Monaco Grand Prix, Round 6 25/05/08

[MikeLane]

Monaco Grand Prix

Hamilton takes the win as rain creates mixed fortunes.

Street Circuit, Monte Carlo – May 25th, 2008 – Round 6.

By

Mike Lane

F1 Correspondent.

…………………………………………………………………..

Monaco is one of the most challenging circuits for a driver in the dry, with errors being punished by unforgiving barriers as the track twists through the streets of Monte Carlo, but when it rains one knows the race will be full of incident.

As the cars lined up for this years event the track was wet and it was still raining.
Teams had elected to start the race on the intermediate wet tyres, as there wasn’t any standing water.


The grid order was:-

1. Felipe Massa (Ferrari)……………………….2. Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari).
3. Lewis Hamilton (McLaren)………………….4. Heikki Kovalainen (McLaren).
5. Robert Kubica (BMW Sauber)………………6. Nico Rosberg (Williams)
7. Fernando Alonso (Renault)………………….8. Jarno Trulli (Toyota).
9. Mark Webber (Red Bull). ………………….10. Timo Glock (Toyota)
11. Jenson Button (Honda)……………………..12. Nick Heidfeld (BMW Sauber)
13. Kazuki Nakajima (Williams)……………….14. Rubens Barrichello (Honda)
15. David Coultard (Red Bull)………………….16. Sebastien Bourdais (Toro Rosso).
17. Nelsinho Piquet (Renault)…………………..18. Adrian Sutil (Force India)
19. Sebastian Vettel (Toro Rosso).……………...20.Giancarlo Fisichella (ForceIndia).


Coultard was starting five places back having changed his gearbox after his crash in qualifying.

As the cars moved off on their formation lap prior to the start, Kovalainen in the McLaren was unable to get away and had to be pushed off the grid. He would now have to start from the pit lane.

As the lights went out and the race got under way, Raikkonen (Ferrari) was slow away and Hamilton slipped up the inside to take second place behind pole sitter, Massa (Ferrari).

Cars got away without incident and made it safely through turn one but Webber (Red Bull) lost two places to Glock Toyota) and Heidfeld (BMW Sauber).

Over the first few laps there were a number of incidents starting when Rosberg (Williams) had a slight contact with Alonso (Renault) and needed a new front wing. Then Button in the Honda contacted the back of Heidfeld’s BMW Sauber and had to pit. Glock (Toyota) then spun into the barrier on the last corner and he too needed a new wing. Glock also changed to full wet tyres but this seemed a rash move without standing water.

After four laps the pace of the race was erratic, due to the conditions, with the leaders lapping 10 seconds faster than those in the midfield.

Then on lap 6 Hamilton (McLaren) kissed the barriers on the entrance to Tabac corner and suffered a puncture. He was forced into the pits but after a tyre change and fuel was back in the race. Because of the early pace of the front-runners, Hamilton rejoined in 5th place.

Raikkonen (Ferrari) was now back in 2nd place but being chased hard by Kubica (BMW Sauber). The Ferrari driver looked less than comfortable with his setup unlike his team-mate, Massa at the front.

On lap 8 Alonso came into the pits with a puncture and Coultard (Red Bull) hit the barriers followed by Bourdais (Toro Rosso) who ploughed into the back of the Red Bull thereby ending both their races. The Safety car was deployed at this point.

When the pit lane opened Alonso (Renault) took on full wet tyres, thereby elevating Hamilton to 4th place.

On lap 10 the Safety car came in and the order was Massa, Raikkonen, Kubica and Hamilton but Raikkonen received a ‘drive through’ penalty because his tyres had not been fitted before the three minute warning at the start of the race.

Two laps later Alonso (Renault) overtook Webber (Red Bull) for 6th place and began challenging Heidfeld (BMW Sauber) for 5th.

Raikkonen (Ferrari) came into the pits for his penalty and re-emerged in 4th place. Meanwhile Alonso (Renault) made an ambitious lunge down the inside at the hairpin and tagged Heidfeld (BMW Sauber). Clearly he was frustrated at Heidfeld’s slower pace but all he achieved was a temporary traffic jam.

At this stage of the race Kubica (BMW Sauber was charging and catching the leader, Massa, at the rate of 7/10ths of a second per lap.

Incidents continued to happen with Alonso once again taking a pit-stop and putting on full wet tyres, whilst Massa (Ferrari) misjudged the braking at Ste De Votte and went off into the run off area, letting Kubica (BMW Sauber) through for the lead.

By lap 17 Kubica’s lead over Massa was 2.3secs and Hamilton was third. Webber moved up to 5th when he got past Heidfeld and unbelievably Sutil (Force India) moved up to 6th place.

The following lap saw a coming together with Barrichello (Honda), Nakajima (Williams) and Piquet (Renault) at the chicane following the tunnel.
Heidfeld took another pit-stop for a new nose cone and the race order at this stage was Kubica, Massa, Hamilton, Raikkonen, Webber, Sutil, Trulli, Barrichello, Nakajima, Piquet, Vettel, Kovalainen, Glock, Button, Fisichella, Alonso, Rosberg ans Heidfeld.

By lap 23 it was clear the track was beginning to dry and lap times came down by three seconds, but at what point should teams go to dry tyres, that was the problem facing them at this point.

Kovalainen moved up to 10th place as he got past Piquet and then Kubica took a pit-stop from first place. He wasn’t yet prepared to go to dry tyres and emerged with the intermediates on. He rejoined the race in 4th place only to see Raikkonen go straight on at the same spot that Massa had managed earlier. Raikkonen rejoined the track and made his way to the pits for a new nose and set of tyres. He too kept the intermediate type.

Sutil was now 5th and going well in the Force India car. He was here on merit and seemed to be relishing it.

By lap 30 Massa had a 16 second lead over Hamilton but two laps later Hamilton put in the fastest lap so far. Perhaps more astonishing was the fact that Sutil was pulling away from Raikkonen. Clearly Raikkonen had been fuelled to go the rest of the race and was heavy, but this was a great performance by the Force India driver.

On lap 33 Massa took his pit-stop and Hamilton went into the lead as the Ferrari driver rejoined in second place.

Hamilton was now picking up pace and set a new fastest lap whilst his team-mate, Kovalainen made his pit-stop from 10th and emerged in 17th place.

Webber was also showing consistently fast pace but then surprisingly Sutil did the fastest lap of the race so far. Rain is a great leveller and this was a great race for the new team.

Whilst Glock spun and Fisichella retired from the race in the sister Force India car, Hamilton was having a fast middle section of this race and was one and a half seconds a lap faster than Massa!

By lap 43, Hamilton was 23 seconds ahead of Massa and looking like he would have enough time to take a pit-stop and emerge ahead of the Ferrari driver. This was an authoritive charge by the McLaren driver.

By lap 45, rain was predicted and so the problem for the teams would be whether they would have to stay on intermediate, even though the track was drying at this point.

The next lap Alonso decided to try dry tyres and so all the teams would be watching to see his progress.

As the race progressed, Rosberg overtook Piquet in the tunnel as they raced side by side at about 180 mph and Webber did a new fastest lap.

Piquet was the next to go to dry tyres and then the following lap, Webber did the same. This was a big risk for the Australian as he was in a great points scoring position.

Hamilton was now 30 seconds ahead of Massa with Kubica only 8/10 seconds further behind. The window for going to dry tyres was obviously marginal and one wondered how much further Hamilton could go before he had to stop and decide. Clearly he had been fuelled long after his mistake earlier when he clipped the barrier.

Sutil was now 4th and looking good for some valuable points whilst Piquet hit the barrier at Ste De Vott bringing yellow flags out.

Obviously now in the window for pit-stops, Button took on dry tyres as did Kovalainen. This was good strategy by McLaren as they could use him for information on what to do for Hamilton.

Meanwhile Hamilton was really pushing and on lap 53 he was 36 seconds ahead.
Clearly McLaren’s switch of strategy had paid off and it seemed that Hamilton would have enough lead to stop for fuel and tyres and rejoin in first place.

The next lap Glock spun at the chicane whilst Kubica and Sutil made their pit-stop for fuel and dry tyres. Raikkonen moved back up to 4th place and Kovalainen tagged Button in the chicane. The race continued to be an eventful one.

Then it was Hamilton’s turn to take his last pit-stop and he too went to dry tyres. He had enough time to rejoin in the lead.

On lap 57 Massa made his last pit-stop letting Kubica up into 2nd place. When he rejoined the circuit the Ferrari was 3rd with Sutil (Force India) in 4th.

On lap 62 Rosberg lost it in the swimming pool complex and hit the barriers hard throwing debris all over the circuit and resulting in the Safety car being deployed.

This was not what McLaren wanted nor Hamilton, after his sterling effort to establish a comfortable lead.

The Safety car came in on lap 67 and now Hamilton had to rebuild his lead if he could. His pace suggested he was in control but he no longer had the cushion he had earlier.

Two laps later Raikkonen exited the tunnel and under braking for the chicane lost control ploughing into the back of Sutil. Both drivers were forced to pit but whilst Raikkonen was able to continue with a new nose cone, Sutil’s race was over. A cruel blow to the team and to him after such a great drive.

The race was not going to be run over the full distance and we were now in a countdown to the two hour rule.

Hamilton was in control and brought his McLaren home for his 6th career win to now head the championship table.

The final race order was:-

1st Hamilton……2hr 00min 42.742secs
2nd Kubica……………+3.064s
3rd Massa…………….+4.811s
4th Webber………….+19.295
5th Vettel……………+24.657s
6th Barrichello………+28.408s
7th Nakajima………..+30.180s
8th Kovalainen………+33.191s
9th Raikkonen……….+33.792s
10th Alonso………….+1 lap
11th Button………….. +1 lap
12th Glock………….. +1 lap
13th Trulli………….. +1 lap
14th Heidfeld………..+4 lap
Sutil…………………Not Classified
Rosberg…………….. Not Classified
Piquet………………. Not Classified
Fisichella…………… Not Classified
Coultard……………. Not Classified
Bourdais…………… Not Classified

After six rounds the Driver’s championship looks like this:-

Hamilton………38 points
Raikkonen……..35
Massa………….34
Kubica…………32
Heidfeld……….20
Kovalainen……15
Webber………..15
Alonso………….9
Trulli……………9
Rosberg………...8
Nakajima……….7
Button………….3
Barrichello……..3
Bourdais……….2
Coultard………..0
Glock…………..0
Fisichella………0
Barrichello……..0
Piquet…………..0
Sato…………….0
Davidson……….0
Sutil…………….0

The Constructor’s championship looks like this:-

Ferrari…………69 points
McLaren………53
BMW Sauber….52
Williams………15
Red Bull……….15
Toyota…………..9
Renault………….9
Toro Rosso……...6
Honda…………..6
Force India……..0
Super Aguri…….0


On a circuit where overtaking is difficult, pole position is paramount and Ferrari seemed to have it in the bag with the front row places, but if it rains in Monaco unpredictability rules.

This was an eventful race with winners and losers and Hamilton will be ecstatic that he was the winner.

For poor Sutil, his elimination so late in the race by Raikkonen when he was in 4th place and on merit, will be a bitter experience. For the new Force India team this will be a massive revenue loss as well as kudos but they should be proud of their achievement.

Other notable drives included those by Kubica (BMW Sauber), Webber (Red Bull) and Vettel (Toro Rosso).

We can now look forward to Canada in two weeks, again on a street circuit, where Hamilton must fancy his chances after this stunning win here in Monte Carlo.

Mike Lane

F1 Correspondent – Home Base - England

[admin]

By: Formula1.com

When Ferrari wrapped up the front row of the grid for the Monaco Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton’s only real hope of victory seemed to lie in the hands of the weather gods. It duly rained before the start, but after six laps the Englishman walloped the wall hard on the exit to the Swimming Pool, while trailing poleman Felipe Massa’s Ferrari. Into the pits he came, and at that stage the race seemed to belong to the Brazilian.

McLaren, however, brimmed the MP4-23 with fuel, and Hamilton caught his first break when the safety car was deployed on the eighth lap after Red Bull’s David Coulthard and Toro Rosso’s Sebastien Bourdais went off at Massenet.

The racing resumed on the 11th lap, and two laps later Kimi Raikkonen dropped out of second place when he had to serve a drive-through penalty for having his tyres fitted too late in the grid. Now BMW Sauber’s Robert Kubica moved up to push Massa, and was able to snatch the lead when the latter slid momentarily up the escape road at Ste Devote on the 16th lap. Hamilton was chasing hard after them, with Raikkonen now trailing in fourth place.

Kubica stayed ahead until he refuelled on the 26th lap, whereupon Massa went back into the lead until his stop on the 33rd lap. By then Hamilton was up to second, and after moving into the lead… he just kept going.

He did not have to refuel until the 54th lap, and that lengthy stint proved absolutely crucial. Kubica had already stopped for the second time a lap earlier, so was no further threat, and having built a lead of 37.6s Hamilton could refuel, switch to Bridgestone’s soft tyres, and resume still in the lead.

Still he was not home and dry, however. He was 40 seconds ahead when Nico Rosberg, running a lap down after two pits stops to replace damaged noses, tanked his Williams hard into the walls on the exit to the Swimming Pool on the 61st lap. Out came the safety car again, and suddenly Hamilton’s huge advantage had been eroded completely. He kept his head when the race restarted on the 68th lap, however, and was able to pull away to what he described as “a very emotional triumph. The highlight of my career.”
Behind him, Kubica had no trouble fending off Massa for second for BMW Sauber.

Adrian Sutil could have finished fourth for Force India - yes, that’s right - having driven a superb race with a heavy fuel load. But he was the biggest loser in the second safety-car incident. He had been comfortably ahead of Raikkonen’s Ferrari when Rosberg crashed, and was later assaulted by the red car going into the chicane as the race resumed. Raikkonen had got into the same sort of tank-slapper as David Coulthard did in qualifying, and though the Finn kept control of his car he smacked hard enough into the back of Sutil’s car to remove his own front wing and put the unfortunate German out of the greatest race of his life. Stewards subsequently investigated the incident, but decided no action was necessary.

As Raikkonen fell back, Mark Webber finished fourth for Red Bull ahead of Sebastian Vettel, who finally got a break to bring his new Toro Rosso STR3 home fifth in front of Rubens Barrichello’s Honda, Kazuki Nakajima’s Williams and Heikki Kovalainen, all of whom fought throughout. The McLaren driver had to start from the pit lane after his MP4-23 stalled on the grid, and scooped the final point by keeping Raikkonen at bay to the flag, which fell two laps sooner than scheduled as the race reached the two-hour mark.

Behind Raikkonen, Fernando Alonso was 10th for Renault after a series of collisions, then came Jenson Button, who lost his Honda’s front wing on the opening lap in a brush with Nick Heidfeld, the Toyotas of thrice-spinning Timo Glock and Jarno Trulli, and Heidfeld himself, who was assaulted by Alonso in a brush at the Lowes hairpin.

Besides Sutil, Rosberg (who was subsequently sent to hospital for precautionary checks), Coulthard and Bourdais, Nelson Piquet dropped out of a tough fight with Vettel after brushing a wall, and Giancarlo Fisichella’s 200th race ended in retirement too.

The result of a nail-biting race puts Hamilton back in the championship lead with 38 points to Raikkonen’s 35, Massa’s 34 and Kubica’s 32. In the constructors’ stakes, Ferrari have 69 to McLaren’s 53 and BMW Sauber’s 52. The battle for the world championship has suddenly come alive again.