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‘We missed a big opportunity’ says frustrated Ricciardo after P9 Monaco finish

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A botched pit stop cost him victory at the 2016 Monaco Grand Prix – and it was pit problems that once again left Daniel Ricciardo dismayed at the 2019 running of the race, after his Renault team’s decision to box him under the Safety Car on Lap 11 ended up costing the Australian a shot at fifth place.

Starting the race in P6, Ricciardo had targeted getting ahead of Kevin Magnussen’s fifth-placed Haas off the line, which he duly did, sweeping around the outside of the Dane at Sainte Devote to slot into P5 behind the Ferrari of his old team mate Sebastian Vettel.

But when the Safety Car was pulled 10 laps later, both Ricciardo and Magnussen were boxed and left to re-join in 13th and 14th, while Pierre Gasly, Carlos Sainz, Daniil Kvyat and Alex Albon continued to lap in P5, P6, P7 and P8 – the positions that all four drivers would eventually finish the race in, as Ricciardo came home in P9. And come the end of the Grand Prix, the Australian was on the hunt for explanations from his team about the thinking behind their pit stop strategy.

“I got out of Turn 1 in fifth and I was smiling and the team gave me a bit of love after that,” said Ricciardo. “Then we got a late call on the Safety Car to box, and to be honest as soon as we came in, my gut feeling was that it wasn’t the right call, because the tyres were fine and we had the pace.

“Here it’s all about track position and giving up so much so early just felt wrong. So, disappointing. We missed a very big opportunity today to get a fifth, at the very worst a sixth. So yeah, sit down with the guys now and understand it, but yeah, certainly frustrated… We could have had a real big result today.”

Having eventually worked his way to 10th place by Lap 48, Ricciardo then picked up his pace in the final laps, having been told that the Haas of Romain Grosjean ahead of him had a five-second time penalty. Ricciardo duly set his fastest lap on the 78th of 78 laps – and the fourth fastest of the race overall – to secure the net ninth place by just 0.14s. But that, if anything, just made him angrier…

“That’s as well the frustration,” he said. “I think we had a pretty good car in the race – 50 something laps on the mediums and on the very last lap of the race I did my personal best. That just jumped me in front of Grosjean because I heard he had a penalty, so I had a few laps at the end to put everything into it and we had that pace to show. We were definitely better than ninth.”

On the bright side, Ricciardo’s result in Monaco means he scores his second points finish of the season. But for a driver who thought he’d got all his bad luck in Monaco out of his system in 2016, that will likely be scant consolation.

 

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I have said it many times over the years, the FIA need to appoint stewards that are the same people for EVERY race. I have always felt that some stewards are biased toward "some" drivers (Of cour

F1 needs a Friday program including testing or the race tracks are going to lose a lot of ticket sales.  As a TV viewer, I find the Friday practice sessions quite enjoyable.   On par with the rest of

WILLIAMS CONFIRM SIROTKIN TO RACE AND KUBICA RESERVE Russian rookie Sergey Sirotkin will race for Williams this season after being chosen ahead of Polish rival Robert Kubica on Tuesday in wh

Norris happy to play the team game to help McLaren score big with Sainz

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Carlos Sainz may have enjoyed the glory of extending McLaren’s advantage in the race for fourth place in the constructors’ championship in Monaco – but the Spaniard owes a debt of gratitude to team mate Lando Norris for helping him secure a top-six finish.

A Safety Car on lap 10 triggered pit stops for the whole top six. But while the first four cars were able to pit and stay at the head of the field (albeit in a changed order), Daniel Ricciardo and Kevin Magnussen – who were running fifth and sixth - dropped down the pack, promoting Sainz up to sixth.

Norris, meanwhile, who like his team mate stayed out, was promoted to tenth, but he subsequently struggled for pace, in the process enabling Sainz to build a gap that allowed him to pit and emerge ahead of those who might have otherwise challenged him for position.

“The whole race we didn’t have the best pace to be honest,” said rookie Norris, who ended up finishing 11th, just behind Ricciardo on track.

“I grained the fronts on the first lap of the race just with being behind so many people and being on the harder tyre, not being able to turn it on as well as the top teams, the faster teams. It compromised me a lot in the first stint, and therefore I didn’t have a lot of pace. I think in the car we had a decent amount of pace but just the graining limited us a lot.

“At the point we knew where I couldn’t do anything special it was turned more into a team game and I had to try and help Carlos and the team try and get a better result rather than just focusing on my own race.

“So that made it a bit more difficult, but I still did the best I could and at the end of the day if I didn’t make one or two mistake that I did, maybe a P10 was possible for myself but not much more.”

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While the call was a reaction to how the start of the race panned out, Norris paid tribute to McLaren’s planning and and execution as they informed him of how he could help Sainz.

“They told me what I needed to focus on lap time-wise. Obviously trying to look after my tyres at the same time which cost a bit of pace, but they told me what I needed to do and I did that and allowed him to box cleanly ahead of me.

“If I didn’t do that I think he probably would have been passed by the Toro Rossos because they were quite a bit quicker. So I think they did a very good job. We did our homework before the race because we thought this might happen, so we were well prepared and thankfully that got us some good points.”

And the young British driver insists he was happy to play the team game, and not at all frustrated by having to sacrifice his own pace for his team mate.

“I knew I wasn’t going to do anything special or get loads of points, so I just did the job I had to do. I’m sure as a team we know what we have to do to get the best points possible. For the future, in terms of constructors’ points and money for next year and improving as a team, it was the best job we could have done.

“So I’m very happy with the job that everyone did, but the race was not me pushing flat out. I had to go a bit slower, still have the same result because I probably wouldn’t have passed anyone, I just went slower and therefore we had a good result.”

McLaren now have 30 points in 2019 – 13 more than Racing Point who are their nearest challengers in fifth.

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BRATCHES: WE LOOK FORWARD TO F1 IN AUSTIN FOR MANY YEARS

United States Grand Prix, Austin, TXNov. 18, 2012Formula 1 action and podiumPhoto: Richard Dole/DPPI904.806.0362radole@earthlink.netwww.dolephoto.com

Formula 1 expects to race the United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas for “many years to come,” F1’s managing director Sean Bratches said Tuesday, despite the track’s failed effort to secure $25-million in public money it was denied in 2018.

Bratches suggested the series remains confident in the financial security of the Texas race, “We have a great relationship with COTA and it is a highly regarded and valued part of our season. We look forward to the Grand Prix in Austin this October and for many years to come, a circuit that is loved by teams, drivers and fans.”

The Circuit of the Americas relies heavily on annual payments from the state’s Major Events Reimbursement Program to cover race expenses — including an estimated $30-million licensing fee paid to F1 — and has collected more than $150-million in public money since 2012.

The fund is typically used to help Texas host events such as the Super Bowl and the NCAA basketball Final Four, but the annual United States Grand Prix has been the biggest recipient of cash by far.

Race organizers can still apply for money for future races. The problem with the 2018 race came when organizers were late in filing a mandatory anti-human trafficking plan that is supposed to help local authorities combat prostitution around the event. That omission disqualified the application under law.

Shortly after the race last November, track President Bobby Epstein made a series of campaign donations totally nearly $100,000 to Gov. Greg Abbott, whose office runs the reimbursement program; Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who presides over the state Senate; and several lawmakers whose districts include or border the race track.

A group of lawmakers attempted to rewrite state law to allow the track to re-apply for the 2018 money, but the effort failed before the Legislature adjourned Monday until 2020.

State Rep. John Frullo, the Republican who led the effort to help the racetrack, called the race, “important not only to Austin, but the state of Texas and the United States.” Critics have called payments to the Circuit of the Americas a corporate handout. The Formula One race is one of the few events specifically designated by law to be eligible for millions of dollars from the reimbursement program.

“This case highlights the vast difference between the special treatment offered a high-profile project and its wealthy owner compared to the obstacles the state puts between lower-income folks and the health care and other benefits they are fully entitled to receive,” said Dick Lavine of the Center for Public Policy Priorities.

Epstein declined comment Tuesday.

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BAKU ORGANISERS CONSIDERING CHARTER FLIGHTS FOR 2020 RACE

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Azerbaijan Grand Prix organisers are considering laying on charter flights for next year’s Formula 1  race after soccer fans struggled to reach Baku for Wednesday’s Europa League final between Chelsea and Arsenal.

The lack of direct flights to Azerbaijan from Britain, where most of the 10 F1 teams are based, and the cost of the 8,000 km round trip to Baku have been highlighted in recent weeks.

“Next year, especially if we are back-to-back with any of the races, I will definitely try to organise more charter flights by ourselves and then try to sell them at cost to whoever is interested,” promoter Arif Rahimov told Reuters.

“That’s something we are really looking into, just to make it easy for all the spectators. It’s not something that we’ve done in the past but something I really want to do in the future.”

Rahimov said Britain was second after Russia for the number of F1 fans travelling to Baku, with Germany third.

The numbers are small compared to the Europa League final, with Arsenal and Chelsea each allocated what was seen as a meagre 6,000 tickets in a stadium that seats 68,700.

“We’re talking about 3-4,000 Russians and then under 1,000 from the UK. That’s just regular ticket holders, I’m not talking about everyone else – the guests, hospitality suites etc,” said Rahimov.

The promoter said the number of people travelling to Baku from London and back for the race, including the teams and everyone with Formula One, was around 3,000.

Baku, a street circuit with long straights and a twisting stretch around the old town, has 18,000 grandstand seats plus another 2,000 hospitality and VIP. A further 10-15,000 general admission tickets are sold.

This year’s grand prix was held at the end of April but Rahimov hoped for a June date next year, possibly back-to-back with Canada’s race in Montreal.

“We’re currently talking about June but there are quite a lot of obstacles in June,” he added.

“We have the Euro 2020 (European soccer championship) with four games on the 13th, 17th and 21st of June and a quarter-final on July 4.

“We can certainly not clash with the Euro2020, it will be a nightmare for the city. We will lose our fans, Euro 2020 will lose their fans. So we are kind of looking at the beginning of June right now and really hope it’s going to work out.”

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YAMAMOTO: WE LEARNED PRECIOUS LESSONS WITH MCLAREN

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If staying in Formula 1 beyond the disaster of their partnership with McLaren was to prove a point, then Honda is firmly set in the right direction after a very positive weekend for Red Bull and Toro Rosso at the Monaco Grand Prix.

The partnership between McLaren and Honda that kicked off in 2015 turned into a very public messy marriage followed by an even messier divorce, is a well-told tale.

Worth recalling is, at that point, Honda seriously considered two options: pulling the plug on their F1 programme or saving face. They thankfully opted for the latter with a (seemingly predestined) tie-up with Toro Rosso last year, preceding the current full partnership with Red Bull’s two teams.

The decision to remain is starting to pay dividends as the Japanese manufacturer were able to brag about having four cars in the top eight after a tough day on the streets of Monte-Carlo. A day earlier all four of the cars made it through to Q3 for the first time this season.

Max Verstappen finished second on the road but was demoted to fourth, while Red Bull teammate Pierre Gasly brought it home in fifth ahead of Toro Rosso duo Daniil Kvyat and Alex Albon in seventh and eighth respectively.

Who would have put money on that happening last year this time?

Speaking to Speedweek after the race in Monte-Carlo, Honda racing director Masashi Yamamoto points to lessons learned during their fractious with their former partners, “What we went through with McLaren was a precious lesson and we learned a lot from it and has brought us to where we are today.

“We learned that the most important thing is to work together as a team. And continuing to celebrate small victories as steps forward.”

Honda have been the unsung heroes of the season thus far and although they are still several tenths shy of the fully-blown Mercedes, the Japanese power unit package is now reliable and increasingly fast.

So much so that they have taken a step ahead of Renault in the PU pecking order and when combined with the RB15 chassis they have a car with podiums in it.

Honda’s development was always the ace in the pack for Red Bull, resources in Sakura are immense for this project which is backed by a relentless commitment from both parties.

After the weekend in Monaco, Toyoharu Tanabe indicated that updates will keep rolling out of the factory, “Now, we take a break from Europe and head to Montreal. The track there is very different to this one, so we will be working hard on our PU development before going to Canada.”

Meanwhile, Yamamoto has reason to be optimistic but remains realistic, “It will be tough to catch Mercedes, but, if we stay on this path, one day we will be able to fight them. We will continue to work in that direction.”

Honda have an illustrious history in Formula 1 as an engine builder with 72 Grand Prix victories as well as the power behind six F1 constructors’ world titles and five drivers’ championships.

These are relatively lean years, But Yamamoto sees the bigger picture, “Motorsport is all about winning and losing, in that sense it is probably 50 percent pressure and 50 percent fun. We need to make progress with Honda according to our plan. F1 is the best stage to tackle this challenge.”

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ITALIAN MEDIA: THE F1 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP IS ALREADY OVER

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In the wake of Ferrari’s hugely disappointing start to the season, Italian media are resigned to this edition of the Formula 1 World Championship being already lost to their ‘national’ team, finding little comfort in Sebastian Vettel’s second place at Monaco ending the record-breaking one-two streak by Mercedes.

Nevertheless, Lewis Hamilton won in Monaco, while Vettel scored a fortuitous second place thanks to a close encounter between Max Verstappen and Valtteri Bottas.

Charles Leclerc had a miserable home race, classified last his race was compromised a day earlier when the team inexplicably erred in qualifying and doomed him the 16th on the grid.

In the race he was an accident looking for a place to happen, invariably he tangled with a rival, punctured a tyre, then wrecked much of his floorboard as he hurried back on three wheels and a tyre shredded. The damage caused led to Ferrari retiring the car on lap 16.

This is what a selection of Italian media had to say after the Monaco Grand Prix:

La Gazzetta Dello Sport: “Sebastian Vettel’s second place is the best result of the season for Ferrari. On the other hand, Charles Leclerc gave a good show at the start before leaving the stage.”

La Repubblica: “For Ferrari, who were broken after qualifying, at least there was consolation with Sebastian Vettel’s podium.  The German did what he could with a Ferrari not yet ready to take on Mercedes, it was an unexpected second place.”

“Poor Charles Leclerc, who started almost from Nice, could do nothing on a track as narrow as Monaco but he came up with two crazy overtakes, which nobody else dared to do. Applause.”

Corriere della Sera: “Sebastian Vettel did well, but Ferrari must now bet everything on Charles Leclerc. The Monaco Grand Prix revealed one thing: Charles has class and innate courage, now Mattia Binotto must favour him. The F1 World Championship is already over, what remains are boring stories.”

“Ferrari must strategise and plan for the future, short and long term. Time to trust in Leclerc’s desire, sensitivity, class and anger. If Binotto does his part, who knows if victories won’t beckon or at least interrupt the Mercedes dictatorship.

La Stampa: “Something changed: in Monaco, it wasn’t another Mercedes double! A bit of a morale boost for those in red for the rest of the championship.”

Il Giornale: “Lewis Hamilton wins, Sebastian Vettel is second thanks to Max Verstappen, disastrous race for Charles Leclerc.”

And finally, Ferrari insider Leo Turrini wrote in his Profondo Rosso blog: “We have again witnessed a silver triumph and one which was largely preventable. What I did not expect took place on Saturday, a Saturday of ordinary madness.”

“I don’t know where they all were while Leclerc asked if they were sure they were right to keep him in the pits while ALL the others improved and thus putting him at risk of elimination, I really don’t know. Where were the strategists, where was even his track engineer who is certainly no newbie?”

“To me, Ferrari is increasingly a team in disarray, now they also seem completely lost: they say they have understood the problem with the car but they don’t know how to fix it. Well, well, but not very well, if they don’t understand it who should?”

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FIAT CHRYSLER AND RENAULT PURSUE $35-BILLION MERGER

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Fiat Chrysler pitched a finely balanced merger of equals to Renault on Monday to tackle the costs of far-reaching technological and regulatory changes by creating the world’s third-biggest automaker.

If it goes ahead, the $35 billion-plus tie-up would alter the landscape for rivals including General Motors and Peugeot maker PSA Group, which recently held inconclusive talks with Fiat Chrysler (FCA), and could spur more deals.

Renault said it was studying the proposal from Italian-American FCA with interest, and considered it friendly.

Shares in both companies jumped more than 10 percent as investors welcomed the prospect of an enlarged business capable of producing more than 8.7 million vehicles a year and aiming for 5 billion euros ($5.6 billion) in annual savings.

It would rank third in the global auto industry behind Japan’s Toyota and Germany’s Volkswagen.

But analysts also warned of big complications, including Renault’s existing alliance with Nissan, the French state’s role as Renault’s largest shareholder and potential opposition from politicians and workers to any cutbacks.

“The market will be careful with these synergy numbers as much has been promised before and there isn’t a single merger of equals that has ever succeeded in autos,” Evercore ISI analyst Arndt Ellinghorst said.

With these sensitivities in mind, FCA proposed an all-share merger under a listed Dutch holding company. After a 2.5 billion euro dividend for existing FCA shareholders – giving a big upfront boost to the Agnelli family that controls 29% of FCA – investors in each firm would hold half of the new entity.

Both Fiat (Ferrari) and Renault have teams in Formula 1 and supply engines to customer F1 teams.

 

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Wolff anticipates 'very strong' Bottas response after setback

Valtteri Bottas in action for Mercedes at the Monaco Grand Prix

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has backed Valtteri Bottas to return “very, very strong” in the wake of his worst result of the season at the Monaco Grand Prix.

Bottas missed out on pole position to team-mate Lewis Hamilton by just 0.086s and was then overhauled through the pit phase by Max Verstappen and Sebastian Vettel.

Bottas finished fourth on the road but was promoted to the lower step of the podium due to Verstappen’s time penalty.

He nonetheless slipped 17 points behind Hamilton in what is increasingly becoming an intra-team title fight.

“Valtteri 2019 is going to get out of this stronger,” asserted Wolff.

“I think he has shown huge resilience and determination in these last races.

“His speed was mind-blowing [in qualifying] and I have no doubt that this will annoy the hell out of him and he’s going to come back strong, very very strong, in Montreal.” 

Bottas’ third spot ended Mercedes’ streak of 1-2s but Wolff emphasised that the Finn had the overall pace to stand atop the podium.

“I think he could’ve won the race,” said Wolff of Bottas.

“Max lost a position because of the penalty and because of the manoeuvre, and Valtteri lost the second place, three points more lost, and Mercedes lost the 1-2.

“But then again, from the team’s point of view we are super happy with the 1-3.

“From Valtteri’s point, he will be gutted. He had the pace this weekend. He could’ve had pole in terms of raw speed and [in the race] was, P2 was the minimum I think. He was feeling this was taken away from him.”

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Charles Leclerc paid a high price for Ferrari's mistake - Ross Brawn

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Formula 1's Ross Brawn says Ferrari's mistake on Saturday, which led to Charles Leclerc qualifying a lowly 16th, was ultimately to blame for the youngsters "impetuousness" on Sunday, which led to him retiring from his home race.

Ferrari failed to send Leclerc out for another run during qualifying's opening Q1 segment – despite Leclerc himself raising concerns over that decision – and rightly so, as he failed to make the cut and started down in 16th for his home race.

With Monaco renowned for being difficult to overtake at, Leclerc had to be aggressive and made a stunning move on Haas' Romain Grosjean to move up the order. He then tried the same move on Nico Hulkenberg and ended up hitting the wall, puncturing his right-rear and eventually retiring with severe floor damage.

Brawn reckons the move was impetuous, though understandable given his position, and says Ferrari's "slap in the face" on Saturday was ultimately the cause.

"Leclerc, for a handful of laps, was truly spectacular," said Brawn. "Then [he] went too far and paid a high price for his impetuousness. His reaction was understandable, however. It’s his home race and his first attempt at it with a front-running team. It was supposed to be a special moment but it ended only in disappointment.

"After some problems on Thursday, Saturday morning’s final practice session offered a ray of light when he topped the timesheet. But then came the slap in the face of that Q1 strategic error – which Mattia Binotto fully admitted was a team miscalculation – and he dropped all the way down to 16th, a starting position that led to him overdoing it on Sunday."

Although Ferrari scored their best result with Sebastian Vettel in second, it was still another disappointing weekend for the Italian outfit which has been plagued by strategy errors, reliability issues and an overall lack of performance.

Brawn insists however it isn't time for them to give up on the season just yet: "The season seems to be getting away from the Maranello team, but it’s not the time to give up and it must learn from its mistakes if it wants to move forward."

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Alfa Romeo regresses as strategy, clashes, accentuates poor pace

Kimi Raikkonen in action for Alfa Romeo in Monaco

Alfa Romeo slipped to the rear of Formula 1’s midfield pecking order in the wake of failing to score points again at the Monaco Grand Prix.

Alfa Romeo held fourth in the Constructors’ Championship after the second round in Bahrain but has regressed to ninth off the back of two poor displays in Spain and Monaco.

Kimi Raikkonen ran a long stint, which involved a clash with Lance Stroll, before his sole stop in Monaco and was shuffled down to 17th, while Antonio Giovinazzi was penalised for making contact with Robert Kubica and took a twice-lapped 19th.

“We didn’t expect this to be an easy weekend and unfortunately it turned out to be the case,” said Raikkonen.

“It was quite a boring race and there was nowhere to pass: we finished where we were on lap one.

“Even though I had front wing damage, some issues before and after the stop and I was hit by [Lance] Stroll, none of these things ultimately had any impact on our finishing position.

“Once you’re behind a car, you’re stuck there unless they have a massive issue – it’s just how it is in Monaco.

“We tried something different with the strategy as it made no sense to copy what those in front of us did, but in the end it didn’t make us move forward. The only thing that could have given us a chance was rain, but it didn’t come.”

Giovinazzi was given a 10-second time penalty for spinning Kubica, compounding Alfa Romeo’s lacklustre weekend.

“I lost a position to a Williams in the first corner and, even though my pace was faster, I couldn’t find a way through,” he said.

“I tried a move at Rascasse but there was not enough space for two cars, we touched and I got stuck. It was really frustrating to stay behind slower cars, it ended up to be a fairly boring race for me.”

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Pirelli reveals Canadian Grand Prix tyre decisions

Pierre Gasly in action for Red Bull

Pirelli has confirmed Formula 1 teams’ tyre choices for next weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix, with some variance among the front-runners.

Pirelli has nominated the C3, C4 and C5 compounds in order to cope with the demands placed upon the rubber by the low-energy Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

As per usual Pirelli supplies teams with one set each of the Soft, Medium and Hard tyres, with free choice available for their 10 remaining sets.

Mercedes duo Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas will have eight sets of Soft tyres available while Ferrari and Red Bull have opted for seven.

Hamilton and Bottas have minor variance in terms of available Medium and Hard tyres, while within Ferrari and Red Bull its drivers have the same compound approach.

McLaren, Racing Point and Alfa Romeo have adopted the most aggressive stance by selecting nine sets of the Soft compound.

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How 'Mister Crash' captured Monaco's defining moment

How 'Mister Crash' captured Monaco's defining moment

Fresh from capturing the Monaco Grand Prix-defining battle between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton, motorsport photographer Hasan Bratic speaks to Motorsport.com about the striking sequence of photos.

Hamilton's struggles to keep the medium tyres alive provided the 2019 Monaco Formula 1 race with a rare nail-biting battle for the lead, which culminated in the chasing Verstappen's last-gasp passing attempt at the Nouvelle Chicane on the third-to-last lap. The two cars made contact as Verstappen tried to edge alongside the Mercedes, but Hamilton remained ahead, and though the reigning champion was forced to take the escape road, the battle was decided in his favour.

Bratic, who was on hand to capture the decisive moment of the duel up close and personal, recalled: “Last year I was in exactly the same corner throughout the Monaco race. Five laps before the end I thought: 'F**k it, I'm going to the podium'. And when I had just left, [Charles] Leclerc crashed there.

“This year I said to myself: 'Whatever happens, I'll stay until the end'. Hamilton and Verstappen, and Vettel and Bottas had been close together for the whole race, so I was hoping for some action. I saw that the tyres of Hamilton were not so good anymore. Luckily Max tried it.

"You play a lot with lenses and shutter speeds when shooting. A few laps earlier I took pictures with a different lens and with a slower shutter speed. If the incident had happened at that moment, the photos would never have been so good. Luckily I had the perfect settings at the right time.”

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB15, makes contact with leader Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1 W10, in the closing stages of the race

The story of 'Mister Crash'

The Verstappen/Hamilton scrap was the latest of a fair few incidents that Bratic was in the right place at the right time for - this recent streak having earned the snapper a paddock nickname.

He said: “Since last year, my colleagues call me 'Mister Crash'. Last year I had seven or eight crashes on photo. That started at Paul Ricard with the [Marcus] Ericsson crash, in which his car caught fire. After that I was the only one with the pictures of the two Red Bulls in Baku, and I had the best pictures of Ericsson [crashing again] at Monza.

“That's how I got that nickname. Now everyone asks me in which corner I'm going to stand and they follow me.

“Monaco is special. You can't get that close to the cars anywhere. The series of the two crashing Red Bulls in Baku is my best-known series but that was taken from far away. In Monaco, I was standing with my nose on top of it. The whole series is great, I have about 30 pictures that are all sharp and good."

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB15, makes contact with leader Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1 W10, in the closing stages of the race

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB15, makes contact with leader Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1 W10, in the closing stages of the race

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB15, makes contact with leader Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1 W10, in the closing stages of the race

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB15, makes contact with leader Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1 W10, in the closing stages of the race

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB15, makes contact with leader Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1 W10, in the closing stages of the race

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB15, makes contact with leader Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1 W10, in the closing stages of the race

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB15, makes contact with leader Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1 W10, in the closing stages of the race

More amazing action photos by Bratic

Marcus Ericsson, Sauber C37 crash

Marcus Ericsson, Sauber C37 crash

Marcus Ericsson, Sauber C37 crash

Marcus Ericsson, Sauber C37 crash

Robert Kubica, Williams crash

Robert Kubica, Williams crash

Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF90 gets out of his crashed car

Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF90 gets out of his crashed car

Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari SF71H walks in after crashing out of the race

Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari SF71H walks in after crashing out of the race

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes-AMG F1 W09 stops on track and pushes his car

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes-AMG F1 W09 stops on track and pushes his car

Marcus Ericsson, Sauber C37 crashes in FP1 and catches fire

Marcus Ericsson, Sauber C37 crashes in FP1 and catches fire

Marcus Ericsson, Alfa Romeo Sauber C37 crash

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB14 and Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull Racing RB14 crash

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB14 and Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull Racing RB14 crash

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB14 and Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull Racing RB14 crash

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Norris: McLaren anticipated Monaco 'roadblock' opportunity

Norris: McLaren anticipated Monaco 'roadblock' opportunity

Lando Norris says McLaren benefitted from “doing our homework” ahead of the Monaco Formula 1 race, as the team used his car to maximise the result for teammate Carlos Sainz.
Norris dropped from 12th to 14th at the start of the Monaco Grand Prix, but was left out during the early-race safety car and thus shuffled ahead of early-stoppers Daniel Ricciardo and Kevin Magnussen.

The Briton was subsequently instructed to go long on the medium tyre and manage his pace, which created a large gap between him and the cars ahead and eventually allowed the fellow MCL34 of Sainz to pit into this gap, emerging into clean air and staying ahead of the likes of Ricciardo and Magnussen.

Sainz, who had been aided by an opening-lap double pass on the two Toro Rosso cars, went on to match McLaren's best finish of the season in sixth, while Norris ended up just out of the points in 11th.

“Today’s race I think I could have finished 10th at best but nothing more, and because of that we decided to try and get more points for Carlos and do better as a team,” Norris explained.

“They told me what I needed to focus on laptime-wise and obviously I was trying to look after my tyres at the same time, which cost a bit of pace.

“They told me what I needed to do and that allowed him [Sainz] to box cleanly ahead of me and, yeah, if they hadn’t have done that, we probably would have been passed by the Toro Rossos because they were quite a bit quicker.

“I think they did a very good job and we did our homework before the race because we thought this might happen and we were well-prepared, and thankfully that got us some good points.”

Asked if he was in effect used as a 'rolling roadblock', Norris said: “Effectively yes, but I still had to look after my own race, it wasn’t as if they literally just sacrificed me.

“I still had to do a good race and I still had a point of getting into the top 10 if anything happened, but overall we didn’t really have the pace to do a lot better at the end of the day.”

Norris said his race had been compromised early on by “one or two mistakes”, as he felt he was “pushing too much” initially and felt his set-up was “possibly not aggressive enough”, which contributed to graining on the front tyres.

The rookie said that he had no qualms about playing the “team game” in the Monaco GP.

“I knew I wasn’t going to do anything special or get loads of points so I just did the job I had to do.

“As a team, we know what we have to do to get the best points possible and for the future in terms of constructors points and money for next year and improving as a team. Today was the best job we could have done so I’m very happy with the job that everyone did.”

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Russell thought he was on course for points in Monaco

Russell thought he was on course for points in Monaco

George Russell says he and his Williams Formula 1 team thought he was on course for points at one stage in Sunday's Monaco Grand Prix.
Russell outqualified Robert Kubica, taking the penultimate slot on the grid, but fell behind his teammate on the first lap.

He then pitted for hard tyres - which meant he did not have to stop again - at the same time as the frontrunners, when the safety car was deployed after a puncture for the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc.

After Antonio Giovinazzi tagged Kubica into a spin on lap 15, Russell slipped by them both to run behind Nico Hulkenberg's Renault in a train of cars following in the wake of McLaren's Lando Norris.

Such was the slow pace of the frontrunners at this point that Russell's engineers briefly thought a points finish might be possible - before that hope evaporated as a gap created between the leaders and the rest of the pack.

"It could have turned out even better," Russell, who finished 15th, told Motorsport.com.

"One of the guys was bunching everybody up in the pack and holding us up, unfortunately, but there was one point where we thought we were going to be ahead of [Carlos] Sainz in P6.

"From my side I was really happy with the race, we weren't really fighting for anything in the final half of the race but I wanted to treat it like we were, because I've got to test myself and put it on the limit so that when the time comes and we are fighting, I know what to expect.

"I was giving it everything out there and I think the times were fairly decent."

Russell's 15th place was still an encouraging result for a team that had expected to struggle on the unforgiving street circuit.

Kubica said after practice on Thursday that Monaco's characteristics highlighted the shortcomings of Williams's troubled FW42, which proved to be "slower than we wanted, and maybe what we expected".

Russell said after the race he was delighted with Williams's performance.

"I don't want to say we overperformed but I think we maximised the job," he said. "It was great to get so many laps under my belt, really pushing my limits.

"There was one point where my engineer came on the radio and said I was lapping at the same pace as the leader."

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Hulkenberg hoping for 'fresh traction' in Canada after 'bad to worse' Monaco

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It usually takes an element of luck to score a good result in Monaco when you don’t qualify at the front, and Renault's Nico Hulkenberg believes luck deserted him on Sunday.

Hulkenberg started 11th, but dropped to 12th place in the opening laps when Ferrari's Charles Leclerc tried to pass him into Rascasse. Although Leclerc had pulled that exact move off against Romain Grosjean a lap before, he was less successful second time round as he hit the inside wall with his right rear tyre and made light contact with the German, triggering what Hulkenberg saw as a run of incidents as he immediately had to pit.

“[The pit stop] wasn’t strategy, it was because of the Charles incident, I had a puncture because of that, pitted, then on my out lap the Safety Car was deployed and it gave everyone else 10 seconds, so lost a couple of positions with that,” Hulkenberg said.

“Then there was the pile-up with Kubica, it was going from bad to worse. It went wrong where it could. Quite frustrating as I think from a car-pace point of view we should be ahead. Frustrating not to get it done if the car can do it. The racing circumstances prevent that, but we need to find new fresh traction for Canada.”

Despite the pace advantage Leclerc had in the Ferrari, Hulkenberg feels the Monegasque driver took too much of a risk in trying to overtake at the time he did.

“He came first of all from quite far back and then I didn’t leave much of a gap anyway and saw that he launched. I played fair, I opened the steering, and tried to let him some space, tried to let us both live.

“I think he spun into his own axis, he just kissed me but sliced my rear tyre open and that’s where basically it all started to go wrong. But I think he was definitely too ambitious in that moment.”

Hulkenberg was warned of Leclerc’s likely favoured place to try an overtaking move, but thinks the Ferrari driver was trying too hard to make up for a strategic error by his team in qualifying on Saturday.

“I was aware as my engineer had told me that. I could sense it coming but you’ve still got to weigh up your chances as a driver and know when it’s a real opportunity and when not. But I think he was a bit impatient and frustrated after [qualifying], but that’s Monaco, doesn’t work like that always.”

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THOUSANDS IN VIENNA HONOR RACING LEGEND NIKI LAUDA

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Family, fans and friends have gathered in Vienna for Austrian F1 star Niki Lauda’s memorial. After the service, Lauda will be buried wearing his race overalls. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Gerhard Berger gave eulogies.

Motorsports fans, F1 figures, politicians and celebrities are honoring racing legend Niki Lauda at a memorial service at St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Lauda’s hometown of Vienna.

The three-time F1 champion died on May 20 at the age of 70 in Zürich, nine months after undergoing a lung transplant.

Lauda’s closed coffin topped with a race helmet is on display in the center of the cathedral until noon local time (10:00 UTC), followed by a public Mass and a private funeral. Lauda will be buried wearing his race suit.

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Around 300 VIP guests, including Arnold Schwarzenegger and F1 world champion Lewis Hamilton, will attend Wednesday’s Mass, with space for more than 3,000 attendees open to the general public.

Schwarzenegger, who was a close friend of Lauda’s, Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen, and former Austrian F1 driver Gerhard Berger are all expected to deliver eulogies. Retired French four-time F1 champion Alain Prost, Lauda’s last teammate at McLaren in the 1980s, will read a bible verse.

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Lauda won the F1 World Drivers’ Championship in 1975, 1977 and 1984. After his second retirement from F1, in 1985, Lauda, remained a prominent figure in the paddock, including his most-recent post as the non-executive chairman of the Mercedes F1 team.

Hamilton won the Monaco Grand Prix on Sunday, wearing an imitation of Lauda’s helmet in tribute, and said after the race that Lauda’s spirit had helped carry him through.

Lauda was instrumental in convincing Hamilton to join Mercedes ready for the 2013 season, at a time when the team was struggling and did not appear a good fit for a top driver. Since major rule changes in 2014, however, the Silver Arrows have dominated, winning every drivers’ and constructors’ championship.

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Hamilton has won the drivers’ title in four of the past seasons, and said after his win in Monaco that without Lauda, he might only have the 2008 title to his name.

Lauda had suffered from permanent health problems since a near-fatal crash at Germany’s Nürburgring Nordschleife in 1976. Lauda crashed his Ferrari and was trapped in flaming wreckage for 55 seconds leaving his face permanently scarred and causing massive damage to his lungs.

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HÄKKINEN: HAMILTON DELIVERED A NIKI-STYLE PERFORMANCE

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In his latest column for Unibet, double Formula 1 World Champion Mika Hakkinen shares his views on the Monaco Grand Prix, Niki Lauda’s passing, Lewis Hamilton’s victory, Mercedes dominance, Ferrari turmoil and Max Verstappen on the attack.

Winning in Monaco is always special, but you could really sense Lewis Hamilton’s happiness when he took victory on Sunday after a tense race. He had to use all his experience to stay ahead of Max Verstappen’s Red Bull, so while this was Mercedes’ sixth consecutive win of the 2019 season there was nothing easy about it.

F1 needs heroes and Niki was one of them

In many respects this race win for Lewis resembled some of the famous victories by one of Formula 1’s most talented, analytical and tactical drivers – Niki Lauda. His loss to the sport is significant, not only as Chairman of the Mercedes F1 team, but the wisdom, experience and personality he brought to Formula 1.

It is not surprising that Niki was on everyone’s mind at the weekend, with lots of tributes being paid ahead of his funeral in Vienna this Wednesday. Every sports needs its heroes and superstars, and Niki Lauda was definitely one of them.

His last victory in Formula 1 came at the 1985 Dutch Grand Prix when he had to keep McLaren team mate Alain Prost behind him, positioning the car to defend at each corner, and then making sure he was fast enough on the quick sections.

Hamilton delivered Niki Lauda-style performance

This is exactly what Lewis had to do on Sunday in order to keep Max behind, because when the Safety Car cam out on Lap 11 and everyone stopped for tyres, Mercedes put both their cars onto the medium compound tyres. These tyres were typically only good enough to last 50 laps, but Mercedes hoped to make them last longer. They also chose this tyre in case light rain showers arrived.

In the end Lewis had to make those tyres last for 65 laps, and he was having to drive 2-3 seconds per lap slower the before. When you are faced with tyres wearing out you have to brake, steer and accelerate very conservatively, and it is not surprising that Lewis was really worried that he would be overtaken or suffer a failure.

In true Niki Lauda-style he did exactly what was needed, positioning his car in the middle of the track to defend from Verstappen, and then making sure he got the acceleration onto the two fastest parts of the track – the pit straight and the tunnel under the Fairmont Hotel. This was a mature drive, and a victory Hamilton really had to fight for.

I cannot blame Max for going for it

Monaco was another Mercedes’ track, and this will worry their competition because usually we would expect Ferrari and Red Bull to be quicker on a slower, twisty circuit like this. Lewis and Valtteri Bottas really battled for pole position, and it looks like the only Valtteri did not get pole position was that he was blocked by slower cars on his warming up lap in the final part of qualifying.

We saw another indication of Valtteri’s strength this year at the start of the race, when Max really challenged him into Turn 1 but the Mercedes defended well and held second behind Lewis. It is a real pity that Max then drove into Valtteri’s car during the pit stops, because otherwise I believe Valtteri could have held on to 2nd and helped to protect Lewis.

As things turned out the collision cost Valtteri a lot of time, as he had to return to the pits for a second pit stop, dropping him further back, behind Sebastian Vettel.

I cannot blame Max for going for it, but when a team makes an unsafe release in the pits it is up to the driver to make sure that you don’t hit anything. In some ways he was quite lucky to only have a 5-second penalty. It was fantastic to watch how hard Max was pushing Lewis during the final 20 laps of the race, with Sebastian just behind in third place and clearly waiting to see what would happen!

Max was really pushing flat out, and it was good that he tried to overtake Lewis, even if the timing of his overtaking attempt at the chicane was a little late. It kept the spectators entertained, but ultimately Lewis was always going to stay in front.

Ferrari’s day will come

Ferrari has work to do after Monaco – both the drivers made mistakes this weekend, with Sebastian crashing in practice and Charles Leclerc missing the car weighing instruction during qualifying, which contributed to him losing valuable time. The confusion in qualifying which saw Charles sit in the pits and watch his teammate knock him out of Q1 must have been painful.

I still believe Ferrari’s day will come, and that we will eventually see Sebastian and Charles win races this season, but the team really needs to pull together.

With Max pushed back to fourth place as a result of his 5-second time penalty, it was nice to see Valtteri joined Sebastian and Lewis on the podium, both of them wearing Niki Lauda-tribute helmets. I think Niki would have enjoyed that race, and I know we will all miss having him around.

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MERCEDES VIDEO: THIS IS THE STORY OF OUR NIKI

Mercedes have released a tribute video Formula 1 legend Niki Lauda on the day of his funeral in Vienna, in the 10-minute clip team members recall their times with an icon of our sport.

They wrote in the intro: “Today we say goodbye to Niki Lauda. ‬‪Niki will always be remembered as an F1 icon and as the Chairman of our team. ‬”

“‪But we’ll also remember Niki Lauda the man. This is the story of our Niki. Our team-mate. Our dear friend. ‬‪Niki, we miss you ❤”

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WILL VETTEL RETIRE FROM F1 AT THE END OF THE YEAR?

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Four-time Formula 1 World Champion and Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel is set to retire at the end of this year according to a rumour reported on by respected Formula 1 journo Joe Saward.

In the latest edition of his Business of Motorsport Newsletter, Saward wrote: “The most shocking rumour that started to spread in the paddock in Monaco is that Sebastian Vettel is considering retiring from F1 at the end of the season at the age of 31.”

“After winning four world championships with Red Bull between 2010 and 2013 he tried to bring Ferrari back to success, but he made several mistakes and is now under pressure after the arrival of Charles Leclerc, younger and apparently with more growth margin than German.”

“A choice that in some ways would follow that of Nico Rosberg, who left F1 after winning the title in 2016 aware of the fact that he would hardly succeed in the enterprise again. The big question, of course, is who would be Vettel’s successor.”

“The names that have been circulating, for now, are those of Sergio Perez, Kevin Magnussen, Romain Grosjean and Valtteri Bottas.”

The report, whether true or not, is sure to shake up the driver market and kick start a flurry of Silly Season speculation and while the drivers mentioned by Saward are probably candidates, one would expect Ferrari to make a serious bid for Lewis Hamilton.

Meanwhile, if the rumour has substance it would be fair to believe that Vettel has become disenchanted with F1 and is no fan of this era’s F1 turbo hybrid cars. Furthermore, the pressure of driving for Ferrari, making headline-grabbing mistakes and not delivering on the huge expectations could also be taking a toll on the German.

At the same time, he still has at least half a dozen good years in him, quitting now would be premature but at the same time he has achieved a great deal in the top flight and his legacy will be etched in history forever thanks to his four F1 titles.

Some F1 champions – Niki Lauda and Alain Prost spring to mind – have taken a sabbatical from the sport only to return stronger and wiser, going on to great success in the second chapter of their careers.

MIKA: I take this news with a grain of salt.... The guy gets $45 Million per year. He is 31 years old.

As for successors.... Grosjean... Highly doubt that!

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Insight: Ferrari provides a Monaco strategy lesson

Ferrari Head of Strategy Inaki Rueda

Ferrari held an unusual media briefing in Monaco as its Head of Strategy gave a presentation relating to matters that must be taken into account at the unique street circuit. Obvious sly remarks aside, Motorsport Week reports back...

Formula 1 media sessions are usually restricted to drivers, team principals, occasionally team managers or sometimes senior chassis or engine engineers. It’s extremely rare that, during a race weekend, a session is held with a strategist. And not only a session, but a lesson of sorts, one which can be viewed with a little bit of ironic hindsight given the blunder that ultimately cost the team in Monaco.

A 45-minute presentation was held with Head of Race Strategy Iñaki Rueda and Head of Track Engineering Matteo Togninalli during Monaco’s usual ‘off’ day last Friday. Rueda joined Ferrari in 2015 after previously working for Renault/Lotus, and leads a group of strategists present both at the circuit and back in Maranello. The presentation was held to specifically discuss the challenges and dangers posed by Monaco (as opposed to reviewing decisions at other races or upcoming events). “We’re going to give out forms at the end to check you were listening,” jokes Ferrari’s Press Officer Silvia Hoffer Frangipane to assembled media.

The softly-spoken Rueda discusses the strategic implications of Monaco while Togninalli explains the measures taken by teams to cope with the unique demands of the street circuit, while obviously not delving into full detail; some secrets do need to be preserved.

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Rueda in full flow in Ferrari's motorhome

Rueda, like a University lecturer, runs through the main variables teams have to consider that might upset a normal strategy. “The Safety Car is common,” he explains. “We’ve had 18 in the last 20 years, so we’re quite certain there will be one.” Ironically, it later transpires, the Safety Car was deployed – caused by a Ferrari driver. “The first thing is the pit stop loss. We usually lose around 20 seconds in the pit lane, but with the Safety Car everyone is at a reduced speed, usually 60% slower, which means instead you only lose 12 seconds. As it’s impossible to overtake in Monaco you can gain eight seconds – or lose eight seconds.” If the Safety Car appears late on, as in 2015 – or at the preceding Spanish Grand Prix – the team will “want to see if the driver can stop. In Spain nearly everybody stopped. But if you stop in Monaco you might not make that position back.” The Virtual Safety Car can also have an impact, with the biggest difference compared to the normal Safety Car being that the cars are not bunched. A race stoppage must also be considered. “We’ve had two in the last 10 years,” says Rueda, while pointing to the halted Formula 2 race earlier the same day. “The regulations are different to Formula 2. If they have a red flag they have to pit again [if a driver has not stopped]. If we have a red flag, we do not have to do a pit stop. Our regulations do not say we have to do a pit stop, just that we have to run two compounds. And we can change compounds under the red flag. If you get very lucky, and you have not stopped yet, and there is a red flag, you are very lucky!”

Teams will also push the fuel limits as much as possible at any race – running as light as possible (also helping tyre wear) – but this is exaggerated in Monaco due to the ability to maintain track position at a slow pace. “You can do a lot of fuel saving without being overtaken,” explains Rueda. “And also we know with a Safety Car that you burn usually 30-40% less fuel than under normal racing conditions. If you believe that there will be five laps under the Safety Car you might be able to put in three laps less of fuel.” As it transpired, the Safety Car was out for four laps. Not a bad estimation.

This is all fairly expected stuff so far. Where it gets interesting is the discussion surrounding overcuts and undercuts, with Monaco 2017 – where Ferrari scored a 1-2 but with its drivers swapping (not the intention, it still stresses) through the pit stop phase – used as a template. Teams often deploy the undercut in order to benefit from fresher rubber to jump a rival. But at low-energy circuits the mould can be different. Low-energy circuits are classed as those at which it is difficult to get tyres up to, or maintaining, temperature and working range, ostensibly due to the absence of high-speed corners that feature lateral energy. At the low-energy Baku passing is straightforward so track position is less of an issue. But at the low-energy Monaco nailing the strategy is crucial. Monaco’s short lap and low average speed means getting tyres both up to temperature and in the right operating window is a major challenge, and it can define a race. Rueda gets out a graph.

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How tyre performance varies over time, with Rueda pointing to the unusual low-energy circuit trait

“Here you have a graphic of a tyre mould,” he explains.

“You have the Soft tyre, in red, and on the x-axis you have number of laps, and the y-axis how slow it is. So the first lap of this tyre is as fast as you will get, after that you will lose pace, every lap after you will go slower. On lap 10 this tyre will be around one second slower [than on lap one]. Say the Medium, it starts being slower and ends up being faster. For both of them on the first lap the Soft is 1.2s quicker than the Medium, but by lap 14 the Medum is faster than the Soft. You see those two inflection points, one is for the Soft going slower, this kind of kink is very unusual. We only see it in places where we suffer difficult warm-up, it takes you a few laps to get working properly. So in a race let’s say you start on Soft and eventually put on Mediums, now this Medium has zero laps on it. So okay on lap 12 of the race if you stop there for Mediums, there will be one or two laps in which the Medium is slower than the Soft, a very short moment, and you might be able to capitalise, and it’s this small window where the overcut might happen.”

It is what happened in 2017 – and again, graph time.

“So this is Monaco 2017, Lap 32,” says Rueda, pointing to a screen that has a driver tracker with all participants registered. “The race order is Kimi, Seb, Bottas, Verstappen, Ricciardo. Whoever stops first will start the chain reaction. These are some of the tools we use for race strategy. We have the GPS map, F1 provides the service, what F1 does not provide is pit stop tails.”

A ‘pit stop tail’ is a graphic attached to each driver’s name and gives an indication as to where on track they will re-join in the event of a stop. “Kimi has a tail that goes from here to here,” Rueda points out. “This means if Kimi stops, he will come out in front of Sainz. But at this stage Bottas would emerge behind Sainz. We have a gap of variability in the event of a slow or fast stop, so if it takes three or so seconds we can see Kimi will still be ahead of Sainz.”

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Rueda points to the pit stop tail attached to Raikkonen's name (see also the main article image)

With Verstappen close to Bottas, Red Bull pulls the pin by attempting an undercut in the battle for third.

“Bottas will have to stop otherwise he gets undercut,” explains Rueda. “You can see the tail closing, and the next lap Verstappen will be within that tail. This is the most normal way of doing race strategy. Bottas reacts. And our race engineers tell our drivers this. We know we will have to react to Bottas. So Kimi gets called in. And comes in. Now this is something that is quite peculiar. If you looked at the pit stop tail before it was quite tight. Kimi, if he stops now, comes way ahead of Bottas, so in theory we can keep him out, as Bottas will not close that gap so soon, but here we have a nice problem to have. You have two cars leading the race. This means you need to build some margin, the second car will lose 3-4 seconds if we have to pit on the same lap. In this case we need to stop Kimi this lap so we make sure Seb can pit next time around if Bottas starts going quickly. Kimi comes out ahead of Bottas. So far so good.”

But, there is a complication. Ricciardo has also stayed out. And the overcut transpires to be faster.

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Uncertainty and Overcuts are the two main issues discussed by Rueda

“[Seb and Ricciardo are] the two cars that now will try and make the overcut work. The two cars do not have a threat from behind so they can try and make it work. Kimi is on Medium tyres, so there will be a window of opportunity in which the cars that stayed out can overcut those who have pitted. The tail of Ricciardo is edging over Bottas and Verstappen already, and at the same time Sebastian is setting purple sectors, so it’s looking very good. So now there’s two points here. One is that Sebastian is setting purple sectors, so the overcut is working nicely, the guys with the Medium tyres are struggling to warm them up and those on Softs are still going fast. The second point we have to play as a team is we’ve got Ricciardo behind who has not stopped. If we stop this lap with Sebastian, and Ricciardo does not stop, Sebastian will come out just in front of Kimi, still P1-2 effectively. But if there is a Safety Car a lap after then Ricciardo will fall in front of us and we will not win the race. So Sebastian cannot stop before Ricciardo, else we risk to give the win to Red Bull. As you can see Ricciardo has overcut both Bottas and Verstappen, his tail is way ahead, and Sebastian is still purple, so there is no point for him to stop. At some point Ricciardo will start seeing he has nothing more to gain and eventually Bottas and Verstappen will start closing that tail. So Ricciardo stops. And now with Sebastian we have no reason not to stop. He gets told ‘engine 1’ and that was the code to stop. And because of that small window he comes out very, very close to Kimi, and he overcuts Kimi. Eventually Seb comes out ahead. It happens at very few tracks. But this is where it can happen.”

As it turned out in 2019 the win battle was not decided by either the overcut or undercut as the Leclerc-instigated Safety Car meant the front-runners stopped on the same lap. But further down the order the likes of Pierre Gasly and Carlos Sainz Jr. profited as their respective teams used the overcut to jump Ricciardo and Kevin Magnussen, who became mired in yet-to-stop traffic.

That’s the strategic element of Monaco but how does a team approach the weekend as a whole compared to other events?

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Togninalli discusses how a team approaches Monaco

Togninalli takes to the stage.

“The average speed of the lap is in the order of 160kph, to give you an idea Monza is 260kph,” says Togninalli. “It’s the slowest circuit of the year. The grip-limited speed, so where we are not full throttle, is 120kph, the average of the year is around 160kph, the highest is Austria is around 180, why mention this? These are all characteristics that makes us do things differently here to other places. Why do the tyres struggle in Monaco? The lap is very short, the energy is very low, the speed is slow, it means the energy is low. We need to create the temperature and the chemical aspect that allows the car to be faster. It’s where we focus during the weekend: it’s how we put energy into the tyres. We can use devices, as you know, we make the brakes softer to warm up the rubber in a way we can work better.”

But it’s not just about the rubber. Teams have to adapt their cars to Monaco’s narrow, bumpy and torturous layout.

“We spend 45% of the time on full throttle,” explains Togninalli. “On other circuits this is in 60-70%, Monza is the highest. What does it mean? Here it’s important the load in the car, efficiency is not important as there’s no straights, or [they’re] very short, it’s less refined aero. Usually teams in Monaco have very high downforce wings that are not very efficient, we have devices for Monaco to improve the load, so we make the tyres work. Mechanical grip is important as well. We have the slowest turn of the season, the hairpin, it’s 45kph – if you think about it with an Alfa Giulia you do it faster than an F1 car, so it’s not normal! We design front suspension for that corner otherwise we would not be able to do the turn, the radius is very little, we’re talking nine or 10 metres.”

Teams also introduce stronger components for street circuits in order to ensure drivers can brush the barriers without causing damage to the car.

“It’s almost normal to touch walls,” he explains. “And we know this. We need to allow the driver to do so, to scratch the wall. When we design the suspension we have load cases coming so that we don’t break the suspension when we scratch the wall, such as at the tunnel entry.

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“Another characteristic for Monaco is that the car movement over the road is very demanding, it’s bumpy, and also up and down, Sainte Devote, going towards the casino, going to the tunnel, and we have many corners out of camber, the slope of the corner is towards the external part, which is not helpful for balance, so we have systems we use only for this race. For example at the exit of the tunnel where the car is braking from 300kph, there is a slope change, and that is causing a variation in the rear vertical load of around 600 to 700 kilos and this causes front locking, rear locking, we need to work on brake balance, differential, how we tune the brakes, and how you cope with this is extremely challenging.

“The differential – this is the highest energy of the season. Why? There’s many corners and many of them are low speed. The differential must work a lot, it is there to allow the car to turn in low speed corners and keep the balance in braking.”

Teams also introduce special cooling packages; it’s not a race that takes place in hot conditions, but the absence of straights and the tendency for cars to get stuck behind one another means the brakes and power unit can take a beating.

But getting the car in the correct operating window is one element – there’s also driver confidence to consider, meaning teams usually opt against introducing new parts unless absolutely necessary. Drivers want to hit the ground running in FP1 and get into a rhythm rather than concentrating on back-to-back comparisons or extensive set-up evaluations.

“Maybe the first time [a driver is on track they leave] 5cm to the wall, the second 2cm, the third zero, they don’t go straight on it. So driver confidence is maybe more than other tracks. Maybe we change the car less here than other places as then it takes longer to adapt. We need the combination of car and driver. If we change every time the driver must re-adapt. It’s not a place where we play around a lot compared to other places.”

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Ferrari erred with Leclerc in Q1

Rueda and Togninelli are an enlightening duo who have clearly worked their way to the top through skill and graft. But, as ever in life, even the teachers can err. Some of Togninelli’s final comments prove painful with hindsight, in the wake of Ferrari failing to safely navigate Leclerc through Q1.

“When we come here our priority, and this is a special place, is qualifying,” he says.

“We care not so much about the race preparation as this year we run only qualifying tyres until qualifying, which usually we don’t do, as it’s basically almost impossible to overtake. If you start first you finish first, without a mistake. Therefore our objective is to start first. This is different than usual. It’s a different plan, so a different approach to set-up, we compromise qualifying less than the race. We optimise qualifying and we accept the race compromises.

“Driver confidence is fundamental, he must be comfortable to go close to the wall. It’s normal in Q1, even top teams, doing seven, eight, 10 laps, and getting the best at the end. Why? Because it’s very difficult to get a clean lap, the driver should get used to it, the tyres get ready, and we have a lot of traffic with everyone on track.”

It was an insightful lesson to the extent that even Team Principal Mattia Binotto sat alongside the motley crew of journalists, eager to learn what he could. Next time they’ll surely make sure they don’t linger too close to the Q1 trap door…

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Steiner says some F1 stewards are "just not up to it"

Steiner says some F1 stewards are "just not up to it"

Haas team principal Gunther Steiner believes some FIA Formula 1 stewards "are just not up to being stewards" and feels like a "broken record" talking about inconsistent decision-making.
Steiner was irritated by the Monaco Grand Prix stewards' decision to hand Pierre Gasly a three-place grid penalty and a licence penalty point for impeding Haas driver Romain Grosjean during qualifying.

He believes it was wrong for Grosjean to have received the same punishment in Bahrain – where there were no consequences for Lando Norris, the driver he impeded – as Gasly did in Monaco for costing Grosjean a final chance to get into the top-10 shootout.

Asked by Motorsport.com if he would raise his concern, Steiner said: "There's no point in raising it because nobody does anything about it anyway. What can you do? How many times do I have to say it? It's like a broken record.

"Some of the stewards are just not up to being stewards. I cannot raise it more because after a while…I just say it like it is. I'm not going to spend more time writing letters to people anymore."

Asked if he wanted circumstances to be considered more, Steiner replied: "Some of the stewards should read the rulebooks. They didn't have to give Romain a one-point penalty [in Bahrain]. He was in the wrong place at the wrong time. But the stewards felt they need to give a penalty."

The stewards in Bahrain were Garry Connelly, Emanuele Pirro, Jose Abed and Mazen Al Hilili.

Gasly's punishment was determined by Tim Mayer, Mika Salo, Eric Barrabino and Abed.

Steiner said that because of the circumstances, either the Gasly decision was wrong or it was an error to award the same penalty to Grosjean in Bahrain.

He argued that Grosjean had to react to the slowing Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel and this also caught out his team, both factors that were acknowledged publicly by Lando Norris, the driver Grosjean baulked.

By comparison, Steiner said Gasly was "out in the middle of the track on a fast part of the track, standing basically still for no reason, because he wasn't told by his team".

He said that had Grosjean not braked to avoid Gasly then "it's a big one" and argued "it's actually dangerous", although when Grosjean was punished in Bahrain the stewards did cite the 136km/h speed differential between him and the approaching McLaren.

"I don't know which one [is wrong], they have to make their mind up," said Steiner. "They cannot be the same sentence, in my opinion. It was two completely different circumstances, with consequences on one side and not on the other. It's just so different. Even a blind man sees it."

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Kubica believes he silenced sceptics with Monaco drive

Kubica believes he silenced sceptics with Monaco drive

Williams Formula 1 team driver Robert Kubica believes he has silenced the sceptics after a strong weekend in Monaco indicated that he has not been compromised by his injuries.
Since the Pole began an attempt to make a comeback, observers cited the street race as a place where he might have trouble, especially in the tight hairpin, due to his physical limitations.

However, apart from a spin exiting Casino on Thursday he had a trouble-free weekend and in the race was able to stay ahead of several quicker cars before he was punted into a spin by Antonio Giovinazzi. He was eventually classified 18th.

"I knew I would be fine here," Kubica told Motorsport.com. "I think overall a lot of people thought I would not even be able to turn the steering wheel.

"In this not easy situation I think I did pretty well, and I can be happy. Of course the final result could have been better, but that's how it is with racing.

"People said that Turn 1 would be an issue for me, and I think in all the races I did pretty well in Turn 1, or on the opening lap, when there is a kind of racing instinct, and it's only due to that rather than something else."

Kubica had a good first lap in Monaco, passing teammate George Russell and Giovinazzi. He then jumped Charles Leclerc and Nico Hulkenberg when they collided and both pitted, and got ahead of Sergio Perez by staying out under the safety car.

He briefly ran in 15th place until he was tapped by Giovinazzi.

"I gained two positions at the start, and in the opening laps there is a lot of managing tyres, managing your pace.

"After the safety car I could keep them behind, but I knew I had to stop. There was some possibility for rain, so that's why I stayed out. Definitely the rain showed up, but just slightly, and in this case our strategy didn't pay off."

Regarding the nudge from Giovinazzi he said: "It's racing, there's not a lot you can do in this situation. That's how it is, sometimes."

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Perez calls for review of Monaco chicane

Perez calls for review of Monaco chicane

Sergio Perez believes Formula 1 should look at an adjustment to Monaco's seafront chicane after controversies such as his brush with Kevin Magnussen in this year's grand prix.
Magnussen was given a post-race time penalty for skipping the chicane while battling with Perez, whose Racing Point teammate Lance Stroll was punished for the same offence.

"It's very disappointing, you only have one move in Monaco, and you do it and the car ahead cuts the chicane, and then he's aware that you're there and there's no more opportunities," said Perez.

"It's definitely something we've got to speak about. In all fairness to the car ahead he gives space but then he has nowhere to go."

Perez feels the chicane run-off needs to be adjusted so cars that cut the corner have to slow down much more and navigate something like an alternative chicane before rejoining.

A similar set-up is in use at some other tracks, including the first chicane at Monza.

"I think there has to be a little chicane for the people who cut the chicane to lose some time," Perez said. "It's something we have to review over the next couple of races."

Race winner Lewis Hamilton also skipped the chicane during his late fight with Max Verstappen, with stewards taking no action against either driver for the contact or corner cut that ensued when Verstappen made his bid for the lead.

Magnussen shrugged off the Perez incident when asked about it after the race.

Speaking before the penalty that demoted him from 12th to 14th was applied, Magnussen called the incident "nothing" and replied "apparently" when asked if he saw it as a simple racing incident.

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Norris learned about Verstappen's style in simracing

Norris learned about Verstappen's style in simracing

Lando Norris says he has learned all about Max Verstappen's approach to racing from having played him on computer games.
The pair are good friends and have teamed up on occasion to take part in online simracing events – including an assault on a Bathurst 12 Hours event over the winter.

Norris says beyond their gaming being a bit of fun, there have been aspects that have helped him in the real world, including getting to know better about Verstappen's driving style.

Speaking at an event to promote the launch of McLaren's second season of its Shadow Esports competition, Norris said "Racing with other people like that, such as Max, I can already learn things coming into this season.

"I am not really racing Max on track here [in F1], so maybe later on this season or next year we can have some more battles, but I already learned about him when I raced Max and we had some fun races together.

"I can learn how he would drive on the track. I already learned how he would defend, because he is very good at that, and he can be very aggressive at times with his overtakes, and everything.

"Maybe you push a bit more in the sim because you can get away with it, but there are a lot of things I take away from that which I then learned about and knew about Max coming into this season.

"So if I was to race him – and I am sure he learned things from me about what I am good and bad at – but if I was racing him, I would know how he would race, if I never saw him on TV before. I know how he would race me just from driving on the sim."

McLaren's Shadow project has aimed to take eSports racing to the next level, with its first season having attracted 500,000 entrants across a host of platforms and games before crowning victor Igor Fraga.

It hopes it second season will be bigger and better, as it aims to find the best driver across iRacing, rFactor, Forza Motorsport and Real Racing 3.

As a keen gamer, Norris has kept a close eye on the competition, and says he is always impressed by the commitment and focus of the top-line online racers.

"All these guys are super quick," he said. "They spend not always hours every day practising, but they understand how to drive cars, how to setup cars, and a lot of these things. You even have engineers on simracing to help you go through proper data after each session and try to improve lap times.

"It is not just going around driving and learning how to drive a sim car. You learn about everything: how people drive, the obvious thing of places you can overtake and can't overtake, and how to force people into mistakes and so on, plus where it is hard to follow and not.

"You learn a majority of things, which is pretty cool, and especially someone like Max, who is a real life driver, you learn how he drives in the simulator and how similar it is compared to the track."

 

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