Monaco struck and Raikkonen was the prey or should I say Adrian Sutil. Anyway, Lewis Hamilton was the man of the day winning the race in fine style. Ironically it was an early mistake that set the tone for his win. Just a few laps into the race when rain was pouring down, Lewis got out of shape and brushed the wall. Punctured tire was all the damage, but when in the pits, the crew loaded him with fuel to go late in the race and possibly take advantage of the others taking earlier second stops. It did the trick! Hamilton drove quicker and quicker as the rain finally stopped and the track dried out. He switched to dry tires at just the right time and built a lead over Felipe Massa to almost 39 seconds. He then pitted and of course came out in the lead and went on to win easily.It didn’t seem that this year’s Monaco Grand Prix would be Hamilton’s to win. Qualifying was good, but not good enough and Ferrari looked bullet proof. Last year a little controversy between him and Alonso sealed Hamilton’s fate to second when he felt he could have won the race. This is what you do with a disappointment, you take it and use it to motivate you next year and Lewis did just that.
I thought he drove a great race from his mistake on in. He was fast, on line, smooth and seemed to have little trouble in the changing conditions. He also stayed out of trouble. Love or hate him, he drove like a champion.
Coulthard once again crashed out. It’s a thing with him these days, he either attracts other cars or smacks a wall like in this race. Lap 8 was his bad break when he lost it in the wet and side swiped the wall. That wasn’t all, Sebastien Bourdais did the same thing right behind Coulthard; into the wall and rear ending Coulthard and finishing him off. Bourdais was also gone in the crash. This is probably Coulthard’s last year and I think the broadcasters box may be a bit safer.
Now the first problem for Raikkonen. He was served a drive through penalty for get this, not having his tires fitted before the 3 minutes mark before the start of the race and drove through the pits on lap 13. Not entirely his fault, but he may have asked for a different set of tires too late and got caught. From there on in, Raikkonen wasn’t up to the task and never recovered.
Nick Heidfeld who qualified like an amateur had battled back from 13th to 5th when an over aggressive Alonso tried what I think was the 2nd most stupid move of the race. At the hairpin, he tried an impossible pass on Heidfeld, the 2 tangled with Alonso t-boning Heidfeld causing substantial damage to his sidepod. Heidfeld continued the race, but the car was so out of shape he ended up lapped not once but twice. This wasn’t the first incident for Alonso, he smacked the wall on lap 8 sending him to the pits for repairs.
I didn’t like the way Alonso drove this race. He was too aggressive for the conditions and overdrove his car. The move on Heidfeld was just plain stupid. The opening to take Heidfeld wasn’t there, but he took it anyway and ruined Heidfeld’s race.
Robert Kubica was one of the drivers of the day. After Hamilton had to pit on lap 8, Massa regained the lead and drove well. That moved Kubica up to 2nd. It wasn’t long before Kubica was pushing Massa. Massa made his one mistake of the day at Ste Devote running wide into the run off area and Kubica took the lead of the race. Kubica drove a perfect race and it showed. No mistakes and it seemed he had a relatively easy time driving Monaco in wet or dry. The lead wasn’t to be though as when both he and Massa pitted, Hamilton who was only 16 seconds behind took over the lead he wouldn’t give up.
On to Raikkonen again, at Ste Devote he went off again and damaged his front wing and had to pit once again for a nose change. Raikkonen wasn’t on in this race and hasn’t been on for a while now. Adrian Sutil, yes Force India’s Adrian Sutil started way back and by the last few laps was running in 5th place. A place gained by loads of attrition and solid driving with no mistakes. His lap times were up there with the leaders and was set for Force India’s first points of
the season. That is until coming out of the tunnel, Raikkonen behind him loses control and rear ends Sutil. Raikkonen had exited the tunnel all day long knowing what lay ahead on the track, but this time he lost it. This has to be the number one stupid mistake of the race. Not only did he take himself out of contention (he was able to continue), but he damaged Sutil’s car badly enough he had to retire. After the race Raikkonen did apologize to Sutil, but I’m sorry, this was the most hollow apology I’ve heard in a long time. I’m sorry I hit you but, but, but, but. It was almost like he was justifying his mistake. Not the words of a champion.Sebastian Vettel was another driver of the day. He drove a mistake free day with steady pace. After not having a good time at all with the new car, Vettel’s day looked doomed before it began, but he drove really well and ended up in 5th.
In the end, my driver of the day has to go to Adrian Sutil. Even though he was a ‘dnf’ due to Raikkonen he was set for a great finish and good points. I was sickened when I saw the crash that took him out. It almost seemed unbelievable that it happened.
Another driver driver of the day has to be Robert Kubica. This guy is set to be a real threat in F1. If not for Hamilton’s mistake early on, he could have won the race.
1 L. Hamilton McLaren 2:00:42.742
2 R. Kubica BMW + 3.064
3 F. Massa Ferrari + 4.811
4 M. Webber Red Bull + 19.295
5 S. Vettel Scuderia Toro Rosso + 24.657
6 R. Barrichello Honda + 28.408
7 K. Nakajima Williams + 30.180
8 H. Kovalainen McLaren + 33.191
9 K. Räikkönen Ferrari + 33.792
10 F. Alonso Renault + 0 laps
11 J. Button Honda + 0 laps
12 T. Glock Toyota + 0 laps
13 J. Trulli Toyota + 0 laps
14 N. Heidfeld BMW + 0 laps
Did not finish
15 A. Sutil Force India F1 + 7 laps
16 N. Rosberg Williams + 17 laps
17 N. Piquet jr. Renault + 31 laps
18 G. Fisichella Force India F1 + 40 laps
