Monaco GP ***SPOILERS***

It's not as bad as ABC's Danica... Danica....Danica coverage. That's really annoying. At least Hamilton wins!

 

well, it is a long season...and Kimi's WDC last year was made possible by Massa. right now, i see that Massa has the form over Kimi.

 

Massa has been no less consistent this year than his teammate. In fact, if you eliminate the first two races, Massa has been more consistent since then than Kimi, his rise in points is proof. If not for a bad call (see Domenicali interview thread) on pit strategy by team management, Massa could have and would have won this race.

I have no explanation for Kimi's performance, other than I am guessing he is just not as focused on the WDC as is Massa. The tire/wheel problem leading to the penalty was not his fault. Maybe Kimi's dismal performance the last two races (dismal for a prevailing WDC) will be the mental "kick-in-the-butt" he needs to start getting his act together.

More importantly, the team principals need to review their own decisions and get their act together. They cost Massa the WDC last year, could have cost Kimi the title, and Monaco was a team management disaster.

 

I hate to say it, but I agree.

Hoping Kimi gets his act together subito!

Last year Kimi was getting used to the car, team and tires. This year I have no excuse for him. And what he did at Monaco was utterly pathetic.

 

exactly

 

So why were a few in here judging Massa after the first 2 races?

 

Massa was pretty terrible the first two races, driving like someone who doesn't deserve his seat.
Thankfully he has rebounded very well and is putting some pressure on Kimi who needs to get out of this hangover and dominate again.

I was looking at Kimi's stats, about a third of the way through the season Kimi hits a little slump. Usually around the Monaco and Canadian GP. These races, even though he has won them in the past, he is not very consistent at. Probably having to due with him being in the middle of a large city and the many distractions that go along with that.

 

+1

Kimi isn't a disciplined driver, if he wants to drive fast and win, he can easily do so as he has proven several times, if he isn't in the mood, he plain sucks, as seen yesterday... Schumi had COMPLETELY different work ethics

 

Massa drove a very good race. Pit strategy was poor but thats not his fault.
Important yardstick imo is his progress from last year where he was pretty pitiful in the wet and could not keep Lewis at bay, or even close. This year he has found a groove, is becoming much more confident and mature and his wet weather driving has shown just how much he has improved.

All in all, a very entertaining race and seeing the indy 500 with 50' or more wide track compared to the streets of Monaco was a cool juxtaposition. Those guys storming around in the rain at 180 mph in the rain, w/o tc equals some pretty damn amazing car control!!

 

He was German...

Correction ..still is

 

Well, Schumi had one or two brain fades per season too. Let´s hope that Raikkonen and Massa have already had theirs and things go fine from now on. If not, I´ll be worried.

 

MS's work ethic on his last visit to Monaco wasn't to productive.

 

Please dont even try to compare........Its two different worlds.

 

true, Schumi at Monaco in the tunnel, Schumi at the first USGP where he spun the car while in the lead (he even admitted to 'brainfade')

Kimi just had a bad day, for F1 driving, .............. a great day for NASCAR style driving

 

True, which is why I like Kimi a lot.

 

um: "too productive", not "to productive"

I almost wish I had watched that Q3 session on NTSB broadcast quality, so I could just join the pitchfork mob.

But in digital quality, I really did see the back get squirrelly on him approaching the first apex -- the same thing that put Massa in the fence on Q1. He caught it so quickly, you can hardly see it in broadcast quality. But the whole corner went downhill from there.

And it looked like he could have just driven away, from all the camera angles ...... except the on-board: the view Shumi would have had (except that the driver is even lower). The front corner was shadowed, and it didn't look like there was all that much room.

Schumi may not have been trying frantically to clear the track afterwards, but that was anything but an intentional parking job.

That penalty was massively excessive for the offense. Five spots for blocking, sure. Delete all his Q3 times, maybe. But back to the end of the train? In Monaco? Ridiculous.

And I wasn't even all that much of a Schumi "fan". I couldn't help but respect his phenomenal car control. But some of his on-track blocks were somewhat over the line. ... Which may be why the Monaco incident was written off by people as just another unsporting block.

 

to, too, two, 2, touche. Thanks, I stand corrected. Like I said, MS's last trip to Monaco was not very productive. :

 

My sentiments exactly. How do you turn front row at Monaco into 3rd and 9th place?!? I never saw Schumacher and Brawn screw up a race like the team did yesterday. Schumacher drove around mistakes like faulty radios and lengthy pit stops. I accept no excuses, Ferrari screwed up a race that they should have dominated. There is plenty of blame to go around, drivers included.

Hamilton, on the other hand, comes back from an accident to win at Monaco. On the one track in the season where it is next to impossible to pass. Anyone who still thinks he is not one of the greats must be blind or ignorant. It's too bad that he is locked up at McLaren, I would swap any driver for Hamilton, including Kimi or Alonso.

 

Unfortunately I agree.

Allthough I wasn´t too impressed with Schumacher in Monaco 1998.

 

+1 and nice to see you and your analysis again. Ferrari is on the back foot after this unfortunately. Plenty of time to get it right before Canada.

 

You must have been happy to see Massa didn't convert pole to a win.

 

Both Schumacher and Brawn have screwed up many times. Brawn was responsible for the really pathetic F2006 and Michael at Monaco made a major mistake of getting close to JPM in the tunnel. There are many more instances, it just happens when you are trying. We tend to rmember those time they gambled and won, like the time they went to a three, or was it four, stop strategy because of Michael's on track superiority.

The biggest mistake, or should I say gamble, Ferrari made at Monaco last weekend was changing Massa's pit strategy to a one stop. If he were on a two stop, he likely would have won the race being able to go to the grooves the second stop. None of the other front runners made the same assumption about the weather as did Ferrari. Hamilton's win as he admitted was also a lot of luck going his way, that first SC he stated helped him tremendously. If it were not for the SC, I do not believe he would have won the race. If it had continued to rain, Ferrari management would have appeared to be a genius, Massa would have won. Not all the plays in the playbook work all of the time.

I do not share your impression about Hamilton as of yet and I am neither blind nor ignorant, he is very good, but not another Schumacher or Senna. He has made many mistakes, the last few races in 2007 were loaded with Hamiltonian errors, enough to cost him the WDC. I think in the error column since January 2007, Lewis leads over Kimi and Fred.

 

But - what with all the complaining about rain -

I have a kind of funny feeling that a little rain shower or two actually makes Monaco a BETTER race.

Car control drama, great on-board shots where you can hardly see your hand in front of your face (reminded me of that Dan Gurney Eagle footage at Spa in Grand Prix), strategy consternations about what tires to fit, power oversteer saves from down escape runs, etc.

Good job, Lewis Hamilton.

There, I said it.

 

If. If. If. Come on, Ron, at the end of the day there are no excuses. If there is one thing that Schumacher was brilliant at, it was race management. He could take events unfolding before him and alter his driving to suit the changing situations. Clearly Massa does not have this gift.


Did Hamilton pass Massa for the lead or did he take the lead over in the pits? If you can't protect your lead at Monaco, where can you?

 

I was hardly surprised, Massa has made a career out of turning pole positions into mediocre finishes.

However, Kimi's day really pissed me off. Massa has an excuse, Kimi doesn't.