Alonso strikes back!

Monaco. Glitz glamour Money Girls, And Formula 1. Though not overtaking unless your car is around 3 seconds a lap quicker a supreme in every corner.

The weather forecast showed that there was a strong chance of rain. One thing you don’t want on a street circuit. The rain hit the Saturday practice session with the Spyker of Adrian Sutil ending up fastest by the end with a quick lap on a drying track. Come qualifying however it was dry and the Spykers dropped to the back of the grid.

All of this was little interest to the front runners Mclarens Fernando Alonso who had lead all of Thursdays practices (Monaco being unique that the practice sessions take place on Thursday not the Friday) he had one mission. To win. For the past two races his rookie teammate Lewis Hamilton had got the better of the defending champion the past two races and there was talk of Alonso feeling the pressure. The Ferrari’s had question marks over there pace. The general opinion being that the longer wheelbase than the rest of the field would hurt them around the tight and twisty streets of Monaco. Honda felt they had made a step forward with their car while Renault saying they were starting to get on top of the problems of the troublesome R27. Meanwhile dark horses of the race were Red Bull with the car improving every race and an on form David Coulthard hoping to repeat his podium performance from last season.

Into qualifying where the outcome of the race would be shaped. Qualifying one saw Anthony Davidson, Scott Speed, Adrian Sutil, Ralf Schumacher, Takuma Sato, Christijan Albers. The only real surprise was Ralf Schumacher who had spent the whole weekend at the back. Including a shunt on the Thursday whose weekend wouldn’t improve much. Then in second qualifying came the first big shock. Kimi Raikkonen Clipped the barrier breaking his steering arm. As he tried to get it back to the pits his car parked at Rascasse ironically for the second a Ferrari blocking the circuit the same as Michael Schumacher the year before. Though Kimi’s Ferrari was in trouble and then both Ferraris almost got stuck as Massa on a quick lap almost hitting the stricken car but eventually squeezing past but wrecking his lap. Massa managed to squeeze into the final session Raikkonen was left to think about what to do from 16th place. David Coulthard also damaged his chances of a good result when bizarrely he completely blocked Heikki Kovalainen who was on a quick lap. Coulthard who was about to start his flyer cut across Kovalainen this cost the Renault driver a chance to get in to the top 10. Coulthard blamed lack of communication saying that he was told that Kovalainen was on a warm up lap too. This lead to a bizarre penalty in not letting Coulthard out of the pits to start the final qualifying that he had managed to get into. He was eventually made to start 13th. This let Jenson Button into the Top 10 with his teammate Rubens Barrichello for the first time this season. Drivers out were David Coulthard, Alex Wurz, Tonio Liuzzi, Jarno Trulli, Heikki Kovalainen, and Kimi Raikkonen. Come the top 10 shootout Alonso Just Beat Lewis Hamilton to pole with Felipe Massa 3rd Fisichella 4th Williams Nico Rosberg 5th Mark Webber 6th Bmw’s Nick Heidfeld 7th and Robert Kubica 8th The Hondas of Barrichello then Button completing the top 10.

To Race day and A clean start to the race. Hamilton who was aiming for the win tucked in right behind Alonso blocking Massa For the Ferrari driver this would be the closest he got to the Mclarens for the rest of the race. Raikkonen Made his way from 16th to 12th Button dropped back to 11th. At the front Alonso pulled away at the start. The gap extending to 7 seconds. On lap 2 Tonio Liuzzi crashed his car at the top of the hill just before Casino Square. This was quickly cleared away. Traffic was a problem Hamilton able to get the gap down to around 3 seconds before he too encountered the same problem. Meanwhile Mark Webbers p6 on the grid came to nothing as he pitted to retire with gearbox problems. As The first round of pit stops came round laps 24 With Rosberg and Fisichella in then Alonso and Massa end of lap 26 and Lewis Hamilton end of lap 29 though he failed to get out in front. Alonso was able to get the lead up to 10 seconds before the second round of stops. This was enough to keep his lead. Even though Lewis managed to get less than a second behind. Meanwhile Honda strategy was odd Button Pitted on lap 42 indicating a one stop. But pitted again on lap 62 for soft tires after running the first two stints on the harder compound. This dropped button down the pack after being in for his first point of the season. Nico Rosberg Dropped to a disappointing 12th by the end of the race with vibration problems. Almost by stealth his teammate finished 7th for his first 2 points of the season on a one stop strategy. So Alonso took the Win Mclarens 150th from Lewis Hamilton with Massa a distant 3rd the last car to be lapped such was the dominance of the Mclarens Kubica beating his teammate Heidfeld to 5th after struggling in the closing laps Wurz 7th and Raikkonen a lowly 8th having spent most the race staring at the rear of a Honda’s and Williams.

So with Mclaren dominating the weekend is this a sign of what’s to come? Not likely. This was a circuit where Ferrari was expected to struggle. In testing at Paul Ricard the week before the race in a “Monaco style” track set up the Mclarens were easily quickest. The circuit as changed for the last part to a Canada track style where the Ferrari was quickest. While this race is only one where the super soft compound is used which seemed to suite the Mclarens Better. Its also interesting to notice that BMW who have the second longest wheel base were beaten by Renault who have been behind all season by the Swiss based team. And this is a track where the longer wheel base car was rumored to struggle. What is more important is that as far as the title goes Mclaren are constantly getting both cars in the strong points. Ferrari have won 3 races to Mclarens 2 but the second driver has been in the lower half or the points or as in Spain Only one car making the finish. So this is making the constructors championship easier for Mclaren that now has a 20-point lead.

From a fans point of view the race was a bit of a disappointment. At one stage there was an 80% chance of rain on race day. This never happened which was a shame. With F1 cars and all their wings sticking up off the car overtaking is as hard as ever. A wet/dry race would have really spiced this race up. Only 4 retirements with one Spyker in the wall and the other in the pits with a handful of laps to go. Liuzzi was the only other driver to make a mistake. It was fascinating to watch the battle up front as the two Mclaren drivers trading fastest laps and the young charger pushing the world champion but even that was controlled if you listen to team boss Ron Dennis who claimed he controlled the drivers from about lap 10 onwards “I don't like to slow drivers down, don't like them to be frustrated, don't like these things to happen, because I am an absolute racer. But that's what you have to do to win the Monaco GP and I'm not going to make any excuses for it." Like I say a nice shower would have spiced this race up no end!

So this leaves The Mclaren drivers tied at the top of the table with 38 points each Massa 3rd but comfortably in front of Raikkonen who to get his title back on track is going to need some luck and dominate the next few rounds. Maybe this weekend will cause a bit of a wake up call for him.