[jfxavier]

The Monaco GP weekend is here.
The glitz, the glamour and all that....



Here's the timings for the sessions.



As usual Friday is off, so practice sessions start on Thursday.

For those in India, the timings in IST.



FP1 already done and dusted.
The timings.

[Fullrevs]

F1 teams told to modify jack points by FIA after Billy Monger crash

An FIA investigation into Billy Monger's horrific British Formula 4 accident has led to Formula 1 teams being told to modify their cars' rear jacking points.

Monger had both his lower legs amputated after a violent impact with the rear of Patrik Pasma's stationary car during last month's Donington Park F4 round.

The FIA's safety director Laurent Mekies sent a note to F1 teams telling them to modify their rear jack points for this weekend's Monaco Grand Prix, intimating that the design of the jacking point on the car Monger hit may have contributed to the severity of the accident.

The note said the jack points would be inspected by the FIA's safety department.

Mekies wrote: "Following several front-to-rear incidents over the past months in various single-seater categories, the FIA would like all F1 teams to ensure that their rear jacking point designs cannot act aggressively during such an incident.

"Considering the strength, shape and position of the jacking points, they may become one of the initial points of contact in a crash with another car and alter the performance of the crash structure of the other car.

"The use of aggressive designs will not be permitted from the Monaco GP onwards.

"All jacking points used from that date must first be approved by the FIA technical department."

In clarifying what was acceptable as a "non-aggressive" design (examples of 'aggressive' designs from FIA letter pictured above), he said it would have to be "geometrically not the first point of contact between the nose and the RIS [rear impact structure]", and "protrude no more than 45mm from surface of RIS".

Not all teams had to make changes as some designs were already deemed safe, but those that did had the revisions passed in scrutineering.

"We had to change our jack pick-up point," Haas team principal Guenther Steiner told Autosport.

"It's a change for a good reason. The parts came on Wednesday, and we are fine.

"The part on the jack had to be changed and something on the car as well, but it was nothing too demanding.

"It's the right thing to do, and there was full support.

"There was a reason why, and if we learn something, we should change it."

The FIA will also ensure that teams in other categories make any changes needed.

Source:Autosport

Practise 2 times:
1.S. Vettel1:12:720
2.D. Ricciardo1:13:207
3.K. Raikkonen1:13:283
4.D. Kvyat1:13:331
5.C. Sainz Jr.1:13:400
6.M. Verstappen1:13:486
7.S. Pérez1:13:799
8.L. Hamilton1:13:873
9.K. Magnussen1:13:890
10.V. Bottas1:13:908
11.S. Vandoorne1:13:946
12.J. Button1:13:981
13.F. Massa1:14:003
14.R. Grosjean1:14:022
15.E. Ocon1:14:093
16.L. Stroll1:14:474
17.N. Hulkenberg1:15:060
18.J. Palmer1:15:616
19.M. Ericsson1:15:691
20.P. Wehrlein1:15:695

That was a stonker of a lap by Sebastien Vettel. I hope Ferrari can take this form into saturday and sunday.

[ashwin.terminat]

Free Practice 2 results are also in:



Surprising to see the Mercedes so far down (a result of the longer wheelbase?). But super happy to see Ricciardo between the Ferraris.

Hearing from the Sky comms team that the average lap times over the long fuel runs are: Ferrari - 1:15.5 Red Bull - 1:15.7 Toro Rosso/Mercedes - 1:16.0

Source

Also, for those interested in text commentary for sports, found this site called bytheminute.co. Pretty neat.

[deetjohn]

The fastest lap of Monaco ever! And its going to tumble even further for sure. And hopefully Ferrari can get a P1 on both Saturday and Sunday. That's long overdue!!

Last pole position: 2008
Last win: 2001

And the chance never been this high for Ferrari to claim the principality in recent years.

Originally Posted by ashwin.terminat

Surprising to see the Mercedes so far down (a result of the longer wheelbase?).

I wouldn't read too much into that. Mercedes couldn't even replicate their FP1 exploits during FP2. They slapped the slower tyres (supersofts) during the initial period and weren't looking to lower the benchmark. Then, Lance Stroll did his thing and the session was red flagged.

And when the clocks got restarted, the track was too crowded and the silver arrows couldn't improve their time on ultrasofts. There is definitely more pace to come from them.

Also, great job by Button. He even overtook Hamilton around the outside into the chicane during FP2.

Here is FP1.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvnhBY87wuk

[ecenandu]

Originally Posted by deetjohn

I wouldn't read too much into that. Mercedes couldn't even replicate their FP1 exploits during FP2.

They made a setup change and went in the wrong direction, to revert it would have taken them at least two hours it seems. So they continued with data collection, expect them to be back in FP3.

Regarding Stroll, as expected he crashed out. Motorsport is an expensive, it is very difficult to people with natural talent to come through the ranks. Luck also plays a major role, I was surprised to hear the struggle Ocon has to go through. Similar story as Hamilton, in fact their family has to sell their house to support his racing career. During that time he was living in a caravan. What a lovely bloke, has a positive vibe in all his interviews. Pretty good performance this year, so far.

My bet is on Hamilton for the championship, the reliability may bite Ferrari later this season. I'm actually surprised that very few people are talking about it. Maybe they will find the solution for the trouble soon. So far we had two different teams going for the win, which is making them run at maximum pace. There is no multi-21 situation, which is good for the fans.

[deetjohn]

Originally Posted by ecenandu

They made a setup change and went in the wrong direction, to revert it would have taken them at least two hours it seems. So they continued with data collection, expect them to be back in FP3.

Regarding Stroll, as expected he crashed out....

I expect both Mercedes and RBR to come live on Saturday, the latter is looking its best self this season at Monaco. And this is a track which suits them well.

And Stroll is becoming a bigger joke each race. Read this: Stroll struggling with same corners as on PlayStation. Such a shame!

A Safety Car looks guaranteed for the race. I just hope it doesn't affect the results unfairly.

And here is Button' cheeky pass on Lewis I was talking about.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9uD7lHFDuk

[sgiitk]

One query from the noob. While in other GPs P1and P2 are on one day, P3 and Q are the following day. Why in Monaco there is a one day gap? Is it that they expect too many smashups needing repair, or something else.

[GTO]

Great to have you back & creating race threads, Jfxavier . Monaco is always a special watch due to its uniquely tight circuit, excellent camera work, the glitz & glamour and of course - unexpected surprises.

Ferrari has got the much needed shot-in-the-arm. It's evident from their times that the parent company & team are putting all they have into the 2017 championship. To Vettel's credit, he has also upped his game. There's a lot of pressure on them this weekend as Ferrari last won Monaco in.....2001 with Schumacher . Yep, it's now 16 years since their last victory on this iconic track.

Will be fun watching ol' man Button back on the track.

[frostbite911]

Originally Posted by sgiitk

One query from the noob. While in other GPs P1and P2 are on one day, P3 and Q are the following day. Why in Monaco there is a one day gap? Is it that they expect too many smashups needing repair, or something else.

Monaco being a tiny and highly populated country (Number of people almost double during the race weekend), the race organizers keep Friday free of any race activity in order to open up the race barriers and allow some traffic movement for the public in the city The circuit is open to the public from 2pm onwards until 7am on Saturday morning.

[jfxavier]

Originally Posted by GTO

Great to have you back & creating race threads, Jfxavier .

Have been keeping busy for a while now.
However, still visits team-bhp regularly

Originally Posted by frostbite911

Monaco being a tiny and highly populated country (Number of people almost double during the race weekend), the race organizers keep Friday free of any race activity in order to open up the race barriers and allow some traffic movement for the public in the city The circuit is open to the public from 2pm onwards until 7am on Saturday morning.

This has been an age old tradition. The only race without a podium as well.

[frostbite911]

Originally Posted by jfxavier

This has been an age old tradition. The only race without a podium as well.

Sadly this won't hold true starting this weekend :(





The 2017 Monaco GP is all set to have a brand new elevated podium, thus getting rid of the age old tradition of the winning drivers spraying champagne on the track :(

[Porcupine]

Monaco has always been a great track, and has often played to Hamilton's strengths in the past. Will be interesting to see this season as the safety cars have had a huge impact on the results and most (if not all) the races this season thus far have more or less been won on pit lane strategy. Expect to see a safety car or two atleast this weekend, and see how it affects strategies for the Ferrari's and the Merc's!

[deetjohn]

FP3

Vettel P1 1:12.395
Kimi P2 1:12.740



Love it! Hopefully the boys and their machines can continue the fine form into the Qualifying and the Race. A P1 long, long overdue.

Top 10: 1 Vettel, 2 Raikkonen, 3 Bottas, 4 Verstappen, 5 Hamilton, 6 Ricciardo, 7 Sainz, 8 Kvyat, 9 Magnussen, 10 Vandoorne

RBR is looking good on the track, Mercedes not so much.

Ocon stuffed his pink panther into the barriers and Button gets a 15 place grid drop after McLaren was forced to change the MGU-H/TC from his Honda unit - the 5th of the season.

Can't wait for the qualifying. Q3 is the best bit from a Monaco weekend!

[ach1lles]

Hamilton is out of Q3. Now it'll be a race

Edit: Who saw that coming? The Finn wakes up. Ferrari has the row!

[ecenandu]

What a lap from the iceman, pity that Hamilton got it all wrong. Otherwise it would have been even more interesting.

But I'm so happy for KIMI .