Hamilton unhappy with poor Monaco showing

F1 Fanatic round-up

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In the round-up: Lewis Hamilton was unhappy with his start, strategy and pace – as well as being hit by numbers falling from his pit board.

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Top F1 links from the past 24 hours:

Lewis Hamilton furious with McLaren over slow start at Monaco (The Guardian)

“I wasn’t really informed. I didn’t have the information to say Sebastian was going to get me. I could easily have pushed. Those are communication things which you work on. I just have to ask them next time to give me more info.”

No protest against Webber’s win (Autosport)

“It is understood that Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes are unhappy that holes in the floor in front of the rear wheels of the RB8 do not comply with the regulations.”

FIA’s Technical Working Group to discuss RBR controversy on Monday (Adam Cooper)

“The hole caught the attention of rival teams during the Monaco weekend, and McLaren wrote to Red Bull at 1.32pm on Saturday, just prior to qualifying, expressing its opinion and giving the team a chance to change the car – something that clearly was not going to happen at such a late stage.”

Analysis – Red Bull floor cut-outs (F1)

“Talk focussed on whether the cut-out on the Red Bull constitutes an enclosed ‘hole’, hence meaning the floor is not ‘impervious’, as opposed to the cut-outs in similar places on the Sauber (red arrow in right-hand drawing) and Ferrari, for example, which are open at the floor’s edge.”

Schumacher fastest but not on pole (The Independent)

“Insiders are adamant that [Sebastian Vettel] has signed an option with Ferrari for 2014, subject to competitive form from the Prancing Horse stable for the rest of 2012.”

Mark Webber believes race wins are key to claiming F1 title (BBC)

“You need to win. We need to be scoring all the time and then when days like this come along, you cannot let them go – at all. You have to grab them with both hands.”

Monaco GP – Conference 4 (FIA)

Mark Webber: “I think, in general, qualifying has gone very well for me this year. Seb got me once in Bahrain, the rest have gone for well for me. Set-up-wise, we’ve always been pretty close, we always work very well as a team, to get the most out of both cars. He made some changes before qualifying, which – it looks in hindsight he wasn’t particularly happy with.”

Whiting: I’ll have a glass of wine and a packet of crisps when Monaco is over (Daily Mail)

“There is always the danger of complacency, and I am always reminding people the next accident is around the corner. There’s always that possibility. You can’t consider it is not going to happen because, inevitably, it will. We have to keep vigilant.”

Crane delays Porsche race (Joe Saward)

“The Automobile Club de Monaco found a solution, but the start of the Porsche Supercup race was delayed by 15 minutes while the blockage was removed.”

Comment of the day

CeeVee on yesterday’s two big races:

Thank goodness the Indy 500 was on later and showed what motor racing should be. More changes for the lead in one race than we get in a whole season of F1 and, shock/horror, they took place on the track. Yes, tactics played a part but they didn’t dominate the way they do in F1 and they have tyres that allow the drivers to race.

F1 has been degenerating ever since it stopped being a single seat formula and became races with a driver in the car and a dozen or so co-drivers in the pits, monitoring systems and feeding driving instruction out to the car. The contrast between Monaco and the Indy 500 showed why F1 will never really succeed in the USA, it’s just not interesting enough.
CeeVee

From the forum

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On this day in F1

Andrea Moda were surely one of the most hopeless entries ever seen in Formula 1. They only started a single race – the 1992 Monaco Grand Prix.

That was thanks to Roberto Moreno, who dragged the S921 through pre-qualifying on this day 20 years ago, before going on to qualify.

Here’s some rare video of the team at the only race they ever qualified for:

Image © McLaren/Hoch Zwei

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135 comments on “Hamilton unhappy with poor Monaco showing”

  1. Mark Webber believes race wins are key to claiming F1 title

    You don’t say?

    1. @alfie They are taking it out of context. He said exactly the same thing a couple of races ago when he was asked about his 4 consecutive 4th places and his position in the championship, which until then was pretty good, even if he didn’t put a foot on podium.

      He said consistency was important (as Lewis’ run of 3rd places showed), but he needed to win rahter than score 4th places at every race, thus highlighting the importance of improving and get big things when you have the chance.

  2. who’d have thought it; winning races and getting lots of points helps win an f1 championship! thanks mark!

    1. hahahaha what an insight!!

      1. With the previous scoring system consistent 2nd and 3rd places would have got you a Championship if the current unpredictability was the norm then.

    2. I guess what Mark Webber means is that with the points and wins so scattered, winning a couple or more races would send the driver way in front and blow ‘consistency’ out of the water. It’s what I was thinking too: everyone’s assuming it’s cat and mouse, but one team/driver could break away over the next few races, seal a small run of wins and wrap up the championship.

  3. McLaren look more like they’re practicing for a gig in a comedy club or circus rather than F1. I’m finding it more & more difficult to wrap my head around why they’ve been so dismal. Hamilton’s had a great start to the season & has been driving consistently but come race day, the team falls flat on their faces pretty much every race this year. Button hasn’t really showed up since his good fortune in Australia either, costing them dearly in the constructors standings. They should’ve saved themselves the trouble & not bothered to build a competitive car this year, if all they’re gonna do is give away races.

  4. Lewis didn’t look too “furious” to me. The Mclaren clearly didn’t have the pace this weekend, but despite having probably the 5th fastest car, he got a good haul of points and is still only 13 points off the championship lead. Let’s not forget he set pole by over half a second at the track which normally gives the clearest picture as to actual cars performance.

    1. I think Lewis is more frustrated at the string of silly errors which are costing him valuable points. Even discounting the fuelling error in Qualifying at Spain, the successon of pit screw-ups and other problems will be grinding his gears. If he can keep his cool he will be rewarded when a circuit which really suits the McLaren comes along.

      1. Indeed, even today, a 4.3 second pitstop today cost him fourth place to Vettel. Little errors like that can cost championships, let alone the much larger ones the team have made. To not keep him informed about Vettel is purely amateurish. Lewis is probably driving as well as he ever has in F1 this year, and if he loses this championship by less than about 40 points, the whole team will look back at these silly mistakes and think what could have been.

        1. Why does Lewis need to know what the other drivers are doing?

          His job is to drive the car as well as he can. The teams have strategists for a reason.
          Why they didn’t tell him to close as much as he can to the car in front is probably due to that being likely to hurt Lewis’ tyres.

          Mclaren made a mistake, but I think that giving Lewis too much information can also be a bad thing.

          1. Every driver is deliberately driving around slowly to protect the tyres. If they know they are racing someone on strategy then they can easily go a bit faster.

            I seem to remember a radio transmission where Mclaren told Lewis about Vettel, but I may be remembering it wrongly. Anyone else remember that?

            The interesting thing about Lewis’ race for me was that both positions he lost happened because old tyres (very old tyres) were faster than new tyres and that is very unusual.

          2. @mike the problem with mclaren’s mistake here was it was blatantly obvious to us a viewers that vettel could drop into that gap unless they informed Lewis to close up on the car in front, so the team with all their data and strategists should easily be able to spot it. Even if he took life out of his tyres, the nature of the track would have given him a chance to stay ahead

          3. Easily said now. Easily said since the commentators told us.

            Anyway, Maybe they expected Vettel to be behind anyway, or so far ahead that it wouldn’t matter. Maybe Vettel’s last lap was particularly fast or slow, in which case any simulation of what might happen would be thrown out.

            Yes in retrospect, you are right. But I think hindsight is a wonderful thing.

    2. The Mclaren clearly didn’t have the pace this weekend

      What makes you say that? Lewis and Jenson were very competitive during all the practice sessions and Lewis looked very strong during quali as well. Don’t judge the car’s potential by Jenson’s inability to push a car to the limits on the streets of Monaco.

      1. McLaren suppose to have the best car this season Shows you difference between drivers Vettel won last year with his. Hamilton and Button are 4th and 7th in the championship with just one win and Hamilton blames his team every team he does not win Button not.

        1. @ean Surely that show be supposedly *had* the best car (maybe in the first two rounds)
          There has not been a consistent’y best car (or driver for that matter).
          In qualifiying I’d say Mclaren and Mercedes look pretty equal over the course of the season, but more recently Mercedes.

          On race pace there isn’t yet a clear picture, one could argue RBR, Mercedes, Lotus, Mclaren, even Ferrari in the last few rounds have the best race pace and of those Mclaren one of the weakest, although maybe Hamilton should have won Spain. I don’t count Williams as I think they just got the set-up perfect, time will tell if it was a one off.

        2. I pretty much agree. I always thought the RB7’s performance advantage was often exaggerated, and made to look more than it actually was because of Hamilton’s underperformance and Button’s struggles to outqualify and beat an underperforming teammate.

          1. the RB7 clearly had a greater advantage than the MP4-27. And I don’t understand the whole “Hamilton’s just moaning about the team because he’s not winning, whereas Vettel just got on and won”. The difference is, RB did almost everything right last year, but Mclaren have cost Hamilton at least 40 points this year through no fault of his own.

          2. Either way it’s a far cry from those who believed that LH could’ve done what Vettel did but with a car merely anywhere near the front.

          3. I agree with Jake. McLaren is shooting themselves and LH in the foot but screwing up so much. I don’t think Vettel would have won as easily with his team messing up practically every race like Hamilton’s is.

            I do agree the RB7’s strength was exaggerated a bit, but the MP4-27 isn’t the F1 leading car that the RB7 was. Much tighter pack this year.

          4. Fernando Alonso has different opinion. He said more than once that RB7 (Vettel’s at least) was a second faster than the rest of the field.

          5. @jcost – In all of 2011, the RB7 only qualified 0.9 up on the next car on one occasion.

          6. Either way it’s a far cry from those who believed that LH could’ve done what Vettel did but with a car merely anywhere near the front

            @david-a still not the same situation, red bull served vettel far better than mclaren have served Hamilton this year. I was amazed at the red bull pit stops last year and their strategy was spot on. Mclaren’s strategy has been woeful, I’m used to feeling as though the strategists are a step a ahead when watching the races but I feel it’s the other way around when watching mclaren this year. Red bull’s strategy at Monaco was class (may not have played out as well for seb if the other teams weren’t cautious with the possible rain tho)

          7. @david-a Well, maybe Hamilton could’ve done something similar if it wasn’t for the team. In Aus, if the got his launch right and he led into T1, he would have won. In Malaysia, he may well have won without the pitstop error putting him behind Alonso. In China, he could have challenged for the win, despite not having the fastest car, if he didn’t have the gearbox penalty. In Bahrain, the car clearly wasn’t up to it, but still could have been in the top four without the 2 pitstop errors. In Spain, I think we would all agree he would have walked it without the teams errors.

            So it’s perfectly feasible that, without all the team errors, Hamilton could have won 4/6 races in a car that has had nowhere near the performance advantage of the RB7.

          8. has had nowhere near the performance advantage of the RB7.

            I suspect, that the Mclaren in your avatar will be an indicator of how balanced this is likely to be.

          9. @jleigh In Australia and Malaysia, Hamilton knew his race pace wasn’t good enough. He lagged about 10 seconds behind Button in the first race, and didn’t chase down Perez or Alonso after the stops at all in the second race. Hamilton may have won in Spain, but Rosberg was hardly going to be stopped from winning in China either, given that he was also on pole by 0.5 seconds.

            So I am not convinced that it is feasible that either Mclaren driver could have near dominated this season, regardless of what car advantage they do or do not have.

      2. Jenson has won in Monte Carlo, even though that was the year of “The Curious Case Of Jenson Button” he was very quick in Monte Carlo last year. The problem, I fear, is not circuit-wise. Jenson is struggling to match his Australian GP performance since race #3.

        Comparing his recent form to Lewis will not look any better than comparing Alonso’s performances to Massa (bar Monaco).

        1. Race 4. He was second in Malaysia and might have chased down Rosberg but for McLaren not being sure whether or not he really needed a left rear. The fact that this is the case does suggest to me that McLaren have unbalanced the car somehow in their development – we know that’s the one thing that would necessarily make Lewis much faster than Jenson.

          1. Correct, race 4.

        2. Maybe They should have taken their race drivers to the In-Season test instead of 2 nobody’s who have never even driven the car before!!

          It strikes me that McLaren’s (Ill perceived) in season development is letting them almost as much as their bungling races

          1. @asanator let’s not forget that this is a very special case track, and Hamilton put the Mclaren on pole at Barcelona by over half a second.

          2. It is a special case track, I agree. Hamilton could only put the car half a second faster in an under-fuelled (hence Underweight relative to anyone else) car. Mclaren’s ability to fall backwards during the race is truly impressive! But they do have a history of losing championships they should really win!

    3. Lewis was saving his tyres and Seb was pushing to jump him after his pit, but McLaren team failed to inform Lewis about that, he could put on some quick laps to prevent Seb’s pit-stop overtake but he didn’t know about Seb’s strategy. That’s pretty amateurish.

    4. Hamilton was definitely out of tune compared to the last race when he seemed to have much more to complain about, but didn’t and was duly commended by Whitmarsh for not doing so. This time he (rightly perhaps) complained about losing two places, which was robustly defended by Whitmarsh, with – I thought – an implicit criticism of Hamilton failing to match is rivals on the track when it counted (rather than McLaren failing to advise him to speed up). A bit much given Button’s woeful performance by comparison. I think Hamilton is fully in the right to call on the team to sort itself out, the falling bits of pit sign does sound ludicrous, but you do wonder what’s going on in terms of his contract renegotiation.

  5. Did anybody else see at the end of the race on BBC that McLaren had bright green/yellow high vis tops on in the pits. I really want one!

    1. I saw them wearing the neon yellow ones in Bahrain too, they look very cool! Don’t think they’re for sale though :-/ They use them while packing up so that they’re more visible.

  6. Despite everything, Alonso is still my favourite to lift the title. The key is consistency, the ability to finish strongly no matter how fast or otherwise your car is, and Alonso is demonstrating that he has consistency to burn. The statistic that a driver who finished 3rd at every race in 2010 would have won the world championship is telling, and in my opinion, the only drivers good enough to do that are Alonso and the old Schumacher (pre-“retirement”).

    That said, if someone can string together even a couple of wins they’ll put themselves in a good position, but in this most extraordinary of seasons, consistency will win. Mark my words.

    1. Like famous economist Keynes said one: “when facts change, I change my mind”.

      Reading what I’ve seen so far, Fernando seems the guy to beat. He’s consistent, his car is now on pair with top cars and Ferrari race day operations are fine tuned unlike McLaren’s. However, I’ll keep an eye on Webber, Vettel and Hamilton.

    2. I agree with you about Fernando. Wasn’t really much a fan of his until 2010 when he took that crap Ferrari and put it on the podium multiple times. He really is a great driver who can take every bit of performance out of a car.

    3. I think Vettel is the man to beat, due to the car though…

      Alonso is surely proving to be the most talented guy out there.

    4. Alonso has been impressively consistent, meaning great driving, not just finishing, for several seaons. But I can’t help thinking he’s missing the last bit of real brilliance or daring, or both maybe, to seal the championship. Last season, the killer move for me was Vettel overtaking Alonso at Monza, wheels on the grass, maybe not what won the champiosnhip, but the risk and skill worthy of a champion, much more so than his driving in 2010. It showed his determination to win the double to everyone. Similarly I was impressed by Button at Interlagos in 2009 when he made some great passes to ensure his points for the championship. By contrast I thought Alonso in 2010 was too circumspect, not really risking trying to beat Vettel in one or two races when close enough to try for the win. I expect this season he, Alonso, will have to do something fairly spectacular on track if he’s to become champion – certainly hope that’s so, whoever wins.

  7. Thank goodness the Indy 500 was on later and showed what motor racing should be. More changes for the lead in one race than we get in a whole season of F1 and, shock/horror, they took place on the track. Yes, tactics played a part but they didn’t dominate the way they do in F1 and they have tyres that allow the drivers to race.

    I’m sorry, during the first 3/4 of the race, all they talked about in the coverage is how much fuel everyone was consuming and even Franchitti and Dixon swapped places to save fuel.

    So that’s real racing and F1 isn’t? I’m not an IndyCar fan, but the 500 are just exciting at the 20, 15 last laps, because everyone has a chance (OBVIOUSLY, as it’s a massive oval and they slipstream each other constantly). What did people expect, really, at Monaco? 50 overtaking moves in every lap? It’s Monaco, it’s always been difficult. 20 years ago, it was exactly the same. And they had to take care of the tyres too back then… Also, it’s important to remember they were expecting rain during the race, so the strategies were a bit different, maybe, and they were all very cautious about it.

    It’s a matter of taste, but to say F1’s been degrading compared to IndyCars, well, that’s going too far in my opinion. IndyCar’s also suck badly in many ways.

    The only thing that’s massively better in America is the TV coverage (onboards everywhere and great shots) and the sense that everything is special. They make it look special, they present the drivers to the public as if they were rockstars, where in F1 Monaco, the gem in the calendar as they say it is, they treat it like every other race in the calendar. If it’s the first time you watch F1, and it turns out to be the Monaco GP, it’s impossible to realize that’s the most important and the most famous Grand Prix in F1’s history and one of the top 3 motoring events in the world.

    1. Monaco is unique, and it’s unfortunate that the race never got going like it threatened to do so, but I do see your point. The Indy 500 was subject of a month long hype machine and rightly so. It’s a famous, historic race which presents a unique challenge to the drivers, and that’s why it’s considered to be the triple crown of motor sport alongside Monaco and Le Mans. It’s just a shame Monaco isn’t an event in the same way Indianapolis is, but rather just another race.

      However, the Indy 500, while not a particular classic, had a thrilling climax where the result was in doubt until the final lap, and IndyCar this season has been pretty good overall.

      How about we all stop moaning and just sit down and enjoy two series which are having their best seasons for years!

      1. @lin1876 My point. Both are good to watch, but to say one is the pinnacle of motor racing and the other isn’t is just ridiculous. I enjoyed the last couple of laps of the 500, in the same way I enjoyed today’s GP.

        Plus, I’ve seen the first race of the IndyCar season and it was far from good. And then Rubens Barrichello talked about how he now needs to take care of the fuel, tyres and everything, so he cannot push it like he would like to.

        So the argument is invalid. Motor racing is about doing your best with the available equipment. Can’t be just enjoy it like it is?

        1. Yes, I can enjoy it like it is, but I have had more enjoyment from it like it was, not all the time but mostly.

    2. @fer-no65 +1

      That thing about lead changes wasn’t even a fair comparison. Of course IndyCar would have more lead changes in an oval track over a race distance that is 2.6 times longer than the average Grand Prix. I’ve watched all IndyCar races this year bar Alabama, and I can’t remember many on-track passes for the lead either. Furthermore, in F1 each team use different cars and they spend two days making sure that the best suited car start from pole, whereas Indy is a spec series where a lot of people starting further back can still fight for the win. And I agree, the fuel saving tactics in IndyCar are just as bad (if not worse) than the tyre-saving tactics in F1.

      And about the coverage, yeah, they have a lot of cameras and a lot of team-radio chatter, but I think there are too few on-screen graphics. I think F1 could do much better than that, but they still do much better than IndyCar. There they only show the racing order and rather sporadically the gaps between drivers battling for first place. Couple that with the fact that they never display the drivers/teams names on screen when they are showing replays and whatnot, which is rather irritating given that some drivers change liveries more than Vettel changes helmets.

      And thank god that Indy is what it is and F1 is what it is, as IndyCar is not any “more motorsport” than F1, WRC or Le Mans. All series are special because of their own characteristcs and the constant and often pointless comparisons between F1 and IndyCar are getting a bit annoying.

      1. I mean, not many passes for the lead in IndyCar’s street circuits, of course.

      2. @fer-no65 @guilherme
        Agree completely.
        Also, if I know that the leader with 10 laps to go will almost certainly not win, then all those ‘more changes of the lead in a single race at indy than in an entire F1 season’ have little value to me. They might stand in their own rights as good overtakes, but the fact it’s for the lead would be completely inconsequential, whereas an overtake for the lead in F1, rare though it might be, has huge significance every time.

        1. @matt90, last time I watched an indycar oval race there were many passes but they seemed to take half a lap to complete almost like they were happening in slo-mo . As a sail-boat racer I can appreciate the skill and satisfaction of the passing driver but most people reckon watching sail-boats race is akin to watching paint dry.

          1. I think that’s another problem with ovals, that you can’t really get a variety of passers either.

        2. But, if I watch , GP2, NASCAR, Moto GP, V8SC, Indy Racing, I see cars passing, plus employing strategy, etc, so why can’t drivers in the pinnacle of motorsport do it?

          1. @mattynotwo I could have sworn that I’ve seen strategy AND passing in F1 this year… So I’d say drivers can. Did you expect a lot of passing on the streets of Monaco or something?

            And are you really going to compare those racing series to F1? Those series couldn’t be anymore different than F1… GP2, NASCAR, Indy Car and V8 Supercars have very strict regulations. There is very little difference, if any at all, between the cars in each of those series.

            MotoGP bikes don’t create a lot of turbulent air. Riders can get right behind their opponent(s) going through corners. But you tend to see a lot more passing in Moto2 and Moto3 than you do in MotoGP. Just like you tend to see more passing in GP2 than in F1. And I’m sure you know why…because F1 and MotoGP are not spec-series nor are they tightly regulated to the same extent as the other series you listed.

            This is a classic example of comparing apple to oranges.

          2. Because F1 isn’t like that. Finesse is lost on some.

          3. So, F1 driver,s can pass, like they do this year, just like everybody else, no wait, they can,t pass because they don,t race spec cars and possess finesse, unlike anybody else.

            Wow, I,m confused.

          4. But they can… see 5 of the 6 races this year.

          5. Monaco…. Isn’t the only race on the calender.

    3. No one expected Monaco to be an overtaking-fest. But even by my reduced expectations, the race was boring.

      In the first stint, it was all about tyre conservation, because the rain was coming. After that it was again tyre conservation because drivers were not supposed to stop again. If you want proof that this was indeed happening, look at the fastest laps article written by Keith, Perez is fastest by 1 whole second! Wasn’t this supposed to be a season with tightly bunched cars and 1 second covering all runners in Q3?

      And no one at the end of the race said that their tyres were gone or anything. Which means, the teams over-did with regards to tyre conservation.

      1. i think the weather played a part at the end, allowing them to slow and save tyres a bit (though they were sliding more so it could have had the opposite effect). i quite enjoyed the end of the race, it was tense up until the last lap.

      2. I don’t recall the year, but Ralph Schumacher once said Formula 1 should get rid of Monaco GP, because it was not good for spectators.

        1. He also said he was one of the best drivers in F1.

          And look how that went.

          1. @mike, you’re mean :)

          2. Was in a grumpy mood last night… -.-

    4. Fully agree with @fer-no65 that the Indy500 and Monaco are both wonderfull events, but offer a completely different motorsport experience.

      Monaco is thrilling for seeing the cars go high speed through a tight hilly seascape city. And occasionally even passing each other. The Indy is about figuring out when to pass, or rather enjoy the sliptream, how to feel the car and save fuel while positioning oneself for the last 100 km (see how Rubens went from 10th towards 20th, and then into the top ten, led a lap and finished 9th). The way Dixon and Franchitti exchanged positions reminded me of cycling, each taking turns in the wind to get them to keep running at speed.

    5. Well said @fer-no65. F1 and IndyCar have little in common so it’s very difficult to make comparison. A lot of F1 fans don’t seem to appreciate the rather unique spot that F1 is in. The top level of motorsport should have massive disparities over the course of a season, it’s meant to be tough. I’ve never tuned into F1 exclusively for overtaking maneuvers, that would be far too dull, there’s so much more on offer.

    6. +1.

      Indy is to Formula 1 what Copa Libertadores is to Champions League. Both a very good competitions but its reach is completely different.

      Nobody can match an American TV show, they’re masters. Look at Super Bowl, it’s TV coverage is steps ahead of World Cup final,, the super slow motions cameras we’re so in love theses days is old story in America.

  8. in response to comment of the day

    When FIA do something like DRS (not a fan myself) and it creates overtaking fans moan saying its too much.

    FIA ask pirelli to create a tyre thats tricky, which creates overtaking and unpredictable results… fans moan saying its too much.

    when we get a race where DRS is never going to really help and we dont get much overtaking fans moan saying its boring…despite it being a very tense race. Go back and watch monaco gps from early 2000’s. now they were boring.

    fans moan that we are losing too many traditional tracks…yet moan about monaco.

    Okay there wasnt 100 overtaking moves today but it was a very tight tense race. for most of the race the top 6 were nose to tail round one of the most challenging circuits in the world. what more do you want?

    F1 is in a great place we should be over the moon with it

    1. @q85, you ask “what more do you want”?

      Well I want to see drivers trying to pass the car in front, I want to see things like Nigel Mansell recovering from a flat tyre and carving his way through the field proving that you can pass at Monaco. That’s what I want to see.

      1. @hohum Up until Ayrton Senna was ahead, on old tyres, and an inferior car and HE COULDN’T OVERTAKE HIM.

        It’s Monaco, mate. Webber was in control the whole race, it was impossible for the others to try and get him…

        1. A lot of people could not pass ayrton, but Nigel had to pass a lot of people to get second. Do you think Nico could have driven half a lap on a flat tyre then come back through the field to 2nd.?

          1. No he didn’t. Mansell had a big lead when he pitted (it was on lap 70, this was 1992, so he’d already lapped everyone up to fourth I think) and came out second, just five seconds behind Senna.

      2. @hohum

        Nigel Mansell recovering from a flat tyre and carving his way through the field proving that you can pass at Monaco

        But that didn’t happen in 1992. Mansell came out of the pits in second and stayed there.

        1. exactly people have selective memories or have never seen it and decide to make it up lol

        2. +1.

          Nigel was much faster but passing there is not easy.

        3. Haha ouch.

        4. My apologies, many of you will have noticed that I’m not always accurate in my memories but I am sure I have seen passes at Monaco and Nigels drive was blindingly fast.

    2. Drop Valencia!
      28th May 2012, 7:29

      +1,000,000 I think it’s funny all these people that think this was boring, all of the early 2000’s was like this!

      1. There’s a reason I didn’t watch very many races in the early 2000s.

      2. Being a repeat of past events doesn’t make it any less boring.

        1. Except it wasn’t a repeat of past events.
          Back then we would have the running order set in qualifying with MAYBE a change during the start (unlikely with the launch control starts back in those days). After the start they would all simply pull a gap towards each other and they’d see each other again after the race.

          Now the top 6 finished within a couple of seconds of each other. It’s still difficult to pass, as it should be, but at least this delivered tense racing where one mistake from either of the 5 front runners would be punished immediately.

  9. For those of you who didn’t get to see it last night, here is the BBC’s featurette on Ron Howard’s Rush.

  10. “We haven’t had a grand prix weekend where something hasn’t gone wrong.”
    I hadn’t realised his team had been so poor this race. Not telling him to push to cover Vettel is a shocking oversight. Vettel is one of his closest rivals in the championship and they gifted him a few extra points. At least McLaren are good all-rounders- combining negligence and incompetence.

    1. @matt90, I think McLaren did give him information now and then, though perhaps not enough. A few laps earlier we heard Hamilton saying on the radio “These tyres won’t last long at this pace”, which I take to mean that he had been instructed to speed up.

      1. @AdrianMorse
        Now im only making an assumption here, but i don’t think they told him to push to cover Vettel, only to push. Otherwise i dont see why Lewis would have objected to that. And actually, he didnt say he will not do it, he only said they would deteriorate faster.

        Either way, it really looks as though Mclaren has brilliant drivers and car engineers, but the most incompetent strategy and pit-stop team on the grid. I have no idea when they’ve fallen so quickly down the ranks

        1. As you say they did tell him to push but maybe not the reason why.
          And he did put he two quickest sectors in around when Vettel pitted but it was too late.

  11. Keith that’s quite a contraversial comment of the day for an f1 site isn’t it?! Will we see you running a site called something like indyinclusive.co.uk soon, if you’re not already? lol

    Just kidding, I watched parts of the indy 500 yesterday and although I can only name about 4 drivers the last 10 laps were genuinely quite enjoyable, although I don’t think I’d ever watch the whole thing.

    I’d quite like to see F1 cars on an oval now.. I just think instead of concrete walls and grass lining the track there should be some kind of big slippy slide each side of the tarmac which would take the car well off the track so there’s never a repeat of Dan Wheldon’s tragic crash… RIP Dan

    1. Yes congratulation to @ceevee for managing to write a COTD that wasn’t gushingly enthusiastic about this years tyres.

    2. Lately Keith ability for comment of the day leaves me highly disappointed.

      Comment from the sport that doesn’t even allow the other driver to defend and that the winners are purely decided by safety car and pitting lottery.
      Don’t make me laugh. The day Indy becomes what proper racing should be then we might as well all jump of the cliff.

      And lol at talking about F1 not cutting it in America because is not like Indy. Indy cars aren’t exactly very successful right now. America or anywhere else.

      1. Keith has said before that he doesn’t necessarily agree with the CotD. It’s selected to get people talking and discussing more.

      2. @solo

        the sport that doesn’t even allow the other driver to defend and that the winners are purely decided by safety car and pitting lottery

        Never a good idea to make assumptions about a subject you’re not familiar with. IndyCar’s restrictions on defensive driving were lifted before the start of this season, and no way can you claim Franchitti won that race because of a “pit lottery” – he drove brilliantly to recover from last place.

        1. @keithcollantine I really dont understand Indycar and Nascar. Is driving around in circles so difficult? And why did Hildebrand crash on the last corner last year? Looked like he didnt even know where the wall was! Such mistakes are seldom seen in F1

          1. @malleshmagdum Er, Perez in Q1?

            Hildebrand was one corner away from being a rookie winner at Indianapolis. In the heat of the moment, he got slightly off-line lapping a backmarker. After 500 laps and three hours of racing, it’s slippery off-line and he understeered into the wall.

            Given his experience and the circumstances, I’d say that’s no worse than some of the moves Hamilton pulled last year (Singapore springs to mind).

  12. That whole pit board thing is very bizarre. Could have been very dangerous!

    1. OmarR-Pepper (@)
      28th May 2012, 14:20

      @keithcollantine isn-t the ppitboard one of the useless and unsafest things in F1 these days? I wonder why do pitcrew still use it when they have RADIO COMMUNICATION, or is it prohibited to mention that info by radio? Why on Earth could it be forbidden to say “Lewis, 10 laps to go”

      1. Rohan (@neobrainless)
        28th May 2012, 15:28

        @omarr-pepper – there are still occasional radio problems, so put boards are needed as back up. You can’t have zero communication!

      2. Because electronics fail. Didn’t Vettel lose radio comms at Silverstone last year? Pitboards are necessary.

      3. @omarr-pepper Radios don’t always work perfectly. And drivers generally don’t want to receive radio messages where they’re in the middle of corners.

        Both these problems are acute at Monaco – the buildings and the tunnel interfere with the reception, and there are few places on the track where a driver isn’t busy.

        So the pit board is especially useful at Monaco for relaying information to the driver at a regular interval. And normally it’s not something you would consider unsafe!

        1. OmarR-Pepper (@)
          28th May 2012, 20:20

          well, with all the problems and glitches in McLaren these days, the COMPLETE pitboard will fall over Hamilton and (not damaging anyone of course) will be the peak of embarrasement)

          1. @omarr-pepper Maybe next race they’ll just build his car upside down.

          2. After that’s happened, Hamilton will one start a race in reverse gear! @omarr-pepper @mike

  13. To all those who think the team were knobbling Webber last year, Hamiltons comment wholly blaming the team for giving him a poor start makes one wonder if it was RBR not Webber responsible for all those bad starts last year.

    1. It must have had a lot to do with not finding the perfect settings, i would say.

    2. Hamilton says that he was told by the team to change his clutch settings on the parade lap, which might explain his feelings (and perhaps his start).

    3. Maybe Webber just got most of RBRs bad luck and operational problems last year (along with not coping with EBD as well as others). With Mclaren not getting the results out of a very good car (maybe not the best in race trim) and last year Webber not getting the results out the best car (early on in the season at least) there do seem to be parallels to be drawn.

      ‘Knobbing’ has nothing to do with it. :-)

      1. LOL….I think it was ‘Knobbling’

  14. I really enjoyed the article about Charlie Whiting! We usually read so much about the drivers and the teams and we forget the unsung heroes who without them none of this would be possible. It’s interesting to see that the Monaco GP is as challenging for him as it is for the drivers compared to the other GPs. God bless all the team members, marshals, race directors, film crews, security personnel who make sure everything runs smoothly for our enjoyment!

    I remember in the Bahrain GP I got to chat with the security who were at one of the paddock entrances as I was hanging around trying to stalk F1 personnel LOL. They were so sweet! They work 12 hour shifts (7a.m.-7p.m.) straight accept for a short lunch break and they are not allowed to sit down! Even for lunch they’re not allowed to go to the vending area, they have their food brought to them and eat in a room close by. Then another group arrives to do the nightshift from 7p.m.-7a.m. though they are allowed to sleep a bit since there is not much work to do. Really made me appreciate all the hard work that goes into running a Grand Prix, things that we take for granted.

  15. To this day I still have no idea how Moreno dragged that Andrea Moda onto the grid at Monaco…it has to go down as one of motorsport’s greatest mysteries!

    1. @geemac Driver of the Weekend!

        1. By a mile!

  16. Congrats to Takuma Sato for making the Indy 500 a thrilling race. Better to go out like you did than sit behind Franchitti for an easy second – respect!

    1. Agreed. My heart was pounding so hard in that moment. It’s clear that Sato’s time will come in Indycar. Maybe a Penske or Gannasi level team will pick him up for next year…

    2. @asteridluap Yep. Massive respect to him for having a go, it was heartbreaking!

      1. Agreed, he had the speed & had to give it a go. Unfortunately it didn’t come off that time.

    3. It would have been great to witness history and see Sato become the first and Japanese (and Asian?) driver win the Indy 500.

  17. Another comparison from Monaco vs Indy500, this time about Hamilton being “furious” – if the writer wants to hear how a really furious driver sounds, let him listen to Marco Andretti during the Indy! And that was even less about the team doing something wrong than with Hamilton, I guess

  18. Nonsense comment of the day. All the usual boring blah blah about overtaking on an oval. I’ll take 1 Kobayashi overtake on Button in Spain over 100 oval overtakes any day(or even more). I’ll also take the tension of a close racing at Monaco, with a threat of rain or a safety car over Indy any day. Literally fell asleep during the Indy 500, and woke up before the end, because the start and the end of an oval race are pretty much the only time it’s interesting. Unless there are huge crashes, that is… F1 will never catch in the US you say because it’s boring? Your loss then, mate and also this is probably coming from someone who thinks baseball is an exciting sport, right?

  19. Kenneth Ntulume
    28th May 2012, 10:15

    NOW SMILE
    “Lewis Hamilton has been offered a staggering £95million to stay at McLaren for the next five years. Hamilton is already the highest paid driver in F1 and could now earn an eye-watering £460,000 a week”
    source:
    http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/formula-1/lewis-hamilton-lands-95million-deal-846738

  20. I do not care to comment on the Indy vs. F1 part of the COTD, but one thing struck a chord. I did think many times in the past few seasons that I would really prefer a blanket ban on radio transmissions (including tech data) between drivers and their teams. Teams could still pass info to the drivers with boards, but the driver would have to make his own judgement about the best strategy, feel how the tires go etc. (I assume onboard computer would help a bit, like showing the driver how long he can drive at the current pace, warning about temps getting our of the recommended range and such). I always admired drivers who achieved their victories by also being smart.

  21. COTD is a bit daft, there were only so many lead changes at Indy because team-mates were helping each other save fuel. I watched it and it was as boring as the Monaco GP was. Basically 195 laps of fuel saving and 5 Laps of racing.

  22. Bahar was reportedly suspended over an investigation into his expenses.

    If true, I know a certain Member for Dobell who could give him some tips on how to (try and) avoid trouble for it.

  23. Lewis has an annoying habit of blaming the team whenever things go wrong (which is a dangerous this to do seeing as it’s the team that’s the most important part of the season not the driver) and every time JB comes on the radio now it’s just to have a moan- at this rate Mclaren will easily be the grumpiest team on the grid (at least until the Horse Whisperer makes a comeback)!

    1. @steph Lewis didn’t moan after Spain, nor do I remember him moan after Bahrain either…

    2. Well it’s their fault… so? What would you like him to do? He doesn’t randomly blame them when he has an incident, he just blames them when they’ve done something wrong and this is the first time this year that he has been visually annoyed with them. Every other race he’s just smiled through it all, giving them the benefit of the doubt.

    3. “Lewis has an annoying habit of blaming the team whenever things go wrong”

      Hm, because it IS the team thats messing up his races?

  24. thatscienceguy
    28th May 2012, 17:23

    I’m going to say something controversial – i don’t think the tyres degraded enough this weekend. If this had been a two pitstop race we would have seen some electrifying racing and some real diversity in strategy.
    As it was, the tyres could last long enough for it to be a one stopper. But imagine if they had degraded slightly more – more pushing by the drivers as they didn’t need to make the tyres last quite so long, and teams trying different tyre and stop strategies.
    Part of the reason the race was dull was because the tyres were just a little too sturdy that the drivers were able to make it on one stop.

  25. @pH.
    A driver achieves a victory by being smart? Tell me one driver in recent memory who was able to win a race without info from the pits? Even choosing to change tyres at the right time requires info from the pits comparing your pace to other drivers. The 50s are long gone.

    1. Well you do not have to go back that far, even in the 80’s, perhaps early 90’s drivers still had to do much of the thinking for themselves. I wonder what the pecking order would be now if drivers had to rely more on themselves.

  26. When Webber couldn`t make a good start was tipped as a bad starter.
    When Hamilton does a bad start is a problem of the team and is quoted by saying:
    “I really dislike going backwards. My start was one of the worst in a long time. I don’t know what my team was up to there. I just don’t understand why it happens when the two guys next to me and two behind get perfect ones. I was very fortunate not to get caught up in a crash. It’s quite an easy thing we do, we do thousands and thousands of practices, it should not be a problem.”

    Cry baby. He keeps playing the superstar

    1. There is no skills involved in getting a good start in an F1 car..

      No one, to my knowledge, said Webber was bad at starts (only those who think the driver has skill input..)

      Clutch bite points are decided by the team looking at the data. When the lights go red, the driver simply engages both clutch paddles, selects first, then drops one clutch after the other when the lights go out. If a driver gets bogged down, its because of poor PRE-SELECTIONS.

      As Hamilton said, they do thousands of practice starts, its not something a driver can really mess up, it becomes like tieing your shoe laces

  27. Truth is, Rosberg and Vettel decided the strategy for the other drivers. When Rosberg went for the undercut, the other leaders had to follow suit or they would have lost out to Rosberg. Then it became clear that Vettel was on a one-stopper and was bloody quick too. If any of the other leaders had gone for a 2-stopper they would end up behind Vettel.

    Så Webber, Alonso, Hamilton and Massa had no other choice than to go for a one-stopper.

    McLaren didn`t have the pace to win this race. The car is the quickest package out there in qualifying trim, but seems to loose the edge in race trim. Must have something to do with tyre-wear, and I for one think this is due to the lack of a stepped nose.

    I think McLaren should look into changing the configuration og the car`s front end and try a stepped-nose configuratioen. Their success in the early races was probably down to them having a car more similar to last year which meant they were able to find the right setup from the get-go. But now as the other teams get to grips with their “new cars” the McLarens are fading..

  28. I think what must frustrate Hamilton and Button both is that no driver is currently dominating F1 this season in the way that Vettel did last year. Last year it was obvious to everybody that Vettel was going to be uncatchable even in the early stages of the season, but in 2012 the field is far more open.
    Secondly, back in Australia McLaren had at the time the strongest package. For whatever reason they have thrown their ‘advantage’ away and have allowed the other teams to catch and now pass them. Even the much criticised Ferrari, in the hands of a much maligned Felipe Massa, looked fast at Monaco. In Fernando’s hands it looked lethal, but despite all this the McLaren’s were both dangerously off the boil.
    Personally, I don’t blame the drivers. Hamilton and Button are not making errors, they are driving well, I blame the McLaren management and Martin Whitmarsh especially.
    Not many people cared for Ron Dennis when he was incharge, but the man certainly helped McLaren attain their status as the second most successfull F1 team in history. Without him, this team looks rudderless and inept. Put Whitmarsh’s McLaren team under pressure and they fold time after time.
    As for the Indy 500 I certainly enjoyed the race. Yes the Monaco Grands Prix was a bit processional but that happens sometimes. Such a great day for Dario Franchitti though, he must have been thinking of Wheldon when he crossed the line. Such emotion, really enjoyed it.
    As for those critical of F1, you have to look at the bigger picture. Last year I could easily tell you who the champion would be, this year I havn’t a clue!
    Now, in my world, I would call that ‘competitive’.

  29. antonyob (@)
    29th May 2012, 16:12

    must have been a slow day comments wise for CEEVEE to be the best.

    Comparing Monaco with even other F1 tracks is pointless let alone another race series. I should think the busted flush that is Indy is more interested in getting its own house in order than worrying what f1 is up to.

    F1 long ago stopped needing the USA, it may be a nice to have but as f1 doesnt bunch cars up every 10 laps your never going to get 20 overtakes a lap that seems is the only reason some poeple watch racing, it probably wont catch on. bothered!

    Monaco was deathly even for Monaco but watching drivers getting sideways around a street circuit is certainly not dull, albeit it may be a more purist pleaseure.

  30. Hamilton shouldn’t have said this. McLaren never criticized him when he was having a downturn last year.

    1. That maybe the case but everybody else did! I think that Hamilton wants to highlight the fact that he ‘isn’t’ making these errors and that it is the team. Whether or not there is any substance to what Hamilton claims about the team telling him to ‘change clutch settings’ does not alter the fact that McLaren have so far let him down. And Button too for good measure.

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