Monaco GP 2011 - Monte Carlo

[Just_a_fan]

Monaco needs updated, as many other tracks now have been updated to get in either better saftey areas.Im sure that Charlie Whiting is looking at areas that the Monaco track needs to be updated already.

Monaco can't be updated because it's a street circuit which has to race on the road space available. It's stuck between a hill and the sea with precious little alternatives available.

It should just be taken off the calendar...

[HampusA]

Maldonado did the right call. The corner was his and Hamilton assumed Maldo would just move out of the way.
Maldonado is a tough tough driver, he won't give you stuff like that and now Lewis knows that.

Hamilton tried to go for a space that was dissappearing and simply came in way to hot. Realised it was not gonna go and tried to minimise the damage as best he could.

[vall]

Monaco needs updated, as many other tracks now have been updated to get in either better saftey areas.Im sure that Charlie Whiting is looking at areas that the Monaco track needs to be updated already.

Monaco can't be updated because it's a street circuit which has to race on the road space available. It's stuck between a hill and the sea with precious little alternatives available.

It should just be taken off the calendar...

... and replaced by something like Abu Dabhi?

[andrew]

Imola belongs on the GP calander but F1 is a business more than a sport. Which one will make more money? In an ideal world Imola, however this is not an ideal world.

[PlatinumZealot]

utterly disrespectful on Vettel's part. Only the wunderkind could get away with such acts!

Anyway surprised to see the champioship still looks dismal after this race. The sad thing is it's going to get a lot worse considering the majority of the tracks that lie ahead.

[DaveKillens]

I fail to comprehend one theory put forth by others that Maldonato deliberately turned in and caused a collision with Hamilton.

First off, let's set the scene. It's late in the race, and rookie Maldonato is in the position where he will finish in the points in the first time in his career. His drive at Williams is dependant on performance, and finishing respectably at Monaco would be a feather in his cap. Who knows, what happened today and his inability to score points just might be the tipping point in him continuing his career in Formula One.

Yet, as some theorize, he saw Hamilton, turned quickly into him, and of course, scored a DNF. Personally I even wonder if Maldonato was aware Hamilton was making such a passing attempt, but according to some, Maldonato did it deliberately.

Why? Just to take out Hamilton? Why?

Of course, assuming Maldonato deliberately turned into Hamilton, he deliberately destroyed his best finish in his rookie year in Formula One, and definitely harmed his Formula One career.

Somehow the numbers just don't add up, and it doesn't make sense.

And that's because there is no reason why he would have turned into Hamilton, and lots of valid reasons why he would have done everything possible to finish the race.

If someone can put forth a logical and reasonable reason for assuming Maldonato deliberately turned in early just to deny Hamilton success (at risk of his own F1 career), I really would like to see it.

[archiebald]

I just saw the race so here goes my race review.

Vettel drove a great race but only won it because he was aided and abetted by the simpletons at McLaren. I am sure that there is a double agent in McLaren trying to gift races to Red Bull.

Alonso also drove very well, he drove around the limitations of the very poor Ferrari. A well deserved podium.

During the race, Button's tyre strategy was just totally weird today. On any other circuit it might have worked but at Monaco, McLaren really should know better. Button would have won easily without that silly and unnecessary tyre change just before the first safety car.

Starting in Q3, Lewis's race was destroyed by the team strategy. We all know that of all the circuit's, Monaco is the one where even a minor incident may lead to a red flag. McLaren have screwed up his qualifying many times over the last 3 years. If I were him, I would start dictating my own strategy to get an early banker lap in in all conditions.

As for his penalties, having seen in car footage from both incidents, I can see how he feels aggreived - I certainly would have. On Massa, we can see that Massa clipped Webber anyhow without Hamilton's help. On Maldonado, it was 50-50 to me. Shame for Maldonado but in my opinion it was a racing incident.

However, rather than fuming at the stewards, if I were him I would be fuming within the team. His race was already destroyed on Saturday by the daft strategy call by his engineers.

The rule that cars are allowed to change tyres after a red flag is complete nonsense. Even accident damage repairs such as Lewis's rear wing should not be allowed. I would say that only tyre warmers are allowed prior to re-start just on safety grounds. This completely changed the finish of the race and spoilt the spectacle of a three way dice in the closing laps. They may as well have just ended the race at the red flag.

As for the track, the exit for the tunnel is a death waiting to happen. In 1994 Karl Wendlinger spent 19 days in a come after an incident there, we saw clips of Coulthard losing it there in the past. A couple of years back, Raikkonen famously lost it these and stuffed Sutil's chances, Petrov lost it there in practise, Rosberg was extremely lucky and Perez nearly paid the ultimate price. The frightening thing is that all of those incidents are carbon copies.

Something MUST be done there.

Great drive by Kamui, shame that Perez wasn't racing as well - that would have spiced things up even more.

Overall, this was the first time I cannot be critical of the tyres.

In general though, an excellent race - let's hope next year will be as exciting but without the stupidity.

[quickneon]

I agree with Archiebald, the mechanics should not be allowed to work on the cars under the red flag. This would have been a great race with alonso and button breathing all over vettel. The tire change just made it a procession and the fans were deprived of a thrilling end . Instead we got a great 7/8ths of a race and ripped off for the last 1/8th. Jean Todt if you are reading this, (ha), please help.

[djos]

BARELY made the corner, it was a clear divebomb. Had Kamui (who actually had slowed down enough to make the corner) taken the corner they would have collided.

Webber divebombed himself to 4th place. Way to go Webbo..

If it was a dive bomb he would not have made the corner and Webber made the apex perfectly, Koby was the one who out braked himself and had to cut the chicane and very sensibly gave the spot back to Webber straightway.

[HampusA]

nope. he barely stop his car in a straght line. then barely got round tye corner.
if there would have been a wall there he would have smashed koba.

[sriraj1031]

This is ridiculous, the clash with Maldonado is in no way worth the 20 second penalty. First of all Maldonado switches line twice. Apart from that, Maldonado just turns into Hamilton, Hamilton had no where to go. The ironic part even is that when Hamilton moves lines more then once it is immediately noticed, but further it gets noticed on no one. It is really almost looking like they just pick Hamilton 'because he is black'. Anyway, penalties like these really take out the racing aspect, as a driver here I wouldnt even try to overtake, it is 90% sure you will get a penalty for it, ridiculous.

Thats right; but what baffles me is that hamilton had decided to overtake with 4 wheels off the track if your see the video you will understand.

[djos]

nope. he barely stop his car in a straght line. then barely got round tye corner.
if there would have been a wall there he would have smashed koba.

Frankly I think I'll take the opinion of two former race winning F1 Drivers over yours on this one and both Brundle and DC thought it was a superb pass!

[HampusA]

No problem. I thought it was one of the worst i've seen in my opinion.

[vall]

Anyway surprised to see the champioship still looks dismal after this race. The sad thing is it's going to get a lot worse considering the majority of the tracks that lie ahead.

hah, I can't be sad because one team did much better job than the others and their lead driver does better job than the rest. And this is not a reason for one driver out there (you know who) to behave the way he does. I don't like to see Fred 70 point behind, and I sure he does not liek it either, but this is life.

[vall]

Imola belongs on the GP calander but F1 is a business more than a sport. Which one will make more money? In an ideal world Imola, however this is not an ideal world.

yes, but it is not going to happen. As for Monaco, I would not replace it, not much overtaking but always exciting races. And it is unforgiving, the slightest mistake is heavily punished. You go a bit wide and oou hit the barrier. You screw up something, get stuck behind a slower car and you are done.