Alt+F1: 83 - Monaco GP 2016

Sigh, he should have won...

Sounds like a wet one! Perfect for munching on a tuna sandwich.

For the first time in ages I sat down to watch a race. And what a race I was witness to. It was crazy how much happened, can't wait to hear what impressions you got from the race.

Poor Ricciardo man. What a bummmer.

Best podcast on the planet.

Didn't get a chance to watch Monaco but I watched the Indy 500. What a great race. It was crazy to see IMS completely filled. Never thought I'd see the day.

If you ever have a chance to see IMS then you should take the chance. There's a lot of history at the track. Even if there isn't a race going on you can go to the museum which has a lot of history.

Danny says VSC worked but when VSC happen during the sauber crash, when I was watching it seemed like Hamilton gain a second during it somehow. To me VSC needs to slow cars down at the same time so people can't gain or lose time. But then again what do i know

@ilikepopcans: I think the bigger issue--ignoring the botched pitstop, obviously--was Hamilton's bad corner on the chicane and rather scummy defense of his position afterward. Ricciardo should've had the overtake, but he's such a fantastic driver that even in its absence he managed to stay out of the barrier and hold it together through the end of the race. 16 points aren't as good as 25, but they're better than none.

@drewbert At 1:13:20 you mentioned the new 2017 big tyres and said you would link a video in the show-notes, but it isn't there. Do you have it?

Riciardo's pit stop https://gfycat.com/DefenselessPoliticalFrenchbulldog

Usually refrain from commenting before I've listened to the full episode, but in this case need to before I acclimate to the audio. The new settings are noticeably duller and more muffled. My ears like that hot, crisp sound Alt+F1 usually has. My vote is revert!

P.S. The "coque" in monocoque is French for “shell.”

@dixavd: Sorry! Here: https://youtu.be/OlFUwOpC2yE

@drewbert: Thank you :3

@drewbert@dannyodwyer RE: Hamilton defending from Ricciardo:

Hamilton was judged not to have gained an advantage by skipping the chicane as Ricciardo was closer to him after the chicane than before it (fairly obviously so, since he tried to overtake him). This was not deemed worthy of even a full discussion by the stewards, so no report was issued.

Hamilton was then judged not to have blocked Ricciardo off unfairly, as he left over a car's width between his car and the edge of the track, this wasn't totally obvious from the on-board footage at the time, but other angles show that Ricciardo had plenty of space. That this space was a wet piece of tarmac with no grip that caused Ricciardo to almost immediately lose traction when he tried to use it is not Hamilton's problem. This was the issue that the stewards actually ruled on during the race.

Have eighter of these two explained at all why they hate räikkönen? his just Finnish and hates media. He literally is a good enough driver to say fuck you to them. or "i was taking a shit"

basically why they hate him is why i love him, his not a media boy like other drivers.

and was second in points before this race. I love him exactly the reasons media hates him, fuck media.

you have to be a pretty good driver to stay at ferrari if your media skills are shit.

@zaphodi said:

I've never got the impression that they hate him; quite the opposite, in fact. I've always thought they find his bluntness and no-shits-given attitude hilarious.

Hamilton absolutely cut that entire chicane and he should have been penalized the place for it. I quit watching the race after that, complete and utter bullshit and only hurt the race and Riccardo in the end.

@hero_swe: Have you seen the Monaco GP before?

If he'd passed Ricciardo and cut the chicane in the same move, he'd have been told to give the place back. Slam dunk.

If he'd defended his position repeatedly by cutting the chicane, the stewards would have had a word with him.

Doing it once, on a drying track? No chance.

A driver is also allowed to defend their position by closing the door. He gave a car's width so no hint of a penalty. That Ricciardo was remonstrating is totally understandable in the heat of the moment, but Lewis was fair here.

This is such a wonderful podcast! Where else can you get some Aphex Twin chat in an F1 podcast?

You've both become so knowledgeable too over the years. Impressive

My view from Turn 3 at the Indy 500 this year. Not much passing happens at Turn 3, but there's still lots of nyoooooom.

I'm really bummed about the Halo. The windscreen looks half decent and the "it's not been tested enough!" argument seems bunk since the halo is being redesigned and oh yeah numerous other race series use some sort of windscreen. Just seems to me someone (Bernie) picked the Halo at the outset for some reason (hoping it's so ugly fans turn against it and it gets dropped) and there was nothing to be done about it.

Yeah, totally.

Kimi didn't get a penalty for continuing to drive with his front wing under his wheels. The stewards report was on the FIA website.

The stewards accepted team radio evidence that they all initially thought he could make it back to the pits, but when they told him to pull off the circut he did so right away.

@hero_swe: yeah, that sounds more like your own personal prejudice talking rather than appreciation of the racing.

@toshi0815: haha, brilliant!

@xenolon: I was there this year too. Turn 4. I'll make it to those shady grandstands someday.

I made it to Monaco in 2012. Here's the view from our camp in Secteur Rocher before Webbah's glorious victory.

If it was up to me I'd be at either of these places every Memorial Day weekend.

I'm with you, @drewbert. ABC's indycar commentary is just the worst. Even though Cheever and Goodyear are former drivers, they somehow rarely make any interesting technical insights. The only person in their team i respect is Jan Beekhus, who is a pretty excellent pit reporter. I ended up muting the TV and streaming IMS radio commentary instead. Definite improvement. I'll have to bear them for both races in Detriot, then the rest of the season is back to NBC Sports, who do a much better job.

It could be worse, though. 2014's Rolex 24 stands out in my mind as the worst coverage situation ive experienced as a race fan. During the night, there was no TV coverage or feed from on-track cameras, just onboard camera livestreams and radio commentary. Normally that'd be fine with me, but they let MRN (NASCAR Radio) have a shot at doing the coverage. I can't even express how woefully unprepared they were for four classes of racing happening simultaneously. It was cringe-worthy.

@dave_tacitus:

Agreed. The curbs at the chicane are actually quite tall; they unsettle the car, and could cause a tire to go down or even damage the front wing. Unless you miss the chicane entirely and use the runoff, I'm not sure there's an advantage to even be gained there; certainly not one that outweighs the risks. Just an error by Hamilton, not a sneaky move.

Australian motorsport is a salty place this week, let's just say that.

I love Ricciardo, always really positive, happy, a really talented guy (Shanghai GP was an amazing display by him) so watching that race live and seeing that pit stop was heartbreaking. I couldn't bear it after that, it was just so sad.

He's really been let down by strategy and lots of little things - I just want him to have a good race!

@beomoose: Agreed. The aeroscreen seems more functional in terms of protection and is a much sleeker looking design on cars that are increasingly adorned with ugly barnacles and protuberances. Look at how simple and sleek the cars were in the early 90s:

I also wonder how much of going with the Halo is just a way of Bernie funneling more money to Ferrari.

Wow Max Vercrashen really likes those walls at Monaco.

@hammondoftexas: Kimi is the Cobra Kai of F1.

@xenolon: Man, cars looked good back then.

Love the podcast guys but one complaint, enough with the being down on Mercedes weirdness. Hamilton drove a fantastic race and not once did you praise that. I know you like Ricciardo but he couldn't pass Lewis because Lewis drove amazingly.

Keep up the good work!

Question: do y'all think it would be ideal (and cool) for BMW to reenter the F1 division?