 A third place for Felipe Massa and a ninth
for Kimi Raikkonen was definitely not what Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro had
expected, given that the two F2008 started the Monaco GP from the front
row. However, the cliché about this event being a lottery in the rain
proved true today. The race was won by the McLaren-Mercedes of Lewis
Hamilton and ironically, his victory stemmed partly from an early
accident when he had to make an extra pit stop that worked in his favour
in the run of rain and safety car periods. Any chance our Brazilian
driver had of hanging onto victory disappeared when he made a slight
error in the treacherous conditions, spinning off at Ste Devote,
fortunately without doing any damage. Joining these two on the podium in
second place was BMW-Sauber's Robert Kubica. Kimi also had his share of
misfortune, including a spin and a "drive-through" penalty, because the
Stewards deemed there had been a rule infringement on the grid. Both our
drivers also lost out, switching to a strategy based on the rain
returning, a prediction which turned out to be false.
As far as the championships are concerned, the Scuderia still leads the
Constructors, but McLaren-Mercedes has jumped ahead of BMW-Sauber to go
second. In the Drivers' classification, Lewis Hamilton has moved into
the lead, three points ahead of Kimi, who has one more point than
Felipe.
As the cars set off on the formation lap, the rain was coming down and
expected to continue for a further twenty minutes, so everyone was on
rain tyres. Heikki Kovalainen's McLaren-Mercedes failed to get away for
the formation lap and was pushed back into pit lane, to start from
there. As the lights went out Massa got away cleanly into the lead,
however, Raikkonen was immediately passed by Lewis Hamilton.
Jenson Button pitted the Honda on the first lap after colliding with
Heidfeld's BMW, restarting with a new nose. As they came through the
spray to complete the third lap the order was Massa, Hamilton,
Raikkonen, Kubica, Alonso, Trulli, Glock, Heidfeld, Webber, Nakajima,
Coulthard, BArrichello, Sutil, Bourdais, Piquet, Vettel, Fisichella,
Kovalainen, Rosberg, who had just pitted for a new nose, with Button
twentieth and last. Timo Glock's Toyota spun completely on lap four,
touching the barriers on both sides of the track and had to pit for a
new nose.
On lap 6, second placed Hamilton clipped a barrier, damaging the right
rear wheel, forcing him to make a 9 second pit stop. This meant the
Ferraris were now running first and second, with Robert Kubica promoted
to third ahead of Fernando Alonso, with the English McLaren driver
fifth. Felipe led his team-mate by 11.5 seconds on lap 7, but the Finn
had his mirrors full of the BMW, as Kubica was just half a second behind
him. Alonso lost fourth place after he too hit the barriers in his
Renault and had to pit for a change of tyres.
Lap 8 saw more carnage, as David Coulthard crashed his Red Bull into the
barriers at Turn 3, to be hit by Sebastian Bourdais' Toro Rosso, to put
both men out of the race. This brought out the safety car while debris
was cleared away. One lap later, the timing screens announced that the
Stewards were investigating an incident involving car 1 (Raikkonen.) At
the end of lap 10 the Safety Car came in to leave the two Ferraris in
the lead ahead of Kubica, Hamilton, Heidfeld with Webber sixth.
Raikkonen was given a drive-thru penalty apparently because his "tyres
not fully fitted at the 3 minute signal." He came in for the penalty at
the end of lap 13 and rejoined in fourth place.
Meanwhile, Alonso drove into Heidfeld at the hairpin, causing a traffic
jam and sending Alonso back into the pits for a second new nose. On lap
16, Massa spun at Ste Devote which put Kubica into the lead, with Felipe
2.4s behind him. Hamilton was third, Raikkonen fourth, Heidfeld fifth
and Webber sixth. Lap 17, saw Heidfeld's BMW slow and crawl back to the
pits for another nose change. By lap 19, Massa had closed the gap to the
leader so he was now only 1.4s behind Kubica, with 9.9 seconds in hand
over Hamilton. Raikkonen was a further 3 seconds down and a comfortable
25.2 ahead of fifth placed Webber.
On lap 26, the leader refuelled in 8.9 seconds and next time round
Raikkonen, having spun, came in for a new nose, as well as fuel and
tyres. He was driving again after 16.1 seconds. On lap 28, Felipe was
back in the lead, but yet to pit and 17 seconds clear of Hamilton.
Raikkonen's problems had dropped him to sixth.
 Felipe's pit stop came at the end of lap 33, five laps short of half
distance. The Brazilian was stationary for 11.7 seconds. He came out in
second place, behind Hamilton who had yet to pit and only just in front
of Kubica. In the Force India, Giancarlo Fisichella's 200th Grand Prix
ended when he had to park his car at the side of the track. The most
exciting battle in the mid field was the fight for tenth place between
Piquet, Rosberg and Button. By lap 44, Hamilton had pulled out a lead of
25.3 seconds over Massa, who had 8.4 in hand over Kubica. The top six
was completed by Webber, Sutil and Raikkonen, with the Finn 66.5 seconds
behind the race leader. Piquet crashed out in the Renault at Ste Devote
on lap 50.
Third placed Kubica made his second stop on lap 54, while Adrian Sutil
came in from fourth for his one stop at the same time. They were
followed in by race leader Hamilton, stationary for 7.1 seconds, but he
still rejoined in the lead. Then on lap 57, Massa came in to pit lane
again to switch to dry weather tyres, followed in by his team mate who
did the same. With eighteen laps remaining, the order was Hamilton,
Kubica, Massa, Sutil, Raikkonen, Webber, Vettel Barrichello, and
Nakajima. Rosberg had been tenth but he had a very big crash at the
Swimming Pool that brought out the Safety Car again, until lap 68,
leaving a very short race ahead as by this stage the grand prix was just
eight minutes off its maximum two hours rule. Disaster for Raikkonen who
ran into the back of Sutil at the chicane, forcing him to crawl around
to the pits again, for another new nose.
 The race stopped after two hours, with 76 of the 78 laps completed. The
order was Hamilton, Kubica, Massa, Webber, Vettel, Barrichello,
Nakajima, Kovalainen, Raikkonen ninth, Alonso, Button, Glock, Trulli and
Heidfeld 14th and last.
Stefano Domenicali: "Yesterday, after a great
qualifying, it was easy for us to act like prophets foreseeing a
possible lottery for today's race, given the weather forecast. We cannot
deny we are disappointed with this definitely negative outcome, the
result of a combination of errors on our part and bad luck. We got off
on the wrong foot, with an infringement of the rules in preparing Kimi's
car on the grid, minutes before the start, which resulted in a drive
through penalty for the driver. Then we decided to switch our strategy,
going for a one-stop race, on the basis that we expected the rain to
return and this did not happen. With hindsight is it easy to say we
should have made different choices, but the reality is that, at every
level, we did not meet our usual high standards. After this long
preamble, the overall picture at the end of the first third of the
season is still a positive one. We have taken four wins and the same
number of poles from six races and we are still solidly in the lead of
the Constructors' classification, with Kimi and Felipe still in the hunt
for the lead in the Drivers.' Now we must look ahead and get as well
prepared as possible for the Canadian Grand Prix. Here we showed we were
capable of fighting for the lead and we want to do the same in Montreal,
another track that did not suit us so well last year."
Felipe Massa: "A shame to have ended up third because of a series
of events that did not go in our favour, which can easily happen in
these conditions and on this track. At the start, I was very quick and
the car was perfect, but then I made a mistake at the first corner,
braking on the yellow line and I lost a place to Robert. But after just
a few laps I was right behind him and I knew I could push harder. We
decided to switch strategies thinking the rain was going to return, but
this turned out to be the wrong choice. On full tanks and on a drying
track, the standard rain tyres did not have the same grip as the ones my
nearest rivals were using. On top of that, there was a radio blackout
between the car and the pits for part of the race. Given everything that
happened, these six points are still important in light of the
championship: we have only got through the first third of the season and
there is still a long way to go."
Kimi Raikkonen: "A very poor race for me, right from the off.
There was a problem with a wheel before the start and we broke the
rules, which meant I was given a drive-through penalty. During the race,
my main problem was trying to get the tyres to work as well as possible.
Then we decided to change the strategy as we expected it to rain again,
but it didn't happen. Twice I had to change the nose after breaking the
front wing. So, as you can see, a long run of things going wrong which
explains the 0 points. I am sorry for Sutil, who I hit with just a few
laps to go. I lost control of the car under braking coming out of the
tunnel and I could do nothing to avoid him. It's a shame how things went
today, as we had the potential to do well. It's true that I've lost the
championship lead, but I always said the championship would be a very
long one. Now we must prepare as well as possible for Canada where we
will try to make up for this disappointment."
Luca Baldisserri: "We are very disappointed with this result
which is definitely below our level of expectation. We made mistakes
which we have to look at to ensure we don't do the same again and we
also made a few strategy choices, which all things considered turned out
to be wrong even if it easy to be wise after the event. We must draw the
right conclusions from this weekend, without colouring our judgement
with emotion. We showed we were competitive on a track that
traditionally has not suited us, but we did not work at our usual high
standard. In less than a fortnight we will face a similar challenge in
Montreal, where in 2007, we had problems. We really want to make up for
today's disappointment."
Source - Ferrari Media |
