Mclaren Could Win In Monaco

iSport F1 Pitstop: Mclaren have won in Monaco 15 times till date. They can surely do it again this Sunday believes iSporter Gautam TP.

Welcome to Monte Carlo, the venue for the sixth round of 2010 Formula One World Championship. This is one track every driver dreams to win. The winner of Monaco is the prince of Formula One. The race in Monaco is a grand spectacle. The fastest machines tear right through the heart of the city. The sound waves from the engines bounces off from the obstacles and echo throughout the race. We had four different winners in the last five races, and we might as well have the fifth race winner since the race in Monaco is all down to the quick reflex and input from the drivers. You loose concentration for a milli second, it could just be a tad too late.

The weekend will be unpredictable due to the changing weather scenario over Monaco. There is heavy rain forecast predicted for the practice and qualifying sessions and it might be a dry Sunday for the race. If the weather predictions are true, then the car you setup for practice and qualifying will behave differently for the race. It will all go down to the last minute gamble from the race engineers and the race strategists who will interpret the data from the drivers. This year, we have 24 cars on the grid, something that I believe could slow down the overall race pace and will be tricky for the leading drivers to efficiently go past the backmarkers. The Q1 Qualifying session will be the trickiest this season - to give the drivers the right time and space to set the right lap times.
Mclaren comes to Monaco having the confidence of leading both the Driver’s and Constructor’s World Championships.

Lewis Hamilton, who won the dramatic race here in 2008 will be trying to get back into the hunt for Driver’s championship. Jenson Button, the winner of Monaco in 2009 will be giving his best to retain the championship lead. Lewis Hamilton's aggressive driving style could give his MP4-25 the extra tenth to quickly flow through the slow corners and beat the lap time for pole position on Saturday but it can also result in starting from the back of the pack if he gets over aggressive. Jenson Button can use his smooth driving style to safely tame the slow corners but will he have the advantage over Lewis’ style? Mclaren will be aware of the pros and cons of both drivers and extract the right pace from them.

Technically, Monaco is a very demanding track. The car will be set to meet the very high downforce requirements due to the slow corners. The average race pace just edges over 160Kph. It will come down to how fast a driver enters into the corners and how quickly he regains the traction to exit the corners. Mclaren will have the confidence of using their well working F-Duct over the start finish straight and the long sweeping up-hill after turn 1. But it remains to be seen if they will use the technology in the high downforce setup that Monaco demands. Ferrari for that matter have removed the F-duct for Monaco.

The other change that every driver will need to undergo will be in the Swimming Pool section. The FIA have placed higher kerbs this year in an effort to avoid drivers from straight lining the chicane. While in the previous years it has been a spectacle to watch the drivers straight lining the chicane, this year the increased kerb height will need the drivers to take a different line in the chicane.

The Mercedes engines which powers both Mclarens are already proved reliable. However, the frequent gearshifts and the low speed nature of the circuit can affect and kill the rhythm of the engine. Reliability will need to be high for teams to first finish the Monaco GP.

The challenges are tough, but Mclaren have always enjoyed good times having won 15 times in Monaco throughout their racing history. It also makes them the team to win most number of races in Monaco. Powered by two back to back world champions and back to back winners of Monaco, I don’t see any reason why Mclaren can’t get their second 1-2 finish of the season. Mclaren comes to Monaco with jewels on driver helmets and the intense wait starts now to see who will be crowned the Prince of Formula One.