2014 Monaco Grand Prix

[beelsebob]

For pole: 2 words.... RED....BULL

That chassis is highly misunderstood. I think it's got the best balance and downforce. Engine power will be useful here yes, but i don't think it will factor much over the whole lap.

How much ERS energy is available from braking at this track?

Not a chance. If you're a second behind in Spain, your aero is not good enough to make that much difference.

[ringo]

I still feel mercedes engine power has much to do with their cornering speeds, since they can pile on heavy downforce without worrying about topspeed.
Slow the corners down a bit now, like at Monaco for instance and i think we can get what we've seen when it rains. The Bulls are within a shout.
At least i hope.

[siskue2005]

Qell if the Red Bull is as good a car as people say, they will win here. Renault Power wont let them down here. So a real car test

i thought the real car test was Spanish GP?
where the Mercs were 0.5 sec faster than the Redbulls in the sector 2 alone

[NathanOlder]

Qell if the Red Bull is as good a car as people say, they will win here. Renault Power wont let them down here. So a real car test

i thought the real car test was Spanish GP?
where the Mercs were 0.5 sec faster than the Redbulls in the sector 2 alone

Car test as in chassis.

[myurr]

I still feel mercedes engine power has much to do with their cornering speeds, since they can pile on heavy downforce without worrying about topspeed.
Slow the corners down a bit now, like at Monaco for instance and i think we can get what we've seen when it rains. The Bulls are within a shout.
At least i hope.

But then all the Mercedes teams would be doing that or the works team wouldn't be amongst the fastest of them. In spain, an aero dominated circuit, the Mercs finished 50 seconds ahead despite the lead car having relatively poor balance.

Monaco is probably RBR's best opportunity for a race win in the foreseeable future but I still think it likely Mercedes will be comfortably ahead.

[NathanOlder]

Qell if the Red Bull is as good a car as people say, they will win here. Renault Power wont let them down here. So a real car test

What on earth makes you think that? The power unit is hugely important at Monaco, for a whole batch of reasons - drivability out of corners, breaking stability and predictability, briefly, peak power down into the chicaine, etc. In past years, where the engines all delivered the power in a roughly controllable way, and had nothing to do with slowing the car down, you would be right. In modern terms though, that's really not the case.

If your missing 50-100bhp then Monaco would be the place it shows up less. Its not a powe track, so if you have a good chasis but are down on a little power then this is your chance. And seeing as lots of people say how good the Red Bull is, this should be theirs to lose. I seriously doubt it , so I want to see the excuses as to why they didnt win.

The best chassis, couples with the best aero and the best driver. What could possibly go wrong

[raymondu999]

Well... Barcelona Sector 3 times...

1 Nico Rosberg 29.783
2 Lewis Hamilton 29.924
3 Daniel Ricciardo 29.989
4 Valtteri Bottas 30.292
5 Kimi Raikkonen 30.359

[monsi]

I remember seeing F1 cars with barely adequate turning circle being overtaken at the hairpins by the bold with tighter turning cars. Do we know if any of the current breed of cars have this design failing, which will only really show up at Monaco ?

[Kiril Varbanov]

My long-time love and hate affair with Monaco will continue. On one side, it's an awesome place to be. Driving a car on the track alone is also awesome - lots of flashes and nice landscape, but no overtakes and no race drama, unless someone crashes, which is absolutely undesirable.
I have been vocal critic of the track shapes itself. The project for its restructuring isn't going anywhere. I'm not sure if it was real in first place, as there's literally no space to move an inch astray. There are grass, palms and beautiful buildings all around.
I have gone even further suggesting in an article on TopGear print magazine that the race should be cancelled, having in mind that this isn't the last place to show off some glamour...

Anyway, I truly hope for not yet-another boredom fest. Last year while on air and translating simultaneously Mark Webber on the post-race conference - his expression of how bored he was was priceless.

I will be onsite this year - drop me a message if you are also there. Cheers:

[siskue2005]

Qell if the Red Bull is as good a car as people say, they will win here. Renault Power wont let them down here. So a real car test

i thought the real car test was Spanish GP?
where the Mercs were 0.5 sec faster than the Redbulls in the sector 2 alone

Car test as in chassis.

Yes that is what I was saying
The real chassis test is Barcelona.....where aero efficiency and mechanical grip matters most and engine power counts little

Monaco everyone will go high downforce and high drag.... And there mechanical grip matters most and engine power matters less

That's why in 2000s Ferrari used to win at Barcelona, Spa and McLaren at Monaco and Hungary

I think the w05 hybrid have better aero and mechanical grip + great engine power to counter the drag penalty.....that is why they are 1 to 1.5 sec faster than anyone

[mikeerfol]

Well... Barcelona Sector 3 times...

1 Nico Rosberg 29.783
2 Lewis Hamilton 29.924
3 Daniel Ricciardo 29.989
4 Valtteri Bottas 30.292
5 Kimi Raikkonen 30.359

Remember Lewis locked the rears in Turn 10 so I think he could be up there with Rosberg.

[NathanOlder]

If the Red Bull car is as good as some people are saying , it has a very good chance in Monaco. But I dont believe it is for one minute. The merc is better in every aspect.

[mikeerfol]

There's always a chance for a safety car (especially now with the harder to drive cars) so who knows, Mercedes could be caught out due to a badly timed pitstop and one of the Red Bulls could take the lead. But I still think Mercedes will have the upper hand with Hamilton in front of Rosberg.

[Phil]

Remember Lewis locked the rears in Turn 10 so I think he could be up there with Rosberg.

Indeed. I also remember the year Button 'beat' him when Lewis's Q3 lap(s) were compromised due to the crash Perez had. I think that ended up being the 'catastrophic' weekend when he was involved in multiple race incidents, trying to make up places through the traffic...

I have to say - 2014 - I am really looking forward to Monaco. Well, to be honest, I always am. It's one of the highlights of the year. Perhaps not from a racing point of view, but IMO, the setting of Monaco is just breath-taking - the prospect of taking those cars at those speeds through the narrow streets. I've been there before (not during a F1 weekend) and the way the sound reflects off the buildings - it must be spectacular being able to be there for a race.

Not sure how exciting this will be this year with the subdued sounds of the new F1 cars, but I'm sure they will sound the best yet. IMO - qualifying is also usually very exciting here. I'm leaning on Rosberg, although I would love Lewis to prove me wrong.

[MountainBiker]

It was said that the Barcelona track was well suited to the RedBull but the gap was still 48 seconds, Redbull may have made gains on the other teams but not Mercedes.

Monaco should suit the Merc even better, they can even afford to mess up the start, they wouldn't even need the undercut, I bet they could outpace most teams on old v new tires.

Safety car is a certainty, I'm not sure if a wet race or qually will help the other teams either, Lewis in particular looks very comfortable in the wet.