43 replies to this topic

[Haddock]

Don't think anyone's started a GP2 thread yet... apologies if I'm being slow...

Looks like Pastor Maldonado has shown last year was no freak event. Maybe only when the walls are up close and the dangers are really obvious can he concentrate on the job in hand properly.

Surprised to see Conway so far up the grid, and Soucek was far quicker in the DPR car than anyone expected - shame he stuffed it into the barriers on his first flying lap. Also interesting to see Adrian Valles getting the BCN car well up the grid. Suggests that round Monaco, the driver is a rather larger part of the equation that elsewhere. Reflects well on Bruno Senna, now I think about it.

Filippi continues to be a disappointment doesn't he? I mean, I was surprised to see Grosjean so far down the order, but surely Filippi ought to be higher up, given it's his third year and he's with what is generally acknowledged to be the best team.

Wonder if Maldonado's lap would have put him ahead of the Super Aguris on the F1 grid had they still been around?

For info - here's the grid:

Pos Driver Team Time Gap
1. Pastor Maldonado Piquet Sports 1:21.057
2. Bruno Senna iSport 1:21.235 +0.178
3. Mike Conway Trident 1:21.283 +0.226
4. Adrian Valles BCN 1:21.368 +0.311
5. Giorgio Pantano Racing Engineering 1:21.466 +0.409
6. Karun Chandhok iSport 1:21.614 +0.557
7. Romain Grosjean ART 1:21.663 +0.606
8. Sebastien Buemi Arden 1:21.663 +0.606
9. Jerome d'Ambrosio DAMS 1:21.773 +0.716
10. Alvaro Parente Super Nova 1:21.777 +0.720
11. Luca Filippi ART 1:21.849 +0.792
12. Vitaly Petrov Campos 1:21.907 +0.850
13. Adam Carroll FMS 1:21.981 +0.924
14. Christian Bakkerud Super Nova 1:22.210 +1.153
15. Ben Hanley Campos 1:22.697 +1.640
16. Kamui Kobayashi DAMS 1:22.785 +1.728
17. Yelmer Buurman Arden 1:22.802 +1.745
18. Javier Villa Racing Engineering 1:23.048 +1.991
19. Diego Nunes DPR 1:23.224 +2.167
20. Milos Pavlovic BCN 1:23.684 +2.627
21. Ho-Pin Tung Trident 1:23.798 +2.741
22. Alberto Valerio Durango 1:24.037 +2.980
23. Roldan Rodriguez FMS 1:24.283 +3.226
24. Andi Zuber Piquet Sports 1:21.667 +0.610
25. Marcello Puglisi Durango 1:24.633 +3.576
26. Andy Soucek DPR no time

[noikeee]

Originally posted by Haddock
Filippi continues to be a disappointment doesn't he? I mean, I was surprised to see Grosjean so far down the order, but surely Filippi ought to be higher up, given it's his third year and he's with what is generally acknowledged to be the best team.

Yeah, but this is much better already than the first 2 rounds, when he was nowhere compared to Grosjean. This time it's just 2 tenths. Cost him a lot of places which are critical at Monaco but still just 2 tenths.

[sopa]

After last year it was thought like Filippi might be given an F1 shot soon and he got a Honda test drive too. It seems like 2008 is going to destroy all of his rep and he can only dream about F1.

It would be exciting to see Maldonado's race. He has often been excellent in qualifying, but struggled in races due to high tyre wear. Is he going to keep everyone behind him until the finish?

[Haddock]

Originally posted by sopa

It would be exciting to see Maldonado's race. He has often been excellent in qualifying, but struggled in races due to high tyre wear. Is he going to keep everyone behind him until the finish?

He managed it last year - with Trident. Piquet Sports seem to have a better idea as to what they are doing. Question is - can he get it off the line and keep it away from the barriers?

Always the possibility that a safety car will randomise the result too.

Paranoik0 - good point about Filippi - on time he wasn't so far behind Grosjean - but still, he's the guy with the experience, he really ought to be beating Grosjean at this point in the game...

[Juan Kerr]

Bruno Senna always seems to be up the sharp end at any type of track, its a real shame about the Front wing and the Dog last time out as its usually the guy who is fast everywhere that wins the championship. Hopefully he still will.

[Levike]

Congratulations Bruno !
He killed that Duck in style !!

[Leif Snellman]

Senna rules Monaco!

[rodlamas]

Originally posted by Juan Kerr
Bruno Senna always seems to be up the sharp end at any type of track, its a real shame about the Front wing and the Dog last time out as its usually the guy who is fast everywhere that wins the championship. Hopefully he still will.

Senna takes the lead at the start, leads all but the lap he pits, does the fastest lap and takes the win ahead of Maldonado and his teammate Chandhok!

[Youichi]

Originally posted by rodlamas


Senna takes the lead at the start, leads all but the lap he pits, does the fastest lap and takes the win ahead of Maldonado and his teammate Chandhok!

Or the promised rain arrives in time for the start, and the first car in for his stop wins, after SC periods for 3/4 of the race.

EDIT: Many appologies, I thought the first race was tommorrow,after the F1 Qualifying as usual.
Congratulation to Bruno.

[rodlamas]

Originally posted by Youichi


Or the promised rain arrives in time for the start, and the first car in for his stop wins, after SC periods for 3/4 of the race.

I think I wouldn't be worried about this... It was just amazing to see a Senna winning in Monaco after 15 years with the Brazilian National Anthem being played for the first time from the start to the end.

That's just fuc**** emotinal!

[noikeee]

Originally posted by Youichi


Or the promised rain arrives in time for the start, and the first car in for his stop wins, after SC periods for 3/4 of the race.

He's talking about what actually happened.

Congratulations to Bruno, I guess after so many consecutive races where always something goes wrong, it was time for him to get one win.

[Josta]

Senna winning in Monaco. Happy days.

[SeanValen]

Uncle looking down on him, well done nephew.

[SB]

what a touching moment !!

Go Senna !!!

[Ayrton-No.1]

Fantastic Bruno!
Wow, it gives shivers down my spine...
that's no.7 victory at Monaco for Senna then

[BMW_F1]

Congratulations to Senna.
Glad to see two Latin American drivers dominate the streets of Monaco.

[glorius&victorius]

It's really beautyful.

I woke up this morning and I thought... "ooh, Bruno Senna is driving at Monaco today... Imagine if he wins the race...."

congratulations Bruno!

[Scorg]

Any reason the GP2 race was held on the Friday, the normal day of rest in Monte Carlo?
If F1 observe it, must be a reason why GP2 doesnt ? (last year they ran Practice on the Friday)

[Jackman]

GP2 have race one today because F1 have a rest day, along with the other support races.

[Scorg]

I'm still left confused though. As I thought that today being the rest day, nothing was meant to take place, hence how F1 done Free Practice on the Thursday.

[Ferrim]

And Senna wins at Monaco for the 7th time!

Coincidentally, uncle Ayrton won the Monaco GP for the 6th and last time, on May 23rd, 1993, which is exactly 15 years ago.

[Haddock]

Missed it all because I was at work. Didn't realise they were racing today at all. Pretty sure that they've never ru n a reverse grid race at Monaco before (a bit of an exercise in futility, if ever there was one).

On the plus side, perhaps the 6 points that poleman Conway will get for winning (unless he makes a bad start or falls off the road) will make up for the 6 points he should have got for finishing 3rd in the feature race

[craftverk]

Always supported Bruno Senna, I wouldn't be surprised if he had a drivers seat next year in F1.

[Juan Kerr]

Brilliant, absolutely brilliant !! I'm really pleased for him, he's been racing 3 years. Toro rosso next year.

[molive]

Senna!

[kenny]

Originally posted by Ferrim


Coincidentally, uncle Ayrton won the Monaco GP for the 6th and last time, on May 23rd, 1993, which is exactly 15 years ago.

that is realllllly a coincidence!!!

[montoya_fanatic]

I think his uncle will be smiling today in Heaven knowing the streets he tamed may times over, finally were tamed by another in his family.

It brings tears of joy to think of Senna smiling down to his newphew today. Hopefully Senna will continue to florish and be given a chance in F1 at sometime.


He's only been driving for a couple of years now, imagine if he didn't stop racing after his uncle demise..


Even though talent never leaves the family roots...it just needs to be polished!


Go Senna!

[911]

Wonderful result for Bruno!

Hopefully we'll see this Senna in F1 next year.

[Jackman]

Originally posted by Scorg
I'm still left confused though. As I thought that today being the rest day, nothing was meant to take place, hence how F1 done Free Practice on the Thursday.

Friday in Monaco has always been for the support series: it's only ever been F1 that doesn't do anything on track.

[Georg_Kuyumji]

What are the chances for rain?

[primer]

Originally posted by Georg_Kuyumji
What are the chances for rain?

Decent.

[noikeee]

Bring it on!

[Haddock]

Originally posted by paranoik0
Bring it on!

Looks dry to me right now - spitting a little according to the commentary team though

[tahadar]

still cant find any ITV4 streaming link online

[noikeee]

Yep.

Maldonado and an iSport hit the wall... and Bakkerud did a bit of flying in St. Devote.

Tridents running 1-2 with Parente behind, all behind the safety car.

[Haddock]

Bit of a procession. On the plus side, Conway deserved to pick up some points after being punted off yesterday afternoon.

Parente's quietly picked up a fair few points this weekend too.

[noikeee]

Good dominating win by Conway, but aided by Tung using track position to hold off Parente all race, and Rodriguez doing the same to Senna. I don't think doing a reversed grid race here was a very good idea.

Championship standings:

Senna and Pantano 24
Grosjean and Parente 19
Buemi 14
(...)

[molive]

I hate the reversed grid thingy, but its great Senna managed a couple of points and the joint leadership in the standings!

Go Bruno!

[BMW_F1]

I want to see Senna replace Rubens at Honda next year if he decides to quit or go to the IRL..

[Juan Kerr]

Bruno still has that look about his driving where he seems to be driving well within the limits of himself. The GP2 car is still well within his speed levels he reminds me of Hamilton in that respect. I would expect Bruno Senna to be on the pace immediately in F1 like Rosberg was and Hamilton. I feel that he isn't going to be one of the ones who gets into it slowly and gradually develops the technique for driving F1.
I also got the impression also that those crazy rear slides at Anthony Noghes were well within his reaction capabilities ? Its Toro Rosso for Bruno by the way next year with Bourdais.

[Beedeeai]

So Toro Rosso for Bruno but I wonder where we would all want him to find his home? I vote for McLaren.

[gio66]

What a wonderful weekend!!!

Dear friends, a week ago I witnessed something wonderful, probably I was a witness to the final turning point in the career of Bruno.

I have been able to follow very closely the masterpiece of our little champioon bringing in my heart indescribable emotions.

As usual the Bruno's weekend has been marked by professionalism first of all.
Wednesday was devoted to a careful walk inspection of the circuit along to Chris Goodwin and to the definition of setup with his track engineer Gavin Jones. In the evening he went to bed early, at the hotel, unlike the rest of the Family who was guest of friends in a boat moored at the port to the pool.



The Thursday's free practice were a suffering due to traffic on the track. Bruno was able to achieve only 3 clean laps obtaining an encouraging third best time behind the pair of Piquet Sports with the favored Maldonado, ruler of 2007, significantly ahead of everybody.

Even the half hour qualifying was marked by the difficulty of being able to run without problems and also this time Bruno has given almost the best of himself getting the second best time, preceded only by the unbeatable (so we thought) Venezuelan.

Bruno was particularly impressive at the swimming pool (the telemetry data are clear: he entered at 192 kmh, 15 more than Chandhok!) and in the evening we pointed out to his coach driver Chris Goodwin that came to make a welcome visit.



Needless to tell the chronicle of Race-1, if not for a particular that there had been announced by Bianca since Wednesday, the appearance of the Senninha logo on the engine cover of Bruno's Dallara, a true blow to the heart.



Even more exciting was to attend the race, suffering and joy sitting next to Viviane and his companion Arthur.



I want to point out that Bruno has recorded the fastest lap in 1'21"338 to 7 rounds by the chequered flag, a time that would be worth the 4th place in qualifying. In addition, apart from Maldonado who turned 1'21"669, the "closer" opponent was D'Ambrosio who, at 16th lap, recorded 1'22"752, a 1"414 gap.

In the afternoon, finally, Bruninho came to visit us to take the deserved congratulations. It was, of course, in paradise despite the physical conditions not exactly optimal. He had large blisters in their hands (within thumbs and palms) caused by vibrations induced by the kerbs and suffered by burning clavicles where you can see the signs of pressure from belts and HANS device.



We improvised so paramedics, delivering a bag of ice for his shoulders and taking the medication of bladders, we have also prepared a ham sandwich that Bruninho has eaten with appetite: this is an efficient Fans Club!

Following, Bruno has retained long chatting calmly with us. Talking about the next day's race, aware of the difficulties of overtaking, he said that it would have been happy to take home another 2 points and he was right!



The Saturday race went good, Bruno was great to avoid the crash in S.te Devote and then, failing to find the inspiration needed to retrieve some position (not seen a single overtaking), he was good to manage the car and bring home the budgeted 2 points.

On Sunday afternoon he came to prepare to participate to the traditional Gala sponsored by HM Prince Albert of Monaco.



One last thing: Bruno is officially in love with a beautiful girl Brazilian. We said his mother.

Acelera Bruninho!

[postajegenye]

gio,

thanks very much for this post!

[gio66]

Thanks to you!