In the round-up: Pierre Gasly says that, despite having faster cars starting behind him, he believes AlphaTauri can execute a good race strategy and stay ahead in Monaco.
In brief
AlphaTauri have the chance to stay ahead of Mercedes, Red Bull
Gasly believes he has a chance of staying in front of Lewis Hamilton and Sergio Perez after out-qualifying them.“I think we did the best with the car we have, where others didn’t maximise their lap. To qualify in front of one Mercedes and one Red Bull, to us is a fairly big achievement.
“So I’m very pleased with all the work of the team to give me such a strong car when it mattered and I think it was one of my best quali laps, as well, so I’m really pleased that it came together in Q3.
“And we’ll try to have a good strategy, obviously, we have fast cars behind – we have Lewis, we have Perez.
“But we know how difficult it is to overtake so I think we need to to do a clean race. From where we start. I think we can aim for big points. And I really hope we can finally have a clean, full weekend and the big reward at the end.”
Giovinazzi: Q3 appearance was a whole-team effort
Antonio Giovinazzi said getting through to Q3 was a significant achievement and “a result for the team.”
“From me, from the car, from the traffic, that was really difficult,” said the Alfa Romeo driver. “The guys in the garage did a great job and we put all together and and we achieved this good result.”
Pourchaire ‘really far’ from F1
Monaco feature race winner and youngest-ever F2 victor Théo Pourchaire said he is still a long way from Formula 1, despite Sauber’s backing:
“To be honest, I try to stay focused on Formula 2 because I’m really far from Formula 1. I have the help of Sauber, which is incredible. And I know they are watching me when I’m not doing good results, when I’m doing good results, like today.
“So I have the support of Sauber and just my job is just to focus on Formula 2 to do a really good job and I will try to be a title contender.
“I don’t know, maybe it’s a bit too early to say that but just I will try to stay focused on F2.”
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Social media
Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:
None of those fancy, new-fangled names for Vettel… #F1 #MonacoGP pic.twitter.com/Gndh9Puzzl
— RaceFans (@racefansdotnet) May 22, 2021
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Links
Motor racing links of interest:
Formula One drivers’ pay under scrutiny amid talks over cap (Financial Times)
"A person close to F1 said 'the driving reason' for the continued focus on cost control was to 'balance out the system so the best drivers could be attracted to other teams while also reducing the overall spend in F1'."
2021 Round 2, Sprint Race 2: press conference (Formula 2)
"Dan Ticktum: 'Eventful is definitely the word I would use to sum my morning. The throttle motor failed on the lap to the grid, so I thought that was us out to be honest. I know you can change them pretty quickly, but not in five or six minutes.'"
All set for Austria after a productive week in Wales (W Series)
"The 20 drivers who attended the test completed a total of 4,723 laps and 15,918 kilometres (9,891 miles) between them across the five days."
Formula Regional Europe round 3: Monaco (Formula Regional Europe via YouTube)
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Comment of the day
Rather than implement IndyCar’s rule about lap time deletion if you become the cause of a red flag after setting one, David BR suggests that other drivers affected should be allowed an additional qualifying run.
Agree no penalty in order. However, there’s something to be said to allowing other drivers to actually get in a final fast lap if the provisional poll sitter causes a red (or maybe yellow) flag in this way.
An extra 5 minutes say. It would prevent the Schumacher/Rosberg type of incident and allow spectators to actually see a race for poll.
Qualifying is expressly designed to build up to this final run climax, we know that. So losing it is heavily anticlimatic and does seem to deprive the poll sitter’s rivals of their chance. I’d be in favour of some football style ‘extra time’.
@david-br
DB-C90 (@dbradock)
23rd May 2021, 0:36
Given the even side of the grid can struggle a bit off the line, I’d expect Hamilton to pass Gasly at the start.
What’s going to be really interesting is whether or not he’ll be asked/told to move over to let Perez through as it’s quite likely he’ll be behind him fairly early on.
Tristan (@skipgamer)
23rd May 2021, 0:50
I don’t think they’d have the minerals to do that, especially considering Horner was in the media after Wolff’s comments saying the Red Bull stable doesn’t do that. Would be hilarious hypocrisy if they do though.
erikje
23rd May 2021, 12:03
That’s more a Wolff thing.
He thinks he can use the other Mercedes backed drivers to his advantage.
Red bull never did that. Gasly even fought hard with I. E. Albon.
RandomMallard (@)
23rd May 2021, 12:56
THEY RACE ME SO HARD!!!
Tristan (@skipgamer)
23rd May 2021, 0:52
Financial Times, $74 a month… What on Earth?
PaulK (@paulk)
23rd May 2021, 1:45
@skipgamer, it does have “financial” in the name. And pink paper (background nowadays), that must be expensive.
Tommy C (@tommy-c)
23rd May 2021, 0:56
I disagree with COTD. Getting a good banker lap in is vital to cover off this sort of scenario, especially in Monaco. I don’t think anything should change just because the driver on top crashed. Surely this is just another element of drama? Part of the appeal and suspense of the final runs is that there’s no guarantee a driver will complete one!
Tristan (@skipgamer)
23rd May 2021, 1:07
But there’s too much incentive to just throw it into the wall after you get pole. F1 competitors will always push the rules to their limit and on a track like Monaco it makes too much sense not to.
There should never be an advantage to crashing.
Jere (@jerejj)
23rd May 2021, 6:46
@skipgamer People should stop being critical just because a driver on a provisional pole beforehand happened to crash rather than someone in a lower position.
RandomMallard (@)
23rd May 2021, 7:28
@jerejj I agree. (I know it was a slightly different situation, but) No one was asking for an extra practice lap after Schumacher binned it late in the session (twice!). And giving them an extra lap could be even worse, as we get an ‘anti-Monza’ scenario where people go dangerously slow to avoid the dirty air etc.
Zann (@zann)
23rd May 2021, 7:56
You mean just because he did something the system motivated him to do?
There are shades of grey, with nothing to lose after all. I think they should fix it, one way or another.
Euro Brun (@eurobrun)
23rd May 2021, 1:02
I agree with Force India driver Sebastian Vettel
John H (@john-h)
23rd May 2021, 8:11
Shouldn’t that be Jordan @eurobrun ?
Dave
23rd May 2021, 12:36
That should be “They Change Their Name Too Often In Less Than A Decade But At Least Force India Lasted 10 Years Though”.
Adunlucas
23rd May 2021, 3:41
Crashing to guarantee a pole is a bad move. Da damages may cost you the pole. I also disagree with extra time. 10 minutes are 10 minutes.
People watch sports to see something unexpected. This quali was great because first wasn’t Mercedes or RB. Maybe it looks fair another chance to who was in a fast lap during the red flag. But see… Verstapen in his first trial went for FL on 2 lap, fearing exactly an accident. Leclerc, Botas and Sainz went for it. And if in the extra lap Hamilton, that aborted his lap, went ahead?
Monaco has a bit of luck and a bit of gamble with a lot of skill. Let the formers keep doing their parts.
Ohm
23rd May 2021, 6:10
Agreed with COTD!
Jere (@jerejj)
23rd May 2021, 6:46
COTD: Unnecessary.
John H (@john-h)
23rd May 2021, 8:14
With regards the COTD, I disagree. The session is ten minutes, and it’s easily possible to set two flying laps at Monaco before even 5 minutes is up. It always baffles me that they leave it to the last minute, track evolution is not going to change that much with one or two extra laps on it. Just get your two times laps in earlier, and don’t even leave yourself in that situation at the end in case of red flag.
Patrick (@anunaki)
23rd May 2021, 8:36
Max said he needed quick lap and a slow lap before his tyres had the max grip.
F1oSaurus (@)
23rd May 2021, 8:34
COTD @david-br, I don’t see how an extra extension of the session is going to work. They already used up their fresh tyres in that aborted final run.
I would rather see the current top 3 (or 5 or even the whole lot) be forced to start in reverse order. Don’t let the guy with the fastest lap time go out first and risk it all when he has nothing to lose anyway if he might stop on track with some damage.
I know it’s up to the drivers to pick their slot and if they insist on going last to pick up that extra bit of track evolution, then they knowingly take that risk. But there is something odd about the current pole sitter going out first and then having a “mishap” of some sort.
Jere (@jerejj)
23rd May 2021, 10:10
@f1osaurus No for any reversed order. Penalizing for being the fastest is unfair.
RandomMallard (@)
23rd May 2021, 12:58
@jerejj I think he means make them start their (final?) Quali laps in a certain order, so that 1st place goes out last and can’t cause yellows for anyone else
F1oSaurus (@)
24th May 2021, 10:45
@jerejj It’s actually a benefit to go out last. Unless someone crashes.
David BR (@david-br)
23rd May 2021, 10:25
Also not a bad idea @f1osaurus and well spotted too.
My comment was actually carrying on from backing someone else’s idea here yesterday for more time if the provisional poll sitter crashes. I mean, you could make it specific to Monaco, given this scenario seems very particular (though not unique) to the track, and allow an extra set of soft tyres for this eventuality. I agree the idea has design flaws – including the same scenario repeating itself in ‘extra time.’ I quite like the idea of Monaco having some special rules though, seems to fit its uniqueness and oddness as a race track too. (Thanks for COTD.)
Ole Brummer (@andrewwj)
23rd May 2021, 10:25
The key question re HAM is his state of mind, given the bruising his ego took from the rejection of his setup proposals. If he survives the opening lap, Bono will, as he always seems to do, find a way to talk him off the ledge and into his racing A-game.
erikje
23rd May 2021, 12:10
It seems the pressure is having an impact on Lewis. His standing this year is a combination of great driving and extreme luck.
He makes lots of errors but until today he got away with it.
Not sure if Monaco will save him or increases the pressure even more.
Jockey Ewing
23rd May 2021, 13:00
What a coin of Michael. 1kg gold, I find it a bit snubbish, but the charity purpose and the very good depiction of Michael makes up for it. Basically I can see him, if I look at the coin, I guess it will find it’s new owner soon. Hopefully he gets better and better, even if by small bits , I would like to see him again.