GP Monaco: Donkeys and Knights

[A FONDO]

My donkeys listed with reducing donkey-ness:
Grojan
Maldonado
Perez
Button
Hamilton+McL pit crew
Kimi

Knights (with reducing mightiness):
Webber
Rosberg
Alonso
Vettel
the two Indias

[gm99]

Donkeys: The STR crew for throwing away a sure 7th place finish

[Dave B]

Donkeys: The STR crew for throwing away a sure 7th place finish
I have a feeling they were pawns in a larger Red Bull experiment.

[F1boat]

Knights - Mark and Seb
Donkey - Jenson

[AndyL]

Donkeys: The STR crew for throwing away a sure 7th place finish

Think Vergne was one of the earliest to pit, they probably had no choice but to stop again, which would put them out of the points anyway so worth a gamble.

[wedge]

Driver of the Day: Kovy

Donkey of the Day: Maldonado

[ShiftingGears]

I have a feeling they were pawns in a larger Red Bull experiment.

If that was the case I think they would have made the call with Ricciardo, who I believe was still in the race at that point.

[N4D13]

Think Vergne was one of the earliest to pit, they probably had no choice but to stop again, which would put them out of the points anyway so worth a gamble.
But he stopped just a few laps before the end of the race. Even if he was going to lose time, he would have probably been able to keep the car on the track and avoid losing many positions. In the end, it didn't really make a difference.

My donkey of the weekend is Maldonado, for rather obvious reasons. As for DotD, I'd give it to Mark, Fernando and Vettel. SlowSon has pointed at the McLaren pit crew, but I don't see what they've done wrong. Hamilton didn't lose track position to Alonso due to a poor pitstop, but because Alonso put in a magnificient lap and broke the S1 and S2 records before pitting. In the end, he rejoined the track clearly in front of Lewis, so much that Hamilton's pitstop didn't really make a difference.

[AndyL]

Donkey of the race: the rain gods, half an hour late :(

[Dave B]

Donkey of the Weekend must be Maldonado: he was moronic taking a swipe at Perez and then drove into the back of an HRT on the first lap.

Button gets an honourable mention for making such a hash of passing Heikki's Caterham, the director seemed to miss him finally going off into the escape road.

Grosjean is also a candidate for his collision with Schuey but in his defence he did appear to be squeezed out by Alonso. Perez, too, should be mentioned for his last-moment change of direction into the pitlane, which rightly earned him a drive-through.


Driver of the race must be Webber, he drove no faster than he needed to and managed his tyres and fuel perfectly. Vettel benefited from clever strategy to go from 8th to 4th, and Rosberg and Alonso deserve credit for hanging on to Mark and finishing within a few seconds.

[AndyL]

But he stopped just a few laps before the end of the race. Even if he was going to lose time, he would have probably been able to keep the car on the track and avoid losing many positions. In the end, it didn't really make a difference.

Ah, Ted just covered it on Sky. Vergne had not used both types of tyre so that's why he had to stop again. Their mistake as it turned out was to commit too early to the 2-stop strategy.

[Tazio]

I'm giving DOTD to Vettel Alonso and Webber. Vettel made up the most positions at the sharp end, one more than Alonso. It is hard to tell if Mark was just controlling the race from the front or if he had five guys behind him that were faster. Never the less a great victory Webber out gunning Finger boy. :p : Honorable mention to Massa for not only having a great race, but doing it with the weight of the world on his shoulders. Donkey has to be Maldo just because ;) , and a WTF to Button who is mysteriously falling off form. :confused:

[Dave B]

Ah, Ted just covered it on Sky. Vergne had not used both types of tyre so that's why he had to stop again. Their mistake as it turned out was to commit too early to the 2-stop strategy.
Indeed. Had it rained a few minutes earlier they could have been looking at a top-five finish, so it was a gamble worth taking with pretty much nothing to lose considering they had to stop whatever.

[gm99]

Okay, I withdraw my nomination of STR then :)

[A FONDO]

http://zend2.com/bro.php/HLpXX2QG/0LAaD0Pz/s_2F6ymz/YQqPZChq/4_2FG36W/S2_2BJQQ/pcsekYcn/2fv6o2bS/6JkZM7/b13/

[steveaki13]

I have a feeling they were pawns in a larger Red Bull experiment.

Ricciardo was running in 11th or 12th then, so it would have been him.


If that was the case I think they would have made the call with Ricciardo, who I believe was still in the race at that point.

This


Ah, Ted just covered it on Sky. Vergne had not used both types of tyre so that's why he had to stop again. Their mistake as it turned out was to commit too early to the 2-stop strategy.


That explains it all anyway


Okay, I withdraw my nomination of STR then :)

Although surely they should have put on the dry tyre still. As a certain ex driver/commentator says:

Always be on the right tyre. If he had put on dry's he would have still been in contention and if the rain came then he everyone would have pitted.

As it was they took a gamble too early

[steveaki13]

Donkeys:

Maldonado - A stupid move on Perez, to get himself at the back, then didn't notice the turn 1 chaos and just ran into the back of Pedro's HRT.

Button - He has had such a strange season, and now he is on the slide. A poor Qualifying, got no where in the race and made mistakes when trying to clear Heikki.

Toro Rosso - For the stupid decision to put inters on, when the track was almost totally dry.

[steveaki13]

Knights:

Webber - A good drive, did just enough to stay ahead and didn't buckle under pressure.

Rosberg - Same as Mark, a good drive

Alonso- Another good drive for another podium.

Vettel - A good comeback from 9th with the different strategy.

Massa- After such a bad season, he done good this weekend.

di Resta & Hulkenberg - Amazingly solid drives, both kept it on the road and hardly saw them during the race, but a great haul of points.

Kovalainen - He drove really well and was on the pace of the midfield. Held up Button, Ricciardo and Perez earlier on, then battled hard v Button and Perez. Deserved a point today.

[Robinho]

Driver of the day, Webber, faultless imo. The rest of the top 6 (yes, even you felipe) get honourable mentions, as does Heikki, even if he was lucky to inherit the position in the melee at the start he defended it well and had good pace.

Donkey, Maldanado for the whole weekend

Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using Tapatalk 2

[DexDexter]

Donkeys: Button for whining about Kovalainen's driving, Grosjean for once again colliding with somebody.

Knights: Heikki, Vettel.

[DexDexter]

On the BBC coverage Button said Heikii placed his car well and had good exits but was 2 seconds a lap slower than him. Button was pretty hard on himself for his poor qualifying and poor weekend overall. I didn't get a sense he was criticizing Heikki's driving but then again I'm aware these guys give interviews to many sources, but Jenson seemed downbeat but not blaming anyone.

Ok, maybe somebody overstated it somewhere I read it, wouldn't be the first time. Jenson didn't probably realise that finishing 12th could mean 10th place in the constructors for Caterham and that's worth millions.

[djparky]

Donkey- mmm well Button I guess and the Kimster seemed to do nothing but hold people up. I rather thought he might win this one

Knight- Heikki K for running so well for so much of the race

[tfp]

Knights - Webber and Heikki, especially the latter, I'd be proud if I owned a caterham now!
Donkeys - Custard, and the Mclaren strategy people.

Honourable mention to Massa for performing much better today than in previous races!

[aryan]

Driver of the race is Heikki for me. Mark drove a very measured race and controlled the race well, but no one drove beyond the capabilities of their car more than Heikki did.

Honourable mentions to Mark, Alonso and Vettel.

The donkeys (of the weekend) were: Maldonado, Perez, Kimi and Button. The latter two just didn't have the pace this week.

[longisland]

Donkey - Maldonado. He seems to have a long rap sheet in Monaco. It may be the crowd, the casino or the yachts that set him off. A session with a shrink would definitely help.

[The Black Knight]

The ultimate Donkey is Maldonado. Others in the running are McLaren pit crew for again costing Hamilton places through the pit stops and Mercedes for yet again providing Schumacher with a car that didn't last the race.

My drive of the race goes to Alonso.

[F1boat]

The situation with Jenson and Heikki reminded me the 2001 race, I think, in which Coulthard has great troubles with Bernoldi. So while I do not blame the defending driver I understand Jenson's frustrations and don't give much credit to Kovalainen - defending in Monte is not that hard. On the other hand, unlike David, who started from the back because of problems, Jenson has only himself to blame for his grid position.

[A FONDO]

http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/b-start-monaco-2012-b-2-886x570.jpg

[Knock-on]

Webber and Kovy stood out for their performances and Ross ges a mention too for a strategy that bought Seb back into a position his performance didn't warrent.

A few donks but Pastor gets a mention as does Button but perhaps Monaco gets a vote for being unsuitable as a F1 venue. Yes, I know about the history but really???

[F1boat]

F1 won't be the same for me without Monaco.

[driveace]

F1 won't be the same for me without Monaco.

Maybe it won't,but it is one of the worst tracks to overtake on ,if at all.The race was won at the start and in the pit stops,and it's a procession.Let's get to the tracks where we see proper racing and plenty of overtaking,instead of a procession

[Big Ben]

Maybe it won't,but it is one of the worst tracks to overtake on ,if at all.The race was won at the start and in the pit stops,and it's a procession.Let's get to the tracks where we see proper racing and plenty of overtaking,instead of a procession

there's more to f1 than overtaking... we have enough 'show' on other tracks.

leaving that aside... Maldonado would be the donkey... he really went from hero to zero in a spectacular fashion... as for driver of the race I think Webber, Rosberg, Alonso, Vettel and Kovalienen would all be strong contenders.

[airshifter]

http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/b-start-monaco-2012-b-2-886x570.jpg

I'd like to see the overhead video. The onboard did make it look like Roman had very little room. I have a sense that the above shot was after Fernando moved back over. With the contact Roman didn't have that option so quickly. Great shot either way though.

[Robinho]

You are right, it would be best to see a series of shots, this one comes after Alonso and grosjean come together and the track narrows on the outside

Sent from my HTC Desire HD A9191 using Tapatalk 2

[jens]

Regarding Grosjean I found this picture.

http://i49.tinypic.com/24digoy.jpg

Which indicates that he really didn't have much choice as Alonso wanted to get past Hamilton, which pushed Grosjean into Schumacher as a result.

[donKey jote]

well if the white and yellow lines run paralell for any distance, it would seem in the still from above, that Alonso is actually further left than he was in jens' pic...
Alonso had no space on his right (check out Ham's right wheel on the yellow line and Alonso's left on the white line), so it looks like Roman got spooked and moved a bit too far right, most likely not having seen MS there?
Unlucky his RL broke and not FA's, but such is life at Monaco.

[janneppi]

Unlucky his RL broke and not FA's, but such is life at Monaco.Not just unlucky, but very unfortunate. ;)

[donKey jote]

well if the white and yellow lines run paralell for any distance, it would seem in the still from above, that Alonso is actually further left than he was in jens' pic...
Alonso had no space on his right (check out Ham's right wheel on the yellow line and Alonso's left on the white line), so it looks like Roman got spooked and moved a bit too far right, most likely not having seen MS there?
Unlucky his RL broke and not FA's, but such is life at Monaco.

err...
Alonso only half a car further left, possibly after moving back though...
Roman a bit too far left, possibly due to Alonso's car also yawing left after the contact...

I'm a donkey :dozey:

Where's the overhead video ? :D

[donKey jote]

Not just unlucky, but very unfortunate. ;)

agreed :)
sort of :p

[airshifter]

err...
Alonso only half a car further left, possibly after moving back though...
Roman a bit too far left, possibly due to Alonso's car also yawing left after the contact...

I'm a donkey :dozey:



Where's the overhead video ? :D


The best I could figure from watching replays on the DVR, the contact with Alonso made Roman lose a bit of control and tossed him further left than he probably wanted to go. Considering that both Alonso and MS were as tight to Hamilton/the wall as they could be, he was just the guy stuck in the pinball machine for not backing out of it. It probably could have happened to any of them or tangled them all in one big mess.

[call_me_andrew]

Donkey: Race control.

For calling this a penalty.

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And for that delayed safety car deployment after the lap 1 crash.