The 2007 Monaco Grand Prix, 1 point for Kimi – Endless support from me

"Monaco? 16th position? Eh…hmmm"

Alonso won with what I call one of his most stunning Grand Prix drives at Monaco today as he completely brushed off pressure all weekend from Hamilton. Kimi was indeed heavily fuelled and that with an awkward car to handle, he finished 8th catching the last point. He had gained 4 places by the first lap so it went better than I expected, however even for Hamilton up front the race was decided after turn 1 as Alonso wasn’t attacked and it was safer not to. McLaren’s 1-2 victory at Monaco and Alonso’s second at the prestigious track was well deserved as they completed had over lapped the whole field except for Massa in a distant 3rd place where he felt he could do absolutely nothing.


There wasn’t a single overtaking manouvre as the race rolled on and we were left with probably the biggest anti-climax to a Monaco Grand Prix, unfortunatly. Bizarre that there were no messy incidents between anyone, no rain was gifted from the Gods, but there was more of annoyed drivers such including Massa who felt their potential were completely hindered from back markers. Torro Rosso’s Liuzzi and Spyker’s Sutil crashed at the same spot of track during the race and Red Bull’s Mark Webber suffered his continued Monaco mess with a gear/drive problem. Speed had a great result for once though he missed out on the points and Wurz was enjoying himself with a good position

It was a fairly boring race otherwise. Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso seemed to be undecided between themselves if there was going to be a fight between them, as once Alonso increased a 7 second lead gap from the start, he started to fall back into Lewis’ reach. Later after the first pit stops Lewis became only 3 seconds behind Alonso however Ron Dennis claims the race was completely ‘controlled‘ from the first pit stops and Lewis continued a strong of faster then slower laps against Alonso’s. It was clear then that Alonso would take this race as his and Lewis must accept it. A great drive from both nonetheless, but with Hamilton pushing so hard, touching the barriers a few times, I’m not suprised if he feels a little disappointed in not being able to win. But having said that, his performance against a two time world champion is definatly not too shabby and it won’t be long at all till Lewis learns and put’s himself on the top step of a podium.

I felt quite sorry for Kimi, of course. Yes, he made a mistake in qualifying yesterday and he shouldn’t have seeing he was comfortably faster than Massa, but I can’t help but think how it must feel. He left a team with a car so fragile for a stronger car. But we have Lewis being able to touch the barriers a few time and thank the team for building a strong car. The irony; I don’t know whether to laugh or cry. I was hoping for Kimi to give at least the fans watching a overtaking move on Wurz of whom he was following in 8th place for an extra point, but he just couldn’t do it. As Martin Brundle said, the car did seem a handful for Kimi today, but I don’t doubt he didn’t try his best. And for that single point, I pat Kimi on the back. You may have left the Ferrari team earlier yesterday than Massa did, but good results don’t come by themselves. You’ll be back in the next race. So, Keep Flying Kimi!!!

Race Results:

Pos  Driver        Team                      Time
 1.  Alonso        McLaren-Mercedes     (B)  1h40:29.329
 2.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes     (B)  +     4.095
 3.  Massa         Ferrari              (B)  +  1:09.114
 4.  Fisichella    Renault              (B)  +     1 lap
 5.  Kubica        BMW Sauber           (B)  +     1 lap
 6.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber           (B)  +     1 lap
 7.  Wurz          Williams-Toyota      (B)  +     1 lap
 8.  Raikkonen     Ferrari              (B)  +     1 lap
 9.  Speed         Toro Rosso-Ferrari   (B)  +     1 lap
10.  Barrichello   Honda                (B)  +     1 lap
11.  Button        Honda                (B)  +     1 lap
12.  Rosberg       Williams-Toyota      (B)  +     1 lap
13.  Kovalainen    Renault              (B)  +     1 lap
14.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Renault     (B)  +    2 laps
15.  Trulli        Toyota               (B)  +    2 laps
16.  R.Schumacher  Toyota               (B)  +    2 laps
17.  Sato          Super Aguri-Honda    (B)  +    2 laps
18.  Davidson      Super Aguri-Honda    (B)  +    2 laps

Fastest lap: Alonso, 1:15.284

Not classified/retirements:

Driver        Team                      On lap
Albers        Spyker-Ferrari       (B)    71
Sutil         Spyker-Ferrari       (B)    54
Webber        Red Bull-Renault     (B)    18
Liuzzi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari   (B)     2

News:
Alonso: Don’t write Kimi off yet

Saturday, Qualifying

Now, that’s what I call MONACO! What a funny day that was, not to mention it being bizarre (a good 3 times like Martin Brundle said) as it was just what I expected. Bravo to Monaco. Unfortunatly, I had to miss qualifying live (I know, a rarity for Evenstar) and I watched it an hour late. Of course, I had all the crazy thoughts an F1 fan would have before the Monaco grand prix; I wondered who will mess up out of the top guns first (Alonso, Hamilton, Massa and Kimi), I wondered if it rained, I wondered and dreamed of a proper tenth-to-tenth battle between teammates (the Clash of the Titans you might say) and for once all of them happened! Well, sadly I didn’t want Kimi to have a bad qualifying session but he did in session 2 by ‘kissing’ the barrier after the swimming pool exit, a bit too hard for it’s liking and therefore got a broken tooth as a result. Yep, a broken wheel. Naughty naughty…and walking away like that. Again. I thought Spain was fair enough but this time it really has got me worried. However, it’s said that Kimi was actually walking to the Ferrari media centre, hence his PR and Stefano walking behind with him.

And was it just me or did the whole thing looked ‘acted’? I burst out laughing seeing that infamous image of a red car parked at Rascasse, and not only must have Michael Schumacher on the pit wall thought to himself "Oh dear God, my nightmare, not again!", the other Ferrari arriving and sitting dumbly next to Kimi’s for a few seconds, and we had the soap opera like performance of the Ferrari mechanics in the pits! I truly had a good laugh, and I seriously hoped laughing it off would have made me feel better. Poor Kimi. Looking back at it, it’s still very funny to me but in a few months time it won’t be anymore.

Now back to the rest of the action. Teammate wars kept me interested, even though Kimi strolled off ignoring reporters and cameramen, and having two members of his team following him like they said something wrong to him. The only war Kimi has been having over the past few years was always against his own car, let alone between a teammate. And boy oh boy does McLaren have the ultimate scuffling and tussling between Hamilton and Alonso. Brilliant performance by them both, at one end my brain cells were despairing for Kimi, the other side cheering on Hamilton, and the rest wanting Alonso to show his teammate who is boss! One session Hamilton blasts the whole field, and that even on the fuel burning phase, decides to rub it in a bit more into Alonso’s disconcerted face and enjoys himself, going 180mph through the tight streets of Monte Carlo.

But we have underestimated Alonso, he had it all along. But it definatly wasn’t easy. For either of them for that matter. Hamilton out did himself to all limits and caught traffic, and Alonso clenched his steering wheel so hard for 1.15.7 seconds, that he sat still in the car afterwards and barely had energy in his arms after waving for the press and crowds in parc ferme. I really am impressed. A driver fit for Monaco glory once again, and having a teammate fit for almost making a meal out of him. And I was right in saying to myself "Go on Ron, let those tears out". Dennis’ team have achieved a McLaren 1-2 in qualifying since…well, a long time. And it was at Monaco, and he clearly did feel emotional and really happy. So, that was nice to see.

Traffic though, didn’t only cost Hamilton some time. What is traffic in F1, actually? Let’s think about it. How can you penalise someone for blocking (therefore costing them lost time on their hot lap) when they clearly had a hot lap to run aswell? David "Bull" Coulthard unfortunatly lost participation in Q3 from the Stewards’ decision because of blocking Renault’s Kovalainen towards the end of his lap. As you can imagine, it’s tough work trying to get somewhere in Monaco, and when you’re on a roll, you’re simply on a roll and can’t be stopped, and most of the time it is not intentional. Everyone is greedy and rightly so! Especially in Coulthard’s situation; he was coming up to the start/finish line, and obviously he needs to build up speed into his hot lap. It was simply and unfortunately bad timing but it was definatly equally balanced between the two drivers. If one gets penalised, penalising the other doesn’t make sense. Oh well, at least Kimi isn’t alone in facing Monaco from the back. It’s gonna be a long race.

Massa, though, did a great job considering Monaco isn’t exactly his best track. Being around 7-8 tenths slower than his teammate and the McLarens’ since Thursday, he really put the effort in and came 3rd quickest, just 3 tenths behind Hamilton. I’m glad the French had atleast one Renault doing well in qualifying, Fisichella put his veterany Monaco skills to a 4th place despite a crash in practise. The circuit has proved to be a bit of a lottery so far also for William’s Rosberg, qualifying 5th and Webber taking his Red Bull in the top 6. Coulthard must be very gutted indeed not being up there. And Kimi must be completely chuffed, another free afternoon to chill out! …As long as the sun lasts…Keep Flying Kimi!

Monaco qualifying breakdown			Session 1			Session 2			Session 3
Pos	Driver	Team	Pos	Time	Lap	Pos	Time	Lap	Pos	Time	Lap
1.	Alonso	McLaren	2.	1:16.059	8	1.	1:15.431	3	1.	1:15.726	11
2.	Hamilton	McLaren	1.	1:15.685	6	2.	1:15.479	4	2.	1:15.905	12
3.	Massa	Ferrari	5.	1:16.786	8	5.	1:16.034	7	3.	1:15.967	12
4.	Fisichella	Renault	12.	1:17.596	7	6.	1:16.054	6	4.	1:16.285	11
5.	Rosberg	Williams	6.	1:16.870	9	7.	1:16.100	3	5.	1:16.439	12
6.	Webber	Red Bull	14.	1:17.816	7	9.	1:16.420	6	6.	1:16.784	12
7.	Heidfeld	BMW Sauber	10.	1:17.385	5	4.	1:15.733	7	7.	1:16.832	12
8.	Kubica	BMW Sauber	11.	1:17.584	5	3.	1:15.576	7	8.	1:16.955	12
9.	Barrichello	Honda	8.	1:17.244	10	10.	1:16.454	6	9.	1:17.498	11
10.	Button	Honda	9.	1:17.297	10	11.	1:16.457	6	10.	1:17.939	12
11.	Coulthard*	Red Bull	7.	1:17.204	9	8.	1:16.319	7
12.	Wurz	Williams	16.	1:17.874	9	12.	1:16.662	7
13.	Liuzzi	Toro Rosso	4.	1:16.720	11	13.	1:16.703	6
14.	Trulli	Toyota	13.	1:17.686	8	14.	1:16.988	6
15.	Kovalainen	Renault	15.	1:17.836	8	15.	1:17.125	8
16.	Raikkonen	Ferrari	3.	1:16.251	9	16.	No time	2
17.	Davidson	Super Aguri	17.	1:18.250	7
18.	Speed	Toro Rosso	18.	1:18.390	7
19.	Sutil	Spyker	19.	1:18.418	8
20.	R.Schumacher	Toyota	20.	1:18.539	8
21.	Sato	Super Aguri	21.	1:18.554	10
22.	Albers	Spyker	22.	No time	3

Bernie backs Kimi to bounce back

"I’ve only known one driver, an extremely good one, always in the right spot at the wrong time: Stirling Moss." (Oh dear…please God, let Kimi have his world championship, even just one, maybe not this year but he will be champion, come on!!!)

Monaco Saturday quotes: Ferrari

Ferrari rely on strategy to help Raikkonen

Raikkonen hoping for help from weather

Raikkonen still a contender, say rivals

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