Daily Update Formula1 News

Felipe Massa will start tomorrow's Monaco Grand Prix from pole position after snatching the top spot from Ferrari teammate Kimi Raikkonen by less than three hundredths of a second.
Ferrari locked out the front row, despite McLaren having looked quicker throughout the weekend so far. Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen had to settle for sharing the second row of the grid.
Hamilton and Kovalainen began qualifying by trading quickest times in Q1, but Massa pulled a 1:15.1 out of the bag in the dying seconds. The Brazilian repeated the time with his first effort in Q2 and it remained unbeaten as he went on to top all three parts of qualifying.
Raikkonen seemed to have secured pole position when his last effort proved just out of reach of Hamilton, but Massa, last on track again, stole the top spot by the smallest of margins with the final lap of the session.

The McLarens were quickest in the first sector, but lost out ultimately because they weren't able to match the pace of the Ferraris in the longer second sector of the lap.
Robert Kubica was best of the rest in fifth place, ahead of Nico Rosberg, who finished Q2 in second place after setting an excellent 1:15.287 on the harder tyre.
Fernando Alonso will start seventh after only just making it into the final session with his last lap of Q2. The Spaniard complained of a lack of grip in his Renault, but managed to qualify ahead of Jarno Trulli and Mark Webber in the end.
David Coulthard completed the top ten despite being unable to run in the final session.
Several drivers' last efforts in Q2 were affected when Coulthard struck the barrier when he lost it under braking for the chicane. That left Nick Heidfeld 13th, and both Hondas, Kazuki Nakajima, and Timo Glock also in the drop zone at the end of the session.
Rubens Barrichello ended up 15th but is under investigation by the stewards for blocking one of Giancarlo Fisichella's laps in Q1.
Nelson Piquet's qualifying struggles continued as he was knocked out in Q1. The Brazilian nearly clipped the barrier at Portier on his penultimate lap and his final attempt was only good enough for 17th on the grid.
Both of Scuderia Toro Rosso's new cars were also knocked out in the first round. Sebastien Bourdais was unlucky not to make it through, with his last lap just half a tenth slower than Kazuki Nakajima in 15th.
Sebastian Vettel and Giancarlo Fisichella will start from the final row of the grid. Each had a five-place grid penalty for changing their gearbox, but only qualified 18th and 20th anyway.
Pos Driver Team Q1 Q2 Q3
1. Massa Ferrari (B) 1:15.190 1:15.110 1:15.787
2. Raikkonen Ferrari (B) 1:15.717 1:15.404 1:15.815
3. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:15.582 1:15.322 1:15.839
4. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:15.295 1:15.389 1:16.165
5. Kubica BMW Sauber (B) 1:15.977 1:15.483 1:16.171
6. Rosberg Williams-Toyota (B) 1:15.935 1:15.287 1:16.548
7. Alonso Renault (B) 1:16.646 1:15.827 1:16.852
8. Trulli Toyota (B) 1:16.306 1:15.598 1:17.203
9. Webber Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:16.074 1:15.745 1:17.343
10. Coulthard Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:16.086 1:15.839 No time
11. Glock Toyota (B) 1:16.285 1:15.907
12. Button Honda (B) 1:16.259 1:16.101
13. Heidfeld BMW Sauber (B) 1:16.650 1:16.455
14. Nakajima Williams-Toyota (B) 1:16.756 1:16.479
15. Barrichello Honda (B) 1:16.208 1:16.537
16. Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:16.806
17. Piquet Renault (B) 1:16.933
18. Vettel Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:16.955
19. Sutil Force India-Ferrari (B) 1:17.225
20. Fisichella Force India-Ferrari (B) 1:17.823
ref[AS]
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For the second time in three races, Ferrari have utilised their vented nosecone assembly in Monaco. The solution, which improves the car's overall aero balance, works best at high-downforce tracks like Monte Carlo, and the Italian team have further refined it with the addition of two triangular, inclined winglets (inset) at the base of the nosecone. These are designed to help divert away turbulence generated by the front-wing pillars and hence enhance the efficiency of the bottom hole.

ref:[formula1.com]


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For nearly 80 years, the Monaco Grand Prix has challenged drivers to tame the tight and twisty streets of a race track which winds its way through the second smallest nation on earth. At just two square kilometres, and with the highest national population density in Europe, Monaco is unique on the Formula One calendar. That 350km/h race cars still do battle on its treacherous turns in the 21st century is testament to the enduring fascination of the Monaco Grand Prix.
For most in Formula One racing, Monaco is in equal parts a trial and a joy; with the tight confines challenging everyone in the paddock, but the history, glamour and unrivalled atmosphere stoking the flames of passion in all motorsport enthusiasts.
Richard Cregan, Toyota team manager, sums it up: "Monaco is one of the great races of the year. It is an icon in terms of Formula One and a driver on a flying lap in Monaco, I believe, earns his salary for the year right there. But you also have the great atmosphere of being in Monaco; the glitz and the glamour combined with Formula One racing. You have an enthusiasm, a passion that you probably don't get at too many circuits in Formula One."
Jarno Trulli has a passion for racing and some incredible memories of Monaco's legendary streets, having won his first Grand Prix in 2004 with a superb performance from pole position. Of course, that kind of result will always give happy memories but regardless, for Trulli, Monaco is always a special place.
"My race win here was the perfect Monaco souvenir," he says. "I have a lot of fun at Monaco, it is a very different Grand Prix and I find it very exciting. There is more risk there and you need a good feeling with the car to succeed. It is difficult to explain why this race track is so special. The guard rail is very close and it seems very fast; it is a great challenge and you need total concentration. It is just a great circuit."

With unforgiving walls just centimetres away, drivers are given no margin for error, which makes Monaco one of the most mentally demanding races of the year. In terms of the cars, it may be tempting, logical even, to assume the slowest race on the calendar is the least demanding, but that could not be further from the truth. Monaco is not only a unique challenge for a driver; it places very special demands on a Formula One car as well.
With so many slow-speed corners, drivers spend almost the entire 3.34 km lap working their way through the gears, adding up to nearly 4,000 gear changes over a race distance, and that is just one element of Monaco's mechanical menace, as Toyota’s chief race and test engineer, Dieter Gass, explains.
"It is a circuit which is mechanically very demanding because there are a lot of gear changes due to the fact you are always working in the lower part of the ratios," he says. "So there is a lot of work for the gearbox - between every corner the driver is shifting up and down.
"This track is very demanding for the brakes as well because of the low average speed and the lack of long straights where you would cool down your brakes. Consequently the average temperature of the brakes is very, very high and this means you have to be very carefully about your brake cooling."
Engine cooling, too, can be a major issue. While the rich and famous sip ice-cold cocktails, with a cool sea breeze wafting over their luxurious balconies in the May sunshine, a Formula One car gasps for air around the chokingly tight streets.
At other circuits, long straights represent welcome relief for an engine, with relatively cooler air blasting past the radiators at 350km/h to trim temperatures, but Monaco has a distinct shortage of straights. Luckily, that also means high downforce, rather than high top speed, is the order of the day, so there is more leeway than normal for aerodynamics to be tweaked to help out.

"The aerodynamic package will be our maximum downforce package," says Toyota’s head of aerodynamics, Mark Gillan. "We are not so concerned about drag so you will see appendages going on the car which wouldn't normally be on for reasons of efficiency and you will see different cooling options on the car as well to try to get maximum cooling. You also tend to try as much front aero balance, with big front wings, so really the car is trimmed for maximum downforce."
For all Monaco's technical challenge, its appeal is more basic; just to be so close to the action, surrounded by the fastest racing cars on earth, is an intoxicating experience, even for Formula One regulars.
"There is no run-off so the cars are very close to the walls and close to the public and that is probably what makes it so special for us," says Pascal Vasselon, Toyota’s senior general chassis manager. "It is the only place where you really feel, hear and smell the speed of the cars. For me every Monaco Grand Prix is really special - it is where I really feel what I am doing."
ref[formula1.com]
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