Monaco Gp Qualifying**Spoilers**

why is that? massa was only 2/10ths of the pole and less than 1/10th off hamilton. i don't think that puts them in another class. specially in monaco, specially when the rain hits. the macs won't get into it in the first turn. but massa may come up behind them and lose it. them kimi can rip up through the field ala shumi for the win.

 

I know there is a long way to go in the season, but my gut feeling is that it is just not Ferrari's year. I hope to be proven wrong. I think 2 of the best drivers are on M.M., and I think Kimi is a cancer. Is he a good driver..yes. Do I want him on my team....not a chance. Just being on the team hurts Ferrari. They made a major error in judgement giving hime a contract. There are winners and losers in this world, and Kimi is just not a winner.

 

Well he's a professional racing driver who made it to F1. He's being paid more than anyone else on the grid, millions in fact, to race that F1 car. He's won races in F1 and is considered to be probably the fastest guy on the grid. I understand you're disappointed in him a little, but don't call him a loser. Look at yourself before you call him a loser.

 

I think Hamilton or Massa will clinch it tomorrow. The reason: Alonso looked he was really low fueled to grab the pole. I think Hamilton has a bit more fuel and in turn Massa a few laps more than Hamilton.

Both Mclaren drivers being strong starters and the bit firmly between their teeth, it looks like turn one will be interesting - will they make it thru without incident. The press conference was quite illuminating regarding the pressure that Alonso is facing. He has never resorted to gloat over the Pole like this before and was desperately trying to put one over hamilton. Hamilton to his credit didn't flinch and ended enigmatically with "Tomorrow will be interesting". Wonder if Ron Dennis is going to ask Hamilton to back down into Turn One.

It was amazing to watch Hamilton fling the car around the track - really awesome performance for a rookie.

I am enjoying the McLaren rivalry - it looks like 1988 again in the first part of the season with Prost and Senna going at it professionally before they became bitter rivals at the end.

Kimi blew his best chance for pole. He looked strong throughout practice. He must be cursing himself. Hopefully he can work himself back into the points from here.

My ratings so far:
A+: Hamilton (amazing to watch)
A: Alonso (strong performance), Massa (he did better than I expected), Trulli (so much faster than Ralf), Rosberg (very impressive), Fisi (good job with the slow Renault)
B: Heidfeld, Kubica (I expected more), Barrichello, Button
D: Raikonnen (blotted his copybook with the mistake - otherwise it was A grade performance), Wurz (slow), Kovaleinen (ditto)
F: Ralf, Speed

 

I think the inter-team battles at McLaren is more interesting than the intra-team battle between McLaren and Ferrari. You just can't find anything to dislike about Lewis (at least at the moment), but I know you could dig up some stuff on Alonso, lol.

 

+1
Don't forget about having to run one segment on the "option" tyres.

 

Anyone here think the 1/18 F1 model cars will have the white striped soft tires or just stick to the black hard tires?

 

I think you'll see both versions for sale: It is little cost to change that and there are some folks willing to buy both versions of the models. Just like those weird "chrome" models.

I'll be sure to get a "Monaco" version with the full tobacco livery. No fan of those ugly barcodes. And the Monaco red is so much richer.

 

Well I think rain could seriously mix this race up, we still dont know how good LH is in the rain and a rainy race at Monaco means lots of DNF, I remember Olivier Panis won at Monaco once because half the field could not handle the wet condtions....

 

There is me hoping Kimi could turn this around and at least drive into the points.

 

There is definately hope for Kimi, personally I dont think either LH or FA are going to finish the race.....

 

That is indeed the question!!!

 

I heard that in the post race interview. If it is true, he is either really light or fearless on that track... maybe both?

 

Well, let's just hope for some good rain and maybe a McLaren DNF (of course I don't want them to get hurt.). Of course, Alonso and Kimi will do very well in the rain, but Massa is another story and I have never even seen Lewis race in the rain.

Ugh...

 

I think it would be the other way around. McLaren is so much faster than the rest of the field (.3-.5 secs) that you have to wonder if they've adjusted the ride height for rain. Remember in the 2nd q session, they were in the 1:15.4 sec range while nobody else broke 1:16. They are probably light but they may also be banking on light showers versus real rain. The others may be playing it too conservatively.

 

Has anyone ever won Monaco from P3? Who? When?

 

The latest was 2003, by Juan Paul Montoya from P3

 

Which is why I'm kind of hoping it *pours* tomorrow......

I think my last post was along the lines of "we're all too quick to annoint the next MS, lets wait and see".....

But, I've got to be honest, LH looked almost (but not quite!) Senna'esque, especially on Thursday - I have a feeling that he may just run away and hide if it's in any way wet tomorrow.

My 02c,
Cheers,
Ian

 

Thank you, Tillman.

Looks like Kimi would have started in P6 of P7 IF they could have counted his best time. Hope he can pass some folks tomorrow. SF needs every point it can get.

First time Ferrari has not had the pole this season.

 

Ron Dennis should be giving the "were all a team here, so...." talk to LH right about now.

 

at least one (lh hopefully)

likely joined by kimi

 

I've really tried to avoid saying the same thing, but the way he was sliding that car through chicanes did evoke memories. Trying not to get too caught up in the hype, but you can see some things with this kid.

 

Lewis is thinking ahead - he doesn't need Ron to tell him about being a team, he's already talking about team! This guy is absolutely awesome.

Carol

* * * *
From Autosport . . .

"Lewis Hamilton has said that he will go for the lead at the start of tomorrow's Monaco Grand Prix - although he has vowed not to risk taking them both out of the race.

Although teammate Fernando Alonso's pole position will give him an advantage into the first corner, Hamilton has made it clear that he is not going to automatically accept following the reigning world champion from the start.

"I think you have to run on your natural instincts and see how the start goes," said Hamilton about whether he will look for an opportunity to get past Alonso.

"If I get a better start and it looks like I can pass, then I probably will, but I won't do anything silly to risk pushing both of us out of the race.

"It is a long, long race and I think I feel good about our strategies and I feel we can come away with a one-two. So, it is important we are sensible."

Hamilton has said he expects McLaren to speak to both drivers before the start to ensure there is no embarrassing coming together.

"The team will speak to us before, but we are professional," he said. "We respect each other, we are teammates and we want to do a good job for the team, but we also want to win.

"We will go into that first corner probably not as aggressively as we would if we were going into it with a Ferrari.

"But we are going to be conservative and see what happens. We are on different fuel strategies, similar pace. So we'll have to see how it goes. It is going to be difficult tomorrow with the conditions and also you never know when the pace car is going to come out. We'll see."

Alonso said he did not expect any problems between Hamilton and himself at the first corner.

"The team will say to us something I think. We respect each other obviously and want the best for the other one. Inside the team we want to beat our opponent that this year seems to be Ferrari, and starting first and second at Monaco (the) aim is to finish first and second, because it is the most points.

"Apart from that, I don't think there are any problems between us and it should be just a normal race."

 

i'm starting to think this is gonna be Lewis's win....provided he gets the jump at FA at the 1st corner.

for some reason, i see Mclaren running away with this one. sigh....

 

Ok, just think of these points:
Lewis is British
He started racing karts etc in the UK
It rains all the time in the UK

Don't underestimate him in the wet, he will be great.