F1 News
Spa Francorchamps – My favourite
Aug 26th
It’s been a long time between posts. Too long infact. I have not been regularly updating this blog due to a lot of other commitments in my life. The free time I do have is dedicated to other tasks. I mentioned in a previous post that I don’t plan on reporting post race, every race and reporting on quali, etc etc, instead I feel the need to just treat this blog as an outlet to share my love and passion for Formula1 with you. It is fitting then that I start the new era of this blog on the leadup to my favourite Grand Prix of the year…Spa!
After a long mid-season break we finally return to racing this Sunday in Belgium.
Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps has what is arguably the most famous corner in Formula1…Eau Rouge. I love sitting down with a good glass of wine, watching the modern F1 cars completely flat through this corner as it then rises into valley and launches them into the Kemmel straight.
So what should we expect this weekend from the top teams? RedBull still clearly have an edge over their rivals. The F-Duct however will prove to be important here. McLaren clearly have a top straight line speed advantage over the RB6 and that should play out well for them at Spa. However, there are a lot of corners of medium and medium-fast speed that will very much suit the superior handling and grip of the RB6.
Ferrari are very strong again. The revised front wing has paid for them and in the last race we saw a very strong finish for Fernando and Massa (2nd & 4th place). Ferrari should also be on pace and could very easily outpace either RedBull or McLaren.
Personally I think RedBull have the edge, but Mark Webber has got a very difficult task ahead of him with drivers such as Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso nipping at his heels. Webber’s lead over Hamilton in the championship is only 4 points and his car is not streaks ahead of them in performance.
Mark has traditionally enjoyed Spa and has had decent results here in the past, but i’m sure he knows his toughest rival is his team mate. IQualifying (as always) will be very important for the RedBull drivers as passing each other on track will be near impossible (unless it is played out through pit strategy). So there for the first RedBull driver through turn1 will (barring any collisions or breakdowns) remain the leading RedBull driver.
Some of the most memorable overtaking moves have happened at Spa. Who could forget the scarp Hakkinen and Schumacher had at Spa in 2000! Here is the video for those who forgot:
This season is one of the most exciting seasons I can remember in recent times. We have had many changes in the championship leader (granted this is in part due to the points chanegs) and we also have a full grid with new teams and a bunch of new drivers. We have multiple world champions and there is no clear leader, like the “senna” ere followed by the “schumi” era. This is the era of multiple champions, maybe similar to the days of Hill, Moss, Clarke, Brabham, etc. We may be seeing a return to the old days of Formula1 where anyone could be a winner!
Friday Practice also co-incides with my Birthday this year. I plan on being glued to practice and have butterflies hanging out for Quali. With such a long break all the drivers are itching to go racing again and with Spa being a favourite circuit amoungst the majority of them, it’s sure to be a cracking weekend!
For those of you on twitter, try following @f1livetweets. If you step away from the tele or can’t catch the race, you can follow the action lap-by-lap.
Vettel claims pole in Valencia
Jun 27th
Sebastian Vettal claims pole in Valencia. (Photo:AP Photo/Victor R. Caivano)
Sebastian Vettel pipped Mark Webber in Valencia to claim pole in another all RedBull front row.
Leading up to the Gp at Valencia, RedBull said that they expected to struggle at the track. However closing out the front row of the grid seems to have put an end to that theory. They issue for RedBull however is whether they will have the race pace to claim victory on Sunday.
The team has used it’s F-Duct for the first time this season and it seam to be paying off on the straights. The RedBull appear to have a little bit more top speed due to the upgrade. This coul prove vital to staying ahead of McLaren who have very good top speed but lack the downforce the RedBUll have in the corners.
Lewis Hamilton was on a very quick lap in the dying stages of Q3, however due to a brake lockup into turn 12, he decided to abort his lap and would have to be content with 3rd place, although he looked set to top Mark’s if not Vettel’s time.
With RedBull and McLaren now locked in very tight fight for the championship, every half second counts and both team seem to be working hard on upgrades each GP. In the post race press conference Mark Webber said he was very happy that the team had locked out the front row and that they weren’t expecting to be as quick at Valencia. He said that if you had to pick a circuit to race your competitors, Valencia would not be it.
The big surprise of the day was that for the first time this year, neither Mercedes made it into the top 10. Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher will be starting from P12 and P15 on the grid respectively.
It appears that RedBull again have the pace to stick with McLaren. Lewis Hamilton noted that the team was not confident during practice, knowing that teams like RedBull had brought vital upgrades to this round and the fact that they were off the pace in Practice, he is delighted to be started from the second row and remains confident that they could claim victory on Sunday.
Robert Kubica had tremendous pace in the Renault throughout the sessions and would have expected to do very well in Q3, however in the end he finished 6th behind the two Ferrari’s of Alonso and Massa. Jensen button was a fair way off the pace of his team mate. He will start the race from P7, just ahead of the two Williams who are both in the top 10 for the first time this season. Williams no doubt are delighted with the pace this weeked and having Hulkenberg in P8 and Rubins in P9 on the grid will be a welcome boost for the team who so far has struggled for pace this season. Petrov rounds out the top 10 who was a fair way off the pace of his Renault Team mate.
The detaild times of Qualifying are below:
Pos Driver Team Q1 Q2 Q3
1. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1:38.324 1:38.015 1:37.587
2. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:38.549 1:38.041 1:37.662
3. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:38.697 1:38.158 1:37.969
4. Alonso Ferrari 1:38.472 1:38.179 1:38.075
5. Massa Ferrari 1:38.657 1:38.046 1:38.127
6. Kubica Renault 1:38.132 1:38.062 1:38.137
7. Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:38.360 1:38.399 1:38.210
8. Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth 1:38.843 1:38.523 1:38.428
9. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1:38.449 1:38.326 1:38.428
10. Petrov Renault 1:39.004 1:38.552 1:38.523
11. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:39.096 1:38.586
12. Rosberg Mercedes 1:38.752 1:38.627
13. Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1:39.021 1:38.851
14. Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes 1:38.969 1:38.884
15. Schumacher Mercedes 1:38.994 1:39.234
16. de la Rosa Sauber-Ferrari 1:39.003 1:39.264
17. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:39.128 1:39.458
18. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1:39.343
19. Trulli Lotus-Cosworth 1:40.658
20. Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth 1:40.882
21. di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth 1:42.086
22. Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1:42.140
23. Chandhok HRT-Cosworth 1:42.600
24. Senna HRT-Cosworth 1:42.851
RedBull hope to be back on pace with new F-Duct
Jun 22nd
With McLaren now top of the driver and team standings, RedBull have to dig deep to find the pace this weekend in Spain. Valencia is a circuit that will suit the McLarens, with long straights and slow corners, the track will play into the hands of McLaren.
McLaren have been very busy in the leadup to recent races further developing their car and have constantly been bringing new ‘bits’ to the race. RedBull however have not done this for a couple of races now. Adrian Newey was not present at the Canadian GrandPrix, instead he opted to spend time at the factory perfecting the team’s new F-Duct system. RedBull planned on using the system earlier then now, but have decided they need more time in the factory perfecting it before fitting it to the RB6. Valencia will be the first race that the team uses their new F-Duct.
Whether or not the F-Duct will solve the lack of straight line speed the RB6 has is yet to be proved but with such a big upgrade, the RB6 is expected to be more on the pace this weekend then it has been in the last couple of races.
Sebastian Vettel seems confident that the F-Duct is a very important addition to the car for this weekends race. He briefly spoke to German sport publication, Bild about the upgrades.
“..with the F-duct system we are getting an important part on the car,” he said.
“Our technical chief Adrian Newey did not come to Canada in order to put the finishing touches on the new system at the factory,”
Christian Horner also added to Sebastians comments, stating: “The track [Valencia] has fast corners which should suit our car,” …” And if it [F-Duct] works, we will go even faster on the straights.”
It’s important to note that while Valencia has some quick corners it also has some very slow sections of the track at the end of long straights, in essence it has some elements that favour both the McLarens and the RedBulls, but if the RB6 can slightly improve its car this weekend we may see the team again being ahead of McLaren.
We are now at the pointy end of the season, with a bunch of solid European rounds coming up it is vital that the RB6 bounces back now in order to stay in the hunt for the title.
An Apology to readers
Jun 17th
Due to unforseen circumstances I have been un-able to blog here for around 3 weeks. The reasons for this I don’t need to go in to, however I apologise for the lack of coverage of the GP’s and posts.
However, I am back and as of this week the blog is back but with a difference.
I will still be blogging about all the events of each GP weekend, including posting timesheets etc. However the entries will be more of a personal viewpoint and opinion rather then a neautral news/sport report.
I will give my opinions and insight and whilst the blog will remain full of the facts, the stories will reflect my own take on the events. I am hoping this will add a new level of interest to my blog.
We are now only 8 days away from ValenciaFriday practice. If McLaren can stay on top, then the British GP 2 weeks later will be an absolute cracker!
I plan on brining you the latest as it breaks.
The new blog has begun!
- Regards
NBJ
Three on the Trot for Webber in Turkey
May 29th
Mark Webber has bagged a qualifying hatrick by claiming pole postion for the Turkish Grand Prix.
It hasn’t been smooth sailing this weekend for the Aussie. On Friday an engine failure in practice was played down by the team but it did mean less time on track for Mark. The during 3rd practice on Saturday Mark had a issue with the throttle system on the RedBull which saw him crawl back to the pits under idle and not record a time.
Vettel was a step ahead of Mark, recording better times during Q1 and Q2 however Sebastian locked a front wheel in the dying stages of Q3 and lost time, as a result he lost time and only narrowly finished in p3 splitting both the Mclarens. Mark had an excellent final run in Q3, lighting up the middle sector purple. He managed to beat Lewis hamilton to pole by more then .1 of a second.
Fernando Alonso had a dreadful day, making a mistake in Q2 and unable to recover he was knocked out and will start tomorrows race from 12th position. It continues a string of bad luck for Fernando who was forced to start from pitlane in Monaco due to a heavy crash in practice. Filepe Massa however was able to get his Ferrari into the top ten and will start from 8th place for the race.
Hamitlon was 2nd and Button 4th, making it an all RedBUll and Mclaren front two rows. Lewis Hamitlon said he believes they are in a good position tomorrow, claiming he felt the McLaren had very good race pace. Lewis noted it was a boot for the team and that he expects their pace to improve further when more ‘bits’ arrive for the car in the coming races. With Lewis Hamilton notoriously quick off the line it will be a made dash to turn1 with the Briton now doubt expecting he can beat Webber through the first turn.
Sebastian Vettel was upset about the front left wheel of his car. He said he locked the front wheel briefly under brakes, which usually wouldn’t be much of an issue, however the wheel for some reason stayed locked up and as a result he ran wide. Vettel spent some time inspecting the car as it was parked in parc’ ferme and was clearly not happy with his Q3 performance. He was quicker then Mark in the earlier session and no doubt was expecting to claim pole in Turkey, let alone be starting from the 2nd row.
The Big shock of the day was Michael Schumacher who bottom out int he high speed left hander and as a result lost control of his Mercedes. Schumacher had to park the car and is now left with enormous flatspots on his tyres. Michael will have to start the race on his damaged tyres, but since he recorded a time earlier in Q3 before his spin, he will start the race from 5th place just ahead of his team mate Nico.
The complete time sheet from all the sessions is below:
1. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:27.500 1:26.818 1:26.295 2. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:27.667 1:27.013 1:26.433 3. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1:27.067 1:26.729 1:26.760 4. Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:27.555 1:27.277 1:26.781 5. Schumacher Mercedes 1:27.756 1:27.438 1:26.857 6. Rosberg Mercedes 1:27.649 1:27.141 1:26.952 7. Kubica Renault 1:27.766 1:27.426 1:27.039 8. Massa Ferrari 1:27.993 1:27.200 1:27.082 9. Petrov Renault 1:27.620 1:27.387 1:27.430 10. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1:28.158 1:27.434 1:28.122 11. Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1:27.951 1:27.525 12. Alonso Ferrari 1:27.857 1:27.612 13. de la Rosa Sauber-Ferrari 1:28.147 1:27.879 14. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:28.534 1:28.273 15. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1:28.336 1:28.392 16. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:28.460 1:28.540 17. Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth 1:28.227 1:28.841 18. Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes 1:28.958 19. Trulli Lotus-Cosworth 1:30.237 20. Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth 1:30.519 21. Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1:30.744 22. Senna HRT-Cosworth 1:31.266 23. di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth 1:31.989 24. Chandhok HRT-Cosworth 1:32.060
Formula1 to Return to USA in 2012
May 26th
Bernie Ecclestone on Tuesday announced via his official website that the USA will host a round of Formula1 again from 2012 in Austin, Texas.
An interesting detail to note straight away is that rather then using an existing race track or building a street circut, a permanent race track specifically designed for Formula1 and other potential support race will be built from scratch.
Tavo Hellmund, from Full Throttle Productions who are the promoters of the event said “For the first time in the history of Formula 1 in the United States, a world-class facility will be purpose-built to host the event”. The designer of the circuit is yet to be named, however suspicions obviously point to Hermann Tilke who has created the majority of the recent modern Formula1 circuits.
Mr Tavo said in his official statement ““We are extremely honored and proud to reach an agreement with the F1 Commercial Rights holder. We have been diligently working together for several years to bring this great event to Austin, the State of Texas, and back to the United States. All parties involved have a great amount of trust and confidence in each other and are committed to establishing the F1 United States Grand Prix in Austin, Texas as a prestigious global event.”
The deal will see Austin host the GP through until atleast 2021, making the United states once again a permanent stop in the Formula1 calendar.
Mark Webber wins in Monaco
May 17th
Mark Webber after his greatest victory to date (Photo: AFP)
Mark Webber kept his cool in a thrilling race and became the first Aussie to win in Monaco since Sir Jack Brabham in 1959.
“Absolutely incredible, for sure this is the greatest day of my life today,” He said shortly after the race.
Mark had a good start and was the first man into turn1 and up the hill. From here he built up a very impressive lead until the first of what would be four safety cars periods where he lost all the ground and hard work he had put in building a buffer to his team mate.
Mark kept his cool through safety car period after safety car period and each time was able to get a good break and build up his lead again. Mark was able to stay out of trouble right up til the dying stages of the race when Trulli and Chandhook took each other out just meters infront of Marks car. This crash brought out the fourth and final safety car period of the race and Mark was faced with the potential of having to endure a last lap dash under green to the finish. The safety car however stayed out till the final lap and pulled into the pits as Mark cruised over the finish line.
Sebastian Vettel made a crutial move on Robert Kubica off the start to take 2nd place into turn 2. This move was the turning point of the race for both drivers and ultimately they remained in those positions across the line.
The win was a critical one for RedBull. The team is nowleading the constructors championship and Mark and Sebastian Vetel are now equal first on 78 points each in the drivers championship.
A complete race wrap-up of Monaco will be online soon. In the meantime below is the final standings from the race:
Pos Driver Team Time 1. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1h50:00.000 2. Vettel Red Bull-Renault + 0.448 3. Kubica Renault + 1.600 4. Massa Ferrari + 2.600 5. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes + 4.300 6. Schumacher Mercedes + 5.700 7. Alonso Ferrari + 6.300 8. Rosberg Mercedes + 6.600 9. Sutil Force India-Mercedes + 6.900 10. Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes + 7.300 11. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 8.100 12. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 9.100 13. Petrov Renault + 4 laps retirements: Driver Team On lap Chandhok HRT-Cosworth 71 Trulli Lotus-Cosworth 71 Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth 59 Senna HRT-Cosworth 59 Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 28 Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 27 Di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth 26 Glock Virgin-Cosworth 23 De la Rosa Sauber-Ferrari 22 Button McLaren-Mercedes 3 Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth 1
Webber claims Pole in thrilling Monaco Qualifying
May 15th
Mark Webber after Monaco Qualifying (Photo: AFP/Pascal Guyout)
Mark Webber gave RedBull their 6th consecutive pole this season in arguably the most important race of the season. Mark was a bit behind the eight ball in Q1 and Q2, doing enough to stay ahead but it was Q3 where he came alive. After Robert Kubica put in a few astonishing laps taking provisional pole several times in a row it looked like Robert was set to give Renault their first pole of the season, however Mark out of no where smashed Roberts time by more then three tenths of a second. Mark was the only driver to break into the 1:13′s.
Vettel had a good late charge to take P3 ahead of Massa. The top3 finishers in qualifying were all on Renault engines. Sebastian Vettel made a remarks in post race press conference referring to critics of the renault engine this year who may now be atleast for this race be eating humble pie.
Fernando Alonso had a unfortunate crash in the final practice, damaging his car so badly that Ferrari will have to give him the spare car to drive in tomorrows race. Fernando will start from the pit lane but is still hopeful of a points finish.
The big disapointment of the day was Lewis Hamilton and Jensen Button who finished 5th and 8th respectively. They are split by the Mercedes’ of Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher. Nico has made up for the lack of pace he had over Michael in Spain and has been consistently quicker then his team mate over the weekend. Nico in the end just out-qualified Michael by less then 0.04 of a second.
Mark was trying to hide his enthusiasm as much as possible. He noted that it was a long hard race in Monaco and that they will have to navigate their way around many backmarkers on the tight Monaco streets. Mark said that he would use his experience to keep the car out of trouble tomorrow.
Full Qualifying results are below:
| Pos. | # | Driver | Car | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 |
| 1 | 6 | Mark Webber | Red Bull-Renault | 1:15.035 | 1:14.462 | 1:13.826 |
| 2 | 11 | Robert Kubica | Renault | 1:15.045 | 1:14.549 | 1:14.120 |
| 3 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull-Renault | 1:15.110 | 1:14.568 | 1:14.227 |
| 4 | 7 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1:14.757 | 1:14.405 | 1:14.283 |
| 5 | 2 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:15.676 | 1:14.527 | 1:14.432 |
| 6 | 4 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:15.188 | 1:14.375 | 1:14.544 |
| 7 | 3 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes | 1:15.649 | 1:14.691 | 1:14.590 |
| 8 | 1 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:15.623 | 1?15.150 | 1:14.637 |
| 9 | 9 | Rubens Barrichello | Williams-Cosworth | 1:15.590 | 1:15.083 | 1:14.901 |
| 10 | 15 | Vitantonio Liuzzi | Force India-Mercedes | 1:15.397 | 1:15.061 | 1:15.170 |
| 11 | 10 | Nico Hülkenberg | Williams-Cosworth | 1:16.030 | 1:15.317 | |
| 12 | 14 | Adrian Sutil | Force India-Mercedes | 1:15.445 | 1:15.318 | |
| 13 | 16 | Sebastien Buemi | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1:15.961 | 1:15.413 | |
| 14 | 12 | Vitaly Petrov | Renault | 1:15.482 | 1:15.576 | |
| 15 | 22 | Pedro de la Rosa | Sauber-Ferrari | 1:15.908 | 1:15.692 | |
| 16 | 23 | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber-Ferrari | 1:16.175 | 1:15.992 | |
| 17 | 17 | Jaime Alguersuari | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1:16.021 | 1:16.176 | |
| 18 | 19 | Heikki Kovalainen | Lotus-Cosworth | 1:17.094 | ||
| 19 | 18 | Jarno Trulli | Lotus-Cosworth | 1:17.134 | ||
| 20 | 24 | Timo Glock | Virgin-Cosworth | 1:17.377 | ||
| 21 | 25 | Lucas di Grassi | Virgin-Cosworth | 1:17.864 | ||
| 22 | 21 | Bruno Senna | HRT-Cosworth | 1:18.509 | ||
| 23 | 20 | Karun Chandhok | HRT-Cosworth | 1:19.559 | ||
| 24 | 8 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari |
Alonso top of both Thursday practice sessions
May 14th
Alonso in Monaco - Image © 2010 ZumaPress All rights reserved.
Fernando Alonso was in perfect for in Monaco and kept his Ferrari at the top of the time sheet through both practice sessions on Thursday.
The Ferrari looked great around the iconic streets circuit and seemed to have the edge over the RedBulls on the tight slow corners. RedBull may have been struggling with the super softs a little bit, granted not as much as they did last year on slow circuits, however the edge the team had in Spain last weekend doesn’t appear to be there on a street circuit like Monaco.
After finishing Practice1 out of the top 10 and spending a large amount of the practice time out of the car due to repair on a suspension issue, Nico Rosberg went out in Practice2 and put in some incredible laps, quickly smashing Michael’s time and pipping Sebestian Vettel to claim the second fastest time in the session.
Sebastian Vettel clearly had the pace on Thursday, finishing 2nd in Practice1 and 3rd in Practice2, there is every chacne Vettel could find more Pace on Saturday and is obviously a favourite along side Alonso to take Pole. Mark however did not have the same kind of pace his team mate had. Mark looked good in Practice one finishing the session in 4th place, Robert Kubica just splitting the two RedBulls. However in the second practice session he finished 10th just behind Buttons Mclaren.
The McLarens looked pretty low key and also seemed to lack a bit of pace around Monaco. Hamilton and Button came P7 and P8 in practice1 and continued their casual form in the 2nd practice session to record the 7th and 9th fastest times.
Friday is a rest day in Monaco and the circuit will be open again to public traffic.
There is rain predicted for Quali on Saturday and for the race. It appears to be a Vettel-Alonso fight for pole, however we will know more ofter the Final practice session on Saturday just ahead of quali.
below are the times for both Thursday sessions:
Practice1:
Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Alonso Ferrari 1:15.927 31 2. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1:16.000 + 0.073 26 3. Kubica Renault 1:16.016 + 0.089 28 4. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:16.382 + 0.455 24 5. Massa Ferrari 1:16.517 + 0.590 29 6. Schumacher Mercedes 1:16.589 + 0.662 21 7. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:16.647 + 0.720 32 8. Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:16.692 + 0.765 29 9. Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1:16.805 + 0.878 23 10. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:16.857 + 0.930 30 11. Rosberg Mercedes 1:17.149 + 1.222 14 12. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1:17.331 + 1.404 28 13. Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes 1:17.704 + 1.777 26 14. Petrov Renault 1:17.718 + 1.791 38 15. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:17.991 + 2.064 36 16. Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth 1:18.397 + 2.470 39 17. de la Rosa Sauber-Ferrari 1:18.434 + 2.507 37 18. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1:18.547 + 2.620 32 19. Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1:19.527 + 3.600 23 20. Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth 1:19.606 + 3.679 31 21. Trulli Lotus-Cosworth 1:19.902 + 3.975 30 22. di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth 1:20.566 + 4.639 18 23. Senna HRT-Cosworth 1:21.688 + 5.761 27 24. Chandhok HRT-Cosworth 1:21.853 + 5.926 6
Practice 2:
Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Alonso Ferrari 1:14.904 36 2. Rosberg Mercedes 1:15.013 + 0.109 39 3. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1:15.099 + 0.195 47 4. Massa Ferrari 1:15.120 + 0.216 44 5. Schumacher Mercedes 1:15.143 + 0.239 38 6. Kubica Renault 1:15.192 + 0.288 38 7. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:15.249 + 0.345 32 8. Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1:15.460 + 0.556 42 9. Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:15.619 + 0.715 37 10. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:15.620 + 0.716 28 11. Petrov Renault 1:15.746 + 0.842 44 12. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:16.276 + 1.372 46 13. Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth 1:16.348 + 1.444 48 14. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1:16.522 + 1.618 37 15. Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes 1:16.528 + 1.624 42 16. de la Rosa Sauber-Ferrari 1:16.599 + 1.695 36 17. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1:16.818 + 1.914 45 18. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:17.023 + 2.119 28 19. Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth 1:18.184 + 3.280 47 20. di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth 1:18.478 + 3.574 38 21. Trulli Lotus-Cosworth 1:18.667 + 3.763 13 22. Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1:18.721 + 3.817 41 23. Chandhok HRT-Cosworth 1:20.313 + 5.409 35 24. Senna HRT-Cosworth 1:22.148 + 7.244 11 All Timing Unofficial
New curbs for Monaco
May 13th
New raised yellow curbing similliar to the raised curbing now seen at other tracks, like Monza has now been installed near the swimming pool in Monaco. The raised yellow curbing will cause issues for many drivers used to running their wheels over the inside of the ripple strips. There is no way an F1 car will clear the new raised curbing.
On a track that’s already very tight and slow, additional raised curbing will only force many drivers to slow down more in order to avoid damaging their car.
With practice now only around 9-10 hours away it won’t be long before we see how the drivers react to this new feature at the swimming pool.
