, but, this is a track where one mistake can put you in the wall compared to most other tracks where a mistake leads to you running onto tarmac and getting away with it. I like the balance of both. How would you alter Monaco to make it more entertaining for you (I am curious what you would change)?
@johnlocke: I dont know the cities layout well enough to say, I know that you cant just straight up make the streets wider. I am not going to claim to have the answers to this problem but I would rather talk about it then just pretend this track is amazing. I do like the one mistake and your boned aspect of it, but that shouldn't come at the cost of space to overtake.
@johnlocke: They could start with making tyres that work on the track. Then adding a few straights to allow for other setups than just "maximum downforce" and making different cars fast on different parts. The new artificial island that is being buildt seems perfect for throwing in 3kilometers of straights on. They can also remove a few chicanes but ofc they are there for safety....
@dizzyhippos: That is fair, please don't take my asking you questions as an attack or anything. I like Monaco, it is a tough track on cars and drivers, but, I get what your saying as well, it can be boring sometimes to watch when the field is not mixed up and the fast cars are just running away from the rest of the field (so not like today where Hamilton is midfield, or the Force India cars chasing the Sauber cars). I would put Monaco in the top tracks in F1 personally (alongside Spa, Monza, Monteal, and Suzuka) as it just makes an interesting curveball as top speed is not relevant and having a good tyre management and good low speed cornering grip.
@rethla: I did see something to that effect on House Hunters once, dude wasnt willing to walk like 200 yards to save something like a third the cost on a much bigger "flat".
@rethla: True, although the tyre argument I would say works for all tracks (I don't blame Pirelli either, the FIA asked for tyres that would make more pit stops/degrade to have closer racing). Maybe making some of the corners wider could help as well.
@johnlocke: Yeh they asked for more durable tyres but thats not the problem here. The problem is all the tyre sets are tailormade for the other 19 tracks on the calendar. Thats not Pirellis fault either but im not blaming them.
No matter if they go for low or high durability or many pitstops or whatever they choose, when they have a track thats so unique to the others they need unique tyres for it just like all the cars have unique setups for it.
The ultrasofts where supposed to be the "street track tyre" but thats just a fail.
A good race, driver of the day for me was Carlos Sainz, taking a not great car to the top 6 was a job well done. Unlucky for Vandoorne and Kyvat as they both had solid drives and probably, on the balance of things, deserved points.
The whole Ferrari thing is kinda tough to judge now that I think about it more. On the one hand, it might have been deliberate, and it appeared that way at first, but at the same time, Kimi did lose a lot of time to back markers after his stop whereas Vettel lost practically none. Not to mention Vettel did some insane laps before his stop.
Kimi definitely seemed dejected about the whole thing though. One of his interview answers kind of implied it was a team rule.
Hopefully he gets more chances this season to lead and maybe even win.
My immediate reaction was that Kimi didn't bother attacking the first corner when Seb was alongside him, in the pit lane. The words out of my mouth were "Company man, Kimi. Well played"
Rewind this thread 12 months and you'll find me saying how I don't like the Monaco GP. I like it even less now that the cars are Ben Pack wide.
I think its silly to claim teamorder. Ferrari did what was best for both drivers and Kimi was out of pace as always and combined with some bad luck. It would have been wonderfull to see Kimi back in action but he wasnt. Also i wouldnt blame Ferrari for using teamorders as things are.
Verstappen ended up similarly to Kimi and while its ok to be frustrated because of bad calls it wasnt any teamorders.
F1 race was interesting, do feel for Kimi as I suspect the plan was for Vettel to take the lead all along but it's perfectly legal and makes sense for Ferrari to do that. Whatever anyone says, Vettel will want to be the Number One driver in whatever team he's in.
Given Ferrari's pace, I do worry that Vettel could run away with this championship. Hard to see Mercedes making such a vast improvement.
F1 race was interesting, do feel for Kimi as I suspect the plan was for Vettel to take the lead all along but it's perfectly legal and makes sense for Ferrari to do that. Whatever anyone says, Vettel will want to be the Number One driver in whatever team he's in.
Given Ferrari's pace, I do worry that Vettel could run away with this championship. Hard to see Mercedes making such a vast improvement.
@machofantastico: It'll be interesting to see what Mercedes do now, considering they've not been in this position since their recent dominance began. Canada's been a Hamilton/Merc track of late so if Vettel is quicker there, expect F1's equivalent of crunch time from Toto & Co.
Either that or write off the season early and concentrate on next year's car. I'd love to be in the meeting when they tell the drivers that one.
And already endless adverts, I remember why I stopped watching live Indy car now. So happy this isn't a thing in F1.
Yup. I lasted 2 commercial breaks and now I'm gonna wait an hour and then just skip all the ads on my DVR. On SportsNet they got to 10 laps in before a 4 minute commercial break.
Oh look, an Honda engine as given up. Wouldn't it be typical if it were an Honda engine that ruined Alonso's race. Apparently they've been having just as many problems in Indy Car as they do in F1.
Oh look, an Honda engine as given up. Wouldn't it be typical if it were an Honda engine that ruined Alonso's race. Apparently they've been having just as many problems in Indy Car as they do in F1.
Well good thing is Alonso have a fresh engine since his broke down during qualifying practice.
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