Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix: 27 May 2007
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Lap distance: 3.347 km
Number of laps: 78
Race distance: 261.082 km
Lap record: 1:14.439s (M Schumacher, Ferrari F2004)
This street track has been in use since 1929. Narrow and winding, it's the slowest on the calendar. The race distance is 45 km short of the usual grand prix distance but it still takes the longest time to complete even in fair conditions.
Speaking of the weather, it last rained on race day in 1996 and 1997. Only 3 cars, led by Ligier's Olivier Panis, finished the former, and in both races the chequered flag fell at the 2-hour mark.
The close proximity of the armco barriers and the absence of run-off areas demand absolute concentration from the drivers. attack kerbs and graze barriers on their flying laps, but the tiny mistake can spell the end of one's race. However, the perfect lap is an absolute joy for the viewer to watch. It is a circuit that separates the men from the boys.
A very high downforce configuration, short gear ratios and very soft tyres characterise the Monaco car set-up. Attrition is usually high, not only due to accidents but also the lack of cooling the engines receive and the battering the gearboxes get.
The late Ayrton Senna holds the record of 6 wins at this track. This year marks the 20th anniversary of the first of those 6 victories. Michael Schumacher and Graham Hill are tied on 5 apiece. The German will be remembered for his sensational drive to victory in 1997 and also for stalling his car towards the end of qualifying last season, a move which raised questions about his sportsmanship and earned him a penalty.
McLaren-Mercedes' Fernando Alonso goes into this season's race as defending winner and holder of pole position. However it is his teammate Lewis Hamilton who currently leads the drivers' championship. Hamilton has won on this circuit in GP2. Other winners on the grid include Kimi Räikkonen, David Coulthard and Jarno Trulli.
Free practice takes place on Thursday instead of Friday. Qualifying and the race will be held on Saturday and Sunday respectively at 2 p.m. (8 p.m. for us) -
Over taking is next to impossible
man i hope Ferrari can bag a 1 2 for this! -
Ferrari will be using a deeper shade of red from this weekend onwards, one that's similar to that used on its '70s and '80s cars.
You'll see tobacco sponsorship here and again in the Chinese Grand Prix, but Philip Morris is the only such advertiser left in F1. -
Practice 1: Alonso puts Lewis in the shade
Double world champion Fernando Alonso fired a timely reminder to his rookie stable-mate Lewis Hamilton in the first free practice session for the Monaco Grand Prix.
As the hype grows around the British sensation's chances on his first Formula 1 visit to Monte Carlo, the McLaren pair delivered the fastest times of the 90 minute session, but significantly it was the Spaniard who commanded a 0.6s advantage as the flag fell.
Alonso's lap of 1m16.973s around the Monaco set him apart from the rest as the champion completed a whopping 31 laps in total - more than any other driver as worked through his soft tyre programme.
Hamilton, by contrast, came out of the blocks fast and engaged in an early battle for supremacy with Felipe Massa's Ferrari.
The 21-year-old ended the scrap with a 1m17.601s lap, which was good enough for second, but not long after headed into the pits where he remained for half the session, having done all the hard tyre work he needed to.
His response to Alonso's target will likely come this afternoon.
Nick Heidfeld, a potential dark horse this weekend, was third quickest in the nimble BMW, while Giancarlo Fisichella was a much-improved fourth.
The Italian's pace on a track he normally shines on will have given the under-par Renault team some cheer, lthough the left-front he severely damaged in a late incident with the barrier at St Devote probably didn't.
Another to clout the wall at the first corner was Mark Webber, whose Red Bull's left-rear swiped the barrier hard on the exit.
The Aussie, who was an impressive sixth fastest, made it as far as the Nouvelle Chicane before pulling off the track just after the chequered flag was waved.
Slipping in between the two crashers in fifth was Kimi Raikkonen in the first of the Ferraris.
The Italian team had a quiet first session with Massa ending up eighth behind Williams's Nico Rosberg, as the young German made yet another fine impression.
Robert Kubica was ninth in the second of the BMWs while Rubens Barrichello broke into the top ten for Honda.
Other points of note during the session were Scott Speed's best lap, which put the American in eighth before he eventually dropped to 12th, and Christijan Albers, who brought out the red flags for five minutes when he stopped his Spyker between the chicane and Tabac.
Monaco Grand Prix, Free practice session one
1. ALONSO Mclaren 1m16.973s
2. HAMILTON McLaren 1m17.601s
3. HEIDFELD BMW 1m17.616s
4. FISICHELLA Renault 1m17.758s
5. RAIKKONEN Ferrari 1m17.918s
6. WEBBER Red Bull 1m17.956s
7. ROSBERG Williams 1m18.074s
8. MASSA Ferrari 1m18.189s
9. KUBICA BMW 1m18.675s
10. BARRICHELLO Honda 1m18.676s
11. WURZ Williams 1m18.869s
12. SPEED Toro Rosso 1m18.967s
13. COULTHARD Red Bull 1m19.095s
14. SATO Super Aguri 1m19.203s
15. LIUZZI Toro Rosso 1m19.285s
16. KOVALAINEN Renault 1m19.321s
17. BUTTON Honda 1m19.332s
18. DAVIDSON Super Aguri 1m19.337s
19. TRULLI Toyota 1m19.496s
20. R SCHUMACHER Toyota 1m19.799s
21. SUTIL Spyker 1m21.634s
22. ALBERS Spyker 1m23.235s -
Practice 2: Alonso still in control
Fernando Alonso completed a perfect opening day of practice for the Monaco Grand Prix by topping the times again in Thursday afternoonÂ’s session.
The world championÂ’s only real challenge looked likely to come from his McLaren team-mate Lewis Hamilton but the rookie blotted his copybook with a mid-session crash and sat out the remainder of the afternoon.
As a result he fell back to third on the timesheet behind Ferrari standard-bearer Kimi Raikkonen, who finished 0.275s adrift of Alonso.
Italians Jarno Trulli and Giancarlo Fisichella performed well to post the fourth and fifth best times, giving their respective Toyota and Renault teams a welcome boost.
A rather subdued Felipe Massa was more than half a second slower than Ferrari team-mate Raikkonen and managed only the sixth fastest time.
Once again Hamilton was quick out of the blocks, lapping in 1m17.587s to set the initial pace.
But he was soon demoted by BMW SauberÂ’s Robert Kubica, who upped the ante to 1m17.240s.
The Pole remained at the top of the charts as he and Hamilton improved their times in tandem and the Ferraris slowly began to get into their stride.
Half an hour into the session Lewis took control once again with a 1m16.365s, then shaved another few hundredths off that on his next lap.
Alonso usurped his team-mate 20 minutes later, lowering the benchmark time by another 0.085s to 1m16.211s.
As he attempted to respond to that Hamilton made his first mistake of a remarkable debut season – crashing into the barrier at Sainte Devote and crumpling the front end of his McLaren beyond immediate repair.
KubicaÂ’s early pace faded a little and he slipped back to seventh in the lead BMW ahead of Nico RosbergÂ’s Williams and Red Bull duo Mark Webber and David Coulthard.
Next up were the Hondas of Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button in 11th and 12th – better than of late but not the breakthrough the team had been hoping for.
Super AguriÂ’s Takuma Sato (still on a high from scoring the teamÂ’s first point in Spain) was hard on the heels of the factory Hondas in 13th.
Hamilton wasn’t the only driver to err: Anthony Davidson had crashed in similar fashion at Sainte Devote a few minutes earlier, David Coulthard clipped the barrier at the Grand Hotel (née Loews) hairpin and Ralf Schumacher dropped his Toyota at the second part of the Swimming Pool complex right at the end of the session.
On a day when team-mate Trulli was mixing it with the likes of Ferrari, Schumacher wound up 20th on the timesheet, behind only the Spykers.
Unusually, it was Adrian Sutil rather than Christijan Albers who brought up the rear after the German rookie crashed at Portier.
Monaco Grand Prix free practice session two
1. ALONSO McLaren 1m15.940s
2. RAIKKONEN Ferrari 1m16.215s
3. HAMILTON McLaren 1m16.296s
4. TRULLI Toyota 1m16.354s
5. FISICHELLA Renault 1m16.753s
6. MASSA Ferrari 1m16.784s
7. KUBICA BMW 1m16.848s
8. ROSBERG Williams 1m16.852s
9. WEBBER Red Bull 1m17.292s
10. COULTHARD Red Bull 1m17.414s
11. BARRICHELLO Honda 1m17.449s
12. BUTTON Honda 1m17.457s
13. SATO Super Aguri 1m17.459s
14. HEIDFELD BMW 1m17.486s
15. WURZ Williams 1m17.516s
16. LIUZZI Toro Rosso 1m17.898s
17. KOVALAINEN Renault 1m18.086s
18. SPEED Toro Rosso 1m18.233s
19. DAVIDSON Super Aguri 1m18.328s
20. SCHUMACHER Toyota 1m18.662s
21. ALBERS Spyker 1m18.820s
22. SUTIL Spyker 1m19.358s -
Practice 3: Sutil's stunning upset
Adrian Sutil put a Spyker at the top of the timesheets for the first time ever at Monaco on Saturday morning as rain threw the established form book out of the window in final practice.
The young German confirmed his abundant natural talent by mastering the wet conditions and upstaging all the sportÂ’s big names in the usual frantic last-minute scramble.
A downpour shortly after the session began saturated the already damp track surface.
So uninviting were the conditions that no one completed a timed lap until nearly halfway through the session.
But soon afterwards a stampede of cars hit the track, a drier line began to emerge and the lap times came tumbling down.
FerrariÂ’s Kimi Raikkonen was fastest for several minutes, but otherwise the leader board resembled a fruit machine as a host of different drivers took turns at the top.
Fernando Alonso moved to P1 with five minutes remaining with a lap of 1m37.020s, only to be demoted three minutes later by his former team-mate Giancarlo Fisichella, who took his Renault round in 1m36.784s.
That in itself would have given the final order a novel look, but no one expected the last-ditch stunner from Sutil.
Raikkonen and Lewis Hamilton both improved on their final laps to finish second and third respectively, demoting Fisichella to fourth.
Scott Speed impressed for Scuderia Toro Rosso and set the fifth fastest time, leaving Alonso sixth ahead of the second Renault of Heikki Kovalainen.
Nico Rosberg (Williams) and Honda duo Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello rounded out the top 10.
Remarkably, all 22 drivers emerged from the session with their cars intact – although there were several near-misses as cars slithered down the few escape roads available at Monte Carlo.
Ralf Schumacher, Mark Webber and both McLaren drivers took to the run-off at the entrance to Ste Devote.
Schumacher, Takuma Sato and the Toro Rossos of Speed and Tonio Liuzzi ran wide at Mirabeau, where Alex Wurz also spun his Williams.
Monaco Grand Prix free practice session three
1. SUTIL Spyker 1m36.612s
2. RAIKKONEN Ferrari 1m36.739s
3. HAMILTON McLaren 1m36.767s
4. FISICHELLA Renault 1m36.784s
5. SPEED Toro Rosso 1m36.954s
6. ALONSO McLaren 1m37.020s
7. KOVALAINEN Renault 1m37.214s
8. ROSBERG Williams 1m37.388s
9. BUTTON Honda 1m37.442s
10. BARRICHELLO Honda 1m37.463s
11. WEBBER Red Bull 1m37.732s
12. MASSA Ferrari 1m37.997s
13. SATO Super Aguri 1m38.121s
14. DAVIDSON Super Aguri 1m38.180s
15. COULTHARD Red Bull 1m38.302s
16. KUBICA BMW 1m38.463s
17. WURZ Williams 1m38.876s
18. HEIDFELD BMW 1m38.899s
19. ALBERS Spyker 1m38.935s
20. SCHUMACHER Toyota 1m40.677s
21. LIUZZI Toro Rosso 1m41.108s
22. TRULLI Toyota 1m43.417s -
Aw man... Kimi only 16th. Stopped the car at Rasscase
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Coulthard was disqualified from Q2 for blocking Kovaleinen. He will start 16th
LATEST: Coulthard's penalty has been amended. Classified as qualifying in 11th spot and then given a 2-place penalty. He will now start 13th.
1. ALONSO Mclaren 1m15.726s
2. HAMILTON McLaren 1m15.905s
3. MASSA Ferrari 1m15.967s
4. FISICHELLA Renault 1m16.285s
5. ROSBERG Williams 1m16.439s
6. WEBBER Red Bull 1m16.784s
7. HEIDFELD BMW 1m16.832s
8. KUBICA BMW 1m16.955s
9. BARRICHELLO Honda 1m17.498s
10. BUTTON Honda 1m17.939s
11. WURZ Williams 1m16.662s
12. LIUZZI Toro Rosso 1m16.703s
13. COULTHARD Red Bull PENALTY
14. TRULLI Toyota 1m16.988s
15. KOVALAINEN Renault 1m17.125s
16. RAIKKONEN Ferrari NO TIME
17. DAVIDSON Super Aguri 1m18.250s
18. SPEED Toro Rosso 1m18.390s
19. SUTIL Spyker 1m18.418s
20. R SCHUMACHER Toyota 1m18.539s
21. SATO Super Aguri 1m18.554s
22. ALBERS Spyker NO TIME -
same place like last year by schumi?Originally posted by SBS9806J:Aw man... Kimi only 16th. Stopped the car at Rasscase 
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YahOriginally posted by SBS9828X:same place like last year by schumi? -
They can only overtake at the first knot...and the long stretch that looks like a tunnel....
I hope L.Hamilton wins =) -
Well, he didn't.Originally posted by fairlady_xoxo:They can only overtake at the first knot...and the long stretch that looks like a tunnel....
I hope L.Hamilton wins =)
Classification after 78 laps
1. ALONSO McLaren-Mercedes
2. HAMILTON McLaren-Mercedes
3. MASSA Ferrari
4. FISICHELLA Renault
5. KUBICA BMW-Sauber
6. HEIDFELD BMW-Sauber
7. WURZ Williams-Toyota
8. RÄIKKÖNEN Ferrari -
Haha...and so they say...no rookie ever won the Monaco track~
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Monaco Grand Prix result (78 laps)
1. ALONSO McLaren 1h40m29.329s
2. HAMILTON McLaren + 4.095s
3. MASSA Ferrari + 1m09.114s
4. FISICHELLA Renault + 1 lap
5. KUBICA BMW Sauber + 1 lap
6. HEIDFELD BMW Sauber + 1 lap
7. WURZ Williams + 1 lap
8. RAIKKONEN Ferrari + 1 lap
9. SPEED Toro Rosso + 1 lap
10. BARRICHELLO Honda + 1 lap
11. BUTTON Honda + 1 lap
12. ROSBERG Williams + 1 lap
13. KOVALAINEN Renault + 1 lap
14. COULTHARD Red Bull + 2 laps
15. TRULLI Toyota + 2 laps
16. SCHUMACHER Toyota + 2 laps
17. SATO Super Aguri + 2 laps
18. DAVIDSON Super Aguri + 2 laps
R. ALBERS Spyker + 8 laps
R. SUTIL Spyker + 24 laps
R. WEBBER Red Bullt + 60 laps
R. LIUZZI Toro Rosso + 76 laps
Fastest lap: Alonso, 1m15.284s -
I was surprised that Honda went for a 2-stop strategy given their qualifying postions.
It seems to work here only if you're at the sharp end of the field and not in traffic. Good job by Wurz though. -
McLaren unstoppable... 1min+ ahead of Massa and lapped the rest of the field
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McLaren are under investigation for team orders. Ron Dennis had ordered his drivers to drive 'conservatively' after the first round of pitstops.
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Back to the old days again.Originally posted by Kuali Baba:McLaren are under investigation for team orders. Ron Dennis had ordered his drivers to drive 'conservatively' after the first round of pitstops.
I won't forget the time when Schumi won the Austrian GP because Rubens was told to let his team mate pass. Ferrari were harshly criticised for that. -
funny to see red bull just break the nosecone wing of coulthard when they test and develop those for millions... anyway kimi was really unlucky to get caught twice... he seriously need to show something as massa is fast getting the team around him
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FIA have found McLaren's actions "entirely legitimate" and the latter will not be penalised.