Another Year, Another Monaco GP

Another year has gone by, and another very dramatic Monaco GP has finished. Even the qualification ended with a drama. Who would have thought Michael would go wide in the last corner of the last lap of qualification and stop that car right across the track? But he did. And in that process he made sure he was the pole sitter for the race, he made his rivals slow down on that last lap. Subsequently he was penalized and placed at the back of the grid. Now I can not pretend that I was not disappointed by what the Stewards did, but at the same time, I can’t ignore the fact that it might have been deliberate. After all, what are the chances that an experienced driver like Michael goes wide in a track like Monaco and stall just inches before hitting the wall? It would not be the first time Michael did something like that in order to win. Who can forget his first championship? Anyway, he was penalized, and started from pit, actually, and after the start, took six of the back-markers, as expected. Jenson held him a little. But he eventually took him.

The worst part of the race must have been the retirement of Kimi. I have always liked him, and David, and Jenson. I’d say, on this race Kimi was the loser of the race. He was doing so well, taking Mark like he did and pushing Fernando all the way. He was sure to win, had it not been for the Safety Car period. He would have taken the race in pit, but he would have come out first. He had such a strong strategy. Even after Safety Car, he had the potential to take the Spaniard on track, if only his engine had not given way just before the Safety Car was to pull in.

If Kimi was the loser of the race, the winner has to be David. Well Michael did perform very well, coming to fifth from all the way back in twenty second, but still, but he had the backing of Ferrari. With a very new entry like Red Bull Racing, it was amazing how David came all the way to the third – his first podium in two years. Anyway, contrary to popular belief that there’s no overtaking in Monaco, this year there were many on track overtakings, primarily those of Giancarlo. As far as I remember, he took 4 guys on track. Or is it two. Of course Michael took 4 guys in first lap and two more in second, but then, he was taking on the likes of Super Aguri Hondas and Midland Toyotas. Jenson managed to hold him for a very long time. And the fact that the likes of Mark and Kimi retired before race finish meant these guys took position without much of overtaking. I mean the highest improvement, that of Michael, gaining 16 positions, was not because of track overtakes. As far as I remember, he took only 7 guys on road. The rest were either due to retirement or due to his single stop strategy matched by Safety Car period.

That was the race this year. I did not wish to make it a lap by lap description of the race. I mean, if you are into F1, no matter how very little, you must have watched _the_ Monaco GP, and you know what happened, I don’t need to repeat everything. If you didn’t watch it, obviously you don’t care much about F1 and wouldn’t want to read anyway. So this is just my bits and pieces of the race. Hope you enjoyed it!!!