Sunday 29 May 2011

Vettel has Monaco luck as Hamilton cracks

Despite the glamour as the centre piece of Formula 1, the Monaco Grand Prix is often derided as processional as no one can overtake. What we witnessed today was nothing short of breath taking. Yes it ended up with yet another Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull victory, their fifth out of six races, but it was an action packed race full of drama from start to finish. It was quite possibly the best race we’ve ever seen at Monaco.

Lap 69 and you could almost see a crash coming as 10 cars circulated together, it would determine the outcome of the race. Vettel, Fernando Alonso in his Ferrari and McLaren’s Jenson Button driving out of his skin were nose to tail. It was perfectly poised, Vettel on old tyres trying to go through to the end on one stop, Alonso on 17 laps younger rubber, with Button having cruised up to the back of them with tyres a full 30 laps fresher than the Red Bull and quicker than both his competitors.

As the lap started the three of them were fast catching a gaggle of six cars led by Adrian Sutil in the Force India and included Williams’ Pastor Maldonado, Vitaly Petrov in the Renault, Lewis Hamilton of McLaren and the Toro Rosso’s of Sebastian Buemi and Jaime Algersuari.

Sutil, who had been hit earlier on his right rear wheel smacked the barrier just before the swimming pool chicane as the tyre let go causing all hell to break loose. Maldonado was straight through, as Hamilton dived inside Petrov, and was followed by Algersuari. Sutil was limping and tried to get out of the way, but it slowed Hamilton going into the chicane, Algersuari tried to go over the top and Petrov got caught up in the accident. Hamilton survived with a damaged rear wing but the Russian and Spaniard were straight in the wall. It was a miracle that the leaders weren’t caught up in it as can be seen from the BBC footage,

The safety car was immediately deployed, and a few laps later the race was red flagged as they struggled to get Petrov out of the car as he claimed he had lost feeling in his legs, although after a scan in hospital all was revealed to be fine.

But that was it, the moment Red Bull domination was assured of continuing. During a stoppage, teams are allowed to change tyres, with all three contenders now on equally fresh rubber for the last six laps, 2011’s Vettel wasn’t going to throw away his first win in Monaco. It was great racing with various strategies for all three. Button in particular was hampered by the first safety car period caused by Massa crashing, but when the luck is with you, it all just falls in to place.

It was a beautiful demonstration of driving under pressure by Vettel. He had an assured calmness, and even if the race hadn’t been stopped you were beginning to get a feeling he had it all under control, but we’ll never know just what might have been for Alonso and Button.

There was action all the way down the order, ably demonstrated by some fine moves by Lewis Hamilton and Mark Webber during their fight backs through the field. Michael Schumacher made a couple of great moves in to the Loews hairpin on Hamilton and his team mate Nico Rosberg.

It was another race of what might have been for Schumacher. A poor start dropping from 5th to 10th, then his tyres fading fast in his first stint resulted in him being passed spectacularly by Hamilton at Ste. Devote. He quickly pitted and once past the equally struggling Rosberg was setting competitive lap times comparable with the leaders. Unfortunately this effort was ruined by an air box fire which shut the car down on lap 32 just as the safety car had been released for Massa’s crash.

Schumacher was a driver who had a lot of luck in his first career, you’ve got to believe at one point in his comeback that’ll return to him because despite the results, he’s not doing as badly as it looks.

Pastor Maldonado deserves a special mention. His first time in a Formula 1 car at Monaco, he out qualifies his far more experienced team mate Rubens Barrichello, and circulates in the top 10 for practically the entire race, demonstrating that he’s far more than just a pay driver. It’s just a shame it ended in the barrier 4 laps from home after an arguably optimistic move by Lewis Hamilton. Still he made people take notice.

Some other notable performers were Kamui Kobayashi in the Sauber who made his one stop strategy work to finish fifth from 12th despite barging Sutil out of the way at Mirabeau. Although passed by Webber towards the end it was still a fine race. I hope one day a big team will give him a chance to race for wins.

Lotus deserve a mention for finishing 13th and 14th, their highest double finish. They are slowly but surely making their way to being a solid midfield team.

Sutil drove a strong race despite the incidents that surrounded him to end up seventh. Outperforming his rookie team mate Paul di Resta for once who had a scrappy race.

A final word on a driver who also had a bit of a scrappy race; Lewis Hamilton. I wrote yesterday I thought he was being overly critical of the team. That he was a ‘we’ person when winning and a ‘they’ when losing. His interview with the BBC on the F1 forum certainly seems to confirm this current attitude which can be seen here

I also said that he has been with McLaren for over 10 years, and perhaps that insulation from the outside world has contributed to him becoming increasingly frustrated with problems that are coming his way now. For so long he had it all his own way but since his championship year in 2008, it hasn’t gone right. He’s someone who knows he’s one of the, if not the best driver out there and he is annoyed that he isn’t already a multiple title winner.

It’s beginning to look like this frustration is boiling over and he certainly looks like someone who is beginning to believe everyone is against him and he’s looking for someone to blame. Whether that’s other people causing incidents he’s involved in, or even believing people are blocking him, when to an outsider, it hasn’t looked like that at all, particularly the incident with Massa in qualifying. Maybe it’s time he looked at himself for the blame.

So far this year Hamilton has been involved in a few incidents with the stewards, but his use of the race card (although joking) after the race is indicative of someone who is feeling under pressure, (probably from himself more than anything), as far away as we can get from the polished interviewee we’ve had in previous years.

Looking back at the incidents in this race, he was certainly to blame for the incident with Massa at the Loews hairpin resulting in a drive through penalty. He came from too far back and was already taking to the pavement as Massa turned in. With Maldonado, it was at best a 50/50.

Certainly to me his interview with the BBC was made in the heat of the moment. He was already frustrated by qualifying yesterday and he carried that over to the race. This makes for exciting viewing, there’s nothing better to watch than a charging Lewis Hamilton, but today it didn’t go for him and he felt the need to tell the world about it in damning detail.

Nobody wants him to tone down his driving or for Formula 1 to become oversensitive to aggressive driving, but after reviewing today’s incidents surely he’ll regret his comments, he certainly needs to step back and calm down. As Formula 1 leaves Monaco, Lewis Hamilton is still the best driver to stop Vettel walking away with this season, he just needs to get himself in the right frame of mind again.

Saturday 28 May 2011

Decision time for Lewis Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton will now start 9th on the grid for tomorrow’s Monaco Grand Prix after being given a penalty for cutting the chicane on his only flying lap of the third part of qualifying. Below is what he explained to the BBC.

"I had the pace to be on pole, I'm certain about that... In Monaco you can't take risks and leave it right to the end, you have to get a banker in, as everyone else did... The engineers advised we should do one stint at the end of Q3. I didn't contest it, I think you always have to have a balanced view with the engineers, but I didn't take into account - and I know the engineers didn't - that in Monaco you can't take risks and leave it right to the end, you have to get out and get a banker in, like everyone else did. With racing experience, you would assume most people would have that, but other things were going on and we didn't have that.”

Now not for a minute do I think Lewis is someone who never contests the decisions that his team make. I’m pretty sure that it’s something he probably does a lot. However, I’m beginning to wonder if after contesting them he ever gets his own way. If he did, I’m sure he wouldn’t be as overly critical as he has been so far this year, Malaysia and Turkey being other examples. It’s all ‘we’ while they’re winning and ‘they’ when something goes wrong. Perhaps he needs to give more input with the decision making in qualifying strategy if he is unhappy with it rather than relying on, then blaming the team if it goes wrong.

I don’t think it’s good for a driver to overly criticise his team, surely that would begin to create a destabilising influence, it’s always better to be positive with what you can be. I do think there might be one key weakness to Hamilton which I would have thought would’ve vanished after over four years in Formula 1. His ability to make clear cut decisions is at the very least questionable and his over reliance on his team and then criticising them for their mistakes is also rather unbecoming of a World Champion unlike for instance Jenson Button at the same team. Perhaps it is time that he takes a stand for what he feels is best not just what he is told to do.

It's strange that for someone who can make split second decisions to pull off some amazing overtakes on track, he does not feel capable of telling the team what he wants or knowing what he wants. I wonder if Jenson Button had much influence over the decision to go out early in Q3 and secure a front row grid slot. 

I speculate here, that perhaps it has been what Lewis is used to. After all he has spent well over 10 years in the McLaren driver program being groomed to become the perfect racing driver. It’s served him well for the most part, a winner in every Formula, World Champion in just his second season, but yet some things are holding him back including his current bitterness about practically everyone holding him up, which looking at the footage, albeit as an outsider, seems hard to justify.

Lewis Hamilton is one of the best, if not the best driver currently racing. He has crushing speed, finds the pass that no one else would dare look for, and is absolutely relentless. He’s exciting to watch, he’s a winner, and he knows just how good he really is, and he also probably knows how much better he still can be. Perhaps he just needs to make the decision to lead the team rather than be led.

As for the race tomorrow, no one can win from 9th on the grid in Monaco, but if anyone can, it’s Lewis Hamilton.

Vettel gets pole as Monaco bites Perez

It’s often said Monaco is the jewel in the crown of Formula 1’s circus trip around the world. There is certainly no other cliché in the sport which is more right. The glamour of Monaco is often stated, the money of tax exiles pours in to this little principality, many current and former Grand Prix drivers. Yet at its heart there is a ribbon of tarmac that threads its way around the hotels and casinos and alongside the harbour that creates one of the most challenging Grand Prix circuits in the world. Steel Armco barriers line the track, ready to punish any slight error, demanding the highest level of concentration imaginable as these gladiators, cocooned in their space-age machines, thread the needle at speeds that reach 170mph. It’s a sight to behold.

However, sometimes it can go wrong. Sergio Perez crashed his Sauber today with just under two and half minutes left of the third qualifying session. Having impressed in getting into the top 10 shoot out, he exited the tunnel on a wider line than usual, lost it on a bump and went careering into a side impact just past the chicane. There were a worrying few moments, but the latest news is that he was conscious and talking, and hopefully will be fit for the race.

Before qualifying, Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso had looked supreme during practice. If any drivers can push their cars beyond the limit and look to challenge the Red Bull might of Sebastian Vettel in particular, it’s these two. Unfortunately Perez’s accident has left Hamilton with too much to do. With low tyre temperatures due to waiting at the end of the pit lane, it looks like he pushed too hard on his only lap of Q3 and starts 7th when he should have been challenging for pole. Alonso managed 4th but he’d obviously hoped for more.

Vettel grabbed pole position with a very precise lap. But despite this let us not despair at the continuing Red Bull domination. The field is still very close with four different constructors in the top 5 places. Jenson Button put in a fantastic lap to take second. Mark Webber continues to be overshadowed in third. It almost looks as if he's given up the fight. Michael Schumacher was getting quicker and quicker as qualifying went on and did well to get fifth, his highest grid position of the year and finally out qualifying his team mate Nico Rosberg who ended up 8th. Pastor Maldonado impressed, getting into the top 10 again. Renault disappointed, Vitaly Petrov finishing 11th and Nick Heidfeld only 16th. Hispania will be allowed to race even though neither car actually set a time.

So to the race and there is hope that Vettel won’t run into the distance. Strategy will be everything on a circuit you can’t overtake on, so let’s wait and see how Button manages his tyres. He looks to be the only driver that could stop Vettel tomorrow. The race could be split quite early, as Mercedes still need to work on a better race pace which might mean Schumacher holding up the lower half of the top 10. Hamilton has ruled himself out with his low position, but in Monaco you never know what might happen as they hustle their machines to the end.

The Grid:

1. Vettel
2. Button
3. Webber
4. Alonso
5. Schumacher
6. Massa
7. Hamilton
8. Rosberg
9. Maldonado
10. Perez
11. Petrov
12. Barrichello
13. Kobayashi
14. di Resta
15. Sutil
16. Heidfeld
17. Buemi
18. Kovalainen
19. Trulli
20. Algersuari
21. Glock
22. d'Ambrosio
23. Karthikeyan
24. Liuzzi

edit: Lewis Hamilton has been given a grid penalty for skipping the chicane during his qualifying lap, he will now start 9th. Sergio Perez, although basically ok, has not been given clearance to race.
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