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Scuderia Ferrari has won the Monaco Grand
Prix a total of nine times, to put the
Prancing Horse second in the record list
behind McLaren on fifteen. However in recent
years, the top step of the podium has proved
to be too hard a climb, with the last
victory dating back to Michael Schumacher’s
win in 2001. |
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This Thursday the cars
will be on track for free practice at the most famous
venue on the calendar, the Monaco street circuit. As was
the case last year, all the teams face one of the
biggest logistical challenges of the year, moving the F1
“circus” from Spain to Monte Carlo in the tightest time
frame of the year. “The biggest difficulty stems from
the fact that normally, we take three days to set up the
motorhomes for example and now, we have to do the same
work in practically one day,” explains Scuderia
Ferrari’s Logistics Manager, Max Balocchi. “Also, it has
to be done in a much more confined space, as the Monaco
motorhome paddock is so tight and all the teams arrive
from Barcelona at the same time and try and finish the
job as quickly as possible, because free practice at
this race starts on Thursday not Friday. We get the job
done by doubling up the numbers of personnel and working
round the clock. Even the trucks that go from Barcelona
to Monaco are kitted out with bunks so that the crew can
get some sleep on the road and then, once in Monaco they
get back to work, erecting the motorhome structures. We
aim to be out of the Catalunya paddock early on Monday
morning for what is about a ten hour journey in a
truck.”
Building up the team units in the harbour-side paddock
is a very complex operation. “We have a team of about
ten logistics people along with eight truck drivers and
a further ten people to build up the motorhomes in
Monaco, hoping to get it all done by Tuesday evening,
into the early hours of Wednesday morning,” continue
Balocchi. “We tackled this logistical challenge for the
first time last year when the calendar also had these
two races back to back and we learned a lot from that
experience. We try and coordinate our work with the
other teams, especially those that are near to us in the
paddock, so that we don’t get in each other’s way. It
should be more straightforward this time. Some of our
people have been on site in Monaco since Saturday to do
the groundwork and because space is extremely
restricted, to ensure that material from other teams is
not encroaching on our own allocated space. There is a
time schedule for which teams move in to the paddock
when, but it only takes a problem on the road for one
truck for this to be further complicated.
As for the race cars themselves, they are partly
prepared in Spain with the rest of the work being
completed on arrival in the Principality. The 150°
Italia cars will run in high downforce configuration,
although the current regulations mean that the days of
running a truly “Monaco-only” aero package are in the
past. Wings will be set to give maximum downforce, while
mechanically, the car set-up must also factor in the
very bumpy nature of the track surface. Given that the
track itself is open to normal road traffic when not in
use for racing, the surface is very dirty and slippery
at the start of practice, improving dramatically
throughout the weekend. How the Pirelli tyres will react
to these conditions is still something of an unknown
quantity, especially as the Italian manufacturer is
bringing out its Soft and Super soft tyres for the first
time this year. Once again tyre use throughout the
weekend will be a key factor, even if Monaco is less
demanding on tyres than many other tracks. It may be the
case that the recently adopted strategy of sacrificing
some qualifying performance in order to preserve new
tyres for the race will be less important than in the
past couple of races and, given the difficulty of
overtaking at this track, even with KERS, DRS and high
tyre degradation, this weekend could see a good grid
position become once again the most important factor, as
was the case up to the end of last season. If the
traditional image of Monaco is of a sun-drenched
paradise by the sea, the truth is that the mountains
above the bay give the Principality its very own
micro-climate and current weather forecasts are
predicting rain at times and maybe even a thunderstorm,
over the four days of the race meeting: in these
conditions, the vagaries of the roulette wheel in the
famous Casino are probably easier to predict than the
outcome of the race.
Scuderia Ferrari has won this race a total of nine
times, to put the Prancing Horse second in the record
list behind McLaren on fifteen. However in recent years,
the top step of the podium has proved to be too hard a
climb, with the last victory dating back to Michael
Schumacher’s win in 2001. Of the current drivers,
Fernando Alonso has won twice, both times from pole, in
2006 and 2007, while Felipe Massa started from pole in
2008. Last year, the Brazilian started fourth on the
grid and finished in the same place, while the Spaniard
never took part in qualifying, after a heavy crash in
free practice and on the Sunday, he went from 24th and
last on the grid to sixth at the flag.
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