RACE 6 REPORT AND RESULT - MONACO

bannbino Tue Jun 28, 2011 11:19 pm

ROCKEYE KICKSTARTS HIS CAMPAIGN AS BANNBINO KICKSTARTS A STEWARDS INQUISITION!!

Race 6 - Monaco - Pole = bannbino - McLaren 1:18.564

Monaco - the jewel in the crown of the Grand Prix calendar. Last year r0ckeye took the win from pole but it wasn’t to be the same this year…

7 drivers managed to smash last year’s pole time of 1:20.860, with the fastest coming from bannbino for his 13th career pole position and his 4th pole of the season so far! R0ckeye, last years pole sitter, could only manage 5th after spinning at the last corner on his hot lap. Unfortunately, satak0 succumbed to technical problems during qualifying and wouldn’t make the race.

Full qualifying results:

RACE 6 REPORT AND RESULT - MONACO Season10

RACE 6 REPORT AND RESULT - MONACO Season10

Onboard the Pole lap:

Monaco has a history of carbon fibre crunching, and this race was to be no different, as all the teams brought along an extra supply of front wings for the multiple pit stops there was likely to be.

All the cars got away from the line and bombed down to turn 1, Sainte Devote. bannbino suffered some alarming oversteer with a full tank of fuel, but managed to collect the car and take it around the inside of turn 1 where he was harshly given a warning for corner cutting!

There was no change at the sharp end of the field after turn 1, as the lead four cars all maintained position. squeak was the first Armco kisser, only making it to turn 3 – Massenet – before his race was ended in the lap 1 melee by a tap up the shitter and into the barriers. This promoted ADMAN up to 4th, but as Hypno ran at the Loews hairpin, ADMAN squeezed through along with r0ckeye. ADMAN’s run of good luck came to an end at Portier as r0ckeye and hypno got back through.

By now, Cheeseman was starting to put some pressure on bannbino at the front, closing the 1.3 second advantage bannbino had gained from oversteering through turn 1 to 1.1 seconds by turn 12, Tabac, but this wasn’t to last as he span at the second to last corner, la Rascasse, dropping him well down the order. That gave bannbino 5 seconds breathing space to the new 2nd place man, r0ckeye, as Hypno ended lap 1 in 3rd and Sheepie UK in 4th.

By the end of lap 3, everything was starting to settle down until DISASTER! Sheepie span on the same corner as Cheeseman had on lap 1, allowing the Cheese back through into 4th. Rockeye also ran wide on the exit of la Rascasse and lost his front wing causing him to pit earlier than scheduled where he switched to a 2 stop strategy, replacing his worn option tyres for a brand new set. This risky strategy dropped him back down to his starting position of 5th – could the risk possibly pay off?

Villa John was now in 4th place and a nose bleed was beckoning. On lap 4, and back at Massenet, bannbino ran wide on his worn options and hit the barrier on the outside, destroying his front wing. There were certainly lots of souvenirs starting to pile up around the circuit by now, as the garages emptied out of spare front wings. Bannbino had to limp round for nearly a whole lap but as there are mainly slow speed corners around Monaco, where mechanical grip is more important than aerodynamic grip, not too much lap time was lost.

Bannbino came out behind Hypno, who had yet to pit, but ahead of r0ckeye. All he had to do now was keep his car on the road. Villa John was up into 3rd by virtue of not having to pit to repair damage and was doing a good job of holding back r0ckeye.

It was all change at the end of lap 5 as hypno and Villa John pitted for prime tyres leaving the top 4 as bannbino – hypno – r0ckeye – bsheepie. Another lap, and r0ckeye had found his way passed hypno and was now chasing down the leader. He needed to get through if his 2 stop strategy was to pay off. he managed to get within 2 seconds of the leader before he had to make his second stop at the end of lap 8. That dropped r0ckeye back down to 3rd and it looked like the 2 stop strategy would pay off for a podium finish.

Brotherly love counts for nothing in this game as Bsheepie lost his solid looking 4th place to Sheepie UK as bannbino looked solid in the lead and just had to cruise to the finish line.

Unfortunately, anything can happen in Formula One, and it usually does! On lap 11 the barriers finally put paid to Tempy’s amorous advances and totalled his car, forcing him to retire from 7th place in the tunnel. By lap 11 the leader was catching the back markers of Villa John and ADMAN due to multiple pit stops to change front wings, leaving Villa John to declare after the race that his car “has had more nose jobs than Michael Jackson!” This could make or break bannbino’s race on the tight streets of the Monte Carlo capital.

Break. Both ADMAN and Villa John ran wide into the outside barriers at La Rascasse and as bannbino came round the corner under yellow flags Villa John broke the cardinal rule and drove straight back onto the racing line as part of his 3 point turn! T-Bone! Another lost front wing for the race leader and another pit stop. This gave bannbino the opportunity to fit another set of options to see him through to the end of the race but where would he rejoin?

Due to the unique nature of the pit lane exit at Monaco, bannbino came out of the pits behind Hypno but by the time he went around the inside of turn 1 in the pit lane he was back in the lead, but damage caused during his clash with Villa John caused his car to oversteer wildly, hit the barrier on the inside and this launched him on the bonnet of Hypno, punting them both into the barrier and smashing off both their front wings! Bannbino’s bleep machine had already burnt out at Monza Season 1 and as he waited for hypno to retake the lead, the airwaves were once again awash with expletives! Bannbino would say after the race "Obviously knocking off my front wing was my own problem, I was trying to keep position with hypno, who was on old tyres and I wanted to stay in front of him. I simply couldn't stop it anymore, overlocked the front, slid into him and lost my front wing."

Now both drivers would have to complete almost an entire lap with no front wing, giving r0ckeye a chance to gain on the new leader. Hypno was struggling as he lost control at the high speed Tabac corner allowing bannbino back through to first. But another pit stop was needed.

This put r0ckeye in the lead, with Sheepie Uk in 2nd, bannbino in 3rd and hypno in 4th. Unfortunately for hypno, his car had suffered more than just superficial damage and he eventually lost 4th place to Cheeseman. A rare error by the world champion in the Swimming Pool chicanes gifted bannbino 2nd place and he now had 3 laps to close down the 7 seconds to the leader.

By the last corner – Anthony Noghes – of the last lap, bannbino’s front wing was tucked under r0ckeye’s rear wing, but r0ckeye’s exit was too good and bannbino gunned the throttle too early and span!

That settled the podium as the result table below shows:

RACE 6 REPORT AND RESULT - MONACO Season11

RACE 6 REPORT AND RESULT - MONACO Season11

The circus now heads over the Pond to Canadia, before coming back to Valencia for the European GP and then to Blighty for the British GP at Silverstone.

See you next time...

James Allen

Villa John Tue Jun 28, 2011 11:36 pm

Good write up and very informative about the name of every single frickin' corner on the circuit! But always good as a reference I suppose.

"as bannbino came round the corner under yellow flags Villa John broke the cardinal rule and drove straight back onto the racing line as part of his 3 point turn!"

This was probably due to the corner where I crashed being so tight the whole track is the racing line! I can only criticise the stewards for not making their yellow flags more yellow so you actually take notice of them...

Rockeye Thu Jun 30, 2011 7:23 am

Great write up! It's also nice to see we're improving on last years performances. The racings definately hotting up and that has nothing to do with the cars or track!

Shame we couldn't see an onboard of the race for this one...