Monaco: Lap by Lap

HHF drives Monaco!
By pitpass.com (01/06/2003)
June 1 2003

Clear blue skies, bright sunshine welcome to Monaco, playground of the rich and famous and spiritual home to Formula One the ultimate high-octane 'soap opera'.

As reported elsewhere Jenson button will not be racing following his huge accident in free practice yesterday, although the Englishman is bitterly disappointed we feel that his team has made the right decision on this most demanding of circuits.

As we've said many times before to host an F1 race on this most unforgiving of circuits is absolute madness and if this were Scunthorpe, Wigan or even London it simply wouldn't happen.. but this is Monaco, a circuit that will never disappear from the F1 calendar EU or no EU.

As ever the big question mark over today's race is that bottleneck known as Ste Devote, the scene of so many mass pile-ups in the past, if they can get through there successfully first time around we have the makings of a great race.

The other big question is strategy, who was running light in qualifying - surely da Matta - and who is running heavy?

As the head off on the parade lap Ralf is slow getting away and Raikkonen heads off towards Ste Devote and up the hill, hopefully there won't be any come backs since the Finn had no choice.

The track is very dirty consequently during the opening laps ' caution' is the key.

A brilliant start from both WilliamsF1s as Raikkonen makes a right pigs ear of it, Alonso gets ahead of Coulthard while Trulli fails to nail Trulli.

Ralf begins to pull away from his team-mate and by the end of the lap leads by 2.2s, meanwhile Montoya appears to brush the wall as Frentzen takes a whole corner out of his Sauber as he collides with the Armco.

As the marshals attempt to remove the stricken Sauber the safety car is brought out. Ralf leads from Montoya, Raikkonen, Trulli, Schumacher, Alonso, Coulthard, Barrichello, Webber and da Matta. Elsewhere both Minardis have passed Panis, which gives us some idea of da Matta's fuel load.

The field continues round behind the safety car, which pulls off at the end of lap 4.

Montoya is all over his team-mate, the two WilliamsF1s pull away from the rest of the field. At the end of lap 5 Montoya has 1.5s over third-placed Raikkonen.

Ralf is giving it all he can, the German pushing hard but looking very confident. Throughout the field drivers hold station, nobody is prepared to take a risk, not here of all places. This is going to be about fuel strategy, make no mistake.

Ralf leads by 2.3s with Raikkonen 1.8s behind Montoya, the Finn gradually closing on the Colombian. At this point the biggest gap between any two cars is 3.5 between Trulli and Raikkonen.

Montoya is setting best times in various sectors as is Alonso however Raikkonen sets fastest lap of the race with a 1:17.572.

Barrichello sets the fastest lap of the race with a 1:17.415 while Montoya closes to within 1.9s of his team-mate while fending off the attention of Kimi Raikkonen.

1:17.396 fastest lap for Montoya as he brings the gap down to 1.5s, elsewhere Antonio Pizzonia's race comes to an end, another miserable weekend for the Brazilian.

Ralf answers back by posting a new fastest lap of 1:16.927 as he expands the gap over Montoya to 1.7s.

Webber is the first driver to pit - at the end of lap 14 - which gives us an idea as to Jaguar's strategy.

Montoya posts a new fastest lap as the first five are covered by 10s. As before drivers are holding station waiting for rivals to make a mistake.

Behind Raikkonen there's a 5s gap to fourth placed Trulli as Ralf posts a new fastest lap on lap 16, 1:16.105.

Following his pit stop Webber is behind Verstappen and now the Australian is all over the Dutchman who shows no sign of giving way, and why should he? On lap 16 Webber returns to the pits and climbs out his car, his race over. It's thought that he may have had a fuel -pick up problem, something which the team thought they'd cured.

1:15.827 another fastest lap for Montoya, the Colombian now 0.4s behind his team-mate.

Ralf leads from Montoya, Raikkonen, Trulli, Schumacher, Alonso, Coulthard, Barrichello, da Matta and Fisichella.

At the end of lap 20 Ralf pits, after 7.8s the German gets away rejoining in eighth behind Barrichello. Out front Montoya is setting a blistering pace posting a fastest lap of 1:15.166, faster than Ralf's pole time!

Next time around the Colombian pits, as do da Matta and Heidfeld. The Colombian exits the pits after 8.2s and rejoins behind Barrichello but ahead of his team-mate Ralf Schumacher.

Raikkonen now leads Jarno Trulli by 9.7s with Michael Schumacher third followed by Alonso, Coulthard, Barrichello, Montoya and Ralf. The Finn is having problems getting past Justin Wilson however and loses precious time attempting to get by the Minardi.

Lap 25 and Raikkonen pits, he's stationary for 8.7s rejoining behind Montoya in seventh. Jarno Trulli now leads Michael Schumacher, the German sits on the Italian's tail.

Behind the top eight, Villeneuve is ninth followed by Fisichella, da Matta, Verstappen, Heidfeld, Firman, Wilson and last man Panis.

Lap 26 and Trulli pits as does David Coulthard, the Italian is out in 7.6s as is DC, they re-join in seventh and eighth.

Michael Schumacher now leads from Alonso, Barrichello, Montoya, Raikkonen, Ralf, Trulli and Coulthard.

All of the first three have yet to stop as has Villeneuve, Verstappen, Wilson and Panis.

At the end of lap 29 Alonso pits as Michael sets a best time in sector one, the Italian re-joins in sixth. Next time around Barrichello pits though at 9.2s he'll need to make another.

1:14.707 a new fastest lap for Michael Schumacher as his team-mate re-joins in seventh.

End of lap 30 and Schumacher pits, after 9.1s he's back on track re-joining in third ahead of his brother, Ferrari have really pulled one out of the bag here.

Juan Pablo Montoya leads by 3.1s from Raikkonen, Schumacher, Ralf, Trulli, Coulthard, Alonso, Barrichello, Villeneuve and da Matta. Panis, Wilson and Verstappen have yet to stop.

One driver that deserves a special mention is Cristiano da Matta, clearly the Brazilian was not running as light as we thought, he currently tenth, having made one stop, and is driving an impressive race.

With the first round of pit stops out of the way the field settles down again, though Montoya's lead is now down to 3.2s while Schumacher is 5.2s behind the Finn.

Unbelievably both Minardis stop on consecutive laps in the same sector, a miserable weekend for the Italian team.

Ralf reports to the team that his car his handling like a pig, switching between understeer and oversteer.

The top eight remains the same - Montoya, Raikkonen, Schumacher, Ralf, Trulli, Coulthard, Alonso and Barrichello. 32.9s behind this leading group is Villeneuve who in turn is 8s ahead of da Matta who is 3.3s ahead of Fisichella. Nick Heidfeld is twelfth followed by Firman and Panis.

Montoya and Kimi are now lapping in the mid 1:15s while the group behind are almost a second slower, the front two are setting a hot pace.

After 40 laps Kimi is 4.9s behind Montoya with Schumacher 9.4s behind the Finn. Ralf is all over his brother whilst Trulli is more than 10s behind the WilliamsF1.

Under pressure from Ralf, Michael raises his pace and is now matching Montoya's and Kimi's times.

Lap 44 and Heidfeld makes his second stop, the first driver - other than Webber - to do so.

Montoya posts 1:14.978, his best lap of the day even though at this point it's Michael that has the honour of posting the fastest race lap. Raikkonen responds with a 1:14.709 a mere 0.002s slower than Michael's best.

Schumacher is now 12.6 behind the leading duo who are separated by 3.8s.

At the end of lap 48 the WilliamsF1 crew gets ready for the second round of pit stops and Ralf comes in for fuel and fresh rubber, the German has had a difficult middle sector to this race. Next time around team-mate Montoya stops, after 6.7s he's out again as Raikkonen posts a new fastest lap, 1:45.545.

The Finn is pushing as hard as hard he can taking full advantage of his light fuel load and clear track.

Raikkonen now leads Schumacher by 17s followed by Montoya, Trulli, Coulthard, Alonso, Barrichello and Ralf.

Schumacher is unable to keep pace with the McLaren. He had a brilliant first stint but like his brother, his second stint has been poor. The German is now 19.2s behind the Finn with Montoya 3.9s behind and closing.

As Raikkonen pits at the end of lap 52, Ralf gets it all wrong and goes up the escape road having to reverse to get back into the race. Kimi exits the pits after 8.9 rejoining in third behind Michael and Montoya.

As before his pit stop, Schumacher starts to push but why leave it so late? The German stretches his lead over Montoya to 6.8s as Trulli and DC pit together and subsequently exit together in sixth and seventh ahead of Ralf, who will be feeling thoroughly miserable.

With Montoya and Raikkonen running with heavy fuel loads, Schumacher is running 1.5s a lap quicker, the German takes full advantage. At the end of lap 58 he pits, exiting behind Alonso in fourth as Barrichello pits.

Montoya now leads Raikkonen by 1s with Alonso 7.5s behind and Michael a further 3.4s behind him.

At the end of lap 61 Alonso pits re-joining behind Ralf Schumacher but ahead of Trulli and Coulthard, brilliant work and strategy from Renault.

Montoya leads by 1.2s but it's clear that as far as Raikkonen is concerned it's not over yet, the Finn shadows his Colombian rival.

Let's not forget 1970 when Jack Brabham 'screwed up' at the last corner running into the straw bales - and almost into the camera - gifting the win to the man who was to go on and take the title, albeit posthumously, Jochen Rindt. A Grand Prix is never over until it's over.

9.6s behind the leading duo is Schumacher with Ralf a further 17.9s behind.

BAR's miserable weekend comes to an end as Jacques Villeneuve's engine gives up on lap 63, another failure for the 1997 World Champion.

With ten laps to go Montoya leads Raikkonen by 1s with Schumacher only 5.8s down the road ahead of Ralf, Alonso, Trulli, Coulthard, Barrichello, da Matta, Fisichella, Heidfeld, Firman and Panis.

As we said before, it's never over until it's over and Schumacher is pushing very hard in his efforts to catch the leaders.

Raikkonen continues to shadow the WilliamsF1 while Schumacher continues to take tiny bits out of their lead.

On and on it goes, processional yes, but this is Monaco where anything can happen, and often does.

However it's Juan Pablo Montoya that takes the flag, giving the Colombian his second ever F1 win and williamsF1 their first win here in 20 years.

Although we're told that this was another 'exciting' race and indeed informed that we've seen a superb duel between protagonists we can't help but feel that ultimately it was processional, due not least to the fact that this is a circuit that doesn't encourage, far less forgive, daredevil heroics.

That said, some great performances and a well deserved win from Juan Pablo in addition to a great morale booster for both WilliamsF1 and BMW. Kimi's performance was nothing less than we've come to expect while we'd like to know what happened to the Schumachers.

In the first and final stints Michael had the pace yet his race appeared to fall apart in the second. As for Ralf, having taken a superb pole the German looked superb in the opening laps showing the confidence and arrogance normally associated with his older brother.

A great performance from Renault while both Coulthard and Barrichello were clearly out-classed by their team-mates.

Finally a word of praise for Cristiano da Matta who despite having a stinker of a car drove a great race to finish just outside the points, well done Cristiano.

Now the circus heads to Canada a race that, like Monaco, is often full of surprises.


This article was written by pitpass.com and is used with permission.