"Cato Batista" 30/07/2011 0:13:42 ID #97
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is very hard to draw conclusions from today’s practice sessions. I mean harder than usual. The only clear picture is that the top 3 teams devoted their programs to race set-up, more specifically to test long-runs with heavy load on the super-soft Pirelli, the ‘option’ for this weekend.
The fastest times on both sessions were set early on by Hamilton, but we didn’t see the usual build up for flying laps typical of qualifying workout. Ferrari for example did complete the largest number of laps for the day (65 for Massa & 69 for Alonso!). There was open talk in the last days from both Alonso and Hamilton that Red Bull is still the best overall car in all the tracks, including this one where McLaren and Ferrari are supposed to be in disadvantage to the RB7, but the message has been received at Red Bull: they don’t have the faster car on Sundays anymore.
P1- HAM (1.23.350) VET ALO WEB BUT MAS ROS SCH PER PET
P2- HAM (1.21.018) ALO (time behind) -.241, BUT -.304, WEB -.490, VET -.531, MAS (-1 SEC+) ROS SCH DIR SUT
Last race McLaren was struggling on all practice session and ended up flying in QF, now it is the first time this year that Red Bull is not comfortable on top of the timesheets from the go. There is this sense that starting at the front is not as important for this race, which is hard to believe because this circuit is called ‘Monaco without the barriers’, there’s only one overtaking spot in the short main straight (where DRS will be implemented). Sunday strategy calls for a 3 stopper which means ‘options’ tires will be on short supply –could that be the reason why the top 3 constructors are waiting for P3 to dial their cars for QF?
Many questions and few answers for us to analyse our chances for QF tomorrow. What can I say? good luck!