Track Torque: Who will sparkle in Monaco?
Qualifying is at 3pm on Saturday and the race is at 3pm on Sunday.
Monaco, as we all by now know, is the jewel in the Formula 1 crown.
It always draws the who’s who in show business as well as racing, to the rich principality and the harbour is always full of millionaires’ yachts which are also used as spectator viewing points.
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The track is one of the most demanding in the world, with precision the order of the day.
The drivers have to be centimetre perfect otherwise they end up in the wall and demolish their cars and this they have to repeat in the race for 78 gruelling and often nail-biting laps.
It is all about concentration as there is little or no run off area for errors to be made.
Mercedes come back from the Spanish Grand Prix fresh after a win there but can they do it again at Monte Carlo?
The Merc WO9 is a long-wheelbase car which we know is really more suited to longer and faster circuits and I believe it will be a big challenge for both Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas to make it work on the tight circuit.
On the other hand both Ferrari and Red Bull have cars which are more suited to the track, so we can expect really quick times from Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen in their Prancing Horses.
It’s the same situation with the terrible twins Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen with their Red Bull Renaults.
The qualifying record of 1 minute 12.178 by Kimi Raikkonen last year is likely to be eclipsed, provided that the weather stays dry.
It will be an all-out race before the race to get in a good qualifying performance as it is so hard to overtake at this circuit.
Because of the overtaking factor being so difficult, Monaco becomes an even more important place to gamble, no pun intended.
The teams therefore put a lot more effort into their planning strategies regarding tyre changes and which tyre they nominate to use, hence there can be plan A plan B etc., which can be changed at short notice.
Typically they will have different plans for each teammate, which means that one could score an advantage over the other through the maximisation of opportunities.
This is quite a headache for team managers, who need to make split-second decisions, thinking on their feet, all with the help of a cool-blooded computer.
This is one track where I don’t wish for it to rain as it makes overtaking even more difficult and raises the attrition rate, with more cars hitting the walls or barriers.
Qualifying is at 3pm on Saturday and the race is at 3pm on Sunday.
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