2008 Monaco Grand Prix

[prisonermonkeys]

Good post.....passing in Grand Hotel = NO NO

That's our impetuous Spaniard! Hot-headed to the point of recklessly dangerous when he's not in control of the race.

 

[ROAD_DOGG33J]

@ Alonso. I thought he was experienced enough to not do an idiot move like that. It's too bad 'cause he might have had a good chance for a podium or at least 4th.

Heikki's bad luck continues. I'm expecting a 1st place finish anytime now.

It's no wonder they call Kimi the Iceman. That was just ice cold.

 

[SkengD]

As everyone has said , Poor Sutil. It was possibly the only chance Force India will have in their existence. Good save by Kimi he almost slammed in the wall like DC , it could have been worst , he has excellent car control ( but i guess some would say not good enough )

Last year Mclaren started to pick up after they won in Monaco , I hope they have the same streak this year.

 

[JohnBM01]

I was going to watch the F1 race on Speed. Unfortunately when I tuned over to FOX for the Coca-Cola 600, they SPOILED it for me! I knew Lewis Hamilton was going to get her done at Monaco. So congrats to him for his win. And thank the wonderful people on FOX (sarcasm) for spoiling it. And by the way, I thought NASCAR people aren't supposed to care about F1 (more sarcasm)...

I also wanted to ask for who you think would occupy the podium. Just never got around to asking before calling it a night last night. My podium was going to be Massa-Hamlton-Raikkonen. But thanks to the spoiler, Hamilton got it done as the first Brit to win the Monaco G.P. since Graham Hill. Rain and a street course are usually never a good combination. Even more so here. I remembered from playing "F1 World Championship" for the Nintendo 64 (the version I played. I know there was a PS1 version as well) with a scenario involving the Monaco Grand Prix. Raining cats and dogs. The rain didn't have the same intensity as last year's Japanese Grand Prix, thank God...

Congratulations to Hamilton. He's the defending winner of the next round in Canada. Montreal, F1's heading your way in two weeks! Get ready!

 

[ing2ning]

Hamilton lucked out very much with the first safety car deployment.

Sutil was the most emotional moment of the race for me. I really wanted to see him defend P4 to the end against Raikkonen.

 

[tigermoth737]

Fantastic race, Not such fantastic results. Hamilton did a good job to bounce back from that punctured tyre, but the fact that he managed to attract P Diddly to Monaco kind of annoyed me. If you dont mind me saying Lewis' eyes are getting bigger then his stomach. He is a fantastic driver but he's probably getting a bit carried away with his status, surrounded by celebrities and beautiful women, he'll get distracted by all the off track nonsense and may just lose his composure. But enough about that rant.

Ferrari. One word summed up their performance; Disappointing. Raikkonen made a poor get away from the line, Massa slipped up at the 1st corner and the win was history. Credits to him for managing to keep his head for the rest of the race, but he really should have done better. Kubica was very impressive, he got my hopes up for a BMW win but it was not to be, nevertheless he did a brilliant job in the conditions and I am certain that he will be able to win a race perhaps later in the year........ Or not.

Adrian Sutil had to be the drive of the day though, that was absolutely rotten luck for him, I couldn't believe it when I saw Kimi fishtailing into the back of him. And I suspect Kimi might have been guilty of a touch of 'Devil may care' style driving. I always thought very little of Adrian, but he has shown that given some rather unique conditions, he can really shine. Webber I think also drove a brilliant race, he stayed out of trouble and admittedly lucked out by grabbing 4th but he has been driving tremendously in the Red Bull and I think if he had've qualified a bit better he might just have grabbed a podium.

All in all, fantastic race, most entertaining race I've watched for a long time. It was worth staying up until 1 AM for.

 

[slidesquad#1]

Jesus Christ...This Kimi bashing is pretty absurd. I don't think anyones denying that the crash was his fault. But to insinuate that he did it deliberately or it was the result of a rash move is just retarded.
He lost the back end after coming out of the tunnel. He caught it, and then showed pretty impressive car control to keep it out of the walls. It's unfortunate that he went into the back of Sutil, but short of making his car disappear into thin air, there wasn't much else he could do.
In no way am I denying that it was his mistake that took Sutil out, but to imply that it was on purpose is pretty off the mark. In my opinion at least.

PS: James Allen, **** off. Please. Seriously. "Hamilton has more fuel blah blah blah. This might help him later in the race, or it might not." REALLY? You don't say! Also Senna Senna Senna Hamilton Senna yellow helmet. Shut up.

Haha I love Sniff Petrol, just found this.

 

[PeterJB]

Because teams at the bottom end of the grid run a very fine line, they don't have endless amounts of money and a lot depends on race results to attract media attention and sponsors... look at Super Aguri, everyone thought they were secure but after achieving very little they ran out of funds....

A 4th for Sutil would have helped the team tremendously... If I was a small to medium business and saw he got 4th I might think about putting my logo on their car..

Robin

Yeah, just look at Minardi, they had few success but they lasted for 16 years.

 

[Robin]

Yeah, just look at Minardi, they had few success but they lasted for 16 years.

Yeah but I think things were cheaper then, the cars were less advanced, drivers were paid less, they went to less far off countries, didn't need so many spare parts etc etc...maybe they had a more secure financial backer. As has been said F1 is getting to expensive which I why they want to dumb it all down again..

Robin

 

[Blake]

SENNA DROVE AT MONACO
HES GOING TO WIN LIKE SENNA
HES GOING TO EMULATE SENNA
JUST LIKE SENNA
YELLOW HELMET LIKE SENNA
MCLAREN LIKE SENNA

Seriously, I wanted to punch him in the face. SENNAAAAAAA!

Lots of action and most of it great driving rather than lots of crashes.

I thought the opposite actually. All of the super stars made some very basic mistakes, and apart from a few drivers (Kubica, Sutil, Webber, Vettel) there wasn’t a whole lot of great driving going on out there.

Lewis was über fast, but he was so incredibly lucky his mistake paid off like that. I’m really impressed with how robust the suspension proved to be on quite a few cars this weekend.

But still, Lewis had some incredible speed, pushed when he needed to, held back when he was comfortable. Apart from the first couple of laps he did put on a very good show and I was impressed with his car control. He did a really good job.

Kubica probably deserved the race win more in my eyes. The traditional 2 stop strategy didn’t work against Lewis but he had a really fantastic race. Drove fast, made no mistakes, picked the switch to dry tyres perfectly. I really hope he can get his breakthrough win this year, he has put on a fantastic display this season.

It’s scary to think that if he’d finished in Australia he’d be on equal points with Lewis right now. In a BMW.

for a world champion to run into any rookie driver on a rookie team outside of a podium is disgusting. he's not even a threat to the championship and kimi would of kept the overall lead if he just stay put

It’s not like he was trying to pass or anything, he made a mistake under braking and he did a brilliant job of saving the car. It was just unlucky for both of them that Sutil happened to be in the path of Kimi’s car.

Kimi has the championship in mind, he definitely wasn’t trying to play hero today (unlike someone like Alonso, for example who actually did ruin someone’s race trying a stupid pass).

People: it was an accident! It was poor driving (except the brilliant save), but there was no intent to take Sutil out or even pass him! He just made a mistake on cold tyres on a damn patch of road.

Racing incident.

Because teams at the bottom end of the grid run a very fine line, they don't have endless amounts of money and a lot depends on race results to attract media attention and sponsors... look at Super Aguri, everyone thought they were secure but after achieving very little they ran out of funds....

But Super Aguri was a team based off a customer car arrangement, and their financial situation was ruined by a) a sponsor running out on them and b) the change in customer car rules meaning it made no sense for Honda to put serious money into keeping them on life support.

Force India are a team whose budget is based off the fact that they are making their own chassis and wish to continue to be a manufacturer in their own right. They have the money, they have the sponsors, and they have a secure business plan. I don’t see them pulling out of the sport.

 

[Robin]

I dont know, Force India is owned by a very rich man....also, results dont necessarily mean everything, I think people can look at the performance of the team that day and know that they were capable of a 4th place.
I think Force India have a few years left in them yet, they are not in as a bad a situation as, say, Pacific, Brabham, Mastercard/Lola, Arrows, etc etc were. Looking at those teams' history, I reckon we will see Force India for a few seasons more yet.

How can you say Super Aguri achieved very little? Sato's pass on Alonso was voted the best overtake of the year by F1 Racing magazine. That 6th place finish alone was a HUGE achievement. They made more points in 2007 than the Honda factory team. The only reason they ran out of money is because their sponsor SS United did not pay up at the end of 2007 for their advertisement on the car. I'm not sure how it worked out, but they're probably getting sued for it or something. The only reason Super Aguri didn't survive is probably because Honda felt threatened by it and cut their own funding to them or something along those lines.

But Super Aguri was a team based off a customer car arrangement, and their financial situation was ruined by a) a sponsor running out on them and b) the change in customer car rules meaning it made no sense for Honda to put serious money into keeping them on life support.

Force India are a team whose budget is based off the fact that they are making their own chassis and wish to continue to be a manufacturer in their own right. They have the money, they have the sponsors, and they have a secure business plan. I don’t see them pulling out of the sport.

Guys dont get me wrong, I want Force India to survive as much as the next person but I am telling you they are not financially secure! nothing thats based primarily on one rich man can be deemed as safe until it is able to stand on its own two feet.

I guarantee you a lot of the funding is coming straight out of his pocket... if he gets bored with the sport or does not see the progress he likes he will pull out... your telling me that Force India in its current state would be able to survive without him!

Take something like Microsoft.. in its early days where much of the funding would have been coming from Bill (and co) if he pulled out the company would have probably dissapeared, if it was today, with or without him, the company can stand very firm.. he doesnt even play any role in it anymore.

Of course Force India has the sponsors but they are not paying the sum's that companies are paying to be on a Mclaren! Hopefully over time this will change and they will be able to spend more money and improve the car.

As for Super Aguri I stand corrected on their reason for disappearance.... but I still think what they achieved was partly to blame for the demise. If they had loads of cash from good results a sponsor not paying up would have not totally bricked the operation. If Vodaphone pulled out from mclaren would mclaren go bust?

Robin

 

[Only_in_f1]

Good post.....passing in Grand Hotel = NO NO

I don't know about that, Panis showed us how to do it.... (see 2:40)

 

[livemusic]

Great race, too bad Ferrari screwed both of its drivers' race with poor planning. Lewis is a lucky man. Kubica and Rubens were great!

 

[slidesquad#1]

I guarantee you a lot of the funding is coming straight out of his pocket... if he gets bored with the sport or does not see the progress he likes he will pull out... your telling me that Force India in its current state would be able to survive without him!

Robin

I think you're not giving Mallya enough credit. He's rabidly into his motorsport. I'm fairly sure he was head of FIA in India for a period of time (or led the Indian motorsport federation, whatever it's called, I can't really recall), and knows what he's gotten into.
I really doubt he's gonna get bored anytime soon, and let's not forget that he, through Kingfisher, has been in F1 sponsorship for a while now, so I really doubt he's harbouring any delusions about how successful FI are gonna be straight out of the gate either.

 

[Robin]

I think you're not giving Mallya enough credit. He's rabidly into his motorsport. I'm fairly sure he was head of FIA in India for a period of time (or led the Indian motorsport federation, whatever it's called, I can't really recall), and knows what he's gotten into.
I really doubt he's gonna get bored anytime soon, and let's not forget that he, through Kingfisher, has been in F1 sponsorship for a while now, so I really doubt he's harbouring any delusions about how successful FI are gonna be straight out of the gate either.

I suppose, he does seem very committed from what has been seen so far.. and this near 4th place would have helped him see progress even though it wasnt brought home...

I will definitely be paying more attention to Force India from now on!

Hey I found this... what do you guys make of it...

Force India have made a formal complaint against Kimi Raikkonen and demanded that the World Champion is banned after he shunted the luckless Adrian Sutil out of the Monaco GP.

Sutil was on course to finish a career-best fourth when, shortly after the second re-start of the race following the deployment of the Safety Car, he was hit from behind by Raikkonen as the Finn lost control exiting the tunnel. As luck - well, bad luck - would have it, the Ferrari driver was able to continue, but the damage to the Force India was terminal. Sutil, close to tears, was beyond consolation.

While the German later spoke phlegmatically of the "disappointment", Mike Gascoyne, the team's Technical Director, bitterly condemned the World Champion's driving.

"Raikkonen always looked like doing stupid and in the end he did," the 'Rottweiler' barked. "If that was the other way around, and it was a little Force India driver hitting the World Champion, then he would be facing a one- or two-race ban. We've asked the stewards to take a look and act accordingly."

Robin

 

[Metar]

I make this:

http://www.f1technical.net/news/9253

 

[KAMKA-Z]

I watched the race up until Kubica took over the lead. (Left to go to church , yeah it's Sunday morning here. Then I missed the afternoon replay.) It was definitely one of the better races I'd seen in a while. Monaco is always a crashfest when it's wet. and that always ads to the drama. It has been a while since I've caught the GP at Monaco. How many years have they used that "Island" in the first turn with the pit exit lane on the right?

 

[Robin]

How many years have they used that "Island" in the first turn with the pit exit lane on the right?

I think its about 3 years, the pits used to be in a different position but I can't remember where.

Robin

 

[LouTs337]

It was a freaking racing accident, no stupid moves, no impossible overtaking and kimi tried to save it with all efforts. Force India (read gascoyne) is mad okay he has the right to. Banning would be ridicolouse. We could ban some others also if this is the standard...

Anyways some more news:

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/67779

Colin Kolles: I don't have to blame Kimi. He did a mistake, it's a race incident and there's nothing more to say? It's unfortunate that it was Kimi, who is a friend, that it happened with him. But what can I say, that's life!"

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/67754

No penalty...

 

[Danny]

I think its about 3 years, the pits used to be in a different position but I can't remember where.

Robin

I think it was where piscine is now.

 

[Digital-Nitrate]

I think its about 3 years, the pits used to be in a different position but I can't remember where.

That's what's fun about holding on to older video games, as they will represent track layouts as they used to be. I have not played GT4 in a while, but as I recal they have the previous pit lane layout for Monaco.

 

[ROAD_DOGG33J]

That's what's fun about holding on to older video games, as they will represent track layouts as they used to be. I have not played GT4 in a while, but as I recall they have the previous pit lane layout for Monaco.

I'm not sure if GT is actually accurate. Both GT3 and GT4 look to have the same layout as in F1, except the pits are on the right-side instead of the left. Of course the first corner has the barrier instead of the pit-lane out.

 

[Metar]

Don't know about GT4, but if I recall correctly, GP4 has the old layout.

 

[Robin]

I think GT3 had the old layout whilst GT4 had the new one.... I havent been on either for a while! Need to check!

Robin

 

[Cap'n Jack]

I think GT3 had the old layout whilst GT4 had the new one.... I havent been on either for a while! Need to check!

Robin

Both are the same and they're pretty far off any older layout I can remember. They both lack a lot of run-off areas. I'm not sure how long the run-off areas missing in Gran Turismo have been there in real life, but I'm pretty sure they were during the early '90s, bar Sainte Devote.

 

[DQuaN]

Hamilton got it done as the first Brit to win the Monaco G.P. since Graham Hill.

Do you mean first Englishman?

Stewart and Coulthard have won it since then.

 

[Motominded]

Both are the same and they're pretty far off any older layout I can remember. They both lack a lot of run-off areas. I'm not sure how long the run-off areas missing in Gran Turismo have been there in real life, but I'm pretty sure they were during the early '90s, bar Sainte Devote.

Gt could give you the run off area at Nouvelle chicane but everyone would shortcut the circuit and mass cheating would commence.

To add, the piscine (swimming pool) was extended for safety reasons in 2005 and has much more of a run off area.

So when GT made the track back in 1999-2000 for the 2001 GT3 game, it was probably accurate then.

 

[McLaren]

I think its about 3 years, the pits used to be in a different position but I can't remember where.

Robin

They've been where they've always been, just they switched around where the pits now face the sea rather than the city.

This was the pit lane in 2002.

 

[Touring Mars]

Do you mean first Englishman?

Stewart and Coulthard have won it since then.

+1 👍

Loved this year's Monaco race - such an integral part of the F1 calendar. Great job from LH, but arguably an even better job by the strategists! As for Kimi, I could but hold my breath when I saw him start to lose control of that car, and he did a remarkable job of holding onto it as well as he did, although it was horribly unlucky for Sutil that he paid the price for it! Saying that, Kimi lost his points too, so there was some justice!

 

[Metar]

Thing is, given normal mirrors, Sutil would've spotted the fishtailing Ferrari, and would've taken a shortcut in order to save his arse.


Also, is it just me or did Kimi push his luck when he first lost his wing? Aquaplaning into the first corner is cool and groovy, but when your wing is hanging by a bit of upper plane, the last thing you want to do is go full-speed down the straights... The poor thing bent down every time he accelerated from the aerodynamic forces - by the time he reached Rascasse, the slightest niggle would've broken it. The Piscine kerbs tore it down almost completely. Had it broken, it'd be race over for Kimi - it'd get lodged under his car, probably mess up the underbody, if not the suspension and wheels as well.

And Rosberg's actions this race should be punished. Not only did he sneak past Jensen while the latter made way for lapping traffic, but he also cut a corner at Piscine in order to prevent a payback for that. 👎



And overtaking my arse, this race was infinitely better than any Tilkedrome, with supposed overtaking-opportunities and multi-apex corners.