Didn’t Norris play into this as well? I recall thinking that Perez was going to come out behind him, only to be gutted when they pitted the McLaren on that same lap, leaving Perez with clear track.
Thank you @Bas and @Nurburgringer I originally thought that once Perez pitted, that they should have forced Sainz in to cover that, but it seems that was never going to work since the undercut was worth about 7 seconds. Sainz was never going to come out ahead of Perez, so his only choice was to stay out and go to straight to hard tires. Ferrari could have pitted Leclerc 1 lap earlier (L17) for inters or gambled and went straight to hards on lap 18-20. Leclerc would have been very slow, but Perez would have had to pit again. But then Red Bull would have had options with Verstappen. But being on the wrong tire and doing 2 pitstops in 4 laps was devastating to Leclerc.
the luxury of being in 1st place with you teammate behind you is that you don't need to gamble. Just build a comfortable cushion and whatever RB does, you follow. IMMEDIATELY
Norris was ~24 seconds behind LeC when he came in the pits, with Perez hot on his tail so yeah maybe they had an eye on him as well. If Norris had stayed out for one more lap it very well could have held up Perez enough to let LeC stay ahead.
The reluctance in telling sainz he is a nº2 is costing Ferrari. What more do they want? do they need a report to understand the diference between their two drivers? Because right now, Checo is much more of a treath to Max than Carlos is to Charles, and Marko & Horner won't hesitate to use Checo to gain Max some points. Also Ferrari must regain political importance, they were robbed in 2013 in order to favor Red Bull, and Yesterday they were again. NOt penalizing the bulls for stwping on the line and not having the tyres 5 minuts before the start was a scandal. One thing doesn't cover the mess Ferrari made, but rules are rules..or they should be.
I have supported Ferrari since the very Early 70's and will continue to do so, however, they are burning Leclerc ... if they continue to ruin his chances with Truly astoundingly stupid calls from the pits... they will ruin him like they did lots of other drivers in the past. Leclerc did everything he needed to do, except run the race. Were I him from now on I'd be doing the strategy as well, clearly the Pit wall can't or will not.
Yep. Having been a Ferrari fan for countless drops of baton, it’s difficult to conceal the wealth of innate Fezza certainties I take as gospel before every race. One of them being; When we qualify on the front row at a track where it is impossible to pass and both cars are performing extremely well without any issues, we’ll need to scavenge every ounce of millisecond to barely maintain a position on the podium. One of the fundamentals.
I wonder if there have been considerations in Monaco to change the track a bit, like a longer straight coming out from the tunnel, another drs under tunnel etc Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
They will not do any change that increases the top speed; they are afraid of speed. Also, no proposal changes the fact that the Monaco GP is supposed to fit in a 19th century urban design. Monaco isn't going to widen the track by removing historical buildings to satisfy a once-a-year event. .
What else is new? Another year, another bunch of Monaco parade laps. Great venue to be at to do anything but follow the race imo. Go to all the pre+post race events, watch the race start+finish, keep the bubbly flowing and forget the rest!
It's funny how F1 will force tracks to spend millions to upgrade their facilities to meet modern F1 standards, yet Monaco has been outdated for decades.
That has been my argument for decades. Technically the circuit is totally unfit to host a F1 race, by the FIA standards. Until a few years ago, one could buy a FIA booklet mentioning all the requirements to design and build a circuit, and the particular needs to have a F1 race. The kind of reference Tilke and others would consult when they embark on a new design. That book was updated regularly. I haven't seen it available for a few years now.
Maybe it might be interesting to watch if they can convert Monaco into a series of sprint races rather than a follow-the-leader parade? For all the years I can remember, qualy seems to always have been the most exciting/entertaining.
I thought that with Bernie in charge, Monaco didn’t even pay a fee to host a race. Not sure if that is still true.
Convert the Neuville chicane back to what it was in 1965 and you have a straight from Portie to Tabac.
I agree......but the FIA puts chicanes for a reason. Whether it's in Monaco, Circuit de la Sarthe, or Paul Ricard.....it's for safety reasons.