2016 Monaco Grand Prix - Monte Carlo, Thu 26 – Sun 29 May

[Shrieker]

Hamilton should have gotten a penalty for trackcutting.

Normally you don't see the lead car penalized or demoted when two cars are battling, if the lead car cuts a corner.

Unless it's something that gives a blatant advantage lap time wise.

[Phil]

@iotar

Hungary 2014 was entirely different. Rosberg was behind Hamilton when they decided to put him on a different strategy. They could (should have) put Hamilton as the front running driver on that, then they didnt have to ask for team orders in the first place.

If the 'team order' here at Monaco wouldnt have been made, both Mercedes would have been likely 6th or lower at best. Considering how Hamilton was driving, he'd havd ended up ahead of Rosberg anyway, maybe.

[Just_a_fan]

Hamilton didn't deserve this win

Staying out on wets and keeping the tyres going when others went to inters earned him the opportunity. RBR messing up was his reward for taking the risk with the tyres.

It was a mature drive that made the most of the opportunities given to him. When one considers that he had issues in qualifying, it was surprising he kept it all together in the race.

[FoxHound]

Because it was predictable and it's becoming an habbit. Not that i am amazed by Kimi's efforts today, but Kimi hasnt been as much in the press as 'wonderboy' who crashed here 4 times in 2 years (not to mention the other venues where his aggressiveness have nearly ended in crashes). I think Kimi is on his way out sooner than later, especially if Ferrari faces yet another difficult year, changes will be made. Which will make things interesting given Rosbergs contract is up for renewal... (and then there is also Dan who's contractual deal is less than public and clear).

I think you are overreacting. I also think you are forgetting that Verstappen is not a seasoned vetran but an 18 year old learning his trade at the top level, very publicly.
And when you consider Ricciardo is responsible for some calamities himself...





...with Ricciardo being 8 years Verstappens senior, with 4 more seasons of racing experience. Everyone screws up sometimes, especially inexperienced drivers. You gotta cut the boy some slack as he is doing way more than Ricciardo or anyone else in F1 history, at this age.

[jurinius]

Rosberg is weak under tricky conditions or if the guy behind him has the pace to overtake him (Teammate or another). Why did he give the place to Hulk at end again ? "Lack of confidence .... hum hum". I remember last year Hungaroring, Hamilton managed to finish 6 after an horrible race. Every point is important.

[Manoah2u]

Either way, Hamilton is now 24 points away from Rosberg if i'm correct. That means that if next race Lewis wins, and Nico gets his share of technical problem and gets a DNF then Lewis is 1 point in front of him and leading the Championship.

I'm thinking Lewis' confidence will have a massive leap forward now.

Only thing i really really did NOT like was that sack of sh*t Bieber so present there......

RedBull screwed up. that issue with the tires for such a team is frankly unforgivable. Had he had the tires ready, he would have won this race by a big margin. Drove his heart out.
If RedBull are fearing Ric is heading towards Ferrari, they pretty much just gave him a ticket there now by digging their own grave and screwing him over. good luck on fixing that.

[Phil]

I also think you are forgetting that Verstappen is not a seasoned vetran but an 18 year old learning his trade at the top level, very publicly.

....and yet, he is in a top team now and has responsibilities, as a driver and as a team player in a front running team. The crashes he had, or spinning out of control , are the result of that aggression he is portraying. If he doesnt mature, i'm not sure he will keep that seat.

This crash he had was yet another somewhat predictable and totally unnecessary shunt. Just look at last years race to watch the very same drama and predictability unfold. One would think that after already making mistakes in practice and qualifying, the boy would learn to be a bit wiser.... go back a few pages to before the race and you'll see that i even predicted him crashing. I'd have even betted money on it. Him, in RedBull starting behind in Monaco? It was bound to happen and sadly, he proved it. At this point, i do wonder, if it wasnt for the hype surrounding him, would he really have gotten that seat?

[superdowg316]

I also think you are forgetting that Verstappen is not a seasoned vetran but an 18 year old learning his trade at the top level, very publicly.

....and yet, he is in a top team now and has responsibilities, as a driver and as a team player in a front running team. The crashes he had, or spinning out of control , are the result of that aggression he is portraying. If he doesnt mature, i'm not sure he will keep that seat.

This crash he had was yet another somewhat predictable and totally unnecessary shunt. Just look at last years race to watch the very same drama and predictability unfold. One would think that after already making mistakes in practice and qualifying, the boy would learn to be a bit wiser.... go back a few pages to before the race and you'll see that i even predicted him crashing. I'd have even betted money on it. Him, in RedBull starting behind in Monaco? It was bound to happen and sadly, he proved it. At this point, i do wonder, if it wasnt for the hype surrounding him, would he really have gotten that seat?

If your a 18 year old wonderkid driving F1 cars instead of stressing out about exams, coming off your first win in a top team with the next race being the one everyone wants to win and the added incentive with your teammate getting the new, better engine, tell me how you wouldn't make a mistake. He simply out drive himself because he wanted to beat Ricciardo more than anything. Sure he's in a top team, but everything around him has been so sudden that you HAVE to expect mistakes. Schumacher did the same when he joined a top team (Japan 1991).

[PlatinumZealot]

Rosberg is weak under tricky conditions or if the guy behind him has the pace to overtake him (Teammate or another). Why did he give the place to Hulk at end again ? "Lack of confidence .... hum hum". I remember last year Hungaroring, Hamilton managed to finish 6 after an horrible race. Every point is important.

Oh that was because Rosberg ran out of tyre tread, so there was absolutely no temp stored in the tyre, means he got off slow on the restart.

Anyway, I loved this race... it had almost everything. The best part about it was Hamilton and Ricciardo battle. A masterstroke of strategy and bravery by Hamilton to push those full wets for 30 laps. Was an absolute beauty that car sliding through sectors 2 and 3 Ham reigning it in... My respects go out to Ricciardo today. A real top driver. Too bad
RedBull got intimidated by Hamilton's tactics, or else it would have been an easy win for them, but hey, Hamilton put himself in the Mix and applied that pressure which he is so good at doing.

[PlatinumZealot]

Hamilton should have gotten a penalty for trackcutting.

Normally you don't see the lead car penalized or demoted when two cars are battling, if the lead car cuts a corner.

Unless it's something that gives a blatant advantage lap time wise.

It's funny when people whine aboout this. lol . HAM actually lost time there and he actually gave Ricciardo enough space after the exit. He just played a dummy to scare Ricciardo from getting fully alongside.

[GPR-A duplicate2]

This is classic!!! Not sure if anyone can beat this.

Red Bull reveals Ricciardo's tyres trapped at back of garage

Red Bull has revealed that Daniel Ricciardo's pitstop blunder that cost him victory in the Monaco Grand Prix was triggered by his tyres being stuck at the back of the garage.

[Gerhardsa]

I enjoy it when Lewis drives like he did yesterday, but I am gutted for Dan.
2nd Race in a row he should have bagged, and a team that is supposed to be excellent at the strat game blunders it again.

[Vasconia]

This is classic!!! Not sure if anyone can beat this.

Red Bull reveals Ricciardo's tyres trapped at back of garage

Red Bull has revealed that Daniel Ricciardo's pitstop blunder that cost him victory in the Monaco Grand Prix was triggered by his tyres being stuck at the back of the garage.

What??? this must be a joke!!!. You´re righ, this will be a classic comment in F1 history. What a terrible mistake!

[Phil]

I re-watched the race yesterday. Somethings that became more clear:

- Hamilton pitted ahead of Ricciardo for slicks, which meant theoretically, Ham under normal conditions was ahead
- Ricciardo had the horrendous pit-stop, that surprisingly led to a very close race for the lead and track position
- once Ricciardo came out of the pits, he [Hamilton] was ahead by quite a margin by the time he reached the casino

I conclude from this, that under these circumstances, pitting later was always going to be better, since the slick tires was always going to be slower than the tire before it, due to A.) track being cold and wet and B.) the slick tires taking some time to get into the right operating window. Another factor; Ricciardo's SS were on temperature much quicker than Hamilton's US, which is how he closed that gap rather quickly after coming out the pits.

Under any other circumstances (dry track), the fresher tire would have yielded a better time, hence an undercut, but under the circumstances yesterday, the over-cut was probably the safer bet. Problem is; Hamilton was on very old and used full-wets, so the team had to bring him in. Assuming RedBull hadn't had the pit-issue with the tire confusion, he would have rejoined ahead of Hamilton, but would have dealt with cold tires and the unknown on how the slicks would feel on that still drying track. I assume though, that Hamilton would not have found a way past.

Again, a very hard way to lose what had to be a dominant victory for Ricciardo. I really feel for him. In the post-race interview, he said they [RedBull] put themselves into a race [with Mercedes] they didn't need to be. IMO, that is only partially correct. He had a 9 second gap when he pitted for intermediates and I feel this was "the safest, most logical" thing to do. At that point, many questioned if the rain was getting heavier. It was also an unknown how long those full wets would hold - leaving him out would have (could have) compromised his race severely if he had run into problems. On the other hand, he had a big margin, so they probably could have played it a bit "riskier".

As for Hamilton; once they pitted Rosberg for intermediates, I was screaming at the screen for why Hamilton wasn't coming in. I was sure he was being shafted by the team on strategy once again and the most baffling thing about this, was seeing Mercedes actually come out with tires. Did Hamilton have a radio problem? It is now clear (post-race interview) that Hamilton didn't want to pit because he felt his tires were good enough. Well played and it was this gamble that ultimately payed off and secured the win for Mercedes and Lewis.

If the relationship between Hamilton and Mercedes was on edge coming into this weekend, I am confident this spectacular drive against a very very dominant display of RedBull and Ricciardo would not have gone unnoticed at Mercedes.

[GrayGreat]

Does anyone know what the problem was with Rosberg's car? He was slow, and his tires were completely gone at the end of the race while Hamilton's were setting fastest laps, which means Hamilton was pushing really hard and Rosberg wasn't, because he was stuck behind Alonso. Something fundamentally wrong with the car or just bad driving? Rosberg said he doesn't know why the pace wasn't there and have to look at the data. What could it be?