NOTEBOOK – Monaco Practice
Lewis Hamilton and Red Bull’s Daniel Riccardo took a practice session each ahead of this weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix.
Bianchi
The off track talking point was the legal action being taken by Jules Bianchi’s family over his death in Japan 2014. They argue that the inquiry was wrong and the death was avoidable.
They claim errors were made in the “planning, timing, organisation and conduct of the race”, which they argue “took place in dangerous conditions during the typhoon season in Japan”.
The FIA inquiry concluded that a number of factors – the tricky conditions, Bianchi’s speed, and the presence of a crane – all contributed to the accident.
Mercedes
Money who says Mercedes will be the ones to win in Monaco but a lot will depend on qualifying because it’s very difficult to overtake on track. But a mistake could mean they could lose this race like we saw with Lewis Hamilton last year timing and a bad strategy will cost.
They both had problems in FP1 on track but Rosberg wasn’t his fault he brought up a drain cover causing a puncher. It will be sealed off most likely but on street circuits it’s a risk you can’t avoid.
Red Bull strong
Red Bull has been with the Ferrari’s in recent races and took victory last time out in Spain. Riccardo has been given a new engine going into this race by Renault which may be a factor but Max Verstappen wasn’t far off plus Monaco is low speed so engine power isn’t key here.
Riccardo told Sky Sports “Obviously we’ve got a good car around here as well. This track is certainly one where you can find a little bit more when you can push it on the limit.”
Accidents on track
Monte Carlo you expect accidents because the circuit is narrow and don’t have run off areas. Williams’s Felipe Massa who went off at turn one early on damaging the left-side of his car against the barriers.
He broke the rear suspension of his cars after turning into turn one and the rear end appeared to slide away from him because of the lack of grid from the tyres.
Jolyon Palmer was another casualty of the circuit after an error at Tabac better known as the swimming pool.
Qualifying Preview
Teams have a lot longer to prepare with no practice sessions tomorrow so they will be analysing the data from today. The session is one of the most important ones as its difficult to overtake and the battle will be Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull.
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