Posted by Jamie Hibbard at 4:00PM on Thursday 22 May, 2008 11 Comments
You still can't beat the excitement that Monaco brings.
There's just something fundamentally awesome about seeing the best drivers in the world dancing their cars over the kerbs with no room to spare.
And in practice today, Lewis Hamilton proved once again that he sure can dance with a fastest lap time of 1m15.140s.
Watching him tail-out through the Piscine chicane in second practice, you could see why he was looking forward to not having any driver aids this season.
You can also see why he wears tyres out quicker than most.
But tyre wear wasn't a concern today as he drove the quickest time of the afternoon, with a McLaren MP4-23 that looked ever so sorted. It appeared to ride the bumps and undulations of Monaco better than anything else out there.
Even the Ferraris of Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa - third and fourth respectively - couldn't keep pace with Hamilton.
Williams' Nico Rosberg was closest to the Brit, but he was still nearly a quarter of a second back from Lewis.
Following behind Massa were Heikki Kovalainen in fifth, Robert Kubica sixth, Fernando Alonso seventh, Jenson Button eighth, Kazuki Nakajima ninth and Rubens Barrichello rounding it out in 10th.
So I'm going to go for Lewis on pole, Nico to run light for P2, then Kimi and Massa.
However, the forecast for both qualifying and race day is rain, so it's certainly going to be interesting.
Go on, give us a prediction...
11 Comments for "F1 Monaco practice"
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Qualifying position:
1 Kubica
2 Hamilton
3 Rosberg
4 Raikonen
I knew he could do it, that's my boy!!!
If there's rain, it's going to be a battle of Lewis vs Kimi. Last year's Japanese GP saw what both could do.
Hopefully Fernando doesn't make a fool of himself again. Then again, Heiki did good as well, so the number two McLaren can't be counted out.
And its the first real wet weather race for Force India so let's see how that goes. Here's my predictions:
1: Lewis Hamilton
2: Kim Raikkonen
3: Heikki Kovalainen
4: Robert Kubica
5: Nick Heidfeld
6: Jarno Trulli
Spun out halfway: Massa
Come on Hamilton!!! Bring on the rain.....
If it's wet...
1) Hamilton
2) Webber
3) Trulli
4) Rosberg
5) Button
6) Kovalainen
If it's dry...
1) Hamilton
2) Kubica
3) Trulli
4) Alonso
5) Rosberg
6) Massa
I hate to be so pessimistic about Nico, but I reckon he'll be light-running in Quali.
Lewis will snatch pole because he is just so at home with the circuit and his driving style.
Nico 2nd? I don't think so. Ferrari can't afford that to happen and will sacrifice a couple of laps of fuel to make sure Lewis can't build a big enough gap before the first pit stops. Nico will do well, though, and this is Monaco... anything could happen.
I think Jenson might get some points! Well, maybe a point... after all, it is his second home.
If it rains, with no driving aids and limited understanding of how the wet weather tyres are going to behave, my bet is that all bets are off...
We could quite easily see an upset with one of the more experienced drivers in the mid-field teams managing to weave their way through the carnage.
Barrichello or Coulthard for the win?
1. Kubica (light car, Monaco expert)
2. Raikkonen (prodigy)
3. Hamilton (Monaco expert)
4. Massa
5. Heidfeld (problems with balance
6. Rosberg
7. Alonso (much faster than team mate)
8. Trulli
But it is possible that I'm wrong...
Nope...if all the other drivers can avoid him, Mark Webber should do well again. Let's hope he can bring one home for the Aussies!
If you want to win at Monaco you need to be on pole or hope something happens to let you through early on in the race. Practice is never a true reflection of race pace.
Monaco is a circuit where anyone could win (bar Damon Hill) as it has high downforce and it's not all about top speed.
As much as I hate to say it, I wouldn't even rule out Alonso of a good qualifying position.