"Cato Batista" 22/05/2015 21:47:02 ID #758

Ladies and Gentlemen,

This was one of the most unproductive Fridays ever. The track was as green as they get and rain took place for most of P2. Pirelli is introducing their new super-soft compound for the first time and data logging was more important than ever, instead a lot of the running was done in inters or wets.  

HAM was comfortably fastest in both sessions; ROS was about half a second slower but later fell down the order as he didn’t try any low-fuel QF laps. The best times were recorded on the ‘free’ set allowed to use for the opening 30 minutes.

The big surprise in P1 was 17-year old VER in second place 1.5 tenths behind the mighty Mercedes. This was the rookie’s first visit to the principality and he didn’t make any mistakes all day long. There was plenty of action as drivers struggle to find the limits in the new pavement that now cover ? of the lap distance. At Sainte Devote, corner one at the end of the main straight, ALO, GRO, BOT RIC and of course MAL spun into the scape road. In P2 showers came early in the session and conditions never improved to properly test dry compounds. Rain is not expected for the rest of the proceedings so the teams used the opportunity to familiarize with the 2015 spec Pirelli rain tyres.

P1- HAM (1.18.750) VER RIC VET SAI MAL KVY RAI ROS MAS (McLarens were 11 & 12).

P2- HAM (1.17.192) ROS VET RAI KVY SAI VER ALO HUL ROS

Williams struggled to get both the soft & super softs up to operating temperatures. As we saw in sector 3 in Barcelona where Ferrari was losing half a second to Mercedes, the F15T still can’t find traction out of the corners. On the other side Mercedes is booming with confidence from the latest engine developments introduced during testing  in Montmelo in the days after the race.

As we know this is the most important QF session of the year. Starting track position is everything in Monaco. I’m just wondering if any of us will bet against the Silver cars taking the front row…

(not me) Cato -HAM ROS VET

If you can, take a look at the results from P3 before posting your final picks, there could be a surprise, it’s good to be prepared.

If Williams is indeed out of the picture tomorrow there are many candidates to sneak into the remaining 6 spots of Q3: Red Bull, Toro Rosso, Force India, Lotus and McLaren. Monaco QF is always a good show, try not to miss it.

Cheers

Cato