Monaco weekend under way!

[crayzayjay]

The Monaco GP is back and just like every year, the sight of the cars flying around the streets of the Principality takes my breath away! There’s simply nothing like it

Quali 1 was pretty entertaining, drive of the session goes to Jenson Button without a doubt – did you see how hard he was pushing, centimetres off the barriers! – Schumi set the fastest time without seemingly pushing too hard, the Ferrari’s change of direction is really quite incredible, there was one shot of Rubens coming out of “the swimming pool” and the F2003’s nose just stuck to the ground despite the extreme change of direction… that car is very well sorted.. Kimi was worryingly off the pace, the Williams were (again) understeering like a bunch of dogs (when are they gonna sort that car out?) yet Ralf only narrowly off DC’s time… it’s not looking too good for those two teams. As for the Renaults, I thought they’d be strong, Jarno proved me right with a good lap but Alonso’s mistakes were disappointing. And as for the Toyotas, they should just go home… I would have been faster around the track by foot than these clowns… theyre really paying for sacking salo and mcnish, and I for one am glad… theyre in their second season and what they needed was consistency in their line-up… serves them right…

Anyway, bring on Q2!

[Veyron]

I can appreciate the skills and guts it takes to race this circuit, but as a race it's pretty much a forced procession and it bores me.

[crayzayjay]

not me, i cant get enough of monaco :flash:

there may not be too much overtaking but theres plenty of crashing

[Veyron]

Originally posted by crayzayjay
not me, i cant get enough of monaco :flash:

there may not be too much overtaking but theres plenty of crashing

I don't watch races to see crashes or wheels broken off on guardrails.

[Guido]

Originally posted by Veyron


I don't watch races to see crashes or wheels broken off on guardrails.

me neither

[ales]

Button had a huge crash in free practice today. A-la Karl Wendlinger in 94, same place. during quali yesterday I was looking at taht barrier at the exit and thinking that if a car goes straiht on with no brakes, it will be head on and with a great force. And here we go. Button is reported to be ok, although he's in hospital for checks and there's a big chance we won't see him again on track this weekend.

[Veyron]

Ralf on pole? Who would have thunk it. He and Montoya will probably hit something and the race will be between MS, KR and DC.

[ales]

Nice procession. Good win for Montoya. Annoyed with Kimi for not trying to pass JPM for the lead, but I guess with the new points system he values the points more than a win at Monaco. Not a bad race for MS, but I was so hoping he'd be on a 1-stopper. Also why does Renault have such a good launch control. Whoever was behind Trulli into the first corner would be dropping away from whoever is ahead of Trulli, that's exactly what happened. Still the race pretty much sucked, and I blame the "formula" for the cars.

But still, here's a list of the beautiful overtaking maneuvres we've witnessed today:

[crayzayjay]

Originally posted by Veyron


I don't watch races to see crashes or wheels broken off on guardrails.

look at it this way it makes for zero-margin racing, and there's no tougher test than that.. if monaco doesnt get your pulse racing i dont know what will

[crayzayjay]

Originally posted by ales
Annoyed with Kimi for not trying to pass JPM for the lead, but I guess with the new points system he values the points more than a win at Monaco.

I dont think you can blame Kimi, first of all its notoriously difficult to overtake at Monaco, and second, as you correctly stated, the new points system (which is BS, imo, but thats for another time) doesnt make it worth kimi's while to risk second and go for the win... even under the old points system it probably wouldnt have been worth it... too much to lose after a good race leaving him in a very healthy second...

good race for juan pablo and williams, im delighted for him, he looked ecstatic and understandably so , its great to join the greats and triumph at monaco

michael had me confused... first i thought the tyres were to blame for his lacklustre qualifying, which i still believe they played a hand - michelin were top dogs this weekend - but i didnt think he had so much more fuel than the williams and Mclarens, which made his quali performance strong.... when all this emerged he looked in great shape in the race until his middle stint, which confused the shit out of me... he would have looked good for a win otherwise, considering time he later clawed back... ralf was unlucky, he was faster than anyone until his middle stint, where he was also bizarrely off his earlier pace, in fact a whole second off his earlier pace!! bad luck to get a dodgy set of tyres, but hey, shit happens, bad luck for ralf but it could have been worse, i.e. DC and Trulli being leapfrogged by an opportunistic Alonso :hehe:

i cant understand how u think the race sucked Alex, i'll put it down to your leaning towards Ferrari, for me, it was good to see a williams victory, and another great Monaco GP! :flash:

[ales]

Let me rephrase a bit: great venue, great atmosphere, good weather. But have you seen my list of overtakings? Yes, had MS won, I'd probably be quite happy, but I can't help it

[crayzayjay]

dont worry, i got your list of overtaking... but before the race starts i know there will be no overtaking, but its monaco, dammit! seeing the cars race in those streets is simply insane, F1 without Monaco would be like football (soccer for you yanks) without the World Cup, or Brazil!

had MS won, I'd probably be quite happy, but I can't help it

that's ok, im also a red, in case you hadnt guessed!

[ales]

I love Monaco, I wouldn't want to see it go. But I also want the cars that can follow closely through the tunnel and enable the drivers to at least try to overtake into the chicane. I'm afraid we'll see the same in Hungary as well.

[Guido]

Originally posted by ales
... Annoyed with Kimi for not trying to pass JPM for the lead, but I guess with the new points system he values the points more than a win at Monaco.

Annoyed with MS not trying to pass the Renault on the circuit in the first half of the race...

Duh, the new points system will hand the crown at the end of the year to the most regular driver of the season, not necesairily the guy with the most wins. So you can't blame anyone who plays it save.

[Guido]

Originally posted by ales
I love Monaco, I wouldn't want to see it go. But I also want the cars that can follow closely through the tunnel and enable the drivers to at least try to overtake into the chicane. I'm afraid we'll see the same in Hungary as well.

As long as I watch this "Formula", Monaco and Hungary have been, are and always will be processions.