2014 Monaco Grand Prix

[henra]

Lewis definitely looked a little faster today and had he been in front would probably have been able to pull a gap to Nico at a tenth or two per lap.

I partly disagree.
On the supersofts at the beginning you are surely right. Towards the end on the Mediums Hamilton seemed to be mostly a tiny bit slower. The gap closed down again a couple of times due to Rosberg being held up by lapped cars. He lost 2s+ leads three times due to that ending up again only 0,6 - 0,8s in front of Hamilton. Then increased the gap again in two to three tenths per lap. Probably Hamitons Mediums started to deteriorate earlier than Rosbergs.
The eye problem finally opened the gap up massively but at that time Hamilton was already more than 2s behind Rosberg again.
Anyway the difference either way was so small that whoever of the two would be in the lead after the pit stop would safely win the race.
Overtaking was difficult even between cars whose lap times differed by 2s+.
Sounds almost like a Monaco GP...

[CHT]

Just finish reading the press conference. Media is really milking on nr and LH rivalry. Can obviously tell who is happy and who is not. The part on pit call is really blunt. Both drivers singing different tune. And also there was a race strategy call to only overtake at the start and pit stop.

[johnsonwax]

Well, tough luck for Lewis, but that's racing. Good job saying in there with the vision problems, though - that could have ended much worse. Nico did exactly what he was supposed to, so all credit to him, and glad to see Lewis didn't do anything rash.

That's got to be encouraging for RB. I'm sure Nico was backing off once he got a gap above Lewis, but RB was definitely matching Lewis's pace there at the end. Looks like Mercedes perfect season is pretty well assured at this point.

[ScottB]

Nico grinning his way through any questions related to his 'mistake' yesterday leaves a bad taste in the mouth. Personally if I was Lewis I'd see it as a sign of how rattled I had got him; either he was pushing so hard to try and rival him he binned it, or he was so desperate he pulled a Schumi.

Seriously impressive stuff to drive with one eye, never mind around Monaco. And of course, a massive well done to Bianchi and Marussia. Great to see them score some points at last.

[iotar__]

It's not like there are many strategy options in Monaco on a one-stopper with safety car, nothing to talk about really, unlike Spain for example. Fuel games made pace comparison difficult but I didn't notice "Hamilton was faster" part before red mist or whatever it was .

Raikkonen has a clumsy overtake in a weird place in Monaco that causes two cars to stop across the track = reprimand
Maldonado has clumsy wheel to wheel with Ericsson = automatic 5 s (even worse for Magnussen in Australia)
If they are not giving away penalties based on name and a team I don't know what it is. FIA continues to be a joke that can pick and choose whatever it wants out of pool of penalties with no consistency. If you penalise those earlier ones you have to penalise this one, simple. Reprimand - reserved for proffered teams and drivers - Webber and Rosberg used to get them too instead of drive-throughs.

[iotar__]

Nico grinning his way through any questions related to his 'mistake' yesterday leaves a bad taste in the mouth. Personally if I was Lewis I'd see it as a sign of how rattled I had got him; either he was pushing so hard to try and rival him he binned it, or he was so desperate he pulled a Schumi.

Seriously impressive stuff to drive with one eye, never mind around Monaco. And of course, a massive well done to Bianchi and Marussia. Great to see them score some points at last.

How dares he enjoy Monaco win. What would you prefer: Rosberg enjoying win or Rosberg cutting across and forcing Hamilton to slow down or causing a collision like it happened in Bahrain? Schumacher comparison again? It was similar to Schumacher only in internet world of fiction and fanaticism.

[ScottB]

Nico grinning his way through any questions related to his 'mistake' yesterday leaves a bad taste in the mouth. Personally if I was Lewis I'd see it as a sign of how rattled I had got him; either he was pushing so hard to try and rival him he binned it, or he was so desperate he pulled a Schumi.

Seriously impressive stuff to drive with one eye, never mind around Monaco. And of course, a massive well done to Bianchi and Marussia. Great to see them score some points at last.

How dares he enjoy Monaco win. What would you prefer: Rosberg enjoying win or Rosberg cutting across and forcing Hamilton to slow down or causing a collision like it happened in Bahrain? Schumacher comparison again? It was similar to Schumacher only in internet world of fiction and fanaticism.

He was grinning after quali as well. Personally, if it was a mistake, I'd be somewhat embarrassed to have binned it and ruined other people's laps.

The Schumacher comparison is entirely valid, as long as there is doubt over whether it was a mistake or not, and frankly, there always will be, it will of course be compared to Schumi.

No idea however how it is remotely comparable to the Bahrain racing incident.

[tranquility2k4]

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/114138

Hamilton revealed after the Monaco GP that Rosberg had used a similar aggressive engine setting in his bid to snatch victory in Bahrain earlier this year.

Wolff said that their actions have now forced a clampdown on the drivers, with neither now allowed to play around with the mappings settings on their own.

"It's never going to happen again," declared Wolff.

[mikeerfol]

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/114138

Hamilton revealed after the Monaco GP that Rosberg had used a similar aggressive engine setting in his bid to snatch victory in Bahrain earlier this year.

Wolff said that their actions have now forced a clampdown on the drivers, with neither now allowed to play around with the mappings settings on their own.

"It's never going to happen again," declared Wolff.

It's also mentioned that Hamilton did the same in Spain.

[tranquility2k4]

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/114138

Hamilton revealed after the Monaco GP that Rosberg had used a similar aggressive engine setting in his bid to snatch victory in Bahrain earlier this year.

Wolff said that their actions have now forced a clampdown on the drivers, with neither now allowed to play around with the mappings settings on their own.

"It's never going to happen again," declared Wolff.

It's also mentioned that Hamilton did the same in Spain.

Yes which is implied by the quote which says "Rosberg had used a similar aggregsive engine setting." I was actually the person who posted about this before the race today, so I'm not trying to be bias, just update the situation for anyone who hasn't seen yet.

[komninosm]

I think Nico used all his celebrations up yesterday after he got pole.

Justifiably so. Not that it isn't an achievement to throw a car with 100 mph between what basically is twisty armco-lined alley in downtown Monaco. But this win will always remain discussed, and not for the brilliant driving.

In my 35 years of watching F1, I have seem many people lose first places through driver errors, this is the first time I actually see someone possibly get one because of one

What about Monaco 2008 then? Hamilton crashed early in the race and destroyed his wheel, which forced him to pit early. But it turned out this put him onto a winning strategy, as his intermediates were just perfectly worn when the track was drying up, which enabled him to continue on slick intermediates after the others had to pit again, which in turn saved him from making another stop. A safety car in the right moment helped him make up much of the time lost as a result of the early pit stop forced by his mistake.

I am not trying to take anything away from Hamilton, as he was awesome after the first stop. But his strategy was a typical gamble that one makes when in a difficult position with little to loose. In that race, the safety car and the weather conditions played into his favour, but without Hamilton's mistake, his strategy would most likely have been similar to the other front runners. But at the end of the day, Hamilton won in 2008 because he was quickest, just as Rosberg took pole yesterday because he was quickest.

By the way I still don't understand why Hamilton was behind Rosberg on track. He was behind Rosberg during qualifying at Barcelona as well, so I would have thought it fair to alternate and let Rosberg qualify after Hamilton this time. I don't remember what has been the order on the first 4 tracks, so maybe someone who has that information could share it.

Except Hamilton in 2008 didn't ruin anybody else's race/qualify, just his own, so it's a different case.

BTW what exactly did happen to Hamilton's eye?

[aral]

BTW what exactly did happen to Hamilton's eye?

The tears obscured his vision.

[RZS10]

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/114138

Hamilton revealed after the Monaco GP that Rosberg had used a similar aggressive engine setting in his bid to snatch victory in Bahrain earlier this year.

Wolff said that their actions have now forced a clampdown on the drivers, with neither now allowed to play around with the mappings settings on their own.

"It's never going to happen again," declared Wolff.

Well the drivers are the ones who change settings on the wheel... so how are they supposed to prevent that from happening? they surely know which setting/map does what ... or will they race with a predefined settings?

Funny how they talk about "open racing" between the drivers and yet they are not allowed to change their settings without consent from the pitwall even if they have saved more fuel or can't come into the pits spontaneously if they see a crash happening ... what a joke

[AlexJ]

Funny how they talk about "open racing" between the drivers and yet they are not allowed to change their settings without consent from the pitwall even if they have saved more fuel ...

More aggressive settings will be more damaging to engines and gearboxes, if Lewis and Nico are only racing each other it makes sense to limit both to a "safe" maximum setting.

[MercedesAMGSpy]

BTW what exactly did happen to Hamilton's eye?

The tears obscured his vision.

We will see in Canada.