The Monaco Grand Prix never fails to disappoint; the glamorous yet challenging street circuit separates the men from the boys, and it’s the race every driver wants to win.
With its limited overtaking opportunities, some spectators find this prestigious race boring, however they underestimate the complexity of the sport’s slowest and most difficult circuit. As they swerve through the streets of the Principality, drivers are challenged with hairpin turns and numerous elevation changes as they make their way through the narrow, twisty track, tackling dangerous hairpins and the treacherous tunnel.
This year’s race was spectacularly unpredictable. After the sun shone on this glittering playground for the rich and famous during practice and qualifying, rain fell on race day, forcing a Safety Car to start and putting pressure on team strategies. team, as changing conditions meant the timing of tire stops would be crucial. .
A year after a monumentally bad Mercedes pit stop cost Lewis Hamilton victory, this time it was Red Bull Racing’s turn to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. For the second race in a row, Daniel Ricciardo was furious at being robbed of, he felt, the chance of victory by a strategic error at the hands of his team.
The Australian’s struggles headlined a weekend that he and the team could, and should, have mastered, but to be honest, that wasn’t the only driver/team combination to see significant strain on their relationship this weekend. ..
MERCEDES-AMG PETRONAS
Tension continued to grow as the rivalry between the two team Championship contenders grew as Nico Rosberg qualified again and overtook Lewis Hamilton during qualifying. The German, hoping for his fourth consecutive win at his adopted home race, started second on the grid with his team-mate in third after Hamilton suffered a fuel pressure issue during Q3 which limited him to a single race. with Ultra Soft tires.
As the race started on lap 8, Rosberg struggled to generate the correct tire temperature. By lap 16, his pace was disastrously slow and he relinquished his place to his rival and teammate, citing brake problems as the reason for his lack of pace and his eventual finish in seventh. place.
Hamilton set off to chase the Red Bull of Daniel Ricciardo, who pitted on lap 23 to swap his wet tires for intermediates, while the reigning World Champion opted to forego the choice of intermediates among the full wet with those who started the race and the slicks without stepping. He masterfully managed his wet tires until he switched to the ultrasoft slicks on lap 34. Red Bull followed suit, calling on the Australian to switch to the Super Softs; Unbelievably though, a miscommunication meant the tires weren’t ready and the delay cost Ricciardo the lead.
The fight was between the Mercedes and the Renault-powered Red Bull Racing RB12. Hamilton avoided any challenge from Ricciardo, although the pressure was on when the Briton, losing time and traction behind a latecomer, ran past the chicane on lap 37.
Ricciardo ran him over as they reached the start and took out his anger and frustration when Hamilton blocked him, legally as declared by the stewards after an investigation. After that, he never came close enough to challenge again, and Hamilton claimed his 44th Formula 1 victory and his second Monaco crown.
RED BULL RACING
It should have been a dream weekend for Daniel Ricciardo. After a change of strategy in the previous race in Spain cost him victory, the Australian was on fire during practice and qualifying in Monaco, securing his first pole position in Formula 1 and the most crucial pole position on the calendar. of this sport.
With the start of the Safety Car race, the Australian’s position could not be questioned. Even when the racing started after the track had started to dry out, it seemed all he had to do was lead the field around the circuit for 78 laps to victory.
But there is no such thing as a ‘sure thing’ in Formula 1 and when the team called him to switch to dry weather tyres, he hoped they would be ready and waiting for him; but they were not. An inexcusable miscommunication within the team saw Ricciardo lose valuable seconds in a failed pit stop that ultimately cost him the race.
As for the new Red Bull recruit, what a difference a fortnight makes. Max Verstappen, fresh from his maiden Formula 1 victory in Spain, was forced to start the race from pit lane after crashing in qualifying when he hit the front right wheel of his car coming out of the pool.
Aided by the safety car start, the young Dutchman was able to catch up to the back of the pack and started to make progress once the field was cleared, all the way up to 10th.
But Monaco is an unforgiving circuit, especially for such a young and inexperienced driver. Despite looking comfortable and confident in the tricky conditions, the 18-year-old made a mistake on the Massenet climb, locking up the brakes and crashing into the wall. It was his third crash in two days, and the second on that corner, which took a lot of the shine off the youngster’s heroic performance two weeks earlier.
FERRARI TEAM
After qualifying a disappointing sixth place, Kimi Räikkönen was relegated to eleventh on the grid after a five-place penalty for a gearbox change made after final practice.
Struggling to get some grip in wet conditions, he spun out of the hairpin turn on lap 11, hitting the barriers and breaking his front wing. He limped through the tunnel to the Nouvelle Chicane with the wing lodged under the front wheel, but escaped penalty when he later confronted the stewards for continuing to drive his Ferrari in dangerous conditions.
His teammate Sebastian Vettel still took home the points in fourth place, but it was a disappointing weekend for the German. After topping the timesheets in the final practice session, he was unable to match the speed of his former team-mate’s Red Bull and again found himself lining up on the second row of the grid.
He attempted to undercut the cars ahead by slamming ahead of any of the top ten drivers to switch to intermediate tires as the track began to dry out. This left him behind the Williams of Felipe Massa, who opted to stay on the wet tire and Vettel struggled to pass him.
By the time Massa pitted, the four-time world champion had lost too much time and found himself behind Sergio Pérez, who had moved his Force India from eighth to third. Although a place on the podium was within Vettel’s reach, he couldn’t find the space to pass.
THE QUESTIONS WITHOUT ANSWERS
Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari potentially have a vacant seat up for grabs in 2017.
Nico Rosberg is yet to negotiate a new contract with Mercedes and will neither confirm nor deny that he has had talks with Ferrari. After bowing to team orders in Monaco and moving on to rival Lewis Hamilton, can the German endure another season in what has become a very tense situation at Sliver Arrows? Rosberg is happy when he wins, but if Hamilton’s victory in Monaco is the beginning of his resurgence in 2016, can Rosberg handle the pressure?
The exact details of Ricciardo’s performance-based contract are unknown, but the option for next year is believed to be dependent on the performance of both the driver and the team, meaning either could have the option to part ways. Red Bull have ‘fucked up’ the Aussie two races in a row now and any further issues could be the last straw for Honey Badger.
But where could he go? The only teams of caliber are Mercedes and Ferrari. Mercedes, for the most part, likes to let their drivers race and not employ team orders, so it could be a good fit. But is Lewis Hamilton a good fit for Ricciardo as a teammate?
Whereas at Ferrari, although Ricciardo showed in 2014 that he is not intimidated by a four-time world champion as a teammate, Vettel is the de facto Number 1 at Ferrari and will not like to face the driver who roundly thrashed him in identical fashion. . machinery during their final year together at Red Bull Racing in 2014.
Ferrari has yet to exercise the option on Räikkönen’s contract, although Vettel has unsurprisingly stated that the Finn is his preferred team-mate. But how much pull does the German still have with the Scuderia? Are you running out of patience? Or do they accept that they are still in a rebuilding phase and may have to wait another year or two before their No. 1 driver returns them to the glory of yesteryear?
As we head into Formula 1’s silly season, only time will tell.