Monaco GP 2016 Free Practice and Qualifying

[FerrariF60]

It would seem, however hard it is to accept, that STR have designed a better chassis than us. Imagine if STR were running this years engine???? We have a lot of work to do. Our chassis is looking like the fourth best at the moment.

...OR imagine if we were crazy enough to give Red fools 2016 spec ferrari engines???? whey would probably be leading the championship

[FerrariF60]

Can't stretch their legs as in full power for 15 seconds and long straights? Monaco tests low speed traction, downforce driveability and also tests a drivers mettle and concentration. The circuit punishes any lapse in concentration from either the team or the driver. It is a true test of "the whole package" if there ever was one.

we surely don't seem to have that at the moment....not by a long shot

sadly this is the story behind the SF16H

[Gould]

Yep. Exactly. James Key at STR and the RBR team in Milton Keynes have done a better job so far. Our chassis looks to be going backward with every race. Lets keep our fingers crossed for a miracle coming out of Maranello!

[zike]

I wonder what will happen in the team if we are this bad

[zike]

I was wondering, how this car can be this bad, after all the loop holes, we are spending money in the wrong way

[stefa]

Hahahahahhah, will they ever get tired of this BS

I am wandering the same??!?!?

[From Treviso]

Seb got into the 1:15s in the morning with relative ease compared to the slower afternoon where he was embarrassing. However, it wasn't a qualifying session - they were obviously seeing how long they could get out of their tyres and brakes, which is important when it comes to pit stop strategies (not brakes). Maybe they made an error not focusing on qualy - but maybe that could help them during the race such as during a safety car period - do they come in or do they push their tyres to the end like last year. You never know!

[NickEice]

I am all aboard the Vettel train and I support him fully but boy has he made a boatload of mistakes since he has been a Ferrari driver. More than Fernando ever did combined in his time with us. Bahrain and Mexico last year, countless qualifying misses. Sloppy practice sessions. Makes you wonder what we could have had 2010-2013 with a car that was just a tenth or two faster. Also makes you appreciate what a spectacular driver Alonso was. Second all time to Schumi in my eyes, then again I wasn't really old enough to have appreciated Senna and Prost.

[NickEice]

do they come in or do they push their tyres to the end like last year. You never know!

The answer in Monaco is always STAY OUT! haha

[Kyss4k]

It's not only unsafe (no escape areas), boring (no overtaking) but does not really demonstrates the true potential of a F1 racer as cars can't really stretch their legs.

What? A) the lack of danger in current F1 is what makes it boring. B) It's not the circuit's fault that those cars can't overtake. It's a bad set of rules, where people scream for a change, but FIA is deaf about it C) Are you for real here? It's absolutly insane to watch the cars flying between the bariers! I could watch the tabac and swimming pool chicane all day long. This is a track, where cars and drivers will show how good they are, not tracks like Russia or Abu Dhabi. These are boring gimmicks, but sure... the most important thing is to be safe as sitting in a living room right? Tell that to the guys in MotoGP. Hell even football (socer) is more danagerous than F1 nowadays.

[Greig]

Even when the rules were great and we had overtaking, there was still very little overtaking at Monaco....

[doublesixes]

What? A) the lack of danger in current F1 is what makes it boring. B) It's not the circuit's fault that those cars can't overtake. It's a bad set of rules, where people scream for a change, but FIA is deaf about it C) Are you for real here? It's absolutly insane to watch the cars flying between the bariers! I could watch the tabac and swimming pool chicane all day long. This is a track, where cars and drivers will show how good they are, not tracks like Russia or Abu Dhabi. These are boring gimmicks, but sure... the most important thing is to be safe as sitting in a living room right? Tell that to the guys in MotoGP. Hell even football (socer) is more danagerous than F1 nowadays.

I don't think Button agrees with you regarding safety as his head was not so far away from a flying blunt object that belonged in a regular street, obviously not prepared to receive the premium category in motor sports.

Monaco (with Malaysia a close 2nd) was, is and will be the most boring GP of the calendar and I will celebrate the day it's cancelled. Of course, that will never happen because it still brings plenty of $$.

[Kyss4k]

I don't think Button agrees with you regarding safety as his head was not so far away from a flying blunt object that belonged in a regular street, obviously not prepared to receive the premium category in motor sports.

Monaco (with Malaysia a close 2nd) was, is and will be the most boring GP of the calendar and I will celebrate the day it's cancelled. Of course, that will never happen because it still brings plenty of $$.

So? It can happen in Australia, it can happen anywhere. There's a lot of things which can gt loose. Get over it.
Monaco is special. It may not be the best in terms of actual racing, but it is special. I love it. You hate it. But why would Bernie act due to your opinion?

[darkchild]

We have pushed more then ever with new chassis, but compared to RB not enough. Just from top of my head:

1) RB FW > Ferrari FW. Actually, we improved our FW just last race. We are late to the party.
2) Nose tip. The more space you have under it, more air passes to the rest of the car. Our nose is aggressive enough, but RBs is fantastic. There is a reason why they were so proud of that nose last year. And why they had 50+ crash tests.
3) Front suspension. Our front suspension is now pushrod like all others, but wishbones (connecting chassis to wheels) are not perfectly placed for maximum aero advantage like RB this year and Merc from last year. Why? I dont know. Plus, they are surprisingly thick. Thickness means more more weight and less air coming through to the sides of sidepods. Why this thick? Mechanical materials not as good as RBs/Merc therefore need to reinforce it with more thickness.
4) Sidepods. Sidepods need to be as low as possible, for less drag and more air coming over them (even though its a dirty air). They also have to have maximum undercut possible. RBs got both, ours are higher, thicker and there is quite a bit less undercut(where electronics are placed) meaning less air can pass to the diffuser.

All in all, these little things add up and its no wonder why they have faster car. And WILL continue to have it next year as well probably (read today they have a new most advanced simulator). Its over folks.

[Infi24r]

I am all aboard the Vettel train and I support him fully but boy has he made a boatload of mistakes since he has been a Ferrari driver. More than Fernando ever did combined in his time with us. Bahrain and Mexico last year, countless qualifying misses. Sloppy practice sessions. Makes you wonder what we could have had 2010-2013 with a car that was just a tenth or two faster. Also makes you appreciate what a spectacular driver Alonso was. Second all time to Schumi in my eyes, then again I wasn't really old enough to have appreciated Senna and Prost.

Vettel ran to Ferrari after being thoroughly thrashed by Ricciardo. What makes people think he's suddenly the best in the business? Alonso was absolutely incredible every year with the team. I said the same thing in 2014 when Ferrari started the wholesale clearance, this isn't in the teams best interest. Montezemolo made a fair point, the 2015 car was largely done under his team, 2016 is the real test for the new team.

The car is going backwards. Since all the other teams are bringing their chassis upgrades on stream Ferrari is falling further and further down the order.

[Giallo 550]

I am all aboard the Vettel train and I support him fully but boy has he made a boatload of mistakes since he has been a Ferrari driver. More than Fernando ever did combined in his time with us. Bahrain and Mexico last year, countless qualifying misses. Sloppy practice sessions. Makes you wonder what we could have had 2010-2013 with a car that was just a tenth or two faster. Also makes you appreciate what a spectacular driver Alonso was. Second all time to Schumi in my eyes, then again I wasn't really old enough to have appreciated Senna and Prost.

I am right there with you. Alonso's 2012 season was FLAWLESS!

[darkchild]

Vettel ran to Ferrari after being thoroughly thrashed by Ricciardo. What makes people think he's suddenly the best in the business? Alonso was absolutely incredible every year with the team. I said the same thing in 2014 when Ferrari started the wholesale clearance, this isn't in the teams best interest. Montezemolo made a fair point, the 2015 car was largely done under his team, 2016 is the real test for the new team.

The car is going backwards. Since all the other teams are bringing their chassis upgrades on stream Ferrari is falling further and further down the order.

Yea...he was great except when he was beaten by rookie or when Trulli was pretty much matching him for 2 years until team fired him. Not that Alonso is not amazing driver, its just that these stories happened to everyone.

Ric is extremely fast driver, if Vet was not 100% on top of his game loss is nothing surprising.

[Giallo 550]

Yea...he was great except when he was beaten by rookie or when Trulli was pretty much matching him for 2 years until team fired him. Not that Alonso is not amazing driver, its just that these stories happened to everyone.

Ric is extremely fast driver, if Vet was not 100% on top of his game loss is nothing surprising.

It's also the law of averages. He went on a four year run and had to come back down to Earth at some point.

[Infi24r]

Yea...he was great except when he was beaten by rookie or when Trulli was pretty much matching him for 2 years until team fired him. Not that Alonso is not amazing driver, its just that these stories happened to everyone.

Ric is extremely fast driver, if Vet was not 100% on top of his game loss is nothing surprising.

That happened to Alonso in his third year and over a decade ago. People forget how inexperienced Fernando was when he joined F1, he had just 24 car races under his belt. By 2010+ Alonso was just on another level. Vettel has made a lot of errors since he's been with the Scuderia. People overlooked them because he got the wins last year, but with the team falling back the errors are increasing. He'll want to start really putting Kimi in his place.

[darkchild]

That happened to Alonso in his third year and over a decade ago. People forget how inexperienced Fernando was when he joined F1, he had just 24 car races under his belt. By 2010+ Alonso was just on another level. Vettel has made a lot of errors since he's been with the Scuderia. People overlooked them because he got the wins last year, but with the team falling back the errors are increasing. He'll want to start really putting Kimi in his place.

Alonso was amazing in years with us, no denying that. But Vettel was as well last year, he literally had 2 scrappy races in entire year. Dismantled Kimi in qualis and race, won 3 races for us and put us on pole in dry session first time in 5 years. He had scrappy beginning of a year, but lets wait and give him a chance. Again, he was almost perfect last year. Driver of season by many...

On the other hand, these bad performances happen, that is my point. It happened 9 years ago? Tough luck, Alonso 9 years ago was every bit as good as in his races for Ferrari, but admittedly Hamilton is mad fast on qualifying and Alonso was never that quick.

[Infi24r]

Alonso was amazing in years with us, no denying that. But Vettel was as well last year, he literally had 2 scrappy races in entire year. Dismantled Kimi in qualis and race, won 3 races for us and put us on pole in dry session first time in 5 years. He had scrappy beginning of a year, but lets wait and give him a chance. Again, he was almost perfect last year. Driver of season by many...

On the other hand, these bad performances happen, that is my point. It happened 9 years ago? Tough luck, Alonso 9 years ago was every bit as good as in his races for Ferrari, but admittedly Hamilton is mad fast on qualifying and Alonso was never that quick.

Hamilton is the only drive who has ever outqualified Alonso during their time together and his margins over other drivers have been equally embarassing. For instance he was much further ahead of Kimi in qualifying than Vettel has been. This "alonso can't qualify" stuff is rubbish. How often did Massa ever out qualify him? Basically never.

[Kristof_F40]

Alonso was amazing in years with us, no denying that. But Vettel was as well last year, he literally had 2 scrappy races in entire year. Dismantled Kimi in qualis and race, won 3 races for us and put us on pole in dry session first time in 5 years. He had scrappy beginning of a year, but lets wait and give him a chance. Again, he was almost perfect last year. Driver of season by many...

On the other hand, these bad performances happen, that is my point. It happened 9 years ago? Tough luck, Alonso 9 years ago was every bit as good as in his races for Ferrari, but admittedly Hamilton is mad fast on qualifying and Alonso was never that quick.

I think Alonso never had a car that was quick in qualy since 2007..
Remember his 2 pole positions in 2012? Yes it was raining, but damn, those laps... The thing with Fernando was: he didn't disappoint you (or me), he was there, he was fighting, no mather what... I remember 2012, our car was so much of the pace.. RBR, McLaren and Lotus were faster for sure.. But he was there fighting.. Why? Because he didn't gave up, he took everything out of the car, made great starts and fought like hell.. I was yelling every single race till the last because he was fighting for the championship..

Monaco 2013 was his worst race for Ferrari in my opinion.. That's one in 5 years where I could have been disappointed..

People are giving him trash about him not being good on one lap, but perhaps it's like that, he isn't that young anymore, but he also hasn't had the car for it..

In my opinion, there is no doubt he is the best driver in F1 at the moment, and for sure one of the all time greatest.. He just didn't had the "luck"/benefit of being in a dominating car for long enough..
Schumi had some dominating Ferrari's, but also less dominating car for his titles. Senna and Prost also had dominating cars for a lot of there championships, same with Vettel and Hamilton, ... Not to take anything away from these drivers, but Fernando could easily have had 5 titles.. But he hasn't.. He should have, the man deserves it.. If we hadn't had him during 2010-2014, that would have been even harder to watch..
Look at Felipe, a lot of people were giving him trash, a lot of people were saying Bottas was the real deal.. Massa isn't doing a worse job than Bottas... Still Alonso completly trashed him..

[Kristof_F40]

Hamilton is the only drive who has ever outqualified Alonso during their time together and his margins over other drivers have been equally embarassing. For instance he was much further ahead of Kimi in qualifying than Vettel has been. This "alonso can't qualify" stuff is rubbish. How often did Massa ever out qualify him? Basically never.

Also, 2007 was Alonso's worst season because of circumstances.. and Hamilton (who also had the fastest car and had put a lot of testing miles on it, and the Bridgestone tyres, and for sure is a great driver) matched him

[Nick Singer]

FWIW, I'll be amazed if there are no big accidents on Sunday. With the HAM/ ROS rivalry, RBs trying to get ahead of us and so much difficulty overtaking it looks likely.
Start on the front row, lead into the first corner and stay clear of trouble to win - assuming no back marker has you off and tyres/ brakes OK.
A lottery.

[Gould]

No SF car will be on the front row I'm afraid. We will qualify 5th and 6th. Let's hope both can stay out of trouble and move up as the front runners take each other out ;)

[Nick Singer]

No SF car will be on the front row I'm afraid. We will qualify 5th and 6th. Let's hope both can stay out of trouble and move up as the front runners take each other out ;)

Oh, I didn't mean us!! Again, I'll be surprised if there aren't some big incidents come Sunday..

[Kristof_F40]

FWIW, I'll be amazed if there are no big accidents on Sunday. With the HAM/ ROS rivalry, RBs trying to get ahead of us and so much difficulty overtaking it looks likely.
Start on the front row, lead into the first corner and stay clear of trouble to win - assuming no back marker has you off and tyres/ brakes OK.
A lottery.

The thing is:
Merc come back from 2xDNF, they both want to finish the race, ofcourse win it, but also finish it.. So I don't expect hem taking to much risk.. Obviously they are going to push very hard in qualy to get P1&P2..
RBR come back from an unsurprised win, and they have good pace here.. If they don't win here it's a loss in my opinion.. It's a great chance.. So they are going to give it their all.. So if RBR starts on front row and Merc second, I don't really see Merc doing to much crazy things.. Perhaps try somethng on strategy, in that way we need to be up there because Merc can't do well for both drivers if they are P3&P4 perhaps we can snatch away a position of them.. However if RBR starts on second row, I see them taking a lot of risk on start, because that will be the only chance they'll have..

I don't see us beating Mercs or RBR on Saturday so.. Hopefully we are right behind them and have a clean race..

[KimiBot]

Oh, I didn't mean us!! Again, I'll be surprised if there aren't some big incidents come Sunday..

Yes, there are RIC/VER, ROS/HAM and KVY/SAI who are fighting. Something just must happen.


also rumours in this weekend that Massa and Button are out after 2016

[Kristof_F40]

Yes, there are RIC/VER, ROS/HAM and KVY/SAI who are fighting. Something just must happen.


also rumours in this weekend that Massa and Button are out after 2016

Some people suggestion Button going to Williams.. That doesn't make any sence in my opinion.. Also why should Williams ditch Felipe? He's doing a good job compared to Bottas and give the team a lot more money in sponsorships I think..

[Stormsearcher]

Some people suggestion Button going to Williams.. That doesn't make any sence in my opinion.. Also why should Williams ditch Felipe? He's doing a good job compared to Bottas and give the team a lot more money in sponsorships I think..

You are assuming Williams will sack Felipe. What if Bottas is leaving? To RBR perhaps.