Grand Prix de Monaco - 27 May 2011 - 30 May 2011 |
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Monaco GP: Lap by Lap Report
Welcome to the crown jewel of the Formula One season, the Monaco GP. Five races down and Vettel in his Red Bull has dominated the season so far with 4 wins and 118 points. Fernando Alonso looked very strong in practice but his overconfidence pushed has him to P4 on the grid. With 9 of the 10 past races won from the front of the grid, Alonso may have thrown his chances of a victory away.
At the grid,
Alongside Vettel is Jenson Button in his McLaren, ahead of Mark Webber and Fernando Alonso. Behind them are Michael Schumacher and Felipe Massa. Nico Rosberg and Pastor Maldonado are next on the grid ahead of Hamilton who was pushed back to 9th from 7th after his Q3 timing was disregarded after he ran over a chicane and Vitaly Petrov who got promoted to tenth after Sergio Perez crashed out in Q3. Rubens Barrichello and Kamui Kobayashi are on row 6 ahead of the Force India cars. Next on the grid are Nick Heidfeld and Sebastian Buemi ahead of the Team Lotus cars. The last of the midfield, Jaime Alguesuari is next ahead of the Virgin and HRT cars.
The five red lights illuminates...
And the cars are off to a brilliant start. Alonso manages to get past Webber and claims 3rd. Schumacher loses in on the start and he slips back to 10th behind Hamilton.Battle for position begins between Schumi and Hamilton and the two has a minor incident. Hamilton is complaining of a flat tyre. He may be in for a very, very early pitstop.
At the end of the first lap, it is Sebastian Vettel in front with Jenson Button hot on his tail with Alonso, Webber, Rosberg, Massa, Maldonado, Petrov, Schumacher and Hamilton trailing behind.
Lap 3
DRS has been enabled.
Vettel is flying through the track with a lap time of 1:19.485 He has already set a lead of 3.25 seconds from Button.
Lap 6
Rosberg and Massa are battling for fifth. Rosberg in his Mercedes is doing a brilliant job holding the Ferrari back.
Lap 10
Hamilton and Schumacher have been fighting for ninth ever since the race start. The seven time world champion have been successful till now to hold the McLaren back. Hamilton pulls off a near impossible manoeuvre and squeezes past the Mercedes with a DRS and KERS boost.
Elsewhere on the track, Alonso is putting the pressure on Button. He has set the fastest lap at 1:19.262.
Lap 12
Barrichello gets past his ex team mate Schumacher. It's surprising to watch how a Williams overtook a Mercedes so easily while a McLaren struggled to do the same. Schumi dives into the pit. His Mercedes gets a new nose and tyres, rejoining the race at 21.
Lap 17
Two laps ago, Button had dived into the pits for some super soft tyres. Now it's Vettel's turn for some tyres. The pit crew fumbles and he has a very disastrous pit stop. If he doesn't find himself on the podium today, he'll know who to blame.
Red Bull is eager to further their embarrassment. Mark Webber dives into the pit while Vettel is getting tyres.
Webber's pit stop is a sad 16 second long mistake.
Lap 23v The pit crew everywhere seems to be off their game. Lewis Hamilton suffers a tedious 9 second long pit stop.
The Mercedes GP cars seem eager to make some progress as Nico Rosberg aggressively pushes Timo Glock off track to maintain race line. Michael Schumacher misses his team mate by a few inches as Nico pulls of the cheap manoeuvre.
Lap 27
Paul di Resta makes an aggressive move on Jaime Alguesuari. The Force India tries to overtake through the inside as the two cars take the hairpin curve downhill and the two trade paint in the process. The stewards announce that the incident will be investigated. If you ask me, the stewards ought to turn a blind eye towards such incidents. After all, overtaking opportunities isn't many at Monaco.
Lap 32
Buemi, Webber, Massa and Hamilton are nose to tail with one another. It is going to be fun watching this train of cars as they drive around glued to one another. Webber will have his DRS enabled because he is under a second behind Buemi, Massa will have his enabled since he is under a second behind Webber and Hamilton will have his enabled because he is under a second behind Massa. Who is going to overtake who? And how?
Lap 35
It is race over for Glock as he pulls to the side of the track. There aren't many places in Monaco where one can pull over and Glock has found himself a very nice parking spot.
Meanwhile, Button has a quick pit stop and moves to third. His team mate has begun to get greedy. He has done to Massa what di Resta had done to Alguesuari. If di Resta got a drive through penalty, so should Hamilton. Hamilton immediately radios his crew saying, Massa gave him no space to drive.
They enter the tunnel and it is disaster for Massa. He has hit the wall and has left behind half his car. If this was caused by the incident with Hamilton earlier, stewards should have no trouble sounding the verdict.
Schumacher's chances of outperforming his team mate just flew out the window. His car has stalled just outside the pit lane entry.
For the first time this season, the safety car is out while the ground crew works to extract Massa's car from the track and rid the asphalt of debris. The cars enter the boring procession behind the Mercedes SLS AMG as they make their way around the track
Lap 39
The safety car is in and race commences. The DRS has been disabled for now. The stewards are looking into Hamilton's minor bump into Massa. We should predict a similar verdict as di Resta's.
It is still Sebastian Vettel leading the pack. Jenson Button, Fernando Alonso, Adrian Sutil, Kamui Kobayashi, Mark Webber, Lewis Hamilton, Pastor Maldonado, Vitaly Petrov and Nick Heidfeld are trailing behind.
Lap 42
Vettel has been radioed in telling him to hold back Button for 10 maybe 12 laps. The McLaren is on relatively new super soft tyres while Vettel is on worn out soft tyres. If the Red Bull car hopes to hold back Button, he should pull all stops and drive a brilliant few laps.
Elsewhere on the track, the stewards have decided to punish Hamilton with a drive through penalty. This should push the McLaren a few places down.
Lap 47
It is Button's turn to get a radio message. He is reminded that he will have to overtake Vettel if he wants the chequered flag. He has been slashing Vettel's by over a second a lap but the race lead looks just out of his reach. Vettel has made it impossible to pass him.
Lap 53
Alonso is 2.2 seconds behind Vettel with Button closing the gap 10.9 seconds behind.
Mean while, Adrian Sutil is having a dream run at 4th. If he manages to hold on to this position to the chequered flag, this will be his best result ever.
Lap 62
Alonso is pulling all stops to get past Vettel but the reigning champion isn't one to give up so easily. Button joins in and it is now a three way battle for the chequered flag.
Lap 67
Adrian Sutil loses track position, first to Kamui Kobayashi and then to Mark Webber. A sixth place finish is still good for Force India. Some points will be a welcome change to the drought the team was facing for the past few races.
Lap 69
Sutil clips a wall as Hamilton drives past. A chain reaction has been set off through the train of cars. Petrov crashes nose first into the wall and is out. Alguesuari grinds the wall and the Toro Rosso is also out of the race. The three front runners narrowly miss the wreck as they zoom past the pile of metal seconds after the crash. Sutil dives into the pits, limping on three wheels.
It looks like Hamilton did not escape the crash untouched, his rear wing is badly damaged and he will need to pit.
Lap 72
The race has been red-flagged. The drivers take position on the grid in the order on track. Whoever is keeping track of laps is going to go insane charting this out. The car fourth on the grid is two laps down. The two Force India cars are side by side but Sutil is in 8th and diResta is 14th.
The ground crew work meticulously to get Petrov out of the car. His crash was particularly harsh and everyone is praying that he is ok.
Petrov is finally extracted from his car and the ambulance is off to a nearby hospital. The car is lifted offtrack.
McLaren seems to be busy making repairs on the car. Under normal circumstances, the teams are not allowed to make changes to the cars while under red flag unless it is necessary for safety reasons. That rule allows teams to change to wet tyres in case of sudden downpour. McLaren's distortion of the rule however seems unfair.
All teams seem to be busy changing tyres and making repairs. The stewards don't seem to be bothered. Lewis Hamilton infact is receiving a new nose section.
Lap 73
Race commences and it will be a mad sprint to the finish line with all the teams on super soft tyres.
The red flag has gifted Vettel a brand new set of super soft tyres, taking away his slow, worn out soft tyres.
Hamilton has his next incident. This time the victim is rookie Pastor Maldonado. Had Hamilton not caused him to crash, he would have claimed some major points for himself and the team; not to mention being the most successful rookie of the year.
The safety car comes out as the ground crew scrambles to remove Maldonado's car. Hamilton has to be penalised for this. His driving today has been unbecoming of a world champion.
Final lap
The safety went in a lap ago simply to provide the race a proper finish. The cars are rocketing through the track and Vettel looks unbeatable. Webber is driving on the edge of his seat. It will make little difference but it is at least entertaining to watch.
Vettel takes the chequered flag with Alonso and Button hot on his tail. Webber and Kobayashi are next. Hamilton finishes sixth. The stewards are yet to make a decision on his bump with Maldonado. Adrian Sutil wins much needed points for Force India at 7th. Heidfeld, Barrichello and Buemi are the final drivers winning points.
If today's action was evenly distributed among the previous tracks, the season would not have felt so dull and dry. With no rain, no crashes and no controversies, the season looked lacklustre. But not anymore! The 2011 Monaco GP was one of the most incident packed races I've ever seen. It is races like this that makes waiting for the two weeks between races worthwhile.
See you guys in two weeks for the Canadian GP, for what we can expect to be another power packed race.
Race Classification after 78 laps
Welcome to the crown jewel of the Formula One season, the Monaco GP. Five races down and Vettel in his Red Bull has dominated the season so far with 4 wins and 118 points. Fernando Alonso looked very strong in practice but his overconfidence pushed has him to P4 on the grid. With 9 of the 10 past races won from the front of the grid, Alonso may have thrown his chances of a victory away.
At the grid,
Alongside Vettel is Jenson Button in his McLaren, ahead of Mark Webber and Fernando Alonso. Behind them are Michael Schumacher and Felipe Massa. Nico Rosberg and Pastor Maldonado are next on the grid ahead of Hamilton who was pushed back to 9th from 7th after his Q3 timing was disregarded after he ran over a chicane and Vitaly Petrov who got promoted to tenth after Sergio Perez crashed out in Q3. Rubens Barrichello and Kamui Kobayashi are on row 6 ahead of the Force India cars. Next on the grid are Nick Heidfeld and Sebastian Buemi ahead of the Team Lotus cars. The last of the midfield, Jaime Alguesuari is next ahead of the Virgin and HRT cars.
The five red lights illuminates...
And the cars are off to a brilliant start. Alonso manages to get past Webber and claims 3rd. Schumacher loses in on the start and he slips back to 10th behind Hamilton.Battle for position begins between Schumi and Hamilton and the two has a minor incident. Hamilton is complaining of a flat tyre. He may be in for a very, very early pitstop.
At the end of the first lap, it is Sebastian Vettel in front with Jenson Button hot on his tail with Alonso, Webber, Rosberg, Massa, Maldonado, Petrov, Schumacher and Hamilton trailing behind.
Lap 3
DRS has been enabled.
Vettel is flying through the track with a lap time of 1:19.485 He has already set a lead of 3.25 seconds from Button.
Lap 6
Rosberg and Massa are battling for fifth. Rosberg in his Mercedes is doing a brilliant job holding the Ferrari back.
Lap 10
Hamilton and Schumacher have been fighting for ninth ever since the race start. The seven time world champion have been successful till now to hold the McLaren back. Hamilton pulls off a near impossible manoeuvre and squeezes past the Mercedes with a DRS and KERS boost.
Elsewhere on the track, Alonso is putting the pressure on Button. He has set the fastest lap at 1:19.262.
Lap 12
Barrichello gets past his ex team mate Schumacher. It's surprising to watch how a Williams overtook a Mercedes so easily while a McLaren struggled to do the same. Schumi dives into the pit. His Mercedes gets a new nose and tyres, rejoining the race at 21.
Lap 17
Two laps ago, Button had dived into the pits for some super soft tyres. Now it's Vettel's turn for some tyres. The pit crew fumbles and he has a very disastrous pit stop. If he doesn't find himself on the podium today, he'll know who to blame.
Red Bull is eager to further their embarrassment. Mark Webber dives into the pit while Vettel is getting tyres.
Webber's pit stop is a sad 16 second long mistake.
Lap 23v The pit crew everywhere seems to be off their game. Lewis Hamilton suffers a tedious 9 second long pit stop.
The Mercedes GP cars seem eager to make some progress as Nico Rosberg aggressively pushes Timo Glock off track to maintain race line. Michael Schumacher misses his team mate by a few inches as Nico pulls of the cheap manoeuvre.
Lap 27
Paul di Resta makes an aggressive move on Jaime Alguesuari. The Force India tries to overtake through the inside as the two cars take the hairpin curve downhill and the two trade paint in the process. The stewards announce that the incident will be investigated. If you ask me, the stewards ought to turn a blind eye towards such incidents. After all, overtaking opportunities isn't many at Monaco.
Lap 32
Buemi, Webber, Massa and Hamilton are nose to tail with one another. It is going to be fun watching this train of cars as they drive around glued to one another. Webber will have his DRS enabled because he is under a second behind Buemi, Massa will have his enabled since he is under a second behind Webber and Hamilton will have his enabled because he is under a second behind Massa. Who is going to overtake who? And how?
Lap 35
It is race over for Glock as he pulls to the side of the track. There aren't many places in Monaco where one can pull over and Glock has found himself a very nice parking spot.
Meanwhile, Button has a quick pit stop and moves to third. His team mate has begun to get greedy. He has done to Massa what di Resta had done to Alguesuari. If di Resta got a drive through penalty, so should Hamilton. Hamilton immediately radios his crew saying, Massa gave him no space to drive.
They enter the tunnel and it is disaster for Massa. He has hit the wall and has left behind half his car. If this was caused by the incident with Hamilton earlier, stewards should have no trouble sounding the verdict.
Schumacher's chances of outperforming his team mate just flew out the window. His car has stalled just outside the pit lane entry.
For the first time this season, the safety car is out while the ground crew works to extract Massa's car from the track and rid the asphalt of debris. The cars enter the boring procession behind the Mercedes SLS AMG as they make their way around the track
Lap 39
The safety car is in and race commences. The DRS has been disabled for now. The stewards are looking into Hamilton's minor bump into Massa. We should predict a similar verdict as di Resta's.
It is still Sebastian Vettel leading the pack. Jenson Button, Fernando Alonso, Adrian Sutil, Kamui Kobayashi, Mark Webber, Lewis Hamilton, Pastor Maldonado, Vitaly Petrov and Nick Heidfeld are trailing behind.
Lap 42
Vettel has been radioed in telling him to hold back Button for 10 maybe 12 laps. The McLaren is on relatively new super soft tyres while Vettel is on worn out soft tyres. If the Red Bull car hopes to hold back Button, he should pull all stops and drive a brilliant few laps.
Elsewhere on the track, the stewards have decided to punish Hamilton with a drive through penalty. This should push the McLaren a few places down.
Lap 47
It is Button's turn to get a radio message. He is reminded that he will have to overtake Vettel if he wants the chequered flag. He has been slashing Vettel's by over a second a lap but the race lead looks just out of his reach. Vettel has made it impossible to pass him.
Lap 53
Alonso is 2.2 seconds behind Vettel with Button closing the gap 10.9 seconds behind.
Mean while, Adrian Sutil is having a dream run at 4th. If he manages to hold on to this position to the chequered flag, this will be his best result ever.
Lap 62
Alonso is pulling all stops to get past Vettel but the reigning champion isn't one to give up so easily. Button joins in and it is now a three way battle for the chequered flag.
Lap 67
Adrian Sutil loses track position, first to Kamui Kobayashi and then to Mark Webber. A sixth place finish is still good for Force India. Some points will be a welcome change to the drought the team was facing for the past few races.
Lap 69
Sutil clips a wall as Hamilton drives past. A chain reaction has been set off through the train of cars. Petrov crashes nose first into the wall and is out. Alguesuari grinds the wall and the Toro Rosso is also out of the race. The three front runners narrowly miss the wreck as they zoom past the pile of metal seconds after the crash. Sutil dives into the pits, limping on three wheels.
It looks like Hamilton did not escape the crash untouched, his rear wing is badly damaged and he will need to pit.
Lap 72
The race has been red-flagged. The drivers take position on the grid in the order on track. Whoever is keeping track of laps is going to go insane charting this out. The car fourth on the grid is two laps down. The two Force India cars are side by side but Sutil is in 8th and diResta is 14th.
The ground crew work meticulously to get Petrov out of the car. His crash was particularly harsh and everyone is praying that he is ok.
Petrov is finally extracted from his car and the ambulance is off to a nearby hospital. The car is lifted offtrack.
McLaren seems to be busy making repairs on the car. Under normal circumstances, the teams are not allowed to make changes to the cars while under red flag unless it is necessary for safety reasons. That rule allows teams to change to wet tyres in case of sudden downpour. McLaren's distortion of the rule however seems unfair.
All teams seem to be busy changing tyres and making repairs. The stewards don't seem to be bothered. Lewis Hamilton infact is receiving a new nose section.
Lap 73
Race commences and it will be a mad sprint to the finish line with all the teams on super soft tyres.
The red flag has gifted Vettel a brand new set of super soft tyres, taking away his slow, worn out soft tyres.
Hamilton has his next incident. This time the victim is rookie Pastor Maldonado. Had Hamilton not caused him to crash, he would have claimed some major points for himself and the team; not to mention being the most successful rookie of the year.
The safety car comes out as the ground crew scrambles to remove Maldonado's car. Hamilton has to be penalised for this. His driving today has been unbecoming of a world champion.
Final lap
The safety went in a lap ago simply to provide the race a proper finish. The cars are rocketing through the track and Vettel looks unbeatable. Webber is driving on the edge of his seat. It will make little difference but it is at least entertaining to watch.
Vettel takes the chequered flag with Alonso and Button hot on his tail. Webber and Kobayashi are next. Hamilton finishes sixth. The stewards are yet to make a decision on his bump with Maldonado. Adrian Sutil wins much needed points for Force India at 7th. Heidfeld, Barrichello and Buemi are the final drivers winning points.
If today's action was evenly distributed among the previous tracks, the season would not have felt so dull and dry. With no rain, no crashes and no controversies, the season looked lacklustre. But not anymore! The 2011 Monaco GP was one of the most incident packed races I've ever seen. It is races like this that makes waiting for the two weeks between races worthwhile.
See you guys in two weeks for the Canadian GP, for what we can expect to be another power packed race.
Race Classification after 78 laps
