What did we learn from the Monaco Grand Prix? Lots, actually, but very little positive. The circuit round the houses of Monaco is an anachronism. Fine for 1923 with Bugatti ‘voiturettes’ reaching blistering speeds close to 60 mph, but totally ridiculous 90 years later with F1 vehicles doing 180 mph where possible (and often where not possible). All that can happen is processional races, livened up with spectacular crashes, safety car periods while they sweep up the debris and finally a red flag when there is too much debris for ten men and ten brooms. At one stage I thought I was watching the Fast and Furious 6 movie, half expecting Vin Diesel to appear climbing out of the debris in a sweaty singlet.
There were some positives, and the most obvious one was the performance of Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) who was in control all the way, seemingly pulling away from Vettel and Webber (Red Bulls) with ease after each restart. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) is in danger of losing the ‘Golden Boy’ mantle.
Adrian Sutil (FIndia) finished fifth after a well controlled drive featuring some clean passes, though that of his team mate Paul Di Resta was more impressive coming from 17th after fumbling from the pit wall in Qualifying, and finally getting up to ninth without hitting anyone or anything.
Jenson Button (6th) is turning out to be a bit of a whinger, especially when he gets passed by his team mate ‘Checo’ Perez, something that he will have to expect more often. Perez must wear special jocks, as he certainly has the big cojones!
Not a good weekend for Alonso (Ferrari), ending up seventh, but still a better weekend than that of his stable mate Massa.
The ‘Big Hitters’ at the weekend included Massa (Ferrari) who managed to destroy the barriers at St. Devote (twice), Maldonado (Williams) who tried the low flying approach after being launched by Chilton (Marussia) and Grosjean (“Lotus”) who tried mounting Ricciardo (Toro Rosso) from the rear, earning him a 10 place grid penalty for unseemly behavior in public for the next Grand Prix.
The Cheeky Award has to go to ‘Checo’ Perez (McLaren) with some fairly audacious overtaking maneuvers. This requires the driver to put his car in such a position that the car being passed has either to yield or crash. Alonso and Button yielded – Raikkonen (“Lotus”) did not! Alonso, after the race saying, “He was lucky this year in two or three incidents. In Bahrain nearly contact with Jenson, with me I was off the track avoiding contact. Here at the chicane I avoided contact again, but Kimi was not lucky because he didn’t avoid the contact. But only McLaren has to be happy with him.” Raikkonen complained, “He seems to expect people to be always looking at what he might do, then move over or go straight on if he comes into the corner too quick and isn’t going to make it without running into someone.” (And that is one very long sentence from KR, so he must be hopping mad!) One thing is also certain, Jenson Button isn’t happy with him either, complaining to his team during the race.
The next race is in Canada, with the telecast starting at 1 a.m. Have a nap in the afternoon, as I think this race will be spectacular, an adjective that could not be used about the Monaco GP, which was soporific for the majority of the two and a bit hours duration!
