Monaco - saturday practice thread

[Mr V]

Liuzzi currently fastest 1.21.486

Minardi's about 3 seconds off the pace

[Mr V]

Kimi goes 2 seconds quicker 1.19.620

[Mr V]

Jpm 1:18.415

[Saloon56]

McLaren and Williams look good so far

[Mr V]

DC's quick again too

[Sodemo]

Alonso on fire, 1:16.951, scorcher!

[Sodemo]

Montoya on fire, 1:16.197, wow, everyone's on fire!

[mabs_nsx]

Patrick Friesacher in a Minardi ends the session only 3 second off P1 and 1 second faster than the fastest Jordan.

[mabs_nsx]

He is much faster than Albers who is driving the same car. (2.3 seconds)

[Adam RR]

crap webber 10th over a second off NH...

But hey, Go Albers!! That's awesome to him ahead of the jordans

[mabs_nsx]

Originally Posted by Adam RR

crap webber 10th over a second off NH...

But hey, Go Albers!! That's awesome to him ahead of the jordans

That is Friesacher not Albers

[GTRMagic]

Raikonnen 1:15:685 in P2!! Someone is in a hurry

[GTRMagic]

While the fears of Schumi and the junk Bridgestones may be a bit premature... quickest @ 1:15.633...

[GTRMagic]

POTSIE WEBBER....1:15.354... QUICKEST

... then the next flyer... 1:15:235... QUICKEST AGAIN!!

A pity the car probably cant keep that up all of race day... but its a nice moment in the sun in a practice session

[Gt_R]

I'd gladly love to be proven wrong...but i think that Ferrari's running light.

I'd be surprised if the form carries through to qualifying and the race... what more..somebody will better the time in practice later on.

[Sodemo]

Alonso 1:14.047 GO Fernando!

[GTRMagic]

Alonso is quickest 1:14.047, makes Webber's time look positively slow

I think there is more in the Renault, the quickest 1st sector for Mr Alonso didnt happen in the fastest lap, he was 0.4s up on one of the less successful ones...

[Heebeegeetee]

Oh dear, Ralf doing what he does most: explaing away another accident.

[Dani Filth]

mistakes .. anybody does them ..
another .. how many did he have this year ???

super lap from Kimi . he's the favorite...
terrible laps from Ferrari . over 2 seconds slower ...

[John Turner]

Originally Posted by Heebeegeetee

Oh dear, Ralf doing what he does most: explaing away another accident.

Trying to offset a half second penalty which was no fault of his on a track he doesn't particularly like. Good for him that he was going for it and certainly the experts were not inclined to be overly critical.

Great laps by Kimi, Fernando, Mark & DC.

Interesting to see what will happen, if anything, to JPM

[Hugh Jarce]

Wow, that was quite a big one.

What amazed me was how far ahead Kimi was of Fernando and the same of the rest. Mac's and Renault are really cooking well - it is making Ferrari look very, very ordinary at the mo.

Well done Minardi too - they are making some ground at the rear end.

[Silk Cut Jaguar]

I'm not sure how anybody can really critisise Ralf for getting it very slightly wrong by being a fraction of an inch too far to the left. He was trying to make up time and clearly not afraid to use the old Monaco trick of skimming the Armco on the way round. Considering how vital qualifying is at Monaco he had to go for a 'do or die' lap.

[John Turner]

Originally Posted by Silk Cut Jaguar

I'm not sure how anybody can really critisise Ralf for getting it very slightly wrong by being a fraction of an inch too far to the left. He was trying to make up time and clearly not afraid to use the old Monaco trick of skimming the Armco on the way round. Considering how vital qualifying is at Monaco he had to go for a 'do or die' lap.

Spot on, SCJ!

[Heebeegeetee]

Originally Posted by Dani Filth

mistakes .. anybody does them ..
another .. how many did he have this year ???

Last season Ralf hit just about anything there was to hit, including his team mate, his own pit crew and of course the wall at Indy causing him to miss much of the season.

The season before (IIRC) he scored 2 back to back wins. After that he scored 8 points in 5 races with no mechanical failures. (Or was it 5 points in 8 races but I'm sure you get my drift.) Ever since those 2 wins he has been asleep.

This season he has done much the same, with too many collisions, penalties and incidents. I don't condone what JPM for what he did today, he should get a 2 race ban, but look who the incompetent it was who he lost his rag with.

No-one else made the mistake today, not even Luizzi on an unfamiliar track in a not very competitive car in horrible conditions.

To say "Ralf just made a msitake everyone makes them " ignores the facts that no-one makes as many as he does, and does down the stirling drives put in by so many, particularly the youngsters, today.

His dour demeanour does no-one any favours either. Its not so bad from a superstar, but why should anyone put up with that from a plonker?

Ship him out, fer chrissakes before he hurts himself for the last time.

[BootsOntheSide]

This is Monaco - fractional mistakes make all the difference. Ralf was lucky in 2003 when he went in way too deep during the race at the corner they'd newly made deeper - in any of the previous 70-odd Monaco races that would have put him out. No one else went anywhere near to the barrier he hit.

Those qualifying laps from Fernando and Kimi were nothing short of sensational. If Renault have harder tyres then Alonso's was marginally better, especially as he didn't know for sure how much grip the track had in that section. This could be a pivotal battle-royal in the championship tussle between 2 drivers who are both in truly mesmerising form.

Being behind JV and Rubens will surely have been the worst-case scenario for Michael. Webber's lap was excellent, and if he can stay ahead of JPM, GCF and Jarno he will have a chance of being a spoiler in the action. DC was impressive as well, and well done to Minardi for getting ahead of the Jordans on merit.