F1 - Mark Webber polls P3 Monaco - Perez horrific crash

[gary]

P1 Vettel
P2 Button
P3 Webber
P4 Alonso
P5 Schumacher
P6 Massa
P7 Hamilton

With just over a couple of minutes to go in Q3, there was an horrific off
by Sergio Perez in a Sauber, losing control on the exit of the tunnel
and crashing into the barrier at the chicane. Initial reports are that he
is conscious and talking but that his head is hurting.
Here's hoping he is OK. The HANS device may have literally saved his neck.

Rosberg also had a bad off there during the third practice session but
mechanics managed to repair the car for Q1.

During the debrief, Mark Webber suggested that in light of the crashes, there
are obviously aspects of that part of the track worthy of a safety review.

[Waxing_Gibbous (Peter)]

Perez is apparently alive and well, the 'crumple zone' having done its job and the barriers deforming nicely.
It's truly amazing the sorts of crashes an F1 car can sustain and leave the driver virtually unhurt. If I bingled my car at 290kph you'd be scraping bits of fat guy of the road for weeks!
Unfortunately, despite the atmosphere, Monaco is a bit of a parade. Barring misfortune or a truly lucky pass, the order rarely changes from start to finish.
Look forward to it, none-the-less.

[Omaroo (Chris Malikoff)]

I agree Peter - Monaco doesn't afford many passing opportunities, especially in the modern F1 era where the cars are all fast, all mostly reliable and technology like KERS brings them all onto the same playing field.

I'm not sure that I don't prefer some aspects of the good old days where the whole point was to go out on a limb and build the absolute best car that would blitz the field that year - until your competitors did the same next year in an even better car. The "formula", I think, is too rigid now and designed to flatten advantage. Think back to the days of the 6-wheeled P34 Tyrrell - what a departure from the norm. Radically different, it only required a little more development by the manufacturer on the tyres it used up front before it may have become super-competitive. I don't think that the governing body would allow this sort of departure from the rules these days. A bit sad in some ways.

I think that any of the top ten drivers could win in the best car on the day. Vettel is a bit of a thorn in that little theory though - he's reminding me of Shuey a short few years back. The combination of his skills and tenacity, along with the setup on his Red Bull puts him a only whisker ahead of everyone else, and that is enough given everything else is consistent.

All that aside, Monaco "is" Formula One to me. What a wonderful tradition that track holds. Looking forward to tonight's stoush.

[gary]

Wow. What a race.

Pity about Mark's first pit stop.

Canada in two weeks.

[mithrandir (Andrew)]

I thought they said at the restart they were going to wave the lapped traffic through, so the unlapped ones could race unobstructed.

Again Webber proves he can be the fastest man on the track.

Does Hamilton get a time penalty or a DSQ for causing the second avoidable accident?

[scagman (John)]

Originally Posted by gary

Wow. What a race.

Pity about Mark's first pit stop.

Canada in two weeks.

Great race, pitty about the red flag would have been an interesting last seven laps.
A few teams had problems sounds like they were all having comms issues in pit lane. BBC was having difficulties too.

Originally Posted by mithrandir

I thought they said at the restart they were going to wave the lapped traffic through, so the unlapped ones could race unobstructed.

Again Webber proves he can be the fastest man on the track.

Does Hamilton get a time penalty or a DSQ for causing the second avoidable accident?

Hopefully a DSQ, Maldonado should be awarded 6th in his place. Unfortunaly thats not how it works.

[Waxing_Gibbous (Peter)]

Originally Posted by Waxing_Gibbous

Unfortunately, despite the atmosphere, Monaco is a bit of a parade.

OK. I'll eat my word's on this year's race.
Some actual passing occured along with a decent amount of flat-out driving - not usually a hallmark of Monaco.
Massa's attempted pass in the tunnel was truly fooolhardy but spectacular, so he wins big points for that. Very Senna-esque.
The red-flag finish was a real dissapointment though. It looked like we were going to have a good old scrap right to the end.

Chris - yer right about Monaco being F1. It certainly rolls it all up and puts it on a gold-edged platter!
I've been twice, but my first was the best - 1979.
Tickets cost a then ruinous $25 and another $35 got you a pit-pass!!!!
My mate and I were astounded - walking amoung the actual pits, talking to the engineers and if lucky, the drivers. I think he lifted something from the Ferrari garage (he's Italian) as by race time they were all scampering about looking for something while he looked decidedly guilty!!
The second time, I was working for Shell and had to spend the whole weekend schmoozing people, so I didn't actually see much of the race. I did meet the Red Team tho' and they were quite a lot of fun (despite being a McLaren guy).
I have no idea what it costs now and I probably wouldn't enjoy it as much
but it's definately worth a see.

[Omaroo (Chris Malikoff)]

Originally Posted by Waxing_Gibbous

Chris - yer right about Monaco being F1. It certainly rolls it all up and puts it on a gold-edged platter!
I've been twice, but my first was the best - 1979.
Tickets cost a then ruinous $25 and another $35 got you a pit-pass!!!!
My mate and I were astounded - walking amoung the actual pits, talking to the engineers and if lucky, the drivers. I think he lifted something from the Ferrari garage (he's Italian) as by race time they were all scampering about looking for something while he looked decidedly guilty!!
The second time, I was working for Shell and had to spend the whole weekend schmoozing people, so I didn't actually see much of the race. I did meet the Red Team tho' and they were quite a lot of fun (despite being a McLaren guy).
I have no idea what it costs now and I probably wouldn't enjoy it as much
but it's definately worth a see.

What a great experience that would have been - right in the heyday (in my opinion) of Formula One. Ferrari and Alfa Romeo V12s in the tunnel.... what a noise.

[gary]

Originally Posted by Waxing_Gibbous

I've been twice, but my first was the best - 1979.
Tickets cost a then ruinous $25 and another $35 got you a pit-pass!!!!
My mate and I were astounded - walking amoung the actual pits, talking to the engineers and if lucky, the drivers.

Hi Peter,

Thanks for the great anecdotes.

I looked up the results of the '79 race and the Ferrari of the late Gilles Villeneuve
retired on the 55th lap with transmission problems, however Jody Scheckter did
manage to win in his Ferrari.

What was telling was of the 25 drivers in '79, only 4 managed to complete
the full 76 laps! 5 were DNQ but 16 retired either due to mechanical problems
or accidents.

Results - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1979_Monaco_Grand_Prix


A couple of the more daring moves yesterday was when Sebastien Vettel
and Jensen Button both got away with kissing a couple of princesses when they
received their trophies. Both drivers seemed to escape turning into frogs.
Vettel tempted fate again by squirting that royal guard in the face with champagne.
The guard did well to remain composed and to keep standing at attention but he
might have got a dressing down when he returned to the barracks for reeking of alcohol.

[Peter Ward]

Originally Posted by Waxing_Gibbous

Perez is apparently alive and well, the 'crumple zone' having done its job and the barriers deforming nicely.
It's truly amazing the sorts of crashes an F1 car can sustain and leave the driver virtually unhurt.

What? Speed doesn't kill?? Does this mean the government in Oz has been lying to me all these years !?

[gregbradley]

Vettel is showing Webber up pretty badly. Webber is good but Vettel seems to have the edge over him consistently. Vettel seems to be growing in confidence and ability. Its a shame, Mark had that great opportunity to win the championship last year and it probably was his one and only chance. I don't think there are too many 2nd chances in Formula 1. That's sport I guess.

Greg.

[The_bluester (Paul)]

Originally Posted by Waxing_Gibbous

OK. I'll eat my word's on this year's race.
Some actual passing occured along with a decent amount of flat-out driving - not usually a hallmark of Monaco.
Massa's attempted pass in the tunnel was truly fooolhardy but spectacular, so he wins big points for that. Very Senna-esque.
The red-flag finish was a real dissapointment though. It looked like we were going to have a good old scrap right to the end.

Actually by what I saw it was the other way around. First up Hamilton barged Massa in the hairpin and then forced his way alongside him into the tunnel which forced Massa wide and on to the marbles. From there it was nearly a foregone conclusion what was goint to be the result.

The red flag was the low point of the race for me, it was shaping up to be a real fight for the poduim positions but as they all stopped and all dropped on fresh tyres it put paid to that and it was basically a procession out the front. The only high point of the finish was Webber getting the jump on Kobayashi into the chicane. Good racecraft to put him in a position where he had to either concede the place and drop in behind him, or try to hang on on the outside and and most likely (As actually happened) miss the chicane meaning that he had to concede the place anyway.

It is hard to imagine a place that would be more unlikely to get a GP if they made a pitch for one at FOM. If you proposed the Monaco layout as a new circuit you would hear nothing but howling laughter! But surely it would be the one GP that is safe as long as the city wants to keep on having it there. How do you ignore a history like that?

[gary]

Originally Posted by gregbradley

Vettel is showing Webber up pretty badly. Webber is good but Vettel seems to have the edge over him consistently. Vettel seems to be growing in confidence and ability. Its a shame, Mark had that great opportunity to win the championship last year and it probably was his one and only chance. I don't think there are too many 2nd chances in Formula 1. That's sport I guess.

Greg.

Hi Greg,

Vettel at the moment is clearly in a class of his own compared to everyone else.

However, Mark is currently third in the driver's championship and most of the
other drivers and teams arguably have more to worry about.

The KERS issues continue to plague Red Bull. Mark's KERS died on the way to
the grid in Malaysia, it was not working even on Thursday's practice. Likewise
it worked intermittently for Vettel in Spain and either has not worked or worked
intermittently in most other races.
See http://www.yallaf1.com/2011/05/26/re...ers-at-monaco/

Case in point, consider the current position of the Ferrari team.
During the Barcelona race, Alonso got an early jump on Mark, who had polled P1,
but after that Mark appeared to be held up by the Ferrari like a motorist
stuck behind someone towing a caravan. A car made by an energy drink company
being slowed down by one who's company has been making them for 82 years and
is synonymous with the sport. Red Bull's currently leading driver has more than
double the points of the leading Ferrari driver and Red Bull's "number two" driver
has more points than the two-times World Champion leading Ferrari driver and
over three times as many points as the "number two" Ferrari driver.

Other teams must be even more despondent.

I would imagine some of the engineer's in the other teams must be thinking something
along the lines of "heaven help us if Red Bull sort out their KERS issues".

[gregbradley]

I agree, Mark is doing great. Although I imagine he is frustrated by the fact that Vettel is doing so well and he is his team mate. Who knows there may be favouritism within the team and Vettel is getting it all his way with car setup, first choice etc. I can imagine the internal politics of a team like that.

Greg.

[torana68 (Roger)]

it was a good race to watch and its a nice place to visit i just wonder how Mr Webber would be going if whats his name wasnt the other driver in the team......

[scagman (John)]

Originally Posted by Peter Ward

What? Speed doesn't kill?? Does this mean the government in Oz has been lying to me all these years !?

Yep they sure have. Its not the speed that gets you, its the sudden stop at the end that does the harm.

[mithrandir (Andrew)]

Originally Posted by scagman

Yep they sure have. Its not the speed that gets you, its the sudden stop at the end that does the harm.

Even that isn't quite right. It's the sudden stop with insufficient crash protection.

That's not counting the hurt the government's revenue raisers cause you.

[Waxing_Gibbous (Peter)]

Gary,
Thanks for posting that.
As a good Canuk, my mate was barracking for GV but I was still a McLaren boy.
I honestly can't remember too many details but I do remeber a tiff in the Williams garage.
Word has it that Regazzoni and Jones HATED each other (more the former) as Regga was a bit of a Diva whereas Jones was a real 'Bloke's Bloke' and (I think) PW was reading CR the riot act about what was what.
or it could have been an argument about German beer.

Paul: Monaco was laid out when the cars were half the width they are now (curiously not a lot slower and with worse brakes!). Passing was not uncommon and the whole thing just reeked of wealth, daring-do and the 'Champagne' lifestyle - everything F1 was meant to be. Death and injury were unfortunate, but that's why you got paid the big bucks!

Gotta agree with Chris that the mid 70's to mid 80's were the high point of F1. Unpredictable cars, drivers that drank -before the race! - cheating was an accepted art form and lap-tops hadn't been invented. Siiighhhh.
One thing that hasn't changed though is the smell of the fuel.
It probably gives you nine kinds of brain damage but..........intoxicating!!!!!!

Looking forward to Montreal. That last corner is one of the best.