After Race 6: Monaco

The inevitable has happened. With such a dominant car and it being absurdly clear that either Lewis or Nico will win the title, the personal relationship between the two drivers has spectacularly disintegrated. Two weeks ago in Spain, Hamilton admitted to using a higher power setting in the closing stages to fend off Rosberg and apologized – although the reverse situation allegedly occurred in Bahrain (but failed to work) – before Saturday’s controversial Q3 session further escalated tensions. F1 Power Rankings will give Nico the benefit of the doubt after the Mirabeau incident; after all, the FIA did clear him of any wrongdoing.

Anyway, on the same weekend that Ryan Hunter-Reay edged out Helio Castroneves to take his first Indianapolis 500 victory (the first in eight years for an American – denying Castroneves a record-tying fourth Indy 500 win), there were twenty other drivers in Monaco this weekend, all with a story or three to tell; from drivers lining up in the wrong grid positions to Marussia’s historic result and even a discussion about female F1 drivers, so let’s get cracking!

The jewel in F1's triple crown race was the local boy
Source: Marussia F1 Team (Facebook)

1. Lewis Hamilton (no change)

One thing is certain: while Hamilton feels he was heading for pole position, there was no guarantee; just like he made a mistake in Bahrain quali, the same thing could have happened again in Monaco later during his lap. The antipathy between the two former friends is clear for all to see and Hamilton’s remark that he will take a leaf out of Senna’s book will not have gone unnoticed by Merc and in-house relationship expert Niki Lauda. It is worth remembering, however, that since Senna’s actions; a certain M. Schumacher (who was, of course, involved in his own suspicious Monaco antics) was excluded from the 1997 championship for attempting to sabotage Jacques Villeneuve’s race and title hopes in Jerez. One final thought: the debris caught in Lewis’ eye was a stark reminder of the dangers of (open wheel) motor racing.

2. Daniel Ricciardo (no change)

Another excellent weekend for Danny Ric; the young Aussie again had the lucky RBR in both quali and the race and secured best-of-the-rest honours for the second consecutive race.

3. Nico Rosberg (no change)

From a neutral perspective, Rosberg’s victory was just what the championship needed. Having been decimated by Hamilton so far this season, he re-took the title lead having led all 78 laps around Monte Carlo for the second straight season.

 

Despite the friction, there was still a team celebratory photo - and Lewis was in it
Source: Mercedes AMG Petronas (Facebook)

4. Daniil Kvyat (no change)

It was an agonizing case of ‘what might have been’ for the Russian rookie on his first visit to Monaco. A fantastic performance in quali saw him reach Q3 before his STR exhaust failed in the opening laps.

5. Romain Grosjean (up one spot)

Monaco has never been the kindest track to Grosjean and it seemed as if that trend would continue this year as an average qualifying was further worsened by a first lap puncture as Adrian Sutil drove into Romain. However, he recovered superbly to score points for the second consecutive race and his stock continues to rise as he performs strongly in the face of adversity.

6. Nico Hülkenberg (up one spot)

The Hulk maintained his 100% point-scoring start to the season with a solid drive on Sunday. Having been outqualified by Sergio Pérez, the German edged clear of his team-mate by Mirabeau on the opening lap (avoiding the carnage) and sealed an eventual 5^th-place finish with a fantastic opportunistic move at Portier on Kevin Magnussen, who had eased off to allow Jean-Éric Vergne through; and held on in the closing stages despite having heavily worn supersoft tyres.

 

The Hulk had another strong weekend
Source: Sahara Force India (Facebook)

7. Valtteri Bottas (down two spots)

A quiet weekend for Bottas; the Finn missed out on Q3 but slowly worked his way up into the top eight (where he had finished in every race this season) as others encountered misfortune. Unfortunately, his own power unit let him down and his point-scoring streak came to an end.

8. Jules Bianchi (up eight spots)

Yes! Finally one of the ‘2010 teams’ has scored points! It was simply a magnificent race for Marussia as Bianchi – born just a stone’s throw away in Nice – put in a stunning drive from the back of the grid (due to a gearbox penalty) to score his maiden points in F1 at the same track where his great-uncle scored a podium in 1968. It hasn’t been an easy start to Bianchi’s sophomore season but it was near-perfect performance on Sunday (the strange ‘lining up in the wrong grid spot’ penalty the only mistake), highlighted by a superb opportunistic overtaking manoeuvre on arch-rival Kobayashi into Rascasse.

 

The historic moment Bianchi crossed the line
Source: Marussia F1 Team (Facebook)

=9. Fernando Alonso (no change) & Sebastian Vettel (down one spot)

Six world championships between them but they find themselves locked near the foot of the top ten in this week’s F1 Power Rankings. Alonso overcame early ERS worries and had a very lonely race to came home a solid, if unspectacular, P4; while Vettel was not so lucky with his reliability woes and had another well-documented early DNF.

 

Vettel & Raikkonen both jumped their team-mates at the start before it all went pear-shaped
Source: Red Bull Racing (Facebook)

11. Sergio Pérez (down one spot)

Not much to say for Checo; he did well to outqualify his team-mate but found himself behind The Hulk by Mirabeau as he was then spun around by his former team-mate JB. Looked like a typical Monaco opening lap racing incident.

 

Checo's race lasted about thirty seconds
Source: Reuters

=12. Kimi Räikkönen (up two spots) & Felipe Massa (up one spot)

A terrific race turned into a terrifically unlucky race for Räikkönen; having made a fantastic start, he was en route to the podium until Max Chilton drove into him under the safety car. His race unravelled thereafter with a series of scruffy errors – culminating in a desperate lunge on Magnussen at the hairpin – which saw him finish outside of the points (albeit with the fastest lap).

Massa’s weekend trajectory went in the opposite direction; he was the victim of a clumsy Marcus Ericsson error in quali and then opted for an alternate pit strategy during the race which eventually earned him a solid seventh-place finish as he avoided the mayhem around him.

=14. Jenson Button (down three spots) & Kevin Magnussen (down two spots)

Granted, this is perhaps a tad harsh on McLaren – especially as they earned a double points-finish (their first points in four races). Button is pegged by Magnussen as his rookie team-mate managed to both outqualify and then out-race him until the latter’s power unit woes. Credit Magnussen also for two fine pieces of driving: firstly to avoid Vergne in the pit-lane and then to spot the charging Hülkenberg at Portier. His overtake on Vergne was also noteworthy but a tad over-enthusiastic (the team should have told him a JEV penalty was inevitable, the move was too early, and the end result was Hülkenberg nabbed the spot).

JB had a solid race. He was lucky to avoid major damage after the clash with Pérez but kept his nose clean thereafter and brought his car home safely for a fine P6. The drop in this week’s F1 Power Rankings is more down to others’ doing so well (i.e. Bianchi, Räikkönen, Massa).

 

JB ended up as the lead McLaren after K-Mag's late woes

16. Jean-Éric Vergne (down one spot)

JEV’s run of shocking luck continued in his de-facto home race as a fantastic weekend ultimately ended early with exhaust failure, just like his team-mate. A superb effort in quali saw him start seventh and he ran comfortably in the points until picking up a deserved drive-through penalty for an unsafe release (through no fault of his own). The high rate of attrition meant Vergne would still have scored points in Monaco for the second year running had his own Toro Rosso not expired. Vergne has always performed strongly at Monaco (he was unlucky to miss out on points in 2011 due to an outrageous late tyre gamble) – where the driver can make a real difference – and he must take heart from the fact that his former team-mate Ricciardo is having such a strong season with the senior team; the two were well matched during their time together. Next up is Canada, where JEV scored a career-best sixth-place finish last season. Fingers crossed!

 

Surely JEV is due an upturn in luck soon?
Source: Scuderia Toro Rosso (Facebook)

=17. Marcus Ericsson (up two spots) & Kamui Kobayashi (down one spot)

Plenty of ties in this week’s F1 Power Rankings and the two Caterham drivers find themselves locked at no. 17 – which is a season-high for Ericsson but a season-low for KK. The Swede suffered an embarrassing error in quali but kept a cool head in a hectic race to score what would have been a magnificent eleventh-place finish if not for Bianchi’s heroics. Kobayashi, meanwhile, was mugged by Bianchi and struggled thereafter; he was brought in for races like this to make the most of such opportunities and failed to deliver.

 

Ericsson - complete with Ronnie Peterson tribute helmet - had a mixed weekend
Source: FOM TV images

19. Max Chilton (down one spot)

Frankly, if not for the dismal Saubers and Maldonado, Chilton could easily have been ranked bottom this week after his horrific error under the safety car as he ran into Räikkönen (for which he was inexplicably not penalized). Not only did it destroy Kimi’s race but Max then missed out on the opportunity to get back on the lead lap and fight for points – something which would have been significantly better on his racing CV than his finishing record.

20. Esteban Gutiérrez & 21. Adrian Sutil (no change)

It happens every year: several drivers leave the Principality reflecting on missed opportunities. This year, it’s our young Mexican friend, Stevie G, who tops that list after his desperate error at Rascasse saw him throw away some extremely valuable points for Sauber. Gutiérrez also made the rather strange mistake of lining up in the wrong grid position as he took Maldonado’s vacated spot – which triggered the same blunder from both Marussias.

It was another weekend to forget for Sutil – even if we forgive him for the first lap contact with Grosjean as it was during the Mirabeau mêlée. He produced some good overtakes – including a clean move on Grosjean – before he lost control of his Sauber exiting the tunnel; his second crash of the weekend. Both cars went out in Q3 and now they slip behind Marussia in the championship; miserable times at the Swiss team.

On a side note, the team should genuinely consider running Simona de Silvestro in some FP1 sessions – with a possible view to replacing Sutil (although Giedo van der Garde would probably be a safer bet). She seems far better prepared for F1 than Susie Wolff, whose appearances for Williams seem nothing more than a hyped-up vanity exercise (and, indeed, than Sergey Sirotkin).

22. Pastor Maldonado (no change)

Having traditionally performed well in Monaco, Maldonado managed to crack Q2 for the first time this season… and that was it for him as his car packed up prior to the start of Sunday’s race.

 

Miss yellow cars in F1? RHR hold off Castroneves in a thrilling Indy 500 finish
Source: AP

 All views expressed in this blog are my own and no copyright infringement is intended.