McLaren Masters Monaco
McLaren’s driver Fernando Alonso is an easy F1 winner in Monaco.
Fernando Alonso led home McLaren-Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton as they completely dominated the Monaco Grand Prix, Formula 1's premier event.
The two silver cars started from the front row in the tight street circuit around, and even under, the Casinos, of the Mediterranean glamour city of Monte Carlo.
The circuit is totally unsuitable for modern racing cars, with barriers right at the edge of the racing line. The short straight s and narrow track make overtaking virtually impossible, so qualifying is a very important part of the race weekend. Showers during the session added to the excitement. Alonso made a special effort to get the fastest time and secure the prized number one starting spot on the grid.
“ I’m very very happy. It was a very important pole position and we had a little bit of everything going on in qualifying. We were expecting rain, it came but very light and it stayed only one lap,” said Alonso.
At one stage the driver looking most likely to take Alonso’s World Title away from him, teammate Lewis Hamilton, held the fastest time in the changing conditions.
“I had a fantastic qualifying, I think. It was quite exciting, and then it started to rain in the middle part of the session. I think I was P1 at the time and I was hoping it would continue to rain, but unfortunately it didn’t., said Hamilton.
The pressure and importance of qualifying showed when Ferrari’s star recruit, Kimi Raikkonen, hit one of the ever-present barriers and could only mange a sixteenth place grid spot.
In the race, Alonso lead from the line while Hamilton chose to move in behind him and make sure of second place as track position is so vital. Hamilton gave a hint of this race strategy before the race.
“I won’t do anything silly to risk pushing both of us out of the race. It is a long, long race and I think I feel good about our strategies and I feel we can come away with a one-two,” said Hamilton.
Alonso showed his class by answering every challenge from Hamilton and set the fastest lap when Hamilton showed a sign of challenging in the middle stages of the race.
Lapped traffic was the main issue of the race, particularly as the McLaren pair lapped everybody up to fourth place, and were not far away from third place getter Felipe Massa and his Ferrari.
“The race was pretty quiet with only the backmarkers causing a few problems especially shortly before my second pitstop when I lost a lot of time,” said Alonso.
Hamilton also complained in the post-race press conference about having to radio in to get marshals to wave their blue flags.
The result moves Alonso to the top of the Driver’s Championship and extends the team’s lead over Ferrari in the constructor’s title chase. Hamilton, although equal on points with Alonso is in second place on the number of race wins this season. With his consistent performances so far this season, the youngster should break through soon for his maiden Grand Prix victory.
The Formula 1 focus now moves to North America with races in Montreal and Indianapolis.
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