Kimi Räikkönen & Sebastian Vettel

Kimi Räikkönen & Sebastian Vettel

sunnuntai 25. toukokuuta 2014

Monaco GP: A race like a horror film!

My hopes weren´t too high before the race but I really wanted to believe that the race would bring something positive. Well, I was very very wrong! The Monaco grand prix turned out to be like a horror film!

Everything looked so promising yet at the start. When the lights went out, Sebastian in P4 took a staggering start and made his way past Ricciardo to 3rd. Kimi starting from P6 also took a fantastic start and made his way up to P4 past Alonso and Ricciardo, who dropped back to 5th place. Rosberg maintained his lead and Hamilton was right behind him. Safety car was deployed already on the opening lap when Force India´s Perez and McLaren´s Button collided. The incident will be investigated after the race so there might be some penalty coming presumably for Button.

The safety car came in on lap 3 and it was time for re-start! Then the first horror film scene happened: once again Vettel was hit with technical problems as he told on the team radio that he was lacking power! Right away Kimi was able to overtake Sebastian and soon there were many others to follow... On lap 8 the German was asked to bring the car to the pits and his race was over! What an absolutely depressing and devastating moment! Sebastian´s RB10 seems to be haunted by all sorts of technical issues! I couldn´t believe my eyes... :(

After Sebastian´s retirement Kimi was driving in P3 and it gave me a lot of comfort to see the Iceman fighting for a podium finish. On lap 25 safety car was deployed again. Sutil at the wheel of his Force India lost the control of his car at the swimming pool chicane and crashed to the barrier, which left a lot of debris on the track. Immediately all the top drivers pitted for a new set of tyres. A dangerous incident occurred in the pits as Toro Rosso´s Vergne was released unsafely and he almost hit McLaren´s Magnussen. It was obvious Vergne was going to be penalised for the unsafe release.

Only a few laps after the first pit stop the second horror film scene hit when Kimi had to pit again for the second time! It was never shown on TV what actually had happened but after the race Kimi told the media that either one of the Marussias had hit his rear tyre behind the safety car causing the Finn a puncture. This meant only one thing: Kimi´s race was ruined! He dropped back to P13! What a moment of despair. There´re no words that can describe the amount of disappointment that hit me at this stage.

Vergne was handed a drive through penalty due to the unsafe release from the pits as expected. Such a shame, Vergne was driving an impressive race after starting from P7. So Rosberg was leading the race with his team-mate right behind him. Ricciardo was driving a strong race in P4 and Alonso was 5th. Rosberg was told on the team radio to save fuel as his fuel consumption was critical. On lap 52 Vergne´s race was over as the Frenchman faced an engine failure. By this point also Maldonado, Perez and Kvyat had also retired in addition to Sutil and Vettel. On lap 57 Williams´s Bottas got to experience his share of misfortune: the Finn was also hit with an engine failure and his race was over.

When there were 10 more laps to go Hamilton told on the team radio that he couldn´t see with his left eye and it also affected his pace significantly so the Briton couldn´t challenge his team-mate for victory. Also Ricciardo in P3 was able to close the gap to Hamilton but there wasn´t any chance to overtake. On lap 74 Kimi´s race got another very unfortunate turn when the Iceman tried to overtake Magnussen at the hair pin which caused them both to get stuck to the barrier. Kimi had to pit for a new front wing and the Finn was out of points! The incident between Kimi and Magnussen will be investigated after the race so there might be some penalties coming... At the end of the race Kimi bounced back and set the fastest lap time of the race.

So actually nothing new under the Monte Carlo sun: 5th consecutive 1-2 for Mercedes AMG with Ricciardo completing the podium. Alonso finished 4th, Hulkenberg 5th with a different tyre strategy, Button 6th and Massa 7th. What was very impressive was the fact that Marussia´s Jules Bianchi made it up to P8 and scored the first-ever points for Marussia! Grosjean in his Lotus finished 9th and Magnussen 10th. Nico´s win today meant that the German snatched the championship lead from his team-mate and they now have a 4-point gap in the championship standings. Alonso in 3rd place is already 61 points off Rosberg... So the only excitement seems to be, which one of the Mercedes drivers will clinch the title this year.

This was certainly a race I want to forget as soon as possible and move on to Canada! The misfortune of Kimi and Sebastian CAN´T go on forever, right? There´ve been so bitter disappointments this year. But I know the good is definitely worth waiting for :)


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