Motorsport: Monaco mystery - why the big gap?

Monday motorsport reportMay 28, 2007

Firstly, though, congratulations to McLaren-Mercedes on its domination on the streets of Monte Carlo and its 150th GP victory.

Fernando Alonso scored his second win of the year while Lewis Hamilton notched his fifth podium finish -- and fourth straight second place -- from the five races so far in his debut season.

Ferrari's Felipe Massa finished almost 70 seconds behind Alonso, the first driver to win back-to-back GPs in Monte Carlo for different teams.

Massa says that if he'd driven at 150 per cent he still wouldn't have finished any closer to the McLarens.

Yet the McLarens were under orders to ease off, and did so, after the first round of pitstops.

How can it be that the car that had been generally quickest in F1 up until Monaco, and in which Massa had won the previous two GPs, be so far behind the McLarens in Monaco?

And worse, how come the other 15 finishers were lapped? Nine of them finished one lap down; six of them two laps down!

Only four cars didn't finish, which says a lot about the reliability of the modern F1 machines. Two of those were the Spykers, Antonio Liuzzi's Toro Rosso swiped a safety barrier on the opening lap, and the other retirement was -- surprise, surprise -- Mark Webber's Red Bull RB3.

Webber had again excelled in qualifying, earning sixth on the grid -- although Hamilton would dispute that the Aussie shone, blaming him for spoiling his best lap and costing him pole position.

In the race Webber's car lasted only a quarter of the distance before another transmission failure put him out.

We'll leave further comment on Webber's ongoing predicament to another day because Monaco has thrown up a much bigger issue.

Up until this point the F1 season had been enthralling, not so much because of the quality of the racing but the fact that -- in the first year AS (After Schumacher) -- four drivers seemed to be genuinely in the contest for the world drivers' championship.

Well, now, we can prepare to discard Kimi Raikkonen from that equation.

Many of F1's greats have doubted that, despite his undeniable speed, Raikkonen has what it takes to be a world champion, and it's becoming difficult to disagree.

The Finn made his way up to eighth from his lowly 16th on the grid, but even ardent Raikkonen supporters must be starting to wonder whether Kimi's F1 career is going to become a mirror of Juan Pablo Montoya's -- i.e., unfulfilled.

Massa probably should have been leading the world championship going into Monaco, if not for his misfortune in qualifying in Melbourne.

And, having won so convincingly in Bahrain and Barcelona, it is inexplicable that his Ferrari, driven to its limit, could not come closer to the winning McLaren than almost 70 seconds.

McLaren's record in Monaco has been much better than Ferrari's, yet this was Team Mac's first one-two in the priveliged principality since 1989 and the days of the mighty Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost.

It's hard to believe that, once Alonso won the pole, McLaren didn't nominate that it was to be his race.

Off the staggered starting grid, Hamilton veered quite sharply right in what looked like a move to block those behind, while shielding Alonso from any first-lap scuffle.

Reports from Monaco today suggest that, for the first time in his brief F1 career, Hamilton appeared miffed at having to play second fiddle in the McLaren camp.

"He (Alonso) has number one on his car and I have number two. I am the second driver, and I must accept that," says Hamilton, who obviously fancied his chance - had he been allowed to go for it.

He began with a heavier fuel load than Alonso and could have run a longer first stint and perhaps got ahead of the Spaniard, yet the rookie was called in for his stop two laps ahead of expectations.

McLaren boss Ron Dennis then ordered both his drivers not to overstretch things.

Yet they still finished literally streets ahead of Massa, and even further ahead of the rest.

Despite Ferrari having had the early edge to the season, McLaren now leads the Italian scuderia by 20 points in the constructors' championship.

Alonso and Hamilton are equal on points in the drivers' championship, although Alonso leads courtesy of his two victories.

While Hamilton has made a stunning entry into F1, it would be understandable that McLaren give Alonso preference because of the millions it has paid to lure him across from Renault.

As brilliant as Hamilton is, Alonso is the proven class act of the modern F1 field. He combines blistering qualifying speed with the racecraft that's needed to be an F1 champion.

Remember, this is the man who beat Michael Schumacher to the title the past two years.

Ron Dennis insists that McLaren will always give its drivers equal opportunity, but Monaco had a few signs of manipulation -- particularly Hamilton's move off the start line.

Mostly it has been Ferrari that has been in the firing line over orchestrating races, particularly when Rubens Barrichello had to play bridesmaid to Schumacher, but there have been issues with McLaren too -- especially when David Coulthard moved over to let Mika Hakkinen win in Melbourne in 1998.

In light of the earlier four races this year, it may be premature for the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), to look for anything untoward yet.

But, hours after the Monaco race, it is unfathomable that McLaren could be so far ahead of Ferrari. Almost a second a lap, on a tight circuit that usually bunches up the field.

Even a disbelieving Alonso says: "I have never won with more than a minute to the third guy."

Ron Dennis admits the McLaren quinella was "effortless".

"We were cruising from lap 10 really," he says.

For the record, Giancarlo Fisichella's fourth place gave Renault its best result of the season -- the previous having been his fourth at the season-opener in Melbourne, after the team won eight GPs last year, when it had Alonso.

Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld were fifth and sixth respectively for BMW-Sauber with Alexander Wurz opening his account for Williams in seventh place.

The two points from that effort put Toyota-powered Williams in fifth place, and ahead of the Toyota factory team, in the constructors' championship
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Honda is still yet to score a point this year. Disgraceful.

Formula 1 world championship after five of 18 rounds -- Drivers: Fernando Alonso (Spain, McLaren-Mercedes), Lewis Hamilton (Britain, McLaren-Mercedes) 38 points each, Felipe Massa (Brazil, Ferrari) 33, Kimi Raikkonen (Finland, Ferrari) 23, Nick Heidfeld (Germany, BMW-Sauber) 18, Giancarlo Fisichella (Italy, Renault) 13, Robert Kubica (Poland, BMW-Sauber) 12, Nico Rosberg (Germany, Williams-Toyota) 5, Jarno Trulli (Italy, Toyota), David Coulthard (Britain, Red Bull-Renault) 4 each, Heikki Kovalainen (Finland, Renault) 3, Alexander Wurz (Austria, Williams-Toyota) 2, Ralf Schumacher (Germany, Toyota), Takuma Sato (Japan, Super Aguri-Honda) 1 each. Constructors: McLaren-Mercedes 76, Ferrari 56, BMW-Sauber 30, Renault 16, Williams-Toyota 7, Toyota 5, Red Bull-Renault 4, Super Aguri-Honda 1.

Enlightenment from the FIA chief
Proposed night GPs have been much in the news lately, but FIA president Max Mosley points out F1's governing body hasn't yet sanctioned Bernie Ecclestone's plans.

Ecclestone, perceived as the F1 supremo, is pressing for floodlit races in Singapore and possibly Malaysia as soon as next year, and also wants the Australian GP to be run at night, but Mosley reiterates that the FIA must give the final go-ahead.

"There is still no criteria for it," Mosley says, explaining that it may be for the FIA's World Council to sanction or disallow it.

"We will not sanction night racing if it does not fulfill all of the safety conditions."

While Mosley and Ecclestone have long been seen as a double act, we've felt for a couple of years now that, despite appearances, perhaps the real power is with Max rather than Bernie -- and that the former would rather like it that way.

Dario Franchitti won, ironically for Andretti Green Racing headed by Michael Andretti, one of the famous family that has had such wretched luck at The Brickyard.

Kim Green, originally from Western Australia, is a partner in the team.

The race was halted soon after half distance, then got going a couple of hours later, but was stopped for good after a two-car crash on lap 164 of the scheduled 200 around the 2.5-mile (4km) track.

Brisbane-born New Zealander Scott Dixon was second for the Ganassi team and Team Penske's polesitter Helio Castroneves and his teammate Sam Hornish third and fourth, ahead of Briscoe, who was driving for a satellite team co-owned by Penske's son, Jay.

Although American oval track racing is very different to F1, it is worth recording that, in comparison with procession in Monaco, there were 24 lead changes among nine drivers at The Brickyard -- and 13 drivers finished on the lead lap.

Ambrose top Busch rookie at Charlotte
Marcos Ambrose was the top rookie in NASCAR's Busch Series round at Charlotte, North Carolina, despite finishing 20th.

Kasey Kahne won his first race of the year, despite some mechanical dramas with his Dodge late in the race and having started from 32nd, ahead of the Chevrolet of Casey Mears, who today won the Coca-Cola 600 -- his first victory in Nextel Cup, NASCAR's premier league.

Carl Edwards, driving a Ford like Ambrose, still has a 423-point lead in the Busch series over Kevin Harvick in a Chevrolet.

Juan Pablo Montoya, another NASCAR rookie and driving a Dodge, had come from 37th on the grid to 15th but smacked the wall approaching three-quarter distance.

Now it's on to Dover International Speedway for the 14th race of the Busch Series next Saturday.

NASCAR Busch Series after 13 rounds - Carl Edwards 2075 points, Kevin Harvick 1652, Dave Blaney 1483, Matt Kenseth 1431, David Reutimann 1393.

Ambrose is 13th on 1303 points and third in the rookie standings on 123 points, behind  David Ragan on 132 and Juan Pablo Montoya 127.

Toyota's Super 2000 Corolla ready
Australia's round of the Asia-Pacific Rally Championship and the third round of the Australian Rally Championship are coming up this weekend in Canberra.

Triple Australian rally champion Neal Bates will debut Toyota's new Super 2000 Corolla.

Bates campaigned an S2000 test car in the first two rounds of the Australian championship, becoming the first S2000 driver to win a stage in Oz and finish on the podium at the last round in WA.

He is second in the championship behind teammate and reigning champion Simon Evans, who has won both national rounds so far in last year's title-winning Group N (P) Corolla.

Bates says his new car "will be lighter than the one we have run so far this season, but it still won't be down to the minimum allowed for S2000 cars (1150kg)".

"We will probably be able to eventually get the car down to around 30 to 40 kg over that," he says.

"The aim for Canberra is to finish the event.

"We don't expect to introduce a brand new car and have absolutely no problems, but we'd love to finish both heats to give us a good understanding of how far away from the pace we might be."

Evans says he's now itching to get hold of an S2000 Corolla by the end of the season.

The S2000 Ford Fiestas of Michael Guest and Darren Windus, fourth and fifth at WA's Forest Rally, will feature front and rear anti-roll bars in Canberra as well as a fully operable handbrake system, critical in getting rally cars around tight hairpin corners.

The ARC round has drawn 39 entries, 10 more than last year, with another 10 cars in the Asia-Pacific field -- headed by reigning champion and triple Australian champion Cody Crocker in a Subaru.

Support for the Asia-Pacific round has dwindled in Canberra and we hear suggestions of a plan to switch it to Tasmania from next year.

On the ARC front, Eli Evans, younger brother of Simon, and John Murray Junior will be in new Subaru WRX STi's this weekend, while David Hills returns in a new Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX.

Nine teams will compete in the F16 class and eight in the Rally Challenge.

Herridge and regular co-driver Bill Hayes will drive a Group N Impreza WRX in the remaining rounds of the Chinese championship, starting at a tarmac rally in Beijing in mid-June.

Herridge's opposition in China will include Britain's Martin Rowe and David Higgins, New Zealand champion Richard Mason and Finnish star Jarkko Mietienen.

"I won't be in the running for the drivers' championship, but my results will count towards the teams' championship, which Subaru Rally Team China are very keen to win," Herridge says.

He is not sure yet whether he will drive for the Japanese Subaru team at the world championship rounds in Japan and NZ as he has done in previous years.

It's reputed to be the WRC's toughest rally, with temperatures up to 40 degrees Celsius and rough mountain roads.

The past two years it has been based at the Athens Olympic Stadium but this year the headquarters moves to the Olympic Equestrian Centre in Markopoulo, 30km south of Athens -- although some of last year's special stages remain.

Australian Chris Atkinson will be having his third start in the event, but his first in Greece with Belgian Stephane Prevot as his co-driver.

Atkinson's Subaru World Rally Team has won five times in Greece in the past 13 seasons, but it is struggling with the latest Impreza.

Although Atkinson was classified only 10th at the last round on Sardinia in Italy, he says: "There were moments when we were right where we wanted to be."

Atko needs a lot more moments like that this weekend.

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