It was wet wet wet in Monaco! Moderate rain fell in Monaco just before the start of the race. Rain in Monaco is going to call for an exciting race ahead because of several reasons. First, it is a very slow and tight street circuit, barriers are so close to the cars. If a driver make a small mistake, chances are he will end up in the barriers, as many have found out in the past. Secondly, the problems caused by the ban of traction control this year is amplified in Monaco because of tight and twisty nature of the track. Finally, rain at any track without traction control is going to be dangerous. But rain in tight and twisty Monaco is going to spell trouble for the teams and drivers.
During Qualifying, a major accident happened at the chicane after the famous Monaco Tunnel. David Coulthard lost control of his car and slammed into the barriers which detached his right rear wheel from his car and it was sent flying down the road. Luckily, he was not injured and climbed out of the car. Here's the video of what happened.
David Coulthard crashes heavily during Qualifying
Scooby Dooby Doo! Lmao!
The Monaco Harbour, so many boats/ yachts
Before the cars set off for the warm up laps, they were all fitted with Intermediate rain tyres for the wet conditions. Intermediate tyres are used when the track is not very wet but it's not dry enough for normal slicks tyres to cope. As the 5 red lights went off, Lewis Hamilton (Hammy) made a good start and overtook Kimi Raikkonen (Kimi) by the time they reached the first corner. Surprisingly, contrary to everybody's speculations, there were no accidents at all in the first lap. That is very rare for Monaco, even in the dry. But the peace was short lived as the first accident happened soon after the race start, lap 2 to be exact. Fernando Alonso got his front wing chopped off when he tried an over optimistic overtaking move on Nick Heidfield. Alonso has to pit for a new front nose. But troubles for him did not end there, he lost control of his car at Turn 4 and remember what I said when a driver makes a mistake? Yes, he slammed into the barrier which punctured his right rear tyre. He has to pit once again to have his tyre changed. That's 2 pit stops in a space of 6 laps, not a good sign for Alonso.Alonso having tyre troubles after hitting the barrier at Casino Square, (note the right rear tyre).
However, Alonso is not the only one who has problems keeping away from the wall. Hammy punctured his right rear tyre after slamming at the side of the barrier after exiting the swimming pool complex. He has to pit for a new tyre. This accident was thought to have blown any chances of Hammy winning the race. Hammy was touted as the driver most likely to win the race, but it doesn't look good for him after that accident. But, as luck has it, another accident happened just 20 sec later which brought the safety car out. The fact that the safety car was deployed means that the whole race has to be slowed down and this gives Hammy to catch up with the rest of the field, he only lost 2 places after his impromptu pit stop.The safety car leading the pack
So what caused the safety car to be brough out? The collision between David Coulthard and Sebestian Bourdais at Casino Square is what brought the safety car out. As conditions got worse, David Coulthard lost control of his car at Casino Square (Turn 4) and hit the barriers hard, SOON after, Bourdais did the exact same thing and end up crashing into the back of David Coulthard. As luck would have it, they came to a grinding halt in a box on the road marked as "Taxis". It was quite funny. Both their cars were promptly lifted away by the so ever efficient cranes at Monaco. Here's a video of what happened.Look mum! Flying cars!
Video of the incident of Alonso, and the accident between David Coulthard and Sebestian Bourdais at Casino Square
In the torrential rain, many front wings did not survive. Here are some of them.
Timo Glock with a front nose missing
Timo Glock lost his wing again!
Nelson Piquet Jnr emo-ing after crashing out at Ste Devote (Turn 1)
Despair for Ferrari as 2 inicdents sprouted. Kimi Raikkonen was given a drive through penalty because his tyres were not fitted onto the car 3 mins before the race. This was clearly the team's mistake and not Kimi's. The penalty cost Kimi 4 places. Secondly, Felipe Massa made a mistake at Turn 1 and lost almost 30 secs after over shooting the 1st corner. He lost 2nd place to Robert Kubica and struggled throughout the race to keep up with the BMW driver.The rain started to ease and many driver soon switched to the dry weather tyres. There were cases of sliding and scraping the barriers as drivers got used to the dry tyre in moist conditions. But one driver who certainly did not get used to the dry tyres was Nico Rosberg. He had a major crash down at the swimming pool complex exiting Tabac corner. The crash looked spectecular but Rosberg got out of the car unscathed. The same can't be said for the car though, there was a complete mess at the swimming pool complex as other drivers tried hard to avoid sharp carbon fibre debris scattered round the track. As again, the wreck was lifted by the ever efficient Monaco cranes as the safety car was called out for the second time.
Nico Rosberg hopping away from the wreck
Safety marshals exitingushing the fire from the wreck
The remains of Rosberg's wreck
The Nico Rosberg major accident at the swimming pool complex
The very next lap after the safety car came into the pits to allow normal racing to resume, another accident happened at the chicane after the Monaco Tunnel. It is the same place where David Coulthard had his Qualifying accident the day before. Adrain Sultil was in his best ever carrer postion in 4th place and is hoping to score 5 points for the worse team on the grid - Force India. However, all hopes of scoring points, or even finishing the race was dashed when Kimi Raikkonen lost control of his Ferrari under braking after the Monaco Tunnel. The only difference from Kimi's accident to that of David Coulthard's was that Kimi managed to keep his car away from the barriers.
But has (bad) luck would have it, instead of hitting the barriers, Adrain Sultil was hit from the back by Kimi. Sultil would retire from the race later on due to rear suspension damage while Kimi continued on to finish in a lowly 9th place after pitting for a new nose. The incident sparked a public outcry from Force India as they said they were denied the best result they have ever had. They claimed that they would have lost at least 5 Million because of the lost of 5 points. Television cameras soon focused onto the devestated Sultil as he was seen crying while his mechanics tried unsucessfuly to comfort him. Kimi appologised after the inicdent claiming that he simply lost control of the car and had no where to go to.
Kimi Raikkonen with his front wing missing after crashing into the back of Adrain Sultil after the Monaco Tunnel
The video of the crash between Kimi Raikkonen and Adrain SultilThe race was cut short by 2 laps as the race hit the 2 hour time limit. Lewis Hamilton took the chequered flag to win his first ever Monaco Grand Prix. Surprisingly, only 6 cars did not finish the race! Very good considering rain created havoc and visibility problems for the drivers. Here are the rest of the results.
Results
01 L. Hamilton McLaren 2:00:42.742
02 R. Kubica BMW + 3.064
03 F. Massa Ferrari + 4.811
04 M. Webber Red Bull + 19.295
05 S. Vettel Toro Rosso + 24.657
06 R. Barrichello Honda + 28.408
07 K. Nakajima Williams + 30.180
08 H. Kovalainen McLaren + 33.191
09 K. Räikkönen Ferrari + 33.792
10 F. Alonso Renault + 1 laps
11 J. Button Honda + 1 laps
12 T. Glock Toyota + 1 laps
13 J. Trulli Toyota + 1 laps
14 N. Heidfeld BMW + 4 laps
Did not finish
15 A. Sutil Force India F1 + 7 laps
16 N. Rosberg Williams + 17 laps
17 N. Piquet jr. Renault + 31 laps
18 G. Fisichella Force India F1 + 40 laps
19 D. Coulthard Red Bull + 70 laps
20 S. Bourdais Scuderia Toro Rosso + 70 laps
The next race will be at Canada on the 8th of June. I may or may not do a report after the race. It all depends on the level of excitment of the race. So, I hope you enjoyed my review of the Monaco Grand Prix, till then, keep your eyes on the road and not crash into the back of somebody.
