This is an event awaited by all motorsport enthusiasts. The Formula 1 paddock settles in the streets of Monaco, for the seventh round of the season. A weekend of rhinestones and glitter, on a circuit unlike any other. “Monaco a unique, historic Grand Prix, inseparable from Formula 1″assures Cyril Abiteboul, former boss of the Renault team, who brings to france info: sports his eye on the peculiarities of the race.
A route like no other in the calendar
Nestled at the foot of the mountains and by the sea, right in the heart of the city, the Circuit de Monaco is one of a kind. If it is not the only urban event on the calendar, it remains the most special. “It is the most urban of the urban circuits. It’s a track in a European city, with extremely narrow portions, extraordinary elevations, that makes it an absolutely unique circuit”explains Cyril Abiteboul.
❤️ MONACO #MonacoGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/PeBosknZNk
— Formula 1 (@F1) May 27, 2022
Installed on roads used daily, the track is distinguished by its roughness. “The Monaco circuit is also very bumpy, full of irregularities, like normal roads.” A week after rolling on the smooth asphalt of Barcelona, the single-seaters will be dealing with diametrically opposed conditions.
The key role of qualifications
With its tight layout between the walls, Monaco offers few possibilities of overtaking, and therefore of rising in the classification. The starting position on the grid then becomes essential to approach the race on Sunday. “It’s very complicated to overtake, so you have to qualify as best you can. In fact, the whole weekend is built around the qualifying session.”notes Cyril Abiteboul.
The free practice sessions on Friday and Saturday morning are therefore centered around qualifying. “This is where you have to find the best compromise, between the intrinsic preparation of the car and the driver’s confidence.”. While many weekends are punctuated by race simulations, tests to see the degradation of tires, the development of the optimal strategy, Monaco is an exception. “Here, the best strategy on Sunday is to start as high as possible on the grid.”summarizes Cyril Abiteboul.
Overtaking in the pits as your best ally
Once the starting grid has been established, how is the strategy put in place to try to gain positions despite the constraints? The weather can have an influence on the physiognomy of the race. “When you miss your qualifications, you can hope for the rain, which always throws uncertainty.”, recalls Cyril Abiteboul. The rain could invite itself this weekend in the Monegasque sky, according to the latest weather forecasts.
But the best chance to animate the race remains an intervention of the safety car. “It’s one of the things that can shake things up a bit. You can take advantage of the safety car to pit and change tyres. We gain about ten seconds between a stop under the safety car and a normal stop. And ten seconds in Monaco can be a lot of positions.”
Overtaking in the pits is the best overtaking in Monaco, but the conditions must be favorable to you.
Cyril Abiteboulat franceinfo: sport
This involves shifting the strategy in terms of tyres, starting on hard compounds, which will last longer, and waiting, hoping for the intervention of the safety car. Monaco being one of the circuits where the latter has the best chance of going out, the bet is risky, but could prove to be profitable.
The impact of the new regulation
With the new technical regulations, the teams arrive on the Monegasque track with a little less certainty, especially in terms of aerodynamics. Since March, single-seaters have indeed been victims of the phenomenon of porpoising, maintained by a vicious circle of suction and stalling of the car, which makes them bounce on the track.
“In Monaco, it will be particularly complicated to manage. We will have to find the right balance between increasing the height of the car to limit this effect, but at the same time not losing too much aerodynamic downforce, which we particularly need in this circuit.”
Bumpy road to the top for Charles Leclerc! #F1 pic.twitter.com/Z6a5e6d3bo
— Formula 1 (@F1) February 24, 2022
Another change brought about by the new regulations, the suspensions of the 2022 single-seaters have been simplified. They are more rigid, with more difficulty in absorbing irregularities. “I think we’ll have to watch the swimming pool chicane (key bend at the end of the course near a swimming pool), with the less tolerant suspensions this year. I wouldn’t be surprised to see cars pull straight over there.”, forecast Cyril Abiteboul. “This could thus cause the intervention of the safety car, or even the interruption of the race, the time to take out the single-seaters. And reshuffle the cards.”