New F1 season kicks off this weekend (Page 26 of 33)

I actually think that Perez's accident highlighted what is wrong with F1...Money before sport/racing. - Perez was racing today whilst others were on a 72 lap parade, even Vettel said as much himself on the last lap, and yes the only thing that kept from previous accidents was the other drivers giving way, but they reason that they did that was because the track is too narrow for proper side by side racing. - I have ridden a motorbike around those roads and that was hard enough to keep online and hit apex. Jensen even said something along these lines post race.

Monaco is seen as some sort of racing haven, - but the sport has moved on for a lot of circuits like Brands Hatch, but sadly for them they cannot pay Ecclestone as much money. Too many people at Monaco there to be seen and not for the racing as evidenced by the people on the balcony at the Rascasse restaurant today clearly visible not looking at the cars going by...moan over.

thanks for that info, - made me do a bit of research, this is interesting:

http://www.espn.co.uk/monaco/motorsport … 17098.html

this is 2010 article but says that they pay no fees and keep all advertising revenue!

Wow, better deal than I even thought.

I remember when I was last there in the 80's talking with someone from one of the teams then, ATS I thik it was, and he said then that Monte paid nothing, but I thought Bernie had a deal on the advertising. Looks like from that article he even had to forego that!

I would say that must hurt but then again, he can use Monaco as the hook to catch so many fish, because sponsors and promoters go there at his invitation see and feel the glamour and believe they can have that too, in Timbuktu.

So, as that article points out, Monaco is massivley important for F1, even if the race is an irrelevance. Interesting too that even in this unfortunate Tyre saving era, pole and a single lap there is still the most important thing to have.

I see from various articles Kimi now thinks punching Perez is the only way to knock sense into him! I was surprised Button complimented his overtaking moves on himself and Alonso, and Mclaren typically backed their man too. Monaco is a PR excercise and the teams priorties should be both cars get to the finish and get points. Fighting at Monaco is a dumb idea and it will end in the wall. I know that isn't racing, but Monte Carlo isn't racing and Ian's article find explains why.

Perez has to accept to get the respect of his peers (and the room he craves on the track) he needs to play their game their way, at least for a time, or he's gonna get hung out to dry every time.

I see Grosjean blames Ricciardo for their race ending crash. He says he followed him for 61 laps and could see his tyres going off but didn't expect him to brake so early. Whaaaaat? Romain had 4 crashes over the weekend, pretty much all his own fault and then he whacks someone up the back in the braking zone for a chicane. I worry about the mental stability of some of these guys, I really do............

I must be reading the same book too .  Good for DC for speaking his mind.  Unfortunately I couldn't watch the GP but gathered Perez and Grosjean had been very naughty boys.  It's been a long time since a race got red-flagged although there's not a lot else can be done at somewhere like Monaco. 

Canada's up next!

You probably missed it but a Track Marshall was crushed and killed by a crane moving a car off the track. Sad instance for an otherwise good race.
Rick

As always at the start of the summer the rumour mill of who goes where begins. Lots of denials, smoke and mirrors.

The market seems to hang on the second Red Bull seat this year. Kimi is the only driver out of contract next year and with the Vettel/Webber fued finally out in the open, and rumours of Mark already having a Porsche sportscar deal, then one of the best drives is up for grabs.

Vettel isn't bothered apparantly who it is and Kimi is famously non-political, although it would be interesting to see how he would react to a 'Multi 21' transgression by Vettel. On the basis that he would like to see Perez punched in the face I suspect Seb wouldn't be trying that too often. Kimi will take the crash every time I should think - if only to make the point.

Maybe a switch to Lotus for Webber would also be good. They want a regular points scorer and Webber will certainly deliver that and wins if the car is good enough. Grosjean only has the rest of this season to impress. I hope he can otherwise F1 will lose potentially one of its fastest if slightly crashprone drivers.

Ricciardo is ready for promotion possibly, but then he will be a clear number 2 in the Massa mould. What about Massa? He only got a year extension to his deal and he is also out of contract. Word is that Nico Hulkenberg could be a likely contender for that seat. Not to challenge Alonso but to get the Scuderia more points and a better chance of a constructor win. Massa just doesn't get enough top six finishes.

So, Kimi to RBull, Webber to sportscars, Hulkenberg to Ferrari or Lotus, Massa back to Sauber (again) Bianchi to Sauber, Sutil to Lotus, Ricciardo and Vergne to RB senior or dropped altogether.

Its all shaping up nicely.

Ferrari normally go well there and it is time for them to come back and have a dominant weekend. They need to.

Weather good play a role. If it is cold then Ferrari might have an ace because they seem to warm the tyres up quickly, but then again it depends on the compounds. Pirelli have been stumped by the FIA from changing the structure so it could be back to 4 stops again to avoid the delamination problems. In a way I hope so as this might put a spoke in RBull for the weekend.

If its dry we can expect Merc to be well up in qualifying but then nowehere in the race again. Like you Lynn, would be great to see Kimi taking the honours with Sauber having a good run for a change. They and McLaren have had a very poor start.

I think Di Resta could have a good weekend. I expect to see him make Q3 this time out after the teams recent mishaps.

So here's to Kimi and Fernando fighting it out for the win, Lewis on the podium, Vettel binning it (unlikely but you never know) Di Resta and Hulkenberg getting good points, and anything other than Silverstone parking problems being in the news!

Last unrelated point. What a farce this Mercedes / Pirelli test rubbish is/was. Now Ferrari through their anonymous column 'Horse Whisperer' are denegrating the FIA's judgement against Mercedes. There was a breach of the rules by Mercedes, but it was one that could have and should have been picked up and identified by the FIA at the time so there is blame there also.

And who is Ferrari to get on its high prancing horse? Both they and the FIA talk about breaches of the sporting code. Selective memories again here. Is this the same FIA and Ferrari that struck a deal under Max Mosely's tenure to secretly allow Ferrari access to technical development applications from other teams so that they could block them if they felt they would not be able to develop something similar quickly enough? Where was the 'Sporting Code' then?

The FIA, despite its worthy work in vehicle safety, is a motorsport regulatory joke. Self serving and self interest being its primary function. At least Ferrari are racers and I don't blame them for getting whatever advantage they can, but lets keep it real and forget the 'sporting' bit. That went by the by a long time ago...................................

Mercedes have fallen foul of poor communication and regulation management. They have just been naive as have Pirelli, who quite frankly should tell F1 where to go. To have to accept a reprimand from the FIA over this must be as galling as being road side sobriety tested by a drunk police officer.

A great race once the end was in sight and a rare sunny day at Silverstone. Lucky none were hurt by the tire mess.
Rick