In the round-up: Button calls for changes to the run-off at the Nouvelle chicane.
Links
Top F1 links from the past 24 hours:
Jenson Button hits out at safety following Sergio Perez’s horrific crash (Daily Telegraph)
“It’s downhill, it’s bumpy, you lock the rear wheels and you’re in the sidewall. You then lose wheels, which loses the braking and you’re running on the car’s belly. You’re a sled and the car always aims straight for the barrier. You come off the wall and it pushes you in that direction.”
Nico Rosberg Q&A: I’m quick enough to improve in the race (F1)
“The corner is indeed very dangerous, probably the most dangerous spot of the whole track. There is a huge bump and you jump full throttle into the braking zone and that holds quite a few risks. But in the end it was always like that. And I have to say that in my case it was my mistake, as I pushed too early on cold tyres. In the case of Sergio it seems that the track in his situation was probably a bit dangerous.”
Alonso: Extreme aero a crash factor (Autosport)
“It is the nature of the circuit that maybe you lose the aerodynamics there, because of the way it goes around the circuit. It is a combination of many things – the poor grip that we have with the new rules and this year, the aerodynamics of the car that are for sure going for an extreme way of developing the car with the blown diffuser and exhausts. That is the way it is unfortunately.”
McLaren qualifying strategy dismays Lewis Hamilton (BBC)
“When we did go out Massa held me up on my lap. He was in the middle of turn three into turn four and I lost a lap basically. When I went past him, I put my hand up like ‘what the hell is he doing?'”
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Comment of the day
How different it might have been for Hamilton, muses peto4000:
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.
peto4000
From the forum
The Tecpro vs tyre barriers debate re-opens.
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to Chris and Hughes!
On this day in F1
Stirling Moss gave Lotus their first win in the Monaco Grand Prix on this day in 1960.
Polishboy808 (@polishboy808)
29th May 2011, 0:09
Of course Massa blocked you Lewis, of course he did….
fordsrule (@fordsrule)
29th May 2011, 0:52
Well he did, of course he did…
rci 808
29th May 2011, 1:08
lmao! by now the whole grid must have blocked him!
XeNoNTeK
29th May 2011, 3:16
It was obvious to see he did.
Lee
29th May 2011, 10:12
Lewis demonstrates how much of a pratt he is yet again, he couldnt even set a half decent lap time without cutting the chicane.
Broxter (@)
29th May 2011, 11:19
*facepalm*
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
29th May 2011, 12:56
Well it doesn’t help him that the session was red flagged, does it?
Icthyes (@icthyes)
29th May 2011, 10:13
Someone suggested Ferrari sent him out at that exact moment because they knew he would interfere with Hamilton’s lap. I wouldn’t put it past them! They would have known Hamilton was coming by and there was no point in sending him out just to have to move out of the way.
Anyway, the lack of a penalty means Hamilton will be on the better side of the grid, so all’s well.
Fixy (@)
29th May 2011, 10:58
I didn’t see it! If someone has a video link…
Snow Donkey (@snow-donkey)
29th May 2011, 15:57
All this whining looks quite silly now that he spent the race barging into people…
Jake
29th May 2011, 0:29
Jenson if by modification replaced with a track that allows actual racing I agree sir.
Calum (@calum)
29th May 2011, 0:38
Found this, some will have probably seen it before, none the less it’s quite an iteresting video of Lewis and Jenson visiting the Mclaren private collection hanger – look at all the MP4-Xs stacked up! I’d love to visit that place! I’d be have a similar reaction to Lewis when he’s sitting in the most succesful of all F1 cars, the MP4-4!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhtGBFB-Fl4&feature=related
ivz (@ivz)
29th May 2011, 0:47
Its simple, they come up with some basic rules that forces the teams to make very simple basic front and rear wings that give hardly any down force like in the 1970’s/80’s (this will also make the cars look much better!). Also bigger wider tyres. Then you will have much more mechanical grip. This will help when the cars start to lost control at high speed. They are so aero dependent that once they get out of shape there is no control, they are off the track. Back in the old days it used to be so much about engine development, and chassis set up……..now its about who can build the best upside down aeroplane!
newnhamlea1
29th May 2011, 0:56
The teams would never agree, and neither would I. Anyway, if it where that simple it would have been done long ago. As much as I dislike seeing incidents like that, In my opinon its part of the thrill of motorsport. My opinion can be summarised by a quote from TT3D, admittedly its about bikes, but the point still stands. “You can’t love the death, you can’t love the loss, but you can’t love the excitement and the thrill without knowing that that’s part of it”
Icthyes (@icthyes)
29th May 2011, 10:15
Funnily enough the teams have agreed something similar in place of the radical 2013 rules. Not nearly as radical as ivz’s suggestion, but a step in the right direction.
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
29th May 2011, 2:49
Modifications to the Novelle Chicane would actually be pretty easy – just leave out the barrier that Perez hit. You’d have to protect the end of the armco, but if the street running parallel to the straight between Nouvelle and Tabac was used as run-off, the whole thing would be a lot safer.
damonsmedley (@damonsmedley)
29th May 2011, 7:48
At first, I was thinking that as well. Why not just remove that ‘peninsula’ of barrier out of the way completely? But I had a close look and realised the only reason that barrier exists is to protect the drivers from the trees that line that particular side of the race track. Removing the trees would be the obvious solution, but I’m not sure of their significance or age, and destroying them would probably be met with strong local opposition.
I think the only solution is to improve the existing barrier. They have the right idea; a few layers of Tec-Pro barrier separated by a few soft supports positioned in between to soften the impact. But they should perhaps also put a tyre wall behind all of that, because Perez hit with so much force that the Tec-Pro barrier was pushed right into the armco. Maybe they could remove just one of the trees, in order to increase the run-off distance, but it’s always going to be a dangerous section.
KaIIe (@kaiie)
29th May 2011, 10:12
Easier solution: remove the chicane. Just make it flatout so drivers don’t have to brake over the bumps :P
Icthyes (@icthyes)
29th May 2011, 10:16
This is Monaco after all, where the track was changed so they could have a swimming pool, so I don’t see anything like that happening. This accident will happen again.
Mouse_Nightshirt (@mouse_nightshirt)
29th May 2011, 10:49
The peninsula is the only problem here. Yes, one solution would be to remove the trees, but the other, much simpler solution, would be to remove the escape road.
Now this sounds dangerous at first, but if you had an armco that ran at a shallow angle from earlier to the edge of where the peninsula is now, head-on impacts would be virtually eliminated. Yes it might increase speeds running on down, but the actual impacts would be severely lessened.
damonsmedley (@damonsmedley)
29th May 2011, 11:35
I like Mouse_Nightshirt’s idea. But I had an even closer look and saw most of the reason for the ‘peninsula’ being so forward, is because there is a crane behind it. If they could strategically place that somewhere else, the distance to the barrier could be increased, and then they could implement the Mouse_Nightshirt solution.
(Strange username, by the way! :P)
DVC
29th May 2011, 15:48
An easier solution would be to extend the armco from the peninsula to the RHS of the track on a gradual angle. That way you don’t risk hitting a peninsula, you just bounce off the armco like you do everywhere else. This solution also involves no actual changes to the layout.
carlos
29th May 2011, 3:19
the only way Massa would be able to please Hamilton is for him to “fly away” when your Lordship comes down the pike. Today Massa got out of the way as much as possible in a tight circuit.
SouthPawRacer [Stealthman]
29th May 2011, 3:36
Interesting to see that Button still plans to park his car in the wrong place and run down the straight if he wins… :)
Bob
29th May 2011, 3:48
He tends to park his car in the wrong places, too
PieLighter
29th May 2011, 6:01
China 2011!
Icthyes (@icthyes)
29th May 2011, 8:40
The standard of COTDs lately have been very good, keep it up guys.
I agree with Jenson, something really needs to be done. I think Rosberg said it could be moved back 50 metres so maybe they should to that, perhaps they will mean they can brake later and so they won’t have to brake at the point when the circuit falls away from them.
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
29th May 2011, 12:59
It’s such a dangerous area. After this weekend it does definitely need a re-think.
Oliver
29th May 2011, 10:11
I think Ferrari knew Hamilton was the real threat to Alonso maybe getting pole, so the sent Massa out to do just enough to disrupt his run without appearing to obstruct.
Massa knew he was on a fast lap, and there were better ways of giving a driver room especially when you are on an out lap.
Fixy (@)
29th May 2011, 11:05
Massa was out before, their meeting musta have been a coincidence. And I doubt Massa would hate Hamilton so much to do him such.
Oliver
29th May 2011, 11:46
How do the teams know when to pit a driver so he comes out in ope air?
Don’t forget Hamilton was already approaching the pit straight when Massa was snet back out.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
29th May 2011, 11:57
They keep an eye on the timing screens and use the ‘Pit lane time loss’ figure to work out where their driver should rejoin the track assuming he has a normal pit stop.
You can find the ‘Pit lane time loss’ for all the tracks on the F1 circuits page:
F1 Circuits
It’s quoted as 21 seconds at Monaco, but it’s worth keeping a close eye on the timing screens during the race to work out a more exact figure:
Monte-Carlo – circuit information
Hairs (@hairs)
29th May 2011, 19:05
That’s a fantastic video of the 1960 race there.
You know what one of the best things is? Different camera angles! When you’ve seen the same shots of the same parts of the track (with the same inexplicable gaps in coverage) for decades, that video is lovely and fresh – you see tired parts of the circuit completely differently.
Nice one, director, nice one.