Kimi Räikkönen & Sebastian Vettel

Kimi Räikkönen & Sebastian Vettel

lauantai 26. toukokuuta 2012

Monaco GP / Qualifying: Who says Schumi is too old for Formula 1?!

After such a chaotic beginning of the season I had no clue what to expect from Monaco! The hectic Q1 had just got underway when my mother-in-law and father-in-law came for a visit! My husband had cautiously suggested previously that they would come AFTER the qualifying, I mean I have to admit that I´m not a very good hostess when the thrilling Formula 1 action is on... Sorry in-laws but when there´re Sebastian and Kimi on the track fighting for positions my focus is primarily (totally) on them! I did cook dinner and bake a cake when the qualifying was over and my pulse was back to normal again ;)

The only surprise in Q1 was what happened to Perez. He hit the kerb and apparently something in the steering got broken and he hit the wall which meant he was out of the qualifying. Kovalainen in his Caterham was very very close to making it in to Q2, only 47 thousandths separated him from Vergne! The red angry bird didn´t fly quite fast enough today! ;)

The battle for positions in Q2 was utterly intense. The Lotus duo Grosjean and Räikkönen looked soooo quick in the morning in FP3 but in the qualifying both of them seemed to be struggling with their car, Kimi more than his team-mate... Kimi had to use a set of super soft tyres already in Q1 and in Q2 he was hardly able to reach P10 and make his way through to the final section of the qualifying! But Kimi´s final attempt was so much worth seeing! He absolutely squeezed everything out of his car and I simply love Kimi´s racing attitude. Kimi is a guy who never gives up! But he wasn´t the only one struggling on the streets of the principality. This turned out to be the second qualifying in a row for Button to be knocked out from Q3! Button qualified 12th whilst his team-mate Hamilton made it easily in to the Q3! Vettel at the wheel of his RB8 seemed to be struggling with his car as well and he managed only to reach P9 just ahead of Kimi...

The Q3 was breath-taking in many ways. At so many occasions I´ve heard people wondering if Schumacher is too old for Formula 1... Is it even possible for a 43-year-old to reach the same level of performance as his much younger rivals? Today Schumi showed all his critics that these talks are absolutely rubbish! Schumacher in his Mercedes AMG snatched pole today!! It is such a shame that Schumi has a 5-place grid penalty from Barcelona (due to the crash with Senna) so it will drop him back to P6 tomorrow. But truly impressive effort from the 7-time world champion no matter what!

Mark Webber showed that there´s true speed hiding inside the RB8 by making it into front row! And actually Mark will start on pole tomorrow due to Schumi´s penalty. Rosberg completed the perfect day for Mercedes by starting in P2 for tomorrow´s race. The second row will be Hamilton and Grosjean. Schumi will be in P6 and Alonso alongside him. Kimi qualifying 8th was kind of a disappointment for me but he had difficulties with getting his tyres warmed up...

But what was heart-rending for me was the fact that Sebastian Vettel set no lap time in the Q3! In the morning he seemed competitive indeed but after the qualifying the German said that they had made some changes in the set up which turned out to be a wrong choice... Sebastian says he pins his hopes on the race strategy but I can´t help thinking about how difficult overtaking is in Monaco... So which is more important: a better grid position or saving tyres for the race? If I´m asked there´s no point in saving tyres if you can´t get past your rivals! Sebastian also stated that he´ll choose a different tyre strategy for the race which means that he´ll start the race on the soft tyres whilst all the other drivers in the top ten will start on the super softs. It´s true that the harder compound gives you a few extra laps in the first stint compared to your rivals but what if there´s a safety car? I´m sure we´re not going to see a race without anybody hitting the walls! And in addition to these doubts I´m simply gutted that I didn´t see my favourite driver taking everything out of the car at the most crucial stage in the qualifying!

Maldonado in P9 will also be dropped back on the grid due to penalties. The Venezuelan was given a 10-place grid penalty due to his incident with Perez this morning in the FP3. The team also decided to change the gear-box in his car which lead to dropping him back 5 more places on the grid... I know I´m a F1 fan not an expert but I can´t help wondering about these penalties... Why did Schumi get only a 5-place penalty for his crash whilst Maldonado got 10 places? How was it worse how the Williams driver crashed with Perez this morning? Just doesn´t seem logical to me!

However, I´m expecting to see a breath-taking race tomorrow! I´ve already promised publicly on Facebook that if Vettel wins from P9 tomorrow I´ll jump into a lake like a rabbit and have my maiden swim this summer (water is about 15 degrees at the moment in Southern Finland ;) )!! Sebastian and Kimi, I put my faith in you!

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