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There are quite a few truths that F1 fans held to be self evident – Massa is a bit of a journeyman apart from in Turkey, Ferraris don't do slow corners and don't perform at Monaco, F1 drivers know the rulebook, Monaco is totally unforgiving of mistakes and the race inveitably a boring procession. Last Sunday's GP destroyed these myths. Many Tifosi enter Monaco weekend with foreboding, the received wisdom is that Ferrari doesn't do particularly well here and this seems to be borne out by recent results - the Scuderia last won in 2001, but this is wrong in my view. Certainly, last year they were outclassed by the Grey Empire, but in 2006 there is little doubt that Schuey would have dominated from the front row had he not been penalised for blocking the track in qualifying. In 2004 he could have won had Montoya not brake-tested him, and in the days of tyre choice, Ferraris were often the fastest cars in the race, held back by hard Bridgestones in qualifying. So please forgive me if I smugly say it didn't surprise me when Raikkonen led practice 1 on Thursday. The smug smile disappeared from my face when practice 2 was led by Hamilton with Rosberg second. The Scuderia's drivers struggled on soft tyres and they spoke of “studying the situation calmly” (Massa) and “look at the data carefully” (Raikkonen). Usually, these phrases mean “Oh dear, we haven't got a clue why
we're slow" but as soon as qualifying started, the Ferraris looked
strong, so maybe the data staring had worked for once or maybe rain washing
the track had changed things. However, on this circuit which, with its
Armco punishing every error mercilessly (another "truth" which
was disproved on Sunday), it was interesting to watch car control at its
old-fashioned best. Hamilton was pretty much the same, losing a bit of time on one run but looking spectacularly like a Group 4 Escort as he hung the tail out round the Station Hairpin (properly Grand Hotel hairpin, formerly Loews Hairpin). It was clear from his press comments that he wanted a Monaco win passionately and in my view it let his heart rule his head with too much attack, not enough restraint. As a result Massa took pole, Raikkonen joined him on the front row and the Maccas lined up behind - job done, so we thought. Just behind them was BMW's outstanding talent Kubica, in fifth. If anything, he had the opposite of Hamilton's approach with restraint taking the upper hand, because there was little spectacle from him. This approach paid dividends on Sunday... Rain frequently affects Monaco, and sure enough everybody was on intermediates (confusingly, officially called “wets”). Of the decision making process, Ken Tyrrell said years ago “It's quite simple – you look at the sky and if its raining you put wets on”. Sadly, Ferrari didn't seem to have heard of this and left it to the last minute to fit Raikkonen's rain tyres. Due to “a wheel problem” they overshot the tyre change window and on lap 13 he was forced to serve a drive-through penalty which dropped him two vital places to fourth. At the start Raikkonen sat with wheels spinning impotently for what seemed an age, doubtless nostalgic for traction control. In reality, the delay was minor, but enough for the always opportunistic Hamilton to squeeze through to take second. Ferrari drivers have in recent years worked well as a team – which is one of the reasons I was glad the selfish Alonso didn't join the Scuderia – and had Hamilton stayed behind Raikkonen who could have ridden shotgun for Massa, I believe the race result might have been very different. Just as Lewis was let down by software in Brazil last year so Kovalainen had a software-induced box of neutrals on the dummy grid and started from the pitlane. He then had a lack-lustre race, finishing eighth for an undeserved point, showing very little effort. “Overtaking isn't possible in Monaco” is another "truth", but compare Kovalainen with Schuey two years ago, or Sutil this year, and just be grateful he drives for the opposition. There was no doubt that while Kovalainen switched off, the front of the grid drove it all the way. Massa hung the tail out at the hairpin, Hamilton even had a twitch on the straight to show just how slippy the track was, but as I watched I was thinking how the front-runners were distinguished by always looking to have control. I was wrong. On lap 6 Hamilton clipped the barriers at Tabac. I thought he was lucky to nurse the car back to the pits as the tyre seemed to be rolled off the inside of the wheel soon after the incident, only to roll back, but then I remembered what Gary Player said about luck. In Hamilton's case I think the luck came from a superb mechanical sympathy with the car. He rejoined in fifth because behind the first four the field was being held up by Trulli (for a change). Remember about the Monaco Armco punishing errors unforgivingly? Whilst Hamilton lost three places, this actually won him the race because he was refueled and needed only one more stop to get to he finish. In the excitement, many commentators praised McLaren's brilliant tactics. Nonsense. If the car is in the pits and it's wet so weight isn't an issue, sloshing as much fuel as you can into the tank is a no-brainer. Of course Lewis also had the minor task of going fast enough whilst not falling off again and we cannot but admire the professionalism of the teams who repair minor damage so swiftly. On lap 8, poor old Coolthud slid off at Massenet. Scarily, poor cousin Bourdais had the same accident immediately afterwards, his STR rear-ending the Scot. Happily what would have been a neck-snapper in a road car fortunately isn't a problem in an F1 car. The number of accidents at this spot mean that I can't take the mickey out of Crazy Dave too much, suffice it to say the bus pass continues to beckon. The effect of this incident was a safety car period. At this point Raikkonen trailed Massa, with Kubica in 3rd and Hamilton 4th. Tifosi smiled, but the smile disappeared when Raikkonen's drive-through penalty was announced. Kubica had looked threatening for some time and had pressured Raikkonen. Now he was pushing Massa. On lap 16, Massa made his only mistake of the race when he went off at Ste Devote. It looked like old-fashioned aquaplaning, but that's sooo 1970s. Massa blamed braking on a yellow line, which sounds more like Mansell in the 80s, though without the Brummie accident, or accent come to think of it. Incidentally that was the race in 1984 when Senna so nearly won for Toleman and illustrated in a nutshell the difference between him and Nige. Kubica went through to lead and did so until he pitted on lap 26. I can't say why shortly after he returned to the track he put in a lap fully 6 seconds slower than Massa, but it was this lap which allowed Massa to get ahead of Kubica when the latter pitted a second time. Whilst the lap 26 pit activity was happening, Raikkonen made a mistake at Ste Devote and damaged a wing and dropped to sixth. As the track dried the lap times improved but the track didn't dry enough for grooves until around lap 52. Reckless Alonso tried them on lap 44 and was slow, hapless Piquet tried them on lap 46 and crashed. Hamilton's lucky “strategy” meant that he took the lead when Massa pitted. Ferrari admitted to a tactical mistake when they fueled to the end, following the weather forecast of more rain. The effect of this was that Massa wasn't able to make up time on Hamilton and when the Brit pitted on lap 54 he rejoined on dry tyres in the lead. When Massa pitted a second time and got dry tyres on lap 56, he was behind Kubica for third, which is how the race finished. Ironically, Massa made only one small mistake, but was punished for it. Hamilton made one big one, and was rewarded! Kubica made, as far as I could see, no mistakes and finished second. Such is life. Let us now return to Raikkonen. After the Ste Devote mishap he returned in 6th, and with the benefit of pit stops got up to fifth when Rosberg lost it at the Swimming Pool (lap 62). It seemed a minor error but at F1 speeds the car came apart as it hit the barriers. It was interesting to compare the initial high speed, but relatively soft, impact against tyre barriers against the “ouch” on the steel Armco. The result was a wrecked Williams, and a safety car. Hamilton lost his 32 second lead but it didn't matter for any of the top three. The safety car took a while to sort itself out, if only because Heidfeld and Kovalainen hadn't read the final instructions and didn't seem to realise they should pass it. If a club driver made such an elementary mistake he would be duly patronised by the Clerk of the Course – yet I suspect these two escaped unscathed. Again, such is life. Rosberg's error spoilt the race for both Sutil and Raikkonen. Sutil was running an amazing fourth after a brilliant drive in the Force India. Apparently, if you drive a McLaren like Kovalainen, you can't overtake at Monaco. In a Force India, which is basically a 2007 car, you can. Maybe it's the Ferrari engine, or perhaps Sutil is very talented and Kovalainen is over-rated. Who knows. Sutil was in a secure fourth but in the bunching of the safety car Raikkonen came up behind him. On the restart lap, on the exit of the tunnel an out of control Raikkonen rear-ended Sutil, destroying the Ferrari's nose but apparently leaving Sutil unscathed. The reality was that Raikkonen got a new nose and so finished 9th, just out of the points – ceding the Championship lead to Hamilton. Poor Sutil, with the sympathy of everyone watching who had half a soul, had terminal rear damage and finished pointless. It did not reflect well on Force India that Raikkonen was protested for this 'racing incident' by their Mike Gascoigne, a protest which was immediately rejected by the Stewards. Kimi later apologised and said a cold rear brake had snatched on, leaving him a passenger. The race ran out of time at two hours, with Massa third led by Hamilton and Kubica. Webber made fewer mistakes than most to finish fourth. Vettel, who had started one place behind Sutil came home fifth and Barrichello came home sixth to score his first points since October 2006! I've already exceeded my quota of words, so I won't say how Alonso drove badly and Heidfeld was dull, that Glock made far too many mistakes and Button...well, I have no idea as I didn't even notice him. Some new truths emerged at Monaco, which somehow I don't think will be contradicted in the next few races:
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