2016 Monaco Grand Prix - Monte Carlo, Thu 26 – Sun 29 May

[turbof1]

@notsofast: mind the wording. He FEELS he is being robbed. So he underlines it's a sentiment. He is obviously speaking out of emotion, so we shouldn't take it like Red Bull consciously decided "let's get him a few victory chances lighter".

Remember: these guys are human beings who can be massively dissapointed just the same.

[Vasconia]

“It’s very disappointing to finish Carlos’ race only in P8, when we know we have a package which has the performance to be at least within the top five. The main reason for this result was the first pit-stop, during which we lost two seconds and where Perez, Vettel and Hulkenberg passed us. Therefore, Carlos ended up behind this train of cars and couldn’t use all the potential of the car, but he did a solid race and showed a really good performance.

I lost the count about how many points STR poor pitstops has cost them...[/quote]

He was ahead of Perez and Nico H. His long runs were great so yes, a podium was a real chance. This mistake costed him a podium in Monaco, one can imagine how angry he must be right now.

And now come Montreal where TR will suffer. .

[Vasconia]

Please don´t be fooled by manoah2u, I have no frustrations at all at the respect, IMO Carlos is lucky enough o be driving a F1 car.

This said, I think he´s performing better than most people (or at least myself) expected. But that´s quite far from thinking he deserve a RBR seat, or I´m frustrated because of some other driver promotion.


I´ve praised Max when he deserve it, like in Spain, when I highlighted how impressive was his race holding back Kimi. I´ve also stated more than once that IMO he´s faster than Carlos. But same as I praise him when deserved, I also criticize him when deserved, even if some people can´t cope with deserved criticism to his favourite....

His performance was more than enough to deserve a seat in F1. RB/TR dont promote drivers becase of luck. Moreover, his tests with a RB during the last year were more than impressive.

His racecraft still needs a step forward but his pure speed is great, just take a look this quali battles with Max during 2015.

His peformance in TR has been better than some people had expected and I think it would be the same(or better) with a RB. I still remember that Ricciardo seemed to be a good driver during his TR era, but no one expected he was that good until he drove a RB.

[Phil]

2. At Monaco, HAM was in the lead and pitted first. Normally, whoever pits first gets an advantage because of the undercut. I heard no announcements beforehand that an overcut would be better at Monaco. So, it seemed perfectly reasonable to me for HAM to stay in the lead ahead of RIC, regardless of RIC's pitstop situation.

I thought so too, but you have to consider that

1.) the track was wet and drying and at the time, slicks were a calculated risk
2.) the track was also cold, hence very difficult to bring those slicks up to the temperature working range

This led to the case that Ricciardo on his intermediates was quicker on the lap he stayed out longer than Hamilton was the lap he came out on slicks. In fact, Ricciardo was probably slower on his first lap on slicks too (relative to the lap before on his intermediates), but because track position is key in Monaco, he couldn't afford to stay out too long.

The other option would have been to pit earlier, but again, given the slicks had to be turned on, pitting first would have meant he would have stayed behind as well.

Under dry track conditions (with hot surface temperatures), it's the other way around - fresher tire yields quicker time, hence undercut gains you time, not loses. Monaco is somewhat atypical circuit - track position is everything and it's also very bumpy street circuit where other factors apply.

[SparkyAMG]

Red Bull reacted to Hamilton's quick sector 1 and 2, but had they left Ricciardo out for a lap longer they'd have had an even bigger advantage as it took Hamilton forever to get through the still wet S3.

I was at the race in the grandstand before Rascasse... I saw Hamilton go past as Ricciardo entered the pits. I thought Hamilton clearly had it in the bag, but despite Red Bull's botched pit stop they still came out so close together.

Ultimately they weren't perfectly timed pit stops as the intermediate would still have been quicker overall for another couple laps, but Ham and Ric were so far ahead they could afford to get it wrong without losing track position.

[Shrieker]

The Bull was clearly much superior to Merc. on cold tires. It was very evident at VSC restarts.

[Andres125sx]

I wonder if anyone can share any insights with respect to the following.

1. As far as I remember, the 3-stop strategy was calculated and announced to be faster than the 2-stop strategy in Barcelona. Pirelli even said so during the pitwalk. It seemed perfectly reasonable to me that VET and RIC, as the respective #1 drivers of their teams, were put on the faster strategy. In hindsight, it turned out that the 2-stop strategy was faster. But VET and RIC were complaining as if they were somehow robbed or mistreated.

Take it this way, there´s always an optimum strategy, at least considered by computers and simulators. But those simulators can´t take into account traffic, so usually, when difference is not huge (most cases), teams always consider that optimum strategy, and next one (one less pit-stop) because even if it´s a bit slower, one less pitstop usually is faster in real world because you´re the one causing traffic (you´re not stuck behind anyone so you can achieve the predicted laptimes), instead of the optimum strategy wich force you to overtake slower cars on track (those who chose one less pit-stop), and we all know how difficutl is to overtake, so best strategy for computers in real world usually is not the fastest, because if you get stuck behind traffic you cannot achieve predicted laptimes, so the strategy becomes slower than predicted.

That´s in any normal situation, when you´re leading the race it would be stupid to go for a strategy that put you into traffic, even if simulators say that´s the fastest one. If that race is on a track where overtaking is very difficult, like Montmelo, conspiracy theories arrise, because none can understand how RBR tought best strategy for Ric was a 3 stopper in Montmelo while leading the race

2. At Monaco, HAM was in the lead and pitted first. Normally, whoever pits first gets an advantage because of the undercut. I heard no announcements beforehand that an overcut would be better at Monaco. So, it seemed perfectly reasonable to me for HAM to stay in the lead ahead of RIC, regardless of RIC's pitstop situation. If anything, I was surprised the gap was so small. But RIC is complaining again that he was somehow robbed of a win.

I don´t think Ric was angry because of that, but because of the mistake in pits. Anycase with mixed conditions like we saw in Monaco, an undercut does not work because the supposed advantage of new tires is reduced or eliminated by low temperatures wich make it difficult to put your tires into the operating window, so instead of a fast lap once you go out of pits, they need to warm up his tires for one or two laps before that new tire is really faster than the old one wich was worn out, but at correct temperature, so undercut is not posible with cold temperatures

[Racer X]

Well that's just impressive I'm a Hulk/Perez fan and I'm glad Force India has both my drivers....
Haha for the Record I'm not a Force India Fan they just have the both drivers I like.

Perez reminds me of Fisichella and Heidfeld who always over performed in mid-field cars but then struggled when they moved up to a top team. They also had moments of brilliance, but on the whole were mediocre. Perez has been in F1 long enough now that most teams have seen that, which is why he's not being considered by any top teams. Unfortunately he's simply not WDC material.

I completely disagree when he was at McLaren they were a low midfield team like they are now McLaren hasn't been a top team in a while now they are a top team in the History books. But they are not a member of the top 4 since Lewis left.

So your comparison does not fit the he driven Saubers and Force Indias into podiums.

6 of them but I'm not surprised your with the crowd that ignores the young Mexican you point out his time in F1 against him. Might I remind you he's young and still developing.

I disagree completely time will tell if a top team takes him or not.

I believe he's a great driver Wether or not a top team takes him. Taking a car like Sauber/Force India into 6 podiums.

No other driver has done this with this frequency. But let's hope Ferrari pick up their Academy Driver back up Kimi is leaving and Perez has always eventually out performed his teammates.

We will see what happens we are fans after all and that's all we can do is enjoy or dislike the performances of the drivers.

Personally I have enjoyed every podium all 6 of them because they were done In slower lesser cars then the likes of Ferrari Redbull and Mercedes back in their time also McLaren that's 6 other cars better then him at any given GP.

Not to mention other midfield teams that are also better then his car. Yet he's got the 6 podiums. If bottas was better he would do the same.
But no the Williams needs to be JUST RIGHT for him to do something like this.

Sergio on the other hand we have seen it many race's will start at the back and drive his way up the grid.

So I disagree for many reasons. But let's just watch as Ferrari sign him with all the Money they would get from Carlos Slim I'm just they wouldn't mind having Perez.

It wouldn't be the first time they have a Mexican in their team. Let's see how he does in The next few races.

Remember this was Monaco in wet conditions. Vettel could not handle the car when he started going just as fast as Perez. He needed to slow back down. In a Ferrari.

Monaco + Water definitely makes the machinery less relevant and makes the drivers be more of a factor here.

We're talking about Monaco just remember this and he was 3 seconds faster then the front runners that's how he caught up.
From 7th in the track famous for not letting people make up ground.... in the slower compound.

Senna was praised for being 2 seconds quicker in race then his opponents why is Perez 3 seconds quicker not impressive.

But we will see what the top teams do. What I have to say is just an opinion and I can only enjoy watching the guy driver knowning he can get a podium this race... if not the next regardless of him not being in a top car. Because that's how good he is Perez is always ready to take a podium. That's why I'm a fan.

[dans79]

The Bull was clearly much superior to Merc. on cold tires. It was very evident at VSC restarts.

I've wondered if RBR wasn't running more of a wet setup, because at the end Lewis just pulled away from Ricardo but based on the tires they were using it should have been the opposite.

[Jolle]

The Bull was clearly much superior to Merc. on cold tires. It was very evident at VSC restarts.

I've wondered if RBR wasn't running more of a wet setup, because at the end Lewis just pulled away from Ricardo but based on the tires they were using it should have been the opposite.

I think it was for ROS his biggest problem. He couldn't get the wet tires/brakes hot enough. Then it's like a downward spiral. For Hamilton, it might be the setup but also the US's. It did look like how harder the tires the better they warmed up. Plus that HAM was driving as slow as possible to do 40 laps on the US.

[Andres125sx]

The Bull was clearly much superior to Merc. on cold tires. It was very evident at VSC restarts.

I've wondered if RBR wasn't running more of a wet setup, because at the end Lewis just pulled away from Ricardo but based on the tires they were using it should have been the opposite.

Lewis said on Sky, after the race, RBR was using more downforce than they (Mercedes) can. He used the word "can", so I take it as RBR highest DF setup provide more DF than Mercedes highest DF setup

I found it quite interesting as it does explain RBR perfomance and specially perfomance difference with Mercedes in this race. It might be that RBR chasis is not that good compared to Mercedes (one might think RBR chasis is the best by far for any track), but it was that good only for this track where RBR can use more DF.


BTW, I really wonder what´s the real connection between RBR and STR, because both performed even better than expected, so I´d say STR also enjoy a very high DF setup. Are they still sharing aero or at least some related info or not?

[FoxHound]

Yet Mercedes could ran the ultra soft for as long as red bull on super softs.

So making any comparison regarding car performance is negated instantly due to both drivers having to nurse their tyres for 45+ laps.

[PhillipM]

That and respective performance was more about tyre temperature management than downforce.

[FoxHound]

That and respective performance was more about tyre temperature management than downforce.

Yes...as I was alluding to.

[djos]

Either way, Hamilton is now 24 points away from Rosberg if i'm correct. That means that if next race Lewis wins, and Nico gets his share of technical problem and gets a DNF then Lewis is 1 point in front of him and leading the Championship.

I'm thinking Lewis' confidence will have a massive leap forward now.

Only thing i really really did NOT like was that sack of sh*t Bieber so present there......

RedBull screwed up. that issue with the tires for such a team is frankly unforgivable. Had he had the tires ready, he would have won this race by a big margin. Drove his heart out.
If RedBull are fearing Ric is heading towards Ferrari, they pretty much just gave him a ticket there now by digging their own grave and screwing him over. good luck on fixing that.

Dan would be insane to go to Ferrari, they haven't produced a decent front running chassis in years.