F1 2024: Monaco GP - Monte Carlo (May 26)

[Davil]

Originally Posted by M5Rick

I think it was Ocon who went airborne with the crazy move and DNF'd smashing the rear down , with Canada I would replace him with the back up driver for the mayhem he has caused ruining Gasly's race. GAS is the better driver and OCO is doing his best to sideline him so it's time he went.

I’d love to see Doohan get a go. Really likeable guy and should go pretty well and it would be great to watch.

However, French people (Famin) can be very passionate and say things in the heat of the moment then do a backflip. Time will tell.

[M5Rick]

Originally Posted by Davil

I’d love to see Doohan get a go. Really likeable guy and should go pretty well and it would be great to watch.

However, French people (Famin) can be very passionate and say things in the heat of the moment then do a backflip. Time will tell.

Sure, and if there is a bad driver in the team then it must be au revoir whatever the passion. I don't know how that team is run internally but it should come under Renault itself who can't be blind to see the continuing stale situation.

[M5Rick]

Originally Posted by Autobacs

We all know it's not a race, as it's not a proper race track, but a Social event. I'm all for ditching it.

The place is an enclave for the well-off and just because some of the drivers live there this Principality really hasn't a leg to stand on for continuing with the road that gets converted to a race track. Even Hamilton who partly lives there has called for drastic changes but there's no way the track can be widened or lengthened because of the cramped nature of the place.

[TheStoka]

The racing at Monaco has been miserable for many years. Yet for some reason even knowing it’s going to be a boring race I still look forward to the weekend.

Yes the race will be a procession but there is still something special about the place. The cars do still look amazing running through the streets.

[GuidoK]

Originally Posted by TheStoka

The racing at Monaco has been miserable for many years.

You thought the last 2 years were boring?

[TheStoka]

Originally Posted by GuidoK

You thought the last 2 years were boring?

Yes.

Last year other than the rain the actual racing was rather boring, top 3 finished as qualified. We shouldn’t need rain to get some exciting racing.

This year the only thing of note was Kevin of old returning with some attempted murder on Sergio. Arguably made the race more boring afterwards with the lack of pitstops after the red flag. Top 10 finished as qualified.

[GuidoK]

Originally Posted by TheStoka

Yes.

Last year other than the rain the actual racing was rather boring, top 3 finished as qualified. We shouldn’t need rain to get some exciting racing.

But it did rain. So it wasn't boring.
The point is that there are still lots of things that can happen that can turn a race that is potentially boring due to the way the track is build into a race that isn't boring at all.
Look at last year's Vegas. Everyone said that the track isn't really daunting and that the race would probably be boring. Yet it wasn't.

This year's monaco race was indeed very boring, yet there were lots of years that it wasn't.
This year, the race was on saturday. And that's also interesting, a race where drivers (and cars) that excel at qualifying but are less in the actutal race can actually win a race.

[Killed by Death]

Yes, this year was boring but I still enjoyed it. The first lap crash turned it into a tire management one stopper with Charlie having to slow everyone down. Let's not act like every Monaco will be a parade. Even without rain teams and drivers have to worry about crashes, tactics and the undercut.

I've seen 2 solutions that would help.

1. Only run soft tires
2. Remove the chicane coming out of the tunnel to create a longer straight and DRS zone. This chicane no longer creates a viable spot to pass anyway.

Also the cars have gotten too big for the track. No short term solution for that.

[///M Power-Belgium]

Originally Posted by HeelToeShift

Why wouldn't they just go back to the RB19 then? The RB20 has to have benefits, but given the other cars are simply copies of the RB19, I would think they could just bring back that car and already know the right setups given it won basically everything last year.
The RB20 has largely looked dominant in Max's hands and certainly seems to have significant advantages at smooth tracks, but these bumpy tracks and crap street circuits (which IMO we should be moving away from) seem to be more difficult. I don't think there is another driver who could have won 5 of 8 races like Max has, but if anyone had they would be shouting how dominant they were. Max had looked really impressive so far this season, and without the brake issue in Aus, he would have won that, and in Mia without the SC he'd have won that and we'd be looking at 7 out of 8 wins for Max which is even better.
Do you know anything about the upgrade Per hinted at?

Just go back to the RB19 ?
That's not possible because during the winter break , HONDA had to rebuild the PU to fit in the RB20 design and engine compartment .
The radiators and the oil coolers , turbo , battery , ect . had to change from position ..


Upgrade Per hinted at ?
Yeah , he said that . But that was already at Miami ...
But in the next 2 races (Imola and Monaco) it was more than clear that the RB20 had a serious setup issue .
RB knew that from the beginning of the season , and they try to understand it . But so far nope !
Meanwhile It's more and more clear that the RB20 has a design flaw from the beginning of this season.
I heard the fundamental issue of the RB20 is the stiffness . The whole car is just too stiff.
The advantage of the stiffness is that the car can sit extremely low to get a higher topspeed without the scraping of the titanium skid blocks .

As you know , Checo needs a new a car because It's totaled with his crash at Monaco .
This means that RB has the opportunity to test some upgrades on Checo's new car and hopefully they can find something to fix the never ending setup issues
IF .... I said , IF it works . Then can get MAX's car the upgrades too ..
In other words : Probably we'll see Checo's car at Montreal as a (kind of) test mule .

[///M Power-Belgium]

The Monaco GP ..

[///M Power-Belgium]

LEW gets the Bottas treatment now !

[Car-Addicted]

Originally Posted by Killed by Death

Also the cars have gotten too big for the track. No short term solution for that.

Just wait for 2026.

[Car-Addicted]

Originally Posted by ///M Power-Belgium

LEW gets the Bottas treatment now !

What a whiner Hamilton is. The Ferrari Tifosi will eat him alive. I predict that Hamilton will be off social media before the 2025 season is over.

[M5Rick]

Originally Posted by Car-Addicted

Just wait for 2026.

Should just about fit the '26 battery into it.

[///M Power-Belgium]

Originally Posted by HeelToeShift

Let's hope so - especially seeing as Max said they knew about this since Bahrain and need to find a fix. Maybe this big upgrade is fixing this issue and has been many months in the making. I think many of the next tracks and Canada itself should suit their car.

This is why I think it's so tough in F1. You're eventually going to hit some times where things don't go right. I know Ferrari and Mclaren have made some strides, but realistically I don't think they're going to keep moving forward all the time and as we have seen this year, they have not look at consistent as the RB20 has. The R18 and RB19 both were the same though, wherein the design was not as compatible with bumpy track in which they needed to raise the ride height. I believe I had read a while back that as little as 5mm can have a 10% impact on downforce, so it's no surprise that they wouldn't be making as much or the same amount consistently across a lap.

1- The Montreal GP (Circuit Gilles Villeneuve) got a "new bumpy asphalt layer"
It's super slippery . If it rains , it's like driving on ice .

2- Turn 5-9-14 has big high speed curbes.

This won't be easy for MAX at this track with the RB20 setup issues .
I don't expect to see MAX at the podium (a top 5 is possible)
Mate . Hopefully I'm wrong ...

[M5Rick]

Originally Posted by Car-Addicted

What a whiner Hamilton is. The Ferrari Tifosi will eat him alive. I predict that Hamilton will be off social media before the 2025 season is over.

There's not really much else LEW can say as he's no.2 in the team now so RUS gets the bits.

[Car-Addicted]

I'm going to disagree with the Monaco GP haters.
We are experienced Formula One fans and by now we should know what a good weather Monaco GP is.
I though the strategy was interesting and I must applaud Ferrari for not screwing this up for once. I may not like the strategy but I do respect it.
For me the typical Monaco GP is about individual drivers vs the track and not generally about mano a mano competition. Now on the rare occasions there is a wet race, well then you have a race to remember.

[///M Power-Belgium]

Originally Posted by Car-Addicted

What a whiner Hamilton is. The Ferrari Tifosi will eat him alive. I predict that Hamilton will be off social media before the 2025 season is over.

Well mate , I couldn't agree more

Charlie is the absolute #1 driver at Ferrari , that won't change in 2025 . No one can change that !
Charlie is God in Italy!

As we know LEW , LEW always wants to get attention even more in his new red car.
LEW will get attention when he is beaten by Charlie in every race !

#FerrariWarHorses !

[M5Rick]

Originally Posted by ///M Power-Belgium

1- The Montreal GP (Circuit Gilles Villeneuve) got a "new bumpy asphalt layer"
It's super slippery . If it rains , it's like driving on ice .

2- Turn 5-9-14 has big high speed curbes.

This won't be easy for MAX at this track with the RB20 setup issues .
I don't expect to see MAX at the podium (a top 5 is possible)
Mate . Hopefully I'm wrong ...

The factory will have time to completely strip MAX's car also as well as rebuilding the PER car at the same time, next to each other, but if the frame is too stiff mating with the hard suspension bushes then really someone's head should roll there.

[///M Power-Belgium]

Originally Posted by Killed by Death

Yes, this year was boring but I still enjoyed it. The first lap crash turned it into a tire management one stopper with Charlie having to slow everyone down. Let's not act like every Monaco will be a parade. Even without rain teams and drivers have to worry about crashes, tactics and the undercut.

I've seen 2 solutions that would help.

1. Only run soft tires
2. Remove the chicane coming out of the tunnel to create a longer straight and DRS zone. This chicane no longer creates a viable spot to pass anyway.

Also the cars have gotten too big for the track. No short term solution for that.

Too funny !

[Killed by Death]

Originally Posted by M5Rick

The factory will have time to completely strip MAX's car also as well as rebuilding the PER car at the same time, next to each other, but if the frame is too stiff mating with the hard suspension bushes then really someone's head should roll there.

I’m thinking Monaco was a one off and it will be back to normal for RB.

[M5Rick]

Originally Posted by Killed by Death

I’m thinking Monaco was a one off and it will be back to normal for RB.

That's my feeling too but it will be clearer in Canada what is what if the high speed kerbs there are still a pace killing issue.