Monaco GP 2011 - Monte Carlo

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

Can't wait to see drivers in 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th trying to balance the advantage of the 'undercut' Vs the risk of coming out amongst the slower traffic of 8th, 9th, 10th etc.


It'll make for the difference between a magical strategic win, and a few disastrous "Abu Dhabi Alonso Specials" happening!

Spot on.

The undercut vs traffic scenario will mean any team with a cast iron strategy will lose out unless they fluke into the perfect situation.
Strategy will need to be fluid and interchangeable.

I can see Red Bull and Renault doing well, Mclaren traditionally have had good mechanical grip so they could be better at this track than some may think. Mercedes and Ferrari will probably struggle as they dont appear to have cars suited to tracks requiring large amounts of grip. Mercedes shorter wheelbase around Monaco will be nullified by its tail happy nature.

However if they can run long and do less pit stops(unlikely) they may be able to spring a podium.

Do we have a weather forecast?

[Gerhard Berger]

Can't wait to see drivers in 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th trying to balance the advantage of the 'undercut' Vs the risk of coming out amongst the slower traffic of 8th, 9th, 10th etc.


It'll make for the difference between a magical strategic win, and a few disastrous "Abu Dhabi Alonso Specials" happening!

Spot on.

The undercut vs traffic scenario will mean any team with a cast iron strategy will lose out unless they fluke into the perfect situation.
Strategy will need to be fluid and interchangeable.

I can see Red Bull and Renault doing well, Mclaren traditionally have had good mechanical grip so they could be better at this track than some may think. Mercedes and Ferrari will probably struggle as they dont appear to have cars suited to tracks requiring large amounts of grip. Mercedes shorter wheelbase around Monaco will be nullified by its tail happy nature.

However if they can run long and do less pit stops(unlikely) they may be able to spring a podium.

Do we have a weather forecast?

Red Bull will seemingly be strong everywhere, except perhaps the high speed circuits, just like last year. Also agree on Mclaren, though maybe their longer wheelbase will hurt them slightly.

Interesting point about Ferrari, and it seems Alonso agrees with you. He said they are lacking downforce and at Monaco you have to run the max amount of downforce possible.He then said, Ferrari's max level of downforce is less than that of Red Bull and Mclaren.

However, i was under the impression that aerodynamic downforce was not so important at Monaco because the corners are too slow and the slippy and bumpy nature of the track makes mechnaical grip more important.

Oh and weather is sunny for the weekend. Still waiting for a wet race...

[Lorenzo_Bandini]

Last year and in 2009, the F60 and F10 lacking downforce too but the car was fast. Ferrari have always good traction and good mechanical grip, so with the soft tyre, they can't be slow.

[HampusA]

I think this will be the race where Petrov really sets his name in stone in F1.
Car is built in the same philosophy like last year i can´t see why they should not be fighting for atleast a podium.

Alonso´s drive last year was nothing short of spectacular so i expect him to be very strong here. Just hope he doesn´t bin it before Qualifying.

[raymondu999]

I have to be on a flight this Sunday; and I just realised my takeoff time is exactly at the race start time. FML. Sigh. Oh well. In Monaco I prefer qually anyways

[donskar]

Last year and in 2009, the F60 and F10 lacking downforce too but the car was fast. Ferrari have always good traction and good mechanical grip, so with the soft tyre, they can't be slow.

Let's hope you're right. It would be nice to see a red car leading rather than a red cow. Seriously, Alonso has the speed and he will surely do his best to motivate the team during its current turmoil.

[alelanza]

So what do we know about super softs from winter testing? I think at some point it seemed like Schumi did very well on them right? then again it was a completely different circuit.

[Racer-X]

=D> My bet for the pole position: 1:13,950.....

[King Six]

With the supersofts, KERS and (some) DRS use, I wouldn't be surprised if the time was beaten

The lap would have to be stunning, Webber's lap last year was one of the best I've seen at Monaco

[MikeFromCanada]

However, i was under the impression that aerodynamic downforce was not so important at Monaco because the corners are too slow and the slippy and bumpy nature of the track makes mechnaical grip more important.

The corners are fairly all slow corners. However because of the lack of consequence from bolting on a high downforce set up (no long straights where the drag would be a detriment), the teams will do it, especially to help maintain stability under braking. This is of course the last place you'd want the car to become unstable when hammering the brake pedal!

[andrew]

Alain Prost is to be guest steward.

DRS detection and activation zones confirmed:

[bill shoe]

Add weight, go faster?

2011 technical regs are commonly described as mandating a front-rear weight distribution. However, the regs actually specify a minimum weight on each end of the car, and these two weights add up to the overall minimum. Notice there is nothing to stop you from running extra weight on either end of the car to change the weight distribution. This is entirely legal but of course it results in more overall car weight.

Monaco is the ultimate downforce-at-all-costs circuit. Comments by F1 engineers in recent years suggest this downforce mainly influences longitudinal performance (as a rough approximation the corners are too slow to get any lateral benefit from downforce). Longitudinal performance is dominated by accel rather than braking because better accel makes you faster all the way down the straights while better braking only makes you faster at the end of the straight. So how to improve accel performance?

How about more rear weight? 13 kilos on the rear axle adds roughly 1% to the rear weight bias. More rear weight bias directly improves accel performance. It has a slight negative impact on braking and lateral performance.

As an example consider the only long high-speed turn: the tunnel. This is comfortably taken flat out, so extra rear weight has no negative influence. Quickness through the tunnel is dominated by accel performance out of the previous corner so extra rear weight has clear positive influence here.

OK, I’ve made my suggestion. Anybody have opinions on the practicality of this? Anybody know of any F1 team this year that is intentionally running extra weight to change the weight distribution?

[hollus]

Well, accelerating that extra mass is going to cost you extra force at the tire's contact patch, and once the car is not grip limited you will be HP limited and accelerate slower.
So you increase the rear axle weight by 2% and the car's mass by 1%? Probably not worth it.

* Unless some team has serious tire degradation problems, then the extra weight would well compensate for less degradation and 1 less pit-stop. Interesting, pity we'll never know.

[volarchico]

Anyone know the distance from Turn 19 to Turn 1? Seems like an absurdly short distance for DRS. Why even have an activation zone here?

[donskar]

One thing I'll be looking for from now on: Hamilton, Alonso, and others may take more chances passing Vettel. They have little to lose; he much more.

Renault: Heidfeld and Petrov will begin their battle for the "other" seat next to Kubica.
Ferrari: the changes COULD include dropping Massa (back to Sauber?) There are a few hungry, young drivers (or their agents) who might be dreaming of his seat.

Kolles: what will he REALLY gain by protesting the retarded ignition engine maps? As usual in F1, the real action is off stage.

Looking forward to a good race. Will it be live on SPEED?