You know its a good season when a quater of the way in the two drivers with the most votes to win have not yet won a race.
And to add to that imagine this time last year if you were told now that Vettel would only have not606% sorry, I mean 6.06% of the votes to win.
Like last year, DRS will be banned in the tunnel: http://www.f1zone.net/news/drs-ban-to-remain-in-force-throughout-monaco-tunnel-in-2012/14027/
I really don't see the point of DRS here for the race. In qualifying yes but in the race it has little effect.
I expect Lewis to have gearbox troubles at Monaco at some point, it will be race number 3 for them and Monaco loves to destroy gearboxes. Everybody else should have near enough a brand new box.
I'll believe that when Hamilton struggles with it. edit: silver, stop posting 2 tenths before I do. It makes my comment appear not to make much sense.
Both cars or just his car? You don't need the perfect car to get pole and win in Monaco. Speed and downforce is important but the car needs an aggressive driver to throw it around the track.
Mercedes and Force India will be the biggest strugglers in Monaco I would imagine. Low downforce cars both. I thought the Mclaren was good through the low-speed corners? Vettel will be interesting to watch. Webber usually goes well at Monaco, how will Seb deal with those tight corners without the EBD?
Like 2010 I would of thought, except more experienced. He also shouldn't have a broken chassis to slow him down.
Apparently he gets a new gearbox: http://www.not606.com/showthread.ph...cedes-MP4-27?p=2730476&viewfull=1#post2730476 Still don't really understand this rule.
On the back of three straight years of pole and the win for the best car thats a bold statement. As for Jenson the full quote has him going on to talk about his balance issues at the last we races so its sounds like that bit was about the car in general.
Its because he already took a penalty for the change and it replaces the first gearbox, therefore only had to do 3 more races (china, bahrain and spain). The new gearbox is much lighter, made from a different material, used by Jenson in Spain; He was able to use a new one for not finishing Bahrain. Jenson could also use a fresh gearbox in Monaco for the same reason and Lewis. Hope that makes sense.
I don't really agree with this part of your comment, Tom. Despite the nature of the tight and twisty track requiring lots of downforce, aerodynamic efficiency (downforce v drag) is not the most critical thing for Monaco these days* because it really only comes into play through the tunnel. Yes, it's high downforce, of course; but with so many low-speed corners, what matters even more is mechanical grip â something Mercedes have in spades! If the weather is dry but not too warm, I expect them to do well, assuming their respective drivers find good set-ups. *Further in the past, it was more crucial because far less was known about car aerodynamics. Therefore anything extra was likely to give more of an edge over one's competitors. Now however, all of the teams have more than enough for this circuit; thus reducing its significance relative to each other.
2009, Kimi in a poor Ferrari was less than a tenth away from pole 2010 Kubica in an OK Renault was denied by Webber for pole. Shows that not all the time you need the best car, although these aren't examples of pole or wins but for me it goes to show if you hook the lap up in a quick car you can be successful.
It's all about who is willing to push the car further than the other, not just who has the fastest car. This is why I reckon Kimi is more likely to get pole and the win as he doesn't give a **** about where he is in the standings at the moment. Seb will be cautious because he knows this track can bite you in the arse if you over do it, he's fighting for the WDC, not just the Monaco win so I expect Seb to collect points here unless somehow the RB8 hooks up better then the rest. Alonso and Lewis should also be careful because they don't need an off to allow somebody like Seb to pull a gap on them.
A gearbox has to last for five races. If you change the gearbox then you take a penalty but the five race rule doesn't get reset to race number one. If you change a gearbox between race number three and four then the new gearbox only has to last for races four and five. After the fifth race you get a new gearbox. If you fail to finish a race (as Button did in Bahrain) then you can change the gearbox without penalty. That new gearbox has to complete the remaining number of races in the five race cycle (one race in Button's case).
