2013 Monaco Grand Prix

[raymondu999]

2012




2013
Tyres - Soft (prime, yellow) and Supersoft (option, red)

2012
Tyres - Soft (prime, yellow) and Supersoft (option, red)
Winner - Mark Webber (Supersoft - Soft)

2011
Tyres - Soft (prime, yellow) and Supersoft (option, red)
Winner - Sebastian Vettel (Supersoft - Soft - Supersoft)

2012 pole lap (Schumacher qualified P1, but was given a 5-place grid drop)
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-qTltwW1-o[/youtube]

[Sombrero]

The question is : will Pirelli destroy also this classical race ? The chance are good this year after the wonderful 5 first races we had !

[raymondu999]

Well past signs are encouraging. Pirelli tyres have in 2011 and 2012 always been strong enough to one-stop Monaco.

[SamH123]

If the Merc get another 1-2 (and that looks pretty likely) that could be one hell of a train

[rssh]

The question is who do you vote for pole ROS or HAM ? Also I think Merc can realistically win Monaco because the leading car control the pace and unless they destroy their rear tyres like Vettel did in 2009 they can claim victory . They need a wingman policy i.e. 2 placed runner hold up the field behind and the winner should be decided on Saturday .

I know this is a driver circuit where driver makes the difference but Merc advantage in mechanical grip is pretty good and the drivers aren't slouch .

Next race for me is Canada because I really never like Monaco except for 2011 because SEB , ALO and BUT were on different strategy and anything could have happened ,last year was a bore fest.

[Miguel]

Well past signs are encouraging. Pirelli tyres have in 2011 and 2012 always been strong enough to one-stop Monaco.

The truth is, in 2011 Vettel made it due to the safety car, and in 2012 everyone was expecting rain, which forced everybody into a wait-and-see strategy, with mostly everyone driving to a delta. A very slow delta. Didn't Perez get the fastest lap there by about 2s or something (check: 1.2s over Hulkenberg)?

Given both Merc drivers are very strong in Monaco and given how that car qualifies, anything that's not a Merc first row lockout would be a surprise to me. To be fair, I can't see Ferrari better than 5th come Saturday. I'm tempted to put a fiver on Hamilton, though. If the race pans out like 2012, Merc isn't an outside bet.

[Hobbs04]

Looking at Mercedes sector 3 times in Spain it is their pole to lose in Monaco, but even if its a train, once everyone pits Mercedes will be unable stretch their first stint to cover everyone. I see a decent result for Mercedes but they won't win.

My gut says if Lotus could get on 2nd row they could get by on the first round of stops and then just manage the gap like webber in 2010.

[Hobbs04]

I don't think red bull have the tires worked out just yet. They tried to play with Lotus and Ferrari in Spain and got beat both ways. They couldn't keep up with Alonso nor hang on to the tires like Kimi.

In Monaco they need to run their race.

[Mika1]

If Mercedes wants to win a race this season, it has to be the Monaco Grand Prix.

[SiLo]

Needless to say, I will be putting a bet on a Mercedes pole in Monaco. Really hope the tyres don't destroy the race!

[raymondu999]

My gut says if Lotus could get on 2nd row they could get by on the first round of stops and then just manage the gap like webber in 2010.

Disagree. The Lotus was woeful last year here

[f1universe]

Really curious about the undercut in this race.

[Blackout]

Disagree. The Lotus was woeful last year here

Disagree. Grosjean was allways amongst the top 3 last year in FP1, FP2 and FP3. And despite a sudden change on the tires behaviour between FP3 and qualy (another one), he still managed to qualify 4th IIRC.
Then he crashed at the start but it wasnt entirely his fault.

[raymondu999]

Disagree. The Lotus was woeful last year here

Disagree. Grosjean was allways amongst the top 3 last year in FP1, FP2 and FP3. And despite a sudden change on the tires behaviour between FP3 and qualy (another one), he still managed to qualify 4th IIRC.
Then he crashed at the start but it wasnt entirely his fault.

Which effectively means Raikkonen was the only available benchmark - and he opened up a pitstop gap to P2 man Rosberg by Lap 25, despite a safety car over the first few laps. He couldn't even hang on to the prime-tyred Vettel at race start.

[Neno]

Lotus last year was weird plant, who worked very well in normal conditions but when suddenly temperature of track as weather changed it's stopped, and losed performances. Exactly this happened in Monaco, when where are stabile conditions Lotus was pretty fast there, fp1, fp2 and fp3 pointing on that. Well at least in Grosjean hands, but not forget Grosjean had advantage and it was "faster" driver then Kimi (who struggled with his steering wheel, as he lost one fp just to change their steering wheel). But everything point Lotus was competitve in those conditions, but when rain come as usual for them they lost performances (as they could not heat up tires in one lap as is crucial in monaco with traffic. Not forget everyone had their coanda exaust, which helps heating up tires. It's no wonder why Lotus chose use tunnel ramp exaust, because ramp work better in slow corners and that is one of E20 greatest weaknesses.

I dont see Lotus struggling in Monaco because they were pretty competitive on every track, not maybe for pole (better traction have at least Red Bulls and Mercedes) but i see them getting stuck behind mercedes who will just as in bahrein and barcelona qualifies front.