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A third
place for Felipe Massa and a ninth for Kimi Raikkonen
was definitely not what Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro had
expected, given that the two F2008 started the Monaco GP
from the front row. However, the cliché about this event
being a lottery in the rain proved true today. The race
was won by the McLaren-Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton and
ironically, his victory stemmed partly from an early
accident when he had to make an extra pit stop that
worked in his favour in the run of rain and safety car
periods.
Any chance Massa
had of hanging onto victory disappeared when he made a
slight error in the treacherous conditions, spinning off at
Ste Devote, fortunately without doing any damage. Joining
these two on the podium in second place was BMW-Sauber's
Robert Kubica. Kimi also had his share of misfortune,
including a spin and a "drive-through" penalty, because the
Stewards deemed there had been a rule infringement on the
grid. Both our drivers also lost out, switching to a
strategy based on the rain returning, a prediction which
turned out to be false.
As far as the championships are concerned, the Scuderia
still leads the Constructors, but McLaren-Mercedes has
jumped ahead of BMW-Sauber to go second. In the Drivers'
classification, Lewis Hamilton has moved into the lead,
three points ahead of Kimi, who has one more point than
Felipe.
As the cars set off on the formation lap, the rain was
coming down and expected to continue for a further twenty
minutes, so everyone was on rain tyres. Heikki Kovalainen's
McLaren-Mercedes failed to get away for the formation lap
and was pushed back into pit lane, to start from there. As
the lights went out Massa got away cleanly into the lead,
however, Raikkonen was immediately passed by Lewis Hamilton.
Jenson Button pitted the Honda on the first lap after
colliding with Heidfeld's BMW, restarting with a new nose.
As they came through the spray to complete the third lap the
order was Massa, Hamilton, Raikkonen, Kubica, Alonso, Trulli,
Glock, Heidfeld, Webber, Nakajima, Coulthard, BArrichello,
Sutil, Bourdais, Piquet, Vettel, Fisichella, Kovalainen,
Rosberg, who had just pitted for a new nose, with Button
twentieth and last. Timo Glock's Toyota spun completely on
lap four, touching the barriers on both sides of the track
and had to pit for a new nose.
On lap 6, second placed Hamilton clipped a barrier, damaging
the right rear wheel, forcing him to make a 9 second pit
stop. This meant the Ferraris were now running first and
second, with Robert Kubica promoted to third ahead of
Fernando Alonso, with the English McLaren driver fifth.
Felipe led his team-mate by 11.5 seconds on lap 7, but the
Finn had his mirrors full of the BMW, as Kubica was just
half a second behind him. Alonso lost fourth place after he
too hit the barriers in his Renault and had to pit for a
change of tyres.
Lap 8 saw more carnage, as David Coulthard crashed his Red
Bull into the barriers at Turn 3, to be hit by Sebastian
Bourdais' Toro Rosso, to put both men out of the race. This
brought out the safety car while debris was cleared away.
One lap later, the timing screens announced that the
Stewards were investigating an incident involving car 1
(Raikkonen.) At the end of lap 10 the Safety Car came in to
leave the two Ferraris in the lead ahead of Kubica,
Hamilton, Heidfeld with Webber sixth. Raikkonen was given a
drive-thru penalty apparently because his "tyres not fully
fitted at the 3 minute signal." He came in for the penalty
at the end of lap 13 and rejoined in fourth place.
Meanwhile, Alonso drove into Heidfeld at the hairpin,
causing a traffic jam and sending Alonso back into the pits
for a second new nose. On lap 16, Massa spun at Ste Devote
which put Kubica into the lead, with Felipe 2.4s behind him.
Hamilton was third, Raikkonen fourth, Heidfeld fifth and
Webber sixth. Lap 17, saw Heidfeld's BMW slow and crawl back
to the pits for another nose change. By lap 19, Massa had
closed the gap to the leader so he was now only 1.4s behind
Kubica, with 9.9 seconds in hand over Hamilton. Raikkonen
was a further 3 seconds down and a comfortable 25.2 ahead of
fifth placed Webber.
On lap 26, the leader refuelled in 8.9 seconds and next time
round Raikkonen, having spun, came in for a new nose, as
well as fuel and tyres. He was driving again after 16.1
seconds. On lap 28, Felipe was back in the lead, but yet to
pit and 17 seconds clear of Hamilton. Raikkonen's problems
had dropped him to sixth.
Felipe's pit stop came at the end of lap 33, five laps short
of half distance. The Brazilian was stationary for 11.7
seconds. He came out in second place, behind Hamilton who
had yet to pit and only just in front of Kubica. In the
Force India, Giancarlo Fisichella's 200th Grand Prix ended
when he had to park his car at the side of the track. The
most exciting battle in the mid field was the fight for
tenth place between Piquet, Rosberg and Button. By lap 44,
Hamilton had pulled out a lead of 25.3 seconds over Massa,
who had 8.4 in hand over Kubica. The top six was completed
by Webber, Sutil and Raikkonen, with the Finn 66.5 seconds
behind the race leader. Piquet crashed out in the Renault at
Ste Devote on lap 50.
Third placed Kubica made his second stop on lap 54, while
Adrian Sutil came in from fourth for his one stop at the
same time. They were followed in by race leader Hamilton,
stationary for 7.1 seconds, but he still rejoined in the
lead. Then on lap 57, Massa came in to pit lane again to
switch to dry weather tyres, followed in by his team mate
who did the same. With eighteen laps remaining, the order
was Hamilton, Kubica, Massa, Sutil, Raikkonen, Webber,
Vettel Barrichello, and Nakajima. Rosberg had been tenth but
he had a very big crash at the Swimming Pool that brought
out the Safety Car again, until lap 68, leaving a very short
race ahead as by this stage the grand prix was just eight
minutes off its maximum two hours rule. Disaster for
Raikkonen who ran into the back of Sutil at the chicane,
forcing him to crawl around to the pits again, for another
new nose.
The race stopped after two hours, with 76 of the 78 laps
completed. The order was Hamilton, Kubica, Massa, Webber,
Vettel, Barrichello, Nakajima, Kovalainen, Raikkonen ninth,
Alonso, Button, Glock, Trulli and Heidfeld 14th and last.
Stefano Domenicali: "Yesterday, after a great
qualifying, it was easy for us to act like prophets
foreseeing a possible lottery for today's race, given the
weather forecast. We cannot deny we are disappointed with
this definitely negative outcome, the result of a
combination of errors on our part and bad luck. We got off
on the wrong foot, with an infringement of the rules in
preparing Kimi's car on the grid, minutes before the start,
which resulted in a drive through penalty for the driver.
Then we decided to switch our strategy, going for a one-stop
race, on the basis that we expected the rain to return and
this did not happen. With hindsight is it easy to say we
should have made different choices, but the reality is that,
at every level, we did not meet our usual high standards.
After this long preamble, the overall picture at the end of
the first third of the season is still a positive one. We
have taken four wins and the same number of poles from six
races and we are still solidly in the lead of the
Constructors' classification, with Kimi and Felipe still in
the hunt for the lead in the Drivers.' Now we must look
ahead and get as well prepared as possible for the Canadian
Grand Prix. Here we showed we were capable of fighting for
the lead and we want to do the same in Montreal, another
track that did not suit us so well last year."
Felipe Massa: "A shame to have ended up third because
of a series of events that did not go in our favour, which
can easily happen in these conditions and on this track. At
the start, I was very quick and the car was perfect, but
then I made a mistake at the first corner, braking on the
yellow line and I lost a place to Robert. But after just a
few laps I was right behind him and I knew I could push
harder. We decided to switch strategies thinking the rain
was going to return, but this turned out to be the wrong
choice. On full tanks and on a drying track, the standard
rain tyres did not have the same grip as the ones my nearest
rivals were using. On top of that, there was a radio
blackout between the car and the pits for part of the race.
Given everything that happened, these six points are still
important in light of the championship: we have only got
through the first third of the season and there is still a
long way to go."
Kimi Raikkonen: "A very poor race for me, right from
the off. There was a problem with a wheel before the start
and we broke the rules, which meant I was given a
drive-through penalty. During the race, my main problem was
trying to get the tyres to work as well as possible. Then we
decided to change the strategy as we expected it to rain
again, but it didn't happen. Twice I had to change the nose
after breaking the front wing. So, as you can see, a long
run of things going wrong which explains the 0 points. I am
sorry for Sutil, who I hit with just a few laps to go. I
lost control of the car under braking coming out of the
tunnel and I could do nothing to avoid him. It's a shame how
things went today, as we had the potential to do well. It's
true that I've lost the championship lead, but I always said
the championship would be a very long one. Now we must
prepare as well as possible for Canada where we will try to
make up for this disappointment."
Luca Baldisserri: "We are very disappointed with this
result which is definitely below our level of expectation.
We made mistakes which we have to look at to ensure we don't
do the same again and we also made a few strategy choices,
which all things considered turned out to be wrong even if
it easy to be wise after the event. We must draw the right
conclusions from this weekend, without colouring our
judgement with emotion. We showed we were competitive on a
track that traditionally has not suited us, but we did not
work at our usual high standard. In less than a fortnight we
will face a similar challenge in Montreal, where in 2007, we
had problems. We really want to make up for today's
disappointment."
Race Details: F. Massa: 3rd 2:00.47.553 + 3.064 76 Laps
Chassis 267; K. Raikkonen: 9th 2:01.16.534 + 33.792 76 Laps
Chassis 270; Weather: air temperature 20/23 °C, track
temperature 22/23 °C, rain at first, then overcast.
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