[M5Rick]

Originally Posted by GuidoK

Just finished watching qualifying. What a session at the end in Q3!
First Max lands a lap about 0,25sec faster than the rest and just after that ANT tops that with a few hundreds of a second.
For sure Max got the most out of that mediocre car today!. And Ferrari....just wasn't in the zone today.
And what about that starting grid:
The two worst starters of the year in front of the two fastest starters
I know it's just only ~100m to the first corner, but if Ferrari still wants to do something in the race, their only chance is at the start.
So maybe it's just gonna be a big pile up of the first 4 cars in the side barriers tomorrow....

I'm expecting some action before the first turn and there could be some shoving for the fight to be the lead car after the Devote turn.

[GuidoK]

Originally Posted by G30M

i compared the Kimi lap vs Max lap. Max was wringing the neck out of the thing, it was bouncing everywhere and looks like a headache. Kimi's lap in comparison was like a Sunday drive.

that kid is smooth and the car is smooth.

should be a good 'race' tonight. Kimi said he doesn't need to do anything crazy in the race. and he's only 19.

Interesting observation, but I think what you're seeing is not the difference in driver, but the difference in car.

Max already said it himself, even before this weekend, the RB car is good in slow corners, but it's terrible on bumps and curbs.
So yes it bounces around like crazy and is hard to control in Monaco.
I think that's also the reason for Max crazy sector times.
He looses over 0,2 sec in sector 2 but makes up for that in sector 3.

Kimi isn't a smooth driver at all, he's really aggressive.
If you want to see a smooth driver, look at Russel. He's one of the smoothest drivers on the grid imho. (might also be the reason he could pull off that stunt at spa '24 that sadly got him disqualified)
Obviously smooth driving doesn't really work in Monaco with the tight corners and bumpy track.

[Artemis]

Originally Posted by Car-Addicted

Of the last 20 Monaco Grands Prix, only six have been won by drivers from a non-pole position.

Go back further in time for the intergalactic 1988 Monaco qualifications performance by Senna.

Senna (P1 - McLaren Honda) 1.427s clear of Prost (P2 - McLaren Honda), 2.687s clear of Berger (P3 - Ferrari) and 3.299s clear of Alboreto (P4 - Ferrari).

Unfortunately no footage of the magic lap itself (F1 crew filmed Nannini leaving the pitlane and doing a warm-up lap). Senna was determined to beat Prost big time at Monte Carlo.



1988 Monaco GP: 78 laps. Senna (P1) leads the race, with a whopping 55 seconds ahead of Prost (P2). Team boss Ron Dennis urges Senna through the onboard radio to slow down to ensure a 1-2 race result (Senna - Prost). Most think that Senna was super determined to catch Prost and humiliate him with blue flags (purpose: winning the Monaco GP with team mate Prost as doubled P2). But Senna went over the limit: he crashes at Portier in lap 66. DNF. Prost wins the race.

Did Senna "give" Prost the race win ? No. Prost passed the chequered flag as P1. Senna DNF'd, but kudos for the effort to dance on the edge of the F1 knive. Based on stellar performance during qualies and the GP, Senna deserved that GP race win; but he DNF'd - "would have", "should have" doesn't count for WDC/WCC points and race victories statistics:

Complete session - only a few moments of the beginning of the magic lap were captured by the F1 film crew (see @ 27:56):

Some selected footage of Senna performing qualies laps, but without The Lap (provisional results @ 29:48: Senna lighting up the tables with provisional P1 1:23.998 and Prost provisional P2 with 1:26.974 = almost 3 seconds difference between P1 and P2):

Martin Brundle and Damon Hill about the feat (equally pointing out the different driving conditions back then compared to now):