Username
Password
Monaco Race: So Near, So Far, So Fun

1 STR from points
By Alianora La Canta
May 27 2009
Force India split its race strategy to convert its excellent qualifying as well as possible. For Adrian, it meant a long, lonely drive to 14th after his super-soft tyres grained badly under the heavy fuel load he carried in the first part of the race. For Giancarlo, it allowed him to get within 1.9 seconds of Force India's first point.

In large part, the fates of the respective Force India drivers were determined on Saturday evening. Monaco generally rewards drivers who take as few stops as late as possible. However, the tyres had to be taken into account as well.The super-soft tyres would give a better start (often the only time overtaking is possible in Monaco) but struggle to make half-distance. Giancarlo, having the better qualifying position, could afford to have a heavier car off the line in return to filling the car with fuel while Adrian would need the super-soft tyres on to have the best possible start.

 

The start was relatively tidy by Monaco's standards. Giancarlo lost two places off the line, one to Adrian and the other to Sebastien Bourdais. The latter was on the same strategy but crucially had eight kilograms less fuel on board, giving Sebastien the start he needed to eventually deny FIF1 a point.

 

Unfortunately Adrian's race was compromised when the super-soft tyres on his car grained massively after only a dozen or so laps. The unplanned pit stop lost a significant amount of time, resulting in Adrian finishing 14th. Even so, he was as fast as Lewis Hamilton, who won in Monaco last year but like Adrian saw his strategy fall over in the race.

Giancarlo's race was considerably more eventful. Starting on the harder compound (confusingly called a soft tyre), he found himself in a three-way battle with Sebastién Bourdais and Fernando Alonso. After Sebastien Buemi used Nelson Piquet Jr. as a braking point and Heikki Kovalainen crashed, this turned into the battle for the final point. It was also one of the few battles on the track in the latter phases of the race.



Giancarlo managed to keep Fernando at bay, though Fernando was always in touch and sometimes less than two seconds away. In addition, Sebastién showed signs of cracking under the pressure by cutting the Swimming Pool chicane twice. However, in the race the stewards appeared to be using a "three-strikes-and-out" policy (Felipe Massa also clearly a chicane twice with mere warnings), meaning Sebastién never got the drive-through that would have granted Giancarlo a point.


At the end, there was only 1.9 seconds between Giancarlo and Force India's first point. So near, so far - but so fun watching Force India in a position to fight in the midfield on merit all race. The best individual Force India result since Adrian Sutil in Melbourne - and Vijay wasn't there to celebrate (he was watching Bangalore Royal Challengers miss out on the IPL by six runs).

 

Not surprisingly, <a href=http://www.pitpass.com/fes_php/pitpass_news_item.php?fes_art_id=38013>the press release</a> was full of effusive praise for all things FIF1. The <a href=http://forceindiaf1.com/index/page_id/776>ForceCast for Monaco has also been posted</a> and the <a href=http://twitter.com/clubforce>Force India Twitter account</a> has been full of updates on what the team has been up to since Monaco.

View a Printer Friendly version of this Story.

Bookmark or share this story with:

Goto Thread: Previous•Next
Message List•New Topic•Search•Log In
27 May, 2009 11:26 Report
Force India (IP Logged)
Unregistered User
Monaco Race: So Near, So Far, So Fun
What do you think? You can have your say by posting below.
If you do not already have an account Click here to Register.

Reply•Quote
27 May, 2009 21:38 Report
Sunset-Taker (IP Logged)
Registered User		 Date Joined: Mar, 2008
Location: Germany, Sachsenring
Posts: 344
Re: Monaco Race: So Near, So Far, So Fun
"(confusingly called a soft tyre)" - EY! MAN! THIS SOUNDS AS IF YOU HAVE NO IDEA OF IT AT ALL!

delete this sentence, this does not make you look dumber than the dumbest.

Reply•Quote
27 May, 2009 22:30 Report
soluto_de_lugol (IP Logged)
Registered User		 Date Joined: Apr, 2007
Location:
Posts: 443
Re: Monaco Race: So Near, So Far, So Fun
I don't think it makes Alianora look dumb.

It's nice to see a bit of own-brewed news in the site! Keep it up!


Cheers,
SdL

Reply•Quote
28 May, 2009 12:50 Report
Sunset-Taker (IP Logged)
Registered User		 Date Joined: Mar, 2008
Location: Germany, Sachsenring
Posts: 344
Re: Monaco Race: So Near, So Far, So Fun
Quote:
soluto_de_lugol
I don't think it makes Alianora look dumb.
It's nice to see a bit of own-brewed news in the site! Keep it up!


Cheers,
SdL

own-brewed beer is 1000 times better than this



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2009:05:28:12:51:27 by Sunset-Taker.

Reply•Quote
28 May, 2009 15:10 Report
soluto_de_lugol (IP Logged)
Registered User		 Date Joined: Apr, 2007
Location:
Posts: 443
Re: Monaco Race: So Near, So Far, So Fun
I thought you had stopped posting in this site for the n-th time?

Reply•Quote
29 May, 2009 08:50 Report
orpheus9 (IP Logged)
Earlier orpheus		 Date Joined: Mar, 2009
Location: andaman
Posts: 204
Re: Monaco Race: So Near, So Far, So Fun
i m sure vijay mallaya can arranged tonnes of beer...

Reply•Quote
29 May, 2009 11:47 Report
Alianora La Canta (IP Logged)
Registered User		 Date Joined: Apr, 2007
Location: Derbyshire, UK
Posts: 1316
Re: Monaco Race: So Near, So Far, So Fun
Sunset-Taker, the reason why it is confusing for the harder tyre to be called a soft tyre because it means lots of crossed wires as people try to explain to each other why the "soft" tyre is wearing so well. If the compounds were named soft - medium-soft - medium-hard - hard, then maybe I wouldn't feel the need to correct commentators quite so often when they get muddled (the BBC ones had enough trouble last race, when there was still "hard" and "soft" in the names of the relevant compounds!) Simply because you and I know what is meant doesn't mean that everyone else does, which can lead to a somewhat frustrating viewing experience...

Also, this is not a brewery. Own-brewed news is possible, but there isn't a HTML protocol for producing beer (there is a spoof one for producing coffee using compatible coffee-makers, but that's not quite the same thing winking smiley ). And if you think you can "brew" better news yourself, you could always write some using the guidelines in the forum and PM your writing to me. You never know - you could end up on the news page yourself! (That offer, by the way, is valid for anyone on the Force Fans Online forum).

soluto_de_lugol, I did ban Sunset-Taker. Evidently the ban has timed out otherwise he could not have submitted entries to the last two rounds of the predictions competition.

Reply•Quote
29 May, 2009 22:33 Report
Sunset-Taker (IP Logged)
Registered User		 Date Joined: Mar, 2008
Location: Germany, Sachsenring
Posts: 344
Re: Monaco Race: So Near, So Far, So Fun
Quote:
Alianora La Canta
And if you think you can "brew" better news yourself, you could always write some using the guidelines in the forum and PM your writing to me. You never know - you could end up on the news page yourself! (That offer, by the way, is valid for anyone on the Force Fans Online forum).

then it's already hopeless and senseless to even start the news - and my writing style is way too complex and people would need to know so much in first place that it really would not bring it to a... good end... or whatever

Reply•Quote
30 May, 2009 13:08 Report
Alianora La Canta (IP Logged)
Registered User		 Date Joined: Apr, 2007
Location: Derbyshire, UK
Posts: 1316
Re: Monaco Race: So Near, So Far, So Fun
There'd be no harm in trying, Sunset-Taker. Complex styles can be tidied up (it's something I had to work on when I first started writing stuff on the internet, so you're not on your own) and gaps in knowledge can be filled.

Reply•Quote
30 May, 2009 14:30 Report
martyn(kieves) (IP Logged)
Unregistered User
Re: Monaco Race: So Near, So Far, So Fun
@Sunset .I dont think your writing is complex but it is difficult to understand your broken english at times.(But as english isn't your 1st language its understandable.)

As for the tyre issues just call them hard and soft.The majority know what they are.I to watch thee bbc coverage and watch them get confused with the tyres smiling smiley

Reply•Quote
30 May, 2009 20:18 Report
Sunset-Taker (IP Logged)
Registered User		 Date Joined: Mar, 2008
Location: Germany, Sachsenring
Posts: 344
Re: Monaco Race: So Near, So Far, So Fun
Quote:
Alianora La Canta
Complex styles can be tidied up

that is what I mean, I would let no one edit my text anyway because it is my own written work - and if others do not understand it they have bad luck and have to live with the fact they are not as smart as they thought they were.

Reply•Quote
1 Jun, 2009 11:00 Report
gordons (IP Logged)
Registered User		 Date Joined: Apr, 2007
Location: Malta
Posts: 329
Re: Monaco Race: So Near, So Far, So Fun
what a waste of time!!

Reply•Quote
Goto Thread: Previous•Next
Goto: Message List•Log In

Goto: Message List•Search•Log In
Your Name: 
Subject: 
Spam prevention:
Please, enter the code that you see below in the input field. This is for blocking bots that try to post this form automatically. If the code is hard to read, then just try to guess it right. If you enter the wrong code, a new image is created and you get another chance to enter it right.
CAPTCHA
We record all IP addresses on the Sportnetwork message boards which may be required by the authorities in case of defamatory or abusive comment. We seek to monitor the Message Boards at regular intervals. We do not associate Sportnetwork with any of the comments and do not take responsibility for any statements or opinions expressed on the Message Boards. If you have any cause for concern over any material posted here please let us know as soon as possible by e-mailing abuse@sportnetwork.net
 

Force India Poll

Force India.