Paul Henman formula1 Monaco Grand Prix – Practice

Monaco Grand Prix – Practice

I know everyone else thinks it’s an amazing circuit but I don’t usually enjoy the Monaco Grand Prix – it’s too processional most times, which means Qualifying is even more important than normal.

This year the new tyre manufacturer, Pirelli, were tasked with producing compounds which would make for more interesting races. That’s resulted in a different wear pattern and a lot more marbles (small pieces of rubber) which usually build up off-line but the Monaco track is so narrow that they could cause a problem in the race.

Practice 1
MW had a gearbox problem
The session was red-flagged (suspended) briefly when water seeped onto the track!
VL lost his front wing just after the tunnel, then spun through the chicane
MS took to the escape lane at St.Devote and clouted the tyre wall, damaging the rear suspension
FA topped the timing sheet as the session ended but SV was on a hot lap and pipped him to P1
Fastest was SV (1:16.619) followed by FA, NR, FM, LH
No-one tried the new super-soft tyre compound

Practice 2
JA repeated MS’s incident from Practice 1, hitting the tyre wall in the escape lane
MS’s Mercedes car is still being rebuilt from his incident
FA on a good lap but almost rear-ended his teammate
Pit-car radio for LH tell him he needs to find time in all sectors
Speed commentators say there was a truck fire only 36 hours ago which meant some of the track at St.Devote had to be re-laid!
TG and PM are first on track with the super-soft compounds
HK takes to the run-off at St.Devote but spins the Lotus and rejoins the track cleanly
Pit-car for MW telling him KERS is still not working
PD seems to have a problem with his Force India; limping back to the pits; cuts through the chicane
Looks like PD got stuck in the chicane and the marshals have pushed the car out of the way
SV on the red-ringed super-soft tyres; knocks FA off the top of the times by almost 0.7sec
FM pushing his Ferrari very hard – twice had to react keep it out of the wall
SV beats his own time (now 1:15.667)
FM on another hot lap – good but 0.1sec slower than SV
FA now on a hot one – 1:15.123 on the super-softs
(LH P2)
HK down the escape lane again; sounds like he’s lost the engine this time
VP has lost his front wing; looks like he hit the wall coming out of the tunnel
Session ends
Top 5 were FA (1:15.123), LH, NR, JB, SV
VL didn’t take part in this session – his car was still being rebuilt after the Practice 1 incident

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