Monaco Grand Prix 2013: Preview and weekend times

Caramba here we go again! Is everyone ready for the City Circuit? But... wait a moment, before taking Santa Devota, let's take stock of the situation, let's relive the tops and flops of the "caramba, what a surprise" race in Barcelona.

The two Ferraris this time go honorably to place in the top. Although the qualification always leaves something to be desired, the departure of president Luca-Luca on Saturday afternoon does not betray expectations. With a fantastic race and a double overtaking that makes one cry out for a miracle, Alonso took his second victory in 2013. Massa returned at the end of 2012, and worthily grabbed an important podium in view of the constructors' championship, all of this with a grid penalty on his shoulders. Congratulations to both. Now a loyal customer of the tops is the "talkative" Finn from Lotus. It is said < > and we think about the Vettel-Alonso fight. Kimi is at -3 in the meantime, and continues to make the podium. Excellent race also for Paul Di Resta, who finished in Spain with a very respectable seventh place, confirming the positive trend of Force India, which remained ahead of McLaren at this round. Specifically, it remained ahead of both McLarens, one eighth and one ninth: given the precedents, this placement is a symptom of an excellent race for the Woking team. Good performance also for Daniel Ricciardo, who after spending the entire duration of the competition fighting in the top ten managed to collect the point of tenth place. Big celebration, however, for Esteban Gutierrez, eleventh at the finish line: "like a victory" he says.

Among those who had to limit the damage we find the two Redbull drivers, both off the podium with heavy gaps from the winner. It must be said that the Pirelli tires didn't help them at all. Adrian Sutil also had to come back from the back due to a wheel that couldn't be fitted during the first pit.

in flop we find the two Mercedes drivers as guests of excellence. First and second after qualifying in case anyone forgot. Rosberg limited the damage as much as he could by finishing sixth, while Hamilton dropped drastically to twelfth place with a jump of exactly 10 positions. “Overtaken by a Williams!”. This says it all. We're talking about something big here: a car that is the fastest on the flying lap while in the race, undoubtedly thanks to the tyres, it takes the pay from everyone. The dark period continues for Williams, who continue to find nothing good in every race: only bad performances. Neither Maldonado, whose talent can be discussed for a long time, nor the newly arrived Bottas seem up to the task of a car that, in itself, is not up to the competition.

Monte Carlo it is one of the four historical pillars of Formula 1. It is a circuit of excellence, a track for champions. Generations and generations of drivers have passed on the asphalt of the principality. The Monaco track is particular: there are those who find it boring, those who find it spectacular, those who see it as a prestigious stage of the circus and those who see it just like a circus. In any case the traced it's unique. There are also some rules that apply only to this track. For example, the distance was shortened due to the average speed being too low: in Monaco you don't cover the usual 305km, you just need to cover 260 and the race will end; the technical checks take place three days before the GP, so free practice is brought forward to Thursday, and the hotels and casinos benefit from it; the podium ceremony is entirely organized by the Grimaldi family. The track is a continuous up and down through the narrow streets of the Principality of Monaco, a route that leaves no margin for error, which does not allow any type of distraction. Even with modern electronic systems it is said that Monte Carlo still rewards the skill of the driver rather than the competitiveness of the vehicle. Just 3.340 meters long, it is the shortest track in the world championship, but in its 78 laps it records an exorbitant number of gear changes: the gearbox is in fact heavily stressed in this grand prix, as is the braking system which is not always able to cool down properly; on this track the highest levels of aerodynamic load are recorded, in fact the pilots must set the flaps with maximum incidence to remain as attached to the ground as possible to have the best grip ever. It is legitimate to report the list of drivers with the highest number of victories, because we are talking about illustrious names: at three victories we find Jackie Stewart and Stirling Moss, at four Alain Prost, at five successes instead Garham Hill (as well as Mr. Monte Carlo ) and Michael Schumacher, but the King of Monaco is Ayrton Senna, with six victories on the Monegasque track, five of them consecutive! For this grand prize the DRS it can only be activated in one point, i.e. on the starting straight (as far as it can be called a straight): this stretch, however, is too short for the mobile wing to have an effect and its uselessness has been noted for 2 years now, due to the joy of the nostalgic: yes, here in Monaco it is as if we were racing without the Drag Reduction System. There Pirelli as tradition, it will bring its two softest tyres: the red supersoft and the yellow soft although consumption is not exactly very low. In fact, in recent years we have witnessed a fairly significant degradation, especially of the supersoft compound. Sunday's race will be broadcast live only on Sky: both qualifying and the race will be broadcast deferred by Rai at 18pm on Saturday and 00pm on Sunday respectively.

TOP 10 Monaco GP editions

We have made a choice between 10 Grands Prix, as for Spain, to summarize the emotions of the Monegasque track as best as possible.

1972 edition: the American drivers Mario Andretti (Ferrari) and Peter Revson (McLaren) are absent as they are engaged in the Indianapolis 500 in America. The Ferrari company thus fields only one car with Jacky Ickx, while the English team hires Brian Redman. In a weekend marked by heavy and incessant rain, in the race after 80 laps at a very low average (101 km/h) the Frenchman Jean – Pierre Beltoise won, giving the English team British Racing Motors its last victory in the championship Formula 1. The Belgian from Ferrari comes second, Emerson Fittipaldi third on Lotus – Ford.

1982 edition: in a daring race, marked by the withdrawal of Arnoux first and Prost afterwards (73rd lap of the 76 planned), the winner was the Italian Riccardo Patrese aboard a Brabham – Ford which was not very competitive but very reliable. A victory that surprises everyone, so much so that James Hunt, shortly before the order of arrival is made official, exclaims: "Well we are in this ridiculous situation in which we are all sitting on the finish line waiting for the arrival of a winner and we don't feel like we have one!”; second place was awarded to Didier Pironi on Ferrari and third to Andrea De Cesaris (Alfa Romeo). To wait for another victory by an Italian on this circuit we will have to wait until 2004, in which the winner was Jarno Trulli on Renault.

1984 edition: race marked by pouring rain so much so that the start was postponed for 45 minutes. June 3rd is a historic date for the world of Formula 1, as it sees the birth of a new champion: it is the young Brazilian Ayrton Senna, who aboard his Toleman – Hart comes second behind Prost (McLaren – TAG Porsche) after starting from 13th place. Only the judges' decision to suspend the race prevented the Brazilian from taking first place. Bellof came third in a Tyrrell – Ford, later disqualified as the team's single-seaters were underweight compared to what was required by the regulations, thus leaving room for René Arnoux in a Ferrari.

1993 edition: in qualifying the fastest is Alain Prost on Williams – Renault, alongside him on the grid is the young Michael Schumacher on Benetton – Ford. The following day, Ayrton Senna won, starting third on the grid, after Prost served a 10-second penalty in the pits and his engine stopped, causing him to return to the race in 22nd position; he will manage to finish fourth thanks to an excellent show of strength. Damon Hill, his teammate, comes second, Jean Alesi third on Ferrari. This will be Senna's sixth and last victory on this track, a record that is still unbeaten.

1994 edition: new safety systems introduced both on the single-seaters and on the track after the tragic events in San Marino, including the speed limited to 80 km/h in the pit lane. On the sporting front, the entire weekend was dominated by Michael Schumacher who obtained his first career pole position and the following day won without great difficulty after his main rivals, Häkkinen and Hill, had eliminated each other. Second was Martin Brundle on McLaren – Peugeot, who overtook Gerhard Berger (Ferrari) at the end who had to give up the position after passing over an oil slick, ending up wide with his car. Unlucky weekend however for the Austrian driver Karl Wendlinger who violently impacted the barriers at the exit of the tunnel, ending up in a coma for a month; he will manage to recover, but the following year he will no longer be the same and will abandon the world of Formula 1.

2000 edition: in a season that seems to be dominated only by Ferrari and McLaren, in Saturday's qualifying it is the Italian Jarno Trulli who surprises on the Jordan – Mugen Honda, who places second on the grid behind Michael Schumacher. on the day of the race everything happened: the starting procedure was repeated three times and the start was postponed to 14.30 pm; David Coulthard on McLaren Mercedes won after 1h49'28'', followed by Rubens Barrichello on Ferrari and Giancarlo Fisichella on Benetton – Supertec, after Schumacher, leading for 55 laps of the 78 planned, had to retire following the failure of the left suspension caused by too much heat coming from the exhaust pipes; Trulli was also forced to retire due to a differential problem (36th lap). In the drivers' standings the Englishman recovers points on the German, nevertheless remaining 12 points behind.

2003 edition: atypical and curious race, as no overtaking takes place along the track but only during the pit stops during the 77 laps scheduled. In qualifying the fastest is Ralf Schumacher (Williams – BMW) who precedes the Finn Räikkönen on McLaren – Mercedes, both with Michelin tyres. In the race, the German's teammate, Juan Pablo Montoya, won, his only victory on this track as well as the first for a Colombian driver; second was Räikkönen and third was a comeback Michael Schumacher, the only one to ride Bridgestone in the top 7 positions.

2007 edition: 78 laps scheduled for a total of 260 km. In qualifying and in the race the best is Fernando Alonso on McLaren who wins his seventeenth race and brings the team's victories to 150, also scoring a double as his teammate, Lewis Hamilton, finishes second behind him; Felipe Massa in Ferrari is third, over a minute away. From a world championship perspective, the Spaniard and the Englishman are tied on 38 points, with Massa at 33 and Räikkönen at 23, behind him in a comeback race that will place him in eighth place.

2011 edition: first race won by Sebastian Vettel on this track in Formula 1. The German, aboard the RBR – Renault precedes Alonso in the Ferrari and Button in the McLaren – Mercedes after the safety car came out on several occasions: first for the accident between Massa and Hamilton in which the Brazilian gets the worst of it and is forced to retire (32nd lap), then for the accident between Hamilton, Algersuari and Petrov during a lapping phase; the Russian is then taken away for medical safety checks and for this reason the red flag is displayed. Once the cars lined up again on the grid, the race ended without further overtaking in the first three positions.

2012 edition: safety changes have been made along the route following Pérez's serious accident in the previous edition. On Saturday, in qualifying, the fastest was Michael Schumacher who however was penalized by 5 positions due to the accident that occurred in the previous GP with Bruno Senna, thus starting sixth. The front row is therefore made up of Webber on RBR – Renault and Nico Rosberg on Mercedes. The winner of the race is the Australian, sixth winner in 6 races of the 2012 season, ahead of Rosberg and Alonso (Ferrari), all three within less than a second. Good performance by Sergio Pérez who set the first fastest race lap of his career; Vettel finished fourth and thus lost the championship lead to Alonso (76 to 73), also joined by teammate Webber.

Thursday 23th May

Free 1: 10:00-11:30 (Sky Sport F1 HD)

Free 2: 14:00-15:30 (Sky Sport F1 HD)

Saturday May 25 

Free 3: 11:00-12:00 (Sky Sport F1 HD)

Qualifying: 14:00-15:00 (Sky Sport F1 HD)

Sunday 

Race: 14pm ̶ 00 laps ̶ 78km (Sky Sport F260,520 HD)

Distance per lap: 3,340km

Number of curves: 19

Direction of travel: hours

RECORD

Test lap: 1:13.532 – K Raikkonen – McLaren – 2006
Race lap: 1:14.439 – M Schumacher – Ferrari – 2004
Distance: 1h40:29.329 – F Alonso – McLaren – 2007
Driver victories: 6 – At Senna
Team victories: 15 – McLaren
Driver pole: 5 – To Senna
Pole team: 11 – McLaren
Km in the driver's lead: 1.459 – M Schumacher
Team lead km: 3.057 – McLaren
Best driver laps: 5 – M Schumacher
Best team laps: 16 – Ferrari
Driver podiums: 8 – In Senna
Team podiums: 47 – Ferrari

Hall of Fame

01. 1929 W Grover – Bugatti
02. 1930 R Dreyfus – Bugatti
03. 1931 L Chiron – Bugatti
04. 1932 T Nuvolari – Alfa Romeo
05. 1933 In Varzi – Bugatti
06. 1934 G Moll – Alfa Romeo
07. 1935 L Fagioli – Mercedes
08. 1936 R Caracciola – Mercedes
09. 1937 M Brauchitsch – Mercedes
10. 1948 G Farina – Maserati
11. 1950 J Fangio – Alfa Romeo
12. 1952 V Marzotto – Ferrari
13. 1955 M Trintignant – Ferrari
14. 1956 S Moss – Maserati
15. 1957 J Fangio – Maserati
16. 1958 M Trintignant – Cooper Climax
17. 1959 J Brabham – Cooper Climax
18. 1960 S Moss – Lotus Climax
19. 1961 S Moss – Lotus Climax
20. 1962 B McLaren – Cooper Climax
21. 1963 G Hill – BRM
22. 1964 G Hill – BRM
23. 1965 G Hill – BRM
24. 1966 J Stewart – BRM
25. 1967 D Hulme – Brabham Repco
26. 1968 G Hill – Lotus Ford
27. 1969 G Hill – Lotus Ford
28. 1970 J Rindt – Lotus Ford
29. 1971 J Stewart – Tyrrell Ford
30. 1972 J Beltoise – BRM
31. 1973 J Stewart – Tyrrell Ford
32. 1974 R Peterson – Lotus Ford
33. 1975 N Lauda – Ferrari
34. 1976 N Lauda – Ferrari
35. 1977 J Scheckter – Wolf Ford
36. 1978 P Depailler – Tyrrell Ford
37. 1979 J Scheckter – Ferrari
38. 1980 C Reutermann – Williams Ford
39. 1981 G Villeneuve – Ferrari
40. 1982 R Patrese – Brabham Ford
41. 1983 K Rosberg – Williams Ford
42. ​​1984 A Prost – McLaren TAG
43. ​​1985 A Prost – McLaren TAG
44. ​​1986 A Prost – McLaren TAG
45. 1987 At Senna – Lotus Honda
46. 1988 At Prost – McLaren Honda
47. 1989 At Senna – McLaren Honda
48. 1990 At Senna – McLaren Honda
49. 1991 At Senna – McLaren Honda
50. 1992 At Senna – McLaren Honda
51. 1993 At Senna – McLaren Ford
52. 1994 M Schumacher – Benetton Ford
53. 1995 M Schumacher – Benetton Renault
54. 1996 O Panis – Ligier Mugen Honda
55. 1997 M Schumacher – Ferrari
56. 1998 M Hakkinen – McLaren Mercedes
57. 1999 M Schumacher – Ferrari
58. 2000 D Coulthard – McLaren Mercedes
59. 2001 M Schumacher – Ferrari
60. ​​2002 D Coulthard – McLaren Mercedes
61. 2003 J Montoya – Williams BMW
62. 2004 J Trulli – Renault
63. 2005 K Raikkonen – McLaren Mercedes
64. 2006 F Alonso – Renault
65. 2007 F Alonso – McLaren Mercedes
66. 2008 L Hamilton – McLaren Mercedes
67. 2009 J Button – Brawn GP Mercedes
68. 2010 M Webber – Red Bull Renault
69. 2011 S Vettel – Red Bull Renault 70. 2012 M Webber ̶ Red Bull Renault

Andrea Villa, Matteo Bramati