At just over three kilometres, the Monte Carlo street circuit is only slightly longer than the span of Daniel Ricciardo’s trademark grin.
And after the Red Bull driver secured the most important pole of the season ahead of the two Mercedes powerhouses and with a potential tyre advantage over the top ten, who could blame Ricciardo for his cheerful demeanour on Saturday evening?
After all, this was an irresistible opportunity for the Australian to emulate his fellow countrymen Jack Brabham and Mark Webber and win the Monaco Grand Prix.
But come Sunday evening, the trophy in Ricciardo’s hands was not the one he had dreamt of holding that previous night and the winning smile that has won him so many fans was nowhere to be seen.
Lewis Hamilton drove superbly to take an overdue first victory of his 2016 campaign. But the biggest story of the Monaco Grand Prix was how Red Bull had inadvertently sabotaged their most popular driver’s chances of victory for the second successive race.
Follow the leader
Much pre-race chatter surrounded the possibility of rain on Sunday. And, for once, it wasn’t wrong: The heavens opened in the early hours of Sunday morning.
With heavy downpours soaking the track, it came as little surprise when the FIA announced that the Monaco Grand Prix would begin under Safety Car conditions.
Almost as soon as the race officially began at two o’clock, there was trouble. Daniil Kvyat radioed to his team that his car was stuck in a constant speed mode. It took two trips through the pits and the loss of a lap for the Toro Rosso to right itself.
After five laps behind the Safety Car, fans and drivers alike began to get restless, with Hamilton ad Kevin Magnussen urging race director Charlie Whiting over radio to start the race.
Finally, the grand prix started in earnest at the start of lap eight. Ricciardo made a strong getaway, pulling out a second over Nico Rosberg, who was pursued closely by Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel’s Ferrari behind.
But there was instant trouble as Jolyon Palmer lost control of his Renault on the pit straight, slamming into the outside barriers and spearing into the wall at Sainte Devote. The Virtual Safety Car was called, as the Monaco marshals cleared the track of debris from the single car accident.
When the race resumed, Ricciardo wasted no time in pulling a significant gap to the Mercedes behind as Magnussen was the first to gamble on a switch to intermediate tyres.
Kimi Raikkonen’s race ended sooner afterwards. The Ferrari driver struck the barriers at the hairpin and almost collected Romain Grosjean’s Haas into Portier while dragging his front wing under his Ferrari. Raikkonen finally decided to park his stricken car by the chicane, not far from where he boat was moored.
By now, Rosberg was visibly struggling for grip in the treacherous conditions, with Hamilton increasingly agitated behind his team mate.
Mercedes knew that with every lap Hamilton was stuck behind his team mate, their chances of challenging Ricciardo for victory were decreasing. The team told their championship leader to yield for his main rival and, to his credit, Rosberg duly obeyed – no protests, no fuss.
Rosberg admitted that surrendering the place had been ‘painful’, but showed the presence of mind to realise that to win a season-long war against a driver the calibre of Lewis Hamilton, you have to expect to lose some battles along the way.
Pit blunder costs Ricciardo victory
By this stage several drivers had switched onto the intermediate tyres and the shallow-grooved rubber was starting to pay benefits. With Max Verstappen going fastest on them, Red Bull called their race leader in to switch onto the tyres himself, mirroring what Rosberg had done a few laps prior.
Curiously, Hamilton opted to stay out, inheriting the lead. Ricciardo took just four laps to make up the deficit to the Mercedes, but despite a significant advantage Ricciardo chose not to try and force his way past and instead wait for his opportunity.
Marcus Ericsson was the first to roll the dice on full dry tyres on lap 31 – which quickly proved to be the right move to make.
In came the entire field, with Hamilton finally discarding his full wet tyres for a switch to ultra-soft slicks. The unleashed Ricciardo produced a middle sector time which was over two seconds faster than Hamilton managed moments later, and as the Red Bull driver headed for the pits only a disastrous stop for him would hand the lead back to the Mercedes.
But that was exactly what Ricciardo got. As the RB12 coasted into to Red Bull pit box there were no tyres – wet or dry – to greet him. Thirteen agonising seconds passed before the team had scrambled to put a full set of super softs onto the RB12.
Ricciardo bolted for the pit exit, but the damage had been done. The lead was lost. Track position had been lost. And Ricciardo now had the almost impossible task of passing Hamilton on-track to claim back victory.
And things were about to get worse for Red Bull.
Having started from the back, Verstappen was making great progress through the field. Some skilful passes on Magnussen and Jenson Button had given him a shot at a decent points finish.
But after recovering to tenth, Verstappen compounded a weekend to forget by throwing it all away at Massenet, understeering into the outside barriers and wrecking his Red Bull for the second successive day. As with qualifying, the 18-year-old accepted full responsibility for his error.
As the race resumed following another Virtual Safety Car, Ricciardo was now all over Hamilton, almost running into the rear of the Mercedes in the tunnel.
Hamilton had all four wheels on the inside of the kerb at the chicane and Ricciardo tried to pounce, but the Mercedes driver shut the door on exit. Ricciardo was angry. The stewards investigated, but no further action was taken.
Friendly fire
All this was had allowed third-placed Sergio Perez, on soft tyres, to catch up to the two leaders. The Force India driver had made a late switch to intermediates but timed a move to dry tyres perfectly, allowing him to jump ahead of Rosberg and Vettel.
Further down the field the Saubers of Felipe Nasr and Ericsson were stuck behind Romain Grosjean. The team instructed Nasr to let his team mate by to attack the Haas, but despite a direct order from the senior management, the Brazilian refused to yield.
A bemused Ericsson then decided to take matters into his own hands – with disastrous results. A late lunge into Rascasse saw the two Saubers collide with damage taking both cars out of the race.
The ridiculous action saw Ericsson earn a three-place grid penalty for Canada, while team principal Monisha Kaltenborn later described the behaviour of both drivers as ‘unacceptable’.
Hamilton takes control
What had began as an unpredictable wet-dry race was by now displaying the usual hallmarks of a traditional parade around the streets of Monaco. Track position in the drier conditions was key, which played directly into the hands of Hamilton and fifth-placed Alonso, who were both under pressure from behind.
Ricciardo backed off for a handful of laps to try and save his tyres before mounting a renewed challenge for the lead, but with Hamilton now in a rhythm, the Red Bull never found the opportunity to take the fight to the Mercedes.
Vettel too was eating into the gap to Perez ahead, but a couple of small errors under braking put paid to any chances Ferrari had to snatch the final step on the podium.
Hamilton kept his focus and ticked off the laps to cross the line just before the two hour time limit expired and secure his first win of the season. Ricciardo finished seven seconds adrift and did not attempt to mask his frustration at having had his chances for victory scuppered through no fault of his own.
There was late drama, however, as the rains returned for a last lap cameo which saw some drivers forced to tip-toe around the final three kilometres to safely reach the chequered flag.
Rosberg exited Antony Noghes for the last time to find all traction had abandoned him on the greasy surface, with Nico Hulkenberg brilliantly taking advantage to jump the Mercedes at the line and snatch sixth place.
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“Two weekends in a row I’ve been screwed”
Just as last year, the podium celebrations in the royal box had the distinct air of frustration and injustice for one of the three attendees. Ricciardo did not mince words.
“Two weekends in a row now, I’ve been screwed,” declared the second place man. “It sucks.”
Hamilton’s reaction to his 44th career win was more of satisfaction than elation, having come through a tumultuous start to the season to finally record his first win of 2016 in round six.
“Truly one of the hardest races I can ever remember having,” Hamilton said. “To stay in the zone, not make any mistakes and come out on top is just unbelievable.”
After Force India had targeted a strong result here, Perez was delighted to have produced another surprise podium appearance for the team at such a prestigious venue.
“I’m extremely happy, because my team has done a tremendous job with the strategy, with the calls and the pit stops,” Perez said. “It’s been an amazing day for us.”
But while Hamilton’s victory had helped him make a significant dent into Rosberg’s sizeable championship lead, there was a sense that Red Bull had lost this race perhaps as much as Mercedes had won it.
Even Helmut Marko admitted that the team had effectively gifted the race to their rivals, describing the error as a ‘human mistake’.
Mercedes had looked beatable in a straight fight for the first time since Singapore last year. When the Silver Arrows are vulnerable, their rivals know too well that they must make the most of the opportunity.
Daniel Ricciardo must now hope this does not prove to be his last such opportunity for 2016.
2016 Monaco Grand Prix
- Ricciardo takes second Driver of the Weekend win of 2016
- 2016 Monaco and Spanish Grands Prix team radio transcripts
- 2016 Monaco Grand Prix Predictions Championship results
- Slippery Monaco provides a gripping grand prix
- Top ten pictures from the 2016 Monaco Grand Prix
F1 race reviews
- Mission complete for Verstappen as Ferrari fall short of their final objective
- Verstappen denies Leclerc as F1’s Las Vegas spectacular lives up to its billing
- Verstappen on song with Sao Paulo win as Alonso prevails in podium photo-finish
- Perez breaks hearts, Verstappen breaks record in Mexico
- Verstappen beats Hamilton for third year running before disqualification drama
@HoHum (@hohum)
30th May 2016, 7:56
Nice article Will, made me feel the pain all over again, 1 comment, DanR finished 7 seconds behind only because it started to rain again, and with only 2 laps to go, discretion got the better of valor, without the combination of a wet track and traffic threatening a certain 2nd I’m sure Dan would have been right up Lewis’ exhaust pipe at the finish
The Skeptic
30th May 2016, 10:29
I think that Dan fell behind also because Lewis reeled off a couple of fast laps (fastest on lap 71), and made the most of the traffic.
bogaaaa (@nosehair)
30th May 2016, 7:57
It is incredibly hard to understand how the tyre mix up happened, when they drill this procedure constantly…the inteam comm’s should be bullet proof..tight pit space or not!!!…did not happen to any other team working up and down pit lane that were working under the same conditions.
Stephen Crowsen (@drycrust)
31st May 2016, 0:02
@nosehair It appears part of the problem was caused by Red Bull changing their strategy from using the Ultra soft tyre to the Super soft tyre at a very late stage. The Super soft tyres were at the back of the garage with the tyre warmers on them, hence they weren’t on hand when Ricciardo rolled in and stopped. If Red Bull had run with the same tyre as Hamilton had, then they would have come out in front of him. Assuming their tyre wear is about the same or better than the Mercedes car has, then they would probably have won the race. If, on the other hand, the tyre wear was worse, then Mercedes would have won.
As a thought, it does seem odd that no one seemed to notice there were the wrong number of people waiting to attend to the car. This isn’t a case where it was one person missing, but 4 of them, and the 4 missing are each supposed to be holding a wheel, so the absence should have been conspicuous.
http://en.f1i.com/news/57407-horner-explains-red-bull-tyre-error-ricciardo.html
bogaaaa (@nosehair)
31st May 2016, 0:30
Stephen l have read horner’s explaination of what happen and l don’t disbelieve him…it is bizarre that the team go through every possible scenario in changing compound, pit calls/late pit calls/ drivers input ect ect and that …. if it was the teams first year at Monaco and working under pressure in the tight pit surroundings..we could say l yeah that explains it.
pcxmac (@xsavior)
1st June 2016, 19:46
it might have had something to do with Max pitting the lap before + the change in tire strategy. Maybe the word dropped too soon before Max pitted and the crew didn’t work well enough to get RIC’s tires ready for his pit not long after.
Ben
30th May 2016, 8:18
Can anyone explain why the Red Bull was so quick here? Is it because the engine speed wasn’t such a factor? In which case, do Red Bull have a better car for mechanical grip?
Kingshark (@kingshark)
30th May 2016, 9:26
The RB12 has supreme mechanical grip and traction. The Red Bull chassis in general has been either the outright best or equal best every season since 2009. They are consistently able to produce such a car even across different regulations.
One can say that it’s all Newey, but many of his McLaren cars in the 2000’s didn’t exactly set the world alight (2002-04, 2006).
JCost (@jcost)
30th May 2016, 9:57
It’s mostly chassis. Maybe better energy harvesting and deployment but the test for the new PU is Canada.
paulipedia (@paulipedia)
31st May 2016, 10:19
from Autosport “Renault has only used three development tokens for its Formula 1 engine upgrade at this weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix.
The French manufacturer ran the new unit for the first time in last week’s test at Barcelona, with the drivers giving good feedback about power and driveability.
Renault engine technical director Remi Taffin suggested the upgrade could be worth as much as 0.5 seconds in laptime.
Following the successful test, Renault chose to bring forward the new spec’s introduction by a race to Monaco, though it only had two units available.
petebaldwin (@)
31st May 2016, 10:29
Because Red Bull have designed the best car. They don’t have the best suppliers however and that’s what matters in F1 so on most tracks, they will struggle.
bogaaaa (@nosehair)
30th May 2016, 8:23
Chassis,drive off the corners, not sure how much difference the PU upgrade made in the 2 RBs, because VES kept crashing his car.
bogaaaa (@nosehair)
30th May 2016, 8:25
l meant to say in Rics car
Jon (@johns23)
30th May 2016, 8:31
Could only watch and think wow, how Red Bull had done such a thing. Such a huge shame for Riccardo. These opportunities don’t come around too often so you have to feel for the bloke. Great race from Lewis as well to be on such an aggressive strategy, he was the only guy that was going to get close to Ricciardo and fortunately a little luck went his way. Perez, fantastic to keep a Ferrari off the podium
Phil-F1-21
30th May 2016, 22:38
+1
Dom (@3dom)
30th May 2016, 8:43
I wonder how significant it was that Hamilton didn’t lap Hulkenberg, if he did then Hulkenberg’s pass on Rosberg at the end of the race would likely not have happened. It will be interesting to see if it makes a difference in the championship. Those 2 points could be valuable.
Michael (@freelittlebirds)
30th May 2016, 15:57
@3dom yeah never thought of that – good point!
alex
30th May 2016, 8:43
Hamilton was the only who had balls to look for the win, appart from Ricciardo, Rosberg was like a turtle trying to block and mantain his position the 72 laps like he done 1 year he won, what a shame of driver.
Verstappen he is half crazy, capable of great performances and the worst mistakes, we will see if his lucky win gets to his head and becomes Joss Verstappen part 2.
anonymouscoward (@anonymouscoward)
30th May 2016, 8:50
Really…..the guy is 18, give him a chance. I don’t think luck came into his win, sure some others made some mistakes but you have to be close to capitalise on a mistake. This guy is going to get many more race wins under his belt. That much I know.
GechiChan (@gechichan)
30th May 2016, 9:12
i agree that Max had a rough weekend, but Monaco is a track where patience, a cool head and experience is more important than raw speed. And those 3 qualities i mentioned above do not come at 18.
He was fast and made up some ground to 9th, coming from the back of the pack, but he was pushing too hard and taking too many risks when the track was still wet. To his credit, almost all the successful overtakes done in the race were his. I was somewhat disappointed after he crashed, as he was the only one who actually did something interesting in the middle part of the race.
bogaaaa (@nosehair)
30th May 2016, 9:32
He should not be in a A team if he is not capable of driving with the big boys at Monaco…his talent and ability did not match his ambition .Not once but twice!!! pure and simple!!..RB management and mentoring is a lot to blame for his Monaco disaster..he is still a kid l don’t dislike him.
Cyber
30th May 2016, 9:59
Both Kvyat and Verstappen clearly overdrive themselves this weekend.
Much can be blamed on the Red Bull management of these two driver talents.
Leen
30th May 2016, 10:58
Did he not proof in Spain that he CAN drive with the big boys?
Yes he had a bad weekend in Monaco and showed signs that he still has to learn how to be patience and more controlled. However this is also 1 of the reasons why everybody loves Verstappen so much. He is 1 of the only drivers left in the paddock that really goes for it and takes risks.
Verstappen needs to learn when he can take those risks and when he has to be patience and if he improves in that area he will become one of the greats in F1. I see allot of similarities between Verstappen and Hamilton in his first few years.
grat
30th May 2016, 22:54
Maldonado won in Spain in 2012.
bogaaaa (@nosehair)
30th May 2016, 23:30
Monaco in the rain exposes the real talent from the donkeys..Ves was exposed as why he needed another year or 2 in the junior team and was out of his league in monaco and is (fast heading towards the next driver to be seriously injured in F1) ..NR was exposed that he couldn’t cope with the pace of DR and LH in the rain, and l don’t believe he had any more issues with his car than LH…KR was exposed as a true number 2 driver….LH and DR showed why they are the bench mark drivers in F1 even rate em above Seb..DR has been amazing this year..all just my opinion.
David BR
30th May 2016, 11:00
Well world champion Kimi Raikkonen binned it for Ferrari around Monaco too on Sunday. ‘Disaster’ is a bit melodramatic. Verstappen just hasn’t learnt yet that Monaco isn’t actually a racing circuit. You can hardly blame him for the mistake given FIA puts it on the F1 racing calendar.
bogaaaa (@nosehair)
30th May 2016, 23:43
Button and kimi more so, should call it a day.
Anil Sanagavarapu (@anilsk2013)
30th May 2016, 15:42
Last year Max took out Romain Grosjean at Monaco…this year at Monaco he took himself out. I think RBR may have to pay for this decision as these crashes will cost them Engines and Transmissions. If Max crashes in Montreal it could end RBR’s challenge to Ferrari.
n0b0dy100
30th May 2016, 18:10
Max is young and reckless, but so were a lot of great drivers. With experience and he will only get better. Remember Grosjean was once the same way.
bogaaaa (@nosehair)
30th May 2016, 23:50
Senna in the toleman in the rain @monaco was one of the great f1 drives, was robbed of the win by the French..Ves is not even close to Senna at this stage.
Tommy Scragend
30th May 2016, 9:14
I thought race control handled it well with the Virtual Safety Cars – it showed how useful the VSC is when used correctly. Slowing the cars down to give the marshals chance to nip onto the track and sweep up was the right thing to do and didn’t change the outcome the race as much as it might have done had there been a number of full safety cars.
Tommy Scragend
30th May 2016, 9:15
the outcome *of* the race
bogaaaa (@nosehair)
30th May 2016, 9:34
Yeah l agree Tommy first time l saw it work well.
lockup (@)
30th May 2016, 9:39
Agreed I thought the VSC really proved out this weekend.
N
30th May 2016, 10:37
Agree’d, VSC really helped the flow of the race instead of spending 40 combined laps behind the SC
dex
30th May 2016, 9:24
The team order to Nico to pull over for his team mate says to me that he is number 2. Lewis was asked to do the same last year and he refused. Lewis was negotiating his contract at that time also, just like Nico.
Robbie (@robbie)
30th May 2016, 13:32
Different circumstances entirely. And there is no number 2. If there was it would be LH because he is behind NR in the WDC. But thankfully these drivers are treated equally.
Michael (@freelittlebirds)
30th May 2016, 16:04
@dex did you want Ricciardo to lap both Mercedes’ at Monaco with Dieter watching for a second time? As Mercedes and Nico said, they waited too long to tell him to give up the position. Toto made the right call in the end and Nico made the right call to give up the position. They would never have forgiven him if Red Bull had won and the 2 Mercedes cars had been lapped.
Kingshark (@kingshark)
30th May 2016, 9:29
I don’t recall any team orders at all in 2015, although Lewis was pretty childish in his attempts to defend from Nico at Australia earlier this year when his tyres were completely shot and Nico was in a direct race with Vettel.
N
30th May 2016, 10:39
Hamilton wasn’t in contract talks to save his seat in the best team. Rosberg moved over because it helps him in other ways.
Robbie (@robbie)
30th May 2016, 13:34
He didn’t need that to help him be retained at Merc. They are already poised to re-sign him, and had already said that that process will begin soon.
N
30th May 2016, 14:19
You don’t think Rosberg’s decision to move over was made easier by having the CEO of Daimler in your garage? 2 weeks after both cars crashed into each other? All the while having contract negotiations on going? Ok, then.
Understeer (@abdelilah)
30th May 2016, 10:05
Mercedes handed RedBull the win in Spain, RedBull handed Mercedes the win in Monaco so its 1-1 end of the matter IMO.
72defender (@72defender)
30th May 2016, 13:43
+1
Supremacy (@supremacy)
30th May 2016, 20:53
Not quite.
Lewis’ inspired drive had a lot do with victory.
chris (@)
30th May 2016, 10:34
I wonder why Nico didn’t do the usual driver action of moving over to the side when the hulk was about to over take?
Those 2 points could prove to be a decider.
Robbie (@robbie)
30th May 2016, 13:35
Did you not hear him say he had zero tire left and then it rained and so he was nowhere with grip?
ngwe23 (@realstig)
30th May 2016, 13:47
Meanwhile his teammate was the fastest man on track on the same tires.
juan fanger (@juan-fanger)
30th May 2016, 14:03
HAM in clear air, ROS stuck behind another car.
Armchair Expert (@foreverred)
30th May 2016, 10:45
I see people thinking Mercedes telling Nico to move over so Lewis could catch Ric was a sign of Nico is No2, WRONG.
Nico was a bloody turtle, it was painful to watch, Ric pulling out a 13.500s lead while the other drivers that were clearly faster in the wet were jumping on Nico’s choo choo train. Perfectly acceptable team order. And Hamilton didn’t block Ric, he didn’t cut the corner intentionally either, he was turning in hit a mini puddle and cut the corner(as he said in his pre race interview and it shows on the replays). He was then still on the racing line and left a cars length. I see some people on here can’t even be impartial only biased. SMH
Pyon (@pyon)
30th May 2016, 10:52
I disagree about Hamilton block on the chicane, he cut the corner and block rick on his slow exit. Shameful move that weirdly was not even investigated by the marshall…
bogaaaa (@nosehair)
30th May 2016, 11:01
Yep if a driver brakes too deep into a corner being defensive and retards the following car on the exit should be a penalty whether they are leading or not…no brainer!!! Hammie was lucky.
Ju88sy (@)
30th May 2016, 11:16
Both wrong. The reason there was no further action is because Hamilton lost speed through the chicane and he left a cars width for Ricciardo essentially sold Ricciardo a dummy and he bought it. A top class piece of defensive driving.
Look at the images and footage you can see there was clearly a cars width.
lockup (@)
30th May 2016, 11:25
Yep @ju88sy it was a feint, perfectly judged.
Robbie (@robbie)
30th May 2016, 13:42
Lol you saying he planned to cut the chicane? I call that a driver who overcooked it and wasn’t in control.
lockup (@)
30th May 2016, 14:00
No he didn’t plan to cut the chicane @robbie he planned to keep Ricci behind him on entry, even though his tyres were still cool after the VSC while Danny’s were working. We can suppose he knew he could get away with running a bit deep and missing the first apex. Then on exit he planned to scare Danny into lifting while not actually putting him in the barrier or breaking the rule.
This is the racecraft they pay him all that money for.
Robbie (@robbie)
30th May 2016, 14:25
Lol oh you know that his plan was to ‘scare’ DR do you? No matter how you want to spin it, if LH was in control ie. had racecraft at that moment, he wouldn’t have lost control and had to cut the chicane. When you are in control you negotiate the corner on the track, not off it, and he was lucky he didn’t cost himself the win by not accounting for his cold tires.
lockup (@)
30th May 2016, 16:00
If Lewis had braked early enough to go neatly round the first apex @robbie he might have found Danny getting there first. And yes we do know he planned to scare Danny because as we see in the head-on shot there was always in fact a car’s width there, until after Ricci had backed out of it.
It was reminiscent of Bahrain 2014, and that beastly little dink coming out of T1 that made Rosberg lift and get cross, without contact :)
Robbie (@robbie)
30th May 2016, 16:17
Ah @lockup I see. So when in doubt the best defence is to overcook it and cut a chicane rather than fairly try to keep a lead while actually on the track. Got it.
lockup (@)
30th May 2016, 17:17
I don’t think you do see really @robbie. The route Lewis took was slower and gave Danny a faster exit. But then he feinted closing off the space to induce Danny to lift. By this means he stayed ahead of the faster car, while not having any contact or incurring a penalty.
They never get a penalty for slight cutting like that while defending, as you know and he knew. Of course you can make believe the rules are different, or should have been different, or apply some private code of ethics of your own. But he drove to the rules as they are currently interpreted, in real life.
AD
30th May 2016, 19:11
I really don’t understand why Lewis wasn’t penalised. He had four wheels off the track and gained an advantage. People complain when there’s no on track passing but if the lead driver can cut a chicane without penalty then it’s effectively impossible to pass at Monaco. Maybe a good penalty would be to allow Ricciardo to cut the chicane on the next lap.
Robbie (@robbie)
31st May 2016, 0:04
@lockup Not buying your justification for LH’s error. I think you are coming to your own unique interpretation that LH’s route was slower. He started to go left but rather than lock up or even try to stay on the track he just goes straight through. You seem to think everything is fine because of the way he defended himself after the fact. For me it is about the fact that he overcooked it to begin with. Just saying, he was lucky not to have lost control of his car, lucky to retain the lead, after failing to negotiate the chicane on the track. I have no problem with how he defended after the fact, just that he should thank his lucky stars he didn’t pay more severely for his mistake, and that in terms of a dotw poll he didn’t have a faultless day. He nearly blew it.
You said earlier that he needed to do this rather than negotiate the chicane neatly or he might have found DR ahead of him, but now you are saying he actually took the slow way, so I think you are contradicting yourself to defend LH.
Bottom line is he needed to overcook it and cut the chicane to stay ahead, so, not entirely clean play. Try selling your opinion to DR and see how far you get. Since you’ve decided for yourself that LH was trying to ‘scare’ DR I guess it’s fair game to assume LH was ‘scared’ to approach that chicane under control and needed to cheat it.
lockup (@)
31st May 2016, 11:28
Okay I watched it again @robbie. I guess Lewis could have braked a bit earlier without losing the position on the way in, so I’ll concede that was an error, albeit on the safe side. It was quite routine though really, cars often cut across that corner defending.
Then he did leave space on the exit, but feinted that he wasn’t going to, which was racecraft and skill.
As to lucky, well he kept the car straight, didn’t lock up, kept the place and didn’t get a penalty, so he could’ve been a lot less ‘lucky’ :)
Arrrang
30th May 2016, 14:23
I also find Hamiltons move at the chicane to agressive mainly because he cut the corner on the entry. For me it was a driver off the track, off the racing line trying to weave his way just to block the faster driver. Did anyone else noticed that cutting the chicane this year ment no action at all? As much as I hoped for the championship battle to be closer after Monaco i find Hamiltons driving recently very poor. Its not rubbish but its kind of relentless. He always was kind of stubborn and trying to be over tough to other drivers. Maybe its his goal, he wants to be great like Senna, currently his the early Senna- 100% shortsighted egoist.
Robbie (@robbie)
30th May 2016, 14:36
I think how it works is you can’t cut a chicane and gain a spot by doing so, without either quickly handing the spot back, or being told by F1 to do so, but you can cut a chicane and still keep your spot if the order of the cars hasn’t changed. I think one could reasonably ask though, what would happen if all drivers just did what LH did, on every lap?
Too bad there isn’t a penalty for this such as having 3 or 5 seconds added to your time at the end of the race. If that had happened yesterday at least LH would have had to pour it on and increase the gap to DR as his penalty for overcooking it and only retaining the lead because he cut the chicane.
Arrrang
30th May 2016, 15:01
A time penalty sounds like a good idea. It’s clear to me that cuting the chicane gains you an advantage everytime. As Hamilton showed- even when you are in the process much slower out of the corner. Because you can take a different line than normally and block other driver throu and after the corner. People say VER is a playstation era driver and he did overdrive it this weekend but its a thing you can get over with time. HAM on the other hand drove like he was the only person on track whos win will matter- Player vs computer type of driving. It only matters when I win. Maybe its only me who thinks that way anyway… :)
Michael (@freelittlebirds)
30th May 2016, 16:10
@Arrrang Well cutting the chicane the way Hamilton didn’t give him an advantage – it gave him a disadvantage and Ricciardo gained an advantage and caught up with him. It depends how and why you cut the chicane. Lewis didn’t expect it and he had to adjust the car to get it back and ease off the throttle. Ricciardo took full advantage of the situation and got close and tried to pass.
Advantage: Ricciardo
Robbie (@robbie)
30th May 2016, 16:47
@freelittlebirds Or…had LH controlled his car properly DR would have had a fair shot. Obviously DR didn’t feel ‘advantaged’ judging by his gesture to LH.
bogaaaa (@nosehair)
30th May 2016, 23:39
Simple answer is cutting a chicanne/ corner should impose a penalty end of story..they wont do it if they know they cant.
Michael (@freelittlebirds)
31st May 2016, 0:14
@nosehair what if you lose the car with no one around? Penalty???:-)
bogaaaa (@nosehair)
31st May 2016, 0:43
Michael Just my opinion, l think cutting corners in the 3 practices is fine, drivers are balancing and setting up the car allowances need to be made , in quali or the race if done and alone, time penalty added to there finishing time 5secs or so….if they are doing it on purpose they will stop.. if they aren’t it is driver error.
Arrrang
31st May 2016, 8:05
Ofcourse it gave Hamilton a disadvantage – he did over do it. But looking at the facts you see HAM defending his position it the process wich is the best evidence that by taking the line he did he had the advantage. An advantage of still having chance to block RIC and nail a defense move wich I believe he shouldn’ be entitled to after cuting a corner. HAM should be glad that this is not a armcobarier chicane and he didn’t crash. Normally I would not argue about it- he cut the chicane and was slow throu the corner so he lost time- but be doing that when he was trying to defend his position he was in the wrong. I understand safety reasons for having a runoff area under heavy breaking but what it should do is provide safety to the drivers not allow drivers to safely defend posiotions.
Mike (@mike)
30th May 2016, 11:05
Lewis drove wonderfully. A much deserved win. I just feel for Ric, surely it was his race. He must be absolutely gutted.
Can’t complain as a spectator though, what a race!
Mick Harrold (@mickharrold)
30th May 2016, 11:07
I actually think RBR made 2 blunders for Dan on the weekend. One has not been looked at too closely because the wet start meant they all started on wet tyres.
Dan qualified on the SS tyre in Q2 meaning he got to start the race on that tyre. I’ve got to say, that move scared me lots. Look, Dan was on fire on Saturday and qualifying on that tyre was a great display of his skill and confidence. It was rightly rewarded with high accolades. However, how was that going to work in the race? If he had made it to the first corner in the lead, he could have ensured that he had the pace to keep everyone behind until the pit stops. However it was always going to be a 1 stop race.
While he could have kept everyone behind him until the first stops, everyone would have stopped on lap 25 or whatever, put the SS tyres on. Dan would have been left trying to match their pace while on 25 lap old tyres. I can’t image him being able to do that. He only had to lose 1 or 2 seconds of gap to the guys behind over the next 10-15 laps and after he stopped, he would have fallen behind the leaders. Yes, he would have been on the US tyres and everyone else would have been on old SS tyres, but this in Monaco. No passing allowed unless you are a front runner out of position at the back of the grid.
I can’t help but wondering what would have happened in a dry race. He might have emerged from the first pitstops in 4 or 6th? I can’t understand how he would have won it though. Am I missing something here. Possibly as I am sure RB are in possession of more facts than me, but I can’t see it. Maybe they thought it was going to be a 2 stop race? In that case,it would have made heaps of sense.
don brown
30th May 2016, 11:20
Rosberg was pathetic at the Monaco Grand Prix and the loss of the 6th place position, after the last corner, to Hulkenburg only served to confirm that he simply lacks the skills to be a Championship winning driver.
Robbie (@robbie)
30th May 2016, 14:08
Or it is a fact that Hulkenburg was on newer harder tires that didn’t lose their heat like Nico’s older, softer, and shot tires did once it started to rain during the last few laps. Otherwise, he had won 7 races in a row until LH took him out in Spain, and NR still leads the WDC. The only thing pathetic is your comment.
Mick Harrold (@mickharrold)
30th May 2016, 15:38
Look, I agree that pathetic is a harsh word. However, in every tirade of abuse is some truth. Nico should never have lost that position on the line. Have you ever seen someone lose a position on the straight before the start line in the past at Monaco. They might get beaten by St Devote, but not before the start finish line.
Nico was a beaten man all day and he let his head drop at the last corner and lost another position. He should have been the one winning the race today not Hamilton.
I hope Nico gives it to Hammy for the rest of the year. I don’t love Hammy even though he is a better driver than Nico. I am strangely warming to him this year though. He’s mellowed a lot. Heck I didn’t like Vettel for years, but he is one of my favourite drivers right now as well. Maybe age and a bit of humble pie makes them better people?
Nico is still a good driver and if the stars align for him, he will deserve the championship. Hey, I remember Hill winning and I still say he deserved it. Ron still dumped him at the end of the year because he wasn’t good enough though (and he was right). If Merc won the championship with Nico and then dumped him for Ricciardo next year, I would agree with that too. I should be a woman! I can’t make a coherent decision.
macradar (@macradar)
30th May 2016, 18:13
I wonder if we are all viewing the same series?
Can anyone tell me if Lewis had the right to block Nico in turn one?
If so, then there is nothing left to say
No one gets to be be 3 times DWC without having what it takes and Nico just does not have that something.
What Lewis has was not given to him by the tooth fairy. He was born to be great and so it will be.
Nico would NEVER have been able to keep DR behind him and Lewis acknowledged that DR was mighty yesterday.
Michael (@freelittlebirds)
30th May 2016, 16:13
Rosberg explained Hulkenberg’s pass pretty well – I don’t think it was his fault that Hulkenberg passed him there. Thank god he didn’t defend the way he did against Lewis – pretty gutsy from Hulkenberg if you ask me:-)
ram
30th May 2016, 17:01
Nico only drives like that around Hamilton. Everyone else he acts normally.There will never be a clean pass between ham and lewis. I think that’s why he was given team orders to let him by yesterday.
macradar (@macradar)
30th May 2016, 18:05
spot on!
Robbie (@robbie)
31st May 2016, 0:39
Nico only drives lIke that around Hamilton? You mean his only rival for the 3rd year running? Duh!
dan
31st May 2016, 1:17
@robbie 7th is bad you see Ham all over him in same car. Ham only guy could go as fast as Ric. Not many issues and Ham has great chance. Nico blew it should been 3rd. 24 pts and Ha m goes on streak soon.
Mick Harrold (@mickharrold)
30th May 2016, 11:42
Dan, if you are reading this, it’s time to look at the positives. You might not have won, but everyone accepts you were the best driver this weekend. In fact, you have been the driver of the year so far. OK, so you don’t have the wins to show for it, but you do have something more valuable right now.
I will explain. Has anyone ever seen Marko apologise to a driver? Seriously has this ever happened? Horner has done it a few times to Seb (but not Webber), but Marko apologise to a driver? RIC, you didn’t get an apology from either Horner or Marko after Barcelona. It might have happened behind closed doors, but not in the media. THey knew it was warranted, but didn’t feel the need to say it.
It’s contract time. You also have a new young highly rated upstart generating tons of media attention. Marko and RB treat their drivers like pawns in a chess game. Churn and burn. But right now, you have made it to the end of the board and are now a queen in the game of chess. You can move in all directions on the board (F1 teams) and the king (Horner) and bishop (Marko) know that to win the end game they need you. You are no longer a pawn. You can call some of the shots now.
What that means is more money at contract time. But that’s pointless if you are Alonso at McLaren on big dollars. What you want is the full support of a good team behind you and not your young upstart. Well done throwing a hissy fit after the race. I normally hate that stuff, but you had to let the king and bishop know that they need to work hard to support you. The king and bishop are apologising to you in the media and that apology is way harder to get than a race win and much more valuable to you.
Seb has 40 odd wins, and was the golden child, but I don’t think he has one Marko apology under his belt. Marko will hate being in that position more than you hated losing that race. He can’t get angry at you and put you in your place because he knows he needs you. That’s worth more than the win you lost out on.
Robbie (@robbie)
30th May 2016, 14:19
Just wondering how you can use an ‘apology count’ based on what the public has been allowed to hear or read, to form your opinion, when none of us could possibly know what is said behind closed doors. I know you acknowledge it might have happened behind closed doors but then carry on like if it didn’t happen in public it must not have happened. Strange.
Let’s not forget too, to look at Spain’s strategy call without the luxury of hindsight. While it was happening they thought they were making the right call. Only in hindsight did it become obvious, but nobody has a crystal ball.
Mick Harrold (@mickharrold)
30th May 2016, 14:55
Yes, you are right. It may have happened behind closed doors and it may not have done. And yes, Spain was a decision they made with the best of intentions. It was only a mistake in hindsight.
However that is not the point. The point is that they now feel the need to make the apology in public. That suggests that they are on the back foot and they feel they have to make the apology public. They won’t have done that lightly. Like I said, Has Marko ever made a public apology to a driver before today? I can’t remember one. I can’t even remember him bothering to front the cameras in the past, but he did in Monaco. It must mean something.
Robbie (@robbie)
30th May 2016, 15:38
Oh ok fair enough, your point is clearer to me. Not sure if I agree that this rare public apology means anything more than they’re sorry, but I agree with everyone who has said that DR has shown his stuff these last few races particularly, and we all understand the circumstances, which don’t take away from his actual driving. He’s had some hard luck, which is part of the game, but has managed to impress nonetheless. That to me is what is more weighty than an apology perhaps meaning that they now owe him something more.
DB-C90 (@dbradock)
30th May 2016, 12:13
I really feel for Dan but hopefully by now he’s come to grips with the fact that occasionally these things “just happen” and is ready to move on.
He can take with him some enormous positives, not the least of which was being on the Podium at Monaco, but some of the others… His amazing qualifying lap, the fact that he dominated proceedings pretty much from the first practice session, the fact that he has put away his team mate fairly convincingly (for the present) all server to underpin why he is regarded as one of the best drivers on the grid.
His time will definitely come, I don’t think for a minute that RBR management will be at all happy with the mistakes that were made and expect the strategies and support to reach even higher standards if tha is even possible.
We all felt for you here in Perth but know that in 2 weeks time you’ll bounce back with that trademark smile and be out there giving it your all.
JammyB
30th May 2016, 12:43
I guess you have to look at all these mistakes and bad luck in perspective though, you have to think what would have happened had Hamilton not had the engine/fuel issue during qualifying and gotten to do 2 runs in q3 like everyone else? The one and only lap he got he was faster than anyone else in the first and second sector but lost a little bit of time in the last, I honestly think if he had 2 laps he would have started on pole and we probably would have had the same result.
Bad luck happens unfortunately Ricciardo will have his day, he is clearly one of the top drivers on the grid he just needs to keep his head down right now.
bull mello (@bullmello)
30th May 2016, 15:56
Funny thing is before the Red Bull pit stop Steve Matchett kept commenting on watching the RBR engineers going back and forth in the pit/garage area presumably working on tire selection and air pressures. He said they did this several times before Ricciardo’s stop and one would think they had it sussed. Then on the stop when the team called him in, no tires ready at all. Not the wrong tires, no tires. Horner’s explanation that they changed tire selection at the last moment just doesn’t wash in light of Matchett’s pre-stop observations. They should have been ready with whichever tire was picked. They had nothing.
Helmut Marko’s explanation of simply human error is the only thing that makes sense. Looked like one hand did not know what the other was doing.
Slowhands (@slowhands)
30th May 2016, 17:28
@bullmello Hi Bull, interesting observation. I’ve been missing Matchett’s insights on the mechanical side ever since the American F1 TV contract went to NBC, and they put it on NBCSN which is not part of my cable package. But his observation and Horner’s explanation do in fact mesh. Here’s what I think happened: Once Hamilton stayed out on wets, his inspired and courageous strategy to go directly to slicks became clear. However, RB didn’t expect Merc to fit Ultrasofts given the number of laps remaining; they expected at least supersoft. Thus they had chosen and prepared soft tires for Ric, and that’s what Steve saw happening. Merc’s choice crossed them up. Instead of sticking to their own plan and prepared softs, pit wall caved under pressure and second-guessed at the last moment to supersoft, fearing Ham would have too much of a pace advantage with a 2 step softer tire. The “human error” was pit wall did not know the actual logistics of their choice (the supersofts were behind the garage, not easily at hand) and the 30 seconds that they gave their mechanics to go and get those tires was not enough. They thus made the same mistake as Merc last year, which is forgetting that Monaco is ALL about track position, and a car can successfully defend against another that is temporarily several seconds faster. They should have had the courage to stay with their soft tire choice and trust in their excellent driver, who would have been in and out fast, had a couple of laps to get his tires up to temp, and then been able to defend long enough for Ham’s Ultras to lose their advantage, as he would not have the luxury of “managing” them being the chasing car.
This Autosport article is instructive: http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/124560/monaco-pit-layout-caused-ricciardo-mixup
Phil-F1-21
30th May 2016, 22:46
Very instructive and makes good sense. Unlike RBR to be so indecisive though.
bull mello (@bullmello)
31st May 2016, 4:34
@slowhands – Good article and explanation. Can’t help but think the race would have still been quite interesting had RBR stuck with the softs. It could have left Ricciardo vulnerable at the start of his stint, but he would have still had the lead without losing at least 10 seconds on the most difficult course to pass on. Interesting too that the ultras lasted so long on Hamilton’s stint. Enough so that he still had enough tire to push away from Ricciardo near the end of the race. Daniel said his tires had nothing left at the end.
It is nice to have Matchett on the broadcast. In this case he said from their vantage point he could see right into the RBR pit/garage area and brought all this up some time before the pit stop fumble.
Michael Brown (@)
30th May 2016, 22:21
It’s perfectly fine that Ricciardo is upset over his loss of the win. We like our F1 drivers with emotion. But he doesn’t need to rant like he did in the weeks after Spain. It’s obvious to us that Red Bull messed up two races in a row, and some of us are criticizing them for it.
It’s kind of like Petrov’s rant in 2011.
tgu (@thegrapeunwashed)
30th May 2016, 22:49
Commiserations to Ricciardo, who would have been a deserved race winner, but congratulations to Hamilton who needed a bit of luck to make up for the technical gremlins he suffered on Saturday; a win long overdue and a massive indent in Rosberg’s lead makes the rest of the season much more interesting.
A stonking drive from Perez.
Jason S
31st May 2016, 11:51
Horrible luck Dan. But the next race is Canada where he won his first GP. We don’t have long to wait to see just how good Renault’s upgrade really is. Dan’s visible disappointment is completely understandable – world championship quality drivers don’t suffer fools. Can’t wait for Montreal.