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)
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.
An extremely poor start for Lewis Hamilton, followed by contact with the backof Fernando Alonso’s car forcing an early pitstop meant that he was fighting much of the race from the rear. The race was dominated by Ferrarri and BWM, a team that has made huge progress this year, achieving their first pole position today with Robert Kubica.
Both the McLarens were slightly off the pace, although Hamilton may have suffered more than just a broken nose cone in the incident with Alonso. The British drivers seemed to have an accident prone day, with Jenson Button knocking both himself and David Coulthard off the track when he attempted to overtake his friend. However, it was Button who came off worse, and after having his nose cone replaced the car was clearly not race fit, forcing him to retire.
However, it was a good day for Felipe Massa, who not only won today’s race but it was also his first finish this season after retiring in both Australia and Malaysia.
BMW Sauber driver Robert Kubica took pole position in qualifying today, as he pipped Felipe Massa to the post at the last minute. Lewis Hamilton is in third place on the grid, with Kimi Raikkonen just ahead of Hamilton’s McLaren teammate Heikki Kovalainen.
A slight rule change was introduced in the qualifiers to prevent a repeat of the Malaysian Grand Prix, when the McLarens were deemed to have blocked rival teams on flying laps by their low speed out-lap, with the introduction of a minimum lap time. However, no driver was penalized for tomorrow’s race.
A stewards inquiry took place due to Massa ignoring a yellow flag at one stage of the race, however his conduct was not found to be dangerous and no penalty was applied.
Lewis Hamilton has been upping his fitness level to help him in the heat of Bahrain. On an island hopping trip to Thailand with his trainer and Force Indian driver Adrian Sutil he has been participating in various sports, such as swimming and tennis to improve his fitness ahead of the Bahrain GP.
Meanwhile the sex scandal involving Max Mosley refuses to die down. After being asked by Bernie Ecclestone to stay away from Bahrain and being told he was persona non grata and not welcome ruling Prince, it seems that Lewis has come out against him too, backing the line of BMW, McLaren-Mercedes, Toyota and Honda and saying “I think it’s key to set a good example”.
Mind you, there can be little love lost between McLaren box Ron Dennis and Mosley after their public spats during the Ferrarri scandal that blighted last season.
Tickets for the Valencia Grand Prix have now gone on sale, with the Spanish press reporting long queues as locals bought up tickets, selling out the first release in just one hour.
Meanwhile, it appears that Ferrarri has dropped plans to debut a radical new nosecone in Bahrain. The cone, which has been tested by Marc Gene, has a hole in it to improve airflow and will probably be delayed until the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona, later this month.
After Lewis Hamilton’s disappointing performance in the Malaysian Grand Prix last month, he’ll be looking to capitalize on his points advantage in the forthcoming Bahrain Grand Prix on Sunday. Hamilton remains at the head of the drivers’ table after 2 Grand Prix, having picked up 4 points for coming in 5th.
He is due to appear at the Bahrain GP press conference on Thursday at 13:00 BST (15:00 local time). The full lineup of drivers is: Lewis Hamilton (McLaren), Nick Heidfeld (BMW Sauber), Nico Rosberg (Williams) and Jarno Trulli (Toyota).
