By David Galton-Fenzi
If anyone says they have any idea who is going to win at
Monaco they’re either a liar or a witch. For the first time since 1983 we’ve
had five different winners from the first five races. There has never been a
season that started with six, but when you think that this year’s victors do
not include Hamilton, Webber or Raikkonen, all previous Monaco winners, then
you realize there is every chance we could see history this weekend, and the
most wide open championship in F1 history.
Other drivers also in with a shout of extending the
‘different winners’‘streak, Bruno Senna has won at Monaco in GP2 in 2008 and
now has a race winning car beneath him. Romain Grosjean won it in 2009 and
Sergio Perez in 2010, not to mention a certain German Mercedes driver by the
name of Michael Schumacher who may have won it once or twice back in the day.
Whilst we must be careful about jumping on the whole
‘Williams are back’ bandwagon after just one (brilliant!) win, we should
remember last year's race where Maldonado was running an outstanding sixth, in
the worst car Williams have ever built, before Hamilton unceremoniously punted
him into the barriers with a handful of laps left. So if you’re going to bet on
anyone being a two-time 2012 winner this weekend, Maldonado is certainly as
good as any.
By Jem Ruggera
Remember five minutes after the finish of the Australian
Grand Prix? McLaren-Mercedes had just finished converting a dominant 1-2 in
qualifying into a dominant 1-3 in the race, and many were predicting another
season of white-washing.
Five races into the season, and how distant that memory
already seems. Instead of cantering away into the distance, McLaren have struggled,
comparatively, both on the track and off. The advantage that McLaren took into
Australia wasn’t as large as first seemed, and the vagaries of circuit and
track temperature, as well as their drivers inability to reliably find the
narrow ‘sweet spot’ of the Pirelli tyres, has meant McLaren have failed to find
consistency.
A run of pit-stop blunders, and some questionable strategy
calls from a pit-wall that usually never misses a beat, haven’t helped and
McLaren find themselves 11 points down in the constructor’s title when really
they should be leading it. Despite the many variables of racing in 2012,
McLaren still have, I think, the best car on the grid.
This must be especially difficult for Lewis Hamilton, who is
a changed man after the ramshackle season he had last year. He has been driving
with more restraint in 2012, in the sense that he is more willing to size a
moment up rather than seize it with disastrous consequences. The way he handled
the bitter disappointment of his lost pole in Spain after the team messed up
his fuel load was admirable, and he drove brilliantly from the back of the
grid to finish eight. He had the pace to win the race.
I wonder if these botched opportunities and missed points
will hurt the team further into the season. The advantage that McLaren has is
tiny, and on any given day a different team can be heading them. McLaren must
make hay while the sun shines and Monaco is just the place to nail that crucial
second win.
Both Hamilton and Jenson Button are previous winners, but it
is the 2008 champion that is particularly mighty around here. It’s time for
Hamilton to seize the momentum.
Just don’t forget Kimi…
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