Surprise! Hispania Racing Team will start Monaco. The refs have given them a pass despite Karthikeyan’s suspension problems and Liuzzi’s hard park which prevented them from setting a qualifying time. The update on Perez is that he has a concussion and a sprained thigh. The concussion means he can’t race and unlike IndyCar it’s the driver, not the car, that qualifies.
Hamilton got pretty screwed by Perez’s crash since he was saving tires in the pits and was only able to qualify 7th after half an hour of Red Flag while they reset the track. Then he was penalized down to 9th for blowing off a chicane.
Speaking of tires, when asked why there was so little ‘clag’ or scrubbed off rubber on the track a Pirelli representative laughed and pointed out the dramatically lower speeds at Monaco. This is significant because the projections are that even the Super Softs are good for 23 laps and it’s only a 78 lap race. Likewise non-competitive teams like Scuderia Marlboro UPC should suffer less from their lack of downforce and horsepower.
But they will suffer from grid position, it’s practically impossible to pass and anyone looking to make up positions will have to do it in the pits or by avoiding the mistakes of those ahead. I stand by yesterday’s prediction, “Yet another snooze fest made exciting by flaming chunks of twisted metal which will be made more numerous by the frequent appearance of the safety car.”
Speed’s coverage starts with GP2 at 6 am, pre-race at 7:30, and roll off at 8. I’ll also be covering the Indianapolis 500 today which starts on ABC at 11 am and tomorrow I might have a word or two about Lime Rock.
Pretty tables below.
Starting Grid
| Grid | Driver | Team | Q-Time | Q-Laps |
| 1 | Sebastian Vettel | RBR-Renault | 01:13.556 | 18 |
| 2 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 01:13.997 | 18 |
| 3 | Mark Webber | RBR-Renault | 01:14.019 | 24 |
| 4 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 01:14.483 | 22 |
| 5 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes | 01:14.682 | 29 |
| 6 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 01:14.877 | 25 |
| 7 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 01:15.766 | 26 |
| 8 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams-Cosworth | 01:16.528 | 23 |
| 9 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 01:15.280 | 15 |
| 10 | Vitaly Petrov | Renault | 01:15.815 | 21 |
| 11 | Rubens Barrichello | Williams-Cosworth | 01:15.826 | 20 |
| 12 | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber-Ferrari | 01:15.973 | 20 |
| 13 | Paul di Resta | Force India-Mercedes | 01:16.118 | 22 |
| 14 | Adrian Sutil | Force India-Mercedes | 01:16.121 | 19 |
| 15 | Nick Heidfeld | Renault | 01:16.214 | 22 |
| 16 | Sebastien Buemi | STR-Ferrari | 01:16.300 | 17 |
| 17 | Heikki Kovalainen | Lotus-Renault | 01:17.343 | 10 |
| 18 | Jarno Trulli | Lotus-Renault | 01:17.381 | 9 |
| 19 | Jaime Alguersuari | STR-Ferrari | 01:17.820 | 9 |
| 20 | Timo Glock | Virgin-Cosworth | 01:17.914 | 12 |
| 21 | Jerome d’Ambrosio | Virgin-Cosworth | 01:18.736 | 11 |
| 22 | Narain Karthikeyan | HRT-Cosworth | No time | 0 |
| 23 | Vitantonio Liuzzi | HRT-Cosworth | No time | 0 |
Driver Standings
| Rank | Driver | Team | Points |
| 1 | Sebastian Vettel | RBR-Renault | 118 |
| 2 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 77 |
| 3 | Mark Webber | RBR-Renault | 67 |
| 4 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 61 |
| 5 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 51 |
| 6 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 26 |
| 7 | Nick Heidfeld | Renault | 25 |
| 8 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 24 |
| 9 | Vitaly Petrov | Renault | 21 |
| 10 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes | 14 |
| 11 | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber-Ferrari | 9 |
| 12 | Sebastien Buemi | STR-Ferrari | 6 |
| 13 | Adrian Sutil | Force India-Mercedes | 2 |
| 14 | Sergio Perez | Sauber-Ferrari | 2 |
| 15 | Paul di Resta | Force India-Mercedes | 2 |
Constructor Standings
| Rank | Team | Points |
| 1 | Red Bull | 185 |
| 2 | McLaren | 138 |
| 3 | Ferrari | 75 |
| 4 | Renault | 46 |
| 5 | Mercedes | 40 |
| 6 | Sauber | 11 |
| 7 | Toro Rosso | 6 |
| 8 | Force India | 4 |
| 9 | Williams | 0 |
| 10 | Team Lotus | 0 |
| 11 | Virgin | 0 |
| 12 | HRT | 0 |
70 comments
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Author
Vettel
Alonso
Button
Kobayashi
Webber
Maldonado
Hamilton
Sutil
Heidfeld
Barrichello
Just bruised legs nothing broken
Author
Hamilton has really been in the frey today
Author
Parked himself, Hamilton still running but damaged.
in the history of Monaco race.
over all his 5th win this season
Author
Vettel
Alonso
Button
Webber
Kobayashi *
Hamilton
Sutil *
Heidfeld *
Barrichello *
* == surprise.
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