FORMULA 1 - 2016

[MIKA27]

RED BULL AND RENAULT HAVE CANADA-SPEC ENGINE IN MONACO

Renault’s works team is eyeing a sudden leap into Q3 for this weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix.

After the eleventh-hour Lotus takeover, it has been an uncompetitive full works return for the French marque in 2016 so far.

But there are now signs of clear progress. This weekend, two versions of the Canada-spec engine upgrade, featuring 35 additional horse power, have been released for the works team and customer Red Bull.

Auto Motor und Sport reports that it is Kevin Magnussen who will get the new engine spec, as he has scored all 6 of Renault’s points so far this season.

Not only that, the German source also said Renault’s chassis has all-new front suspension and improved cooling for Monaco, adding up to a pace boost of six tenths.

“If everything goes well, we could maybe even get a car into Q3,” said trackside chief Alan Permane.

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SCHUMACHER TO BE HONOURED FOR LIFE’S WORK

Formula 1 legend Michael Schumacher will be honoured at an award ceremony this week, the Bild reports.

The report said the inaugural ‘Nurburgring Award’ trophy will go to the great German on Friday after he won at the fabled circuit a record five times.

As he is still recovering from his 2013 skiing fall, the award will be collected by the 48-year-old former Ferrari and Mercedes driver’s manager, Sabine Kehm.

“Nobody deserves this award more than Michael,” former Mercedes motor sport director Norbert Haug said. “This award for his life’s work will give him a lot of strength on his road to recovery.”

Not only that, Sebastian Vettel will star in a celebrity football game in Schumacher’s honour in the days before the German grand prix in Hockenheim in July.

Kehm said: “For many years, Michael was the initiator and unifying figure in such benefit football games.

“We are happy that together with (German basketball player) Dirk (Nowitzki), we can offer a real highlight for the fans, because we want to thank them for their support,” she added.

Finally, former Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo sounds hopeful about Schumacher’s recovery, with the British newspaper Daily Express saying the record winner of 91 grands prix is “reacting”.

“I’m very pleased to know that he is reacting,” said the Italian, without elaborating. “I’m sure that thanks to his determination, which will be crucial, he will come out from this very, very difficult situation.”

[MIKA27]

F1 TO LIMIT TWO ENGINES PER DRIVER BY 2019

Formula 1’s long-life engine rules will get more than twice as arduous for manufacturers beyond the 2019 season.

A few weeks ago, after a long period of negotiations, changes to further converge performance and cut costs were finally agreed.

At the time, the FIA said cost reduction will be possible through a “progressive reduction of the number of power unit elements per driver per season”.

Currently, drivers can use five engines per season, but Auto Motor und Sport said that by 2019, that number will drop dramatically to just two, irrespective of the size of the race calendar.

When asked if that will even be possible for Mercedes, Ferrari, Renault and Honda to achieve, FIA race director Charlie Whiting said: “I am confident they will succeed, because the manufacturers themselves are confident and agreed to these numbers.”

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ALLISON UPBEAT AHEAD OF MONACO

Ferrari under-delivered at the Spanish Grand Prix, after the pace both Mercedes cars ended up in the gravel on lap one, it was expected that the Reds would have taken command, but instead they were out paced by Red Bull.

The Maranello team’s technical director James Allison reveals how the team got to the bottom of the problem during testing immediately after the race.

“We spent a couple of days in Barcelona after the Grand Prix through a whole range of technical set-ups and improvements to our car,” said Allison.

“It was a very successful test for us and happily we made some progresses, so we are looking forward to taking more lessons and applying them in Monaco.”

After running at the sharp end throughout free practice in Barcelona in qualifying, Ferrari’s pace evaporated when it mattered. Now Monaco beckons where strong qualifying will be vital.

Allison acknowledges ahead of the street race, “It is a circuit, of course, where a good grid position is absolutely everything for getting a good race result.”

“That good grid position comes from a whole weekend where you can’t afford any mistakes. The track changes so much as the weekend progresses that you have to be on it all the time.”

“This is a very high downforce circuit, the corners being so slow, the straights being so short, and the cars which have the most downforce available generally do well on this track,” explained the Ferrari technical chief.

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Bottas hoping for first Monaco points

Williams driver Valtteri Bottas is hoping that he can score his first Monaco Grand Prix points this weekend after an array of bad luck and results.

Since entering the sport, the Finn has failed to finish in the top ten at the Circuit de Monaco, placing 12th in 2013, retiring in 2014 and  finishing 14th last year.

Bottas, though, is confident that Williams can get the job done this weekend and is excited to see how the Ultra Soft tyre compound will react to their cars.

He also added that they will not be too hasty in introducing their upgrades and is fully aware that there are much more competitive cars around them on the grid.

“We have a good understanding that some things in terms of direction of the car set up, maybe mechanical [grip] has not been 100 per cent optimised,” he told Gpupdate.net.

“But we need to wait and prove it here, you can’t test these things anywhere else.

“Last year my main problem in qualifying was tyre warm up, front tyre warm up with the Super Softs, so the Ultra Softs being a lower working range should help and it’s a welcome compound.

“They are going to be very competitive, but it’s still a long season and we still have some upgrades lined up for the next races.

“There will still be tracks that favour our car more than theirs and we are definitely up for the fight for the third place in the Constructors’ and I think it’s still possible.”

[MIKA27]

Perez: We are still behind Toro Rosso and Williams

Force India driver Sergio Perez has admitted that because of their poor tyre degradation they are not able to match rivals Toro Rosso and Williams yet as they approach the Monaco Grand Prix.

Throughout the season so far, the Mexican has been qualifying impressively but on race day him and his teammate Nico Hulkenberg fall drastically off the pace compared to cars similar to their VJM09.

Perez, though, feels that their situation will improve in Monaco after they received their upgrade package in Barcelona.

“I think we did a good step on the car in Barcelona,” the 26-year-old told reporters.

“We are still quite far in race pace but we learned a lot from that spec, but in the race pace compared to Toro Rosso and Williams we were quite far from them.

“But Barcelona is probably our poorest track so I want to see how we can do here; we should be more competitive than we were in Barcelona.

“If people didn’t get it wrong in Barcelona we wouldn’t get points in pure pace, [there’s] a lot to improve still but we’re confident we’re heading in the right direction.

“I think that’s the main thing at the moment, degradation. [But] for us, the wind picked up as well [on race day in Spain] and our car is very sensitive to the wind and that affected it in the race.”

[MIKA27]

Monaco Grand Prix preview: A nice change...

Once upon a time, Formula One fan and more general wit Clive James noted with his typical dryness that "it is said these days with increasing frequency that Monaco makes a nice change from Grand Prix racing". And with but the latest visit now upon us, it's hard to argue with his sentiments.

Really, what is it with the place and its 'jewel in the crown' status in F1? There are so many reasons to dislike Grands Prix around the Principality. If you're to be critical the Monaco round is an anachronism. If you're to be very critical, it's an absurdity. To adapt the saying, if the Monaco Grand Prix didn't exist then there is no way you could invent it.

A narrow and bumpy, as well as tortuously sinewy, tunnel of barriers. Famously Nelson Piquet described its challenge as like trying to ride a bicycle around your living room. The cars never are allowed close to their full potential and that has been the way for decades. No-one can pass here, and that's been the case ever since the insertion of the 'swimming pool section' (apparently to give more room for grandstands...) in 1973. As has been the case for just about all of this time qualifying will do a lot to frame the race result.

It doesn't get much better off the track either; cramped and claustrophobic as well as with various ostentatious poseurs who in all probability don't care much for the sport other than in that one weekend of the year.

But perhaps, conversely, what it is about Monaco lays within all of this somewhere.

It is no exaggeration that among those 'brands' that make F1 what it is Monaco is right up there with the very most important. Maybe it is the most important. Even those who've never seen a motor race will have a reasonable chance of pairing Monaco with F1 in a word association test.

Moreover, and like it or not, Monaco embodies much of F1's image, or at least the image which it likes to have of itself: glamorous, wealthy, eye-catching. Everywhere you turn in a Monaco Grand Prix weekend there is something visually captivating. It's no coincidence either that in terms of off-track commerce the gathering has long been considered the most important of the year.

It's not all about stuff off-track either. With the possible exceptions of Spa and Monza no other current F1 venue represents such a continuous thread of motorsport heritage as does Monaco. The history of the place stretches back all the way to 1929 and the event literally is as old as street racing itself - prior to the inaugural Monaco gathering races took place either on country roads or on the burgeoning permanent autodromes such as Monza's. Before we knew it the legendary Achille Varzi and Tazio Nuvolari were indulging in duels around the houses that went into folklore. The circuit that survives today isn't all that different to that of 1929 either. All of the sport's revered names have raced here; most have excelled. Some of the performances remain fresh and sharp in the memory years on.

And even with the criticisms outlined no other event on the modern F1 calendar is such a driving challenge - a challenge of precision, bravery and concentration. Nowhere else is the driver able to make such a personal difference over and above their machinery. Nowhere else is there such a likelihood that even the smallest error will be punished definitively, a characteristic that's grown rather rare in this age of the car park run off area. Plus while the race is the slowest of the season nowhere else do you get a greater impression of speed of a Grand Prix car, as they flash between those near-at-hand barriers.

Not for nothing either are many of the sport's giants of past and present multiple winners at this track. And to take ourselves back to the words of the inimitable Senhor Piquet, his celebrated Monaco line rather than said in contempt was in fact said with admiration; he followed it up with the view that a victory on the streets of the Principality is worth two anywhere else.

Somehow too Monaco is a place where things happen. While certain other tracks are associated with soporific fare somehow despite everything said that cap doesn't quite fit races here. The previous two visits should have been tepid Mercedes walkovers, yet two years ago we had Nico Rosberg notoriously ending all qualifying efforts early with his trip down Mirabeau's escape road. Last year we had Lewis Hamilton and Merc, cruising to the win it seemed, somehow dropping and smashing the precious vase by bringing him in for an extra and unnecessary stop.

Unpredictability

While an upside of Monaco's sheer abnormality is that it can give us abnormal results. And perhaps this time Mercedes might just have a fight on its hands, even if they manage to avoid the rancour of Barcelona last time out...

The fight might not come from its usual antagonist either of Ferrari but rather from Red Bull. An Autosport analysis published after the Spanish race, combining trackside views with GPS data, had the RB12 as "definitely the best chassis on the grid now...peerless under braking, super-stable at high-speed and particularly strong at entering and transitioning through the slow stuff." Chassis performance, particularly at low speed, is what counts at Monaco while the Renault horsepower deficit to the Merc won't be punished nearly as much as usual.

It's handy too that Monaco follows on from the Spanish round as the tight final sector there is considered a useful guide to likely Monaco pace. There in qualifying the Mercs remained one and two - a reminder that the best car remains the best car, even at Monaco - but the Bulls were three and four and Daniel Riciardo was only around two tenths off the pace (though that over a lap extrapolates to six tenths). Ricciardo's put in some attacking drives at Monaco in the past while his new team mate Max Verstappen's ability to get down to sharp-edge pace immediately last year having never seen the place before was something to behold. Both without championship considerations and this rare opportunity for victory should be throwing caution to the wind - precisely what you need around the Principality ("You can be sure that Max and I will both be ragging it in Monaco" said Ricciardo inimitably in recent days). It's thought the team will have an upgraded power unit for one of its drivers too, which was predicted in advance to give it another 50bhp. That it's brought its original timetable of debuting it in Canada forward by a race presumably bodes well too for how it ran in Barcelona testing.

McLaren's time to shine

The sector three times from Montmelo have an intriguing presence next up, with Fernando Alonso fifth. McLaren is another that can identify Monaco as the chance of a particularly strong result, and for similar reasons to Red Bull. Its notorious Honda power shortage won't be exposed as much as elsewhere while also the Peter Prodromou machine is thought to be particularly strong in slow speed grip. Some indeed last year had it as the fastest of all through Mexico's stadium section as well as through Spa's La Source hairpin.

Beating Mercs and Red Bulls is likely asking too much but a weekend comfortably in the top ten is a more than reasonable aim. Eric Boullier has indeed said that "on paper we could be between six and eight", perhaps ahead of a Ferrari or two. Boullier suggested that Toro Rosso could be in the mix also.

Ferrari to bounce back?

Still we should not write Ferrari off. Despite the Spain result it looked clearly quicker than Red Bull in the race - qualifying it seems was indeed an aberration - while Sebastian Vettel clung to the Mercedes coattails throughout last year's Monaco race, arguably going a long way to forcing the team's notorious error. Interpreting sector three times from the Spanish race is harder for a number of reasons (not least because of the absence of a Mercedes benchmark...) but therein Ferrari was right up there and beaten only by Daniil Kvyat and Ricciardo who both made their final tyre stops later. In an odd statistic however the Scuderia hasn't actually won at Monaco since 2001.

As for intra-Merc form, while it's easy to forget Nico has won on the last three visits to Monaco as well as finished a very close second the year before that. So he's got a fine record here, though his critics will point out that the last two have arrived in, erm, unusual circumstances. Yet we shouldn't dismiss Lewis either, whose brave, precise and acrobatic style will serve him well in the Principality's like-no-other challenges, and he will give at least as good as he gets. He also rather took Nico to the cleaners here last year before, you know, that. He's another though with a curious recent absence of Monaco success - he hasn't won here since 2008.

Don't expect much overtaking

There's unlikely to be much strategy variation as all will try to keep stops to a minimum and prioritise track position, given everything. Lewis indeed demonstrated this in graphic terms last year that even with a massive new tyre advantage overtaking is not really on any agenda. Adding to this, despite its acrobatic appearances tyre wear is actually very low here due to the low speeds. One-stoppers barring disasters therefore can be expected, though we have the new Pirelli ultra-soft tyre on show in a race weekend for the first time.

Most runners have piled high on them, presumably aiming for a one-stopper starting on the ultra-soft then switching to the super-soft, which did around half the race distance pretty comfortably here last year (Valtteri Bottas got 42 laps out of a set). Like last year too the timing of the single stop may be based on a safety car appearance (which is likely here, at around an 80% chance) or else an opening of space on the track behind to drop the car into (perhaps less likely). But in Thursday practice there'll be many frantic calculations on how the new ultra-soft compound behaves for real.

Last year most thought they could have done an entire race distance at Monaco on the soft tyre, had that been allowed, and it'll be interesting to see if any cars out of position this time try a marathon stint on them, as Carlos Sainz did last year after he had to start from the pit lane due to missing the weighbridge in qualifying. He made his only stop on lap 12 then ran on a single set of softs to the end, picking up the last point for his troubles. As intimated though, few this time have many sets of softs to play with.

At Monaco too there is always the possibility of rain, and long range forecasts have showers around on race day. We must be due a wet race here, having not had one since 2008. If the rain does come down here then really all bets are off.

Monaco's a nice change from Grand Prix racing, as Clive James opined with layers of irony. But, this time, it could well be that the change will be genuinely a nice one.

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Rain expected during Monaco Grand Prix

A wet Monaco Grand Prix is in prospect with forecasters reporting a better than average chance of rain on Sunday afternoon in Monte-Carlo.

A band of moderate rainfall is expected to arrive from the west around the time of Sunday’s race.

However the build-up to the race is expected to be dry, with bright and sunny conditions forecast for qualifying. A largely cloudless day will see temperatures peak at around 24C while the grid for the race is being set.

Thursday’s practice sessions will be run in cooler, cloudier conditions with temperatures only just reaching the twenties.

The last time the Monaco Grand Prix saw significant rainfall was in 2008, when Lewis Hamilton won.

For more updates on the track conditions during each session keep an eye on F1 Fanatic Live and the F1 Fanatic Twitter account.

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Bianchi family to run new foundation to help young karters

The family of the late Jules Bianchi has announced the creation of the ‘Jules Bianchi Society’ designed to help young kart drivers climb the motorsport ladder towards Formula 1.

Bianchi died on July 17, 2015 as a result of massive head injuries he incurred when his Marussia F1 car crashed into a trackside recovery vehicle during the Japanese Grand Prix in October 2014.

His parents, brother and sister decided that Jules’ successful ascent to F1 would be the basis of the foundation to help young, up-and-coming drivers graduate to the next step in their career so that “success is based on talent, and not on money”.

  

According to the society’s website: “The main objective of the foundation is to free the best young drivers from their financial obligations. The target is also to assist them and to guide them efficiently during their career.”

A programme will be put into place with several objectives. One is to enter a minimum of four kart racers in international competition and to take them, over a three-year period, to the “best motorsport programmes available” thanks to “large business contacts networks”.

Philippe Bianchi, Jules’ father and honorary president of the foundation, said: “My son Jules left us too early to fulfill his objectives and dreams. Today, I must honour him through this foundation.

“Despite the loss of Jules, my mission is to commemorate his career through the Jules Bianchi Society. It is, for me, the best proof of my love for Jules.

“I am convinced that wherever he is, he’s proud that this name, his colours and his values are linked to this foundation.” 

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Alonso says drivers may need 'X-rated' solutions for tear-off ban

Fernando Alonso says F1 drivers may have to resort to placing their visor tear-offs in some 'X-rated' locations, ahead of a ban on them being thrown on to the track coming into force at the Monaco Grand Prix.

In a bid to prevent cars being forced to retire from races because visor tear-offs were getting stuck in brake ducts, the FIA said in Australia it was going to enforce a regulation that forbid drivers from discarding them on track.

But following concerns from teams about the matter, the enforcement was delayed until Spain, and then put back again to this weekend.

With teams and drivers still unsure about exactly what they will do, Alonso suggested on Wednesday that there may have to be some extreme places to stuff the visors to prevent them being thrown on to the track.

"Let's say it's a strange rule, because we never had this kind of rule, but it's also not a problem to keep the tear-offs inside the cockpit, so it's OK," explained the Spaniard.

"We have different solutions that we will find tomorrow. We keep trying, we tried a couple, and tomorrow we will find a place. Some of these places I cannot tell now, because it's a '18-plus' thing!

"But I think we will have to do it in the pitlane, to be honest. When we do the pitstop, this ten seconds when we are at 60km/h is the perfect opportunity to do all these things."

  

Tricky solutions

Alonso's teammate Jenson Button was equally unsure about what he would be doing with the tear offs once they were taken off.

"There are many different ideas that people have come up with," he said. "If we stick them in the cockpit in different places, it is not the easiest thing to do - especially when you have been taking off tear offs for 20 years of your life, then suddenly you cannot take them off, it is difficult.

"Even when you know you have to take them off and your hand is in the air, and it is blowing around and you're trying to put it back in the cockpit and stick it somewhere, it is tricky.

"Plus the first race being Monaco – you have to stick it in the car and not let go. It is difficult for everyone."

But Button felt that the controversy over the matter would soon disappear once drivers got used to it.

"It is one of those things; none of us really like it, but like a HANS Device, no driver liked it and it wasn't comfortable, but after one race you have forgotten about it and you deal with it."

  

Penalty question

Alonso added he was unsure about what the penalty would be for any driver who did throw his tear off on to the track.

"It is still not decided yet," he said. "We are still asking the FIA what will be the penalty, and there is still some debate about that."

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Raikkonen: Wins, not outscoring Vettel, more important

Kimi Raikkonen says that being ahead of teammate Sebastian Vettel in the standings means little if Ferrari is not fighting for victories.

The Finn is second in the championship after five races - 13 points ahead of teammate Vettel, who lies fourth in the standings.

But having not been able to win a race yet, Raikkonen feels leading Vettel is not important.

"We are not leading," said Raikkonen on Wednesday in Monaco.

"We are second and what? Seb is somewhere close there anyhow and after five races we want to be one and two.

"Right now our main focus is to try to win races and be there in every race and fighting for wins. As a team that's what we want.

"It's nice [to be ahead of Vettel] but still the focus has to be for us to win races and be up there as a team and be the team people try to beat.

"That gives a lot more satisfaction, at least for me, than where we are right now in the points. After one bad race it turns around and then people looks at it completely different."

  

Not worse than in 2015

Despite having failed to win a race so far, Raikkonen insists that Ferrari is strong than it was 12 months ago, when Vettel had already taken one victory.

"I think we won a race early last year but it doesn't really mean that we have done worse this year," he added.

"We've had some issues and some retirements with both cars and that doesn't help, but that's part of the game when you are pushing forward.

"We know Mercedes is very strong and we need to get stronger and beat them. I think if we can get the maximum every qualifying and every race we can be very close to them or beat them.

"It hasn't gone exactly as we planned, but that doesn't mean that we are worse than a year ago. I'm sure we have improved a lot and we have a stronger package."

[skalls]

16 minutes ago, MIKA27 said:

Alonso says drivers may need 'X-rated' solutions for tear-off ban

 

Tricky solutions

 

Penalty question

Alonso added he was unsure about what the penalty would be for any driver who did throw his tear off on to the track.

"It is still not decided yet," he said. "We are still asking the FIA what will be the penalty, and there is still some debate about that."

I saw a video of an indycar sucking in one from a practice session last year.  The engine didn't survive.  Kinda understand why they don't want them thrown out into the track, but where else are they going?

[MIKA27]

28 minutes ago, skalls said:

I saw a video of an indycar sucking in one from a practice session last year.  The engine didn't survive.  Kinda understand why they don't want them thrown out into the track, but where else are they going?

Indeed but how often has that occurred in F1 over all these years?

I think a few years back one tear off went into an engine intake and caused minor overheating but was removed during a pit stop.

[skalls]

Yeah, i mean it'd have to be a freak coincidence to occur.  I don't think the Indycar folks really believe it's an issue that is bound to happen often.

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VERSTAPPEN: IT WAS PRETTY CRAZY IN HOLLAND

Ten days on from his record-breaking feats in Spain, Max Verstappen was in the spotlight again on Wednesday as he faced the media ahead of this weekend’s classic Monaco Grand Prix.

And just as he showed during his victory at the Circuit de Catalunya, the Dutch teenager was unflappable, calm and collected. Cool is simply not enough for this 18-year-old Dutchman.

“It was pretty crazy in Holland,” he said. “Luckily I didn’t go out too much on the streets I just spent my time with family and friends.”

Once he had recovered from his victory celebrations and done a day’s testing back at the scene of his triumph, Verstappen began his new life as his nation’s first Grand Prix winner and the youngest in the history of the sport.

He relished the fun and felt no pressures, “I try and turn it into positive pressure. As long as you’re enjoying it, and you feel happy, then that’s the most important thing .”

In Spain, he took full advantage of the gift that Mercedes threw his way when championship leader German Nico Rosberg collided with his teammate defending three-time world champion Briton Lewis Hamilton on the opening lap.

He showed his talent and his mental strength, so remarkable in someone so young, by managing his race to victory. On Wednesday, he was back to his normal ice-cold default setting.

“Mercedes are very strong, so it will be difficult to beat them,” he said. “I’m still getting used to the car. It will take a few races before you’re fully comfortable with the systems.”

Like his humble father Jos, the only other Dutchman to have been on an F1 podium – back in 1994 – this racing driver keeps his feet firmly on the ground.

“It’s not to be underestimated, what he’s done, and it’s great for F1,” said Rosberg sitting alongside him.

“Your first GP win, you’re over the moon,” said three-time champion German Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari. “I’m sure he wants to feel that again It’s up to us to make sure it doesn’t happen too often.”

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ALONSO SET FOR NEW HONDA ENGINE IN MONACO

Fernando Alonso is set to run a new Honda engine in his McLaren car at this weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix.

The move is part of his and the team’s bid to deliver solid confirmation of their progress this year on a circuit where they are tipped to go well.

The two-time world champion Spaniard is hoping for a strong result in the points and the team have reportedly made their decision to avoid any reliability problems following his engine trouble in Spain.

The new engine will be Alonso’s third out of a permitted total of five this year, but they have avoided using any performance tokens, according to close observers in the paddock.

Honda F1 boss Yusuke Hasegawa told reporters after the Spanish Grand Prix that they were being cautious – and strategic in their use of performance upgrades and tokens.

“We are developing all the time, but I need to decide the tactics about which Grands Prix we will have the upgrades We have no concrete plan,” he said.

McLaren chief Ron Dennis has claimed that his team will soon enjoy a resurgence of form and emerge as a leading power in the post-Mercedes era.

Alonso, winner of 32 Grands Prix, last celebrated a victory when he won his home Spanish Grand Prix for Ferrari in 2013.

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MONACO FP2: RICCIARDO WAY AHEAD CHASED BY MERCEDES DUO

Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo got the best out of a revised Renault engine to power to the top of the timing screens in the second free practice session for the Monaco Grand Prix, lapping ove half a second quicker than second bestLewis Hamilton of Mercedes.

The session got underway with Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg setting the early pace with a time of 1:16.694 on supersoft tyres before Hamilton usurped his team-mate with a lap of 1:15.489, again set on supersofts.

Romain Grosjean lost control of his Haas on the exit of the tunnel and hitting the barriers on his right-hand side on the approach to the Nouvelle Chicane.

Fifteen minutes into the session Ricciardo began to show his hand by taking top spot with a lap of 1m15.315 on the ultrasoft tyre before shaving a further three tenths off that time on his next tour.

Rio Haryanto was the next to exit the session in a collision, with the Manor driver also losing control on the tunnel exit, though the Indonesian’s impact was considerably heavier than Grosjean’s. Haryanto was quickly on the radio to report himself uninjured, however.

The Mercededs duo eventually bolted on the ultrasoft tyres, and both Hamilton and Rosberg vaulted up the order, with Hamilton setting a best time of 1:15.213 to sit 0.2 of a second off Ricciardo’s best. Rosberg was a further three tenths behind.

Ricciardo was clearly in no mood to give up the top spot, however, and he soon put himself out of reach with a best lap that made him the only driver to dip in the 1m14s bracket in the second session.

Fourth place went to Ricciardo’s Red Bull Racing team-mate Max Verstappen. The Spanish Grand Prix winner doesn’t have the upgraded Renault power unit at this event and he ended the session almost a second adrift of Ricciardo.

The young Dutchman ended up two tenths of a second clear of Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat, who was just over 1500ths of a second ahead of his team-mate Carlos Sainz.

Kimi Raikkonen finished seventh ahead of Force India’s Sergio Perez on a difficult afternoon for Ferrari. The Finn was 1.4 seconds down on Ricciardo. Team-mate Sebastian Vettel, meanwhile, was ninth quickest on an afternoon when had a spin at Mirabeau midway through the session, which caused rear wing damage, and then clipped the barrier at Ste Devote in the closing stages.

McLaren’s Jenson Button rounded out the top ten, with teammate Fernando Alonso a quarter second adrift in 12th .

Friday will be a break day for the F1 contingent before FP3 and qualifying on Saturday.

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VIDEO OF THE DAY: MCLAREN 50 YEARS OF F1

 

On May 22 1966, Bruce McLaren started a Formula 1 race in a chassis bearing his own name for the very first time.

The overweight and under-prepared M2B car only lasted nine laps before retiring with an oil leak, but the New Zealander had made his mark. The McLaren name would go on to become one of Formula 1 racing’s most enduring and competitive marques so far, winning grands prix and world championships for legendary drivers Emerson Fittipaldi, James Hunt, Niki Lauda, Alain Prost, Ayrton Senna, Mika Hakkinen and Lewis Hamilton.

In May 2016, 50 years later, McLaren once again heads to Monte-Carlo – the scene of the team’s debut – to mark its 50th anniversary in grand prix racing, celebrating the milestone with a host of online and social content that looks back at Monaco ’66 and the team’s incredible legacy.

Central to the campaign is an online film presented by McLaren’s corporate partner, luxury watch-making brand Richard Mille.

The film charts some of the pivotal moments in the team’s history – it kicks off at one of our earliest factories, a humble south London workshop, before following the tragedy of Bruce’s premature death in 1970, and the incredible successes in the 1970s and ’80s that established McLaren as one of F1’s most pre-eminent constructors.

Fernando Alonso: “I grew up watching McLaren racing in Formula 1 – those memories are part of who I am; they mark a point in my life that I’ll always remember fondly. To be racing in Monaco on the 50th anniversary of McLaren’s very first grand prix will be a powerful and inspiring feeling for me.

“It’s hard to believe that the whole team in Monaco back in 1966 comprised only six people – including Bruce and his wife! – but it’s proof of how much you can grow and develop something with sheer passion and determination.

“I will feel extremely proud wearing my McLaren-Honda overalls at Monaco on Sunday.”

Jenson Button: “McLaren is part of the very fabric of grand prix racing, and it’s appropriate and fitting that the team celebrates its 50th anniversary in Formula 1 in Monte-Carlo – the very place at which Bruce McLaren contested the team’s first-ever race, back in 1966.

“Despite its roots in New Zealand, McLaren feels like the quintessential British grand prix team – it’s been based in the UK for its entire lifetime – half a century – and has a set of values and sense of sporting fair-play unlike any other team in Formula 1.”

 

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ALONSO: RON AND ERIC ARE MY BOSSES I HAVE TO AGREE WITH THEM

Fernando Alonso  sounded surprised when told that McLaren chiefs Ron Dennis and Eric Boullier have been making very upbeat comments lately.

McLaren supremo Dennis has been talking about wins and team boss Boullier declared that the MP4-31 is even better than Ferrari’s.

“Who said that?” Alonso is quoted by Spanish media as having responded in Monaco to the media’s queries.

“That’s very optimistic, but if that’s what Eric and Ron say, then I have to agree with them because they are my bosses,” the Spaniard smiled.

Honda-powered McLaren is expecting a competitive weekend in Monaco but Alonso warned: “Mercedes will be strong, Red Bull will be strong, Ferrari will definitely be competitive. We must ensure that we are close to this group.”

Williams’ Felipe Massa also warned McLaren not to run away with optimism, despite the fact the British team is certainly improving.

“They are certainly performing better, but to be ahead of Ferrari? Unlikely,” said the Brazilian.

“McLaren is not in the shape to get ahead of the leading teams — I don’t think they have a car that is as good as a Mercedes, Red Bull or Ferrari,” he added.

Alonso, however, insisted that despite McLaren-Honda’s recent troubles, he is in the right place for the future.

“Red Bull is absolutely a top team and has a very good car,” he said. “But they have no manufacturer behind them. And Ferrari is always Ferrari.”

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BIANCHI FAMILY TO SUE MARUSSIA, FOM AND FIA

The family of the late French Formula One driver Jules Bianchi are planning legal action against the sport’s governing body, his former Marussia team and Bernie Ecclestone’s Formula One Group, they said in a statement on Thursday.

“We seek justice for Jules, and want to establish the truth about the decisions that led to our son’s crash at the Japanese Grand Prix in 2014,” his father Philippe said in the statement issued by British firm Stewarts Law.

“As a family, we have so many unanswered questions and feel that Jules’ accident and death could have been avoided if a series of mistakes had not been made.”

Bianchi, 25, died in hospital in his home town of Nice last July after suffering serious head injuries when he crashed into a recovery crane at Suzuka during the October 2014 race.

He was the first Formula One driver to die of injuries sustained during a race since Brazilian triple world champion Ayrton Senna in 1994.

Stewarts Law, representing the family in the English legal system, said formal pre-action letters of claim had been sent this week ahead of the Monaco Grand Prix.

The recipients were the governing International Automobile Federation (FIA), the defunct Marussia team who are racing under new ownership as Manor, and the Formula One Group.

Stewarts Law said errors were made in the planning, timing, organisation and conduct of the race and the family felt the actions of one or more of the named parties may have contributed to the fatal accident.

“The Bianchi family are determined that this legal process should require those involved to provide answers and to take responsibility for any failings,” said Stewarts partner Julian Chamberlayne.

“This is important if current and future drivers are to have confidence that safety in the sport will be put first. If this had been the case in Suzuka, Jules Bianchi would most likely still be alive and competing in the sport he loved today.”

There was no immediate response from the FIA, whose report into the accident said that the Frenchman had not slowed sufficiently under warning flags before crashing.

The report found Bianchi’s car hit the tractor at 126 kph and said medical services were not at fault in their handling of the aftermath.

Chamberlayne said it had been “surprising and distressing to the Bianchi family that the FIA panel in its conclusions, while noting a number of contributing factors, blamed Jules.”

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MONZA OFFICIALS UNHAPPY AS IMOLA STEPS UP GP BID

A Monza official has hit out at Imola, the former San Marino grand prix host that is reportedly shaping up as an alternative venue for Italy’s annual F1 race.

With negotiations between Monza and Bernie Ecclestone about 2017 and beyond still dragging on, officials at Imola – a famous circuit east of Bologna – have already had sit-down talks with the F1 supremo.

Now, Italian reports suggest Imola circuit president Uberto Selvatico Estense has followed up his recent meeting with a letter to Ecclestone.

“This is a disruptive action in the final stage of negotiations to rescue the grand prix at Monza,” a furious Angelo Sticchi Damiani, the Italian automobile club chief, said.

The German news agency SID claimed that Monza is now just EUR 2 million short of Ecclestone’s demands for a new contract costing 25 million per year.

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BERGER INVOLVED IN ROSBERG’S CONTRACT TALKS

Former F1 driver and team boss Gerhard Berger has revealed that he is involved in Nico Rosberg’s negotiations with Mercedes over a new contract beyond 2017.

Earlier, the former Ferrari and McLaren driver was quoted as saying he recommended that both parties “renew the contract”.

Now, Berger has confirmed to Germany’s Auto Bild that he is representing Rosberg in those talks.

“Keke (Rosberg) asked me if I would take over the negotiations for him,” Berger said. “But this has nothing to do with a collaboration in the future. It is purely an act of friendship.”

Berger and the Rosbergs’ relationship dates back years, including when as joint BMW motor sport director he arranged the now 30-year-old’s first F1 test for Williams.

Niki Lauda, Mercedes’ team chairman, confirmed the talks with Berger over Rosberg, “I talked with him (Berger) already yesterday.”

“I have negotiated with Gerhard before, when I was a Ferrari advisor and he the driver. I am curious to see what comes of it now,” Lauda added.

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Button ‘lucky’ drain cover stayed low

Jenson Button reckons he was lucky that the drain cover he hit in practice in Monaco only damaged his MP4-31.

Putting in the laps in the latter stages of FP1, Nico Rosberg dislodged a drain cover that hit Button’s McLaren.

The impact torn apart the right side of his front wing, sending the Brit into the pits for repairs.

The session was red flagged as marshals cleared the debris and FIA race director Charlie Whiting headed down to Ste Devote to ensure the drain cover was securely welded back down.

Speaking about his morning’s running, Button said: “The morning session was tough – we really struggled for grip – but started getting there in the afternoon.

“The day was made tougher for my side of garage by the drain cover, which came loose and broke through my front wing, front suspension, brake duct and floor.

“The mechanics did a great job to get the car ready for FP2, but we’ve still got a long way to go until we’re happy with our competitiveness.

“A racetrack is a controlled environment, and we take enough risks as racing drivers.

“Normally, the safety standards here are very good, but that incident is something we don’t want to see again.

“It was lucky that the drain cover stayed quite low on the ground.”

Button had a better second practice as he covered 46 laps and finished inside the top ten with a 1:16.325.

But still 1.718s off the pace set by Daniel Ricciardo, he says there is still work to be done.

“There’s still a big gap to the cars at the front,” he added, “but we’ll do our best in qualifying and I hope we’ll be more competitive.”

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Magnussen: We have made the car worse

Kevin Magnussen fears Renault have made their RS16 “worse” at a time when they thought they were making it better.

Although Magnussen was running Renault’s upgraded engine in Thursday’s practices in Monaco, he was not able to make strides forward on the timesheet.

He finished the afternoon’s running down in 17th place, almost three seconds slower than Daniel Ricciardo, who was running the same engine but in a Red Bull car.

“Not the best day really,” lamented Magnussen. “We thought we’d made a step forward in the test in Barcelona, but we’ve come here and we don’t have the car we expected.

“It’s all the chassis. The engine has delivered, it’s a good step. But for us we could have the best engine on the grid right now and we’d still be close to where we are.

“The engine is not our main concern at the moment. I’m very happy to say Renault has done a great job, they’ve achieved what they promised with the numbers and lap time goals, so that’s a good job from them and is very encouraging. We just have to improve our car.”

He added: “I think we have made the car worse and that’s a mistake for us because we thought we had made the car better.

“I’m sure some of the things we tried [at the test] were improvements but, balance-wise and set-up-wise, it’s not made the car better, for this track at least. I think we will revisit it at another race but, here, we’ll go back to what we know and see where we are.”

The Dane’s troubles were compounded by a crash at the final corner where he went nose first into the barriers.

“I just understeered into the wall. I turned in and had no grip,” he said. “Looking through the data I didn’t go any faster than the lap before, I hit the wall slightly, but it only damaged the front wing.

“The suspension is okay, which is nice for the mechanics as they’re not going to have such a long night.”

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Haryanto ‘alright’ after Monaco shunt

Despite a hard hit into the barriers in Monaco, Rio Haryanto feels “alright” and reckons he will be back in the car come Saturday’s practice.

The Indonesian rookie suffered a hard hit in FP2 at the Monte Carlo track as he lost control of his Manor on the approach to the Turn 10 chicane.

The car swapped ends and Haryanto hit the right side barriers, causing damage to the car although the driver walked away unhurt.

“I have time to recover. Hopefully, it should be all right,” he told journalists in the wake of Thursday’s practice. “I feel alright, just a bit unfortunate that we couldn’t finish the run program.

“I just lost it at Turn 10 because it’s quite bumpy and tricky.

“I was on the ultra-soft tyre on my second pushing lap, and I just lost the rear as it snapped. It just went into the wall.

“It’s a shame that happened, because we didn’t get to do a long run but looking at the performance today, we’re not that far from the Sauber.”

And although he covered just 10 laps in FP2, Haryanto still finished the session ahead of his team-mate Pascal Wehrlein. The duo were separated by 0.167s.

Haryanto added: “Pascal shouldn’t be underestimated. It’s his first time here and he’s doing really well.

“I have an advantage in knowing the track better than him [from GP2] but so far, I’m quite happy with my performance and making use of my experience like in GP2 and bringing it to F1.”