Monaco GP RACE **SPOILERS**

The F2007 is 3ish inches longer than the F248, but it's in the general area of all the other cars out there.

I can't find the wheelbase on the MP4-22, but here's a few others:

Ferrari : 3135mm
BMW Sauber: 3100mm
Renault: : 3100mm
Toyota: 3090mm

I'd wager that the MP4-22 is in the area of 3100mm.

 

Even though Ferrari played it down, I think the longer wheelbase on the car may render it inferior to McLaren. This wasn't about Massa...McLaren was the more dominant car the entire weekend. I think the reality is that there are going to be tracks that favor the Ferrari and there will be those that favor McLaren.

However, Kimi needs to start driving if the Scuderia has a chance. While I admire the job Massa has done this season, the reality is that you don't expect him to come from the back of the field and place well under those circumstances. I do expect that of Kimi. If he wants to take Schumacher's place, then START DRIVING!

 

I have a feeling that Ferrari expect this type of result coming into this GP. I think it was just a case of the macs being able to generate more downforce. Ferrari have engineered their cars towards producing top end speed and low drag, two things that are meaningless in Monaco.

 

+1

 

Well yea, Ferrari is about manufacturing racecars, Mercedes is about producing taxi-cabs. I can see how the latter has a serious advantage in the tight and twisty town centre of Monte Carlo

 

lol

 

Of course. Monaco is just not a race track. It is not realistic to put any general conclusion on what we saw today.

I also do believe Monaco should be scrapped off the calender. This has nothing to do with racing. Rosberg obviously quicker than Heidfeld, but no way to get through. Raikkonen easily quicker than Wurz, but no chance to actually race him. Monaco is just not suited for modern day Formula 1, so what exactly are we doing there? Is it really that important to show the bling bling in stead of the real, honest racing?

 

Canada isn't as bad as Monaco, but it's no "super speedway" either.

We'll see if Ferrari is back up front at Indy.

 

Good assessment Carol. Felipe is becoming the #1 at Ferrari for 2007. I still do not think Kimi can win the WDC, he could come in second to Massa. I am not sure when it will finally happen that the naysayers will finally admit this, but today, Massa is as good as any driver on the grid.

 

Kimi is certainly not out of the championship at this point, less then 1/3 of the way through the season. With 4 drivers competing for each win it means the the winner will gain at least 5 points on one of the four drivers, this means things can change rather quickly.
As an interesting comparison, last year after 5 races, Michael had 31 points (8 more then Kimi has) but he was 13 points behind Alonso (Kimi 15 back). So they were in a similar situation. Compare their 5 races and they each had a stupid move in qualifying, and they each had a DNF, though Michaels was an accident, Kimi's was mechanical. For Michael things got worse, down by 25 points by midseason, before they got better, he was in contention till the end of the season. And this without the benefit of having 4 drivers taking points away from each other. And no one was counting Michael out at this point last year (though they were by midseason and look how close it was). Now, Kimi is not Michael but it is way too early to count him out.
Imagine this pro-Ferrari scenario, Ferrari 1-2 at the next 2 races, Felipe gets a win and Kimi gets a win, Mclaren finish 3-4 both races (so no DNF's, which will come at some point) Now the points would be Felipe 51, Hamilton and Alonso 49 and Kimi with 41 after just 2 races.

 

Race went exactly has I predicted ... Alonso gave Hamilton a little lesson

Yes Hamilton is fast and exciting but Alonso has his measure, and while Hamilton might have put in faster laps in a couple of races, Alonso was being sensible. Personally this race really showed who was faster. Alonso was on rails and yes qualified lighter, but single lap hero performances don't win you championships. In the race with every pitstop Hamilton could not push Alonso at all ... even ideally better stragegy with lighter fuel, etc.

Disappointed Kimi crashed in qualifying but it's a tough track, and I give Massa thumbs up for a tidy (if slow) race, basically he was very much the best of the rest in a McLaren show.

Pete

 

+2, except it is Monaco and I have watched Senna and MS crash there too ... but this is almost one to many mistakes.

Pete

 

No way was Hamilton going to pass Alonso at Monaco unless he did it in the pits...like that was going to happen lol. Hamilton was definitely pushing Alonso the entire way until he almost took himself out after Rascasse...then the team told them both to back off.

That said, Alonso drove very well today. McLaren was the best team out there.

 

I disagree , Alonso had his measure. If Hamilton was pushing Alonso he would have closed on him during the pitstops ... this did not happen, which upset the English commentators

Pete

 

To close up on the pit rotation, you have to lay down some blazing laps on light fuel between the pit stops.

It's hard to lay down fast laps in Monaco traffic, and the team didn't give Hamilton all that many laps between stops to try.

For a while there, it did look like Hamilton was pushing for all he's worth to keep up with Alonso. I think it's just that Alonso knew to back down while the softs were graining, and Hamilton kept pushing when his went squirrelly. That made Alonso's drive look a bit "tidy"er than Hamilton's.

 

Alonso didn't give Hamilton a little lesson . . .If it weren't for below Lewis was closing on Alonso but ..........

Race went exactly as McLaren dictated:

McLaren are to face an investigation by motor racing's governing body over the team orders they imposed on their drivers at the Monaco Grand Prix.

World champion Fernando Alonso and teammate Lewis Hamilton were ordered to hold position after the first round of pitstops in Monte Carlo - in a move aimed at reducing risks to secure a McLaren 1-2.

That move drew widespread criticisms in some quarters, especially from an angry British media, as it prevented Hamilton from fighting for the maiden win that he was so desperate to score.

And now the FIA has stepped into the situation by announcing that it is to investigate what happened, amid questions about whether the team orders have damaged the reputation of the sport.

Carol

 

The only way for Monaco to be a race is that as soon as you get lapped , you are done and must pull off the track. LOL

 

Actually there is not much sense in running if you are not in the top 10 after 2/3s of the race. Maybe they should reduce the field to just the top 12 qualifiers. LOL

 

Team orders, as I understand it, would have been for McLaren to order one driver to allow the slower driver by to take the win (ala Austria). The two McLarens were both racing for position prior to the first pit stop. Having them hold position rather than take each other out, once they established a running order, sounds to me to be prudent team strategy on a course like Monaco.

I don't think they "manipulated" a finish. Alonso was faster than Hamilton and they finished in the correct order based on that. This is a prudent team strategy, not a manipulation of the finishing order.

 

The FIA thinks otherwise: McLaren did the pitstops in a way to give Alonso a free track and not get the most out of Hamilton's strategy (basically calling him in with plenty of fuel left in the tank).

 

Regardless of what happened yesterday I think we will see a completely different Ferrari and Kimi in Montreal.

 

There is a good chance and darn it lets hope so!

 

Lets hope so because if this performance and perceived attitude continues the fans will yank him from the car, kidnap MS and strap him in.

 

Call it the way you want it but the result is the same. And I'm not against team orders. Only against Dennis being a hypocrite. Team orders are a part of F1. FIA should back off.

 

Come on, Ron, he is not even remotely close to Hamilton, let alone Alonso.

The best that can be said for Massa is that, unlike Kimi, he is taking advantage of every opportunity he gets.