The Monaco Grand Prix, for all its glamour and history, remains an event so far removed from modern Formula One circuits. Yesterday’s event, with the exception of Sergio Perez, Adrian Sutil and Lewis Hamilton, was largely F1 No Racing. Not that it wasn’t interesting, entertaining or dramatic, mind.
The constraints of the principality allied with the need for extreme tyre management ensured the race played out pretty much as we all thought it would, but this time Mercedes – coincidentally or not after having a private test leading up to the race – held on to their tyres and Nico Rosberg took a dominant win.
Hamilton should have joined him on the podium but inexplicably dropped back too far under the safety car and lost position to Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber, thereby ruining his afternoon.
Tyre management is nothing new in Formula One. Each era brings with it different challenges, different innovations, and along with DRS, KERS and V8 engines comes the impossibility for drivers to go hammer and tongs for two hours on a Sunday afternoon. I’ve already described it as a ‘test match on wheels‘. (You could have all sorts of metaphor fun with linking countless overtakes to sixes in the IPL and the like but that’s for another day.)
Vettel was told to calm down after finding 2 seconds of time towards the end for a fastest lap. “No points for that,” he was told, but it might just make things a bit more interesting if, say, 5 points were awarded for the fastest lap, even if it resulted in everybody going for a mad dash towards the end.
Back to the action behind the leaders, and Perez had another eventful afternoon. Racy enough against Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso, in Kimi Raikkonen he met a man who was not going to be messed about with. At least not twice. Perez complained that he had nowhere to go, but his right foot did – on to the brake pedal.
Another man reverting to type was Romain Grosjean. His contract is reportedly reviewed every three races. I could go to Monaco and crash four times in four days so I shall be putting my application in the post, although there may be others slightly more qualified than me who get a shot at it. Kovaleinen perhaps?
Button and Alonso had the last laugh as by keeping their noses clean (although there was a tiny bit of contact between them at the hairpin) they finished the race and picked up some points. Raikkonen produced a stunning final few laps to pick up the final point while Perez pulled off with six laps remaining. Quick and racy he may be, but he still has an awful long way to go to prove himself anything like a complete racing driver.
Something you certainly couldn’t level against Rosberg, whose victory was never really in doubt. Three poles this season and now a fine win has certainly put those of us who thought Hamilton would come in and drive all over him in their place.