FORMULA 1 GRAND PRIX DE MONACO 2017: RACE *** SPOILERS ***

+1

It was plain for all to see when he caught up to cars he needed to lap.
Pete

 

Well yes, because they put him out in traffic! After he cleared the traffic and Vettel pitted he was only .5 down on Vettel...so had they not pitted him in traffic he'd be ahead!

 

Exactly.Amazingly when Seb came out of the pits he had a clear run ,what a surprise,pity they couldn't organise it for Kimi too.I'm wondering if Kimi slowed a bit while he was talking to the team about stopping?

 

+1 - its this analysis that makes Ferrari look stupid and clumsy to fans especially those of Kimi


Did Ferrari really favour Sebastian Vettel over Kimi Raikkonen in Monaco?

--It's incomprehensible that with all the GPS data at Ferrari's finger tips, the pit wall was unaware of Raikkonen's position relative to the backmarkers. Yet in bringing him in on lap 34 they not only dropped him behind Wehrlein but behind Button as well. It took Raikkonen his entire outlap to get back past and he recorded a 1:19.518 before dropping to a 1:16.114 when he had clear air on lap 36. Part of the reason lap 35 was slow was because the first sector included exiting the pits, but Verstappen -- driving a slower car -- had proved two laps earlier that an outlap in clear air could register in the 1:18.3s. Over the next two laps Raikkonen dipped into the 1:15s, suggesting his strategy of switching to the super-softs a few laps earlier would not have been so flawed without the lost time on his outlap.--

 

Look it's not hard. Kimi wasn't going fast enough to win. He had to come in to change tyres at some point in the race. He also wasn't going fast enough to hold off Ricci who had pitted earlier and was absolutely flying.

If Ferrari had let him cruise around in first place holding up both himself and Vettel, guess what the result would have been? Yes, an RB win.

Ferrari made the right strategy call to protect its team 1-2 finish.

 

Yep...

Tiff Needell also had the same opinion. I still understand why, just a bitter pill to swallow. If it brings a championship I'll be more than happy.

 

Niki worried about Seb's pace:-

MAY 30, 2017

Vettel on pole for 2017 title



Niki Lauda has admitted Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel is now on pole position for the 2017 world championship.

Amid Lewis Hamilton's Monaco struggles, Vettel won in Monaco and now has a 25 point advantage after six races.

"Vettel won because he was faster when Raikkonen stopped," Lauda, Mercedes' team chairman, told Sky Italia.

"Do I look happy? Ferrari always has a slice of my heart. They were perfect and we were not.

"The championship? It's going in the direction of Vettel but there are still many races," said the F1 legend.

Lauda also told the Austrian newspaper Kronen Zeitung: "On Monday I was still angry, but now we have to find the right tyre window.

"Another thing is clear: Vettel must have a failure, otherwise it is over. Ferrari are in a real flow and if this continues, the gap is enormous," he said.

 

and we all thought this would go down to the last race LOL. Maybe not.....

 

Any pic's of Toto hammering the table top in Monaco?

Imagine a reverse situation with Seb on Pole followed by Kimi,does anyone actually believe they would pit Seb and bring him out behind traffic.Actually Seb would most likely have talked them out of that one.

 

If you watch the race, Vettel was about to catch Ericsson a few laps before his stop, which would have handed Raikkonen the lead back as it would have spoiled at least one of his fast laps before his pit. However, Ericsson pitted just before Vettel caught him up. That was the difference, which was pretty much luck. There was no conspiracy or plan to swap them, unless you also think red bull planned to have Ricciardo beat Verstappen in the same manner.

Ferrari did a strategy split and Vettel's came out slightly better, but given the traffic and unknown pit windows it was a bit of a dice roll. Without Vettel's ability to put in some 1:15s on 30 some odd lap old tires, he doesn't get ahead anyway.

 

^^ This

 

lol

They still put Kimi in traffic, THAT was the difference. Ericsson was driving on his own and not battling with Button so would've moved over a lot earlier.

RE Ricciardo and Verstappen, Red Bull said that they had a meeting on Saturday, telling the drivers that there'd likely be a pit call and one of the two drivers would feel shafted afterwards if it was a straight forward race, and that's exactly what happened. Also they weren't going for the win anyways.

 

Fingers crossed! I'm just worried about the reliability as Ferrari have used many more parts than Mercedes already...

 

Call me suspicious, but both Lauda and Toto have been speaking particularly well about Vettel, so am starting to wonder if rumors of Vettel-to-Merc in 2018 are true.

 

At the moment Niki denying any move:-

MAY 28, 2017

No reason for Mercedes driver change says Lauda



Niki Lauda has given another clear hint that Mercedes is not planning a driver change ahead of the 2018 season.

Lewis Hamilton is already under contract, but there has been speculation either Sebastian Vettel or Fernando Alonso could wear silver next year after Valtteri Bottas' one-year deal expires.

But team chairman Lauda told Bild am Sonntag newspaper that Vettel is happy and competitive at Ferrari, while Spaniard Alonso is "absolutely no topic" for Mercedes.

"We have two great drivers and no reason at all to change anything," the F1 legend added.

Asked when he will extend the Bottas deal, Lauda answered: "Now let's look at this for a while and then we'll see. But there is nothing at all stopping it."

 

Ferrari also said they told Kimi they were pitting on lap 32 as that was ideal strategy wise - and he called them to confirm. Vettel got lucky that Ericsson pitted right before he caught him and ruined one (or two) of his fast laps. To think it was planned to swap them is kind of foolish given the amount of uncertainty in Monaco. It made sense to split them on strategy and they gave Kimi the better (predicted) strategy call just like red bull did with Verstappen.

 

Martin Brundle: Ferrari play the team game perfectly to maximise Mercedes' pain in Monaco | F1 News

--The power lies with the teams. I'm not going to sit on the fence, if I was Ferrari with one driver facing a six-point lead over a struggling Hamilton and 55 point lead over his team-mate, I would have seized the opportunity to maximise the advantage.

But it's so early in the season, I hear many say. That's not relevant, world championship points are purely numerical and carry no timeline or emotion when added up at the end of the season. Early team strategy calls can come back to haunt you if one driver subsequently has a string of problems or hurts himself but that's the risk you have to take.--

 

Ericsson pitted the lap after Kimi so how many laps where ruined?

Races evolve, they may have said that lap 32 would be ideal, but any idiot with a stopwatch would've figured out he'd be in, and looking at Ferrari's speed they could easily have said ''we need one more lap to clear Wehrlein''. Simple as that.

However, it was always Ferrari's plan to get Vettel ahead and I've no issues with that.

He's 100% correct.

 

None were ruined because he pitted, but Ferrari didn't know that. If they left Kimi out hed have caught Ericsson in one or two laps and lost time (not knowing Ericsson's pit window), so they split strategy, appropriately. Red bull did the same, but for some reason nobody is claiming a conspiracy to favor Ricciardo, why?

 

everyone keep banging on about ferrari pit kimi into the traffic but didnt look into the lap times kimi were doing

such poor observation, but what to expect the media wants a sensational controversy

 

Ok. So Kimi got caught up in some traffic and feels it cost him the race? But once in second behind vettel he fell further and further behind Seb as the race went on. If he was as quick or quicker he would have caught him. He didn't.

Vettel was faster. He followed Kimi the first 30 laps or so and when he had a clear track he made up the time and distanced himself from Kimi.

Kimi certainly was a bundle of joy on the podium and post race. That reflects poorly for sponsors and the team.

 

Bas, I know that you love Kimi and I have to admit that I did not watch the race so I can only follow what was written and what is in the highlights...
But do you really think Ferrari put Kimi into traffic (which could cause in a collision during overtaking) just to have Seb in front? If everybody says this is team order anyway there would have been more elegant and more safe options to get that done, like having issues with one wheel at the pitstop....
I understand that Kimi fans are dissapointed Kimi not winning this classic in maybe his last attempt but throwing Ferrari under the bus for that is ridiculous IMO...And if there is really a team order then it is OK as well as obviously Mercedes started with that a few races ago and back then Ferrari was called stupid for not doing the same when Kimi held up Seb.

 

Have you seen Kimi's face after the race though?

To me, that indicates that something was afoot there in Ferrari's pit strategy helping one driver at the expense of the other. I am not the only one to suspect as much.

The media can make a meal of the episode, and it's their choice, but how can you explain Kimi's expression at the prize giving ceremony.

That reminded me of Villeneuve's mood on the podium at Imola many years ago.

Kimi is at the heart of this business, and one can clearly see that he feels that he has been wronged.

 

+1. Precisely. It makes no sense at all and certainly wouldn't be in the best interests of the team.

 

Yep....just look at the laptimes between Kimi and Wehrlein/Button, Had they let him stay out for just one extra lap or 2 to play it 100% save), Kimi would've been ahead of them. It's not like they didn't have the space....and Bottas was far behind AND needed to clear the traffic before threatening Kimi.

I said it before the race that Ferrari would likely do something during the pitstops to get Vettel out ahead, and if I was in charge of Ferrari I'd have done the same...however I would've had the dignity to carefully tell Kimi what would happen and not **** him around like they did, as he was very obviously displeased.

I'm a huge Vettel fan as you know, and I want nothing more for him to win the title (well, a Kimi or Verstappen title I'd maybe like a little bit more ). But looking at the times, all they needed to do was keep him out for a lap or 2 max and he'd have cleared them with ease.