“With hindsight, we probably should have put a banker in” was Lewis Hamilton’s assessment of his performance in qualifying in Monaco.
Failing to do a time earlier in Q3 cost him when the session was interrupted by a red flag.
Hamilton set a time that was only good enough for seventh. He said: “I had no temperature in my tyres or my brakes, so I didn’t manage to pull a great lap together.”
Making matters worse, the lap was later deleted by the stewards and he was relegated even further down the grid.
Examine all the data from Monaco qualifying below.
Qualifying times in full
- The drivers who did times in the final two minutes of Q3 found the track conditions much slower
- Vettel’s fastest time was very nearly the fastest ever seen around Monaco in its current configuration. It was 0.024s slower than Kimi Raikkonen’s fastest time in 2006
Driver | Car | Q1 | Q2 (vs Q1) | Q3 (vs Q2) | |
1 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull | 1’15.606 | 1’14.277 (-1.329) | 1’13.556 (-0.721) |
2 | Jenson Button | McLaren | 1’15.397 | 1’14.545 (-0.852) | 1’13.997 (-0.548) |
3 | Mark Webber | Red Bull | 1’16.087 | 1’14.742 (-1.345) | 1’14.019 (-0.723) |
4 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1’16.051 | 1’14.569 (-1.482) | 1’14.483 (-0.086) |
5 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes | 1’16.092 | 1’14.981 (-1.111) | 1’14.682 (-0.299) |
6 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1’16.309 | 1’14.648 (-1.661) | 1’14.877 (+0.229) |
7 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren | 1’15.207 | 1’14.275 (-0.932) | 1’15.280 (+1.005) |
8 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1’15.858 | 1’14.741 (-1.117) | 1’15.766 (+1.025) |
9 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams | 1’15.819 | 1’15.545 (-0.274) | 1’16.528 (+0.983) |
10 | Sergio Perez | Sauber | 1’15.918 | 1’15.482 (-0.436) | |
11 | Vitaly Petrov | Renault | 1’16.378 | 1’15.815 (-0.563) | |
12 | Rubens Barrichello | Williams | 1’16.616 | 1’15.826 (-0.790) | |
13 | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber | 1’16.513 | 1’15.973 (-0.540) | |
14 | Paul di Resta | Force India | 1’16.813 | 1’16.118 (-0.695) | |
15 | Adrian Sutil | Force India | 1’16.600 | 1’16.121 (-0.479) | |
16 | Nick Heidfeld | Renault | 1’16.681 | 1’16.214 (-0.467) | |
17 | Sebastien Buemi | Toro Rosso | 1’16.358 | 1’16.300 (-0.058) | |
18 | Heikki Kovalainen | Lotus | 1’17.343 | ||
19 | Jarno Trulli | Lotus | 1’17.381 | ||
20 | Jaime Alguersuari | Toro Rosso | 1’17.820 | ||
21 | Timo Glock | Virgin | 1’17.914 | ||
22 | Jerome d’Ambrosio | Virgin | 1’18.736 |
Team mate comparisons
Compare the best times of each team’s drivers in the last part of qualifying in which they both set a time.
- Paul di Resta beat Adrian Sutil again – but only by a very small margin
- Michael Schumacher out-qualified Nico Rosberg for the first time this year
- Sergio Perez comfortably beat Kamui Kobayashi to gain a place in the final ten
Team | Driver | Lap time | Gap | Lap time | Driver | Round |
Red Bull | Sebastian Vettel | 1’13.556 | -0.463 | 1’14.019 | Mark Webber | Q3 |
McLaren | Lewis Hamilton | 1’15.280 | +1.283 | 1’13.997 | Jenson Button | Q3 |
Ferrari | Fernando Alonso | 1’14.483 | -0.394 | 1’14.877 | Felipe Massa | Q3 |
Mercedes | Michael Schumacher | 1’14.682 | -1.084 | 1’15.766 | Nico Rosberg | Q3 |
Renault | Nick Heidfeld | 1’16.214 | +0.399 | 1’15.815 | Vitaly Petrov | Q2 |
Williams | Rubens Barrichello | 1’15.826 | +0.281 | 1’15.545 | Pastor Maldonado | Q2 |
Force India | Adrian Sutil | 1’16.121 | +0.003 | 1’16.118 | Paul di Resta | Q2 |
Sauber | Kamui Kobayashi | 1’15.973 | +0.491 | 1’15.482 | Sergio Perez | Q2 |
Toro Rosso | Sebastien Buemi | 1’16.358 | -1.462 | 1’17.820 | Jaime Alguersuari | Q1 |
Lotus | Heikki Kovalainen | 1’17.343 | -0.038 | 1’17.381 | Jarno Trulli | Q1 |
Virgin | Timo Glock | 1’17.914 | -0.822 | 1’18.736 | Jerome d’Ambrosio | Q1 |
Sector times
Here are the drivers’ best times in each sector.
- The performance of the Sauber drivers is strikingly different in each sector, suggesting very different approaches
- Vettel was fastest in all three sectors
Driver | Sector 1 | Sector 2 | Sector 3 |
Sebastian Vettel | 19.162 (1) | 34.367 (1) | 20.027 (1) |
Jenson Button | 19.227 (2) | 34.622 (3) | 20.088 (2) |
Mark Webber | 19.388 (4) | 34.439 (2) | 20.192 (3) |
Fernando Alonso | 19.413 (5) | 34.691 (6) | 20.296 (5) |
Michael Schumacher | 19.483 (9) | 34.704 (7) | 20.398 (7) |
Felipe Massa | 19.430 (6) | 34.731 (8) | 20.353 (6) |
Lewis Hamilton | 19.332 (3) | 34.632 (4) | 20.243 (4) |
Nico Rosberg | 19.433 (7) | 34.652 (5) | 20.656 (10) |
Pastor Maldonado | 19.615 (11) | 35.291 (10) | 20.590 (9) |
Sergio Perez | 19.473 (8) | 35.353 (13) | 20.559 (8) |
Vitaly Petrov | 19.542 (10) | 35.324 (12) | 20.883 (16) |
Rubens Barrichello | 19.667 (13) | 35.312 (11) | 20.677 (12) |
Kamui Kobayashi | 19.765 (15) | 35.239 (9) | 20.904 (17) |
Paul di Resta | 19.852 (16) | 35.478 (14) | 20.668 (11) |
Adrian Sutil | 19.763 (14) | 35.483 (15) | 20.875 (15) |
Nick Heidfeld | 19.623 (12) | 35.517 (16) | 20.862 (14) |
Sebastien Buemi | 19.928 (17) | 35.519 (17) | 20.775 (13) |
Heikki Kovalainen | 20.391 (20) | 35.841 (19) | 21.084 (19) |
Jarno Trulli | 20.359 (19) | 35.967 (20) | 21.055 (18) |
Jaime Alguersuari | 20.134 (18) | 35.746 (18) | 21.212 (20) |
Timo Glock | 20.402 (21) | 36.092 (21) | 21.388 (22) |
Jerome d’Ambrosio | 20.792 (22) | 36.580 (22) | 21.364 (21) |
Speed trap
- Straight line speed is far less important at Monaco than at other tracks
Pos | Driver | Car | Speed (kph) | Gap |
1 | Adrian Sutil | Force India | 285.6 | |
2 | Jenson Button | McLaren | 284.7 | -0.9 |
3 | Paul di Resta | Force India | 284.3 | -1.3 |
4 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren | 284.1 | -1.5 |
5 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes | 284.1 | -1.5 |
6 | Rubens Barrichello | Williams | 283.8 | -1.8 |
7 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams | 283.7 | -1.9 |
8 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 283.5 | -2.1 |
9 | Sebastien Buemi | Toro Rosso | 283.0 | -2.6 |
10 | Vitaly Petrov | Renault | 283.0 | -2.6 |
11 | Nick Heidfeld | Renault | 282.7 | -2.9 |
12 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 282.2 | -3.4 |
13 | Jaime Alguersuari | Toro Rosso | 281.9 | -3.7 |
14 | Jarno Trulli | Lotus | 280.2 | -5.4 |
15 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull | 280.1 | -5.5 |
16 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 280.0 | -5.6 |
17 | Sergio Perez | Sauber | 279.9 | -5.7 |
18 | Heikki Kovalainen | Lotus | 279.8 | -5.8 |
19 | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber | 279.7 | -5.9 |
20 | Mark Webber | Red Bull | 278.6 | -7.0 |
21 | Timo Glock | Virgin | 277.8 | -7.8 |
22 | Jerome d’Ambrosio | Virgin | 277.7 | -7.9 |
2011 Spanish Grand Prix
Fixy (@)
28th May 2011, 20:31
Hamilton’s strategy of doing only one lap at the end of the session has been used before. Maybe in Monaco it would have been better to use another approach as crashes are frequent and red flags were possible.
lewymp4 (@lewymp4)
28th May 2011, 20:41
That’s the key point….location….location…location. Monaco wasn’t the place for his engineers and strategists to have advised a one stint stop during Q3, and Lewis shouldn’t have agreed.
Last Pope Eye
28th May 2011, 23:09
He already blamed the boys if indeed was not his idea. :)
Becken
29th May 2011, 2:35
Nope. It is not in this article, but he said:
“Engineers advise that we should do one [run] at the end of Q3 and I didn’t contest it. You always have to take a balanced view with the engineers.
“I definitely didn’t take into account – and I know they didn’t either – that in Monaco you can’t take risks in leaving it [your lap] right to the end.
It is clear that he takes the blame with his engineers about the strategic mistake.
Journeyer (@journeyer)
29th May 2011, 8:10
Not so sure. What I’m getting from him is, “Don’t look at me. I was just following orders.”
BasCB (@bascb)
28th May 2011, 23:12
Yeah, and its not even like the tyres look to be a big problem to use them in Q3 in Monaco as they are pretty durable for the race.
Olly
28th May 2011, 20:39
Bet he’s one of the first out next year !
tim_g23 (@tim_g23)
28th May 2011, 20:47
Big Hamilton fan but he needs to start taking the reign a bit more when it comes to strategy if he’s not happy with it and stop blaming the team.
Icthyes (@icthyes)
28th May 2011, 22:10
I agree with you, but cue Hamilton getting it wrong one race in ten and people saying he should listen to his engineers ;)
Patrickl
28th May 2011, 22:11
“With hindsight, we probably should have put a banker in”
How did he blame the team?
I’m pretty sure he decided himself that he was going to do only one run.
Rob
28th May 2011, 22:14
Who’s to say he didn’t make the call?
Icthyes (@icthyes)
28th May 2011, 23:08
I don’t know if you guys have BBC access but he said so in an interview. Actually, what he said was ‘I didn’t take into account and the team definitely, they clearly didn’t take into account that at Monaco you can’t take risks’
Mike (@mike)
28th May 2011, 23:44
If they want pole in front of the quicker Red Bull team they might have to…
Hind sight is great, but one run at the end has worked before this year.
JUGNU (@jugnu)
28th May 2011, 20:50
Can’t get worse for Hamilton. P7 is already too bad. And people please read Hamilton’s interview before blaming him. He clearly mentioned that he was against the one-run in Q3 but his engineers insisted that it’s the best stretegy.
“In Monaco you can’t take risks and leave it right to the end, you have to get a banker in, as everyone else did.”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/formula_one/13585309.stm
Mclaren let down Hamilton again with a very ordinary stretegy. They can’t afford to make any mistake esepcially when RBR is so strong and running away with the championship.
Hairs (@hairs)
28th May 2011, 22:18
How did McLaren let Hamilton down with a bad strategy?
Earlier on in the year he was bleating about the team wasting a set of fresh tyres doing 2 runs in Q1.
Now it’s the team’s fault that they only did 1 run.
Once again, Hamilton has his “100% foolproof hindsight visor” on after he gets out of the car. It’s amazing that visor doesn’t seem to work at all when he’s in the car, and he never seems to have any suggestions of his own. At least when Button feels the need to mention that the team might have made a balls of things, he does so to explain the result – nothing more or less. You never get the impression that he’s about to throw his toys out of the pram.
Most important, you get the impression Button thinks about what the engineers tell him, analyses it, and decided whether or not he agrees. And if he does, he say “WE” made the wrong call, not “the team” made the wrong call.
lubhz (@lubhz)
28th May 2011, 22:31
Exactly!
it’s not very polite to complain about your own team and blame them for something that went wrong.
Simon
29th May 2011, 10:05
Did you read / watch the interview Hamilton gave after the race? He said “we” should have put a banker in, as well as (paraphrased) “neither the engineers nor I took into account the risk of having just one run at Monaco”.
There was no 100% foolproof hindsight visor on, and there was no “it was the team who screwed up”.
He was, however, clearly disappointed he didn’t challenge the advise from his engineers (he said he didn’t contest it) – which is the one valid criticism you can sometimes level at him, I think.
Hairs (@hairs)
29th May 2011, 11:06
‘I didn’t take into account and the team definitely, they clearly didn’t take into account that at Monaco you can’t take risks’
That’s not the same as “we” did anything. That’s finger pointing.
Hamilton is one of the most naturally quick drivers ever, and on track he’s a master. Where he is less of a complete driver than Button, however, is that at times like that – when he should have the ability to override the engineers and call his own strategy – he doesn’t. He goes along with it, then complains about the engineers, or the team, in public afterwards.
This sort of thing is a partnership. The team don’t deliberately guess, or make a mess of things. They analysed the data and made a prediction of the best way to do things. In that, they would have been aware that burning two sets of tyres is something Hamilton would want to avoid. Lewis needs to have a clear head about what he wants to do, and when is the time for him to speak up and say “No, I want to do X instead.” Button has done it – and when it hasn’t worked for him, he’s said it was his call and his mistake.
91jb12 (@91jb12)
28th May 2011, 20:59
Also shows how Vettel had 0.5 over Webber all day (and weekend so far really)
Scabsf1
28th May 2011, 21:05
How can hammy have faster times than those in 5th 6th place in all 3 sectors yet be slower overall? I’m boggled.
Guelph35
28th May 2011, 21:25
Those sector times were in Q2 probably
Mikef117
28th May 2011, 23:10
They are best sector times so could have been set on different laps.
LHJBFTW (@lhjbftw)
28th May 2011, 23:46
His Q2 time would have got him 4th so they are probably Q2 times
Young One
28th May 2011, 21:27
He is a big man who should have done the right thing himself instead of taking dictations. While his partner and others were in their cars, he was arrogantly chilling outside his car chatting.
peto4000 (@peto4000)
28th May 2011, 21:29
After the disaster with tyres at the Malaysian GP, Lewis has been focusing on saving his tyres for the rest of this season, which is why I think he was faster than Vettel at the end of the Spanish GP. Clearly was the wrong decision today, but hindsight is a wonderful thing. If the session hadn’t been red flagged I’m sure we would have seen Lewis at least on the front row with an extra set of tyres over Vettel with everyone commending the team on such a smart strategy. It’s just what you have to accept from a high risk high reward strategy.
Prodriver
29th May 2011, 10:29
The main point is that he could save one set of tyres but making one lap at the BEGINING of the session, and not at the end. A lot of things could happen…
Damon
28th May 2011, 21:57
What’s the use in having a new set of tyres when the degradation as been fine?? Track position is vital here more than anything! I’m sick of mclaren with there stupid strategies, vettel will walk it now
Mikef117
28th May 2011, 23:15
Super-softs are worth upto 1S/lap over the soft. Trouble is there are so few places to pass at Monaco that better tyres might not be that much of an advantage.
sid_prasher (@)
28th May 2011, 21:57
To come out and put the blame on his engineers for his error is a bit unbecoming for a champion.
Icthyes (@icthyes)
28th May 2011, 22:12
So is having your team-mate give his victory up for you, or saying you will do everything to help another team win to stop someone from winning.
We only remember the things we want to in these cases.
sid_prasher (@)
28th May 2011, 22:23
How is that related?
He took a risk of doing a single run and it didn’t work out…
Icthyes (@icthyes)
28th May 2011, 23:11
You said it was unbecoming of a champion. I was pointing out other examples of champions not exactly acting in a becoming manner. I was only addressing what you’d already brought up.
bearforce1
29th May 2011, 6:28
Nice of you to agree that its unbecoming of a champion….although in a round about fashion.
Icthyes (@icthyes)
29th May 2011, 10:32
I agree blaming your engineers is unbecoming. But I never said Hamilton blamed his engineers and not himself too. Nice try.
Jake
29th May 2011, 0:26
When his engineers constantly make bad calls and expect the driver to do the impossible lewis needs to look at his role model and move teams. Are you in to win or just to get a few wins per season.
Tomorrow he should start on the softs and make them last as long as he can and hope for safety car hopefully the HRTs will fire the first solvo into the barriers and hope the track is hot is spits out the tyres.
But at the end of the day this is Monaco the worst track ever for motorsport in the modern day.
dim23 (@)
28th May 2011, 22:27
Hamilton said that he thought that he could take pole here, could he beat Vettel’s time? i seriously doubt, RedBull is still ahead in qualing.
Icthyes (@icthyes)
28th May 2011, 23:20
I think the big story here is actually that McLaren thought one run was the way to go. Nevermind that Hamilton made the wrong choice, McLaren thought it was the right choice.
They have been very strange with strategy of late, often getting the big things right and then failing on small things like undercuts. It’s costing them badly, arguably for the second race in a row. You wouldn’t expect this from McLaren.
neracer
29th May 2011, 1:02
mclaren have been making mistakes like this since whitmarsh has taken the lead of this team. a top team like this should not be making basic errors – especially at monaco where they have a good track record.
and Icthyes, yes i heard the interview and concur.
i am fuming.
sato113 (@sato113)
28th May 2011, 23:26
why is Hamilton complaining about not putting a banker lap in when he could have easily carried on when Massa pulled out of the way…!
isurujosh
28th May 2011, 23:54
in hindsight hamilton will be remembered as the most talented pair of hands behind the wheels with a pretty ordinary brain coupled alongwith
Dave Blanc
29th May 2011, 0:33
Keith – Hamilton’s time was deleted so it shouldn’t be in the table above. I think it needs to revert to Q2 times as he didn’t actually set a time in Q3.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
29th May 2011, 7:31
That’s covered in later articles:
Qualifying penalty leaves Hamilton ninth on the grid
alex
29th May 2011, 1:09
Tell him again Dave. Keith, you have to put “no time” Driving over the chicane is illegal, and if Hamilton went 2 seconds faster I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t post it up. Please Kieth.
Alex Bkk (@alex-bkk)
29th May 2011, 1:51
Well we don’t hear Button wingeing about Macca’s strategy at Monaco do we. :)
Just get on with it Lewis.
Icthyes (@icthyes)
29th May 2011, 10:28
Perhaps because they got it right with him? Why would you whinge about 2nd on the grid, that’s a strange logic there…
Alex Bkk (@alex-bkk)
29th May 2011, 11:44
Well I’m a strange kind of person, but it suggests a few things to me. In Button’s case, Macca said you aren’t going out and Button said yes I am, or they said you’re going out and he said OK.
In Ham’s case Macca said you aren’t going out and Ham said ok, or they said you’re going out and he said no I’m not.
To wit: someone made a good call and someone made a really bad call, but I have faith in Lewis. I think he’ll do fine from 9th.
On a light hearted note I think we can say logically we can say that all F1 pilots are wingers, but not all wingers are F1 pilots. :)
Alex Bkk (@alex-bkk)
29th May 2011, 11:55
Ermmm… should read as.
Alex Bkk (@alex-bkk)
29th May 2011, 11:58
Oh by the way, thanks for the link yesterday about the article Keith did last year on Monaco regarding the swimming poll course change.
Great stuff!
rols
29th May 2011, 2:15
I can’t believe McLaren never seems to learn from their mistakes, they blew quali last year by not sending drivers out to put a lap in, did it again yesterday.
One question – as Lewis now officially has ‘no time’ for Q3, do the team have a free choice of tyres for the race? Starting on the soft instead of the super soft and running a long first stint might be a way to give Lewis a chance to move up the grid.
Malibu_GP
29th May 2011, 2:31
@kevin, it’s clear to You huh? I bet You haven’t even travelled the world extensively enough to make such an assessment. I am very sick of the anti- American sentiment on certain f1 related sites. All of Us aren’t arrogant, Some of Us even hate oval racing too. Making broad, sweeping generalizations is typically reserved for bigots and fools. Which one are You? Maybe, You’re just an uncultured oaf that doesnt mind offending several hundred million people. Either way, whatever country You claim paws in comparison to My beloved Homeland! Eat it Kook!
Malibu_GP
29th May 2011, 2:33
That should be pales
VXR
29th May 2011, 9:05
Can we stop blaming McLaren and start blaming Hamilton and his engineers. You will have noticed that on the other side of the garage, they used a different strategy.
Icthyes (@icthyes)
29th May 2011, 10:36
So presumably you are full of praise for Hamilton and his engineers getting it right in Turkey and Button and his engineers getting it wrong.
Alex Bkk (@alex-bkk)
29th May 2011, 11:59
Touche!
themuscle
29th May 2011, 12:00
Another gut wrenching McLaren ERROR @ the most important point in the 2011 championship which most likely will have cost them – Hamilton – the DC just as the Monza Hamilton mistake 2010 did! What a gut-grinding awful weekend – – – for me!;-)