NOTEBOOK – Monaco Practice
Both the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton and the Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel topped the times in Thursday practice ahead of the Monaco Grand Prix. In FP1, Hamilton was a tenth faster than Vettel, while in FP2 Vettel was half a second faster than former Red Bull team-mate Daniel Ricciardo.
Mercedes v Ferrari v Red Bull
Many are expecting this weekend to be a three-way team fight because the type of circuit Monte Carlo is means good mechanical grip and not engine performance is key this weekend. We know Mercedes and Ferrari have the speed, but Monaco isn’t about that, it is about downforce.
Red Bull we know are good with their aero package, but Daniel Ricciardo and Vettel say the Mercedes’ pace was perplexing, but he is expecting all three teams to be in the fight on Saturday.
Ricciardo told Autosport “Obviously this morning they looked strong, particularly Lewis, and then this afternoon it kinda looked like they put more fuel in the car or something. We’ll see. If that’s genuine then it reminds me a little bit of Singapore ’15.”
“There’s a few little things that I definitely want to work on, but generally we are in that window where we need to be and not a second off or anything, so that’s promising.
Setup mistakes
Well Mercedes have already admitted the reason they lost that pace between FP1 and FP2 was because of changes in the way they set up the car. Hamilton topped FP1, but fell to eighth in FP2 being 1.1 seconds off the pace. Both teams were on the supersoft.
Hamilton told Sky Sports “We were good in P1 but something went wrong in this session. We need to figure out why. The car was handling really good this morning but this afternoon, for whatever reasons, the tyres weren’t working. That’s something we have to study and figure out to fix for Saturday.”
Team boss Toto Wolff has accepted Mercedes had made a mistake with their set-up changes but said they had to stick with it throughout the session in order to get track running.
He added “We couldn’t back out of it. We committed to the set-up as it takes longer than a session to change and we decided to push through and collect some data. There was a lack of grip and we went out of the window everywhere. We were pretty competitive in the morning and we just need to back track it.”
Button’s back
Jenson Button returned to the cockpit for his first taste of F1 in 2017. Button was to tenths down on Stoffel Vandoorne in FP1 and both were outside the top ten in FP2. Button doesn’t appear to have lost any of his pace and him being able to beat Vandoorne.
McLaren know this is their best chance in the early part of the season for them to score points. Button says heading out after that absence “felt very natural to start with”, and understanding how to use the extra performance on offer took over in the afternoon session.
He told Motorsport.com ““In FP1, I found my feet pretty quickly, FP2 was a bit trickier because there was so much more grip and it’s just very different to what I’ve experienced for the last seven years.”
“I’m braking for corners and I just feel like I’m gonna be in the barriers. It’s strange initially, but I’m definitely getting to grips with it. High-speed is so much fun, the first part of the Swimming Pool is flat – I can’t remember the last time it was flat, it probably hasn’t ever been for me.”
Stroll crashes out
Williams lance Stroll crashed out in FP2 being the first real crash of the weekend. Stroll comes into Turn Three and the car appears just to keep going straight on as he runs along the barrier. He may have locked up as he reached the top of the hill.
When asked by Motorsport.com what happened, he said: “I just sent it in, kind of looking for the limit. I lost the rear and got into the dirt a little bit – typical street circuit mistake. If you don’t touch the wall in Monaco, you’re not on the limit. At least I knew I was pushing, I know where I need to be on Saturday and I have FP3 to get back into it.”
Hulkenberg
Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg says he is scratching his head because of the teams slump in performance during practice. The german failed to set a time in FP1 because of a suspected electronics issue and finished only seventeenth quickest in the second session.
He told Motorsport Week “I’d like to know also… I don’t know, I can’t tell you at this moment, I’m scratching my head as well. I’m a bit surprised with the car and the balance that I’ve found and the grip in FP2, which was very poor and far away from where I expected it to be.”
“So we need to really investigate what is going on, I’m sure something is not right, because it felt really poor out there. It’s not just that I’m struggling with the balance a lot and confidence in the car but also the grip from the tyres… what we get seems really odd and poor.”
RELATED
- MONACO GP – Vettel tops second practice by half a second over Ricciardo
- MONACO GP – Hamilton tops the times by a tenth over Vettel in first practice
- TFTV – Monaco first wins special
- Data Profile – Monaco Grand Prix
- Preview – Monaco Grand Prix
Leave a Reply