2016 Monaco Grand Prix grid

2016 Monaco Grand Prix

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Row 11. Daniel Ricciardo 1’13.622
Red Bull
2. Nico Rosberg 1’13.791
Mercedes
Row 23. Lewis Hamilton 1’13.942
Mercedes
4. Sebastian Vettel 1’14.552
Ferrari
Row 35. Nico Hulkenberg 1’14.726
Force India
6. Carlos Sainz Jnr 1’14.749
Toro Rosso
Row 47. Sergio Perez 1’14.902
Force India
8. Daniil Kvyat 1’15.273
Toro Rosso
Row 59. Fernando Alonso 1’15.363
McLaren
10. Valtteri Bottas 1’15.273
Williams
Row 611. Kimi Raikkonen* 1’14.732
Ferrari
12. Esteban Gutierrez 1’15.293
Haas
Row 713. Jenson Button 1’15.352
McLaren
14. Felipe Massa 1’15.385
Williams
Row 815. Romain Grosjean 1’15.571
Haas
16. Kevin Magnussen 1’16.058
Renault
Row 917. Marcus Ericsson 1’16.299
Sauber
18. Jolyon Palmer 1’16.586
Renault
Row 1019. Rio Haryanto 1’17.295
Manor
20. Pascal Wehrlein 1’17.452
Manor
Row 1121. Felipe Nasr No time
Sauber
22. Max Verstappen** 1’22.467
Red Bull

*Five-place penalty for gearbox change
**Starting from the pits

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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42 comments on “2016 Monaco Grand Prix grid”

  1. I was a little bit nervous since I wanted him to take the pole but he looked dragged. I can relax now. What a lap.

  2. Adam (@rocketpanda)
    28th May 2016, 14:15

    Oh my god yes! Go Ricciardo! I love that man!

    I hope to god he can hold on to victory!

  3. I believe P2 was the place to be if Ricciardo took pole. Surely the difference between the super soft and the ultra soft will be visible at the start where Rosberg will outdrag the Renault.

    1. Ricciardo is better than Rosberg. Don’t underestimate him.

      1. @ultimateuzair It doesn’t really matter which driver is better, no driver makes up the difference between two tyres on his own.

        1. Unless, of course, it’s Alonso and his 6 tenths. I mean, obviously :P

    2. This is Monaco though and Rosberg will have to be perfect and lucky to beat him through turn 1.

      1. Rosberg – Luck: Check!

    3. I think the bigger concern for his tyres has got to be the rain. If it rains lightly, he’ll struggle to keep temperature (I think) more so than the guys on the Ultra softs. But, if he’s got track position it’ll likely not hurt that much anyway.

  4. Yes Ricciardo! What a sensational lap!

  5. Great lap. Starting on supersoft though means he will get done by the undercut so will have to overtake 3 cars at the end of the race barring crashes, reliability or weather. If it is 1 stop for all he may end up 4th.

    1. It should not work like that. The other 9 from top 10 will pit much earlier, getting tangled with the cars in 11-20 on (probably) SS and losing time. RIC can go on undisturbed and pit in synchrony with the soft starters.

      1. Ultra soft may go to lap 15 or 20. With faster cars on faster tyres the Mercs and Vettel should be a pit stop in front of whoever starts p11 on harder tyres so I think it stands that in a dry race he will have to overtake at best 1 Merc at worst Vettel and both Mercs. I really think in a dry race he will come 4th. I will tell you this time tomorrow as so much can and likely will happen tomorrow.

    2. It’s going to rain so all bets based on tyre strategy are off.

  6. How many ladders has Hamilton walked under?

    1. I think it happened only once, while he was unsuccessfully trying to uncross a black cat and ended up breaking a dozen of mirrors.

      1. Maybe he broke a few mirrors when he hit the 3 parked cars in his Zonda..lol

      2. That happended on May 13th 2016, which was FRIDAY.

        1. Dun dun duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuun.

  7. Great qualy, glad Dan finally has a pole. Rosberg, Hamilton, Toro Rossos and Hulk all drove great laps.

  8. Hamilton to get better traction off the clean side, Rosberg to close the door on him at St Devote, both retire, Ricciardo wins the race, Ferrari finish 2-3, Alonso drags his car to fifth after a race of attrition, and we got a season on our hands.

    1. Nope. Vettel will jump Lewis. Lewis collide with wrong Nico. RIC, VET, SAI for podium.

    2. And a cheeky P4 for Hülkenberg after a couple of bad races, I could live with that.

  9. That is one of the finest laps i have seen around Monaco in the recent years, Well done Daniel ! As for Ferrari it becomes critical now to solve the saturday issue, the car seems to work fine in the morning but struggles in the afternoon. As for Mercedes i’m just wondering what’s the point from all that mileage and reliability in testing if Hamilton is facing all these reliability issues.

  10. It’s hard to say the Renault upgrade brought Ricciardo this pole, Mercedes was still quicker in the first two sectors, Red Bull chassis shined in the last and of course Ricciardo’s talent also shined throughout this qualy.

    I’m still confused at how starting on the Supersoft tyres an advantage for Ricciardo, the Sky commentary team seemed quite passionate about that strategy. I think on the Supersofts, Ricciardo is more exposed to being jumped at the start by cars on faster tyres, with 3 fast cars behind him it’s going to be quite a hard job getting out of the first corner still leading. In Monaco where track position is king, I think starting on the fastest tyre possible should be the optimum strategy.

    Are Red Bull thinking an Ultrasofts-Supersofts cannot make it until the end? That’s going to be a tough gamble because the others are quite adamant that they can make a 1-stopper possible.

    And keep in mind rain is expected tomorrow. If the rain comes early everyone will have to pit to change to Inters/Wet and all that sacrifices starting on the Supersofts will be for nothing. Sure if the rain comes later it will benefit him but when you’re starting Monaco on pole you don’t want to play this kind of 50-50 gamble.

    1. Hamilton sounds like a whining birch in post conferences. Everyone knows he’s had bad luck with reliability but if he’d act like a man and not a spoiled brat he’d be a lot more likeable. In 2014 I hated Rosberg but after Hamiltons podium antics last year in Monaco and his poor me attitude this year I don’t mind Rosberg beating his ass.

      1. And you would just laugh and joke if your kept being undermined? I don’t think so. He has a right to be upset. This is unacceptable situation.

      2. Personally I think something is wrong with you mate
        So you expect hamilton to be happy ?

      3. He looked disappointed, but what did you expect? He behaved with dignity and congratulated Dan and Nico.

        What is it you want from him, exactly?

    2. Even if he gets jumped at the start, he will have clear track (unlike nobody else) after the first pit stop. Just hang on until then in 2nd or 3rd.

      Of course, if the race is dry.

      1. The first US stop round, I mean.

    3. In Monaco, to 1st turn is so short that softer tyre’s starting advantage is not that large. I expect both Nico and Hamilton would be cautious at the start right after the catastrophic crash.

      1. It is still, however, possible to jump the cars in front of you if you have a nice start and faster tyres. Look at how Kimi jumped both Alonso and Ricciardo at the start of Monaco 2014 to go from 6th to 4th, Rosberg is more than positioned to do the same kind of jump tomorrow on Ricciardo.

        And once a Mercedes on Ultrasoft has clear-air, it’s going to be tough to keep up with it, especially when you are distracted by the other cars on faster tyres behind trying to pass you.

        I think when you are on pole in Monaco your strategy is simple, mirror whatever your opponents do and use the nature of the track to defend. The undercut is not that effective here due to the traffic and short lap, so Red Bull can afford to wait and see whatever the Mercs are doing and do the exact same thing.

        1. Stacting on supersoft means he cannot mirror the cars behind as supersoft should just about do the race if they pit lap15 or 20 but all those laps on ultra soft no way, so he risks getting undercut unless he goes straight to soft tyre.

      2. We saw Sirotkin get jumped by Nato in GP2 in Friday it’s not out of the question…..hopefully Ricciardo can hang on.

        Forecast is looking wet though, so who knows what’s in store?

  11. Eric Boullier did you see those McLaren’s fly with that super duper dope chassis.

    1. Not hating on McLaren BTW just mad at Eric for getting my hopes up.

  12. I don’t like these ultra soft tyres. They were sold to us as being like qualifying tyres, yet they take an extra lap to warm up. Heck, even Hamilton managed to do umpteen laps and still set a half way competitive time.

    I expected the ultra softs to pretty much fall apart after one hard lap, and that the drivers would literally have to babysit them round one warmup lap to make them last for the flying lap. What we got was quite the opposite.

    They seem too robust.

    1. It’s Monaco. If it was a normal track they were gonna fall apart easily. That is why Pirelli brought them for Monaco and not in Spain for example.

  13. @ducpham2708 about the Renault update, during Wednesdays drivers conference, Max was asked about about the ‘half a second per lap’ improvement it brings Nicos shock and astonishment was quite visible and hilarious, worth a look https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKQrpP2SPsE

  14. I predicted Mercedes time right… but here comes RICIARDO! :D Stonking lap for amazing fastest lap ever.

  15. Ric should hold everyone up so when they pit they fall back into traffic. Then Ric goes flatout doing as many laps as his harder tyres allow.

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