F1 Monaco GP: May 21st 2021

[Clubs are trumps]

Its race weekend and the 5th track on the calendar for 2021 is picturesque Monaco! Its been 2 years since we last had a GP here. Tsunoda, Mazepin and Schumacher havent driven an F1 car around this circuit, and its been 3 years for Alonso since his last time around here.




Just like Spain there will be very little overtaking opportunities. Unlike Spain however, drivers get punished for almost any mistake with walls going the length of track. This circuit really separates the men from the boys. Hardly a moment to relax for entire 90 minutes worth of driving.

Just one DRS zone which isnt even the main place for an overtake, with the swimming pool chicane that comes out of the tunnel being the best place to make a move. Drivers also have the safety net of running through the corner with no repercussions if they are too late on the breaks.

Our own Dan Ricciardo has had some big moments at this track, and no-one could ever forget this disaster:


I still dont think ive seen a team before or after, bring their driver into the pits with no tyres ready. The fact it happened to an Australian underdog that was leading the race still pisses me off.

Anyway when Red Bull pit crew arent being s**t campaigners, the drivers themselves to do some pretty ridiculous stuff too:

 

[Black_White]

Ughhh…. Monaco…
A track not up to standard for modern F1.
Im sure it’s a great place to visit. A great week to party at an F1 race.
But hardly the way an F1 race should be run.

 

[Broken]

Do you really need to enforce track limits on this track, apart from Nouvelle?

 

[Magma]

how long till nando goes back to indycar

 

[drd23]

Dan's not been having a happy weekend

 

[Black_White]

Another team * up.
How do you not get him out in time to get to the line?

 

[The Flying Belgian]

History and all that, but I rarely watch Monaco GP's. Invariably a dull race.

 

[Skull Face]

Another team fu** up.
How do you not get him out in time to get to the line?

I reckon his push lap was the one before that where he had to basically stop next to the pit entry to let Lewis through, killed his sector 1 and so too his qually.

Think I'll go to bed instead of staying up for this now, his confidence must be shot ATM with this car.

 

[Broken]

Good to see Seb ahead of Stroll and make Q3.

 

[Acinath]

LeClerc on pole, except he's binned it. Unbelieveable.

 

[Rustin Cohle]

He's pulled a Rosberg!

 

[Black_White]

That’s the way to make sure you keep your pole….

 

[Magma]

haha micky schumacher would be proud

 

[drd23]

I wonder when the last time the pole sitter caused a red flag in quali has happened?

 

[Broken]

Hopefully two Ferraris in the top 4 and Hamilton behind Norris and Gasly should add some interest to the race *fingers crossed*

 

[Loonerty]

Galaxy brain move from Leclerc

 

[Black_White]

Our “expert” commentators shown up by Rosberg.

 

[Mufc1975]

will be surprised if Leclerc doesn't end up getting a penalty as surely there is damage to the gear box etc

 

[Magma]

paul di resta sounds like a nervous kid speaking to his heroes for the first time

 

[Aussie pie]

Crofty was heartbroken about Lewis omg it’s so terrible isn’t it.

 

[imadodgyumpire]

Everything about MB is centered around Hamilton winning. That's what happens when everything is in their favour. They can't rely on their normal process to do so at Monaco.

 

[Skull Face]

Extremely puzzled by Danny Ric, Monaco is his track and for him to be so far off the pace here something just isn't right there.

 

[Herne Hill Hammer]

Extremely puzzled by Danny Ric, Monaco is his track and for him to be so far off the pace here something just isn't right there.

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Ricciardo baffled by Monaco mess: ‘I refuse to believe I’m that slow’
Daniel Ricciardo was left absolutely baffled in Monaco after another horror day saw him blown out of the water by his McLaren teammate.


There were always going to be teething problems in Daniel Ricciardo’s early days at McLaren but the Aussie and his new team are fast approaching crisis time after a disastrous qualifying result at the Monaco Grand Prix.
Ricciardo managed just the 12th fastest time at one of his fastest tracks and was once again far outperformed by teammate Lando Norris who qualified fifth behind pole-sitter Charles Leclerc of Ferrari.

‘I refuse to believe I’m that slow’

Ricciardo’s fastest lap of 1:11.598 was almost a full second slower than the time Norris laid down in the third qualifying session (1:10.620) and the Perth-born driver refused to believe he was solely responsible.

“I’m probably confused more than frustrated,” he said. “Obviously frustrated and upset, we know qualifying here is so big, but it’s probably got to a point where it’s not even the position now, it’s just we’ve been pretty much a second off all weekend.

“I’d like to say I’m just not confident or still need to learn the car but not a second, not around here.


“I’m certainly not being like, ‘Yeah, something is broken’, but I think we do have to have a look into maybe a bigger picture, because I refuse to believe I’m that slow around here.

“Obviously I’ve been around here with Max (Verstappen as teammate) — and I’m sure Lando’s fast — but I refuse to believe he’s a second quicker around here, and I don’t mean to say that against him.


“But just all weekend, even crossing the line a lot of laps I felt good, I was like that’s a good lap. And I think at one point I was 1.2 seconds slower than say what Lando had just done, so no answers at the moment.”

‘I’m sure the team will do a dig’


The 31-year-old didn’t believe Norris’ greater experience in the McLaren was the reason for his success either.

“I mean there is still a little bit of a difference in driving style and things like a bit of braking technique and that, and again even if I’m not optimising the car, I would still say OK maybe I’m two tenths slower or three tenths slower,” Ricciardo said.

“But the whole let’s say call it a second, I don’t know, it seems a lot. I’m not going to bury my head in the sand and be like, ‘Ah, fix it and I’m the best’.

“I still want to definitely work at it and I’m sure there is still things I can improve, but this weekend has been the biggest anomaly of them all so far.”

 

[Skull Face]

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Ricciardo baffled by Monaco mess: ‘I refuse to believe I’m that slow’
Daniel Ricciardo was left absolutely baffled in Monaco after another horror day saw him blown out of the water by his McLaren teammate.


There were always going to be teething problems in Daniel Ricciardo’s early days at McLaren but the Aussie and his new team are fast approaching crisis time after a disastrous qualifying result at the Monaco Grand Prix.
Ricciardo managed just the 12th fastest time at one of his fastest tracks and was once again far outperformed by teammate Lando Norris who qualified fifth behind pole-sitter Charles Leclerc of Ferrari.

‘I refuse to believe I’m that slow’

Ricciardo’s fastest lap of 1:11.598 was almost a full second slower than the time Norris laid down in the third qualifying session (1:10.620) and the Perth-born driver refused to believe he was solely responsible.

“I’m probably confused more than frustrated,” he said. “Obviously frustrated and upset, we know qualifying here is so big, but it’s probably got to a point where it’s not even the position now, it’s just we’ve been pretty much a second off all weekend.

“I’d like to say I’m just not confident or still need to learn the car but not a second, not around here.


“I’m certainly not being like, ‘Yeah, something is broken’, but I think we do have to have a look into maybe a bigger picture, because I refuse to believe I’m that slow around here.

“Obviously I’ve been around here with Max (Verstappen as teammate) — and I’m sure Lando’s fast — but I refuse to believe he’s a second quicker around here, and I don’t mean to say that against him.


“But just all weekend, even crossing the line a lot of laps I felt good, I was like that’s a good lap. And I think at one point I was 1.2 seconds slower than say what Lando had just done, so no answers at the moment.”

‘I’m sure the team will do a dig’


The 31-year-old didn’t believe Norris’ greater experience in the McLaren was the reason for his success either.

“I mean there is still a little bit of a difference in driving style and things like a bit of braking technique and that, and again even if I’m not optimising the car, I would still say OK maybe I’m two tenths slower or three tenths slower,” Ricciardo said.

“But the whole let’s say call it a second, I don’t know, it seems a lot. I’m not going to bury my head in the sand and be like, ‘Ah, fix it and I’m the best’.

“I still want to definitely work at it and I’m sure there is still things I can improve, but this weekend has been the biggest anomaly of them all so far.”

Only been done twice at Monaco in qually, 3-1 vs max here. No way he is a second off Norris

 

[imadodgyumpire]

Taking it too seriously. He isn't a second of Norris. But things don't work out all the time and he got done over when the music stopped.

Make the best of a bad situation tonight and move on.