Some people love this race: a historic location at the tip of the south of France, money, glamour, fabulous women, huge yachts, fast cars, and a boring fast parade. Yes, I'm one that's not a huge fan of this sunny place for shady people. This is the one race of the year that everyone talks about, yet for me, it just makes the anticipation for Le Mans in a few weeks all that more palpable.
Ferrari's impressive guest truck. Copyright Mario Marchesini.
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The only time that Monaco really gets exciting is when it rains. The slosh of the track with stupid horsepower for impossible corners makes for some nail biting driving. Unfortunately, it didn't rain this year. McLaren qualified 1-2 and guess what, after over an hour and a half, they finished that way, too. Fernando Alonso lead from the start and kept it out of the Armco. The result (besides getting to shake hands with Prince Albert, again) was a solid lead in the championship. The Spaniard's race (I can't say dominance, the strategy was only get pole and stay out of the barriers) was able to distance him from Lewis Hamilton's rapid rise of late. McLaren's press releases will wax on and on about how wonderful a race it was, but really, it was a snoozer.
Two French Ferrari fans read the latest soccer news. On Wednesday the Italian team Milan defeated Liverpool 2-1, and for a record 7th time won the Coppa UEFA.
Copyright Mario Marchesini.
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Filipe Massa didn't have a race that the Italian sporting press will write politely about this week. The Brazilian was outmatched in qualifying, and pretty much just hung on for the ride. His result was much better than the beating that Kimi Räikkönen is sure to get for crashing in qualifying and doing no better than eighth place and a lap back. Ferrari carefully stated that Monaco is unique and they didn't expect the gap to be as big (if there at all) when they come to Montreal for the next installment of Bernie's Circus.
Giancarlo Fisichella gave his French team a bit of pride by finishing just off the podium. Flavio's still not happy with either his Italian driver or the results of the French team since they did win the championship last year. Probably just a fluke that they did this well this weekend; I'd expect them to be further back come Canada.
Kimi Räikkönen
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Both BMW Saubers did okay this weekend with the Pole ahead of the German (to the disappointment of the brass in Munich probably). The German/Swiss team is doing well, but hasn't been able to break into the front, yet. Surely the Quandt family will chip in a few more Euros to get the team in top form…
Alex Wurz beat Kimi's Ferrari to finish in seventh. The only one who noticed was Sir Frank. And even he didn't have much to say about it.
Scott Speed finished in ninth, some glimmer of hope for the sports-drink-makers massive advertising folly. The conglomerate would rather not comment on the other three sponsored driver's results this weekend.
Filipe Massa
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In the Japan wars, Honda beat Toyota who in turn beat Super Aguri. No one scored points, so is it a win, a draw or three losses? At least Toyota didn't loose to Sato-san's team. If they did, surely someone would have to commit ritual suicide in front of the board of directors by now.
Spyker is in dire straights according to rumors up and down the pit lane. Bad news for Ferrari's cash flow regarding motors, good news for the rest of the grid as there will be two less moving chicanes.
Kimi Räikkönen and Michael Schumacher
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Now that we've got the fast parade out of the way, we can get back to a real circuit. Montreal is a fast course that is tough on brakes. It's a track on which Ferrari usually does well; we'll see if McLaren can hold on to their lead. If nothing else, the night life is fantastic. If the Scuderia can just keep Kimi sober through Sunday afternoon, they should be fine.
The podium
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Race Results
