There is an underlying feeling generated by all the glitz and glamour of the weekend and the fairytale setting of the event, that somehow the Monaco Grand Prix is not really a Formula 1 race in the true sense of the word, that it is some sort of anachronistic car-themed entertainment.
Unfortunately, today’s track action proved just how dangerous it can be to put a modern Formula 1 car on the outer edge of the envelope on streets made for more sedate forms of transport. The latest news regarding Sergio Perez is that, despite a very frightening accident in Q3, reminiscent of Karl Wendlinger’s in 1994 and Jenson Button’s a few years later, the 21 year old Mexican has concussion, a bruised thigh and no broken bones. He will stay in hospital overnight. Earlier in the day, Nico Rosberg had a very similar crash in the Mercedes, although in his case, he was lucky enough to avoid slamming into the barrier at the chicane, flying past it to come to rest further down the track.
Our two drivers had not such troubles, but they were both disappointed with their performance, as Sébastien Buemi made it through to Q2 but no further than 17th while Jaime Alguersuari had a more torrid time, going out in Q1 and he will start the Grand Prix where grid position counts the most from the penultimate row of the grid in 20th spot. Any chance he might have had of improving went out the window as he ran into the back of Kamui Kobayashi, who was in the back of a queue of three cars travelling very slowly through the final turn. There was not enough time to repair the damage and that was his day over. On the plus side, he was much happier with his car today, feeling more confident on the brakes, an important factor at this track. Both he and Séb will be hoping that their race pace might allow them to do something clever in the race. How many pit stops? Don’t expect the huge number of tyre changes we have seen in recent races, because the appearance of Pirelli’s Soft and Supersoft tyres has signalled a drop in degradation, so we might have a more “traditional” Monaco strategy with drivers pitting twice or maybe even risking a single stop to change tyres.
Sebastian Vettel secured a landmark 20th pole position this afternoon, although until the red flags came out for Perez, it seemed the McLarens might have had the edge over the Red Bull man. In the end, Jenson Button was second ahead of Mark Webber, who shares the second row with the Ferrari of fourth placed Fernando Alonso. Row three features Monaco maestro Michael Schumacher, fifth for Mercedes ahead of Felipe Massa in the other Ferrari.
Get well soon Sergio
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Get well soon Sergio