Formula 1 and Other Motorsport 2006

[tom_b]

Well the grid has been decided after hours of deliberation over a couple of controversies. Heres the grid for tommorrows Monaco Grand Prix.

Monaco Grid
1: Alonso
2: Webber
3: Raikkonen
4: Montoya
5: Barrichello
6: Trulli
7: Coulthard
8: Rosberg
9: Fisichella (Docked his three fastest laps after impeding Coulthards flying lap)
10: R.Schumacher
11: Klien
12: Liuzzi
13: Button (Struggled on new tyres)
14: Villeneuve
15: Heidfeld
16: Albers
17: Monteiro
18: Speed
19: Sato
20: Montagny
21: Massa
22: M.Schumacher (Originally pole-sitter till he blocked the track)

So thats the grid, also today saw a exciting GP2 race, just the one this weekend owing to the tight race schedule at Monaco. Heres the results.

GP2
Monaco Top 8
1: Lewis Hamilton (ART)
2: Franck Perera (DAMS)
3: Alex Premat (ART)
4: Clivio Piccione (DPR Direxiv)
5: Andreas Zuber (Trident)
6: Felix Porteiro (Campos)
7: Michael Ammermuller (Arden)
8: Sergio Hernandez (Durango)
Fastest Lap: Lucas di Grassi (Durango) 1m22.563s

GP2 Drivers Championship (Round 5/11)
1: Hamilton (49)
2: Nelson Piquet Jnr (39)
3: Premat (33)
4: Ernesto Viso (26)
5=: Ammermuller & Nicolas Lapierre (25)
7: Gianmaria Bruni (20)
8: Jose Maria Lopez (13)
9: Hiroki Yoshimoto (9)
10=: Adam Carroll & Perera (
12: Adrian Valles (7)
13: Tristan Gommendy (6)
14=: Piccione & Timo Glock (5)
16=: Porteiro, Zuber, Xandi Negrao & Ferdinando Monfardini (4)
20: Luca Filippi (2)
21=: di Grassi & Hernandez (1)

GP2 Teams Championship (Round 5/11)
1: ART (82)
2: Arden (50)
3: Piquet Sports (43)
4: iSport (32)
5: Trident (24)
6: BCN (14)
7: Super Nova (13)
8: DAMS (12)
9: Campos (11)
10: Racing Engineering (
11: David Price Racing-Direviv (5)
12=: Durango & FMS (2)

The GP2 series returns in 2 weeks time at the British GP at Silverstone on June 10-11, yup, not July time, tickets for that are still available. As well as the Monaco GP tommorrow, another prestigous race starts later, the Indianapolis 500, can reigning Indy 500 winner and British driver Dan Wheldon defend his Indy 500 title? Coverage on Sky Sports from 5:30pm tommorrow.

[tom_b]

Well, a forgone conclusion in terms of victory in Monte Carlo with 28 laps left. But it was an exciting Monaco GP.

Monaco Top 8
1: Alonso
2: Montoya
3: Coulthard (yup, his 1st podium since Japan 2003 and Red Bulls 1st podium. What chance team boss Christian Horner live up to his bet?)
4: Barrichello (Drive-through cost him 3rd)
5: M.Schumacher (Fights back through the order to the points)
6: Fisichella (Pulled some banzai moves to 6th)
7: Heidfeld
8: R.Schumacher (Small consolation for Trullis demise from 3rd)

Retirements
17: Trulli (Drive fault)
18: Klien (Gearbox failure, another who potentially couldve been on the podium)
19: Rosberg (Stuck throttle + Monte Carlo = crash in barriers)
20: Raikkonen (Engine failure under safety car)
21: Webber (Engine failure robbing him of a podium and outside chance of victory)
22: Sato

F1 Drivers Championship (Round 7/1
1: Alonso (64)
2: M.Schumacher (43)
3=: Fisichella & Raikkonen (27)
5: Montoya (23)
6: Massa (20)
7: Button (16)
8: Barrichello (13)
9=: Heidfeld & R.Schumacher (
11: Coulthard (7)
12=: Villeneuve & Webber (6)
14: Rosberg (4)
15: Klien (1)

F1 Constructors Championship (Round 7/1
1: Renault (91)
2: Ferrari (63)
3: McLaren (50)
4: Honda (29)
5: BMW (14)
6: Williams (10)
7=: Red Bull & Toyota (

Coming later, more motorsport action on Sky Sports 3 from half 5, coverage of the 90th Indianapolis 500, can Britains Dan Wheldon or Dario Franchitti challenge for oval racings most prestigous prize?

Next week sees coverage of highlights from Round 8 of the World Rally Championship, the Acropolis Rally. And 2 weeks from now, F1 reaches its 8th round, the British GP at Silverstone. Tickets are still available but not being sold well because of the early date-switch plus the World Cup. Hope you got yours, see you soon.

[kevin]

Nothing to say about Heidfeld?

How about:

Great start and steady job.

[armadrillo]

Kimi would have won that race.

I can see him staying at McLaren because of the poor reliability.

[leorcc]

There used to be a time where mclarens never blew up, and had better fuel economy than any other formula 1 car. Those were the days.

[old geezer mode off]

[armadrillo]

Dont worry Leo. I remember those times also.

Its such a shame for the championship that McLaren have such bad reliability. Im sure Kimi would have been a lot closer to Alonso last year and this year if the McLaren was as reliable as the Renealt.

Feel sorry for Webber too. He was on for a good finish at Monaco. You could see his frustration when he got out of the car.

[kevin]

If its and but were candy and nuts.

[jamesb]

I dont feel bad for Kimi at all.

At the end of the day, you make your own luck, I notice Juan Pablo doesnt have such bad luck.

Ive seen this up close in many types of racing, the super quick guys often use kerbs and track edges a lot more than others, and this puts stress into the car.

Look at Monaco as a great example, Webber much quicker than Nico, Webber breaks down with engine blowup, Nico off with freak, but not mechanical failure. (ie. its electronic!) so did Webbers pace overload the engine?

Kimi and montoya, the sower fella keeps his engine in one piece, again.

Trulli and Ralf, again, the lightning quick drives detonates, Ralf plods to 8th.

Incidentally, in my last season of racing I finished every race, usually first in class, except the last on in which I was pushing very hard and was far quicker than usual, and up with the class A cars. Ive a great video of me pushing the car off the track after the engine blowing. Moral of the story, you can be average and reliable or fast and fragile.

(renault and ferrari need not apply to this theory, as the cars are so good)

my opinion anyway.

[tom_b]

Well the grid is in & Button, well, Honda screwed up big style, thanks, Honda, NOT!! :sad:

Silverstone F1 Grid
1: Alonso
2: Raikkonen
3: M.Schumacher
4: Massa
5: Fisichella
6: Barrichello
7: R.Schumacher
8: Montoya
9: Heidfeld
10: Villeneuve
11: Coulthard
12: Rosberg
13: Liuzzi
14: Klien
15: Speed
16: Monteiro
17: Webber
18: Albers
19: Button
20: Sato
21: Montagny
22: Trulli

Well thats the grid, best British results left up to DC, no chance of another podium unless a high attrition rate sets in. Later, results from the Acropolis Rally.

[tom_b]

Well heres the results of last weekends Acropolis Rally.

WRC Top 8
1: Marcus Gronholm (Ford) 3h56m26.8s (Strong determined drive, will need Loeb to makes mistakes if he wants to close the gap)
2: Sebastien Loeb (Kronos Citroen) +2m26.8s (Avoids a scare to finish second despite returning to the service park on 2 wheels at the end of day 2)
3: Mikko Hirvonen (Ford) +3m43.8s (Strong level-headed drive despite being stuck in 2nd gear on final stage)
4: Toni Gardemeister (Citroen) +4m20.8s (Shows he hasnt been slacking since his last outing in Monte Carlo)
5: Henning Solberg (OMV Peugeot) +4m55.6s (Strong drive to hold off Dani Sordo)
6: Dani Sordo (Kronos Citroen) +4m56.4s (Thought he clinched 5th on final stage till co-driver Marc Marti corrected him)
7: Petter Solberg (Subaru) +5m34.4s (Not much to celebrate WRC outing no.100 after collision with a car on his way to stage 13 ruins his chance of a podium)
8: Xavier Pons (Kronos Citroen) +8m19s (Brave effort to hold Petter but finishes in the final point position)

10: Matthew Wilson (Stobart VK Ford) +13m30.8s (Anonoymous outing despite a spin on day 2)

WRC Drivers Championship (Round 8/16)
1: Loeb (74)
2: Gronholm (45)
3: Sordo (33)
4: Hirvonen (21)
5=: P.Solberg & Manfred Stohl (20)
7=: Gigi Galli, Pons, H.Solberg & Gardemeister (11)
11: Alex Bengue (9)
12: Chris Atkinson (
13=: Daniel Carlsson & Stephane Sarrazin (6)
15=: Thomas Radstrom, Jan Kopecky, Francois Duval and Jussi Valimaki (4)
19=: Kosti Katajamaki, Gareth MacHale & Kristian Sohlberg (3)
22: Wilson (1)

WRC Manufacturers Championship (Round 8/16)
1: Kronos Citroen (96)
2: Ford (81)
3: Subaru (63)
4: OMV Peugeot (41)
5: Stobart VK Ford (17)
6: Red Bull Skoda (14)

With the World Cup on, the WRC is now on a 2 month break before returning August 11-13th.