F1 on SPEED!: Monaco 2012

Monaco.  The world's second-smallest sovereign country at 0.79 square miles.  Home of the world's highest life expectancy: 90 years.  The lowest unemployment rate in the world: 0.00%.  The average GDP per capita is $172,676, unsurprisingly the highest in the world.  Also unsurprisingly, real estate prices are out of this world in Monaco: just over $56,000 per square meter.  Despite being smaller than the entire campus of Duck U., its banks hold just over €100 billion in funds.

Sounds like a great place to have a little car race.  Here's the track map for the 2012 Grand Prix of Monaco:

There is no more famous F1 race than Monaco, nor one more prestigious.  Indeed, it is undoubtedly on the short list for the title of "Greatest Car Race," with the other two entries in racing's unofficial "triple crown," the Indianapolis 500 and the 24 Hours of LeMans.  Though the track is, without a doubt, the most dangerous and perhaps worst on the F1 calendar in terms of actual racing, it still appears on the calendar every year... because everybody involved loves it.

This is F1's only original-style street circuit.  To be sure, the track at Valencia meanders its way through that city's harbor area, but over extra-wide tarmac designed to be raced upon.  Singapore runs hither and yon through that city-state's Marina Bay district, but is wide and airy in comparison to Monaco.  Here, the streets are narrow, lined with Armco and covered with oil from leaky trucks and buses.  You might be able to get three cars side-by-side, not that anybody would be stupid enough to actually try that.  Two cars is the functional limit, and only with a steely glare, clenched teeth, a firm jaw, and dozens of brooms standing by to clean up the carbon fiber shards.  It's a circuit where a mistake, no matter how small, usually ends up with a car in the wall.

It is also the F1 circuit that allows for the most glorious visuals on the calendar.  Nowhere else can a fan get so close to the track than Monaco... if you have the cash, the cafe at Anthony Noghes is the most exclusive seat in the world, unless you prefer to moor your yacht in the harbor (and you're lucky enough to win a Zone 1 slot for the weekend)? 

It's the slowest circuit on the calendar, with two turns forcing the cars to go as slow as 45 miles/hour or less.  The fastest point on the track would be through the famous tunnel section, where the cars will get up to 160-170mph before heading quickly downhill into the simply-named Chicane.  It was here that saw Nico Rosberg narrowly avoid a tremendous accident last year, and Sergio Perez pointedly not avoid one.  As a result of those mishaps, there have been some changes made to the circuit in that area.  The hideous bump at the exit of the tunnel that's been the cause of so many wrecks in the past few years has been removed (allegedly), and the TecPro barrier that Perez hit has been moved back about 30 yards.  The rest of the circuit remains unchanged.

As is usual, the bon hommes of SPEED's Mythique Annoncent Equipe will be bringing us the usual superior coverage of every session.  Here's the schedule:

THURSDAY
P1: 3a - 430a streaming
P2: 7a - 840a live
SATURDAY
P3: 4a - 5a streaming
Quals: 7a - 830a live-ish
SUNDAY
Grand Prix of Monaco: 630a - 9a live.

Yes, Thursday.  As is tradition at Monaco, Practices are on Thursday, Friday is a "quiet" day, certainly to let the residents of the Principality come home (or head for the hills).

F1Update! should be here all weekend, so stay tuned!

Posted by: Wonderduck at 07:58 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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