GPWizard F1 Forum
F1 News & Discussions => General F1 Discussion => Topic started by: Scott on May 27, 2018, 08:18:18 PM
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Heroes:
Ricciardo. No 7th gear from lap 30-something as well as no electric boost. Couldn't have done that on any other track, but still a remarkable accomplishment. He was lucky the RBR is kinder to its tires than the Ferrari or it could have ended differently. Proved once again that any discussion of who the #1 driver at RBR is, and should remain, should end. RBR must put Max in as a support role, and if he doesn't like it, he can go and wreck someone else's cars.
That said, Verstappen did a good job managing 6 decent overtakes (the rest were gifted him by incidents or pit stops), which are rather difficult on Monaco. Only in this situation did his wrecker reputation cause the cars ahead of him to decide to block or not. I think he had marching orders to bring the car home, and bring in at least a point. He managed 2.
Vettel for keeping Ricciardo honest the entire race. Something happened at the end, but I think we all agree by then it was too late anyway. He may have as well.
Hamilton. He fell back for a while and spent WAY too much time whining about if the tire choice was ideal, but he stayed ahead of Kimi, and that was all he could do.
Honerable mention to Ocon and Gasly, who both stayed clean and brought their cars in where they may not have belonged.
Leclerc, just because he was probably going to finish in his first hometown GP until the faulty brakes of the STR ended his day.
Zeroes
I put Max here anyway, just because he shouldn't be starting 20th. Silly boy.
Stroll, for being a bit snotty with his team on the radio (all weekend), and not being able to figure out what is wrong with your car when your front tire is flat. I know they sit a bit low in the car, but surely you can feel that it was a tire, especially right after you hit another car with that tire.
The Princess for fake drinking out of the offered champagne bottle after the Prince took a good slug. 2ndly for being visibly disturbed by Ricciardo drinking bubbly from his shoe.
Hartley's brakes, for failing at the moment when he couldn't avoid taking out Leclerc, although he did a pretty good job trying not to hit him.
Alonso's gearbox. 'nuff said.
Great turnout on chat today. It was fun to see the usual crowd for the most part.
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I thought it was Leclerc's brakes that gave up the ghost? He was cleared by the stewards as it was his brakes that failed. So, it's Leclerc's brakes that deserve zero status, which was a real pity.
I can't really give too many heroes in a processional race.
But I will award the whole Williams team zero status for a dismal weekend.
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I thought it was Leclerc's brakes that gave up the ghost? He was cleared by the stewards as it was his brakes that failed. So, it's Leclerc's brakes that deserve zero status, which was a real pity.
I can't really give too many heroes in a precessional race.
But I will award the whole Williams team zero status for a dismal weekend.
It was processional but the drivers were well behaved while still making efforts to pass. It really is a collective hero for all the drivers.
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I'm fairly sure the timeline was that:
- Sauber noted that Leclerc's brakes were giving some odd figures and did a radio message about it (I believe this was broadcast on Sky but not on Channel 4)
- Toro Rosso heard the message
- Hartley's engineer advised him that Leclerc's car was having brake trouble (I think with a view to telling him this was his chance to break the tow, rather than in the expectation that there was an accident waiting to happen). This message got given on all channels.
- About 5 seconds later, Leclerc's front right brake failed
- Mitigative action was taken to avoid a square nose-to-gearbox collision
- Despite this, Hartley lost his rear wing assembly to the Sauber's front-left tyre.
I second Luke's declaration of the Sauber's brake being the only zero in this equation. Not that Hartley was necessarily someone I'd nominate for hero status in his own right due to the first-corner bout with Ericsson.
Full heroes and zeroes:
Riccardo: Hard to look past the winner. Losing the top 2 gears is already hard (Daniel could not exceed 6th), but at Monaco that's manageable. Doing it while also losing 25% of the engine power without losing the lead? That's tricky, even with Vettel having (more minor) car trouble of his own. But he figured it... ...for 51 laps. Bravo, sir, bravo.
Vettel: If I heard the radio correctly, Vettel lost an engine mode partway through the race. Had it not been for that, he might have won the race despite the Ferrari being less suited to its tyres than the Red Bull.
Ocon: Without making much fuss at all, got his Force India to 6th, and kept up with the leaders until they all changed tyres. (The Force India didn't handle the harder tyre quite so well as the others).
Honourable mentions: Leclerc for his mitigation attempt, futile as it was (though I think Channel 4 spending 5 minutes rhapsodising about it might have been a little excessive...) and whoever designed the completely neutral dress Her Serene Highness was wearing.
Zeroes:
Verstappen: For not only crashing in FP3, for not only damaging a gearbox to the point where it had to be replaced (I'm not counting the engine as that was changed after qualifying, when Red Bull knew it was the best time to "take" the grid penalty), but also for trying to claim that he still hasn't had 6 incidents this season and still doesn't need to change anything. Somewhat mitigated by a decent drive in the race. But only somewhat.
Leclerc's front-right brake: for being a total party-pooper, as described earlier.
Stroll: For being so moany that even the radio broadcaster got fed up of showing us the content of his ranting, and for managing to get into at least 3 incidents (though I only detected the last one on the timing sheet and still don't know what exactly went amiss). On a day when his similarly-beleagured team-mate made only one unforced error (one pit-lane speeding incident), this is exactly what Lance didn't need.
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Heroes:
1. Without doubt, Dan Ric - what a masterclass in not only bringing a wounded car home but in 1st place too. Also, the guy is just a breath of fresh air in his attitude.
2. Ocon for quietly getting on with the job. I have a lot of time for this guy - he's reliable and a very accomplished driver and to be honest I don't think he gets the recognition he deserves.
3. Gasly - great job once again in the Toro Rosso
Zeroes:
1. Hamilton - yes the race was processional but it's funny how he doesn't think a race is boring when he's 40 odd seconds in front of a second placed car! Now that's boring for spectators.
2. Stroll - finally the true colours of a spoilt, rich kid buying an F1 seat are coming through. Whining par excellence to the point where it wasn't even funny. Anyone who remembers Kevin and Perry "so unfair"...that!
Finally, neither a hero or a zero but an honourable mention for Hartley - he's not getting the rub of the green right now although he should have done better in quali. Get's tagged in the first corner and then rear ended by LeClerc - shame for him.
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Oops, of course it was Leclerc’s brake failure...don’t know why I mixed that up later when I sat down at my computer. :-[
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Okay, so now the annoyance at Williams has abated somewhat, here is my more rational heroes and zeroes list :D
Heroes:
Ricciardo- Dominated the weekend from FP1 to the final lap. Add in holding off Vettel whilst nursing a very sickly Red Bull, what a drive indeed.
Ocon- Put his Force India way above where it ought to have been and kept it there, he'll be in the Mercedes in no time.
Gasly- Back on form and a very solid race.
Zeroes-
Leclerc's brakes- Very unfortunate really
Williams- Stroll could have it on his own, but this weekend felt like a culmination of the entire season to date. What could go wrong, did.
The combination of modern cars and the tight track. It would never end with exciting racing.
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So, how did Danny Ric win around the streets of Monaco?
Some may find this video interesting, others ... well, I know, I know!! :DD
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=va0RJPMbGhg (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=va0RJPMbGhg)
All the best,
Cal :)
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Zeroes - the 'race'. Dull, awful, boring. The 'racing' all takes place during Quali.
- Verstappen ; as I have said many times before, the guy is dangerous. It is easy to drive recklessly and sometimes get good results. This season, his arrogant driving has cost him (and others) dear!