Even with a few problems in Spain, the little incident with Alonso at the start and the flash fire in the pits, it didn’t interfere with the end result for him. The way things are going for him we now expect more of the same. He was - and is definitely on fire!
Of course the crucial moment in Barcelona came at the start when Felipe and Fernando had their little ‘incident’. That shows just how important pole position is and in Monte Carlo that will be even more critical.
The race is won or lost in many ways in qualifying at the Principality. If you do not qualify well there you are going to have a tough day at the office because it is virtually impossible to overtake.
Ferrari and
McLaren will be strong for qualifying as always, but Monaco does tend to spring some surprises. Cars that are not quite as good on a purpose built circuit due to aerodynamic issues and pitch sensitivity problems may be better, as those sorts of issues get ironed out around the street circuits because you have to run the cars higher. Then all of a sudden there is not so much sensitivity and you could get a couple of people qualifying higher than they would normally do.
Possibly someone like
Honda might be better.
Jenson Button with his very smooth driving style and with a car that is not as ill-affected around a street circuit may make a surprise appearance further up the grid. I hope so because he is having a tough time.
Of course qualifying well doesn’t count for much if you can’t get to the finish and
Kimi Raikkonen was unable to get to the end last time out after an electrical problem forced him to retire.
Whether that will be an issue for Ferrari again remains to be seen, but you would hope not. I am sure Kimi will be frustrated by not being able to finish and score points. But Ferrari will have looked into it and will have an understanding of why the problem occurred. Overall you would say they are normally a pretty reliable team.
