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.
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