May 22, 2008

F1 Practice: Monaco 2008!

Nobody in the harbor today in P2, but both of the Renaults managed to derange their rear wings at Saint Devote, with HWMNBN actually losing his altogether...

...a pity, that.

Lewis Hamilton set fast lap for the entire day in the low 1:15s, which would have put him on the pole (by nearly a half second!) last year, AND would have been the fast lap of the race last year to boot. 

There's something about Monaco that makes the viewer at home realize just how difficult it is to drive a F1 car... probably because the track is so narrow, but it just feels like any car at any time is going to turn itself into carbon fibre shards and scrap metal.  Instead, the driver (usually) manages to keep at least three inches away from the armco barriers... a small amount to us, an infinity of room to the wellbeing of a car.

The loss of traction control did cause some lurid slides today, including one by Hamilton in... Rascasse, I think it was, where his rear suspension was saved from being turned to toothpicks only because of the race curbing.  As it was, he got his left-rear MAYBE an inch away.  Yep, that close.

But wait!  As if that isn't going to be exciting enough, rain is expected both during quals AND during the race.  I've never seen a rain race at Monaco, but in 1996 the race was held in the wet.  Three cars survived to take the checkers, and the car that took third was in the pits when the race ended.

Could be interesting... could be interesting indeed.

Posted by: Wonderduck at 06:32 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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