Canadian Grand Prix Driver Ratings

Vettel – 8

Crash on Friday didn’t stop him claming yet another pole position. Drove an almost faultless race despite tricky conditions and the pressure of seeing his lead eaten into by red flags and safety cars. Last lap error of own making cost him the win.

Webber – 7

Qualified 4th. Good recovery in race after being punted into a spin at first corner by optimistic Hamilton, and took final podium spot after an energetic battle with Schumacher. Still looking like the number two driver at Red Bull though.

Hamilton – 4

Another error-strewn performance. Qualified 5th with partial wet set-up, but then ran into Webber at first corner and went wide at the hairpin trying to pass defensive Schumacher. Later squeezed into pit wall by Button, causing retirement (but was partly to blame himself for putting car in no man’s land on outside of team mate).

Button – 8

Only 7th on grid after gambling on wet set-up. Not actually that quick in wet part of race and was responsible for clumsy collisions with Hamilton and Alonso. Benefited enormously from late race safety car, however, and was quick when it mattered to pass Vettel for fortuitous win after the German’s last-lap mistake.

Alonso – 6

Brilliant recent form continued in qualifying, the Spaniard just pipping team mate Massa to a front row spot. Didn’t look as quick as Massa in the race, but was just coming into contention when eliminated by a somewhat rash move from Button.

Massa – 8

Back on song after recent struggles. Qualified 3rd, fractionally behind Alonso, and had the measure of his exalted team mate for much of the race. Nosed wall after hitting wet patch trying to lap Karthikeyan, but recovered well and used combination of KERS and DRS to just beat Kobayashi to 6th place on the line.

Schumacher – 9

Qualified reasonably well in 8th. Put in easily the best performance since his comeback in the race by consistently running at the front. Poor straight line speed cost him in fight with Webber and Button and was unlucky to finish off the podium in 4th.

Rosberg – 6

Impressive in qualifying, pipping Button’s McLaren to 6th on grid. Didn’t seem to be able to push the car to its limits in the wet race, unlike Schumacher, and dropped to 11th on last lap after tagging back of Kobayashi’s Sauber and damaging front wing.

Heidfeld – 7

Reasonable qualifying effort saw him 9th. His usual capable wet weather driving saw him in reach of a top five finish, but contact with Kobayashi sent front wing under the car and, soon after, car into barriers. At least David Coulthard can now pronounce his name correctly…

Petrov – 8

Quaified just behind Heidfeld in 10th. Ran 4th before red flag and only lost one place thereafter to finish in an excellent, mistake-free 5th. Also did well to miss errant marshall in an incident which looked comical but could have been fatal.

Barrichello – 6

Another fairly anonymous weekend for Barrichello and Williams. Qualified 16th, and didn’t really demonstrate the delicate touch in wet conditions which he has so often in the past. Nevertheless brought the car home to double his and team’s tally for the season with 9th place finish.

Maldonado – 6

Put in excellent lap in qualifying to line up 12th, three-tenths ahead of Barrichello. Looked good for points after red flag, running with Rosberg and Kobayashi, but damaged front wing after colliding with the Mercedes. Later spun out all on his own.

Sutil – 5

14th on grid, but behind Di Resta again. One of a number of drivers that could have picked up points in the race, and also one of a number to collide with Rosberg. Earned a drive-through penalty for this incident, and later hit wall and retired.

Di Resta – 7

Excellent 11th in qualifying, half a second up on Sutil. Showed stunning pace early in the race, despite a couple of trips off the track, but then made silly move on Heidfeld and damaged front wing. Like team mate, was given drive-through, and then clipped wall and retired with a puncture.

Kobayashi – 9

Another great drive after qualifying 12th despite looking ragged in practice. Stunning in wet first part of race, keeping his head to rise to 2nd. Sadly dropped back in dry conditions and had to settle for 7th after being pipped by Massa on run to flag.

De la Rosa – 7

Replaced Perez at short notice at Sauber – so short he had to drive on Friday with McLaren overalls! Qualified a solid 17th and impressively ran in the points in wet part of race. Like Kobayashi, dropped back in dry conditions but brought car home safely in 12th.

Buemi – 6

15th on grid was a good effort. Changed to slicks early after red flag stoppage, which may have cost him time. Nevertheless managed to pick up another point thanks to attrition, but was outperformed in race by Alguersuari for first time in a while.

Alguersuari – 7

Knocked out in Q1 for second race in a row. Good recovery in the race though – the Spaniard kept the car on track in tricky conditions and took first points of the season (and his best ever result) with 8th.

Kovalainen – 5

Bumped down to 20th on the grid by Trulli, nearly 2 seconds ahead of the HRTs and Virgins. Unfortunate to retire behind safety car with driveshaft failure in race of high attrition – however, he never really looked like scoring a point.

Trulli – 6

Finally outqualified Kovalainen and only half a second off Alguersuari in 19th. Race didn’t go so well – the veteran Italian was hampered by rake issues and ended up behind the other new teams on the road. Finished an underwhelming 16th.

Liuzzi – 9

A brilliant performance (given the car) on a track where he has often gone well. Qualified ahead of both Virgins in 21st. Drove a clean and fast race in tricky car and conditions to take crucial 13th place (moving HRT ahead of Virgin in constructors’ championship).

Karthikeyan – 7

His best weekend of the season, but couldn’t quite match Liuzzi. Still, did beat D’Ambrosio in qualifying and was only one and a half tenths off team mate. Finished 14th on the road in the race, but bumped back to 17th by penalty for cutting chicane passing Glock.

Glock – 6

Outqualified by Liuzzi, which no doubt pleased him not a lot. The German usually shows well in the wet, and did so at times here, but locked up near end of race, causing a flat spot on tyre. Resultant vibration destroyed tyre and left him 15th.

D’Ambrosio – 6

Outside of 107% in Q1, and was fortunate to be allowed to start. Raced well though, despite penalty for changing to intermediate tyres prematurely after red flag, to beat Glock home to 14th (albeit behind both HRTs on the road).

Senna Movie Review

The new Senna film was realised in the UK on June 3rd, and unsurprisingly I swiftly rushed to the cinema to see it. Frankly, had the film been advertised as simply two hours of F1 cars driving past I would still have gone (and probably loved it), given my interest in the sport. But in the case of Senna, director Asif Kapadia has succeeded in making a film which will appeal to the casual audience as well as petrolheads.

It doesn’t take a petrolhead, though, to know the story of Ayrton Senna. Everyone with a passing interest in motor racing, or even sport in general, knows of his three world titles, bitter rivalry with Alain Prost and untimely death, and the film doesn’t really break any new ground in terms of re-telling this tale.

It does present events in an interesting and sophisticated manner, however, with no single overall narrator; rather, the story is told through archive interviews with Senna himself and his rivals, as well as more recent conversations with family members and notably Prost. Some of the footage featured is breathtaking stuff, such as the famous on-board shots from Monaco 1988 which many people will have seen before, but which have even more of an impact on a big screen.

There’s also some amusing recordings of driver briefings, and it’s fun to spot a young Eddie Jordan and Michael Schumacher among the participants. Hearing Ayrton explain, in his own words, his passion for the sport is fascinating, and the on-track action featured is naturally superb, being as it is from a classic era of Formula 1.

There are some shortcomings, however. The movie is, as you would expect, extremely one-sided towards Senna's side of the story, and too much is perhaps made of the ‘Senna versus the world’ slant which the film maintains.

 

The origins of the Senna-Prost rivalry, which turned into all-out warfare, are never really explored, and nor is the thaw in their mutual enmity which took place in the weeks and days before Imola 1994. It would have been interesting, for example, to hear the Senna side of the story regarding Estoril 1988 or Imola 1989, where the cracks in the relationship between the then-team mates first began to show.

In addition, other rivals of Senna’s, such as Nigel Mansell and Nelson Piquet, are virtually ignored. And, as mentioned above, few F1 fans are likely to learn anything new from watching the film - not surprising considering how many times the story of Senna's career has been told.

But knowing how the story goes certainly doesn’t preclude gleaning enjoyment from it. Unfortunately, everyone reading this blog, and watching the film, also knows how the story ends, and I had a real sense of foreboding as the final moments of Senna’s life unfolded on screen.

The tragic events of Imola are handled extremely sensitively, including the death of Roland Ratzenberger, who is given the respect he deserves. Senna’s fatal crash is shown, but not in a gratuitous manner. Nevertheless it is undoubtedly an emotional watch, and brought back some of the feelings I experienced when I first heard the news of Senna’s death as an 8 year old all those years ago.

So to summarise, if you are an F1 fan (and if not, what on earth are you reading this blog for?!) you simply have to see Senna. Despite some small problems, it re-tells an enthralling story well worth re-telling about a man who encapsulated everything good (and some things bad) about the sport we all love.

N.B. Canadian Grand Prix Driver Ratings will appear next week. Normal (i.e. sporadic) service will then be resumed for forthcoming races!

Monaco GP Review and Driver Ratings

The 2011 Monaco Grand Prix was one of the best in recent years, and without the late-race red flag stoppage the three-way battle for the lead which developed may have gone all the way to the last lap. The spectacle was thankfully unaffected one bit by DRS, instead becoming a pure racing contest between three drivers on differing strategies who survived the chaos going on around them to fill the podium.

Qualifying gave some indication of the action that was to come, but was overshadowed by the serious accident involving Sergio Perez which was disturbingly similar to that suffered by Sauber driver Karl Wendlinger in 1994 that left the promising Austrian in a coma and effectively ended his F1 career. Thankfully Perez escaped almost unharmed, although it ended his Monaco participation and, it appears, rules him out of the Canadian Grand Prix as well.

The red flag also had an adverse effect on Lewis Hamilton’s weekend– the Englishman looked good for pole but gambled on one Q3 run, made an error, and was consigned to 9th for cutting a chicane. At the front Sebastian Vettel regained his grip on pole position, while at the back neither HRT ventured out of the pits.

The Spanish cars were fortunate to be allowed to start having (just barely) set suitable times in the morning session. Their no-show reminded this observer of similar incidents involving Forti in 1996 and Arrows in 2002, when both failed to make serious attempts to qualify at mid-season races due to a dire lack of funds. Hopefully HRT aren’t in the same position now.

At the start, Vettel scampered away, and an intriguing battle developed between the slow-starting Michael Schumacher and Hamilton which the Englishman eventually won with a good move at St Devote. Jenson Button was first of the leaders to pit, and Vettel reacted to this on the following lap.

But the Red Bull team, apparently taken aback by the not-unusual sight of their driver in the pit box, did not have any tyres ready! They eventually bolted on what they could find (which turned out to be a set of option tyres that, while less than optimal for pace, actually won him the race). Behind him Webber also pitted and lost heaps of time while the pit crew ran around the garage trying to find his tyres, a moment which means the Red Bull team deservedly win the ‘Taki Inoue Comedy Moment of the Race’© award.

They weren’t the only ones though - Hamilton’s afternoon went from bad to worse with a similarly shambolic tyre change. It then got even worse when the Englishman, clearly frustrated by his race unravelling around him, decided to unravel it some more by ramming Massa in an ill-judged move at the hairpin. The resultant damage put Massa wide and in the wall in the tunnel, bringing out the safety car, and Hamilton received a warranted drive-through penalty.

Button pitted under the safety car but Vettel and Alonso, having already used both types of tyre, stayed out on what were already very worn-looking options. With 40 laps still to go Button looked a good bet for victory on his fresh tyres, but despite catching Vettel and Alonso quickly he never really looked like overtaking them.

Instead it was Alonso who put Vettel under pressure, having a couple of half-looks up the inside of the Red Bull. It was a brilliant three car duel reminiscent of Ayrton Senna and Nigel Mansell battling it out in the closing stages of the 1992 race. Vettel didn’t put a wheel wrong under pressure though, and looked set to hang on to the lead so long as his ancient tyres lasted the distance.

As it transpired, they didn’t quite need to – as the leaders caught a mammoth scrap for 6th place led by Adrian Sutil, the Force India driver ran wide into the barriers, sustained a puncture, and caused a chain reaction behind. Hamilton was in the wars again, assaulted by the lapped Alguersuari, and Vitaly Petrov hit the wall fairly heavily.

Complaining of pains in his legs, the Russian was extricated slowly and the race was sensibly red-flagged. Strangely, it was then restarted despite having run for over 75% of its distance, but with all the front-runners able to change their tyres any prospect of a three-way lead battle to the finish was sadly lost as Vettel made a decent restart and controlled the race to the chequered flag.

But behind the excitement was not quite over, Hamilton making a foolish lunge up the inside of the Williams of Pastor Maldonado, removing the hapless Venezuelan from what would have been a fine 6th place and rounding off a very unimpressive performance from the Englishman.

At the front, all three men standing on the podium richly deserved their champagne moment after a fabulous race. Prospects look good for more of the same in Canada – Montreal is always spectacular even without this season’s variables of fast-wearing tyres, DRS, KERS and diverse strategies.

Finally, any report of the 2011 Monaco Grand Prix is sadly not complete without a brief observation of Hamilton’s post-race comments and general attitude. Judging by the sense of self-importance he displayed after the race, he’d probably expect that this entire blog would be about him, but I won’t dignify him with that.

What I will say is that his arrogance post-race was staggering. Hamilton never showed any remorse for either his clash with Massa, or his ill-judged move on Maldonado, never mind accept any blame for the incidents. It unfortunately reinforces the stereotype that exists branding Hamilton (rightly or wrongly) as having had an easy ride to Formula 1 with McLaren’s help, and therefore being incapable of showing the same dignity in defeat as he does jubilation in victory.

It was also disappointing to say the least that Hamilton chose to bring the issue of his race into his post-event tirade against the stewards. To question the judgement of the officials is one thing, but to question their personal integrity is quite another.

It’s particularly sad given that the driving advisor among the stewards, Allan McNish, is a well-respected professional who, while arguably not having the raw talent of Hamilton, has won numerous major races in his career and may have done so in Formula 1 had he had his opportunity earlier than the single season he spent with Toyota in 2002. McNish has always come across as a man of honesty who speaks passionately and eloquently about his sport; Hamilton could learn a lot from his approach.

While Hamilton later apologised to the stewards for his comments, and it was clear that they were somewhat in jest, it nevertheless left a bitter taste after what had been a brilliantly entertaining race, particularly as no apology was forthcoming to Massa or Maldonado (until long after the race via Twitter) after the Briton described his rivals as “frickin’ ridiculous”.

Rather than moaning, Hamilton should be glad he escaped with a retrospective time penalty, which didn’t cost him any positions anyway as he was the last car on the lead lap. Oh, and if Lewis wants to spend less time in front of the stewards, he should probably stop driving into people…

Driver Ratings

Vettel – 9

Supreme in qualifying to take pole once more. Great start, but race nearly undone by disastrous first pit stop. Somewhat fortuitous that race was red flagged allowing him to change worn-out option tyres, but this cancelled out bad luck of having slow stop in the first place.

Webber – 6

Qualified 3rd, but half a second off Vettel - simply not good enough considering his front-running car. Race adversely affected by slow first pit stop. Thereafter, was mired in traffic but recovered well to pass Kobayashi in closing stages for 4th.

Hamilton – 2

It was all going so well until Q3, where red flag and chicane-cutting error resulted in 9th on grid. Passed by Schumacher early in race, before ramming Massa at the hairpin and then taking out innocent Maldonado at end. A shambles.

Button – 8

Great qualifying lap put him on front row. Fortuitously took lead in wake of Vettel’s slow pit stop, but was then outmanoeuvred on strategy. Never looked like passing Alonso or Vettel even before late race red flag negated his fresh tyre advantage, and then completely messed up restart.

Alonso – 10

Qualified 4th in a Ferrari still not up to the Red Bull or McLaren. After making customary great start he was simply stunning in the race, considering his car disadvantage, harrying Vettel before the red flag and keeping him honest after to take a fine 2nd place.

Massa – 7

Four-tenths off Alonso in Q3 for respectable 6th on grid. Drove a clean race, and could have achieved a good result but for being rammed by Hamilton at the hairpin. Resultant damage put him in the wall in the tunnel.

Rosberg – 5

Recovered well after his scary Saturday morning crash to qualify 7th. Got around slow-starting team mate at the start, but never really able to show much race pace thereafter. 11th a poor result given attrition.

Schumacher – 6

Excellent qualifying effort saw him 5th on grid. Terrible start left him 10th, but made great move on Hamilton at hairpin having touched him in first corner. Race ended behind safety car with airbox fire.

Heidfeld – 6

Abysmal qualifying session left him 15th. Made progress in race thanks to moderate attrition rate, and was second runner home of those a lap down, which was enough for 8th. Needs to up his one-lap pace.

Petrov – 7

Missed Q3 to line up 11th on a track where Renault was predicted to go well. Drove a clean race and looked set for a decent points finish, but blamelessly involved in multi-car pileup after being left with nowhere to go behind slowing Sutil. Thankfully escaped unharmed.

Barrichello – 6

Solid rather than spectacular, and had no answer for Maldonado’s pace. Nevertheless lined up 12th on grid and had clean race, including a battle with nemesis Schumacher. Picked up the pieces after Maldonado’s late race exit to salvage 9th.

Maldonado – 10

Arguably the star of the weekend and showed genuine top-ten pace from Thursday onwards. Ran with the leading group in the race and brilliantly passed Sutil, before being cruelly robbed of 6th place by idiotic Hamilton move.

Sutil – 7

Outqualified by Di Resta again, but showed his usual Monaco pace in the race. Looked like avenging 2008 disappointment by running 4th until tagged by Kobayashi. Then hit wall being passed by Maldonado and punctured, but nevertheless recovered to 7th after red flag.

Di Resta – 5

A messy race after encouragingly outqualifying Sutil, who’s no slouch at Monaco. Ran into both Alguersuari and D’Ambrosio at the hairpin and was lucky to escape with only one penalty. Still came home 12th.

Kobayashi – 8

Outalified by non-starting Perez but drove usual storming race. Somewhat fortunate to escape contact with Sutil unscathed and to end up running 4th after second safety car, but hung on well for career best 5th place finish despite Webber’s late overtake.

Perez – no rating

His participation was ended in qualifying by violent crash at swimming pool chicane. After a worrying delay, was extricated almost unharmed but took no part in the race due to concussion. Pace had been good up to then though.

Buemi – 7

Couldn’t better 17th on the grid in a Toro Rosso which appears to lack development. Nevertheless drove a good race, in a car again not really quick enough for points, to take 10th in race of attrition.

Alguersuari - 4

Not a good weekend at all. Ran into Kobayashi at low speed in Q1 and was 20th on grid. Made little progress in race and lost time after being tagged by Di Resta at the hairpin. Ran into Hamilton and retired during multi-car accident which brought out red flag.

Kovalainen – 6

Outqualified Monaco expert Trulli, which was no mean feat. Lost out to the Italian at the start though, and thereafter followed him home. No able to run with midfielders though and lost time letting leaders through.

Trulli – 6

Fractions behind Kovalainen in qualifying. Drove a good race though after making a better start. Safety cars compromised his race and out him a full lap behind the next cars on the road. Pleased to finished 13th in the end.

Glock – 7

Brilliant qualifying lap put him just a tenth off troubled Alguersuari and six-tenths away from Lotuses. Not quite able to keep pace with them in the race though, and retired with broken rear suspension (worryingly not the result of any contact apparently).

D’Ambrosio – 6

Eight-tenths off inspired Glock in qualifying. Drove a decent race though, surviving a collision with Di Resta (in which he was blameless) and pressure from Liuzzi after he closed due to the red flag. 15th place a good result.

Liuzzi – 5

Crashes on Thursday and Saturday put him on the back foot, and was fortunate to be allowed to start after not setting Q1 time. Solid race in a HRT which looked even slower than normal at Monaco.

Karthikeyan – 6

Failed to set a Q1 time, like his team mate, due to an apparent suspension problem. Started ahead of Liuzzi but lost a lap just before safety car period and therefore ended up last. Nevertheless did well to keep difficult car out of the barriers.

Spanish GP Driver Ratings

Apologies for the delay in posting these ratings; they were in fact written pre-Monaco, but I haven’t been able to post them until now due to technical issues. There’s a few references to/semi-predictions for Monaco in there, so when reading you might want to forget that the Monaco race has actually happened. A bit like Lewis Hamilton really….

Vettel – 9

Close to perfect again. Missed out on pole for first time this season, but made up for it in race with great drive to take fourth win in five races. Withstood late race pressure from Hamilton well.

Webber – 6

Took pole after Vettel’s KERS problems – it would have been close without them. Somehow lost out to both McLarens in the race, and missed out on the podium in what appeared to be the quickest car in the field.

Hamilton – 9

Pipped Alonso and team mate Button to 3rd on grid with 0.035 seconds covering all three! Dropped behind meteoric Alonso at start, but recovered to run 2nd comfortably. Hounded Vettel in closing stages, but couldn’t find a way past.

Button – 7

Qualified 5th and made bad start. Recovered well to finish 3rd despite displaying feeble defence against Vettel early on. Martin Brundle proclaimed it as a brilliant drive, but the fact is he finished 35 seconds behind his team mate…

Alonso – 8

Great qualifying effort to pip Button, and even better start to take the lead. Showed just how good his qualifying lap had been by eventually dropping back to 5th, a full lap off the lead, after struggling on harder tyres.

Massa – 4

Nowhere near Alonso in qualifying or the race. Hard to say whether he underperformed, or was simply overshadowed by Alonso outperforming the car. Qualified 8th and retired after gearbox issues.

Rosberg – 6

7th in qualifying, but dropped behind Schumacher early in race. May well have been quicker than his team mate had he been able to get past, but the elder German refused to yield and Nico suffered DRS problems which left him 7th.

Schumacher – 7

Better. Only 10th on grid, but made a great start and robustly defended position from Rosberg thereafter. Finished 6th, but a long way behind the leaders. How well he goes in Monaco will be interesting.

Heidfeld – 9

Suffered fire in final practice and consequently missed qualifying. Starred in the race though by climbing to 8th, nearly catching the two Mercedes drivers – one more lap and he would have been past.

Petrov – 6

Good effort in qualifying to line up 6th despite minor gearbox fault. Lacklustre in the race, somehow falling behind team mate Heidfeld and both Saubers and failing to score a point.

Barrichello – 5

Disastrous qualifying session left him 19th after suffering gear selection problems. Made little progress in race, with KERS issues restricting him to 17th, comfortably ahead of Trulli’s Lotus but a lap away from the points.

Maldonado – 6

Much improved qualification to make Q3, and beat Schumacher to 9th. Once again didn’t perform well in the race though, and dropped to 15th. Nevertheless a confidence boost ahead of Monaco, where the Venezuelan has always gone well.

Sutil – 5

Outqualified by team mate and Kovalainen’s Lotus after gambling on hard tyre in Q2. Race went to plan but starting on prime tyres meant he remained behind Di Resta. Perhaps distracted by off-track events?

Di Resta – 6

Tyre gamble in Q2 left him 16th on grid. Solid race performance saw him 12th at the end. Did well to once again outperform the vastly more experienced Sutil for most of weekend.

Kobayashi – 8

Yet another great performance in the race after being outqualified by Perez and suffering a puncture on first lap. Drove brilliantly thereafter to finish in the top ten for the fifth time in five races.

Perez – 8

Did well on Saturday to outqualify Kobayashi. Ran a sensible, error free race and despite dropping behind Heidfeld late on he picked up his first F1 points (after Australia disqualification) with 9th.

Buemi – 6

A reasonable effort in a Toro Rosso which wasn’t quite quick enough for points. Just missed Q2 by two-tenths, and raced well enough, but dropped to 14th in race behind a number of other midfield runners.

Alguersuari – 5

Four tenths off Buemi in Q2, continuing recent run of being second best at Toro Rosso. 16th in race, last but one of the established runners (ahead of only Barrichello), suffering from high tyre wear.

Kovalainen – 7

Deservedly got through to Q2 and qualified excellent 15th. Not able to mix it with the established teams in the race though, and retired after an off which looked to be due to driver error.

Trulli – 6

Seems incapable of stretching the car to its limits, unlike Kovalainen. 18th on grid was reasonable, and drove a solid race without really threatening the midfield. Miles clear of the hapless Virgins and HRTs though.

Glock – 6

Qualified 20th, 1.2 secs ahead of team mate. Battled with Liuzzi for first part of race, and got past shortly before the Italian’s retirement. At least he was ahead of D’Ambrosio for the first time in a while.

D’Ambrosio – 5

His worst F1 display yet, but not a disaster. Outqualified by Glock and both HRTs and just two-tenths inside 107% limit. Raced behind Liuzzi until the Italian retired. Plugged away but unable to catch team mate.

Liuzzi – 7

Qualified a tenth ahead of his team mate. Race was going very well – the Italian ran ahead of both Virgins before being obliged to retire with gear selection trouble. A real shame.

Karthikeyan – 6

Qualified 22nd, ahead of D’Ambrosio; suffered excessive tyre wear and burns to his back from an ill-fitting seat in race, and finished 5 laps down and last. He must be really looking forward to tackling Monaco in the recalcitrant HRT…