Grand Prix de Monaco, this year
Last Sunday was a GP weekend, and the most romantic one as well – The Grand Prix de Monaco! The slowest race of the calendar of Formula 1 season is the most prestigious of the race. They say every CEO and directors of every sponsor of every team is there to watch their team perform, so the team naturally wants to win it, even those of the likes of Minardi and Jordan. Did I say likes of Jordan? I guess I did, and what a down turn for them. For F1 fans, it is not news that this penultimate team used to be world champions. They had the likes of one time World Champion Damon Hill and superb driver Heinz Herald Frentzen. Now they have become playgrounds for newbies of the likes of Narayanan Karthikayan and Tiagro Monteniro. And to make it worse, they qualified behind Minardi, the worst performer in terms of race position. I like Minardi, primarily because they know they are test beds and spring boards for newcomers, and better still, they have a very reliable car, a slow one – allright, but a reliable car. Reliability of other teams has also improved a lot since last season. Very few engine blowouts was seen since the season of 2004, and one of them was that of Takuma Sato in his BAR, at Monaco. Wow!! That was a blowout all right, and took nearly half of the contestants with him in the aftermath. Poor DC (David Coulthard) had to stop and Giancarlo Fisichella slammed him for the rear end and went flying, taking out DC’s rear wing. The one driver I hate the most, Juan Pablo Montoya, took Michael Schumacher out. It was the aftermath of Satosan’s accident when all cars were following safety car, and Montoya, arguably the most aggressive driver in F1 circle, running one lap behind, hit Schumi in the tunnel when Schumi locked up. It was a racing incident, but it took Schumi out of race.
This year, it was big, with almost half of Star Wars crew sitting in pit with RedBull Racing, Kimi putting a stunning qualification time, and Ferrari’s troubles. The race started normally, with Alonso trying to get in front of Kimi, but the Finn held on to is position throughout the race, from green light, all the way up to checkered flag. It was nice to see him go like that. After all he is not Montoya. I’d hate it, if Kimi and Montoya swapped positions. I just hate that Columbian. Fortunately he had a penalty from Saturday practice, and started from the penultimate position. Schumi started from 8th and Rubina started from 10th. It was all fun and repetitive with Willams trying to go in front of Renaults and pushing them hard, Schumi pushing DC, Montoya tailing Rubino, and outstanding performance of both Toyotas (Ralf and Trulli). But all of a sudden, the Minardi of Christian Albers spun behind the blind corner just ahead of that famous and slowest corner in F1 calendar, and DC was caught with surprise, but managed to miss the Minardi. But it was too late for Schumi, and rammed the rear of DC. Poor DC couldn’t finish here this year as well. Schumi lost his front wing there and had to pit in – absolutely devastating his strategy. The safety car came out while the debris was cleared and race was go a couple of laps later, but Schumi was a lap behind Kimi, in 13th position. But the group of cars in front of him, led by, I think, Fisichella was slow enough to let him catch and join the train of, I think, 5 or 7 cars. Anyway, Vellneuve took out his car while trying to overtake is Sauber team mate Massa, who had to take evasive action to avoid ramming into the side bars, and both of them lost many positions. Then Trulli, obviously frustrated that he could not get in front of Fisichella, tried a do-or-die attempt at the slowest corner, and jumped over the corner. This is a very high bump, and at a time, all four wheels of Trulli was air-borne, but Fisichella had to take evasive action, that slowed him down on the exit of the next corner, and he lost his position to everyone in the train, and got back to 10th from 5th. But the bump gave troubles for Trulli, who, at the chicane after exit of the tunnel, had a massive understeer and lost time to everyone all the way up to Fisichella. By that one action of Trulli, both the Ferrari’s were in point scoring position of 7th and 8th, Schumi following Rubino. It stayed like that for a while then, Nick attacked and went ahead of Alonso and then Webber also went ahead to 3rd position after next few laps, and the race stayed same all the way up to the last lap. Schumi got ahead of Rubino (Team order I guess, but it is not allowed anymore and the move was not shown in TV) and attacked his brother at the very last corner. He was almost side to side before the finish line, and was a photo finish. I had thought it had been a dead heat, both brothers finishing exactly at same time in 6th position, but Schumi was classified 7th, less than tenth of a second after Ralf.
Well, that was the race, after the race, who was the Winner of the day and Loser of the day. The loser was no contest – Jarno Trulli in his Toyota. He had potential, and he did manage to get in front of that very wide Renault of Fisichella, but he lost the car after that move. It was a very daring move, and at the most impossible of the places. But he lost it all together, and took Fisichella along with him to 9th. Winner of the day was difficult to select. I’d say Kimi, because he stayed P1 all the way from green light to checkered flag, but it was relatively easy to finish his race. He had a superb car and a great strategy. No one is surprised at his performance. I knew he’d win. Both the Williams were great, overtaking the Renault of Alonso. It was hard for them, but I won’t call them winner of the day either. Both Ferrari’s ended in points, but again, they can’t be justified as winner of the day. Montoya? Well, P17 to P5 is great, but I hate that man, can’t give it to him. I guess Ralf would be Winner of the day. From P18 to P6, it is exactly the same jump as Montoya, but as opposed to Montoya, he did not have empty piece of track behind him. Both the Ferrari’s were far superior to his Toyota, and Barichello tried more than once to get infront of him in the latter stages, and Michael tried same thing before Barichello. At the last lap, Michael jumped ahead of his team mate and tried to go P6, both the brothers rubbed their tires, and Ralf had a heart-stopping moment after that (Did he crash? He could have, it was a very sharp and big swerve, and at that speed…? But no, he stayed in single piece). But Ralf remained P6 at the finish line, just about quarter of tenth of a second before his big brother.
It was a Monaco Race. Both the drivers of McLaren Mercedes had diamond encrusted safety helmets. The Red-Bull Racing team was on Star Wars livery, celebrating the release of Stars Wars Episode III, and a side-pod on DC’s car claimed they were powered by The Dark Side!! You always see such publicity stunts at Monaco. After all, it is the most important race venue!!
This year, it was big, with almost half of Star Wars crew sitting in pit with RedBull Racing, Kimi putting a stunning qualification time, and Ferrari’s troubles. The race started normally, with Alonso trying to get in front of Kimi, but the Finn held on to is position throughout the race, from green light, all the way up to checkered flag. It was nice to see him go like that. After all he is not Montoya. I’d hate it, if Kimi and Montoya swapped positions. I just hate that Columbian. Fortunately he had a penalty from Saturday practice, and started from the penultimate position. Schumi started from 8th and Rubina started from 10th. It was all fun and repetitive with Willams trying to go in front of Renaults and pushing them hard, Schumi pushing DC, Montoya tailing Rubino, and outstanding performance of both Toyotas (Ralf and Trulli). But all of a sudden, the Minardi of Christian Albers spun behind the blind corner just ahead of that famous and slowest corner in F1 calendar, and DC was caught with surprise, but managed to miss the Minardi. But it was too late for Schumi, and rammed the rear of DC. Poor DC couldn’t finish here this year as well. Schumi lost his front wing there and had to pit in – absolutely devastating his strategy. The safety car came out while the debris was cleared and race was go a couple of laps later, but Schumi was a lap behind Kimi, in 13th position. But the group of cars in front of him, led by, I think, Fisichella was slow enough to let him catch and join the train of, I think, 5 or 7 cars. Anyway, Vellneuve took out his car while trying to overtake is Sauber team mate Massa, who had to take evasive action to avoid ramming into the side bars, and both of them lost many positions. Then Trulli, obviously frustrated that he could not get in front of Fisichella, tried a do-or-die attempt at the slowest corner, and jumped over the corner. This is a very high bump, and at a time, all four wheels of Trulli was air-borne, but Fisichella had to take evasive action, that slowed him down on the exit of the next corner, and he lost his position to everyone in the train, and got back to 10th from 5th. But the bump gave troubles for Trulli, who, at the chicane after exit of the tunnel, had a massive understeer and lost time to everyone all the way up to Fisichella. By that one action of Trulli, both the Ferrari’s were in point scoring position of 7th and 8th, Schumi following Rubino. It stayed like that for a while then, Nick attacked and went ahead of Alonso and then Webber also went ahead to 3rd position after next few laps, and the race stayed same all the way up to the last lap. Schumi got ahead of Rubino (Team order I guess, but it is not allowed anymore and the move was not shown in TV) and attacked his brother at the very last corner. He was almost side to side before the finish line, and was a photo finish. I had thought it had been a dead heat, both brothers finishing exactly at same time in 6th position, but Schumi was classified 7th, less than tenth of a second after Ralf.
Well, that was the race, after the race, who was the Winner of the day and Loser of the day. The loser was no contest – Jarno Trulli in his Toyota. He had potential, and he did manage to get in front of that very wide Renault of Fisichella, but he lost the car after that move. It was a very daring move, and at the most impossible of the places. But he lost it all together, and took Fisichella along with him to 9th. Winner of the day was difficult to select. I’d say Kimi, because he stayed P1 all the way from green light to checkered flag, but it was relatively easy to finish his race. He had a superb car and a great strategy. No one is surprised at his performance. I knew he’d win. Both the Williams were great, overtaking the Renault of Alonso. It was hard for them, but I won’t call them winner of the day either. Both Ferrari’s ended in points, but again, they can’t be justified as winner of the day. Montoya? Well, P17 to P5 is great, but I hate that man, can’t give it to him. I guess Ralf would be Winner of the day. From P18 to P6, it is exactly the same jump as Montoya, but as opposed to Montoya, he did not have empty piece of track behind him. Both the Ferrari’s were far superior to his Toyota, and Barichello tried more than once to get infront of him in the latter stages, and Michael tried same thing before Barichello. At the last lap, Michael jumped ahead of his team mate and tried to go P6, both the brothers rubbed their tires, and Ralf had a heart-stopping moment after that (Did he crash? He could have, it was a very sharp and big swerve, and at that speed…? But no, he stayed in single piece). But Ralf remained P6 at the finish line, just about quarter of tenth of a second before his big brother.
It was a Monaco Race. Both the drivers of McLaren Mercedes had diamond encrusted safety helmets. The Red-Bull Racing team was on Star Wars livery, celebrating the release of Stars Wars Episode III, and a side-pod on DC’s car claimed they were powered by The Dark Side!! You always see such publicity stunts at Monaco. After all, it is the most important race venue!!
posted by Saurabh at Monday, May 23, 2005
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