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Author Topic: Monaco 2019 Heroes and Zeroes  (Read 3292 times)

Online Jericoke

Monaco 2019 Heroes and Zeroes
« on: May 26, 2019, 07:00:15 PM »
Who says that Monaco has to be a dull race?

Heroes:
Lewis Hamilton.  Once again a champion's drive.  Another 'perfect' qualifying lap to get him on pole, and then overcoming a rare Mercedes strategy error to hold off Max Verstappen for 40 laps.  He had to put in 40 perfect laps on one of the least forgiving track in racing, and he did.  I know I sound like a Hamilton fan girl, but... there's just no other way to look at it!

Max Verstappen.  He did everything he could do to win the race.  He made it through the first corner without an incident.  His early pit release was totally not his fault, so I can't blame him for that.  He was all over Hamilton.  I don't think it was humanly possible to pass Lewis, so just matching perfect lap for perfect lap was the best Max could hope for.

Tributes for Niki.  Losing someone so omnipresent in the sport is a big deal.  I think that it was handled with class and respect without overwhelming the spirit of the F1 circus itself.

Zeroes
RBR for an unsafe pit release.  I know the pit lane is crazy, and these decisions are made on a split second, but with so many people there safety MUST be the primary consideration.  (Bonus zero to the FIA for not giving Red Bull a more severe penalty)

Ferrari for managing to mess up qualifying.  LeClerc clearly should have been in the top 10, and we see just how important it is being clear of the slower cars, especially at Monaco!

Besides that, we didn't see much of the other drivers.  The story was Max and Lewis putting on an epic duel.  Vettel and Bottas SHOULD have been more involved, so that's disappointing.  There was a little shoving in the midfield, but only one DNF shows everyone played fair and drove, basically, mistake free.



Offline Willy

Re: Monaco 2019 Heroes and Zeroes
« Reply #1 on: May 26, 2019, 07:23:43 PM »
Heroes
Lewis. A class of his own. perfect quali, perfect race.
Max.  Lewis can make his car very fat so it must be impossible to pass him but Maz stepped up and gave his all.
Leclerc.  He had to work too hard to overcome a screwed up quali and pocched his race because of it.

Zeros.
Ferrari.  WTF was with the Leclerc quali. Morons!! Trained monkeys could do a better job then Ferrari are currently doing with Leclerc. He has had issues every single race and it can all be laid at the feet of the Ferrari statigists.
RBR.  Max's release. Just dangerous.
Stewards.  Max gets a only 5 second penalty for a potentially dangerous situation that could have been life-threatening for many of the people squeezed into the Monaco pitlane.

Offline Alianora La Canta

Re: Monaco 2019 Heroes and Zeroes
« Reply #2 on: May 26, 2019, 11:20:14 PM »
Heroes

Hamilton - At first I thought he was either bring a drama king, or trying to trick Verstappen behind him into a red mist and therefore an error. But by the end it was pretty obvious Lewis was in actual trouble with tyres that he eventually did 68 laps on. Still and all, he made it victoriously.

Vettel - Made Ferrari look more competent than it was, by finally breaking the Mercedes 1-2 lockdown that has heretofore occurred.

Perez - for missing a pair of marshals that for some reason crossed his path when he left the pits after his pit stop. I will reserve judgement on where the officiating falls on the hero/neutral/zero this occasion until I have seen more information, but Sergio had to put the brakes on fairly substantially and do some evasive manuevering despite having already slowed down a little for the yellow flag (that was out due to a Safety Car).

Zeroes

Red Bull - I realise it's a tight and fast-moving pitlane, but there was no way that releasing Verstappen at that point was ever going to work. Also, having made that blunder, sending Gasly out for a fastest-lap run with 14 laps to spare was asking for trouble, especially as he would have been a place higher if he hadn't done what he did. Wait a minute, that might have led to Verstappen getting beaten through an error that was essentially the team's. Finally, Verstappen's penultimate-lap divebomb had zero chance of working (but isn't a bad enough goof in its own right to enter my zeroes list on this occasion, given how Max drove the rest of the time). Complimenting Max on "a good attempt" when it was always going to be a pointless one, and may have thrown away the possibility of a better overtake chance on lap 78, is not something I can approve.

Ferrari - The times started tumbling 2 1/2 minutes before the Q1 timer ended. It should have been apparent at that point that the "save a tyre in Q1" strategy was going to fail for Leclerc. A more nimble team would have reversed the call and sent Charles out again. Ferrari are not nimble right now, which set the stage for...

Leclerc - The moment I heard the Channel 4 team say that Leclerc had said he would be taking risks even if he crashed (something I now know was a paraphrase, albeit a minor one), I knew we wouldn't be seeing Leclerc score any points, and was almost certain he wouldn't finish. He made a peach of a pass on Grosjean, but he did not go out in a blaze of glory. He didn't spot Hulkenberg was taking a different, tighter line into Rascasse than Grosjean and therefore tried a move that couldn't have worked in that context. Missing the pitlane and therefore needing to do a full lap on a puncture just rubbed salt into the wound (though in fairness, the gap between Rascasse and pit entry was short). Retirement was inevitable after that, and he still found time to get involved in a traffic jam. I'm not sure if Ferrari is better than this right now, Charles, but you are!
« Last Edit: May 26, 2019, 11:22:58 PM by Alianora La Canta »
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guest3164

  • Guest
Re: Monaco 2019 Heroes and Zeroes
« Reply #3 on: May 27, 2019, 08:03:42 AM »
Heroes:

Hamilton- Another great drive from Lewis.  He is turning into a machine with his consistency.

Verstappen- In years gone by he would have torpedoed Hamilton, now he is driving more maturely but still very rapidly.

Toro Rosso- A double points finish, their car is good and their drivers are improving well

Russell- 15th largely on merit.  Sure he could not get overtaken due to the circuit, but well done!

Perez- For not killing either of the marshals who ran in front of his car.

Zeroes-

Ferrari- Ruined Leclerc's race and really put him in the position where he had to either settle for a no points finish or attempt ridiculous overtakes.

Giovinazzi- For spinning Kubica with a botched overtake

Kubica- For whining evermore. 

FIA- for allowing marshals on track at a time that put their lives in danger.

The combination of the Monaco circuit and modern F1 cars.

Offline John S

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Re: Monaco 2019 Heroes and Zeroes
« Reply #4 on: May 27, 2019, 11:27:15 AM »
Heroes:-
The Monaco circuit for giving us a whole lot of what we expect from a tight twisty up hill down dale; surprising overtakes, shunts, bad judgements from teams & drivers (Ferrari - nuff said, Renault and Haas for pitting too early allowing others to get track advantage, Red Bull - for that spectacular but pointless speedy pit release) and most of all a thriller to the end.  Best Monaco race for years I reckon.  :yahoo: 
………...Oh and only one DNF, surely that must be a Monaco record.  :DntKnw:

Lewis for managing his inner temperament and not pushing on as his instinct dictates, only downside was his constant whingeing on the radio.

Max,  :swoon: yeah this is surprising for me as he doesn't rate highly in my book, he drove an exceptionally mature race.  Sure the chancy release left him in 4th at the end, this could however have been 2nd if Hamilton had been able to push on with speed his car can do.   

McLaren for managing their team cars by leaving Norris to hold back field whilst Sainz chased the biggest score possible, team orders of course but a clear gain from use.

Zeros:-

Leclerc, in his haste to prove he's capable of running with the leaders he's starting to apply mad Max mentality. Yes his grid position was not his fault but his crazy over optimism with The Hulk move certainly was. I also think his not taking to the pitlane immediately after shows the red mist had got him, not good.  :nono:

Renault strategy guys for bringing Daniel in way too early exposing him to a stack of slower cars ahead on track, to me this is almost as bad a the Ferrari c*ck up with Leclerc in quali.

Finally Torro Rosso, both drivers did good, my money was on Kvyat throwing it at the scenery but he drove a well managed race.  :good: However Albon showed just a bit more than Danny in my final analysis.
Racing is Life - everything else is just....waiting. (Steve McQueen)

Offline Scott

Re: Monaco 2019 Heroes and Zeroes
« Reply #5 on: May 28, 2019, 02:38:10 PM »
It's all been said.  Grudging respect to Max for almost winning it.  I was sure he'd be a DNF in Monaco.  Lewis drove an amazing race, but wish he would stop with the whining and second guessing his engineers on strategy.

Ferrari pooched Leclerc's weekend, but he should have known shredding his tire and destroying the right side of his car would eventually lead to a retirement, so whatever time he thought he was saving by trying to get around as fast as possible, was for nothing.

Good race.
The Honey Badger doesn't give a...

Online cosworth151

Re: Monaco 2019 Heroes and Zeroes
« Reply #6 on: May 28, 2019, 07:10:23 PM »
Most of these have been covered already.

Winners:

Hamilton -  A great job of keeping the lead with tires that looked like they were completely used up.

Vettel - For keeping his cool with questionable brakes..

Zeroes:

Ferrari - Made an absolute mess of LeClerc's quali.

ESPN & Sky - I never did find out why K-Mag suddenly dropped 10 places, from 5th to 15th. Sky didn't even notice that it happened.

 
“You can search the world over for the finer things, but you won't find a match for the American road and the creatures that live on it.”
― Bob Dylan

Offline John S

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Re: Monaco 2019 Heroes and Zeroes
« Reply #7 on: May 29, 2019, 11:43:59 AM »

ESPN & Sky - I never did find out why K-Mag suddenly dropped 10 places, from 5th to 15th. Sky didn't even notice that it happened.

For the same reason Danny Ric fell behind so many other runners, Haas pulled KMag in immediately the safety car came out for fresh tyres - a fleet of other slower runners behind never stopped so got ahead of them on track.

In Monaco track position is everything so their strategy was wrong.  - Mind you the slow pace at front bunched midfield much more than would normally be expected, so in a way they can blame Mercs tyre choice for ruining their over optimistic strategy.  :D

In truth I think both Haas and Renault were so focused on the possible undercut from KMag stopping that both took the apparent easy option to stop under the S/C.
Dumb asses should have reviewed the bigger picture as well, instead of just worrying over one place in the race.  ::) 

Incidentally, or fortuitously you may say, Haas left Grosjean out until about 2/3rds way through which allowed him to get in the points from way behind KMag's grid position, 6 places behind I think it was. 
Racing is Life - everything else is just....waiting. (Steve McQueen)

Offline lkjohnson1950

Re: Monaco 2019 Heroes and Zeroes
« Reply #8 on: May 29, 2019, 07:47:51 PM »
Well, that's Haas playing it safe; one car covering the undercut, one car running the long strategy.
Lonny

Offline Monty

Re: Monaco 2019 Heroes and Zeroes
« Reply #9 on: May 30, 2019, 11:07:01 AM »
I agree with most comments here. However, Monaco still isn't a 'race' in my opinion and I find it fairly dull.
I also wonder if some of you were watching (and listening) to the same race as me. Of course it was 100% RBR's error releasing Verstappen but if he had stayed left and let Bottas pass he would probably have avoided a penalty and certainly would not have got points on his licence. But, Verstappen being Verstappen, he drove into Bottas twice to make sure he could leave the pits first!!
Then he makes a pointless overtake attempt on Hamilton (he was frustrated and I can understand that) but then he tries to blame Hamilton for 'just turning in' on him!!! The guy is an absolute idiot!

Offline Alianora La Canta

Re: Monaco 2019 Heroes and Zeroes
« Reply #10 on: May 30, 2019, 03:32:54 PM »
Of course it was 100% RBR's error releasing Verstappen but if he had stayed left and let Bottas pass he would probably have avoided a penalty and certainly would not have got points on his licence. But, Verstappen being Verstappen, he drove into Bottas twice to make sure he could leave the pits first!!
Then he makes a pointless overtake attempt on Hamilton (he was frustrated and I can understand that) but then he tries to blame Hamilton for 'just turning in' on him!

It would be nice if Red Bull would stop encouraging Max to do these things (they were heard to congratulate him after the premature overtake on the penultimate lap).
Percussus resurgio
@lacanta (Twitter)
http://alianoralacanta.tumblr.com (Blog/Tumblr)

Online Jericoke

Re: Monaco 2019 Heroes and Zeroes
« Reply #11 on: May 30, 2019, 08:25:21 PM »
Of course it was 100% RBR's error releasing Verstappen but if he had stayed left and let Bottas pass he would probably have avoided a penalty and certainly would not have got points on his licence. But, Verstappen being Verstappen, he drove into Bottas twice to make sure he could leave the pits first!!
Then he makes a pointless overtake attempt on Hamilton (he was frustrated and I can understand that) but then he tries to blame Hamilton for 'just turning in' on him!

It would be nice if Red Bull would stop encouraging Max to do these things (they were heard to congratulate him after the premature overtake on the penultimate lap).

Being reckless would seem to be on brand for Red Bull.  I was always surprised they didn't encourage it more.  Of course, in the long run it makes sense to run the team professionally, which makes encouraging Max's attitude surprising.

Offline Monty

Re: Monaco 2019 Heroes and Zeroes
« Reply #12 on: May 31, 2019, 12:49:16 PM »
It may come as a surprise to some of you but I'm not a Verstappen fan  ;)
Good drivers have to be confident but if this leads to arrogance it can become dangerous. Verstappen has been arrogant in every junior series, banging and barging competitors and always blaming everyone but himself. He has continued this in F1. People say he is fast and exciting but he is also dangerous. At pit lane speeds there wasn't a huge risk in pushing Bottas into the wall but it was still possible that something could have happened causing injury to pit lane workers. However, his dive-bomb attempt on Hamilton could have been really dangerous and it was completely pointless. He is surviving on luck, not talent!

 


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