Report cards of the Monte Carlo GP

For once the most obvious number comes out of Monegasque roulette, Jenson Button's 22. Also out, and this result was decidedly less predictable, was 4th for Kimi Raikkonen's Ferrari, who climbed onto the podium at the end of a more than vigorous race. Vettel and Kovalainen on the wall, Hamilton disastrous. Fisichella's Force India comes close to the points. Enjoy the reading!

Lewis Hamilton: 5 – Despite an overall spirited race we just can't give him enough. You are one of the strongest drivers, you came close to winning rookie in Monte Carlo and the following year you triumphed in the downpour, you have a lump under your butt but the narrow streets of the Principality mask as best they can the flaws of a single-seater that can't even be pushed. What are you doing? You throw everything away with an unfortunate accident in qualifying, which relegates you to the back of the group. From then on the race is only a mere appendix. He avoids the four for the effort he puts in, making a couple of nice overtakings at the rear of the group and elbowing his way with determination. But for a world champion, we're not there, really. Rejected.

Heikki Kovalainen: 5 – I'm sorry to give him yet another bad rating. It's especially unfortunate because, given the messes made by his much more famous teammate, he was running well and for once he was the one keeping the ramshackle Anglo-German mess going. And instead, he ruins everything with an off-track exit that nullifies the good (or even good) things he had shown up to that moment. He honestly admits the mistake - and God forbid, we add - but once again the loot collected is zero. It's a shame, he had the opportunity to move up the rankings and, who knows, gain credibility within the team. And instead the suspicion arises that he was racing beyond his possibilities. At least let's hope, for him, that this isn't the case. Illusory.

Felipe Massa: 8 – The vote is penalized by the mistake in qualifying and the one in the race, when he messes up with Vettel by cutting the chicane and also losing the position to Rosberg. For the rest, his performance was excellent, on a track (it is worth remembering) that he doesn't love and that he has never loved. He professes to be a Senna fan, but in this he is more like Piquet (senior, for goodness' sake!). He risks a lot with his aggressive race conduct, which leads him on more than one occasion to come close to being penalized for cutting chicanes at the limit of the regulations, but that's fine with him and so much the better for him. Of course we imagine that it hurts him that it was his teammate who returned to the podium with the Red, but overall the weekend was more effective than him. Fourth place is still a nice boost of confidence for the future. Stoic.

Kimi Räikkönen: 9th – The air of Monte Carlo is good for him, very good indeed. Thanks to a Ferrari revitalized by the modifications put on the track, the Finn dusted off the grit and clarity of his best days by showing off a capital A performance (with a capital letter, really) in qualifying and climbing up to the front row. He makes a mistake at the start, thanks to the fact that he starts from the dirty part of the track and this is particularly penalizing on a citizen, but he leads a solid race with no flaws. Of course at a certain point he dozes off during the race, but when the engineer reminds him that he has to push to keep up with his teammate he starts to run strongly again, comfortably defending the position and reaching the final third place. Not even very timid signs of awakening, in reality. We're going out of our way: if Ferrari continues to grow he will end up waking up completely. Welcome back (?)

Robert Kubica: 5,5 – In the end, his retirement due to brake problems was perhaps the most positive thing about his weekend. In which, it is right and proper to underline, not all the blame lies with him, on the contrary. He was beaten by his teammate in qualifying and obtained the third to last place. He crashes at the start, punctures a tire and finds himself even further behind the group. The retreat is almost a liberation. If this situation has arrived, the blame must be divided between technicians and drivers, but it seems impossible to give him a lower rating, such is the empathetic solidarity felt towards him. The day he finds himself face to face with Mario Theyssen, without witnesses, it will be a miracle if he doesn't slap him furiously. And to think that it was they, among other things, who wanted the kers. Thanks to KERS, in fact… Unpresentable.

Nick Heidfeld: 6 – We could copy the judgment of his teammate. We award him half a point more for two simple reasons: 1) he beats the Pole in qualifying; 2) he brings the car to the test, thus suffering until the end of the race. Keeping behind, moreover, the reigning world champion. Who may drive a motorized wheelbarrow but still has the number one printed on the nose. If he has enough hair on his stomach he will even be able to tell his grandchildren about it. At BMW we are groping in the dark, precise indications do not come from either the drivers or the technicians, so not even the future appears rosy. It appears, because in F1 you can never say never, much less in 2009. Disappointed.

Fernando Alonso: 7,5th – Two points are better than zero points, old Vujadin Boskov would say. Two points move the standings, boost morale, but above all they are yet another demonstration of how the driver can make a difference in 2009 too, albeit to a lesser extent than in the past. Fernando fights, fights, elbows. His cameracar is perhaps the most spectacular, together with Rosberg's. He doesn't perform circus maneuvers, but is content to hammer out laps after laps to the limit, combining wisdom, concreteness and speed. In the end he is rewarded with two points which, these days, are not bad at all. He says he is optimistic about future races. He seems more 'pretactical than anything else, but who knows'. Granitic.

Nelson Piquet jr: 6,5 – He ends up out due to an accident, and this was predictable in the Principality. He is involved in a rear-end collision, and this too could have been probable. The news, however, is that instead of hitting he is hit. And, listen, it's a real shame, because the way things were going, with Vettel acting as a stopper up front, the Brazilian could have picked up some points. He narrowly misses out on Q3 but he runs well and doesn't make any mistakes until Buemi's kamikaze entry. Sufficiency is all there; half past six is ​​encouraging. After all, even though he was slower, he wasn't disfiguring at all in comparison with Alonso. Stubborn.

Jarno Trulli: 5 – Alas, we don't see many miracles anymore. And Jarno does not escape this cynical ergola of the new millennium. Arriving with a Toyota at the limits of the unpresentable, the Abruzzese is the protagonist of a disastrous qualifying which is followed by a slow and colorless race (and it couldn't have been otherwise, given that we are in Monte Carlo). The serious deficiency is motivated by the fact that a driver who achieves his first career victory on the streets of the Principality cannot, for any reason, finish three positions behind his teammate. A bad day - or weekend - can happen to anyone. However, if they arrive on the track that you love most and on which you express yourself best... the bad rating is logical. Confused.

Timo Glock: 6 – He beats his teammate, and if specifically it's Jarno Trulli in Monte Carlo it's not something that happens exactly every day. Furthermore, starting from the pit lane, with a Toyota which, unlike what we have seen so far, seemed embarrassing to say the least. He finishes tenth and admits that it is even more than he expected, given the result in qualifying and above all the pace shown by the car. It's not clear why the Japanese car suffered so much in the Monegasque toboggan. However, he doesn't hold back, he doesn't cause havoc but he doesn't make mistakes and finishes in the top ten. On the eve it was reasonable to expect more, but given how things were going, perhaps it was too much. Wrestler.

Sebastien Bourdais: 7,5 - Finally!!! And we even put three exclamation points, in the face of greed. Of course the team gets the strategy right, and he takes advantage of the harakiri of those in front of him (read, among others, Vettel and Kovalainen) but starting 14th and finishing 8th, in the points, is not an easy task in Monte Carlo. For once he doesn't make any mistakes, showing a strong pace and good tactical clarity in managing the degradation of the supersoft tires as best as possible. He collects a point that moves the standings and above all does a lot, a lot of morale. Who knows, maybe he won't be able, little by little, to rebuild his credibility starting from this result. After all, as he himself underlines, he ran in the house... (Redi) alive.

Sebastien Buemi: 4,5 – Climbing onto the bonnet of the person in front of you is never a pleasant manoeuvre. Even more so if you run in the streets of the Principality, the kingdom par excellence of etiquette and etiquette. He says he saw a good chance, as Vettel was slowing everyone down. Understandable. But then he also says that Piquet braked near the bend. Amazing, right? We forgive him a little because he lacks experience, as he is in his first season in F1. Just a little, though. Patience is a fundamental virtue here, and he lacked it. Even with all the mitigating circumstances of the case, therefore, we cannot accept his mistake. Also because he has already shown good things, and up until the end he was racing well. Instead he throws away his and Piquet's race. With whom, moreover, he seems to have immediately apologized. Power of Monegasque etiquette… Polite.

Mark Webber: 7,5 – With a Red Bull strangely in difficulty, the talent of the tall Australian comes to the fore. Mark runs in a concrete, inconspicuous but decidedly profitable way. He lost a lot of time in the first stint behind Kovalainen but was able to gain positions in the stopping game and in the end he was even one of the fastest on the track. He doesn't get caught up in the frenzy, as happened to other riders, but he waits for the race to go his way. In the end he gets a very precious fifth place which saves the Red Bull balance sheet at the weekend in the Principality. The classic Webber race, we could say. And that's no way to discredit his performance. In fact, he knows that these are the races he does best. Tactical.

Sebastian Vettel: 4,5st – Up until the time of the accident he was saving the balance sheet of Red Bull, which did not adapt well to the winding streets of Monaco. As a true champion, with the tires practically on the canvas, he had kept the pack of pursuers behind for several laps, thirsty for the blood of the red bovine (sorry for the gruesome image). Then he is overtaken, he stops in the pits to replace the tires and, therefore, the crash: braking error, collision with the barriers and the race is over. It's a shame, because all in all he could have straightened out a match deeply flawed by a singular strategy. It's a shame especially because the zero on the points table weighs like a boulder on his world championship. The low rating might seem ungenerous, but based on what we have seen so far, it fits: he has proven to be a champion, and champions must know how to get the most out of them even on difficult days. Sunday was one of these, but he only collected the pieces of his car. Agitated.

Nico Rosberg: 7,5th – This time the king of Friday manages to at least act like a prince on Sunday too. Nico, who practically runs on his home roads - not that it means much, of course... - gets a great start and, despite an interminable central stint, manages to maintain sixth position until the checkered flag. His camera car is similar to a video game, with counter-steering, brushed walls and attacked curbs, but he manages to bring the car to the finish line without causing any damage and to score three points which never hurt, on the contrary. For once therefore he manages to keep, at least partially, the promises of free practice, which made him the king of Friday. How do you say? Are the first tests in Monte Carlo on Thursday? Who knows if this wasn't exactly the secret. Think people think. I wake.

Kazuki Nakajima: 5 – Like Vettel and Kovalainen, he too is unable to resist the fatal attraction exerted by the track's rails. To tell the truth, of the three he is the one with the strongest will, managing to avoid the encounter/clash until a few laps from the end. He wasn't at Rosberg's level, but he was still driving an overall honest race. He complains about the traffic, but doing it in Monte Carlo is like complaining about the cold in Greenland. However, he says he is partially satisfied with the good feeling with the car, especially in the final stages of the race. When, as already mentioned, he ends up on the wall. Let alone before. A question of feeling, precisely. Confused.

Adrian Sutil: 5 – From hero to supporting character it's a short step. Or maybe not. It probably takes a year to deal with it. In fact, here in the last edition he had been rear-ended by Raikkonen when he was in fourth place no less. Today, however, he finishes in last place at the end of an anonymous race. He suffers from deep graining which forces him to stop early and, in fact, nullifies the strategy set by the Force India wall. It's a shame that with the same car his teammate is able to manage the tires much more expertly, while also setting decidedly more interesting times. It's not always Sunday, he knows me. And in fact this time Raikkonen finds himself behind only in dubbing. Modest.

Giancarlo Fisichella: 8 – You see, in Monte Carlo there is always a place for him too... the Freccia del Tiburtino remembers that he has a very special feeling with the streets of the Principality and invents a killer driver who takes him to the edge of the points zone. In a race, it is right to remember this, with very few DNFs and an overall regular progress. He manages the tires spectacularly, managing to lose less time than many others with the supersofts, and at the same time maintaining a constant and fast pace. He deserved something more, certainly. We really hope he can improve this very honorable position in the next events. However, it must be said that Force India seemed to be making progress, with both drivers having access to Q2 for the first time. Signs of awakening? We will see. Magical.

Jenson Button: 10nd – He drives a Brawn GP, ​​controls the dance practically from start to finish and doesn't even give the impression of working who knows how much. Real. However, we don't see why we shouldn't give them a solid ten. His race is practically perfect. He gets off to a good start from pole and builds a nice margin straight away. His masterpiece however is in digging the gap between himself and his teammate at the moment the tires start to give up. In fact, when he enters the pits, he even accumulated 16 seconds on Rubens, an enormous amount. At that point it is only he who can lose the race, with a distraction or a mistake. Neither of them arrives, and so the Briton wins the most important victory of his career so far. He still has something to learn... but in terms of end-of-race procedures, when he makes a mistake in parking the car and has to make the journey to the podium on foot. He will learn, you will see if he will learn… Naive.

Rubens Barrichello: 7,5 – The best moment of his race came right at the start, when he managed to overtake Raikkonen with authority and exit the first corner in second place. He gives the impression of being able to keep up with Button's pace, but then suffers greater tire degradation which causes him to lose a huge amount. At that point he focuses more on those behind him, and maintains second place until the checkered flag. The ideal shoulder, therefore. Like in the days of Ferrari. The years pass, for him too, but certain things always remain the same. He says that he won't give up, that he will fight until the end and that his time will come too. Where have we heard it before? It's true, some things will never change. It's nice to have certainties in life. Thank you, Rubens!

Manuel Codignoni
www.f1grandprix.it