Second day in the Monaco GP F1 2017, this Saturday we have seen the first free practice session 3 and qualifying. The first one without too many surprises and the second one with some surprises as we now investigate. It seems that Ferrari has managed to improve the engine up to such a point that they have gotten a better motor than the Mercedes as I say many voices in the paddock, including the client’s own Haas. And not only that, the chassis also looks better than the Mercedes. Pedro de la Rosa has analyzed the cameras onboard and seen as the Mercedes is much more unstable in Monaco and Ferrari are going super fine.
Ferrari has the best car this year, who I was going to say, and it shows by the results achieved by their pilots. However, Mercedes has been known to fight and that will not steal too many points to have a world more tight until the end. In the Monaco GP have shown to be super strong to come out of Maranello and the Mercedes problems were encountered during every day since Thursday and even today. Kimi Räikkönen has done a few laps late very good today, and has won the pole position in the principality, his team-mate Vettel has made some mistakes that have cost the first position and will have to settle with second place. We will see tomorrow if Ferrari launches team orders to favour Vettel who is leading the world or not.
In relation to Mercedes, some commented that its chassis, which is the longest of the grill I would hurt for the race in Monaco, where a more compact package could benefit in some ways. But you can not change once approved, and I don’t know if it was this specifically, or what, but it has cost them quite a bit. It only remains to wait for tomorrow what you can do because you have a complicated situation, Bottas has only been able to climb up to the 3rd square of the grill at the end of the qualifying session and Lewis Hamilton, who perhaps could have done a little more, it has been left out of Q3 by an accident of Vandoorne. Bad luck for the british today…
In terms of the other surprises, to say that Carlos Sainz Jr. has made a very good lap final and placed 6th. On the other hand, Red Bull have also been very high on this circuit in that it does not matter so much the engine. There was very little difference between each other, also due to the short length of the circuit. Verstappen and Ricciardo have been after the Ferrari and the Mercedes. Also surprising, the huge step taken by McLaren-Honda due to the characteristics of the circuit, where a good chassis and aerodynamics take precedence in front of the engine, another message to Honda. Both cars have been entered in Q3 and that there was Fernando Alonso who could have done a little more than 9th and 10th…
Results of the free 3
Position | Pilot | Time | |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1’12″395 |
2 | Kimi Räikkönen | Ferrari | 1’12″740 |
3 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1’12″830 |
4 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1’12″940 |
5 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’13″230 |
6 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull | 1’13″392 |
7 | Carlos Sainz Jr. | Toro Rosso | 1’13″400 |
8 | Danil Kvyat | Toro Rosso | 1’13″563 |
9 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | 1’13″596 |
10 | Stoffel Vandoorne | McLaren-Honda | 1’13″805 |
11 | Sergio Perez | Force India | 1’13″936 |
12 | Jenson Buttons | McLaren-Honda | 1’13″976 |
13 | Felipe Massa | Williams | 1’14″072 |
14 | Esteban Ocon | Force India | 1’14″072 |
15 | Nico Hülkenberg | Renault | 1’14″283 |
16 | Romain Grosjean | Haas | 1’14″547 |
17 | Lance Stroll | Williams | 1’14″675 |
18 | Jolyon Palmer | Renault | 1’15″164 |
19 | Pascal Wehrlein | Sauber | 1’15″291 |
20 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber | 1’15″863 |
Results of the classification
Position | Pilot | Time | |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Kimi Räikkonen | Ferrari | 1’12″178 |
2 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1’12″221 |
3 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1’12″223 |
4 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1’12″496 |
5 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull | 1’12″998 |
6 | Carlos Sainz Jr. | Toro Rosso | 1’13″162 |
7 | Sergio Perez | Force India | 1’13″329 |
8 | Romain Grosjean | Haas | 1’13″349 |
9 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Honda | 1’13″613 |
10 | Stoffel Vandoorne | McLaren-Honda | 1’13″249 |
11 | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso | 1’13″516 |
12 | Nico Hülkenberg | Renault | 1’13″628 |
13 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | 1’13″959 |
14 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’14″106 |
15 | Felipe Massa | Williams | 1’20″529 |
16 | Esteban Ocon | Force India | 1’14″101 |
17 | Jolyon Palmer | Renault | 1’14″696 |
18 | Lance Stroll | Williams | 1’14″893 |
19 | Pascal Wehrlein | Sauber | 1’15″159 |
20 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber | 1’15″276 |
*These are the last times set by the pilots, remember that the Button will go out last with a penalty of 15 posts…
I can only want that tomorrow to have fun with the race and that is interesting at a strategic level and to look at some hints and important struggles. Although the circuit is difficult to overtake and Pirelli with the hardness of its compounds nor been made easy in terms of degradation, since it seems that it might make the entire career with a single game ultrablandos. By the way, Alonso has got rid of a good one here, since that Button has been 9th, you will have to leave last to change the MGU-H and Turbo to detect problems in these mechanical units japanese. And of course, we also pay close attention to what you can make Fernando Alonso the other side of the pond in the Indy 500…
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