FORMULA 1 - 2012

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Formula 1's greatest drivers. Number 16: Nelson Piquet

Few drivers have had perceptions of them shift as dramatically throughout their careers as Nelson Piquet.

For a while in the mid-1980s, Piquet was regarded as the best driver in the world but, as his career went on, his stock fell and at the end he slipped out of F1 almost unnoticed - and largely unlamented.

How did this happen to a man who is one of only eight drivers to win three or more world titles?

The son of a prominent Brazilian politician, Piquet made a low-key entry into F1 with a backmarker team midway through 1978 but, by the end of that season, he joined Brabham where he was to stay until 1985.

As team-mate to Niki Lauda, Piquet was increasingly impressive through 1979, rapidly becoming their lead driver as the great Austrian's motivation flagged - Lauda finally called it a day part-way through the Canadian Grand Prix weekend towards the end of the season, declaring he was bored of "driving around in circles".

Piquet's elevation to team leader could not have come at a better time. There followed two years where he not only had one of history's great cars but also had uncompetitive pay-driver team-mates, so faced no competition from within the team.

He lost an increasingly bitter world title battle with Williams driver Alan Jones in 1980.

But the following year he won three races and somewhat fortuitously took the title after the favourite, Carlos Reutemann of Williams, inexplicably faded from pole position to finish seventh at the final race of the year.

Unfit and almost comatose in the desert heat of Las Vegas, Piquet had to be revived and lifted out of his car at the end of the race, but still managed to finish fifth, passing the Argentine on the way.

The year of his first title defence was lost in a haze of blue smoke and fire as BMW perfected its new turbo engine, following in the footsteps of Renault and Ferrari.

But the hard work paid off in 1983, when Piquet and Brabham-BMW became the first people to win the F1 title with a turbo engine.

Reliability took a hit in 1984, but if anything Piquet's reputation soared as he took nine poles and two wins amid more engine failures.

But the relationship between team and driver, once so strong, was beginning to sour. Brabham boss Bernie Ecclestone's decision to use uncompetitive Pirelli tyres in 1985 did not help, but the real issue was money.

Piquet, a notorious womaniser, lived a simple life, avoiding PR work and preferring to spend his time away from races on his boat. But he knew his worth, and Ecclestone was not paying him it.

So when Frank Williams offered him £3m - a record at the time - to join his team for 1986, Piquet agonised over it but eventually accepted.

He was teamed with Nigel Mansell, and most expected the double champion to comfortably have the edge on a man who had only just broken a five-year win duck.

Mansell, though, quickly established himself as the faster driver, and the two fought a tense duel for the title in both 1986 and 1987 as Piquet put guile to work against Mansell's brute force.

In the first year, Mansell won five races and Piquet four, but both ended up losing out on the title - deservedly, many felt, to Alain Prost, who drove exquisitely in the less-competitive McLaren, and who by now had replaced Piquet in most eyes as the best driver in the world.

In 1987, Piquet's form suffered after a monumental crash at Imola early in the season - at the same corner where Ayrton Senna was later killed - but he used his cunning to win the title, despite winning only three races to Mansell's seven.

At the end of the year, Piquet left Williams, taking the standard-setting Honda engines with him to Lotus.

But the Lotus was not a good car, and Piquet was nowhere near as far ahead of team-mate Satoru Nakajima as Senna had been the year before.

As Piquet slid out of the limelight, so the mischievous - some would say unpleasant - side to his character came to the fore.

He notoriously called Mansell "an uneducated blockhead with a stupid and ugly wife" and referred to Senna disparagingly as "the Sao Paulo taxi driver", as well as making derogatory comments about his private life.

The remarks served no purpose other than to diminish further Piquet's reputation. It escaped no-one that he was making these remarks about men who had by then established themselves as better drivers than him.

Nevertheless, he did have a last hurrah. Piquet joined Benetton for 1990, and the season ended with two unexpected wins, albeit in races in which major contenders Senna and Prost did not finish.

There was a final win in Canada in 1991, after Mansell famously stalled when he let his engine revs drop too low while prematurely celebrating on his final lap, and Piquet could not hide his delight at his rival's misfortune.

The final death knell for Piquet's career came in the shape of Michael Schumacher, whom Benetton poached from under Jordan's nose for the final five races of the season.

The young prodigy's pace was too much for Piquet and the German out-qualified his veteran team-mate in the first four of their races together.

Heading into what he by then knew would be his last grand prix in Adelaide, Piquet was determined not to let it happen again.

In practice, he completely forgot about the race performance of his car and set it up solely to be as fast as it could be over one lap, just so he could line up ahead of Schumacher on the grid.

The ploy worked, with Piquet snatching fourth, one place and 0.217secs ahead of Schumacher - only for chief race engineer Pat Symonds to burst Piquet's bubble and tell him Schumacher had missed a gear on his fastest lap. But for that, the German prodigy would have been faster again.

It was the last action of a great - but flawed - champion.

In the final analysis, Piquet might not ultimately have been quite as good as he at one stage seemed to be. But in more than 60 years of Formula 1, there have not been that many who were better.

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Formula 1's greatest drivers. Number 15: Lewis Hamilton

When Lewis Hamilton burst onto the Formula 1 scene in 2007, taking on and often beating the reigning world champion Fernando Alonso in equal cars, in Italy they gave him the nickname 'Il Phenomeno' - the Phenomenon.

As a description of his naked talent, that remains as accurate as ever. But an altogether more complex picture of this fascinating, thrillingly brilliant racing driver has emerged since.

In terms of raw ability, very few in the history of F1 can compare with Hamilton. He can do with a racing car things of which most can only dream. As his current team-mate at McLaren Jenson Button put it: "Lewis is one of the fastest drivers ever to race in F1."

Coupled with that breathtaking pace is an ability to overtake that is just as rare, just as dazzling.

Both were on display from the very start of his F1 career, when he passed Alonso around the outside of the first corner in Australia in 2007 and proceeded to lead the Spaniard for much of the grand prix, before being passed during a pit-stop period.

What Hamilton achieved in that debut year still beggars belief; he finished on the podium for his first nine races, winning two of them, and led the championship for much of the season.

In doing so, Alonso was destabilised to the point that his relationship with McLaren completely imploded - and the pressure created by two such towering talents in one organisation almost brought the team to its knees, too.

The intensity of the battle led also to the world title slipping through Hamilton's fingers - and with it the chance to win the championship in his rookie year, a record that would almost certainly have stood for ever.

He - and Alonso, for that matter - ended up missing out by a single point. It was nevertheless clear that a unique talent had arrived.

Even the very best drivers have weaknesses, though, and Hamilton is no exception.

In Hamilton's case, his natural talent is so great that he can drive almost any car; perhaps this is partly behind what appears to be less of an aptitude for the engineering side of his job than some of his team-mates have had.

There were in 2007, for example, times when he failed to get the set-up of his car right and Alonso's greater ability in that area enabled him to leave Hamilton trailing. Likewise, McLaren have tended to lean more on Button in recent years for an engineering direction than on his team-mate.

There have also been noticeable occasions when Hamilton's results were compromised by an apparent need sometimes to lean on the team for decisions a driver of his greatness should have been able to make himself.

The most striking of these - although there have been others - was in the penultimate race of 2007 in China. Hamilton needed only to finish third to clinch the title, but McLaren allowed themselves to be distracted by the unnecessary task of getting him to finish ahead of Alonso.

They left him out too long on over-worn tyres, Hamilton did not overrule them, and he ended up sliding off into retirement on his way into the pits. It was an error that put Kimi Raikkonen in a position to ****** the title for Ferrari at the final race.

Hamilton did win the championship the following year but only by the skin of his teeth after making far too many mistakes in a battle with an inferior opponent - Ferrari's Felipe Massa.

He followed that with two outstanding seasons in which his driving was of the highest calibre, but his machinery did not match it.

In 2009, which McLaren started with their worst car for 14 years, he stuck with it and took two brilliant victories as his machinery improved in the second half of the season.

The following year he was even better, in serious contention for the championship in what was generally the third fastest car until errors in two consecutive races in Italy and Singapore took him out of the running.

But then came 2011, when the combination of starting another year without a car capable of battling for the title coupled with ructions in his personal life brought him close to meltdown.

There were three victories - the ones in China and Germany particularly outstanding - but also far too many basic mistakes.

Hamilton ended the year talking about it being his "worst season" and admitting a need to reset his approach over the winter and try to get back to being in "a good place" mentally.

As those remarks attest, Hamilton tended through the first five years of his career to wear his heart on his sleeve.

Just as his daring and combative approach on the track lost him races as well as won them, his willingness to say what was on his mind attracted admiration and trouble in equal measure.

In 2012, he has so far taken a more measured approach - both on the track and with the media.

After finishing third in Malaysia following a comparatively subdued drive in mixed conditions one might have thought were made for him, Hamilton made a remark that was very revealing of his new attitude.

"I can't for the life of me understand how I did it in 2007," he said, explaining his ambition to finish on the podium in every race this year, "so I'm trying to repeat that."

The difference is that in 2012 he is trying to recreate with deliberation something that came naturally in 2007.

It remains to be seen whether that conscious conservatism can be married successfully with the unique off-the-cuff improvisational approach that makes him so exciting and, at his best, so effective.

As he told this writer this year: "I never plan to have those kinds of races, they just evolve unexpectedly."

When they do, when he is at his best, it unlocks something truly exceptional - Hamilton has produced drives that stand comparison with any in the history of the sport.

His wet-weather wins in Fuji 2007,Silverstone 2008 and Spa 2010 were as good as any by Ayrton Senna or Michael Schumacher; his swashbuckling victories in Canada 2010 and China and the Nurburgring last year are comparable with those of other great fighters such as Gilles Villeneuve or Nigel Mansell.

Asked in Canada last year whether he compared himself to Schumacher, he responded by saying he hoped by the end of his career he would be likened more to Senna and Villeneuve.

In many ways, the comparison is already valid. Hamilton's natural ability is so huge that, if he can find a way to channel it to best effect, there are virtually no limits to what he can achieve.

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Pedro de la Rosa: HRT will gain ground in Monaco Grand Prix

Pedro de la Rosa thinks HRT will be closer to the rest of the field at the Monaco Grand Prix, and is confident that the demands of the Monte Carlo circuit will not be such a handicap for its car.

With the team still playing catch-up after a late debut for its F112, de la Rosa reckons that he and team-mate Narain Karthikeyan will not be at such a disadvantage as they were at the Spanish Grand Prix.

"Monaco is by far the most difficult and technical circuit in the entire championship," said the Spaniard. "The only trick to this track is to do miles and not change the car's set-up too much because you can find more time in the driver than in the car.

"We must try to do as many laps as possible on Thursday in order to build up some confidence for qualifying because it's the most important thing in Monaco."

He added: "We're all really looking forward to the race because it's a less aerodynamic track than Barcelona and, therefore, we expect to be closer to the leaders than in the last grand prix."

Team principal Luiz Perez-Sala said the outfit will be bringing a few minor updates for the weekend.

"It's a tough test for the car's reliability and even more so if it is hot," he said. "We have minor upgrades for this race which we hope will help us to close the gap to the front pack. The team is really looking forward to taking on a beautiful race as is Monaco."

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Doubts over French GP's return

Bernie Ecclestone might feel the French GP's return to F1 is a "done deal" but the country's new sports minister Valerie Fourneyron has raised doubts that it will take place in 2013.

F1 supremo Ecclestone claimed in April that although they need to hold a few more discussions, he is confident the Paul Ricard circuit would host the race next year as part of a deal that will see the country alternate with the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa.

"We are still discussing a few points about money around the race, 'You give me this, I want that' and so on. But, for me, there is no doubt that we will sort it all out," the 81-year-old said.

However, it appears Ecclestone may have jumped the gun as Fourneyron warns that it is unlikely that the race will be back in 2013 as talks are still ongoing.

"There was a remarkable acceleration on a potential race return," she told French radio station RMC.

"We need to have transparency on the issue, on the financial costs and on the seeming lack of concern by the F1 boss (Ecclestone) for the environment.

"There are major accessibility problems to the Castellet circuit (Paul Ricard) and all this deserves more than 10 minutes of debate.

"We are not opposed to the race, but are not sure we will see a race in France next year."

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Pirelli P Zero Red supersoft tyres to make debut in Monaco

The softest compound in Pirelli's Formula One range – the P Zero Red supersoft – makes its first appearance of the year at the famed Monaco Grand Prix circuit: the slowest, tightest but also most prestigious race of the season. Alongside it, the P Zero Yellow soft has also been nominated.

With the street circuit relying almost exclusively on mechanical grip, it is ideal territory for the supersoft – which benefits from a rapid warm-up time and is capable of generating very high levels of traction and cornering forces. This is particularly important during qualifying: with so few opportunities to overtake in Monaco, being as far up the grid as possible is even more important than usual. For the same reason, race strategy has a profound effect. It is often easier to make up positions in the pits through an effective strategy rather than by passing on the track. Tyre wear and degradation is the lowest seen all season, making a one-stop strategy a distinct possibility for some teams. As Monaco is a street circuit, there is a high degree of track evolution over the course of the race weekend, which lasts for one day longer than anywhere else as free practice takes place on Thursday with the circuit is open to normal traffic again for much of Friday. This consequently affects the amount of rubber that is found on the surface for qualifying.

Pirelli's motorsport director says:

Paul Hembery: "Monaco is a highlight of the season and a place where our supersoft and soft tyres have provided plenty of entertainment in the past. Last year, we had three drivers on three different strategies set for a grandstand finish – before a red flag got in the way. The supersoft is the only compound that remains unaltered from last year, as it proved to be so effective on circuits like Monaco, but of course the profile has been re-designed to better suit the 2012 regulations. With the wear rate being so low in Monaco, the drivers will be able to push at their hardest from start to finish. Tyre strategy will be very important in Monaco, where on-track overtaking is more difficult than anywhere else. Having said that, the Principality has a history of often springing a surprise. With the cars so evenly matched now, even the slightest advantage or smallest mistake can have a big impact on the final outcome of a race, as we've seen so far this season."

The men behind the steering wheel say:

Jenson Button (McLaren): "Monaco is a very special place. It's probably the grand prix track where the sensation of speed is at its greatest, particularly during your first laps on a Thursday morning, when it just seems unreal to be controlling 750bhp through the narrow winding streets of the Principality. But it's also a place where you find a groove and a rhythm like nowhere else and, before, too long, it feels very comfortable to be reeling off fast laps and pushing the back end out around the corners. Monaco will be the first time this season that we'll have used Pirelli's supersoft compound, and I'm really looking forward to it. Obviously, we'll start the weekend using the soft compound tyres, but when we first switch to the supersofts, I know the car's going to feel very different. As always, it's going to be fascinating to discover how the tyres react and behave across the weekend – particularly at a place where qualifying will be crucial – but I'm really looking forward to the challenge."

Pirelli's test driver says:

Lucas di Grassi: "Like many drivers I live in Monaco, but you need to work so accurately with the car balance and set-up for the race, that even if you drove on the roads every day it would give you no advantage at all. Monaco is one of the most complex races of the year, as you need to be so precise on every lap. Most people don't realise just how bumpy the circuit is too, so there is a lot to consider when it comes to finding the right set-up and the best way to get the most out of the tyres. With the tyre nominations that Pirelli has made, there are plenty of opportunities for some very different strategies, as we saw last year. So far it's been a fantastic season, but also I think there are some drivers who should have won by now who haven't: anything can happen in Monaco. That's just one of the things that makes it such a fascinating race."

Technical tyre notes:

· The track surface is the least abrasive of the year, and added to the slow average speed (including the slowest hairpin bend on the calendar, taken at just 47kph) this leads to a very low level of tyre wear. The soft tyres are capable of lasting for 50 laps or more, making a one-stop strategy entirely realistic – although McLaren's Jenson Button used a three-stop sprint strategy to finish on the podium last year.

· The tight and twisty confines of the circuit, with no run-off area, have an important effect on race strategy. With a high risk of incidents that can bring out the safety car, the teams need enough flexibility in their strategies to be able to adapt to changing circumstances.

· The brakes are used heavily in Monaco, and this transmits heat to the tyres that adds to the stress placed on the structure. Going into Sainte Devote, for example, the cars lose 160kph in just 100 metres. The tyres are also heavily challenged at the swimming pool complex. They hit the kerbs at more than 200kph, generating a lateral force of 3.65g.

Pirelli in Monaco:

· Apart from Sebastien Vettel's success last year, Pirelli's most high-profile event in the Principality has been the Monte Carlo Rally, which the Italian firm has won 13 times. The most recent triumph came in 2010, with Finland's Mikko Hirvonen winning comfortably in a Ford Fiesta S2000.

· Pirelli's commercial presence in Monaco is handled by Pirelli France. Based near Paris, Pirelli France has around 100 employees. The company is the third tyre manufacturer in France in terms of brand awareness.

· Pirelli has an extensive programme of activities for GT owners in France, such as the P Zero Experience: top quality track days held on the best circuits in France. There is also the P Zero by Night Experience: regularity rallies run at night for gentlemen drivers, attracting up to 80 cars at a time.

· Pirelli France is also actively engaged in rallying, supporting almost 100 young drivers through the Pirelli Trophee. In total, Pirelli France's engineers are present at more than 25 rally weekends per year.

Other news from Pirelli:

· A new recipe book with a difference will be launched in the Pirelli Motorhome at the Monaco paddock on Wednesday evening at 1800, inspired by the cuisine that has made Pirelli's kitchen legendary. Some special driver guests will also be on hand to try out some of the recipes.

· Monaco will host the GP2 Series together with the GP3 Series for the first time in the circuit's history, giving the stars of the future the chance to shine in front of the most influential people in Formula One. This creates a big logistical challenge for Pirelli's fitting crews, who will be fitting around 3100 tyres in total in the cramped confines of the paddock over the weekend.

· The first gravel event of the Italian Rally Championship took place the week before the Monaco Grand Prix: the Rally dell'Adriatico. The Italian firm used its K series Scorpion rubber, which uses similar technology to the tyres that had a failure rate of less than 0.02% when Pirelli was sole supplier to the World Rally Championship from 2008-2010. Pirelli driver Paolo Andreucci claimed another victory to reinforce his lead of the championship.

· Pirelli recently released its 2011 annual report in Milan. As well as presenting all the facts and figures about the company's performance last year, the book is also designed as a work of art. The drawings were made by renowned Dutch illustrator Stefan Glerum and there are contributions from some of Europe's leading writers and academics.

· Pirelli's test driver Lucas di Grassi took part in the Nurburgring 24 Hour race the weekend before the Monaco GP, driving a McLaren MP412C running on Pirelli tyres. It was di Grassi's debut at the endurance classic, but he was unlucky: his team mate crashed the car on Saturday evening and the crew were forced to retire.

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Senna to race 'Barcelona fire car' at Monaco

The F1 car photographed amid the charred remains of Williams' burnt-out garage in Barcelona will be back in action this weekend at Monaco.

It was reported last week that an initial inspection of Bruno Senna's Renault-powered FW34, which was sitting in the pits when the fire broke out during the team's celebrations for Pastor Maldonado's victory last Sunday, showed it had emerged with minimal damage.

A spokesman has now confirmed that Senna will race the very same chassis on the streets of Monaco this week.

Otherwise, the garage fire "somewhat hampered" Williams' preparations for the famous race in the Principality, chief engineer Mark Gillan admitted.

"But the impact has been mitigated by what can only be described as a herculean effort by the factory and our suppliers to restock both the damaged equipment and car parts," he said.

Gillan also said rival teams made "generous offers" of help.

Maldonado's chassis was safely in parc ferme at the time of the fire.

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Heidfeld not giving up on F1 career

Nick Heidfeld insists he has not yet called time on his formula one career.

Never a race winner, the now 35-year-old was a highly respected F1 regular dating back to 2000, scoring 13 podiums and driving for teams including Williams, Sauber and - as recently as 2011 - Renault (now Lotus).

But his latest foray is endurance sports car racing, giving the impression that German Heidfeld has acknowledged his F1 career is over.

"You'd think that, but it's not the case," he insisted on Monday to Auto Motor und Sport.

"Of course it's not easy to find a place, otherwise I'd be there already. I'm having quite a lot of fun in sports cars and we'll just have to see what the future holds."

Heidfeld admits it has been "very difficult" to accept that, in 2012 at least, he is no longer an F1 driver.

But he is still an avid fan. Commenting on the topsy-turvy season seen so far, with five different winners, Heidfeld enthused: "It's incredible.

"Even the teams I think don't really know what's going on. It's most enjoyable for the viewers and I think also for many of the teams, who know that they have a good chance every now and then.

"That's unlike the past few years, when only Red Bull and maybe McLaren could win and the rest are fighting for the lower places."

Heidfeld also commented on his countryman Michael Schumacher's widely reported recent criticism of Pirelli's difficult 2012 tyres.

"He complained a little bit more than normal and that will always be cooked hotter than if someone else had said it," said Heidfeld.

"Of course, as a driver, you always want better tyres, but as always you have to adapt to the situation. Sometimes it works out well for you, sometimes less."

Finally, he was asked who will lift the crown in 2012, answering simply: "Lewis Hamilton."

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Kubica return 'nearly impossible' - source

One of F1's most experienced journalists has expressed grave concerns about the chances Robert Kubica will ever return to the sport.

The highly-rated Pole has been missing from the paddock since early 2011, having been seriously injured in a pre-season rallying crash.

Until recently, there were sporadic reports about the former BMW and Renault driver's recovery, and signs his initially horrifically-damaged arm was returning to health.

But the veteran correspondent for Switzerland's Blick newspaper, Roger Benoit, has now reported that information about Kubica has stopped flowing.

"Why has the talking stopped? Because - unfortunately - a comeback is nearly impossible," he wrote.

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THE $7 BILLION BUSINESS SEEKING TO DEFY THE EURO BLUES:

Formula 1 has set up its stall in Monaco this weekend for its most glamourous, if no longer most important race of the season.

F1 as a business is now considered to be worth around $7 billion, ($9.1 including debt) after the latest round of transactions which have seen new investors coming into the sport with others to follow.

The talk this weekend is set to be as much about shares as it is about overtakes. It has been revealed that CVC, the majority owner of F1, has sold stakes worth £1 billion to three large institutional investors, two of which are American.

These investors are known as "cornerstones" for the impending flotation of F1 in Singapore, a practice which is becoming increasingly common in Asia for flotations, as they reassure potential investors and create a sense of demand. It also gets investors used to the idea of a valuation, in this case $7 billion. This is important for F1 as there isn't really another business like it, so how do investors work out value?

The roadshow to sell the shares will start in early June.

The new Concorde Agreement for 2013 onwards has not yet been signed, but McLaren boss Martin Whitmarsh said today in a Vodafone teleconference that teams have signed contracts with the commercial rights holders which will form the reassurance to investors that teams are tied in.

"As far as I know a new Concorde hasn't been signed," he said. "But a variety of teams have entered into contracts with the commercial rights holder. Some of us have spoken to bankers who are involved in a potential floatation."

According to the Financial Times, F1′s turnover is now around $1.5 billion per year. In planning for this moment, Ecclestone and CVC have been very careful to lock in as many long term contracts as possible, especially with circuits. TV contracts are not so straight forward at the moment, as the media market doesn't have wealth as clearly focussed as before. The withdrawal of ITV and the reduction of BBC's involvement show the struggle terrestrial broadcasters have to pay the rights fees. F1 is striking a balancing act at the moment with free to air and pay TV markets, but it has lots of options for the future in terms of who it sells rights to and how it delivers the content.

There had been talk over the last few months that the owners were hoping for a valuation of $10 billion, but with the prevailing conditions in the world economy, the figure arrived at seems more realistic. CVC paid just $1.6 for their 63% majority stake in 2005. Now, for a similar amount, they have sold just 21% of that equity – a three-fold gain. Eccelestone's remaining 5% stake is therefore worth just under $400 million.

Ironically, against a backdrop of these big money moves, Monaco's importance an F1 business hub is diminishing as many executives are reluctant to be seen taking a "jolly" in Monaco these days. Just as the money F1 is chasing is moving East, so is the emphasis: Singapore is now the race of choice for most serious business people to entertain and be entertained around F1, as it is the gateway to Asia.

Added to that is the sense of decline in Europe with the Euro currency facing a crisis; markets are jittery over the prospect of Greece falling out of the Euro.

And F1 sees Europe as a declining force with only 8 of the 20 races now taking place there. In contrast Asia now has six events, a huge jump in the last few years.

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SCHUMACHER, LIKE MERCEDES, FINDS HIMSELF AT A CROSSROADS:

Michael Schumacher is a five times Monaco GP winner, but he arrives in the Principality this weekend with a cloud over his head after his third retirement in five races this season.

It leaves him with just two points, his worst ever start to an F1 season. In each of those three retirements he has lasted no more than 12 laps.

Schumacher’s frustration is evident; he has fired several salvoes against Pirelli and called Bruno Senna an “idiot” for the collision in Spain which eliminated both cars. The stewards in Barcelona agreed with many commentators in calling it 100% Schumacher’s fault and handing him a five place grid penalty for this weekend’s Monaco GP. With overtaking so hard in Monaco (there were only 11 overtakes last season, the lowest of any race) it will be another frustrating weekend for the German.

And it seems that the question of what happens next is beginning to arise. It brings Schumacher to a crossroads in his second career: to continue or to call it a day at the end of the season?

Lewis Hamilton is potentially available for next season and this week Mercedes CEO Nick Fry made some comments about Paul di Resta, which caught the attention, “Paul’s on our radar,” he said. “He has done a fantastic job, he’s a nice guy, he’s a great team player and he would be one of the drivers undoubtedly that, if Michael were to decide he didn’t want to continue, we would look at. We haven’t reached that time in our thinking yet, but we have all got a lot of admiration for Paul.”

Ross Brawn missed the Spanish Grand Prix with illness, but will be back in Monaco to oversee the team. He has stepped in and counterbalanced the talk of life beyond Schumacher. He told Bild in Germany that the team has let Schumacher down, rather than the other way around.

“A lot has been said and written, but we should not forget that we – the team – have let him down in three of the fives races, not delivering the job we should have,” he said. “We must do better. We saw Michael’s real quality again in the first race, so it’s for that reason that I believe we will see him on the podium this year.

“When the time comes, we will sit down together and talk about the future. I’m sure it will become clear very quickly in what direction we will go.”

Speaking in the Monaco paddock on Wednesday Schumacher said, “So far we’re not focusing on what happens next year or in the future. It’s more about what happens right now and the team and myself will get together, so there’s no news for you yet, unfortunately.”

Mercedes is itself at a crossroads in its F1 involvement, having been snubbed by the commercial rights holders when favourable deals for the next eight seasons were being offered around to lock in the top teams. The message appears to be that F1 does not consider Mercedes a ‘must have’, despite the fact that the sport is heading for an IPO this summer. Mercedes supplies engines to 25% of the grid.

This is the main issue to resolve, before the issue of Schumacher’s future can be dealt with.

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HAMILTON CONSIDERS WHY MCLAREN'S RACE PACE DOESN'T MATCH QUALY:

Lewis Hamilton has been speaking today about McLaren’s race performances and the mismatch with their qualifying performances, which has been one of the mysteries of this 2012 season.

Hamilton has qualified on the front row five times in five races, although in China he had a gearbox penalty and in Barcelona he was demoted to the back of the grid for a fuel load irregularity. And yet the race pace hasn’t matched up to the qualifying pace and it’s left them chasing the game on Sundays. Of course pit stop errors have played their part in him not achieving better results, but it’s been noticeable that the pace hasn’t been as expected on race day, regardless of the pit stop problems.

“Of course looking at the qualifying results we’ve had for the five races we would have loved to have finished further up and we definitely need to improve to make sure we stay where we are or we move forwards,” he said. “We’ve started high up and finished a little bit further behind from where we started so we’ve gone backwards a little bit in most of the races, but we’re working very hard to make sure that doesn’t continue.”

Although the finger of blame has been pointed at the inconsistent behaviour of all the teams on the Pirelli tyres this year, with Hamilton’s team-mate Jenson Button in particular complaining a lot during races about the handling, another explanation doing the rounds among engineers in the pitlane is that fuel consumption may have something to do with it. With higher fuel consumption comes a need to carry a bit more fuel and this extra weight slows the car down by around 0.35 seconds per lap for every 10 extra kilos carried.

The banning this season of off throttle blown diffusers (where fuel is dumped into the cylinder even when the driver lifted off the throttle for corners, to create exhaust gas pressure for aerodynamic gains) the amount of fuel being used by the teams has reduced up to a point. But there are suggestions that the Mercedes engine is still using more fuel than others and this accounts for the drop off in performance on race day. As the grid is so tight, even a few tenths of a second per lap makes quite a difference.

Nico Rosberg has also yet to finish a race higher than his starting position.

If this is part of the problem, it should be less of a difference in Monaco, where the fuel load is one of the lowest of the season, as there is so little full throttle running.

Track position is king in Monaco, which is why qualifying well here is so important.

[MIKA27]

WHITMARSH TELLS MCLAREN TO FOCUS ON THE OPPORTUNITY:

McLaren’s Martin Whitmarsh has outlined the reasons why his team should remain very upbeat about its prospects this season, the team principal highlighting several positives amid a succession of missed chances – including what he believes is the advent of a more measured approach to racing from Lewis Hamilton.

The Woking-based outfit arrived at the first race of the season having hit its long-held target of having a car capable of winning the first grand prix but since locking out the front row at the second round in Malaysia its race performances have been compromised by a string of team errors and difficulties fully exploiting Pirelli’s tyres. Despite still arguably having the fastest overall package – particularly in Hamilton’s hands in qualifying – the team still finds itself in the now familiar position of trailing Red Bull in both world championships.

Speaking on the eve of the team’s attempts to get back to winning ways in Monaco – where it has won a record 15 times – Whitmarsh told reporters in a Vodafone phone-in that he was “very frustrated” by the team’s failure to fully capitalise on the MP4-27’s outright pace to date but that “rather than focus on the frustration you’ve got to look forward to the opportunity”.

That opportunity Whitmarsh believes is a first drivers’ championship since 2008, and a first constructors’ title since 1998, and the driver currently best placed in the points to deliver the former, Hamilton has earned the praise of his team boss for his performances in the regular face of adversity so far this season. Like Fernando Alonso, the 2008 champion has scored points in all five races despite suffering from botched pit stops in both Malaysia and Bahrain and then, most embarrassingly of all for the team, relegation to the back of the grid in Spain for a qualifying fuel infringement. Whitmarsh has clearly been impressed by his driver’s growing on-track maturity.

“In many ways the last race was disappointing for the team, but I think Lewis did come away from that event with a very strong feeling about what he’s achieved this year. Through no fault of his own, I think he had a very severe penalty levelled against him. To then be asked by the team to run a two-stop strategy and ultimately have to complete a race with such controlled and measured tyre conservation, including 31 laps more laps than any other driver on a tyre there, I think he should come away with a feeling that ,one, he has a car that is capable of being on pole, two he has the speed and capabilities to be on pole – he has been on the front row at every race – and he’s driving to I think greater levels of maturity and control and discipline than perhaps we’ve seen before.”

Hamilton’s failure to win a race so far in 2012, particularly at Barcelona, can be attributed to the pit-lane errors by the team. Whitmarsh says the team can’t afford to become complacent going forward, even if he believes measures have been put in place to avoid a repeat of the same slip-ups.

“I’m confident that the issues that we have so far have been dealt with and are in the past,” he said. “I’m mindful that in the pressure of trying to win in Formula 1, there are always new things that can come and bite you. So we have to be vigilant, careful and cautious.”

[MIKA27]

Driving sideways at 140mph still gets Frank Williams going:

Sir Frank Williams purses his lips and rocks backwards and forwards in his wheelchair. “I remember it all very clearly,” he says, adopting the now familiar, rapid-fire whisper of his later years.

“I was enjoying the post-race glow. I was in the garage and stopped to talk to someone and there was a sharp crack to my right. Immediately clouds of black smoke began billowing. Quick as a flash I was wheeled out of there.

"I was shouting, ‘Michael [his carer that weekend], you’ve got to f------ stop. I’m supposed to be the leader here. I can’t be running away.’ So Michael stopped and wheeled me back. But there was nothing much I could do.”

We are sitting in a downstairs meeting room at the team’s headquarters in Grove, Oxfordshire, reliving what ought to have been the unadulterated good news story of Pastor Maldonado’s historic victory, Venezuela’s first ever and Williams’ first in nearly eight years, at the Spanish Grand Prix two weekends ago.

It was what happened afterwards, however, that ended up grabbing the headlines. A raging inferno in the winners’ garage, the cause of which is still unknown, meant the celebrations came to an abrupt halt as mechanics from up and down the pit-lane battled to bring the blaze under control.

That they succeeded, with just one Williams team member still in hospital with burns to his legs (“He’s a strong character,” says Williams. “Built like the proverbial... he’ll come back when it suits him. In a month or two”), has lent the story a different hue, though it is no less inspiring. In fact, one could argue it made the occasion all the more moving.

"I was gratified to learn afterwards that every fire extinguisher in the paddock was used by pretty much every team up and down the pit-lane,” Williams says, shaking his head.

“The reaction was extraordinary. Overwhelming. All the teams have been on saying, ‘Whatever you need, we’ll help you out’. Fantastic. I don’t know exactly what we have accepted but I have asked for a list to be created.

“My main job when I get to Monaco is to go around all the team principals and thank them, and try to pay them back for whatever they gave us.”

No doubt the same support would have been offered to any team in similar straits, but it is tempting to suggest the response in this instance was particularly urgent because of the affection in which Williams, and in particular their founder, is held by the sport at large.

The evening before the Barcelona race, Williams was thrown a surprise 70th birthday party in the paddock at which the great and the good came to pay homage. From Bernie Ecclestone to former Williams drivers David Coulthard and Mark Webber, they queued up to sing the praises of “a proper racer”, whose lifelong passion for cars began in the 1950s when a friend gave him a ride in his Jaguar, who built his team from nothing and went on to claim seven drivers’ and nine constructors’ titles. They spoke of his “unquenchable spirit”, the road accident which has confined Williams to a wheelchair since 1986 having utterly failed to slow him down.

Rising costs in an era dominated by manufacturer-backed teams did, though, and the team’s decline over the last decade was painful to watch. Somehow they appear to be back from the brink.

Williams admits that the thought that he would never again see one of his cars win a grand prix had crossed his mind.

“It wasn’t so much the fear,” he says. “There was just a stronger and stronger sense of embarrassment. As the years went by and we started disappearing and it was too late to jump, you know?

“But I can’t say I spent weeks lying in bed worrying about it. Fortunately better people than myself came along and sorted it out.”

One of the people to whom he is referring is former chairman Adam Parr, who left the company in mysterious circumstances earlier this season. Williams will still not be drawn on the “private” reasons why that happened but says he would not be surprised to see him back in the sport, “possibly on the commercial side”.

“He has a brilliant mind,” he says. “I speak to him often. He is delighted for the team and should take his share of the credit. All of the top people here — well, not all of them, but quite a few — were recruited by Adam: Mike Coughlan, Jason Somerville, Ed Wood.”

That all-new technical team is just one element of the sweeping changes which have enabled Williams to make a far more encouraging start to 2012. There is also a new engine supplier in Renault, a new driver in Bruno Senna, while Williams’ co-founder, Patrick Head, quit the team over the winter. “He was a bit jealous he wasn’t part of [the win] but he was fundamental to it,” Williams says.

By luck or judgment the drastic overhaul seems to have worked.

Williams is certainly getting excited again. His eyes light up at the thought of Monaco this weekend. Does he believe his team rise from the ashes of Barcelona to post another win?

“Yes. I do,” he says after a lengthy pause. “Barcelona was a surprise but we knew we had improved. The car is very nicely balanced. And the biggest surprise, or pleasure, is to find Maldo is very, very competitive. Totally apolitical. And brings in useful amounts of sponsorship.”

‘Useful’ is one word for a reputed £29.4 million from Venezuelan state-owned oil company PDVSA this year alone.

“Now Bruno must respond. Maldo’s win will give him a kick up the backside. Which he needs. We’ll see. Everyone is saying Maldo is magic around Monte Carlo and to some extent he is [the Venezuelan has won in every category he has raced in at the Principality]. But it is by no means a given.

“Formula One is vicious. If you make the slightest mistake, you’re dead. So it’s best to show humility.”

As he rattles on, warming to the theme, it is impossible not to marvel at the enthusiasm which still shines through at 70.

How long can he keep it up? Williams referred to the “gradual but inevitable process of handing over the reins” in a pre-season statement in which he announced he was stepping down from the board of directors.

“It doesn’t really change anything,” he says now of that decision. “Whether I go to the board meetings or not doesn’t change anything.

“All the individuals with their divisional responsibilities do a super job. I’m still the controlling shareholder and team principal.”

So what would it take to slow him down? “Someone has got to say to me, ‘Frank, you’re forgetting too much’ or, ‘You’re getting in the way’.”

And would he? “If I really thought I was buggering things up by being there, then yes. But I don’t think that’s quite a reality yet.

“You know what it is? I’m just being nuts about racing. And speed. Driving sideways at 140mph, that’s what gets me. Not winning the championship; that is a sidebar almost. It’s the racing.”

[MIKA27]

Mansell gets Monaco stewards role:

Nigel Mansell will serve as the driver representative on the stewards' panel at this weekend's Monaco Grand Prix.

The 1992 World Champion, who also filled the role at the British and Belgian Grands Prix last year, will be joined by FIA vice-president Jose Abed and Paul Gutjahr, who is the president of the FIA Hill Climb Commission on the three-man team.

A first-place trophy in Monaco is one of the few things missing from Mansell's silverware cabinet as the 58-year-old's best results are two second-place finishes in 1991 and 1992 with Williams.

Besides racing for the Grove-based Williams, Mansell also had stints with Team Lotus, Ferrari and McLaren during his 16-season F1 career.

[MIKA27]

Fernando Alonso says unique circuit and ever-changing races make Monaco impossible to predict

Fernando Alonso says it is impossible to predict who will be strong at the Monaco Grand Prix given how tight the field is this year.

"We'll see. Monaco is a unique circuit and you never know what car may dominate and this year even more so," said Alonso ahead of this weekend's event, the sixth round of the championship.

"We don't know which cars were quick at Barcelona, let alone at Monaco. But the most important thing here is on Saturday during qualifying. If you start from the first two rows you have a podium chance, otherwise it's almost impossible, or very complicated."

The Ferrari driver arrives in Monte Carlo after having fought for victory in his home race at Barcelona, where he finished in second behind the Williams of Pastor Maldonado.

Although one of his car's weakest points is traction in low-speed corners, the Spaniard says it is not a big worry for this weekend's race.

"With new tyres and over one lap you can sort of mask the traction problems, so it's not a big worry for us," he said.

"In the race we'll see. Degradation will be big, but the safety cars and anything that can happen in the race can help you or hurt you and there's no way to control that."

And he believes Williams will be strong once more around the streets of Monte Carlo following its first win in eight years in Spain.

"Williams has been strong in all races," Alonso added. "In Australia we were fighting with Maldonado for fourth before his accident. In China they had a small problem in qualifying and then in the race they were sixth and seventh. So Williams has had great races in all the grands prix.

"In Barcelona it was the icing on the cake because they won, but I think here they will be fast again. We'll see. We don't know who will be on top here and it's hard to name favourites."

MIKA: I'm going to guess who will get podiums this weekend's Monaco Grand Prix:

1: Massa

2: Schumacher

3: Rosberg

Don't ask me why, I had a dream last night and that's what came to mind...

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Raikkonen: 'Monaco is like a rally through trees'

Kimi Raikkonen has compared the Monaco Grand Prix to a tight rally stage through thick trees, and therefore believes he will adapt to the circuit quickly.

It will be his first time he has driven the tight and twisty circuit, which is like no other on the calendar, since he left the sport in 2009, but that doesn't concern the Finn.

"I don't think it is any different to driving a rally in the middle of the trees," Raikkonen said on Wednesday. "It is a bit more tricky here but I know the circuit.

"Luck is important but you can't push your limit too much at the beginning because the circuit changes and it doesn't matter if I'm 15th or first in the practices. We need to understand how the circuit is changing to get the car right and we only need a few fast laps in qualifying, and in the race every lap, but in practice it doesn't count.

"You have to make your own luck and do things right and even if you are leading there might be an accident in front of you that you can't avoid - that is just Monaco. I don't think I am a very lucky guy and I never counted on that."

The Lotus driver is looking for his first win since his return after finishing second in Bahrain and third in Spain, but he understands that Monaco is somewhat of a lottery.

"We always try but if we don't win, we don't win and we weren't fast enough. We will try again this weekend but this place is definitely not easy to win. We will keep trying though."

MIKA: I sure hope Kimi does better in F1 than Rallying...

In F1 he's called "The Ice man" whilst at rallying he was more so known as 'The Snow man" as he seemed to smash through stuff and was not really competative.

[MIKA27]

F1 DRIVERS: THE HELMET IS NOW THE MEDIUM:

A driver’s crash helmet design is something uniquely personal to him with some iconic designs like Graham and Damon Hill’s London Rowing Club colours, Senna’s striped helmet in Brazilian colours and Jackie Stewarts’ racing tartan.

But increasingly F1 drivers’ helmets are being used for messaging and fundraising and here in Monaco we have a rash of them with Fernando Alonso, Sergio Perez and Kimi Raikkonen all having something to say.

Alonso has a unique design featuring a classic F1 Ferrari, rolling dice and other Monaco themed details. The helmet is a one-off and will be auctioned after the race weekend to raise money for a children’s road safety campaign backed by the Fernando Alonso Foundation.

Perez’s lid is dedicated to Roberto Gómez Bolaños, the Mexican writer, actor, director, known as “Chespirito”, an idol of Perez’ who is very ill. Chesperito is popular in Latin America and the United States and according to the Sauber team, “Two helmets with this special design have been made. One will be handed to Chespirito and the other will be the first item to be auctioned for the newly founded “Fundacion Checo Pérez”. This foundation will support various projects, and the money raised for the helmet will be for orphans in Mexico.”

Raikkonen, meanwhile, is wearing a helmet as a tribute to 1976 world champion James Hunt, who with his wild lifestyle and free spirit is an idol to the Finn. The helmet echoes the design of Hunt’s with yellow and red accent colours around the edges of the visor and James Hunt written on the side.

Hunt died on 13th June 1993 after a heart attack and has always been an idol to Raikkonen, who has entered ski mobile races under the pseudonym James Hunt

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PROST SEES BOTH SIDES IN F1 "ENTERTAINMENT VS SPORT" DEBATE:

Four time world champion Alain Prost is in Monaco this weekend, working with Renault Sport to launch a concept car aimed at reviving the sporty Alpine brand. And he gave his verdict on the debate about F1 shifting towards entertainment and unpredictability which has been raging all season.

As a front running driver in his time, Prost would by instinct always be likely to prefer a dominant car package, but he said that he could see that the entertainment factor that comes with the unpredictability of F1 2012 is attractive to new audiences. But ultimately he feels, as many in F1 do, that’s it’s gone perhaps a bit too far. “It is not what I would like to see, but I can understand that the audience is going up a little bit and people are more interested in that, ” he said.

“If I talk for myself I would say yes it is maybe a little bit too unpredictable. You know F1, and you know you would like to understand a bit more about what is happening, but F1 has changed, and the public watching F1 has changed also at the same time. You cannot compare to what we had 10, 20 or 30 years ago. Now the public are quite pleased to see that it is not all the time the same driver or same car. That is the worst thing for F1 today – if one car or one driver is dominating too much.”

It was only last year that Sebastian Vettel totally dominated the championship in the Red Bull with the exhaust blown diffuser. Now the banning of that device and the narrow operating window of the Pirelli tyres means that it is very hard for teams to be consistent from race to race.

However the signs are that with every race that passes the teams learn more and in the second half of the season we should see more consistency from the top teams in particular, which will allow their developments parts to influence the performance of their car more, which will be a relief to the F1 engineers.

“If I think about the engineers in the teams it must be a nightmare, so it may be a little bit too much. But at least we have the show, we have the indecision and people are watching more and more F1, which is good.”

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'Monaco victory is wide open'

Christian Horner says this season's unpredictability means F1 will have to wait until after qualifying to have a "clear indication" of who is on top in Monaco.

Thursday's practice sessions did not offer a true picture of the pecking order as pace-setter Jenson Button was the only top driver to try the Pirelli super soft tyres before the rain came down.

He finished three-tenths ahead of Lotus driver Romain Grosjean while the two Ferraris were next in line. Red Bull's best-place driver, Mark Webber, was seventh, 1.402s off the pace.

"It is so open that we will only get a better idea I would say after P3, but probably not even then," the Red Bull team boss told Autosport.

"It will probably be only after qualifying that we will get a clear indication of where we are, but the weather could be a factor as well this weekend.

"Throw that into the mix and you have a real cocktail for an entertaining weekend."

Red Bull arrived in Monte Carlo as the reigning Monaco Champions as Sebastian Vettel claimed the victory last season while his team-mate Mark Webber won in 2010.

However, Horner says that while claiming a hat-trick of wins would be great, the most important thing is to ensure a solid points-haul.

"This is a fantastic race to win," said Horner. "We have been fortunate enough to win it the last couple of years, but it is one of 20 races, and it has the same amount of points available as the others.

"The prestige here is greater than other venues but counting towards the championship it carries the same weight in points. So the most important thing for us is to maximise the package we have here.

"Hopefully we can, but whether that package can compete for the win? Hopefully it can. If it cannot we have to make sure that we optimise the best result that we can, because ultimately they will all count at the end of the year."

[MIKA27]

Button: 10 drivers in line for pole

Jenson Button insists his brief run on the super softs Pirellis on Thursday has not given him the edge heading into qualifying.

Button was the only top driver to run the super soft Pirelli tyres - the quicker of the two compounds available in Monaco - before the rain hit in Thursday's second practice.

The McLaren driver finished the day with the fastest lap time, three-tenths up on his nearest rival, but says that doesn't make him the favourite to take pole position.

"I don't know. We'll have to wait and see," he said.

"Pole is possible for about 10 cars out there because as we all know it's about who gets it right on the day.

"We ran the tyre to get a baseline, an understanding of where the car is on it. It's the tyre we will qualify on in Q3, and the tyre we will start the race on.

"The thing with that tyre is to get a long run on it with high fuel, which no one did, because we don't know what's going to happen.

"It's information we don't have, but it was nice to stick that tyre on just to see how much grip it has compared to the other, and it wasn't so bad."

[MIKA27]

McLaren to offer Hamilton £20m year contract

Lewis Hamilton looks set to close the gap to the highest paid driver in Formula 1, currently Fernando Alonso, if he accepts McLaren's latest deal to retain his services post-2012.

The Woking outfit are keen to re-sign the revitalised Hamilton, who has been driving in a much more mature and error free manner compared with previous seasons.

The 2008 world champion currently earns around £15 million per season, but his current contract expires at the end of the year.

In a bid to keep him, McLaren are reportedly offering him £20 million per season, based on a three-year deal. Though the contract would likely contain release clauses after 2013.

XIX Entertainment boss Simon Fuller, who represents the 27-year-old, is believed to be pushing for fewer promotional responsibilities in a bid to allow Hamilton to promote brands outside of F1 - this may result in a smaller salary, but allow him to explore other projects.

[MIKA27]

Pirelli in new push for qualifying tyres to solve Q3 issues

Pirelli motorsport director Paul Hembery is pushing for formal discussions about a revision to the Q3 tyre rules at the next meeting of the Formula 1 commission.

Amid fresh concerns about teams electing to not run in final qualifying so that they save tyres, Hembery is eager for more talks about the idea of specific qualifying tyres.

"We need to get all 12 teams together and I will certainly ask to put it on the table at the next F1 Commission meeting," he said when asked about the situation regarding Q3-specific tyres.

"Bernie [Ecclestone] is keen on it. He does not feel [cars sitting out Q3] is good for TV and we have been on record saying that. But, equally, we appreciate the teams' point of view. And it was unanimous when we last spoke to them that they felt the tactical intrigue created by not running and having fresh tyres was something that was good for the sport. Where the real solution in that lies I don't know.

"We will offer what is needed and that can be anything from an extra set for those in Q3 to make them run, through to full qualifying for everybody. We are open to whatever solution the sport feels is best, but we feel running cars in Q3 is important."

Despite Pirelli's push, and Ecclestone's support of the idea, teams are not keen on the idea of changing the current Q3 rules, under which drivers must start races with the same tyres that they set their fastest qualifying time with.

However, some team principals have suggested that the ultimate decider should be the fans at home.

Mercedes boss Ross Brawn said: "There are two sides to every coin and is the show spoilt by the fact that some of the cars at the back of Q3 don't run? I'm not sure it is. I think everyone's focused on what the guys fighting for pole are doing. But if there was genuine proof that the fans want 10 cars running all the time in Q3 then we'd accept some extra tyres."

[MIKA27]

The secrets of Monaco

The Monaco Grand Prix is a unique race and it creates a challenge for the drivers and teams like no other.

That challenge is to do with both driver skill and the technical difficulties caused by the tight street circuit.

DRIVERS

The Swimming Pool is one of the most demanding sections at Monaco, and a great place to observe both the skill of the drivers and which cars are working best.

It consists of two separate chicanes - a very fast left-right taken at 150mph and a much slower right-left. Each creates its own challenges for the drivers.

Let's look at them individually, taking the fast Swimming Pool One first, and splitting it into the left-hander and the right-hander.

On the entry, you can see the cars in what is called yaw - sliding at an angle of about four or five degrees to straight ahead. The tyres need to slide at that angle to generate the slip that gives them the grip.

It looks like the car has understeer and oversteer at the same time, but it actually has neither.

The good cars can generate that yaw and keep it consistent, using the inertia of the yaw to turn them into the next, right-handed part.

As long as the driver can keep the wheel turned left long enough until he wants to turn it right, he can use the rear inertia to make the car turn, because the car always wants to come back again. Hitting the kerb on the left also helps turn the car into the right.

But if he has to straighten up first - because the car is wanting to oversteer - and then turn it, he loses the yaw and has to generate it again.

If he has to do that, the second corner becomes a bigger problem, whereas for the better cars it is just a quick kink.

On Thursday, some cars had a good enough balance through there to give the drivers confidence enough to keep the car in yaw until they needed to turn right. And some did not.

Fernando Alonso's Ferrari, for example, had a little too much oversteer.

But he buys into the fact that that is better than understeer and was working around it.

The Toro Rossos, for example, couldn't generate yaw at all - they were understeering too much.

But Pastor Maldonado in the Williams, and the Lotus of Romain Grosjean, looked right - the rear was just on the move but it never got nervous.

The second Swimming Pool chicane is interesting for different reasons.

Here, the barrier sticks out at the apex and it's very easy to clip it and throw the car over the track. But drivers have to get as close as possible so they can straighten the left-hander that follows.

Watching Alonso come into there, he initially had understeer - and was missing the apex. After two or three laps, he began to turn in early, on a trajectory that would have had him hitting the barrier on the inside.

Then he would straighten the steering wheel up as he came off the brakes until the front tyres gripped again and then turn in again to get a good line for the left-hander - all in the braking phase.

The reason for that is these Pirelli tyres do not like braking and turning at the same time - once they are sliding, they never pick up the grip again unless you stop them sliding. Then the driver can reapply the steering and brake again.

Alonso's team-mate Felipe Massa, by contrast, would just turn in and have the understeer all the way through the corner, which meant he was on the wrong line for the left-hander.

Again, the Lotus of Grosjean and Maldonado's Williams looked very well balanced through there, which suggests they may be on for a strong result.

DRIVER VISIBILITY

A Formula 1 driver's seating position is quite low and is defined by the regulations and by aerodynamics.

Usually, if they don't see that well, it's not that big a drama. But in Monaco, with the barriers so close, it can be.

The difference between a quick and a slow lap here can be as little as 5cm - getting that bit closer to the wall in all the corners. If a driver doesn't do that, he has not done the ultimate lap.

But if a driver can't see, he can't be that precise, and he has to leave more space - and that's particularly an issue with the high chassis teams use these days. So often drivers will raise their seating position in Monaco to ensure they can see better.

At McLaren, this is less of an issue because they use a lower chassis.

THE TIGHTEST CORNERS IN F1

Typically, a Formula 1 car's front wheels have about 15 degrees of steering angle. But in Monaco you need at least 20 degrees - and as much as 22 if you want the driver to be able to dive up the inside of someone at some of the tight corners, such as Loews.

But if you make a suspension system to suit that, it becomes heavier - it needs to be bigger to have the same stiffness.

So some teams design one suspension system for the other 19 races, and do a one-off for Monaco.

McLaren don't bother, though - they have one with enough clearance for all the tracks.

The choice you make can have an impact on specific racing situations in Monaco.

Look back to the tangle Hamilton had with Ferrari's Felipe Massa at Loews last year, when Massa stuck to the racing line and turned in on the McLaren.

That might not just have been a case of not wanting to concede the position. Maybe he had to. Maybe if he had allowed Hamilton up the inside and run around the outside he would not have had the steering lock to get around the corner and he would have been sitting there facing the barrier looking like an idiot.

But it shows that Hamilton knew he had the lock to go up the inside and still get around the corner - that's the confidence and the advantage having more steering lock can give you.

[MIKA27]

Jenson Button hopes 'geniuses' can solve tyre problem at Monaco GP

Jenson Button fears that F1 fans will soon tire of a season that is as unpredictable as the roulette at Monaco's track side casino. With five winners in five races, including Pastor Maldonado, who was a 500-1 outsider days before he won the last race in Barcelona, some insiders have been congratulating themselves for spicing up the sport.

But a number of drivers have been critical of a season when getting on the podium seems to be as arbitrary as throwing the drivers' numbers into the air before seeing which lands on top, and Button, on the eve of the grand prix around the streets of his home town, has joined the debate.

"The fans love the fact it is exciting but I think it will get to a point where they will wonder who they are supporting and why someone is winning and someone is losing. How can everyone be a loser and everyone be a winner? Hopefully it will get to a point where we all understand what is going on."

Last year the introduction of Pirelli's highly degradable tyres was the biggest factor in F1 becoming a more attractive spectacle, way ahead of the energy-storing KERS and the overtaking aid, DRS. The teams and their drivers eventually came to terms with their tyres last season but that has not been the case this year, with the new generation of generally softer rubber, with temperatures difficult to control.

Button, whose results have fallen away since winning the opening race in Australia two months ago, believes this failure is the main reason behind the unpredictability of the racing. "No one in the pit lane understands the tyres," he says. "There are geniuses, supposedly, in the sport but none of us understands how Pastor qualifies in 13th and 21st position and then qualifies for the front row in the next one.

"Why is it so up and down? Last year we talked a lot about tyres but not like this year. Last year we understood the tyres and understood what we had to do to make them work through a race. But this year we still don't know. It does worry me a little bit. I haven't been able to look after the tyres, so it has been very weird.

"When you engineer the car and you change something it should do something in that direction but it doesn't. So you try the opposite and sometimes it works. It is very strange and it is all because you cannot get the tyres in the right working range. When you do it's amazing and the car works great."

The situation is particularly perturbing for Button because there is a precision and elegance about his driving style and he is considered to be one of the most skilful conservers of rubber. He believes the problem will be overcome – "we have got such clever people here that it must happen" – but he is also concerned that McLaren's competitors might find the key first. "There is that worry. We have just got to keep trying to find it. Everyone is in the same position so we have got to hope that we are cleverer than the rest."

Button, who surprised many when he outperformed his McLaren team-mate, Lewis Hamilton, last year, has struggled since his opening victory in Melbourne, finishing 14th in Malaysia, second in China, retired in Bahrain and ninth in Spain. "Melbourne was the perfect weekend. The next weekend was again looking very good but I made a mistake. And then in China again we had a very good chance of victory but someone else [the man on the rear left wheel] made a mistake.

"The last two races have been unusually poor. Qualifying wasn't bad in Bahrain but the race pace wasn't good. And in the last race qualifying was terrible and also the race pace wasn't good.

"It's quite unusual for me, with McLaren, to have bad pace in the race, to not be consistent. We have changed a few things on the car for here."

The novelist Somerset Maugham described Monaco as a sunny place for shady people but on Friday, as the rain tumbled, it was a shady place for sunny people. Even the unusually bad weather could not dampen Button's enthusiasm for the place; he has returned to live here after a spell in Guernsey.

"I moved back in February back because I can train every day outdoors. Last week I was out five days on the bike. I cycle all the time with Paul di Resta and David Coulthard. And I go with some pro cyclists. It makes a massive difference to me because otherwise I get fed up."

Button, who was fastest in Thursday's practice ahead of qualifying on Saturday, also has fond memories of the street circuit where he won in his world championship season of 2009. "It's pretty crazy driving a Formula One car here, a 750 horsepower monster that we tame round the streets of Monaco.

"We all know it's difficult to overtake but there have been some amazing overtaking manoeuvres. We also know how difficult it is to race here. It feels that the circuit is getting narrower and narrower every lap you do.

"You get mentally drained. But when you win here it means so much. It's a massive celebration, whoever wins. The horns are blowing, the boats go crazy, the grandstands and people on the balconies join in with one big celebration of Formula One."

Murray Walker once memorably said: "There are seven winners of the Monaco Grand Prix on the starting line today and five of them are Michael Schumacher." On Sunday there will be six former winners on the grid. But there are more than a dozen who could easily finish on top of the podium.

[MIKA27]

Monaco Grand Prix - The greatest moments

Raced around the streets and harbour of the tiny principality of Monte-Carlo, the Monaco Grand Prix brings howling V8's and the glamour of the Formula One circus to the idyllic home of the super rich jet set.

The 3.3km street circuit is one of the toughest tests of driver skill on the calendar and has produced some of the most incredible moments in Grand Prix racing since the circuit was first used for racing in 1929.

Ahead of this weekend's Grand Prix, let's look at some one the best races.

2008:

Lewis Hamilton overcame a puncture to claim his first Monaco Grand Prix victory in a race of changing weather conditions. Hamilton's rear puncture came on lap six, when, running second after starting third in the 78 lap race he slid off in worsening rain and limped back to the pits. The puncture forced his Mclaren team to fuel him for a long stint and he benefited from a safety car period and showed incredible pace and fortitude, often lapping a second quicker that the rest of the field to seal what he called his "greatest victory".

2006:

Michael Schumacher's career will be remembered for his record breaking achievements but also his often debatable on-track behaviour and attitude to his fellow drivers. 2006 became one of the most infamous moments of his career and was played out on the Saturday in qualifying. Schumi, still smarting after having been deprived the world title the previous season, parked his car at the Rascasse corner in sector three of the track forcing all drivers to slow down. Schumacher was on provisional pole at the time but his main rival, Fernando Alonso, was on the circuit and going quicker than the German. Stopping his Ferrari prevented Alonso setting a faster lap time and there was no reason for him to do so, so he was disqualified and sent to the back of the grid in shame, Alonso won comfortably and Schumacher finished fifth.

2003:

A win for the great Williams team and their first for 20 years at Monaco was won by Juan-Pablo Montoya after a three way battle for the win. Final classification showed the three drivers were separated by just two seconds as they crossed the line. The Columbian won from third after passing Kimi Raikkonen at the start and found himself in the lead after the first pit-stops. Montoya was not safely home as he suffered engine trouble in the closing laps and his engineers thought he wouldn't finish but he managed to keep Raikkonen and Michael Schumacher behind to win.

2002:

Scotland's David Coulthard shocked the Formula One paddock when he won in Monaco, and gave a good illustration of the characteristics that make up the Monaco track. Coulthard, driving an inferior Mclaren in a season completely dominated by Ferrari, made use of good qualifying tyres to put himself on the front row and took the lead when the lights went down. The tight nature of the street circuit has always made overtaking difficult and Coulthard made use of this in an unwavering drive to stay in front amidst pressure from Juan-Pablo Montoya and then the charging Michael Schumacher in the Ferrari.

1996:

Rain can cause even the best racing drivers to lose control, and the wet 1996 Grand Prix was no different. No fewer than 18 of the runners that started the race crashed out or retired and the race was won by 300-1 long shot Olivier Panis whose team Ligier made a shrewd tyre choice that won him the race. The race became Panis's only Grand Prix win and the last for the fading Ligier team.

1992:

Nigel Mansell's 1992 season saw him break all records of the time for wins, poles and laps lead. He was driving the dominant William's with its advanced active suspension system that gave the team a significant advantage over the other cars. Monaco was the sixth race of the season, and Mansell had won the previous five with ease. The great Aryton Senna would spoil his party; Senna, frustrated at his cars lack of competitiveness took advantage when a slow pit stop from Mansell gave him the lead. Senna dragged his car around the circuit to stay in front of Mansell for the remainder of the race, The Brazilian winning his fifth race on the circuit to tie with Graham Hill in all time wins, winning a record sixth the following year.

1988:

Ayrton Senna's move to Mclaren in 1988 put him up against World Champion Alain Prost in a rivalry that would last two brilliant years. The exotic Brazilian Senna versus the conservative 'professor' Prost. Senna wanted to humiliate Prost. Senna beat his team-mate by a remarkable 1.4 seconds in qualifying and disappeared into the distance in the race. Leading by over 40 seconds from Prost, the Mclaren team told him to slow down causing him to break his concentration and he crashed out of the race before entering the tunnel. Senna disappeared after the crash and didn't resurface until the next day after his team-mate had taken the victory that hurt Senna's chances of the championship.

1984:

Perhaps the prelude to the Senna-Prost rivalry, the 1984 edition was run in wet conditions. Alain Prost, world championship leader at the time had taken pole and the curious Senna, in his first season in Formula One had qualified his uncompetitive Toleman 13th. Prost lost the lead to Nigel Mansell on the 11th lap but regained it when Mansell crashed out, while Senna was picking his way through the field, passing Niki Lauda on lap 19 to take second place. Senna started to haul Prost in, going second's faster on each lap. As he closed, Prost started waving his arms at the officials to signify his displeasure at having to drive in the conditions, and when the race was red flagged on the 31st lap Senna was seven seconds behind and closing but denied the chance at a win.

1982:

One of the most frantic races ever, the 1982 Grand Prix featured five lead changes in the last two laps and became an instant classic. A relatively quiet race was in the offing until rain again entered the fray. Alain Prost was leading until he spun out gifting the lead to Ricardo Patrese on lap 74, a lead he would hold for all of three quarters of a lap until he spun as well, stalling his car but crucially keeping it undamaged. Patrese was passed by the cars of Dider Peroni and Andrea de Cesaris as he sat on the track unable to move. Peroni and Cesaris both ran out of fuel as Patrese (pictured) was pushed down the hill by the stewards, managing to bump start his car and drive to the line to record a ridiculous victory.

1981

The late Gilles Villeneuve was denied the chance to compete for multiple world championships in his Grand Prix career, a career cut short by his untimely death. He was one of the fastest drivers of his time, and arguably one of the fastest ever. Monaco is a place where the bravery of sitting your car on the limit and scraping the barriers is rewarded in tenths of a second and though Villeneuve was one the best, unfortunately his Ferrari was not. He qualified the car on the front row, second behind Nelson Piquet and followed him in the race until being passed by Alan Jones. Piquet crashed out of the race and Alan Jones encountered a fuel problem that allowed the Canadian to pull an audacious move on the pit straight to give him the lead and the win.

1950

Monaco was on the calendar in the inaugural Formula One season in 1950. It was a notable race as it was the first pole, fastest lap and race win for the great Juan-Manuel Fangio who would go on to win five world championships with four different teams. The Argentinean's victory was not straightforward as the race was full of numerous accidents, some caused by a particularly high wave that washed over the Tabac corner in the harbour causing some drivers to spin off.