THE MONACO GP weekend was by far the most exciting both on and off track. On track we had drivers, both experienced and rookies, crash into the famous barriers of Monaco. Michael Schumacher, Tonio Liuzzi, Nico Rosberg, Sergio Perez were a few drivers that crashed on the weekend. Off track we saw Lewis Hamilton in action with the FIA Stewards, who penalized him post qualifying and post race.
Narain Karthikeyan had a not so productive weekend in Monaco. The positive that he could take away from the Principality would be that his HRT F111 is reliable enough to finish GP distances. The only thing his car lacks is overall pace. The F111 was on an average 4 seconds off the pace at the front of the grid. Should HRT be able to develop their car and make it go faster, I am hopeful of Narain competing with the Virgin and Team Lotus Racing cars this season.
Currently Narain’s only competitor is his team-mate Vitantonio Liuzzi and Narain did fare well against him in Monaco. Narain picked up pace through the weekend and from being a second off Tonio’s pace in Friday’s Free Practice, he was only a tenth off in Saturday’s Free Practice. A rear suspension problem meant that Narain was unable to participate in Saturday’s qualifying. In the race, Narain’s fastest lap was 1.2 seconds slower than Tonios’. Narain finished a full lap down on Tonio and 4 laps down from the eventual winner Sebastian Vettel.
Force India registered their best finish yet of the 2011 season. After qualifying outside the top ten, both drivers started 14th and 15th, Paul di Resta out-qualifying team-mate Adrian Sutil by 4 hundredths of a second. A one-stop strategy and bit of luck from the safety car period saw Adrian Sutil race as high as 4th in the middle sections of the race. Sutil’s driving was most commendable as he kept a charging Kamui Kobayashi at bay for nearly 20 laps, eventually giving away due to tyre problems. Sutil made use of the second safety car period to pit again for a fresh set of tyres that saw him lose little time in the pitlane. Eventually, Sutil brought the VJM04 home in 7th place, a lap down on the leaders.
Paul di Resta on the other hand had an action packed race that saw him finish 12th after he was handed a mid-race drive through penalty for a collision with a Toro Rosso car. The Force India team also registered the fastest pit stops in Monaco as Paul managed a 24.970 and Adrian clocked 25.037 during their round of pit stops. The Force India team’s updates seem to be working and I am hopeful for a similar performance in Montreal.
Force India’s F1 Academy enters its last two legs of Chennai and Amritsar in the next two weeks. The academy has successfully completed the hunt for its next F1 driver in 5 cities and has witnessed top quality participation. Hopefuls between the ages of 14-17yrs can either visit the karting tracks in their city or visit onefromabillion.com to register.
On the Indian GP front, there is possibility that Indian F1 fans might need to wait till December to witness F1 cars racing in India the first time. The Indian GP slot in October might just be handed over to Bahrain, should the organizers of the Bahrain GP decide to reinstate the event this year. If Bahrain takes over the 28-30th October slot, the Indian GP will be moved to December. The slot that is currently being discussed is 9th-11th December.
Postponing the GP would be a win-win for all involved. Bernie Ecclestone and FOM will earn revenue in the form of hosting fees (they had waived off the fee due to the cancellation), the teams will receive full sponsorship money for the 2011 season since there will be 20 races in the season and the Indian GP organizers will get 5 extra weeks to deliver a world-class event!
