2013 Monaco Grand Prix

[Richard]

This thread has been cleansed of symptoms of irritable fanbowel syndrome.

Please spare us from driver mythology and idolatry.

[Clew]

This thread has been cleansed of symptoms of irritable fanbowel syndrome.

Please spare us from driver mythology and idolatry.

Then why are all posts prior to this one still view-able?

[iotar__]

Paul Hembery:
"In Monaco we'd expect an average of two pit stops per car, because in complete contrast to the last race at Barcelona, Monaco has very low tyre wear and degradation. This doesn't make the race any less strategic however, as in the past we have seen drivers trying completely different strategies yet ending up very close to each other at the finish."

Yesssss, two sssssstops

[Richard]

This thread has been cleansed of symptoms of irritable fanbowel syndrome.

Please spare us from driver mythology and idolatry.

Then why are all posts prior to this one still view-able?

You’re right. It's tempting delete all bar 3 or 4 isn't it?

However, race threads are a place where people cheer on the cars as if they are sitting in the grandstand. They’re also a useful decoy to keep the other threads relatively clean of fan comments.

My patience ran out at the pantomime posts:- “Hamilton is the greatest” …. “Oh yes he is”….. “oh no his isn’t”… etc

[turbof1]

Of course he is .

Small question, given the chance of ending up in the barriers and damaging the chassis is there, how much time would they need to rebuild a car from the reserve chassis? That could vital when it happens between FP1 and FP2, or between FP3 and qualy.

[Gridlock]

From memory* Dickie Stanford tweeted that it takes about 6 hours to build a car from the FIA-spec reserve chassis. I'd imagine you can add 20% to that at Monaco because the spanners, pit lane and spare parts are in 3 different car parks in 3 different countries...

* I can't find the relevant tweet because searching Twitter is such a ballache

[turbof1]

Thanks. So basicilly you are f*cked when it happens.

[Bomber_Pilot]

Of course he is .

Small question, given the chance of ending up in the barriers and damaging the chassis is there, how much time would they need to rebuild a car from the reserve chassis? That could vital when it happens between FP1 and FP2, or between FP3 and qualy.

Well, if you damage the chassis in FP3 you are pretty much screwed. In 2010 Alonso crashed at Massanet in FP3 and damaged the chassis beyond repair (if I remeber correctly, part of the front suspension penetrated it). He then had to use the spare one, which they couldn't get ready in time for qualifying.

[Jonnycraig]

Early forecasts show some rain on Thursday & possibly on Saturday.

[gandharva]

Paul Hembery:
"In Monaco we'd expect an average of two pit stops per car, because in complete contrast to the last race at Barcelona, Monaco has very low tyre wear and degradation. This doesn't make the race any less strategic however, as in the past we have seen drivers trying completely different strategies yet ending up very close to each other at the finish."

So we'll see ~3 stops in average.

[Pierce89]

Paul Hembery:
"In Monaco we'd expect an average of two pit stops per car, because in complete contrast to the last race at Barcelona, Monaco has very low tyre wear and degradation. This doesn't make the race any less strategic however, as in the past we have seen drivers trying completely different strategies yet ending up very close to each other at the finish."

So we'll see ~3 stops in average.

We will not see an average of three stops. I'll bet money on that.

[Pierce89]

I'm surprised people are of the opinion that the three Mercedes poles in 2013 are actually because of Mercedes and not because Red Bull/Ferrari/almost everybody else is going slowly in Q3.

people think this simply because your thesis is extremely hard to defend. slowing few tenths (we are talking of this) in a single lap will mean absolutely nothing in terms of tyre wear...expecially beacuse the tyres after this lap sleep for a whole day so you have no problem in terms of overheating.
there is infinitely more tyre wear in the (even should be few) laps that you have to do behind other cars ruining you aero on sunday than what you save slowing down few tenths in a single lap on saturday

He's not talking of driving 95% in quali. He's saying that the other teams are qualifying on a race setup, Mercedes are not.

Ray, I normally agree with you but, he specifically said "going slowly in q3" and "other cars have more pace in them if they need it".

[myurr]

It's also not backed up by the evidence of the last race where Mercedes didn't do any low fuel running in free practice, instead concentrating only on race setup. Going into qualifying everyone was expecting Merc to struggle to reach the first couple of rows.

Not that it helped them much but still the intention was clear.

[raymondu999]

Ray, I normally agree with you but, he specifically said "going slowly in q3" and "other cars have more pace in them if they need it".

I think it was more a poor choice of words rather than what he actually meant - IMO he meant going slowly through setup, and "other cars can be setup for more pace in them if they need it"

[iotar__]

We will not see an average of three stops. I'll bet money on that.

Yep, (from here: http://www.f1technical.net/news/18409):

A. Permane: "At pretty much any other circuit where degradation is a factor, to a certain extent you can stop whenever you like, come out behind slower cars and overtake using DRS and so on. This simply isn’t the case in Monaco. If you pit very early and come out behind the back markers, you’re likely to be stuck there for lap upon lap; losing a vast amount of time in the process. Assuming a one stop race is a possibility, you need to calculate how early you can feasibly complete that stop without emerging in traffic, which is a fairly unique strategic challenge."

Now multiply it by three... I wonder if for Lotus one stop will indeed be a possibility. I hope it's something in-between one-two stops.

[BTW, where is Lotus' new technical director? Firstly they don't need or can't afford to build a car for a second driver in the beginning of the season, then they don't need or can't afford technical director in the middle of the season and now the new one is no where to be seen. Letting someone else to run the show and Q&As? They should be introducing him instead.]