"Cato Batista" 26/05/2012 20:10:50 ID #168
Ladies and Gentlemen,

The unexpected is the norm these days, so don’t be surprised to find Schumacher fastest in Q3. Schummi will hand the pole to second place Webber to serve a 5 grid penalty for ramming Senna last race. Both Mercedes were flying, Rosberg beating pre-race favourite Hamilton for 3rd. Vettel knew his Red Bull didn’t have the speed to challenge for pole and instead sat out Q3 to save red-tyres. Button was perplexed for answers for his lack of pace, he couldn’t make it past Q2. Maldonado was penalized with 10 grid positions for purposely hitting Perez on free practice 3.

The final grid formation for tomorrow’s race:

WEB ROS HAM GRO ALO SCH MAS RAI VET HUL

Guess what? Our total collective QF points tally for Monaco was zero. ZERO points! our absolute worst qualifying record ever. What a season this has been, the best qualifying marks we have to show for after 6 races is a lowly 5 points by 7 members (Uwe, Joe, Fredrik, Santiago, Lou, Rocco & Fernando) an accurate reflection of the complexity of this season.

http://f1.manbos.com/userbets.asp?t=2012&gpn=Monaco&nevent=qualifying

The mistery of this year’s unpredictability lies on the tyres, of course. Many influential voices are raising criticism at supplier Pirelli (Schumacher in particular), but the tyre manufacturer argues that the narrow operating window is similar to last season’s (when nobody complained) except this year that narrow range is located at higher temperatures and seems to be very elusive to most teams at any given time. The problem starts with the 2012 cars sliding more than before owing to new wing regulations, and when the car oversteers the rear tyres overheat, the balance is lost and early degradation makes the problem even worst.

It’s such a complex issue that when a team is able to dial their chassis to hit the sweet spot of the operating window they can beat everybody else.

I think this is the perfect time to introduce to all of you a fantastic new addition to our already great website. It’s the result of an incredible research done by Santiago and programmed by Manbos, together the had created a tyre-chart for each one of the 2012 Grand Prix where you can trace each driver’s tyre selection and number of laps per set. Their work is so meticulous that even registers if each of the sets is new or used!

I can assure you there is nothing in the universe quite like it, an invaluable tool to analyse and understand the development of each GP this season. For example, look at last race’s chart (Spain)

http://f1.manbos.com/tyresgp.asp?t=2012&gpn=Spain

This feature is accessible from the top menu, select “Race”, you’ll find the link at the top.

I hope you can appreciate the huge labour of love Santi & Manbos had dedicated to its creation, there’s no automatic data to be downloaded from anywhere, each entry has to be manually fed, each driver, stint, each race of the year. Thanks guys, you are the best! I encourage once more to participate in our media outlets, either our private facebook page or comments from our website. A word of support for their efforts will be much appreciated.

Well, are you ready for tomorrow? no? We are all in the same boat. Tyre strategy is less relevant than track position around Monte Carlo, and a good get away from the starting lights is the key in this crazy place. Early this week bookmakers made Hamilton favorite 3/1, with Alonso & Vettel at 5/1. By the way, Maldonado went from 500/1 in Barcelona to 14/1 in Monaco.

This is the track were drivers’ ability makes the biggest difference and where there’s absolutely no room for mistakes. Strategies for tomorrow’s 87 laps race will be mighty different, from the required minimum of one and up to three, with expected 2 stops for the front runners. Tired drivers, unnerving traffic and the unforgiving barriers will no doubt bring the safety car out at some point, and to make matters worse there is a 60% chance of rain forecasted by 2pm local, the starting time.

My crystal ball has given up on me this year, I don’t blame it.

Cato – HAM ROS ALO WEB GRO VET

It’s going to be a great show, enjoy!