2011 Monaco F1 GP: Practice 1/2/3 *** Spoilers ***

Agree that no driver is immune.

 

+1

 

And that some are less immune than others?

Krafty, I'm not bashing Massa. Just saying his balls out style this AM made me nervous.

 

Trying to hoist me with my own petard. Et Tu Brute

 

Though Monaco appears to be one place where aggressive driving pays dividends. For instance Jenson was outqualified by the more agressive style of Lewis.
CH

 

Ha ha ha..

Massa IMO) is about right for Mr Freddie to handle, Massa has done ok considering he nearly lost his eye.

There again it's another issue WCC points.

 

I'd like nothing better than for Ferrari to have two competitive cars. I liked Massa before the accident and wish him the best but he was on the ragged edge today.

 

any predictions for qualifying?

Vettel
Hamilton
Rosberg
Button
Schumacher
Alonso
Webber
Massa

 

Vettel
Alonso
Hami

 

Not really. The water was on the s/f line and long gone by the time he was breaking for St. Devote.

Bild reports it as a driver's mistake and motorsport-aktuell has this to say:

http://www.motorsport-aktuell.com/automobil/mercedes-trotz-schumacher-ausrutscher-optimistisch-3780355.html


"Was meinen Unfall am Morgen betrifft: Wir hatten für diesen Versuch eine Veränderung am Setup vorgenommen, und die Räder blockierten, als ich in die erste Kurve fuhr. Danach fällte ich meine Entscheidung zu spät, den Notausgang zu verwenden."

Translation:
Regarding my accident in the morning: For this trial we changed the setup and the wheels locked as I turned in. Thereafter I decided too late to use the emergency exit.

Here is a video showing the accident from the onboard camera as well as from the outside:
http://www.blick.ch/sport/formel1/gp-monaco-training-am-donnerstag-173352

 

Vettel
Hami
Alonso
Webber
Button
Rosberg
Kobayashi
Heidfeld
Massa
Petrov

 

Hot on Koby are you?
You some how missed MS.

 

I love Koby.

I did? Really? That so does not sound like me...

 

Kobayashi??? Really? He will be lucky to be in Q3 IMO.

 

You might be right on that one.

I think he is fabulous and therefore have a tendency to overestimate him. I guess I'm the only one around here doing such a thing...

 

The rest of us cock-eyed optimists keep it to ourselves

 

He USED to make many of those . He's much better now.

Anyway, even a small recoverable mistake on any other track means a DNF here, so ANY driver is vulnerable. Guess that's part of the allure of Monaco.

Finally, Ferrari looks strong here, so I predict Alonso on the top 3 in qualy. I also think we'll see more reliability issues starting with this race, making it even more unpredictable. We'll see. Will certainly be an interesting one.

Oh, and there still are rooms available at the bargain price of $3K per room with 4 nights minimum, and no refunds . And that's just lodging. Geez.

 

Reliability or car survivability?

 

I'm going against the grain and pick Alonso to stay at the top this weekend:

Alonso
Hami
Vettel
Webber
Rosberg
Button
Massa
etc, etc

He just looks a little determined so far this weekend and this is the one track where the driver can make the difference (not to say that Vettel isn't a worthy driver...just going with a different take than everyone else)

 

I don't pay attention to these practices anymore - never even a close reflection of true Qualifying pace. I still think Redbull will dominate again. My top ten for Qualifying

Vettel
Webber
Hamilton
Alonso
Button
Rosberg
Petrov
Schumacher
Heidfeld
Kobayashi

 

Ferrari's rear end looks very Red Bull-ish...

Anyways, good to see Ferrari up there. I'm expecting Massa to get back on form here, since they're all on soft tyres.

 

I like how you think. I picked him for my F1 tips but then again I have to gamble and make up some ground.

Anyway, practice was really entertaining, was fun watching 'ole Massa sliding the truck around! Good show from FA.

 

Memory loss?

http://images.smh.com.au/ftsmh/ffximage/2009/05/24/lewishamilton_wideweb__470x321,0.jpg

 

Way cool looking...also curiously the color of gold on Marlboro Lights packs

 

Hehe.

Go Marlboro, go!