1198 replies to this topic

[SophieB]

After yesterday's an excellent drive in qualifying, Max Verstappen will start today's race on pole. How business as usual that sounds, how much it conceals. If you somehow have missed it all, do you yourself a favour and catch up with all the action here:
 
A thrill a minute with barnstorming laps not just from pipped at the post Fernando, but also Ocon (who reacted to it all very calmly on his social media)
 
Esteban Ocon
@OconEsteban
13h
Wow wow wow! What a feeling!! P3 for the Monaco GP!!!
Merci a tous pour votre soutien!

 

Plus a lucky escape from Lewis, narrowly avoiding the drop zone at the end of Q1, eventually qualifying 6th but will be starting fifth thanks to Leclerc copping a penalty for impeding Norris in the tunnel. Leclerc also took to social media to express his feelings about it all:

 

https://twitter.com/...5013450752?s=20 
 
All this plus Perez crashing out in Q1!
 
Enjoy the Verstappen pole lap here.

 
The cars line up like this:
 

direct link for photo issue currently affecting some users
 
Is it going to rain?
 
Hmmmn.
 


Steffen Dietz
@sdietzf1
13m

At the moment showers are moving from the mountains towards the sea (Webcam near Nice @ http://[/size]windy.com). There is a chance that this will also be the case in the afternoon. I'm travelling, but
@Rodolfoar07 and @MeteoMotorsport
will post updates for sure. #MonacoGP

 
When does the race start?
 
Lights out 2pm BST, local time 3pm

 
And a final rather sad note...
 
Monaco no longer gets to have local sponsors, so now we have the same global stuff like Pirelli etc as every other race, meaning we have lost the impossibly mysterious and compelling Zepter International. 
On reading the wikipedia page, our own Risil observed they sound like a high end Trotters Independent Trading co, I reckoned they sound like the bad guy mirror image to the fake company that James Bond pretends he works for as a cover identity. Either way, they have mildly amused us during many a boring race for the final time. Farewell, Zepter!
 

[SophieB]

F2 feature race in five minutes.

[Sam1]

Baring a good start from crashing cars or a safety car Hamilton will end up out the points

[Sam1]

After yesterday's an excellent drive in qualifying, Max Verstappen will start today's race on pole. How business as usual that sounds, how much it conceals. If you somehow have missed it all, do you yourself a favour and catch up with all the action here:

A thrill a minute with barnstorming laps not just from pipped at the post Fernando, but also Ocon (who reacted to it all very calmly on his social media)

Esteban Ocon
@OconEsteban
13h
Wow wow wow! What a feeling!! P3 for the Monaco GP!!!
Merci a tous pour votre soutien!



Plus a lucky escape from Lewis, narrowly avoiding the drop zone at the end of Q1, eventually qualifying 6th but will be starting fifth thanks to Leclerc copping a penalty for impeding Norris in the tunnel. Leclerc also took to social media to express his feelings about it all:

https://twitter.com/...5013450752?s=20

All this plus Perez crashing out in Q1!

Enjoy the Verstappen pole lap here.

The cars line up like this:


direct link for photo issue currently affecting some users

Is it going to rain?

Hmmmn.



Steffen Dietz
@sdietzf1
13m

At the moment showers are moving from the mountains towards the sea (Webcam near Nice @ http://[/size]windy.com). There is a chance that this will also be the case in the afternoon. I'm travelling, but
@Rodolfoar07 and @MeteoMotorsport
will post updates for sure. #MonacoGP


When does the race start?

Lights out 2pm BST, local time 3pm


And a final rather sad note...

Monaco no longer gets to have local sponsors, so now we have the same global stuff like Pirelli etc as every other race, meaning we have lost the impossibly mysterious and compelling Zepter International.
On reading the wikipedia page, our own Risil observed they sound like a high end Trotters Independent Trading co, I reckoned they sound like the bad guy mirror image to the fake company that James Bond pretends he works for as a cover identity. Either way, they have mildly amused us during many a boring race for the final time. Farewell, Zepter!

I can see them say you need to redesign the layout to a better track if you want to keep racing after the contact is up and tbh the cars are to big and F1 has outgrown Monaco

[SophieB]

I meant to add this fact to the OP - Albert’s dad, Prince Rainier, the one who married Grace Kelly, did so wearing an elaborate military uniform. From a design that he’d completely made up by himself and had specially made. 

[PayasYouRace]

Why do I get the feeling Ocon might be a bit of a road block today?

[Risil]

Farewell Zepter!

[IrvTheSwerve]

Personally I’m bored stiff of the comments about ‘boring Monaco’ all over social media (and here). Monaco is what it is and it’s always been a difficult circuit to pass on since the beginning. Sure, the massive cars don’t help but we need circuits that are a bit different. There will never be a circuit like this again in F1. I’m looking forward to this far more than a Tilkedrome special.

 

I really wish calls for it to be dropped would stop…it’s one weekend in a massive calendar. Just enjoy it for what it is. People calling for it to be dropped need to be careful what they wish for…there would 100% be people in the future speculating ‘I wonder what these cars would be like around Monaco?’.

 

I’m actually looking forward to a race where we haven’t got a 200 passes DRS fest for a change.

[PayasYouRace]

I can see them say you need to redesign the layout to a better track if you want to keep racing after the contact is up and tbh the cars are to big and F1 has outgrown Monaco

 

They've been saying that since about 1975.

[Ruudbackus]

https://weather.com/...c4b7d8a630199d8 rain possible after 5pm, so it seems it will be a dry race indeed (i posted this in the monaco thread but it belongs here i think now :-))

[SophieB]

DamonHill@HillF1

Oh BTW, I checked my Met Office App and for those of you thinking of walking the dog or going for a cycle ......  #f1 #MonacoGP #Rain #Wet

 

 

https://twitter.com/...2045999104?s=61

[Ali623]

Just a little drizzle during the race to make things interesting, that's all I ask...

[southernstars]

Why do I get the feeling Ocon might be a bit of a road block today?

 

I absolutely suspect we'll get an OconTrain.

 

But that probably won't drive me quite as crazy as if Oscar ends up stuck behind Yuki for a million laps again.

[Beri]

After a week where we were all discussing the horrendous floods in Italy, and the subsequent cancellation of the Grand Prix at Imola, we all were worried by the prospect of heavy rain at Monaco.
Well, I'm in for a tenner that it will remain dry. But it would be the best ten that I would lose if it will be raining.

[JeePee]

Personally I’m bored stiff of the comments about ‘boring Monaco’ all over social media (and here). Monaco is what it is and it’s always been a difficult circuit to pass on since the beginning. Sure, the massive cars don’t help but we need circuits that are a bit different. There will never be a circuit like this again in F1. I’m looking forward to this far more than a Tilkedrome special.

 

I really wish calls for it to be dropped would stop…it’s one weekend in a massive calendar. Just enjoy it for what it is. People calling for it to be dropped need to be careful what they wish for…there would 100% be people in the future speculating ‘I wonder what these cars would be like around Monaco?’.

 

I’m actually looking forward to a race where we haven’t got a 200 passes DRS fest for a change.

Amen.

[JimmyClark]

I'm looking forward to it, just hope I can watch it. I'm in Kendal so need to find a pub that will show it.

[Ivanhoe]

Interesting stats: In the last seven races at Monaco, only two drivers who started from pole won the Monaco Grand Prix. Pole to victory ratio this century at Monaco has been just over 50%.

[Ruudbackus]

Interesting stats: In the last seven races at Monaco, only two drivers who started from pole won the Monaco Grand Prix. Pole to victory ratio this century at Monaco has been just over 50%.

Although last year it was due to the ferrari incompetence and the yearbefore the poleman didnt start at all. But given the stats there are grand prix that have a higher pole-win ratio then monaco I feel.

[Beri]

Although last year it was due to the ferrari incompetence and the yearbefore the poleman didnt start at all. But given the stats there are grand prix that have a higher pole-win ratio then monaco I feel.

There is always a reason why a stat is a stat. So that Ferrari made incompetent decisions, including its driver, that doesn't change anything to the stat. In fact it creates the stat and it is what it is:
Pole to victory ratio this century at Monaco has been just over 50%.

[Beri]

Personally I’m bored stiff of the comments about ‘boring Monaco’ all over social media (and here). Monaco is what it is and it’s always been a difficult circuit to pass on since the beginning. Sure, the massive cars don’t help but we need circuits that are a bit different. There will never be a circuit like this again in F1. I’m looking forward to this far more than a Tilkedrome special.

I really wish calls for it to be dropped would stop…it’s one weekend in a massive calendar. Just enjoy it for what it is. People calling for it to be dropped need to be careful what they wish for…there would 100% be people in the future speculating ‘I wonder what these cars would be like around Monaco?’.

I’m actually looking forward to a race where we haven’t got a 200 passes DRS fest for a change.

Hear hear!

In fact I am one fan who always enjoys Monaco. If not for its environment and glamour, then for the fact that it's the oddball on the calendar and visually the only circuit on the calendar where one can truly see a driver racing on the limit. And if that one daring overtake does occur, then it makes it so much more special than any of the DRS "overtakes" during the rest of the season.
Racing is racing. Racing doesn't equal overtaking. But people tend to think that racing should always mean overtaking.

[Lennat]

I enjoy Monaco for what it is, and don't want the track changed/ruined just to get approximately two percent more overtakes.

Edited by Lennat, 28 May 2023 - 09:42.

[milestone 11]

Porsches about to start!

[milestone 11]

That's what I want Nando to do.

[search]

I absolutely suspect we'll get an OconTrain.

 

But that probably won't drive me quite as crazy as if Oscar ends up stuck behind Yuki for a million laps again.

 

Ocon was quickest (ahead of Verstappen) in the longrun on Friday.

 

It's not necessarily representative of course, but I'd be surprised if he is much slower than the cars around him. I'd rate Ferrari lower than Alpine, for example.

[Anja]

I enjoy Monaco for what it is, and don't want the track changed/ruined just to get approximately two percent more overtakes.

 

I don't have a problem with Monaco as it is but if they come up with some sensible changes, why not? It's not like the circuit is unchanged since the beginning.

Edited by Anja, 28 May 2023 - 10:10.

[Risil]

Porsches about to start!

This is fun! Everyone seems to have had simultaneous accidents now

[PayasYouRace]

Interesting stats: In the last seven races at Monaco, only two drivers who started from pole won the Monaco Grand Prix. Pole to victory ratio this century at Monaco has been just over 50%.

 

How's the 2nd to win ratio?

[milestone 11]

Lorenzo should have stuck with 2 wheels

[TauriJ]

Just ditch the Nouville chicane (with that reclaim land to make Tabac safer/slower) and run 305km!!

Edited by TauriJ, 28 May 2023 - 10:20.

[Rumblestrip]

I absolutely suspect we'll get an OconTrain.

 

But that probably won't drive me quite as crazy as if Oscar ends up stuck behind Yuki for a million laps again.

 

Quite possibly, but there'll be a train somewhere in the field which always makes the pitstops interesting.

[Leibowitz]

Any chance of rain?

[TomNokoe]

Interested to see if anyone gambles starting on Hards, banking on a late red flag, or similar.

[PayasYouRace]

Just ditch the Neuville chicane (with that reclaim land to make Tabac safer/slower) and run 305km!!

 

No thanks.

[TauriJ]

Any chance of rain?

Latest forecast shows 30% but probably Will be bone dry

[ARTGP]

Ocon’s pace in the FP2 race runs was actually faster than anyone if you take them at face value. Verstappen and Alonso might have him covered, but he might actually drop Sainz.

Edited by ARTGP, 28 May 2023 - 10:39.

[KnucklesAgain]

Regarding the sad loss of Zepter, I also want to remember this:

 

 

Edited by KnucklesAgain, 28 May 2023 - 10:41.

[ANF]

Don't know where to put this but Alice Powell is currently doing a pretty good job stepping in as lead commentator during the Porsche Supercup podium ceremonies. Second career in the making?

[Ferrim]

Ocon was quickest (ahead of Verstappen) in the longrun on Friday.

LE PLAN

[SophieB]

Don't know where to put this but Alice Powell is currently doing a pretty good job stepping in as lead commentator during the Porsche Supercup podium ceremonies. Second career in the making?

Yes, I’ve been enjoying her work. Very relaxed and assured, keeping the commentary flowing. Especially enjoying the champagne spraying analysis and critique!

[Muppetmad]

Powell has done co-commentary for F2 in the past, right? I recall her being very solid in that role.

[Thursday]

I'm not very optimistic of an exciting race because

a: Its Monaco

b: There is no way the race can live up to yesterdays qualifying.

c: It wont rain

 

I was hoping for a non Red Bull pole sitter followed by 78laps of 'can he hang on' but I'm not complaining. Max's pole lap was a supreme display of driver skill and a deserved pole.

The fact that Monaco is so narrow and the corners so tight that the cars don't really fit just helps to accentuate the speed of the cars and skill of the drivers.

 

 

[SophieB]

Powell has done co-commentary for F2 in the past, right? I recall her being very solid in that role.

Yes, she’s been doing that this weekend too.

[Rumblestrip]

I'm not very optimistic of an exciting race because

a: Its Monaco

b: There is no way the race can live up to yesterdays qualifying.

c: It wont rain

 

I was hoping for a non Red Bull pole sitter followed by 78laps of 'can he hang on' but I'm not complaining. Max's pole lap was a supreme display of driver skill and a deserved pole.

The fact that Monaco is so narrow and the corners so tight that the cars don't really fit just helps to accentuate the speed of the cars and skill of the drivers.

 

I'm hoping for an electric start by Alonso to spice everything up (and also because I have a cheeky bet on him for the win). Also, given the size of the cars, I'm expecting a few bumps over the first lap as everyone tries to go side-by-side into the first few corners.

[PayasYouRace]

 

On reading the wikipedia page, our own Risil observed they sound like a high end Trotters Independent Trading co, I reckoned they sound like the bad guy mirror image to the fake company that James Bond pretends he works for as a cover identity. Either way, they have mildly amused us during many a boring race for the final time. Farewell, Zepter!
 

 

It does sound suspiciously like SPECTRE, doesn't it?

 

And Bond worked for Universal Exports, which would definitely not look out of place emblazoned on the front wing endplate of an Arrows circa 1999.

[Risil]

Vandelay Industries

[Muppetmad]

Yes, she’s been doing that this weekend too.

Ahhh, that makes sense: I'm not in Britain right now, so I've not been listening to the English commentary.

[Rumblestrip]

Vandelay Industries

 

Or "The Human Fund"?

[ensign14]

 

Monaco no longer gets to have local sponsors, so now we have the same global stuff like Pirelli etc as every other race, meaning we have lost the impossibly mysterious and compelling Zepter International

 

This needs more attention generally.  It's the same as NASCAR.  The governing body is competing with the participants for sponsorship - and is a more attractive option because the sponsor is not associated with losing, or a crash, or Maldonado.   And of course it is deleterious for the coverage because the camera angles are there to maximize the sponsor adverts rather than the cars.
 

[Risil]

Er, why are Martin and Paul in Mugello on Sky right now?

[ARTGP]

This needs more attention generally. It's the same as NASCAR. The governing body is competing with the participants for sponsorship - and is a more attractive option because the sponsor is not associated with losing, or a crash, or Maldonado. And of course it is deleterious for the coverage because the camera angles are there to maximize the sponsor adverts rather than the cars.

I think this is part of the compromises Monaco had to make to stay on the calendar. Previously they were not paying any hosting fees. Now I believe they are, but a heavily reduced bill compared to most circuits.