Let the fun and games begin. Remember that practise is on thursdays because on Friday everyone is too hungover to function. Quali: Barring any penalties, the Merc's will get slot 1 and 2, with I think Hamilton edging out Rosberg this time. After this it becomes harder to see who will be where. Lotus qualified 5th and 8th this year, but Raikkonen had a steering issue and missed lots of practice. With his better qualifying this year, I'm sure he's going to compete with Vettel and Alonso for the 2nd row Followed will be Massa and grosjean. After this it's anyones game as I honestly have no clue where they would be. Mclaren could do good or their worst of the season. Race: Mercedes will not do well, despite what Ferraripilot will say. Unless it rains. I seriously doubt they can finish in the top 4 (I've changed my perspective on this a few times, starting at 6th...). They should manage not to **** up the strategy too badly here; although what I think will seriously hurt them is as soon as they pit they will be stuck behind in an endless train they created themselves. Grosjean will have his first crash of the season here (he's due about sixty twelve already). Kimi will challenge for 1st as per usual, doing 1 stop shorter (VERY useful here). Vettel and Alonso will also challenge hard for the top position. It'll be between them 3 again. Really hope Kimi can make this one work. Celebratory hangover on Monday then.
If Lewis gets pole he might be almost as good as MS. If he wins he might be better than the 40+yo MS.
Not sure if I agree with the first part. This car is a qualifying king (but not much else). If he wins with this car in the dry in Monaco it'll certainly be a noteworthy thing in his career... But not to worry about that last bit .
qualy: Rosberg Hamilton Raikkonen (yes, I said that) Webber Vettel Alonso race: Rosberg Hamilton Webber Vettel Grosjean Vettel and Alonso will crash causing a safety car at lap 12. Monaco will have cool enough weather for W04 to calm its tires a good bit, and this is not a tire crazy track anyway hence why supersofts are always used. Lotus will be good here too.
Brave prediction there. You might actually have a point RE the colder weather but I still can't see them get on the podium save for something crazy happens (such accidents/big SC advantage/Rain).
Monaco is not one of LH's better tracks. I think Rosberg could beat him there. "this is why we watch" lol I like quali: 1.) ROS 2.) VET 3.) HAM Race: 1.) VET 2.) RAI 3.) ROS Not too confident in Ferrari around here.
Anything can happen at Monaco really. It's the only circuit where tires are not going to matter a huge amount unless they're just not getting up to temperature. And I'll go even more bold in saying they won't just qualify and win, but they will qualify and win by big margins.
I have a vision of Alonso doing wellat Monaco. Don't let me down Fernando !! Also, I wouldn't dismiss Raikonen being among the leaders as well.
Alonso has a car that he can drive, so regardless of Q I'll stay with him, (unless there is a stuck drs or some other annoyance). FA/SV up front, with LH, FM & KR in the top 5 battle. I would love to see Webber rise up and smack fingerboy upside the head at Monaco though. Darkhorse for me is Grosjean. After all of his bad luck he's bound to get a break in the Lotus.
I'll go with that. Throw NR into the mix too. I suspect Fpiloto's long standing optimism may be justified this W/E.... At least in qualy..... +1 'Kid Index' I thought was pretty good too. (thx, as always, to Is of course.) Also meant to note, he has done just that previously of course..... Fix't Cheers, Ian
The weather predictions this morning for Sunday are slightly worse than a few days before. I know that it's still a long shot, but temperature will be 19°c only, and, according to Meteo France this morning, there will be rain showers... Rgds
Paul Hembrey expect most to 2 stop. Raikkonen might be able to do a 1 stop. even if his tires are shot, in Monaco you can do a lot by making your car wider...
Looking for Lewis to be on pole. As for the race I think Lewis has the best chance to win here as well. Hopefully Kimi can put on a better performance than the past couple races if he wants any shot at the title he needs to win more races.
I can see him on pole, but he will certainly need 2 stops in this race (and probably still need to "manage" his tires). Even if FA/KR/SV can pit later than him, it will almost certainly mean they can get past him. I need to stop leaving Nico out of the conversation. He will certainly be towards the front in qualifying and we could see both Mercs in the top 5 (versus last week where they had to keep pace on a high speed circuit with suspect tire performance). Lower speed, technical circuit may even things out for Merc, but we'll have to see.
Actually, as long as he can keep finishing a spot or two ahead of Kid Index he'll catch him PDQ; Winning is always nice, but that's the key..... "Hope springs eternal!" I have a feeling they're going to struggle big time; I'd go as far as to say only one of 'em will make Q3..... Cheers, Ian
+1 Interesting to see what strategy Lotus will do. If they stay out longer than Mercedes in the first stint (not exactly hard) and then manage to put in a good few banging laps, then do their one stop...should be in the bag? Doing 1 lap, pit and do the whole race on 1 tire is too risky IMO.
