Quote:
Originally Posted by mechman600
I wonder why they do this at Monaco, and I have some theories:
1. Gentlemen's agreement between teams to do a 1 stop race.
2. Safer, less chance of accidents on a track where the probability is already high.
2. Avoid the chance of lapped traffic which would be nearly impossible to get around.
Just theories.
|
Monaco is impossible to overtake on. Well... as a clarifier, it's impossible to overtake another car whose tires, brakes and fuel are at the same level/condition as yours, and whose natural pace is similar to yours, and whose driver has not fallen completely asleep at the wheel, allowing you to do a sneaky overtake on one of the ultra-low-speed chicanes or hairpins.
An "undercut" (pitting early to get fresher tires for the overtake) would work if the race leaders weren't sandbagging to bunch up the field. Since Mercedes kept the field bunched up, the first front-runners to blink would automatically be sent to the back of the pack. Overtaking Caterhams to get back up a few spots is not an issue, but overtaking cars like the Force India, McLarens or even the Toro Rossos is.
In the end, the gaps between the front cars were only there because, as Lewis Hamilton showed, sitting right on someone's bumper, even on a slow track like this, and attempting futile overtakes will grain your front tires in short order. Red Bull got lucky that the safety car interfered with Mercedes's pit strategy, otherwise Hamilton would have gotten second. As it is, only three drivers made any real headway through on-track overtakes, Adrian Sutil, who played a few drivers for chumps in the hairpins, Kimi Raikkonen, who was forced to pit really late for a puncture, and managed to overtake several cars in the last few laps for one measly point, and Sergio Perez, who tried to bully everyone off at the chicane and eventually smashed out of the race.
The scene at Monaco is lovely. A lap around Monaco is exhilirating. Actual wheel-to-wheel action is about as rare as an NHL game without fisticuffs.