Dutch Patriot said:

Shocking!

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Yeah, but this is the 6th race, you'd think they would've done something about the quali pace by now.

DBT85 said:

I thought for a second that Hamilton had crossed the line in time to do another lap but clearly not.

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He did but didn't go for it

Would have have been nice to get 5th for Alonso, atleast the Mercs are in front of Vettel

brotkasten said:

Yeah, but this is the 6th race, you'd think they would've done something about the quali pace by now.

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Their qualifying has been sub-par for 4 season or something.

Hamilton just had a slow S1

DBT85 said:

Nico needs to get good points here. He's done well against Hamilton in Quali but he is well behind on points.

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Two DNFs and Malaysia. Looking at his speed he is actual on par with Hamilton maybe even faster.

Sky people are talking about 1-stop-strategies. What?

brotkasten said:

Sky people are talking about 1-stop-strategies. What?

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Yeah, it's Monaco. Nothing will happen to tyres..... Unless you are Mercedes!

Does anybody else find Herbert really shit? I mean really really shit?

Shaneus said:

Anyone ever run away before at Monaco?

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C'mon son, I shouldn't have to remind you about 2010. If it wasn't for the SC Webber would've been 30+ seconds clear of second place.

cmr-94 said:

Does anybody else find Herbert really shit? I mean really really shit?

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I think Hill is worse.

brotkasten said:

I think Hill is worse.

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At least Hill makes some sort of sense. Herbert doesn't only know what he himself is saying

well thats tomorrows race ruined, dont think i will bother watching it live, just wait for the bbc highlights

thanks a lot mercedes

Fernando and Kimi better watch their back, Perez is behind and if Webber botches his start again, this could turn into carnage

All 3 of the sky presenters are just terrible.

acm2000 said:

well thats tomorrows race ruined, dont think i will bother watching it live, just wait for the bbc highlights

thanks a lot mercedes

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I think it was probably the result that will cause more excitement for the race. Imagine Vettel on pole

Great qualifier. Q2 especially. It's a shame that Grosjean was impeded by the Sauber and Räikkönen didn't get the car working.

As for the race. All aboard the Mercedes train.

cmr-94 said:

At least Hill makes some sort of sense. Herbert doesn't only know what he himself is saying

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I can't decide who is better.
Herbert shows great enthusiasm, but hasn't a clue what he's talking about.
Hill raises some good points, but really looks like he doesn't want to be there.

duckroll said:

What a predictable result. Lol.

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Indeed. If Mercedes can't keep the lead in this circuit, I don't know where else they can.

MrKaepora said:

Indeed. If Mercedes can't keep the lead in this circuit, I don't know where else they can.

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Even if they can, I know where else they can.

Hint: Nowhere.

On the positive side, I got my pole prediction right, but on the negative side, Alonso in 6th is going to have to pull some sort of miracle out of the air to get 2nd like I predicted.

Should be an entertaining race, especially if it rains. I'm going to guess Vettel or Webber are going to bring it home, the Mercedes tyre wear & race pace just isn't there compared to the rest of the field.

Why is Alonso always so close to Kimi! Alonso is going to get past Kimi and Webber off the line

Shaneus said:

Anyone ever run away before at Monaco?

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Can't remember the year but Senna once crashed out at Monaco when he was a minute a head of second place.

Edit: 1988, he was 50 seconds a a head of Prost when he crashed.

Addnan said:

Why is Alonso always so close to Kimi! Alonso is going to get past Kimi and Webber off the line

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Kimi is starting from the clean side of the track this time though.

Addnan said:

Why is Alonso always so close to Kimi! Alonso is going to get past Kimi and Webber off the line

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I hope so. It's his only way to gather any significant points and I really hope we won't have a crash in the first corner.

PdotMichael said:

Two DNFs and Malaysia. Looking at his speed he is actual on par with Hamilton maybe even faster.

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Oh absolutely bad luck is mostly on his side right now same as it was for Hamilton last year.

But that just puts even more emphasis on Rosberg needing good points this weekend.

GP2 race 2 in 12 minutes. Can't wait!

brotkasten said:

GP2 race 2 in 12 minutes. Can't wait!

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Will it rain?

Boy, I'm so glad Sky is covering Red Bull's extreme sport guys. Money well spent, I'd say.

cmr-94 said:

Will it rain?

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Doesn't look like it's going to rain.

Light rain now & GP2 is about to start

Edit: track looks very slippery, could be a messy race!

Could be a great first corner lol

Bah.

EDIT: great overtake

Yep GP2 reminds me of why most F1 fans dislike Monaco.

Unless some one crashes then nothing happens

Edit: that might be slightly harsh - there have been a few good overtakes so far

Brilliant qualifying. Was worried for much of Q3 that some pillock was going to rob me of the chance to see how effective a Monaco Mercedes train can be, but gladly not.

Also I guessed pole correctly for the first time this year

I picked Hamilton for pole, so close.

It was on wtf1.co.uk. Well, I laughed :/

Shaneus said:

It was on wtf1.co.uk. Well, I laughed :/

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Yeah, saw this posted on Reddit Barcelona weekend. I laughed too.

duckroll said:

What makes Monaco interesting for me is the location and the tradition. Lots of nice visuals during the race, expensive boats, etc. As an actual race track I find that it tends to be a little boring, but this year the the tire strategy and performance could make it more interesting. The Mercedes team in particular have been scoring great poles this season, but never quite have the race performance for one reason or another, I'm definitely looking forward to seeing if they play this track to their advantage since it should really favor them.

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2012 Race Summary

The Monaco Grand Prix was the sixth of the season and began at 12:00 UTC (14:00 local). Conditions for the race were sunny with an ambient temperature of 22 °C (72 °F) and a track temperature of 35 °C (95 °F). Rain was forecast for the day but it was unclear whether the race would be affected. The race begun with humidity at 58%. Sebastian Vettel, Jenson Button, Paul di Resta, Vitaly Petrov and Pedro de la Rosa were the only drivers to start on the slower yellow-banded soft compound tyre, with the rest of the field either opting or being forced (by qualifying rules) to start on the red-banded super-soft compound.

As the race started both Mark Webber and Nico Rosberg got away cleanly and were first and second, respectively, as the field squabbled behind them. Fernando Alonso squeezed through the gap between Grosjean and McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton, but Grosjean clipped the rear left wheel of the Ferrari which in turn pushed him to the outside of the track and into the path of fast starting Michael Schumacher. Schumacher had nowhere to go as he was already right next to the wall and as a result Grosjean’s left rear wheel was forced into and over the Mercedes car's front right, which severely damaged the Lotus’s suspension. This sent Grosjean into a spin and he ended up broadside across the track at the entry to turn one. Other drivers tried to avoid crashing into each other and the stricken Grosjean, however some failed. Vettel, starting from ninth, clipped the front wing of the still moving Lotus but his car was undamaged. He and a number of others took the shortcut behind the apex of the first corner to avoid the mess. Sauber’s Kamui Kobayashi, who was right behind Vettel, decided to avoid Grosjean by passing him on the racing line. Before the Lotus finally came to a complete stop it rolled backwards slightly and its right rear tyre clipped the left rear of slow moving Kobayashi sending him into the air, nearly landing on Button’s McLaren. At the very back of the field, amidst all the chaos Pastor Maldonado, starting last, braked too late and crashed into the back of de la Rosa’s HRT, terminally damaging both his front wing and de la Rosa’s rear wing. Maldonado retired later in the lap. In order to permit safe clearance of the debris, the safety car was deployed.

The safety car was called in during the second lap after Grosjean and Maldonado's cars had been removed, while Kobayashi and de la Rosa made it back to the pits under their own power. Damage to de la Rosa's car forced his retirement, but following checks the Sauber was able to rejoin the race in 21st place. Schumacher was told by his team that his car seemed fine after the contact with Grosjean and he was able to continue.

On the restart nearly all drivers held their positions. Webber led Rosberg and Hamilton in an unchanged top three from the grid. Meanwhile, Kobayashi returned to the pits where he retired due to suspension damaged from the first corner incident with the Lotus. Webber was setting consecutive fastest laps while the stewards investigated various cars cutting the first corner to avoid Grosjean; no further action was taken.

After 13 laps the threat of rain forced teams to not pit stop early so as not to change tyres again if it did eventually rain. Petrov pitted on lap 16 only to retire as he had an electrical problem. As the track temperature dropped both Ferraris, in fourth and fifth, started to pick up pace and set quick lap times.

By lap 23 the sole remaining Sauber of Sergio Pérez was the only car making multiple overtaking moves, up to 15th from his 23rd place grid spot. Meanwhile, Schumacher pressured a struggling Kimi Räikkönen as the Lotus driver was told to stay out and wait for predicted rain. Thanks to Räikkönen’s pace, a gap formed that allowed Rosberg to pit on lap 27, to switch to the soft compound tyre, and return to the track without any nearby traffic.

Leaders Webber and Hamilton followed Rosberg’s lead and pitted the next lap. Alonso, now in first place, stayed out for another lap during which he set consecutive fastest sectors by nearly a second before following the others and switching to the soft tyre. So quick was Alonso that he came out of the pits well ahead of Hamilton. Massa inherited the lead and pitted on the next lap. This left Vettel, who had not stopped, in the lead with a ten-second advantage over his teammate, Webber. As the race went on Vettel extended his lead over Webber and the rest of the field. Later, in the press conference, both Webber and Rosberg stated that they had struggled to warm their soft compound tyre at that time of the race whereas Vettel already had the tyres at the optimum temperature.

On lap 38 Pérez was given a drive-through penalty for a late pit entry that had impeded Räikkönen. The same lap also saw Button, who started on the soft tyre, change for the super-soft compound. In an already poor race for Button, his pit stop allowed the Caterham of Heikki Kovalainen to slip ahead of him as he rejoined.

The gap to Vettel had settled to sixteen seconds as he still waited for the forecast rain. Massa got a radio message asking him to close the gap to Hamilton as there was a possibility that Vettel could split the two when he rejoined. Further back there was a significant gap from sixth to seventh, where Schumacher was being followed by Jean-Éric Vergne, who had pitted early, and the two Force Indias. Kovalainen held twelfth place ahead of both Button and Toro Rosso driver Daniel Ricciardo.

Forty-five laps into the race Vettel finally took his only pit stop for the race. As he rejoined, teammate Webber reclaimed the lead while Vettel was able to only marginally get ahead of Hamilton. As the leaders lapped backmarkers, the gap between the top six was less than six seconds. Räikkönen’s engineer told him that no rain was now expected.

By lap 48 Pérez was 2.7 seconds per lap quicker than the leaders and set a number of fastest laps. Ferrari engineer Rob Smedley was attempting to keep Massa motivated in sixth when he claimed “keep our tyres fresh cause he doesn’t look absolutely fantastic, old Lewis”, referring to Hamilton ahead in fifth.

Schumacher began to complain of a problem on lap 59 but still continued. However, on lap 61 he let Vergne past him and continued to slow. Spots of rain started to show in some parts of the track but nothing of real concern for the drivers. A few laps later the seven time world champion entered the pits and retired from the race with a fuel pressure problem. In consecutive laps Pic and Ricciardo both retired from the race owing to an electrical fault and a steering problem, respectively.

With 10 laps remaining, the first six drivers were split by fewer than four seconds. On lap 69 and Vergne pitted to switch to intermediate tyres; the only driver to do so in the race. Still behind Kovalainen, Button locked up his brakes next to the swimming pool and spun. That left Pérez behind him to attack the Caterham, which Pérez succeeded in passing. Vergne's move to intermediate tyres had not worked, as he was losing over seven seconds every lap to his rivals. Two laps after Button spun, he had caught back up to Kovalainen. Button attempted an overtake on Kovalainen around the outside of turn 1. Button, who was able to brake later in his McLaren, launched down the outside of Kovalainen in the braking zone of turn 1. At the same time Kovalainen moved left and the Finn's front wing hit Button's front right tyre, causing a puncture on the McLaren, and Kovalainen damaged his front wing. A subsequent pit stop for Kovalainen put him down to 13th place, meanwhile Button retired from the race due to his puncture.

The gap at the front remained close however; no driver was able to move ahead. In the final few laps rain still threatened, but each of the six leaders held their own as they lapped cars. Hamilton and Massa did drop back slightly from the four towards the end of the race. By the final lap, artificial light from cameras was becoming more prominent as daylight faded with the threat of darker rain clouds. Ultimately, Webber was able to keep Rosberg, Alonso and Vettel at bay for his second career victory at the Monte-Carlo circuit.

In winning the Monaco Grand Prix Webber became the only Australian to win on multiple occasions at the circuit. It was Webber's first win of the season and first since his victory at the last race of the 2011 season in Brazil. In taking the victory Webber and the five victorious drivers before him set a new record for six different winners from the first six races of a Formula One season. The margin between the first four drivers was only 1.343 seconds as Rosberg followed Webber into second place and Spaniard Alonso finished in third; his 76th career podium. Red Bull teammate Vettel, using a different strategy to the top three, was fourth while Hamilton was fifth. Massa backed up his best qualifying effort of the season with his best result of the season by finishing sixth and only six seconds from the eventual winner.

Some forty seconds off the lead was the Force India's led by di Resta, who was on the same strategy as Vettel, and teammate Hülkenberg who (like Webber and Massa) captured his best result of the season thus far. Räikkönen was ninth while Williams driver Senna picked up the final point in tenth. Importantly for the constructors title, Caterham driver Kovalainen finished in thirteenth (his highest so far) moving Caterham up into tenth place ahead of Marussia and HRT on the 2012 standings. This was despite Marussia driver Glock (14th) and HRT driver Karthikeyan (15th) finishing in their respective highest positions for the season.

AcridMeat said:

Challenging and rewarding for the drivers, but not necessarily great racing. It's location goes a long way in making it as special as it is. Mercedes seem to be looking good so far, but with how crappy they are with tires who knows. I'm hoping Kimi gets it, as any other race.

Favorite moment: Any drunken Kimi moment.

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Circuit Info




Laps
Circuit length
Race length
Lap Record
Most Wins (Drivers)
Most Wins (Constructors)

Previous Winners & Pole Positions

2012 - Winner: Mark Webber - Red Bull Renault
2011 - Winner: Sebastian Vettel - Red Bull Renault
2010 - Winner: Mark Webber - Red Bull Renault
2009 - Winner: Jenson Button - Brawn-Mercedes
2008 - Winner: Lewis Hamilton - McLaren Mercedes
2007 - Winner: Fernando Alonso - McLaren Mercedes
2006 - Winner: Fernando Alonso - Renault
2005 - Winner: Kimi Räikkönen - McLaren Mercedes

Video Highlights

Brief highlight reel of 1950 Monaco GP

Highlights from the 2010 Monaco GP

Highlights from the 1982 Monaco GP

Highlights from the 1961 Monaco GP

Highlights from the 1988 Monaco GP

Highlights from the 2012 Monaco GP

Onboard laps from Monaco
- Senna, 1986
- Senna, 1990
- Alonso, 2005
- Button, 2009
- Kubica, 2010

Changes from 2012

-The track has been resurfaced on the pit straight and between turns 1 and 3.

-A number of improvements have been made to the left-side debris fencing on the approach to turn 3 and on the left between turns 8 and 10.

-A new 50cm wide kerb has been installed at the apex of turn 5.

-The kerb at the exit of turn 19 has been widened by 20cm.

GP Facts

-Olivier Panis won the 1996 race from 14th on the grid, the lowest position from which victory has been scored here since Formula One began. In a race characterised by wet weather, crashes and mechanical failures, just four of the 21 who started the race were still racing when the chequered flag came out on lap 75 – Panis, David Coulthard, Johnny Herbert. Fourth-placed Heinz Harald-Frentzen was in the pits when the flag fell.

-A high grid position is a major advantage here. Since 1950 the race has only been won 10 times from a starting position worse than third place. From third on the grid the race has also been won 10 times since 1950. However, only three of those have come since the turn of the century – Coulthard in 2000, Juan Pablo Montoya in ’03, and Lewis Hamilton in ’08.

-The driver starting second has won 13 times since 1950, but only two of those have come since 2000 – Michael Schumacher in 2001 and Coulthard in 2002.

-The race has been won from the front of the grid 26 times since 1950. Since 2000, eight winners have started in P1.

-McLaren have the most victories at the Monaco race (15). The second most successful team at the track is Ferrari with eight, while Lotus have clinched seven, including their maiden victory in 1960.

-Of the current drivers only Fernando Alonso and Mark Webber have multiple wins here. Both have two victories (Alonso in ’06 and ’07 and Webber in ’10 and ’12). If Alonso wins for Ferrari this year he will be the first driver in F1 history to win here with three different teams. His first victory was with Renault and his second came with McLaren.

moojito said:

Great to see the championship up in the air again. Mercedes are making things really interesting hogging the front row these past few races, and if they are able to sort their race pace out will be serious trouble for everyone else. As it is, we have a pair of potential rolling roadblocks up front which will make for a hugely interesting Moncao GP.

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bobnowhere said:

Best thing I could think of was, "2013: The year the rubber hit the road, literally."

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Drivers Championship Standings



Constructors Championship Standings



Fantasy Championship Standings

My predictions are utter shit because of the rain and P3 wrecks but oh well. Just hope for a good race tomorrow morning.

Deadman said:

All 3 of the sky presenters are just terrible.

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What's Renault up to?

I read on Autosport that they've scheduled a press conference for tomorrow to announce their future in F1 from 2014

Redbull / Infiniti engine re-badge deal / Renault pulling the plug / Caterham takeover?

Ugh, that Kubica on-board.

ESPN is worthless. Only mention of Monaco all night long is because of the stupid pigeon not being destroyed by the car earlier this week :|

Sigh, that Kubica onboard video.

Bottas showing off

Salacious Crumb said:

Bottas showing off

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You could turn this into one of those "NOPE" gifs...

Jon Noble ‏@NobleF1 23s
Mercedes at the centre of a growing storm here in Monaco on race morning over alleged rules breach. Full story soon


Andrew Benson ‏@andrewbensonf1 32s
Sizeable technical row developing at Monaco. Some very unhappy teams. More soon


Andrew Benson ‏@andrewbensonf1 50s
Mercedes did 3-day tyre test between the Spanish and Monaco Grands Prix. Testing is banned. Seems there is a document that allows tyre tests

Wax Free Vanilla said:

Jon Noble ‏@NobleF1 23s
Mercedes at the centre of a growing storm here in Monaco on race morning over alleged rules breach. Full story soon

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Andrew Benson ‏@andrewbensonf1 1m
Mercedes did 3-day tyre test between the Spanish and Monaco Grands Prix. Testing is banned. Seems there is a document that allows tyre tests

More here.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/107671

Wax Free Vanilla said:

Jon Noble ‏@NobleF1 23s
Mercedes at the centre of a growing storm here in Monaco on race morning over alleged rules breach. Full story soon

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Jesus, I hope they can stay on P1 and 2. Vettel starting from P1 would be terrible.

Addnan said:

Andrew Benson ‏@andrewbensonf1 1m
Mercedes did 3-day tyre test between the Spanish and Monaco Grands Prix. Testing is banned. Seems there is a document that allows tyre tests

More here.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/107671

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This is bullshit, why didn't they use the Pirelli test car? The FIA need to ban Mercedes and throw them out of the championship.

Well if the rules say Pirelli can ask one team to do a test then the rules don't look like they have been broken.

Though I get why the others will be annoyed.

Wax Free Vanilla said:

This is bullshit, why didn't they use the Pirelli test car? The FIA need to ban Mercedes and throw them out of the championship.

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Pirelli don't have a car.