I'm just wondering what happened to Schumacher at that point where he was 20 seconds behind JPM and Raikkonen. The commentators said that he was on a light fuel load, but he seemed to be losing time and running relatively slow laps. I assume that the car had the potential to turn faster laps than anyone else, since he was gaining so much at the end of the race...so why was he running slower at that point? Seems like he could've won if he had closed the gap much earlier.

 

The answer can be as simple as not having any room to pass on such a tight course.
The Monaco GP is all about qualifying well, race strategizing, and making pit stops at the right time.

 

It's not much of an open-wheel race track anymore, I'm afraid.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SUPERAUTOBACS &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">The answer can be as simple as not having any room to pass on such a tight course. </TD></TR></TABLE>
yeah, he said in the post-race interview that he was stuck behind [forgot his name] and that really slowed him down.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">It's not much of an open-wheel race track anymore, I'm afraid.</TD></TR></TABLE>
but its sooo purdy!


Evan, who loves the sound of F1 cars screaming through the tunnel

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by elgorey &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
yeah, he said in the post-race interview that he was stuck behind [forgot his name] and that really slowed him down.
</TD></TR></TABLE>

Jarno Trulli is the name you are looking for. If you want to see the other reason why he wasn't at the front, look at the results by tire manufacturer. Of the top 9 finishers, Ferrari was the only car on Bridgestones. They just didn't give the teams the right compounds, and they were graining like crazy.


Matt

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by speedracer33 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Jarno Trulli is the name you are looking for. If you want to see the other reason why he wasn't at the front, look at the results by tire manufacturer. Of the top 9 finishers, Ferrari was the only car on Bridgestones. They just didn't give the teams the right compounds, and they were graining like crazy.


Matt</TD></TR></TABLE>

Well even still, he seemed to be gaining pretty quickly at the end of the race...unless that was somehow due to the imminent rain or something.

 

As Steve Matchett said, watching the F1 drivers carve their way through the streets of Monaco brings a new level of respect. It's a pretty boring race otherwise.

 

As an F1 newbie, one of the things I noticed with the Monaco GP was how fuel loads, pit strategy, and qualifying played a MAJOR role in the final positions. But you guys are right......that's such an amazing curcuit to watch.


Stock - who's working on talking the wife into a little "vacation" to Monte Carlo next year.

 

The thing is, they know how important qualifying is at Monoco. IF you lead lap 1, chances are good you're going to win the race unless you break. Either the tires were not good (or Michelin got their **** together), or that new 2003 Ferrari is not as good as they say it is. I think a little of both.

 

i dont think the 2003 Ferrari chassis is to blame. In my opinion it comes down to the tires, grid position (which in turn includes Ferrari's qualifying and race strategy...maybe some mistakes there?) and Monaco traffic.

Backmarkers were easy to pass, but passes for positions sure as hell wont happen. Thats what held MS behind Trulli for so long. I wouldnt move over either.

 

didnt get to watch the whole thing but i love waching f1. its like everythings in fast forward. and actually having been to monaco and recognizing stuff and the turns(having walked em) was sweet. my buddy was working security, lucky bastard. got to go the afterparty(or whatever) with the racers.

 

id kinda have to agree that ferrari made the mistake of fueling a bit too much so that they could pit later, as they admitted in post race reactions. had they concentrated more on qualifying than pit strategy, it would have perhaps qualified MS ahead of trulli, which really did hold him back i suppose. but this is all monday bench racing speculation, and thats racing.

youd think a race that had hardly any on track passing could be called exciting, but i guess thats the added nature of F1, pit stops, fuel strategy, qualifying and what not. without that, monaco is a pretty boring track with no room to pass and all the drivers being so highly and nearly equally skilled, just seems to bring out the worlds richest spectators. but it was still pretty interesting to see what might happen the whole race. i was still hoping for a yellow so michael could catch up, not so much so michael could win, but just to make it a bit more exciting on track. most exciting moment was "da-schumi" cutting off "xiao-schumi" (chinese commentary) out of pitlane.

 

The close call in pit lane between Trulli and Coulthard (sp?) was cool to watch too!! At least I think it was those two involved.