THE DAVID COULTHARD MUSEUM
MONACO
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| Yet more drama continued later on in session two involving Red Bull driver, David Coulthard and the finnish rookie, Heikki Kovaleinen. As the veteran Scot was slowly building up to his second fast run the Renault of Kovaleinen was about to complete a much faster lap which may have propelled him into the top ten at the time. However exiting La Rascasse DC was slow and there was little room to let the Finn by and had to cut across him into the Antony Noghes chicane. Not long later the investigation into the incident started it was decided that DC was not to enter the third and final session and 11th placed Button would take his place. Half way through this session DC appeared to be 16th on the time sheets with yet another punishment from the marshals. Even though later on this was reviewed and the Scot ended up in 13th he was still punished twice in a shambles by the marshals. The drama concluded with a shoot out between the McLarens of Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso. As always at Monaco traffic played it’s part as both drivers were hindered in their final fast runs. However experience won the day over youth as Alonso piped Hamilton by just under two tenths to take the all to crucial pole position on the streets of Monaco. |
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When race day came the rain clouds that lingered round the tack had cleared and the start of the race was declared as dry. In years gone by we’ve seen cars decaying down the run-off area of Ste Devote as the result of a collision at the entry. However in 2007 we saw nothing of the sort as most drivers made it to the top of the hill into Casino Square. It was only the Toro Rosso of Tonio Luizzi who was caught out and ended up slithering along the barrier and sliding out of the race. It was ‘as you were’ for the top four after lap one, however behind them both Hiedfeld and Barrichello climbed up two plaes into fifth and seventh respectively bumping down the Red Bull of Mark Webber into eighth from sixth. Before the race many were backing old hands at Monaco, DC and Jarno Trulli, but this proved wrong within the first lap as the Scotsman lost two positions at the start of the race and the Italian lost four places. Neither driver would recover as they finished 14th and 15th respectively. |
| In a race that had very few incidents the positions of the top four very rarely changed throughout. Hamilton only ever briefly took the lead when Alonso had to pit the car and for a few laps the BMW of Nick Hiedfeld held fourth place after an early stop from Giancarlo Fisichella. Monaco usually throws up a few crashes but only the Spyker of Adrian Sutil hit the barriers in almost a carbon copy of what happened to Liuzzi on the opening lap. Even the spectacle of Kimi Raikkonen charging through field alluded us because for a long time he was stuck behind Jenson Button at the back of the field. Otherwise nothing much really happened in the race and Alonso was allowed to take an easy victory from his McLaren team-mate following in second with the Ferrari of Massa crossing the line a minute later than the leading pair. Such was the dominance of the silver cars that every other driver from Fisichella in fourth to Antony Davidson at the back had been lapped. It was the ease of McLaren’s victory that caused a furore in the days following the race. The McLaren boss, Ron Dennis, admitted after the race that he forced his drivers to slow down, conserve the cars and just keep position. This did not go down well with the British media who started blaming Ron for denying the young British hope his first victory. This resulted in the FIA launching an investigation into the Woking-based squad. When thinking about this saga there are several issues that must be addressed. What is the reason for Ron doing such a thing? Well he could be trying to hold back Hamilton to try and keep his Spanish champion happy within the team or he could be just simply trying to conserve both cars and make sure Lewis and Fernando bring home the full 18 points. Also it must be asked whether or not this strategy was directly contravening the regulations. Personally I believe this was the argument that convinced the FIA not to punish the team. It’s sensible at such a track as Monaco to keep your drivers calm and prevent all rash moves. Dennis was only trying to protect both of drivers in telling them to ease off. He was not trying to manipulate the actual result and therefore was not in breach of the rules. |
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| Even though this was one of the most boring races of the season I believe this was of extreme importance to the championship as a whole. Overall McLaren was a lot stronger throughout the weekend than the Italian squad, and they took advantage. McLaren now lead the championship by 20 points with both Hamilton and Alonso tied at the top. Traditionally the races across the pond have been a happy hunting ground for the red cars and it was at this point last year that Ferrari really started the fight back against Alonso and the Renaults. We are now reaching a crucial point in the season, whoever can take charge over the next four Grand Prix should be able to win the championship and as the most open championship for many years continues it could still be any one of four drivers. |