I just followed the victory of DC at Monaco via lap-by-lap on www.formula1.com website. Even online the race was exciting. I'll definitely enjoy watching later today on ABC at 3:30pm EST.

With MS pressure after the last stop, I was hopeing DC or his car would not break under the pressure. I'll wait until I see RB's driving around KR before I make comment. But he did recieve a prompt stop-n-go penalty for contact with KR. I don' know if it was really worth the last place single point at the time.

Norm
C32 - Michelin Pilots

 

MS said that the best man won. In fact DC thanked Michael during the FIA press conference. What is even more to MS benefit is the fact that 2nd, 3rd and 4th places in the World Championship are neck and neck with RS at 27 pts, JPM 27 pts and DC 20 pts. The Canadian GP should be interesting to see if RS can pull away from JPM. The BAR Honda team will have a radically new car for the event. RB really messed up with KR. One thing is certain is that Ferrari did not mess up with their decision at the A-1. With that, we will never know whether DC's win was again by Ferrari team orders. MS was really by far the fastest most consistent driver on the circuit. Unfortunately I will will not be going to the Canadian GP as I will be in Europe. The Montreal GP is one of the best venues for a GP. Great restaurants and atmosphere during the GP week. Truly an international event.

2002 Monaco Grand Prix results

1 COULTHARD McLaren Mercedes 1h45m39.055s
2 M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari +1.050s
3 R.SCHUMACHER Williams BMW +1m17.450s
4 TRULLI Renault +1 lap
5 FISICHELLA Jordan Honda +1 lap
6 FRENTZEN Arrows Cosworth +1 lap
7 BARRICHELLO Ferrari +1 lap
8 HEIDFELD Sauber Petronas +2 laps
9 IRVINE Jaguar +2 laps
10 DE LA ROSA Jaguar +2 laps
11 WEBBER Minardi Asiatech +2 laps
12 BERNOLDI Arrows Cosworth +2 laps
13 SALO Toyota +8 laps
14 MASSA Sauber Petronas +14 laps
15 PANIS BAR Honda +26 laps
16 BUTTON Renault +26 laps
17 MONTOYA Williams BMW +31 laps
18 VILLENEUVE BAR Honda +33 laps
19 RAIKKONEN McLaren Mercedes +36 laps
20 YOONG Minardi Asiatech +48 laps
21 SATO Jordan Honda +55 laps
22 MCNISH Toyota +62 lap

 

I love it when they stick it to Michael!

 

I love RS comment when asked about JPM letting him by during the press conference. The press got a chuckle out of RS comment saying the pass was not team orders. I'd love to have seen MS face.

If you watch the closing laps between MS and DC, MS was never close enough to pass but within feet of DC's rear wing coming out of the turns. If you have ever had a car on a track or roadcourse you will understand how important setting the car up for the quickest exit out of a corner and to make the pass on braking. It was never to be and DC never faltered. There was never any light just to squeek by even when passing lap traffic.

McLauren/Mercedes did their home work and had a driver to bring it home. This style course is just handling and power and very little aerodynamics. It looks like McLauren has all the pieces to the puzzle but just needs to put them together a bit more often. Bu this is only one race and McLauren needs to put together a few more races like this in order to see that DC stays in the race for the second drivers position.

Glad to see RB got the big goose egg. RS might win the next next one but I think JPM, barring any technical problems, will nudge out RS.

Norm

 

Glad to see DC win, but it shouldn't have taken him, or McLaren for that matter to win a GP.

 

ABC's coverage was pitiful. First 20-minutes an infomercial for Red-Bull's search for an American GP driver (Who the frip cares?) Then they cut about ten laps from the race coverage (throughout) to end on time. Lame, really.

Once DC passed JPM, the race was over, as it is with any race at Monaco. MS tried to push DC into a mistake, but DC wasn't ruffled, to DC's credit. To bad Mercedes is letting McLaren down in the rest of the tracks where HP matters.

 

the engine is not so down on power as people think...the real problems with the car are : reliability...tires...and aerodynamics.
In Monaco....MB got the reliability right...Michelin had the right tires and Ferrari's superior aero package was not a factor...plus DC drove brilliantly.

 

One of my favorite GPs - I'll be there this year .

Regarding the Monaco GP - I was sweating bullets when DC's engine began to smoke about 1/3 of the way in. This was attributed to a temporary problem with the oil transfer tank on his MP4-17. The team was able to solve the problem, using the bi-directional telemetry systems that were introduced at the start of the season (FSS service on the fly!). Fortunately, at Monaco the same traction control that prevented good result last year worked wonderfully off of the line this year.

I agree with reliability and tires being an issue this year. The tire engineers claim that lap speeds can change by as much as 1-2 seconds depending on the tire choice. The cool weather seen for most of the races so far has hampered the Michelein runners. I think, however, the power issue is probably more important than aerodynamics. Most of the paddock beleives that this year's McLaren is the best car that Adrian Newey has designed with respect to handling and aerodynamics. Unfortuntately for him, it ended up being a development year for the Mercedes motor. At the last race, McLaren was running very little wing in attempt to get more straight-line speed (and compromising handling in the slow sections), even with less wing the McLarens were consistently only sixth or seventh fastest through the speed traps. This is indicitive of an engine down on top-end power. Combined with the fact that the McLaren was competitive in Monaco, shows that the MB motor probably has good low-end power and torque to allow it to pull good out of the corners and hold MS at bay for the final part of the race.

I remember before the San Marino Grand Prix I predicted that McLaren's best hopes for a win this season were at Monaco and Hungary, since the power disadvantage wouldn't be as much problem on tracks where a good handling car is key. Hopefully, MB/Ilmor is on track for finding more top-end power and McLaren can obtain a good result at some of the other tracks.

Cheers, BT