By Ian Lockwood
May 22 2008

Being Monaco, nothing is quite like a normal weekend. Nowhere is this more obvious than today where Fridays Free Practice session is moved to Thursday! David Coulthards weekend got of to a bad start after a throttle problem left him stranded at the chicane.

Car 10 MARK WEBBER, 1st Practice P9, 2nd Practice P13

"We got through all our programme, but there is still some work to do, assuming we are looking at a dry qualifying and a dry race. At the moment the car is not suiting the track that well, but we know what we need to do to sort it out."

Car 9 DAVID COULTHARD, 1st Practice P20, 2nd Practice P14

"I lost some track time this morning with a throttle actuator problem and it's never good to miss out on any track time, especially here in Monaco. It meant we had to adjust our programme for this afternoon, to make sure I got more laps in and got myself back up to speed. I think I've recovered reasonably well, but in Monaco, the time you have the most knowledge of the track is on the last of the 78 laps on Sunday afternoon. So, not the best of starts, but I think we are now in good shape for the rest of the weekend."

Red Bull Racing: Monaco Thursday Free Practice

Discussion started by Racing Bulls , 22/05/2008 16:34

Racing Bulls
22/05/2008 16:34

Red Bull Racing: Monaco Thursday Free Practice

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Whitey*~@
23/05/2008 02:20

Quote:

"We got through all our programme, but there is still some work to do, assuming we are looking at a dry qualifying and a dry race. At the moment the car is not suiting the track that well, but we know what we need to do to sort it out."

Sounds like good news Red Bull are looking OK in Monaco!

*** WILLIAMS F1 FAN SINCE 1985 ***

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WebHead
23/05/2008 03:27

Yeh, I thought comments from both drivers were pretty positive. DC says we are in good shape, Webber says he needs a few changes but they know what they are after.

We just need a semi-decent car to do our usual 8th or so - and then hope for an interesting race, keep the nose clean, and who knows where we might finish.

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SydneyF1Fan
23/05/2008 04:04

Quote:

-Whitey-
Sounds like good news Red Bull are looking OK in Monaco!

I'd like to think so, but depends on what the required changes are.

If it's something like "we just need to crank up the front wing and change the tyre pressures", then we'll be right.

If it's "we need to go back to the drawing board, design one of those McLaren front wings, run it through CFD testing, crank it off the production line and bolt it on to the RB4 with two minutes to spare before FP3" then it could be a depressing weekend!!!

So hopefully the former, or something that is well within their control...

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Duffer
23/05/2008 05:10

In light of those comments, I do not think we are as slow as the time sheets suggest. We are likely to have been doing all heavy testing, meaning there is very little chance of us actually being 1.9 seconds off the front. Trulli was also back with us, so it's not all doom and gloom imo.

If we can make a one stopper feasible with the super soft tyres, it might be a goer. This might have been what they were working on. In this case, we would never get a fast time.

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Mark Gets Wings
23/05/2008 05:12

I'm quietly confident - Redbull almost always steadily pick up pace over a race weekend. There's no point being a hero and Friday and binning the car - a la Trulli, Alonso and co. Admit we don't look fantastic but Webber and DC sound pretty satisfied - we both know that those two don't mince words and if the car was s@#t thay'd say so.

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WebHead
23/05/2008 05:39

So what do we suspect is our race strategy. Do our damdest to make Qualifying 3, then fuel the car up like a tanker and settle for 9th/10th?

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WebHead
23/05/2008 05:40

Add that given the lottery of the safety cars, I guess we will surely split our strategies. One heavy, one light.

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powerslide
23/05/2008 06:33

It maybe a little tougher to get into q2 from now on as I expect that STR are likely to improve, at least the one lap pace with the new car.

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WebHead
23/05/2008 07:07

I think STR will always be a full month or more behind the RB4. That's aero mods, suspension mods, etc. - a good couple of tenths of a second.

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powerslide
23/05/2008 07:12

WebHead, i agree that they will be a few tenths behind but that means if the RBR boys make a mistake it will be harder to get in....

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Mark Gets Wings
23/05/2008 07:31

Generally where you qualify at Monaco is more or less where you finish (provided you finish!) Last year's race saw P1 - P4 in qualifying finish in exactly that same order. Obviously it can vary but qualifying is crucial at Monaco.

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SydneyF1Fan
23/05/2008 08:36

Quote:

WebHead
I think STR will always be a full month or more behind the RB4. That's aero mods, suspension mods, etc. - a good couple of tenths of a second.

Provided that the Ferrari engine isn't a few tenths faster than the Renault!!!

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WebHead
23/05/2008 08:56

Yah, but the aero of the car, and balance and the whole design is optimised for the Renault engine.

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Duffer
23/05/2008 09:55

STR will not challenge RBR. Did you hear Vettel's team radio during FP2? He says something like "The car feels aweful. I mean, we went a totally different direction but it feels the same. I don't know which way to go. We need to go in another direction, but I am not sure which direction that is, so don't ask me"

I don't think this sort of car understanding is quite up with Mark and DC's at the moment, LOL!

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