2007 Monaco Grand Prix

Raikkonen did OK in this race to get a point.

But comparing his performance and Michael Schumacher's from last year, shows how talented Michael is.

Kimi: started 16th, finished 8th
Michael: started 22nd (from the pits), finished 5th

I still support Kimi and hopefully Ferrari can turn this situation around. :)
 
Great pressure driving from the McLaren boys - absolutely destroying the field in the process too.

Can someone buy Webber some reliability? I mean come on...
 
Not a bad race. Good to see McLaren so strong. Honda looked good until they did that strange strategy. I think Liuzzi is making a case for being the STR driver dropped at the end of the year.

Canada next!! Can't wait. One of my faves :D
 
pretty boring race for the most part.

kimi just didnt sythe thru the field like he should of, massa was so-so, alonso was good tho mclaren did get quite lucky with traffic on the pitstops.

barely any overtaking if any, i know its hard there but it can be done...no ones got any sack to try it. they'll just attempt the safe option and try the leap frog in the pits.....

to me that feels like a style of racing that schumacher/brawn pioneered...using strategy and driving key laps like your face is on fire, its won schumi alot of races. you could say he was racing smart, not hard, but lets be honest smart = boring as fuck.

2007's cars really have grown out of monaco i think, i mean they cant follow each other properly because of aerodynamics and in monaco there isnt much space to go elsewhere and no one dares push the boundries.

if there were no pitstops, the order after the 1st corner would of been the finishing positions (no breakdowns of course)

james allen is a tit

ralf schumacher is a joke. he dropped like he was hot to dead last on the start and pretty much stayed there. so toyota... $400million budget and a the 2nd highest paid driver in the field...and teams like spyker and aguri are putting it on you. just quit.... now.

really they should be forgetting all these stupid engine regulations and push to pass nonsense... they need to scrap TC n other electronic gubbins and regulate the aero so that cars can actually get close to one another.

i know it goes against F1 being the bleeding edge of motorsport, but honestly just take alook...F1's position and sucess of being the most advanced motorsport on the planet really is hurting itself.
 
no one dares push the boundries.

Disagree. Did you see the marks on Hamilton's car at the end? Did you see Alonso's slide through the swimming pool? I think that qualifies as pushing the boundaries.

Great race for the McLarens, hopefully they'll continue the form at Canada and onwards.

I agree that Ralf Schumacher was incredibly underwhelming, as he has been all season. Fire him! Raikkonen finished nowhere and I suspect his mind was elsewhere. Just where does he fit in that Ferrari team? He shunned Michael Schumacher's phone call after Melbourne and hasn't performed since. Massa, who is really benefiting from Schumacher's tuition just looks so much more at home. Alot of that would have to do with his being part of the Ferrari team for many years now, but I was expecting better of Kimi. Part of it is probably also his work ethic. Drive the car, then go home isn't how its done anymore and hasn't been for the last 20 years. Going home after problems in Spain and Monaco isn't constructive in developing the car or team.

Bad luck to Webber, and even DC was stopped at the end. I know its most likely a coincidence, but Adrian Newey seems cursed doesnt he? Or maybe its his design philosophy of building a really fast but fragile car. The McLarens are seemingly bulletproof for once.

And just when Honda seem to have it together and look to be on track for a few points, they go and shoot themselves in the foot. What the hell was that? I tell ya man, much easier being a McLaren fan than a Honda fan. The tea is greener on my side of the fence! :D
 
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Disagree. Did you see the marks on Hamilton's car at the end? Did you see Alonso's slide through the swimming pool? I think that qualifies as pushing the boundaries.

Great race for the McLarens, hopefully they'll continue the form at Canada and onwards.

I agree that Ralf Schumacher was incredibly underwhelming, as he has been all season. Fire him! Raikkonen finished nowhere and I suspect his mind was elsewhere. Just where does he fit in that Ferrari team? He shunned Michael Schumacher's phone call after Melbourne and hasn't performed since. Massa, who is really benefiting from Schumacher's tuition just looks so much more at home. Alot of that would have to do with his being part of the Ferrari team for many years now, but I was expecting better of Kimi. Part of it is probably also his work ethic. Drive the car, then go home isn't how its done anymore and hasn't been for the last 20 years. Going home after problems in Spain and Monaco isn't constructive in developing the car or team.

Bad luck to Webber, and even DC was stopped at the end. I know its most likely a coincidence, but Adrian Newey seems cursed doesnt he? Or maybe its his design philosophy of building a really fast but fragile car. The McLarens are seemingly bulletproof for once.

And just when Honda seem to have it together and look to be on track for a few points, they go and shoot themselves in the foot. What the hell was that? I tell ya man, much easier being a McLaren fan than a Honda fan. The tea is greener on my side of the fence! :D

hmmm one slight sideways moment and scuff marks from what was an incredibly scruffy race from hamilton dont really count as pushing it in my book.

i think they were actually the highlights of the race...alonso's back end being a few inches further right than the front, and hamilton brushing the barrier with one wheel in the air. that was it.

kimi's attitude definately isnt the right one for ferrari, i mean if he's not in the lead he just doesnt seem to want to be there and just seems to lose interest.

and yeah, the turning up having a smoke , driving a car then going home is way to old skool. again we can have michael schumacher to thank for that mentality...he was the first to really push physical fitness and team involvment, schumacher did it so well that it wasnt so much a ferrari team...it was a schumacher team, ferrari ust supplied the parts.
 
lol, so are you criticising Schumacher for taking professionalism to new heights? :p

Seems to have worked out ok for him in any case ;)
 
lol, so are you criticising Schumacher for taking professionalism to new heights? :p

Seems to have worked out ok for him in any case ;)

oh no im not criticising him for doing that, i was just thanking him for that progression... i think his way of working in that respect to be the best, something you have to do to win and continue to win.

the only criticism of schumacher i have is his and ross brawns method of safe racing....ie doing all the work in the strategy instead of wheel to wheel on the track. from a team perspective it is the best way.... it reduces risk, and if you have a driver as capable as M schumacher, both physically and mentally you have a seriously good chance of pulling it off time and time again. so while that method is in the best interest of the teams, it couldnt be further from what the paying spectators want to see.

i suppose its not too bad to see on the TV, its easier to get the full picture there, but it does make you sit and work out whats going to happen...but comon how many motorsport fans wanna sit there, with the live timing on the internet working out whats going on. im pretty sure all motorsport fans wanna see wheel to wheel action.

(this is why things likt BTCC and random stock car/banger racing is so popular... its chock full of action)

i mean today, you did get the real sense that hamilton wanted to race alonso...he wanted to take him on to the flag. obviously Ron got on the blower to tell them to cool it. now from a team perspective, and it iis a team sport, thats the best thing to do..no point in wiping out. but from a spectators POV, it makes for boring, more predictable racing.

and when people do race wheel to wheel.... the trick aero work makes it really difficult. that needs to change.
 
well done son, you've just work out how the media works.

they only want to know you when your either doing impossibly well, or if you snorted 5 lines of crack off a cheap hookers arse then had a ragin one night stand with your managers wife then woke up the next day ran over the BB house and called shilpa shetty a "paki"

thats how it works, if your just being an average joe...they dont care.

Funny to see the german media searching desperately for for a new hero they can focus on. Ralf obviously isn't the right one :p
Heidfeld and Rosberg are obviously not interested in being sucked up by RTL (basicly the TV yellow press). So everytime I watch a race, those incompetent hosts try to kill the time by putting in some detail nobody is interested in.:lol::lol:

btw: the Porsche Supercup this morning was quite interesting, thank you Eurosport for showing it live.
 
Funny to see the german media searching desperately for for a new hero they can focus on. Ralf obviously isn't the right one :p
Heidfeld and Rosberg are obviously not interested in being sucked up by RTL (basicly the TV yellow press). So everytime I watch a race, those incompetent hosts try to kill the time by putting in some detail nobody is interested in.:lol::lol:

btw: the Porsche Supercup this morning was quite interesting, thank you Eurosport for showing it live.

i think my friend drives in that.... if not that it some type of porsche cup. he drives 911's all over the UK and Europe. last time i spoke with him he was going for an endurance race at spa.

those are usually good races, and dare i say it, probably more exciting to watch.

germany got no one.... tho i noticed schumacher was there again this weekend for ferrari. i dont car what he's told the media, theres no way he can stand in that garage and think "nope, i definately dont wanna do that again", simply no way...and i bet today, while watching kimi not bother down the field, he was wishing he could pull him over and switch places.

martin brundle said that Schumi had siad he had no plans to get into an F1 car any time soon. but theres no way i believe that...he's a racing driver, a driver that would do almost anything to win....theres no way he just stands there without the urge give kimi a fist to the face and nick his car. he probably cant come back though...due to contracts.

its a shame ralf is carrying on the name....... so undewhelming, and has been for some time.
 
IMO, Alonso is underrated he did a great job at Monaco and Kimi might fade as the season progresses. I think this season will test Kimi more than any other and we will see how much the flying finn II really wants a WC.

Ferrari must not be happy as they have the superior car but their drivers are screwing up.
Ferrari should have won every race. Oh, Shumi were art thou............ :(
 
McLarens destroy field, Ralf driving around aimlessly for a paycheck (I hope he gets fired before the end of the season), good drives from Alex Wurz and Scott Speed (18th to 9th, unfortunately for him, no points reward), Raikkonen should have started higher but, none the less, finished the race. Not a very good GP by Monaco's standards, in terms of racing.
 
Is it just me, or does this make Lewis sound like a bit of a spoilsport. He's complaining that McLaren are favouring Alonso and thats why he didnt win the race.

McLaren denies favouring Alonso

MCLAREN denied favouring double world champion Fernando Alonso in the Monaco Grand Prix on Sunday after rookie teammate Lewis Hamilton suggested he had been forced into a supporting role.

Team boss Ron Dennis said the 22-year-old joint championship leader and runner-up to Spaniard Alonso in a dominant McLaren one-two, would have won had the safety car been deployed.

For the first time this season, the Briton appeared less than ecstatic with second place - his fifth podium in five Formula One starts.

"I have the number two on my car, and I am the number two driver,'' he told a news conference.

Hamilton had qualified on the front row with a far heavier car than Alonso on pole position.

Alonso led from the start but when Hamilton had the chance to build up a gap, after the Spaniard's first pitstop, he was unable to do so because the team called him in to refuel earlier than expected.

"I was actually quite surprised because I was fuelled to go five, nearly six, laps longer than Fernando and they stopped me with three laps,'' said Hamilton. "That's unfortunate but it's the way it goes.''

Alonso explained that he had in fact gone two laps longer than scheduled because he had used less fuel than expected in the opening laps and Dennis was adamant there was no hidden agenda.

He said his job was to make difficult decisions and Monaco was a unique circuit where the introduction of the safety car, deployed in four of the last five years, could wreck the best-laid plans.
The two drivers therefore had to be on radically different strategies.

"Everybody feels I'm sure, and a lot of people will feel it in England, that there is some favouritism or some penalisation that is given to either Lewis or Fernando,'' he added.

"But we are scrupulously fair at all times in how we run this grand prix team. We will never favour one driver, no matter who it is. We never have, we never will.''

The Spaniard's second victory of the season, and 17th of his career, took him back to the top of the Formula One championship on race wins but level on 38 points with Hamilton.

The Briton, runner-up for four races in a row, crossed the line four seconds behind Alonso with Ferrari's Felipe Massa 69.1 seconds and almost a lap behind. The Brazilian remained third overall with 33 points.

Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen, with retired predecessor and seven-time champion Michael Schumacher among the spectators, finished eighth after a costly error in qualifying forced him to start 16th at a circuit where overtaking is rare.

The Finn remained fourth overall but a hefty 15 points adrift of the McLaren drivers.

Only four of the 22 drivers failed to finish, with Toro Rosso's Italian Vitantonio Liuzzi stopping on the second lap with a broken rear diffuser and Australian Mark Webber retiring with a gearbox problem in his Red Bull.

Neither Spyker driver made the distance.

Source

Look, Lewis is a top driver. He's racing well and deserves to be up there in the championship standings. What he needs to learn though is that he is a rookie, and it's highly unlikely, although not impossible, for a rookie to win the championship on debut. Alonso is the benchmark of the field and therefore is most likely McLarens strongest chance at a championship.

I saw his Dad on TV last night and he looked disappointed. It's like they said to themselves that they will win it and then Alonso outclassed him and spoilt the party. I still feel that Lewis needs a DNF as a reality check, otherwise he will be the next Jenson Button, and he doesnt deserve to be in that position!!
 
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McLaren had to make a choice - to cover the chance of a Safety Car they went with a split strategy - a one-stop, and a two-stop. Obviously one driver had to get the heavier car - there's no favouritism in how the choice was made, but it had to be made. Lewis was put on a one-stop strategy, so his car was heavier, during the race they changed him to a two-stop strategy when there'd been no safety cars.

"However there is some disappointment because of the different strategies we needed to follow to cope with a potential deployment of the Safety Car which has happened four times in the last five years. Consequently you virtually have to decide in advance which one of the team's two drivers will claim the victory."

Lewis Hamilton fought hard through out the race to allow his one-stop strategy to give him the lead only for his team to change him to a two stop programme.

"Once the first round of pitstops had taken place we reverted Lewis from a one-stop strategy to the faster two-stop strategy and at the same time slowed both cars down to conserve the brakes. As a team we would like to race but this circuit requires a disciplined approach and as a result we can leave Monte Carlo with the maximum amount of points," Dennis added.

Source

I can understand Lewis being disappointed with how the dice-roll turned out. But, I can also understand McLaren giving the more favourable strategy (where such a decision needs to be made) to Alonso - after all he's the two-time world champ.

BTW - when Ron says "you have to decide in advance who's going to win", I believe he means it in the sense of "you decide that Driver A will win if there's no Safety Car, and Driver B will win if there is a Safety Car". Which makes perfect sense - why put all your eggs in the one basket?
 
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Also don't forget that whoever qualifies ahead gets to choose the preferred strategy, and he can change it whenever he wants to suit him.
 
i think the SUN news paper summed the race up pretty well

paraphrase - " Moment of the race - Lewis Hamilton handing his 15 year old brother, Nicholas, his trophy during the presentation ceremony "

couldnt agree more, the race was akin to watching paint dry. the cars are just too much for monaco now.

1) their cornering speeds are such that they are on the limit of grip all the time, basicaly going off the racing line is a big no no, especially when its as narrow as monaco, and epecially when there is rubber marbles on everywhere but the racing line. as soon as you touch them its a face full of armco for you.

2) aerodynamics are so advanced and intricate that they dont work in the dirty air behind an F1 car, so you cant switch to a different racing line becuase of the grip situation but being behind some one means you have no hope of getting that close becuase your wings will stop workng

3) acceleration....for the most part id say the majority of F1 cars acceleration is pretty close to each other...so theres non of that out dragging from tight corners.

so at monaco..you cant take another line, you cant follow and you cant out drag...

might as well tie all the cars up togethr with a big tow rope and have the safety car pull them around. we dont need a campaign for real racing drivers....more liek a campaign for real racing .full stop.

hamilton is obviously pissed he wasnt allowed to race, and that they shortened his first stint unexpectedly, but its a team game is F1, they had a 1-2 they needed to protect that. thats great for the team, it gets them the points, the success, and ensures they dont lose their prized possessions to an accident, but it gives the punters naff all to watch.
 
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McLaren team orders under investigation

McLaren are to face an investigation by motor racing's governing body over the team orders they imposed on their drivers at the Monaco Grand Prix.
World champion Fernando Alonso and teammate Lewis Hamilton were ordered to hold position after the first round of pitstops in Monte Carlo - in a move aimed at reducing risks to secure a McLaren 1-2.
That move drew widespread criticisms in some quarters, especially from an angry British media, as it prevented Hamilton from fighting for the maiden win that he was so desperate to score.
And now the FIA has stepped into the situation by announcing that it is to investigate what happened, amid questions about whether the team orders have damaged the reputation of the sport.
A statement issued on Monday said: "The FIA has launched an investigation into incidents involving the McLaren Mercedes team at the 2007 Monaco Grand Prix in light of a possible breach of the International Sporting Code.
"The relevant evidence is under review and a further announcement will be made in due course."
Autosport.com understands that the team will be investigated into whether they have broken Article 151c of the International Sporting Code, which makes it clear that damage to the sport can be caused by: "any fraudulent conduct or any act prejudicial to the interests of any competition or to the interests of motor sport generally."
Team orders that influence the outcome of a race have been illegal in Formula One since Ferrari told Rubens Barrichello to let Michael Schumacher through for the lead at the 2002 Austrian Grand Prix.
McLaren boss Ron Dennis was adamant on Sunday night, however, that he had done nothing wrong in protecting his team's advantage.
"Team strategy is what you bring to bear to win a Grand Prix. Team orders is what you bring to bear to manipulate a Grand Prix," he told reporters afterwards.
"And we do not and have not manipulated Grands Prix, unless there were some exceptional circumstances, which occurred, for example, in Australia [1998], when at that time someone had tapped into our radio and instructed Mika Hakkinen to enter the pits.
"He entered the pits and I reversed that, because that was unfair, that was an outside influence on the outcome of the race. That is one of the very rare occasions that there's been a team order.
"I don't feel uncomfortable with them. I sleep easy. I have a clear conscience, both on that particular race - and this race today."
 
^ That's ridiculous - they did nothing that any other team wouldn't have done. If they'd told Alonso to slow and let Hamilton pass it would be a different matter.
 
Did this happen before the race? Or during the race?

If it wasn't communicated to the drivers over the radio, and a decision on the pitwall was made, then they are in the clear. If they said to the drivers on the radio, which the FIA will have recordings of, then they are stuffed. Massa doesn't deserve to have the win though.

Secondly, did Ron say that after Lewis had his little tantrum in the press conference about not being able to fight Alonso or before hand? If it was after, then what effect will that have on the team if Lewis has cost them a 1-2?

This is going to be an interesting development.

And no, Im not having a go at Lewis, Im just wondering when all this happened and if it's going to cost them a 1-2.
 
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