2018 Indy 500 Support Race: LIVE from Monte Carlo

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Bobby Doorknobs
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2018 Indy 500 Support Race: LIVE from Monte Carlo

Post by Bobby Doorknobs »

...is something that Ataxia might say as he continually reminds us of the stuff he's up to this year. :P

No, this thread is not coming live from Monaco, but it is coming from someone who's been there. No, I don't have my own photographic evidence of the location, but here's my ticket from 2012:
Image

And here's some nice historical footage shot in the highest quality motion picture format in existence (but presented in 1080p because YouTube). Don't mind the narration, it's from a documentary that actually has nothing to do with motor racing, so there are quite a few inaccuracies there to make people like me wince.

The Circuit de Monaco is arguably the most divisive in the F1 fandom. Some people love it for the unique challenge it offers to the drivers, others think it's a waste of valuable calendar space and believe it should be consigned to history (or at least the biennial Historic Grand Prix). It seems to depend on what you're looking for in a motor race and the arguments presented from both sides seem more often than not to amount to "because I personally (don't) like it", and the whole debate gets a bit tiresome with nobody learning anything. If you want to post about how much you love or hate it I won't stop you, but it's probably not worth the effort, honestly. We've heard it all before by now. Just an observation, don't take it personally. Yes, I'm talking to you, Brian.

This year, the Monaco Grand Prix celebrates its landmark 89th anniversary. However, due to war, prize money disputes and financial problems preventing the organisation of the race in some years, it's only the 76th Grand Prix. A lot's happened here in those 75 previous races. The great Nuvolari-Varzi duel in '33, Ascari surviving a dive into the harbour in '55, Moss keeping the Ferraris at bay in '61, Beltoise giving BRM their final triumph in '72, Senna's (and Bellof's) wet weather masterclass in '84, Panis' last-man-standing performance in '96, and, of course, the greatest of them all, Enrique Bernoldi's expert defensive driving in 2001.

For the first time since 1994, we have a driver born in the principality on the grid for the F1 race: Ferrari junior Charles Leclerc in a Sauber bearing the insignia of Alfa Romeo. Monégasque legend Louis Chiron, the only native winner of this Grand Prix, finished fifth in 1935 in an Alfa Romeo entered under the Scuderia Ferrari banner. Given Leclerc's recent performances, it's not totally out of the question for him to do the same this year with a bit of luck.

Sadly, some of the drivers who were here last year are no longer with us. 2009 winner Jenson Button had his last ever F1 Grand Prix here in 2017 and it didn't go great. He's leading the Super GT championship at the moment, so obviously he has his priorities in order. Felipe Massa, who crashed here in 2002 (and did other stuff that I can't be bothered really remembering. I'm a bit tired) is gone too. Doing Formula E next year, they say, so get excited.

But the biggest disappointment is surely the absence of Jolyon Palmer, Renault having replaced him with a Spanish pay driver who has never come close to winning a GP2 title. Palmer very famously took his first win in that category here back in 2012, in a sprint race that gave us quite possibly the greatest podium seen in any class of racing this decade:

Image
Combined F1 starts: 89
Combined F1 points: 9 (all by Jolyon)
Combined talent points: Off the scale


At the sharp end, the pointy end, the top of the pile, Lewis Hamilton holds a seventeen-point lead in the world championship over Sebastian Vettel. Despite this, Mercedes are, as Toto says, "bloody worried" about how things will go this weekend on the basis of how things went for them last year, so there's always a chance of the pendulum swinging back in Ferrari's direction, maybe. Or maybe not, I don't know.

But what about the headline act this Sunday? Well, we've already had some surprises in qualifying, not least of which is the severe blow that has been dealt to James Hinchcliffe's title chances after getting bumped from the field. Rumours persist that 'The Mayor' may replace his Schmidt Peterson teammate Ed Carpenter for the great race after the latter's pole position, but it's considered unlikely this will happen. Danica Patrick has also been stealing headlines for getting into the Fast Nine and earning a spot on row three, some even going as far as to predict that she could in fact win her swansong race. Defending winner Takuma Sato is back on row six and honestly if you're still reading this you need to find something else to do.

I'm not going to talk about F2, as Ataxia is literally more qualified to do that than I am.
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Re: 2018 Indy 500 Support Race: LIVE from Monte Carlo

Post by Ataxia »

Simtek wrote:...is something that Ataxia might say as he continually reminds us of the stuff he's up to this year. :P


I can stop at any time, feel free to tell me if I'm being the worst!

I'm currently bored in Heathrow (Terminal 5 actually sucks) and so I thought I'd deliver some bon mots as I debate whether to wander around the immaculately-manicured duty free sections again, lest my personal cloud of Issey Miyake and Hugo Boss requires a top-up.

So yes, we have F2, albeit with the Monaco Special qualifying because you can't trust 20 younglings (we're about the same age but I'm clearly their put-upon older brother) on a circuit together. Odd numbered drivers make up Group A, as the even-numbered contingent form Group B. The driver with the quickest time ensures his group fills 1st, 3rd, ..., nth when n<20 AND odd, leaving the other group to satisfy 2nd, 4th...you get the idea.

You could have the 10th quickest time and start 20th.

No changes expected, as Albon's signed for the whole year (which means he's persistently going to be annoying me all year long), and Ferrucci's chance in Indycar will come at Detroit when we've got some time off.

Not much else to report, obviously we expect some barrier-botherers but I'm hoping we have a good show! Thank god Canamasas hasn't been wheeled out for the only circuit he's any good at...
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Re: 2018 Indy 500 Support Race: LIVE from Monte Carlo

Post by The Chicane »

Ouch the title is quite harsh but anyway... :P

… The Monaco Grand Prix has usually been a pretty boring race, I like the event for the atmosphere and the occasional surprise victory. Panis giving Ligier their final race win in 1996 was a great moment.
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Re: 2018 Indy 500 Support Race: LIVE from Monte Carlo

Post by dr-baker »

I am already :cry: and :evil: that Pippa Mann has DNQed. Don't give two figs, however, that Danica Patrick got through to the Fast Nine. After all, one is a(n IndyCar) reject and the other is not, plus I share a place of birth with one of them...

Oh sorry, back to Monaco. Happy to see Kris Meeke win the PowerStage, shame he missed out on a overall podium by one place.
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Re: 2018 Indy 500 Support Race: LIVE from Monte Carlo

Post by Rob Dylan »

I don't know what it is about Monaco, but I love it even if it is a boring race much of the time. I think it's because I associate it with sunny days and sipping G&Ts and knowing I should probably be outside in the sun rather than inside watching motorsport. But someone's got to cheer for Max Chilton, and I'll happily do it.
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Re: 2018 Indy 500 Support Race: LIVE from Monte Carlo

Post by Ataxia »

heyo
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Re: 2018 Indy 500 Support Race: LIVE from Monte Carlo

Post by Rob Dylan »

Red Bull dominating practice on Thursday. Could this be the first Red Bull pole position since Ricciardo here a few years back? Could this be the debut pole for a certain Mr. Verstappen? :?
Murray Walker at the 1997 Austrian Grand Prix wrote:The other [Stewart] driver, who nobody's been paying attention to, because he's disappointing, is Jan Magnussen.
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Re: 2018 Indy 500 Support Race: LIVE from Monte Carlo

Post by Rob Dylan »

Well it definitely wasn't a Verstappen pole!
Murray Walker at the 1997 Austrian Grand Prix wrote:The other [Stewart] driver, who nobody's been paying attention to, because he's disappointing, is Jan Magnussen.
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Re: 2018 Indy 500 Support Race: LIVE from Monte Carlo

Post by mario »

Rob Dylan wrote:Well it definitely wasn't a Verstappen pole!

To add insult to injury, it then lead to some broadcasters, such as Channel 4, broadcasting footage of his 2016 free practise accident given that it was so similar to his latest crash.

You have to say that, right now, things are not looking that good for Verstappen - he's been having a very scrappy run recently, and it sounds as if Red Bull's patience is starting to wear a little thin given Horner's post race statement that Max has got to "stop making these errors". https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/vers ... r-1041920/

Equally, Marko's been making a few comments about how "unnecessary" Verstappen's mistake was in practise and how he intends to discuss it with him after the race. Whilst they are not publicly criticising him, it does sound as if perhaps the team are starting to tighten the screws on him in private.
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Re: 2018 Indy 500 Support Race: LIVE from Monte Carlo

Post by good_Ralf »

Given how Max scored the most points of anyone after Singapore, and how easily he had the measure of Ricciardo at the end of last year, I'm surprised at how badly Verstappen has thrown away his momentum going into 2018. Then again, perhaps I shouldn't be.
As many have said, we haven't seen him make this amount of mistakes in such a short period of time.
It's clear that the Red Bull is quick, but still not quite quick enough (or reliable enough) to mount a title challenge, plus Ricciardo has upped his game significantly from 2017. Because of these things, I feel Max is overdriving in an attempt to overcome the deficit to the top two teams and his teammate, and he's definitely lacking patience as well.
Max says he's not changing his approach, but I have no clue as to what will change if he carries on like this.
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Re: 2018 Indy 500 Support Race: LIVE from Monte Carlo

Post by mario »

good_Ralf wrote:Given how Max scored the most points of anyone after Singapore, and how easily he had the measure of Ricciardo at the end of last year, I'm surprised at how badly Verstappen has thrown away his momentum going into 2018. Then again, perhaps I shouldn't be.
As many have said, we haven't seen him make this amount of mistakes in such a short period of time.
It's clear that the Red Bull is quick, but still not quite quick enough (or reliable enough) to mount a title challenge, plus Ricciardo has upped his game significantly from 2017. Because of these things, I feel Max is overdriving in an attempt to overcome the deficit to the top two teams and his teammate, and he's definitely lacking patience as well.
Max says he's not changing his approach, but I have no clue as to what will change if he carries on like this.

Some have commented that his performances this year are more like what you'd expect to see from a rookie driver, rather than somebody who is into his fourth season in the sport and has more than 60 races under his belt.

I agree that it does feel as if he is just trying to push a bit too hard to try and overcome that gap to Ferrari and Mercedes, whilst internally there will be the pressure from Ricciardo's strong form and the fact that Ricciardo is now the hottest property in F1.

We've seen a few other drivers go through a similar poor phase, with both Vettel and Hamilton having their own patches of poor form: we saw how it also took both of those drivers some time to accept their failings, though they both did and became more rounded drivers because of it.

I'm not surprised that Max is unwilling to concede his faults - he was having a go at some of the journalists in Monaco who pointed out the number of incidents he's been involved in, so he's as bullish as ever. However, at this rate, it might well be that if he doesn't change, the only thing that does change by the end of the season might be his employment status.
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Re: 2018 Indy 500 Support Race: LIVE from Monte Carlo

Post by Butterfox »

I don't think they're gonna drop him - he's still too good to allow other teams to sign him - but perhaps a few races at Toro Rosso...Better would be to stop giving his father Jos access to the paddock though, who doesnt exactly give the impression of a good advice dad...
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Re: 2018 Indy 500 Support Race: LIVE from Monte Carlo

Post by Paul Hayes »

I'm so pleased for Ricciardo - when he came on the radio to say he had no power, I thought, "Oh no, not again!" Obviously we don't know quite what the issue was yet, but he seems to have done a stellar job to keep it in the lead at probably the only track where that would have been a possible when you were 12 miles per hour down on straightline speed.

One of those races you'd file under the category "fascinating," I think. Looking at it on paper you'd think nothing much had actually happened, but it held the attention throughout.
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Re: 2018 Indy 500 Support Race: LIVE from Monte Carlo

Post by Barbazza »

Yes, he deserved that. Not quite as impressive as similar feats by Schumacher and Senna given that drivers had to do more back then. Cue an hour and a half of Sky effectively ****ing Christian Horner off as if it is though.

Do you know what I miss about the all-new American F1? Seeing the points tables while the drivers on the podium have a post-race chat. Instead we have this ridiculous obsession with interviewing drivers approximately 1 second after they've taken their helmet off and a recap of the entire race before we can see the - quite important - drivers and constructors tables.
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Re: 2018 Indy 500 Support Race: LIVE from Monte Carlo

Post by IceG »

Barbazza wrote:Do you know what I miss about the all-new American F1? Seeing the points tables while the drivers on the podium have a post-race chat. Instead we have this ridiculous obsession with interviewing drivers approximately 1 second after they've taken their helmet off and a recap of the entire race before we can see the - quite important - drivers and constructors tables.


+1
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Re: 2018 Indy 500 Support Race: LIVE from Monte Carlo

Post by Rob Dylan »

Really chuffed for Ricciardo winning again. Could this be another one of those outsider championship challenges ala Frentzen 1999, Montoya 2003, or, um, Ricciardo 2014?

He's probably driving the best he's driven so far. And with that kind of pressure it's good to see it all paying off for him. To say a cliché, Red Bull is certainly a team of two garages right now :roll:
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Re: 2018 Indy 500 Support Race: LIVE from Monte Carlo

Post by Butterfox »

Well he's showing that he's capable of performing under pressure* and it's not the first time he's shown that. And that's certainly a good asset for a driver.

*Except when Max is around.
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Re: 2018 Indy 500 Support Race: LIVE from Monte Carlo

Post by dr-baker »

IceG wrote:
Barbazza wrote:Do you know what I miss about the all-new American F1? Seeing the points tables while the drivers on the podium have a post-race chat. Instead we have this ridiculous obsession with interviewing drivers approximately 1 second after they've taken their helmet off and a recap of the entire race before we can see the - quite important - drivers and constructors tables.


+1

I quite agree.
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Re: 2018 Indy 500 Support Race: LIVE from Monte Carlo

Post by Ataxia »

Well, it's been part of series like MotoGP and BTCC for quite some time, but I suppose that's conveniently forgotten because it doesn't fit the narrative of "Americanisation"...
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Re: 2018 Indy 500 Support Race: LIVE from Monte Carlo

Post by Bobby Doorknobs »

Ataxia wrote:Well, it's been part of series like MotoGP and BTCC for quite some time, but I suppose that's conveniently forgotten because it doesn't fit the narrative of "Americanisation"...

I'd take the new format over the podium interviews. I was never a fan of those from the beginning, but they had long become a stale, almost artificial part of the ceremony, and you could nearly always predict what the drivers (especially Hamilton) were going to say.

As for the championship tables, I don't see it as something worth getting fussed about to be honest. I'd rather see them on the TV as well, but they're on Wikipedia, Autosport, Racefans, the official website, etc. practically within seconds of the chequered flag anyway.
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Re: 2018 Indy 500 Support Race: LIVE from Monte Carlo

Post by Barbazza »

Ataxia wrote:Well, it's been part of series like MotoGP and BTCC for quite some time, but I suppose that's conveniently forgotten because it doesn't fit the narrative of "Americanisation"...


BTCC do it right though. Usually (unless ITV4 are really pushed for time) it's: Race Result, Drivers Championship table, interviews (by which time the drivers are actually ready to speak) with Constructors not featuring as it's obviously less important in that series.

I wouldn't know about those things on 2 wheels!
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Re: 2018 Indy 500 Support Race: LIVE from Monte Carlo

Post by Ataxia »

For me personally, it's better because I'm not waiting around forever for the press conference to kick off...

Anyway, for those who missed the support races (they were BELTERS) feel free to get your eyeholes around this.
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