The Monaco Grand Prix never fails to disappoint; The glamorous yet challenging street course separates the men from the boys, and it’s the race every driver wants to win.
With its limited overtaking opportunities, some spectators find this prestigious race boring, yet they underestimate the complexity of the slowest and most difficult course in the sport. Whirling through the streets of the Principality, drivers are challenged with hairpin turns and numerous elevation changes as they wind their way down the narrow, winding track, tackling dangerous hairpins and treacherous tunnel.
This year’s race was spectacularly unpredictable. After the sun shone down on this glittering playground for the rich and famous during practice and qualifying, rain fell on race day, forcing a Safety Car to start and putting pressure on the team’s strategies. team, as changing conditions meant the timing of tire stops would be crucial. .
A year after a monumentally bad pit stop by Mercedes cost Lewis Hamilton victory, this time it was Red Bull Racing’s turn to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. For the second race in a row, Daniel Ricciardo was left furious at having been robbed, he felt, of the chance for victory by a strategic error at the hands of his team.
The Australian’s woes headlined a weekend that he and the team could, and should, have mastered, but to be honest, that wasn’t the only driver/team combination to suffer significant strain in their relationship this weekend. ..
MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS
Tension continued to build as the rivalry between the two Team Championship contenders increased as Nico Rosberg re-qualified and edged past Lewis Hamilton during qualifying. The German, who was hoping for his fourth successive victory at his foster home race, started second on the grid with his teammate in third after Hamilton suffered a fuel pressure problem during Q3 that limited him to just one race. with Ultra Soft tires.
As the race started on lap 8, Rosberg had trouble generating the correct tire temperature. By lap 16, his pace was disastrously slow and he gave up his place to his rival and teammate, citing brake issues as the reason for his lack of pace and his eventual finish in seventh. place.
Hamilton set off to chase the Red Bull of Daniel Ricciardo, who pitted on lap 23 to change his wet tires to intermediates, while the reigning World Champion opted to forego the choice of intermediates to full rain with the ones that started the race and the slicks without stepping on. He masterfully handled his wet tires until he switched to ultrasoft slicks on lap 34. Red Bull followed suit, calling on the Australian to switch to supersofts; Unbelievably, however, a miscommunication meant the tires weren’t ready and the delay cost Ricciardo the lead.
The fight was between the Mercedes and the Renault-powered Red Bull Racing RB12. Hamilton avoided any challenge from Ricciardo, although the pressure was on when the Briton, losing time and traction behind a straggler, missed the chicane on lap 37.
Ricciardo ran over him as they reached the start and took out his anger and frustration when Hamilton blocked him, legally the stewards found after an investigation. After that, he was never close enough to challenge again, and Hamilton took his 44th Formula 1 victory and his second crown in Monaco.
RED BULL RACING
It should have been a dream weekend for Daniel Ricciardo. After a change of strategy at the previous race in Spain cost him victory, the Australian was on fire during practice and qualifying in Monaco, securing his first Formula 1 pole position and the most crucial pole position on the calendar. of this sport.
With the start of the Safety Car race, the position of the Australian could not be questioned. Even when racing started after the track began to dry out, it seemed like all he had to do was lead the field around the circuit for 78 laps to victory.
But there is no such thing as a “sure thing” in Formula 1 and when the team called him to switch to dry weather tyres, he hoped they would be ready and waiting for him; but they were not. An unforgivable miscommunication within the team saw Ricciardo lose valuable seconds in a botched pit stop that ultimately cost him the race.
As for Red Bull’s new recruit, what a difference a fortnight makes. Max Verstappen, fresh from his maiden Formula 1 victory in Spain, was forced to start the race from the pit lane after crashing in qualifying when he hit the right front wheel of his car at the exit of the pool.
Helped by the safety car start, the young Dutchman was able to catch up to the back of the pack and began to make progress once the field was cleared, up to tenth.
But Monaco is an unforgiving circuit, especially for such a young and inexperienced driver. Despite looking comfortable and confident in the difficult conditions, the 18-year-old made a mistake on the Massenet climb, locked his brakes and crashed into the wall. It was his third crash in as many days, and his second at that corner, which took a lot of the shine off the youngster’s heroic performance two weeks earlier.
FERRARI SQUAD
After qualifying in a disappointing sixth, Kimi Räikkönen was relegated to eleventh on the grid after a five-place penalty for a gearbox change made after final practice.
Struggling to get some grip in wet conditions, he went off the turn into the hairpin turn on lap 11, hit the barriers and broke his front wing. He limped through the tunnel to the Nouvelle Chicane with the wing lodged under the front wheel, but escaped penalty when he later confronted the stewards for continuing to drive his Ferrari in dangerous conditions.
His teammate Sebastian Vettel still took home the points in fourth, but it was a disappointing weekend for the German. After topping the time sheets in the final practice session, he was unable to match the speed of his former team-mate’s Red Bull and again found himself lining up on the second row of the grid.
He attempted to undercut the cars in front by engaging before any of the top ten riders to switch to intermediate tires as the track began to dry out. This dropped him behind the Williams of Felipe Massa who opted to keep the wet tire and Vettel struggled to pass him.
By the time Massa pitted, the four-time world champion had lost too much time and was behind Sergio Pérez, who had moved his Force India from eighth to third. Although a place on the podium was within reach for Vettel, he could not find the space to pass.
THE QUESTIONS WITHOUT ANSWERS
Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari potentially have a vacant seat up for grabs in 2017.
Nico Rosberg has yet to negotiate a new contract with Mercedes and will neither confirm nor deny that he has had talks with Ferrari. After handing over to the team in Monaco and moving to rival Lewis Hamilton, can the German weather another season in what has become a very tense situation at Sliver Arrows? Rosberg is happy when he wins, but if Hamilton’s victory in Monaco is the start of his 2016 comeback, can Rosberg handle the pressure?
The exact details of Ricciardo’s performance-based contract are unknown, but it is believed that the option for next year depends on the performance of both the driver and the team, meaning either could have the option to part ways. Red Bull has “screwed” the Aussie two races in a row now and any further trouble could be the final straw for Honey Badger.
But where could I go? The only caliber teams are Mercedes and Ferrari. Mercedes, for the most part, likes to let their drivers run and not employ team orders, so it could be a good fit. But is Lewis Hamilton as a teammate a good fit for Ricciardo?
While at Ferrari, although Ricciardo showed in 2014 that he is not intimidated by a four-time world champion as a teammate, Vettel is the de facto number 1 at Ferrari and will not like to face the driver who beat him roundly in identical fashion. . machinery during their last year together at Red Bull Racing in 2014.
Ferrari has yet to exercise the option on Räikkönen’s contract, although Vettel has reportedly, not surprisingly, declared the Finn his preferred teammate. But, how much pull does the German still have with the Scuderia? Is your patience running out? Or do they accept that they are still in a rebuilding phase and may have to wait another year or two before their number 1 driver returns them to the glory of yesteryear?
As we head into the silly Formula 1 season, only time will tell.