GP Monaco: Donkeys and Knights

**SlowSon** · 27th May 12, 14:56

My donkeys listed with reducing donkey-ness:
Grojan
Maldonado
Perez
Button
Hamilton+McL pit crew
Kimi

Knights (with reducing mightiness):
Webber
Rosberg
Alonso
Vettel
the two Indias

**gm99** · 27th May 12, 15:03

Donkeys: The STR crew for throwing away a sure 7th place finish

**Dave B** · 27th May 12, 15:05

Originally Posted by gm99

Donkeys: The STR crew for throwing away a sure 7th place finish

I have a feeling they were pawns in a larger Red Bull experiment.

**F1boat** · 27th May 12, 15:06

Knights - Mark and Seb
Donkey - Jenson

**AndyL** · 27th May 12, 15:06

Originally Posted by gm99

Donkeys: The STR crew for throwing away a sure 7th place finish

Think Vergne was one of the earliest to pit, they probably had no choice but to stop again, which would put them out of the points anyway so worth a gamble.

**wedge** · 27th May 12, 15:07

Driver of the Day: Kovy

Donkey of the Day: Maldonado

**ShiftingGears** · 27th May 12, 15:08

Originally Posted by Dave B

I have a feeling they were pawns in a larger Red Bull experiment.

If that was the case I think they would have made the call with Ricciardo, who I believe was still in the race at that point.

**N4D13** · 27th May 12, 15:10

Originally Posted by AndyL

Think Vergne was one of the earliest to pit, they probably had no choice but to stop again, which would put them out of the points anyway so worth a gamble.

But he stopped just a few laps before the end of the race. Even if he was going to lose time, he would have probably been able to keep the car on the track and avoid losing many positions. In the end, it didn't really make a difference.

My donkey of the weekend is Maldonado, for rather obvious reasons. As for DotD, I'd give it to Mark, Fernando and Vettel. SlowSon has pointed at the McLaren pit crew, but I don't see what they've done wrong. Hamilton didn't lose track position to Alonso due to a poor pitstop, but because Alonso put in a magnificient lap and broke the S1 and S2 records before pitting. In the end, he rejoined the track clearly in front of Lewis, so much that Hamilton's pitstop didn't really make a difference.

**AndyL** · 27th May 12, 15:16

Donkey of the race: the rain gods, half an hour late

**Dave B** · 27th May 12, 15:22

Donkey of the Weekend must be Maldonado: he was moronic taking a swipe at Perez and then drove into the back of an HRT on the first lap.

Button gets an honourable mention for making such a hash of passing Heikki's Caterham, the director seemed to miss him finally going off into the escape road.

Grosjean is also a candidate for his collision with Schuey but in his defence he did appear to be squeezed out by Alonso. Perez, too, should be mentioned for his last-moment change of direction into the pitlane, which rightly earned him a drive-through.

Driver of the race must be Webber, he drove no faster than he needed to and managed his tyres and fuel perfectly. Vettel benefited from clever strategy to go from 8th to 4th, and Rosberg and Alonso deserve credit for hanging on to Mark and finishing within a few seconds.

**AndyL** · 27th May 12, 15:57

Originally Posted by N4D13

But he stopped just a few laps before the end of the race. Even if he was going to lose time, he would have probably been able to keep the car on the track and avoid losing many positions. In the end, it didn't really make a difference.

Ah, Ted just covered it on Sky. Vergne had not used both types of tyre so that's why he had to stop again. Their mistake as it turned out was to commit too early to the 2-stop strategy.

**Mr Alca-Tazizzle** · 27th May 12, 16:05

I'm giving DOTD to Vettel Alonso and Webber. Vettel made up the most positions at the sharp end, one more than Alonso. It is hard to tell if Mark was just controlling the race from the front or if he had five guys behind him that were faster. Never the less a great victory Webber out gunning Finger boy.

Honorable mention to Massa for not only having a great race, but doing it with the weight of the world on his shoulders. Donkey has to be Maldo just because

, and a WTF to Button who is mysteriously falling off form.

**Dave B** · 27th May 12, 16:42

Originally Posted by AndyL

Ah, Ted just covered it on Sky. Vergne had not used both types of tyre so that's why he had to stop again. Their mistake as it turned out was to commit too early to the 2-stop strategy.

Indeed. Had it rained a few minutes earlier they could have been looking at a top-five finish, so it was a gamble worth taking with pretty much nothing to lose considering they had to stop whatever.

**gm99** · 27th May 12, 16:57

Okay, I withdraw my nomination of STR then

**SlowSon** · 27th May 12, 17:00

**steveaki13** · 27th May 12, 18:39

Originally Posted by Dave B

I have a feeling they were pawns in a larger Red Bull experiment.

Ricciardo was running in 11th or 12th then, so it would have been him.

Originally Posted by theugsquirrel

If that was the case I think they would have made the call with Ricciardo, who I believe was still in the race at that point.

This

Originally Posted by AndyL

Ah, Ted just covered it on Sky. Vergne had not used both types of tyre so that's why he had to stop again. Their mistake as it turned out was to commit too early to the 2-stop strategy.

That explains it all anyway

Originally Posted by gm99

Okay, I withdraw my nomination of STR then

Although surely they should have put on the dry tyre still. As a certain ex driver/commentator says:

Always be on the right tyre. If he had put on dry's he would have still been in contention and if the rain came then he everyone would have pitted.

As it was they took a gamble too early

**steveaki13** · 27th May 12, 18:43

Donkeys:

Maldonado - A stupid move on Perez, to get himself at the back, then didn't notice the turn 1 chaos and just ran into the back of Pedro's HRT.

Button - He has had such a strange season, and now he is on the slide. A poor Qualifying, got no where in the race and made mistakes when trying to clear Heikki.

Toro Rosso - For the stupid decision to put inters on, when the track was almost totally dry.

**steveaki13** · 27th May 12, 18:48

Knights:

Webber - A good drive, did just enough to stay ahead and didn't buckle under pressure.

Rosberg - Same as Mark, a good drive

Alonso- Another good drive for another podium.

Vettel - A good comeback from 9th with the different strategy.

Massa- After such a bad season, he done good this weekend.

di Resta & Hulkenberg - Amazingly solid drives, both kept it on the road and hardly saw them during the race, but a great haul of points.

Kovalainen - He drove really well and was on the pace of the midfield. Held up Button, Ricciardo and Perez earlier on, then battled hard v Button and Perez. Deserved a point today.

**Robinho** · 27th May 12, 19:51

Driver of the day, Webber, faultless imo. The rest of the top 6 (yes, even you felipe) get honourable mentions, as does Heikki, even if he was lucky to inherit the position in the melee at the start he defended it well and had good pace.

Donkey, Maldanado for the whole weekend

Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using Tapatalk 2