Renault take pole in Monaco Grand Prix ! (***SPOILER***)

[gti138]

Montoya takes out Schuey behind the safety car in the tunnel on lap 31 to go!! Alonso out as a result of trying an unswept section of track in the tunnel with 35 laps to go, damm, he was attempting to pass a sick Ralf S in a dud Willams that appears to have lost a few gears (retire pls). :disappr:

One hell of a race - thankfully this track still exists in F1. Makes the entire season worthwhile! Looks like a bit of an amaturaish mistake by Alonso - Going 2 wide through the tunnel? Surely that's a stupid thing to be doing going off line there. Makes 2 stupid mistakes Alonso has made that have resulted in a written off Renault. Last one was at Interlargos last year when he came screaming through after the safety car signs were out and collected a tyre in the middle of the track left by Webbers crash in the Jag.

What was Schumi doing locking up the brakes in the tunnel? Looks like Montoya just ran out of room.

That said - go Renault :renplak: Although i'm a Pug man I like to see the froggies do well

 

[GavinS]

Reno wins-

First for the year for Jarno Trulli and his RS24
Renault, BAR made it interesting but no cigar. :adrink:

 

[purrr-geot]

Now thats f1. Good work renault!!

Top efforts all round:renplak: :renplak: :renplak:

 

[mistareno]

... Looks like a bit of an amaturaish mistake by Alonso - Going 2 wide through the tunnel? Surely that's a stupid thing to be doing going off line there.......

I think you will find there will be more to that incident than meets the eye....

I've watched the incident a few times now, and on the later highlighted replay, Ralf (after receiving his 3 blue flags) slows to let Alonso pass, but doesn't give him any room to do so. Ralf should have let him pass as they head into the tunnel.

If Alonso had stayed behind Ralf on the racing line through the tunnel (bearing in mind Ralf had slowed down) he would have lost atleast a few seconds to Trulli.

I think Alonso would have (quite reasonably) assumed that, as Ralf was being lapped and was about to receive a 3rd penalty blue flag, he would've pulled to the inside to let him through.

By the time Alonso realised Ralf was still on the racing line, it was to late. The speed difference would've meant either a: crash into the arse of Ralf (my preffered option ) or b: try and pass him on the outside. As we all saw, he hit the marbles and was just a passenger from then.......atleast he had time to give Ralf the bird as he was spinning to a smouldering halt

This kind of incident happens so often when a driver that is usually a front runner is getting lapped. Because they aren't used to that situation, they don't know how to get out of the way at the right place. I don't think it was intentional by Ralf, but he shouldn't have put Alonso in that position......

 

[XTC]

" Without question, this was the best race in a long time. Trulli outstanding! "

- XTC206 -


Michael Schumacher’s winning form ended in spectacular style in Monaco, with Jarno Trulli taking his maiden victory in one of the most demanding races of the season. Jenson Button came home in second place, the young Englishman’s fourth podium of the season, and Rubens Barrichello finished third.

The race was packed with incident. If viewers said it once, they must have said it 10 times for each of the 77 laps to which the 2004 Monaco Grand Prix ran - “ what a fantastic race!”

After the initial start had to be aborted when Olivier Panis’s Toyota developed a clutch problem, it began properly with Takuma Sato making the start of the century to blast from eighth place into fourth going into Ste Devote, shoving Michael Schumacher’s slow-starting Ferrari aside along the way. The Renaults of pole-sitter Jarno Trulli and Fernando Alonso made use of their excellent traction to jump ahead of Jenson Button’s BAR, and Sato narrowly avoided hitting his own team-mate while simultaneously squeezing ahead of Kimi Raikkonen’s McLaren.

But that was only the start of it all. Right away Sato’s Honda V10 was smoking badly, as he fought off Raikkonen, Schumacher, Barrichello, Coulthard, Montoya, Webber and Fisichella. On the third lap, exiting Tabac, the engine exploded in oil smoke, and all hell let loose as the following drivers were faced with an impenetrable grey fog. As Coulthard slowed he was struck from behind by Fisichella’s Sauber, which overturned on to the right-hand barrier as others picked their way through.

As the safety car was deployed, Fisichella waited until the lack of noise signalled that the accident was over, then released himself, thankfully completely unharmed but highly frustrated. Things were cleared up quickly enough for racing to resume on the eighth lap, and for a while the two Renault drivers went at it with Trulli leading Alonso, as Button chased after them. Qualifying strategies became clearer as Button pitted on lap 18, Raikkonen 19, Barrichello 20, Trulli 24, Alonso 25 and Schumacher 26. When things settled down that had moved the champion ahead of Button, but Trulli and Alonso were still fighting hammer on tongs.

By now the race was just past one-third distance and already Klien had crashed out on lap one, Sato had blown up, Fisichella and Coulthard had gone because of the resultant accident, Webber rolled to a halt with no drive, Pantano’s gearshift stopped working and Bruni packed it in and Raikkonen’s pneumatic valve gear had malfunctioned. So much for Formula One racing’s recent run of incredible reliability. Already it was clear this one was not running to 2004 form.

Schumacher was not making much ground on the Renaults, until lap 42, when he passed one of them in mangled state on the exit to the tunnel. It was Alonso’s, the Spaniard having spun while moving off line to lap a gear-troubled Ralf Schumacher.

This was the incident that really changed the face of the race, for while the field was running under the safety car Schumacher braked hard in the tunnel (to keep his brakes hot, he said) and a lapped Montoya had to take sudden avoiding action to the right. As Schumacher closed the gap they collided, Schumacher hitting the left-hand wall and smashing off his left front wheel. He dragged his damaged car back to the pits, and there the recriminations began. Both drivers were later called before the stewards but eventually it was decided that no action would be taken against either.

Schumacher’s quest to equal Ayrton Senna’s record of six Monaco wins was over, not to mention winning six 2004 races in a row. But now two men who had never won a Grand Prix had it all to fight for.

When they started racing again on lap 47 the gap was four seconds, but there was traffic between Trulli and Button. Quickly the Italian opened this to 6.7s by lap 51, but after that Button hit his stride and began carving it down. It was 3.5s by lap 68, and then traffic played another role. As the race moved into its final laps there was less than a second between them and it was anyone’s race. This was precisely the shot in the arm that Formula One racing needed, and when they sped through Rascasse for the 77th and final time the gap was less than half a second. But Trulli had clung on, kept his head under pressure, and scored his maiden triumph in the best possible way. “It feels wonderful, just wonderful,” he beamed. “And now, just like I was in karting and Formula Three, all I really want to do is sleep.”

Button took second with great honour, and Barrichello survived for third despite brake problems. Montoya was a lapped fourth, and just to complete a wonderful race Felipe Massa held off Cristiano da Matta for fifth by a tenth of a second after a great tussle. Behind them, another of the race’s stars, Nick Heidfeld, brought Jordan two points for seventh and Panis completed the scorers with eighth.

The result barely made a dent in Schumacher’s or Ferrari’s championship leads, but Button and Trulli are closing on Barrichello’s second place and Sauber vaulted into fifth place ahead of McLaren as Toyota closed to within a point of the British team.

 

[gti138]

I guess if your going to race in F1 you've got to expect to loose money but this is rediculous.

Jaguar had a diamond valued at US$250,000 embedded in the nose of both Mark Webber and Christian Klein's Jag's at Monaco. When Klein hit the tyre wall at Lowes hairpin and retired the diamond was "lost"

Oops!

I guess which ever advertising/marketing exec that thought of that is looking for another job.

Maybe Jag Rac can spend their money better on improving the reliability of their cars rather than stuffing diamonds in the nose.....

 

[gti138]

If Alonso had stayed behind Ralf on the racing line through the tunnel (bearing in mind Ralf had slowed down) he would have lost atleast a few seconds to Trulli.

Ralf was going slowly due to hydraulic problems that meant that he had by that point lost 5th, 6th and 7th gears. Towards the end of the race he only had 4th gear left - this was undoubtably a contributing factor in his slowness through the tunnel and perhaps why Alonso attempted a pass.

I think Alonso would have (quite reasonably) assumed that, as Ralf was being lapped and was about to receive a 3rd penalty blue flag, he would've pulled to the inside to let him through.

It's dangerous to assume anything really - but maybe it's one that Alonso can chalk up to experience. Monaco is one of those tracks where it's very difficult to pass and there are realistically only one or two places you can pass. If Alonso had trailed Ralf through the tunnel and then powered past once outside he would have easily passed him under brakes into the chicane. In 20 years of watching F1 I have never seen anyone attempt to go around the outside of someone through the tunnel. It's just one of those areas where there is only one line there and the ammount of crap that accumulates off the line simply meant that there was no grip. Result - Alonso simply understeered into the wall Would have been great to see a Renault 1 & 2 though.

Did anyone have a chuckle when the interviewed DC during the race? I loved his reference to Days of Thunder when going through the smoke - go high and put your foot down... Mwhahahaha

 

[nate]

Ralph just needs a smak in the head...

www.renaultf1.com

"The reason for the crash is pretty simple: I was lapping Ralf, and he ignored the blue flags for the first seven corners. He slowed down to let me by at the entrance to the tunnel, then got back on the throttle and pushed me wide. There’s no grip on the outside there, and I lost control. It’s extremely frustrating, and cost us a one-two finish.”

 

[mistareno]

Ralph just needs a smak in the head...

www.renaultf1.com

"The reason for the crash is pretty simple: I was lapping Ralf, and he ignored the blue flags for the first seven corners. He slowed down to let me by at the entrance to the tunnel, then got back on the throttle and pushed me wide. There’s no grip on the outside there, and I lost control. It’s extremely frustrating, and cost us a one-two finish.”

Well, I was pretty close.....

I think (from what I've heard from someone in the know ) that the FIA might be having a closer look at this one.....

I think they will look quite closely at the on board telemetery from both cars (Ralf's in particular)

Remember this was not an overtaking (for position) manouvre, Ralf was being lapped and it is his responsibility to get out of the way as soon as possible. I believe the rules use the phrase "to the minimum inconvenience of the passing driver" or similar.

This is why I stated that Alonso would have "assumed" Ralf would have yeilded as they entered the tunnel......

If I was Ralf I'd be watching my back, because Fernando was not a happy camper.....

On the other hand, whats that they say about "assumption being the mother of all f#*k up's" (or similar)

 

[gti138]

Well, I was pretty close.....

I think (from what I've heard from someone in the know ) that the FIA might be having a closer look at this one.....

I think they will look quite closely at the on board telemetery from both cars (Ralf's in particular)

Remember this was not an overtaking (for position) manouvre, Ralf was being lapped and it is his responsibility to get out of the way as soon as possible. I believe the rules use the phrase "to the minimum inconvenience of the passing driver" or similar.

Do the FIA have access to the cars telemetry? I thought that the cars run their own ECU's at the moment and only were looking at a control one from 2008. Would the teams give out that data - particularly if it incriminated someone in particular?

I still think that ralf's slowness going into the tunnel could have been because he only had 4th gear late in the race. Not being familar with performance levels of F1 cars but it may make a difference in the acceleration rate of the cars.

 

[Poo-Go]

Ralf DOES need a smack. He's caused so many incidents this year (and last). He certainly doesn't have the talent of his brother, so this is how he makes up for it.

 

[Cal]

Thread title edited.

Cal.