After a promising start on Saturday despite the state of the track, which unforgivably was disintegrating during qualification, Lewis Hamilton’s pole position was all to no avail after driving into the back of Kimi Raikkonen after they had both pitted. Hamilton didn’t see the red light telling Raikkonen to stop and ploughed into the back of his Ferrari, while Niko Rosberg drove into the back of Hamilton. In addition to the Ferrari and McLaren being unable to continue, both Hamilton and Rosberg will be awarded a 10 place penalty for the next GP in France.
In the end it was Robert Kubica who was the hero of the day. After his massive smash in last year’s Canadian Grand Prix he must have been somewhat anxious at the thought of racing there again. But he needn’t have worried, winning his first Grand Prix, almost certainly the first of many.
Lewis Hamilton became the first British driver to win the Monaco Grand Prix since Graham Hill’s victory in 1969. The rain caused plenty of excitement and although Hamilton himself suffered a tyre failure due to a collision with the wall early in the race, he managed to keep the pace.
A total of six drivers failed to finish the race, all with the exception of Force India’s Giancarlo Fisichella due to accidents. The unluckiest man of the day must have been the other Force India driver, Adrian Sutil, whose car was damaged by a rear shunt from Kimi Räikkönen who uncharacteristically lost control of his car briefly.
Hamilton’s win will be a boost to both him and McLaren, and they’ll be looking for him to perform similarly in Canada in June.
Ferrari’s Felipe Massa was first across the line at the Turkish GP in his third successive win at the Istanbul circuit, the first race since Super Aguri’s withdrawal from F1.
The race provided plenty of excitement throughout with the first corner dispatching Fisichella, who ran into the back of Nakajima in a spectacular but ultimately stupid smash, and contact between Finish drivers Kimi Raikkonen and Heikki Kovalainen requiring the McLaren driver to make an earlier pit stop.
One of the biggest factors in deciding the final outcome though was McLaren’s decision to run Lewis Hamilton on a three stop strategy due to concerns about his tyres. Although leading at one stage of the race, his extra stop meant he was unable to get past the Ferrari front runner and had to make do with second place.
Felipe Massa (Ferrari) +10
Lewis Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes) +8
Kimi Räikkönen (Ferrari) +6
Robert Kubica (BMW Sauber) +5
Nick Heidfeld (BMW Sauber) +4
Fernando Alonso (Renault) +3
Mark Webber (Red Bull-Renault) +2
Nico Rosberg (Williams-Toyota) +1
David Coulthard (Red Bull-Renault)
Jarno Trulli (Toyota)
Jenson Button (Honda)
Heikki Kovalainen (McLaren-Mercedes)
Timo Glock (Toyota)
Rubens Barrichello (Honda)
Nelsinho Piquet (Renault)
Adrian Sutil (Force India-Ferrari)
Sebastian Vettel (STR-Ferrari)
Sebastien Bourdais (STR-Ferrari)
Kazuki Nakajima (Williams-Toyota) Accident damage
Giancarlo Fisichella (Force India-Ferrari) Accident
Next weekend’s Grand Prix, the second in the European leg of the competition, will take place in Turkey. The great news is that Heikki Kovalainen should be fit to drive for McLaren after returning to full training after his high speed smash at Barcelona in April. He still has an FIA medical to pass before being given the go ahead, but seems confident to be given the green light on Thursday.
The Barcelona Grand Prix took place on Sunday and proved to be hugely exciting, with the safety cars in much evidence. A first lap smash brought them out, and later Heikki Kovelainen’s 140 mph crash following a failure of a wheel rim saw the race under the safety cars again for several laps. Although he was knocked unconscious, the high safety standards of F1 mean that he is expected to be fit to drive later in the week, having sustained no serious injury. There were concerns because of his car being buried so deeply in the tyre wall, but once out he gave the thumbs up while being stretchered away.
Despite qualifying second on the grid, the race didn’t go well for Fernando Alonso. Perhaps due to the safety cars his engine overheated and he stopped his Renault with flames licking behind him. Although it would have been a major disappointment to him in front of his home crowd - many who left the circuit after this incident - Renault have made a major improvement to the car in order for him to produce such a good qualification time.
While teammate Lewis Hamilton got a great start and finished in third place, the Ferraris showed their class again, finishing one and two. McLaren admitted that their cars are proving to be difficult to set up, but they are making progress, which was clear from the race.
Results:
1 Kimi Räikkönen (Ferrari)
2 Felipe Massa (Ferrari)
3 Lewis Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes)
4 Robert Kubica (BMW Sauber)
5 Mark Webber (Red Bull-Renault)
6 Jenson Button (Honda)
7 Kazuki Nakajima (Williams-Toyota)
8 Jarno Trulli (Toyota)
This weekend’s Barcelona sees the launch of an anti-racism campaign at the circuit at Montmelo in response to the incidents that took place during practice in February.
While the scenes of several pro-Alonso supporters blacked up to represent the “Hamilton Familly” certainly looks racist at first glance, it should also be remembered that it was carnival time in Barcelona where dressing like that is considered acceptable; and if it had been the case that Alosno was black it is likely that there would have been more dressed similarly.
Just because the taunts may not have been maliciously racist in nature there should be no room for complacency as serious racism does exist in Spanish sport. Unfortunately it is often not seen as being a problem, perhaps because such casual racism exists in Spanish society.
With the first European race on the Formula 1 circus taking place next weekend at the Circuit de Catalunya at Montmelo, north of Barcelona the teams have been trying to get a handle on how their rivals are doing.
One of the biggest gainers this year so far has been BMW Sauber, with strong performances in all the Grands Prix to date. And Renault have been testing their modified car, with Fernando Alonso hoping to do well in front of his home crowd.
With changes made to the suspension and nose cone it remains to be seen whether the team is really in with a chance this season, or need to go back to the drawing board to play catch up.
Today is the last day of testing at the Barcelona circuit at Montmelo and with the rain pouring down it is unlikely to be particularly useful for many of the teams.
Two teams that it will make little difference to are Super Aguri, missing due to near financial collapse, and Toro Rosso, whose new car was damaged beyond repair by newcomer Sebastien Bourdais yesterday. With no spare care, Sebastian Vettel will miss on on his test drive today anyway.
Meanwhile Michael Schumacher has been testing for Ferrari and has criticised plans to ban tyre warmers next year. With the planned reintroduction of slicks, driving with them cold presents a safety issue, although he has welcomed their reintroduction saying racing with them is “more fun because there’s more grip”.
Stricken Super Aguri suffered a setback yesterday when they announced that a proposed buyout by Magma Group has fallen through.
The team had been the only one not to make it to the Barcelona track at Montmelo for testing due to ongoing negociations and although in a statement they revealed that negotiations with other potential backers were continuing, the future of the team is currently uncertain.
The team’s drivers are Takuma Sato and Anthony Davidson.
All teams except Super Aguri are at the Montmelo track ahead of the Barcelona Grand Prix which starts a week on Friday. According to Yahoo Sports, Michael Schumacher will be test driving a car set up for next year’s regulations to start collecting data.
