Monaco Preview

The Monaco GP is the most prestigious event of the F1 season. It has history, glamour and most importantly, money.

The track is the tightest and slowest of the championship, and recently has suited the McLaren cars well, coming in with a one-two last year (Alonso, Lewis). They also hold the record for most wins at the track with 14 wins since they started competing.

From what we saw in the Turkish GP I do not expect that to change, the McLaren’s should be strong here, so expect Lewis and Heikki to do well.

The Ferrari’s wont be far behind them though, with 9 wins to the teams credit around the principality, and Massa finished third behind the two McLaren’s last year. The Ferrari team have also brought changes to the car (at least in practice), in the shape of modifications to their nose hole design, which should help them with the aero balance on the high downforce track.

BMW-Sauber where on their back foot in Turkey, so I would expect them to have brought some developments to the car this weekend to try make up the gap. So expect a decent showing from them.

Fernando Alonso is also quite good around here, and the top end speed is less important here than stability and riding the kerbs. With the new ‘mass damper’ in the Renault now they should have that, so they may be the dark horses this weekend if they can run an aggressive enough strategy.

Toyota and Red Bull both have a chance at a decent grid and race finish, both cars seem to be improving with each race, and the Toyota certainly is better over the bumps than previous cars from the team. That plus the fact that Jarno Trulli seems to get on well at the track should offer them a good chance of points.

The race has at times been one of attrition and inability to overtake, so we could see some of the other slower teams making their way into the points scoring places. Honda and Toro Rosso are a good bet for point’s if there are issues with any of the faster teams.

The Williams team are celebrating this weekend as well, not only have the cars been fairly pacey in practice sessions, but it’s Sir Frank Williams 600th Grand Prix.

“As most people would expect, reaching 600 Grands Prix means very little to me! I do have to admit, however, that there have been some brilliant moments over the 40 years that I’ve been racing, and there have also been some moments of great sadness. Most of the time it has been a most pleasurable experience. If I was 40 years younger, I would still choose the same path towards where I find myself today.” - Sir Frank Williams. Let’s hope the Williams team do well this weekend, that way Sir Frank can get to taste race winning Champaign.