Monte Carlo: expensive yachts, lavish food and drink, amazing scenery and the famous casino—but above all, home to the Monaco Grand Prix since 1929. With its prestige and glamour, Monaco is called the crown jewel of the F1 calendar for a reason. Part of the Triple Crown along with the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Indianapolis 500, this Grand Prix is the one that all drivers want to win. It is here at in Monaco where legends are born, with six-time winner Ayrton Senna being the greatest of all. Monaco, with all its racing heritage, is a legendary track and one that drivers enjoy.
Steve Etherington/Mercedes AMG
However, Monaco is not without its problems. The 2018 race was slammed by fans all over the world, with some going so far as to call it the “most boring race ever” and argue for it to be dropped from the calendar altogether.
And it’s not just the fans. World champions Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso were also among the critics of this year’s Monaco event. In post-race interviews Hamilton said: “We were just cruising around. It wasn’t really racing.” He also said he’d spoken to Prince Albert of Monaco about potential changes to the circuit to improve future races. Alonso—who retired from the race with gearbox problems—went even further, suggesting F1 needed to “give something to the fans” to reimburse their tickets after what he called “probably the most boring race ever”.
This by no means is a way to say that this race was enjoyable to watch. With not much overtaking happening, it became a bit dull. But Monaco has never been a race in which much overtaking has been expected. Spectators know that watching this race will probably mean watching a parade. Monaco was never meant to be the most spectacular race in the world from an overtaking perspective. With the cars getting really close to the barriers, it is almost impossible to overtake. But that’s just the tracks nature. The circuit has already undergone some changes throughout the years, but the overtaking never really increased. That doesn’t mean though that overtaking can’t happen, nor that it is impossible.
Steven Tee/McLaren
For example, Max Verstappen made more on-track overtakes at this year’s Monaco Grand Prix then there were overtakes in total following lap 1 of the Australian Grand Prix, where only five on-track overtakes took place. Albert Park thus didn’t deliver lots of overtaking. Both being street circuits, it might be obvious which one is more popular with the fans and drivers alike.
As a track Monaco is one of the most enjoyable of the calendar for the drivers, as it is a very unforgiving circuit. Especially on Saturday, when qualifying can make a difference between potentially winning one of F1’s most prestigious events, or starting from the back which means you’ll have to try and overtake. Isn’t that the thing that we should enjoy from Monaco? The drivers going full throttle for 78 laps through those tight, unforgiving streets with danger in every corner. Trying to overtake with those speeds through those streets. One mistake could end their race. Any loss of concentration could leave them open to an overtake or a race-ending crash. That alone should be enough excitement for them, and for the fans.
Getty Images/Red Bull Content Pool
Feature image courtesy of Sahara Force India F1 Team
Ah, Monte Carlo, the signature event on the Formula One calendar. While the 2018 Monaco Grand Prix won’t go down in history as the most exciting race (the word ‘processional’ comes to mind), the challenging nature of the circuit itself makes for an interesting technical race. This season’s running certainly offered up some worthwhile moments, though the lack of a full Safety Car made it seem like it wasn’t quite Monaco.
Daniel Ricciardo leading the pack in Monaco. Image courtesy of Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool
Daniel Ricciardo stole the show with his masterful pace control from pole position. Capitalising on a clean start, he was able to back the field up for the first several laps, babysitting his hypersoft tyres. Several other drivers commented on the slow pace of the opening stint, but due to the difficulties of overtaking on the narrow streets of Monte Carlo nobody was able to mount an effective attack.
The race appeared to begin in earnest around lap 15, when Ricciardo opened up the throttle. Responding to Vettel’s lap 16 pit stop, Red Bull pulled Ricciardo in for a set of ultrasofts on lap 17. Enjoying a comfortable lead, Ricciardo rejoined the race in first.
On lap 28 Ricciardo reported losing power. While Ricciardo later admitted that Red Bull had identified an issue with the MGU-K on lap 18, it was ten laps later when he announced the problem. Despite being down on power, and further only able to use six of his eight gears, Ricciardo was able to manage his pace remarkably.
As the race progressed, pervasive graining on the left front tyre helped discourage Vettel and others on ultrasofts from pursuing too aggressive an approach, whereas the Red Bull’s chassis served tyre management well. In time, Vettel’s tyres settled in and he was able to mount an attack on Ricciardo, but the Red Bull man defended brilliantly.
A late Virtual Safety Car played into Ricciardo’s hands, as Stoffel Vandoorne’s McLaren emerged from the pits between Ricciardo and Vettel, albeit a lap down. This traffic allowed Ricciardo to rebuild a lead that saw him cross the finish line over 7 seconds ahead of Vettel to claim victory. After the stunning strategy mistake of 2016 cost him that win, this victory was particularly sweet for the Australian. The fact that he remained in P1 through the entire race could’ve only sweetened it further. His Driver of the Day award was well-earned.
Max Verstappen – image courtesy of Rob Smalley / Red Bull Content Pool
On the other side of the Red Bull garage, Max Verstappen drove a solid race. Starting from the back of the grid, he had claimed both Haas cars on the opening lap, and patiently climbed the order. Verstappen maintained a cool head throughout the race, shepherding his starting set of ultrasofts for 47 laps.
Despite some early complaints of pitting late for a set of hypersofts, he engaged in a duel with Carlos Sainz in which both drivers cut chicanes (leading to an amusing radio call of, “He cut the chicane!” from Sainz who moments before did exactly the same thing) resulting in a warning from the pit wall to keep his overtaking clean. After a weekend of trouble and serious errors in previous races, Max drove a clean race to finish in ninth, up from 20th.
Sebastian Vettel at Monaco 2018. Finishing 2nd. Image courtesy of Ferarri.com
Scuderia Ferrari delivered a workmanlike race, though not terribly memorable. Sebastian Vettel consistently kept pressure on Ricciardo, though he wasn’t able to overtake. The pervasive left front graining on the ultrasoft tyres combined with the narrow streets prevented him from pushing past Ricciardo. Technical gremlins briefly popped up for the German on lap 41, causing a brief blackout on his dash. Happily, this wasn’t to become a more serious issue. Vandoorne’s late pitstop during the VSC period sealed Vettel’s second place.
Kimi Räikkönen, despite pushing hard against Lewis Hamilton, was similarly unable to make any meaningful gains. Suffering from the ubiquitous trouble with his left front tyre, the Finn started and finished in fourth.
On the Mercedes front, it looked briefly like Valtteri Bottas might have a chance at upsetting the order as Mercedes elected to send him out on supersofts after pitting on lap 17. While he avoided the graining issues that held up the other drivers at the sharp end of the grid, tyre temperature issues caused him to back off from Räikkönen for several laps, and he wasn’t able to mount a serious challenge to his fellow Finn. Bottas further continued the trend of finishing where he started, in fifth.
Championship leader Lewis Hamilton, while vocal about his tyre issues, race pace and so forth, wasn’t able to do much about any of it either. Starting in third, he finished in third.
Steve Etherington/Mercedes AMG
And so it went for the frontrunners (and Max), though there was a bit more excitement down the grid.
Perhaps the most exciting moment of the race came on lap 72, when local boy Charles Leclerc’s Sauber suffered a brake failure while approaching the chicane. Accompanied by a large puff of brake dust (and brakes), he plowed into the back of Brendan Hartley’s Toro Rosso. While Hartley limped back to the pits to retire, Race Control invoked the Virtual Safety Car while marshals recovered the damaged Sauber.
Leclerc’s teammate Marcus Ericsson had a much less eventful race, finishing in 13th, from starting in 16th.
Pierre Gasly. Image courtesy of Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool
Scuderia Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly drove an excellent race. Starting in tenth, he shepherded his used set of hypersofts for 37 laps before pitting for supersofts. Avoiding drama, the Frenchman put in a workmanlike drive to finish in seventh.
Renault displayed an admirable amount of teamwork and coordination when defending against Max Verstappen’s charge. On lap 55, Nico Hulkenberg, running in ninth, clearly had pace over teammate Carlos Sainz, who was running in eighth. Sainz did a brilliant job of ceding eighth to Hulkenberg while preventing Verstappen from following through the door. Though Sainz would eventually lose ninth to the Dutchman, he didn’t give up the position without a fight. Hulkenberg proceeded to finish in eighth, up from eleventh, while Sainz finished in ninth, down from eighth.
It’s tempting to say that McLaren’s early form is waning, though there are still many races left in the season. Long-suffering Fernando Alonso suffered his first retirement of the season, with a gearbox failure on lap 54 after running in the points. His teammate Stoffel Vandoorne finished in 14th, having stymied Vettel’s chances, starting from 12th. Perhaps Ricciardo will send him a fruit basket for his efforts, or at least a nice note.
Sahara Force India F1 Team
Force India suffered from bad luck on one side of the garage, as a troublesome right rear wheel caused Sergio Perez’s lap 23 pit stop to run precious seconds long. Though emerging on the durable supersoft tyres, he was unable to make up positions and finished in 12th, down from his starting position of ninth. Teammate Esteban Ocon, though, despite some graining in the middle stint, had a relatively trouble-free drive to finish where he started, in sixth.
Williams is… continuing to be Williams. The storied organisation’s run of poor performance continued today, even before the race start. Sergey Sirotkin was given a 10-second stop/go penalty for not having his tyres fitted by the 3-minute warning, and was investigated again when it appeared that his crew worked on his car while he served the penalty. He was cleared of this, and went on to finish in 16th, down from 13th.
Lance Stroll had an eventful, though negative, outing. One could be excused for thinking that Stroll was attempting to fill in the punches on his Frequent Pit Stop card, pitting three times. Pitting on lap 9 for a new front wing and supersoft tyres, he emerged in 20th and would have remained there save for retirements up the field. Subsequent stops in laps 34 and 59 for fresh sets of hypersofts didn’t help him overmuch. The Canadian finished in 17th, where he started.
Glenn Dunbar/Williams F1
Haas too continued to struggle. After qualifying 18th and 19th, both of the drivers failed to make significant gains on-track, though they did finish ahead of both Williams’. Kevin Magnussen, this season’s points-generator for the American team, finished out of the points in 13th, while Romain Grosjean finished in 15th.
At the end of the day, Lewis Hamilton retains the lead in the Drivers Championship with 100 points, with Sebastian Vettel in second with 96. Daniel Ricciardo rounds out the top three, with 72 points. On the Constructors side, the teams so far mirror the driver standings. Mercedes leads Ferrari by 178 to 156, and Red Bull is comfortably in third with 107 points.
As we approach Canada, the Drivers and Constructors Championships are still wide open. It should be exciting to see how the teams cope with the demands of the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve in Montréal under the new regulations. Stick with us on the weekend of 8–10 June for your Grand Prix du Canada coverage.
Featured image courtesy of Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool
Carlin Motorsport’s Billy Monger says he is getting used to the challenges that the British F3 series has thrown at him this season.
The 19-year-old drives an adapted car having lost both of his legs in an F4 accident at Donnington Park a year ago.
Those adaptations feature a throttle paddle behind right of his steering wheel, while the gear shifting paddles are both on the left.
Monger says that it has been difficult, but he is getting on top of the added challenges.
“Of course it has been a challenge because the step up from F4 to F3 is already massive on its own along with the fact that I’m learning new controls as well.
“It has been a steep learning curve, but I do feel like I’m getting the hang of it now.”
At the first weekend at Oulton Park, the man from Surrey took a fairytale podium, but at Rockingham things did not go his way with two races lost to incidents and contact.
At Snetterton, he was closer to the sharp end of the field with a seventh, a ninth and a sixth and feels that the first dry weekend of the season helped him.
“In the dry I feel more confident in the car than the rain because the hand throttle is quite difficult in the wet but I’m getting on alright.
“The feel is different from hands to with feet, it is difficult to get a feel for everything, that is something I have to learn really.”
And one of the championship’s bigger names is confident of fighting for the top three after misfortune earlier in the season.
“We’re definitely competitive enough, it’s just about having the luck on our side to put us up there fighting for podiums and wins.”
Monger does concede that his long-term involvement in the championship depends on finance and sponsorship, but is keen to stay with Carlin.
“The plan is to finish the season with Carlin in British F3, it does depend on budget and sponsorship, those are things that will come into play with regards to whether I can finish the season or not.
“We want a good solid position in the championship come the end of the year.”
The principality of Monaco is the jewel in the crown of the Formula 1 season. It’s one of the triple crown of motorsport, the others being the Indianapolis 500 and Le Mans 24 Hours. The tight and twisty track leaves little room for error, giving a full punishment for hitting the wall, as some experienced this weekend, one in paticular. There was without a doubt a driver of the weekend no one can argue with that.
Ricciardo – 10
? courtesy of Pirelli Motorsports
Super from the Honeybadger, his best win without a doubt, the first time he has won a Grand Prix starting within the first two rows. He was fastest in all practice and qualifying sessions on Saturday. On Sunday he once again in a different league, he got off the line well, and pulled away from the field. The problems came with his engine many thought the curse had struck again but with a car much less power he kept his cool to win! Redemption from 2016, a great drive, his best win out of the seven wins. He led every lap of the race and without a doubt driver of the day!
Vettel – 8
A solid drive and took points off Hamilton. His start was great but Ricciardo just closed the gap so was unable to overtake. Kept Ricciardo within distance but does seem Ferrari are harder on their tyres. Coasted to second late on as he struggled to get back up to pace.
Hamilton – 7
An uneventful weekend for the Championship leader three points lost a damage limitation race leaving a 14 points gap between him and Vettel. Mercedes knew that this wasn’t a good track for them and felt they had the third fastest car. Hamilton nearly caught Vettel midway through the race but fell away late on. Good haul of points.
Raikkonen – 7
In the battle of the number two drivers Kimi won this time. He was close to getting ahead of Hamilton and Vettel in qualifying. At a stage all three were 0.005 apart, but others improved whilst he didn’t. The cool Finn kept it out the walls and helped Ferrari outscore Mercedes.
Bottas – 6
He was off pace all weekend and at one stage it was touch and go in Q2 whether he would get through as Mercedes tried a different strategy. He left it really late to get in to the shootout. Due to his choice of tyres he had better grip which allowed him to close the gap, he didn’t have a lunge to even test Raikkonen with his better traction.
Ocon – 9
Best of the rest from the Frenchman, only 5 seconds behind Bottas. Force India tend to not be known for their downforce and more their top speed hence previous results at Baku. Great qualifying and racecraft, a seasoned veteran now.
Gasly – 8
Pierre continues to impress, technically still a rookie season as he only drove for a few races last year from Round 15 onwards. The Honda engines not as bad in previous years, especially Monaco hiding the disadvantage. He battled with Alonso and Hulkenburg whilst keeping it clean. A long stint on the hypersoft gave him this chance, an opportunistic driver.
Hulkenberg – 7
A points finish after his two DNF’s in Baku and Barcelona. Just what he needed, he may of been out qualified on Saturday but a strong drive on Sunday gave him what he more often than not achieves for his team, points!
Verstappen – 6
The Dutchman needs to learn that sometimes you don’t need to go 100%. This was costly for him over the weekend when clearly Red Bull had the fastest car. A crash in FP3 in the swimming pool section, identical to a crash in 2016 cost him action in qualifying. The car was not rebuilt in time after a deeper look and had to start last. Max was more like himself on Sunday from great overtakes to score points but feel he was thinking about race win prior to third practice. Disapointing once again, involved in a collision somehow in the last six Grand Prix weekends.
Sainz – 6
The Spaniard had an unimpressive Sunday and left the principality with only one point after qualifying so well. He did a great job to defend his position from Ericcson at the end.
Ericcson – 7
A good race in the streets of Monaco for the Swede. Finished in a solid P11, and was right up Sainz’s gearbox for the final stages. Seems a Sunday driver more than a Saturday, made the most positions up besides Verstappen.
Perez – 5
Finished 47 seconds behind his team mate which would of dented his confidence within himself. He had great pace as got through to Q3 but only went backwards on Sunday. Great potential, left with nothing.
Magnussen – 5
Out performed his team mate in a poor weekend for the Haas team. Hopefully just a blip for the Dane, has raced well at upcoming tracks but no joy in Monaco. Rather little happened to comment.
Vandoorne – 5
Another performance where very little was seen of him. Finished the race behind his starting grid position. He did have the pace it seemed in practice but it fell away on Sunday.
Grosjean – 4
Romain was already in hot water as he carried a three place grid penalty over from Barcelona. Haas where of form and couldn’t get their car in the sweet spot, so much so they ran 19th and 20th for the early laps. Grosjean seems to be in a rut and this race did him no favours.
Sirotkin – 6
The result hides what a great early weekend he had. He blitzed his team mate and made Q2. He suffered from two punctures but seems to be finally getting to grips with the Williams.
Stroll – 5
Sirotkin made Stroll look silly as a whole this weekend. The Canadian qualified P18 and was nowhere to anyone in the race. Finished last of who took the chequered flag. Williams as a whole hope Canada, a more power influenced track will push them up the grid.
Leclerc – 7
His record at Monaco isn’t that hot, and it continues. He failed to finish in both Formula 2 races last year. A brake failure ended his day early as he collided with Hartley. He couldn’t avoid the incident so unlike Verstappen his rating wasn’t hindered by it. Once more made it into Q2 and qualified strongly.
Hartley – 6
A waste of such a good weekend for Toro Rosso and on this side of the garage. Seventh fastest in practice as he failed to get out of Q3. He collided on the first lap damaging his car. Taken out by Leclerc but the pressure continues to mount.
Alonso – 6
I wonder if Fernando would of liked to be in America once again rather than Monaco. A gearbox failure on the front straight whilst battling with Gasly late on ended his race. He was deep into the points and raced well. Not a fan of Monaco this year and had a few choice words to say to the media.
We go from the heavily downforce influenced track of Monaco to the more power influenced track of Montreal in Canada in 2 weeks time. Renault and Honda are bringing substantial upgrades to their engines which should help the teams that use them.
The main questions are if this would help Red Bull still keep the top step of the podium or will Mercedes bounce back to the top?
Once again, the Indy 500 delivered an action-packed race full of twists, turns and the inevitable cautions, seven this time! We had a new Indy 500 victor in Will Power, who now tops the championship as a result of his 100-point haul, but the likes of Ed Carpenter, Scott Dixon and Alexander Rossi all put up very good fights. It wasn’t all plain sailing though, the new, lower downforce cars coupled with the higher temperatures and subsequently lower grip caught more than one notable driver out.
Starting at the top, Power may have taken the win and led a sizeable number of laps in the process however, it wasn’t until well after half-way in that he actually took the lead for the first time. After qualifying third, Power dropped back at the start but regained the lost ground at the first round of pit stops under the first caution, gaining three positions in one go and putting him back up to third. In the latter quarter of the race, Power’s win rarely looked in doubt but there was very nearly a surprise when Stefan Wilson, Jack Harvey and Oriol Servia all didn’t pit under the last caution. Wilson led the race for three laps after the restart, making him and his late brother Justin the fourth set of brothers to do so, but it wasn’t to be as all three drivers had to pull into the pits having run out of fuel. With those three out of the way, Power had a clear track ahead of him to take a dominant win, well ahead of Carpenter and Dixon. Power, along with his Penske squad, was clearly elated in victory circle and it was a win he certainly deserved after a less than great start to the season.
Super-speedway specialist, Carpenter, was tipped by many to take the victory and seemed in charge in the opening stages of the race but he was overhauled by first Tony Kanaan and then, once Kanaan had eliminated himself from the lead with a puncture, Power who went on to the victory. Carpenter had taken a few front row starts at the Indy 500 before but never a win, he was confident that he could rectify that before the race but the cautions and changes in strategy just didn’t play into his favour and he was left in a rather disappointing second. A story of what could’ve been for Carpenter who knows time is fast running out for him to get that elusive Indy 500 win.
Scot Dixon. Indycar 2018: Round Six – image courtesy of hondanews.eu
Third on the road was Dixon who managed to not go flying this year to take a well-deserved podium. The #9 Chip Ganassi driver had a fairly quiet first half of the race, other than very nearly crashing with Sebastien Bourdais, often running within the top five but never taking the lead however, he rolled the dice under the sixth caution by pitting and trying to make the end. Once the rest of the pit stops had cycled out, Dixon found himself in the net lead and a fair amount ahead of Power however, he was soon caught on his older tyres with both Power and Carpenter blasting past, leaving Dixon to fend off Rossi and Ryan Hunter-Reay. That he did, taking third and propelling himself into fourth in the championship.
Rossi was, amazingly, the bookmakers favourite going into the race despite the fact that he was starting second-to-last in thirty-second. After enjoying the last row club, along with Harvey and Conor Daly, it was down to business for the #27 Andretti driver. He made up a good six positions in the first five laps, but his progress stalled somewhat, only making up a further three positions in the next forty laps. By the third caution, Rossi had made it up to twelfth before he made incredible progress on the fourth restart, going around the outside, in very brave fashion, of just about everyone in his group. This trait was continued on the fifth restart when he went high to take a further two cars, putting him into third. The last round of pit stops didn’t play into the 2016 winner’s hands with Rossi eventually having to settle for fourth but gaining twenty-seven positions in one race is nothing to be ashamed of!
Penske, despite the win, didn’t have the best of days with their other three drivers. Josef Newgarden’s off strategy gamble under the third caution didn’t really pay off and, after being as low as twentieth, he was only able to recover an eighth-place finish putting him ten points back from the lead in the championship. Simon Pagenaud went fairly unnoticed throughout the race but a long last stop quashed any remaining chance the Frenchman had of a podium, eventually coming home in sixth. The last Penske of Helio Castroneves was the most unfortunate after he was the cause of the fifth caution. He was clearly upset after losing the rear and ending up hitting the inside wall, but he wasn’t along in doing so.
Danica Patrick’s last race. Image courtesy of media.gm.com
First to fall foul of these oversteer-prone cars was last year’s third place finisher, and arguably Rookie of the Year, Ed Jones who ploughed into the wall, causing the second caution of the day. This crash was repeated by Danica Patrick whose fairy-tale final race at Indy was ended when she too lost the rear after struggling with her car all day. Bourdais, Sage Karam and Kanaan all had very similar crashes to Jones and Patrick with those three causing the fourth, sixth and seventh cautions respectively.
Takuma Sato. Indycar 2018: Round Six – Indy 500, Indianapolis. Image courtesy of media.gm.com
All but one of the cautions were caused by a single car crash which is very unusual for the Indy 500, usually famed for its wrecks. The only exception to that rule was the very first caution which was caused by last year’s winner, Takuma Sato, hitting the back of James Davison. Davison had been running considerably slower than the cars around him for quite a number of laps before Sato was caught out by the pace differential coming out of the corner, leaving him a passenger as he hit the side of Davison.
All drivers were thankfully ok following their incidents, with only Jones’ in slight doubt for next week’s double header at Detroit after being taken to hospital as a precautionary measure with head and neck pain.
It hasn’t been announced yet, but Schmidt Peterson’s Robert Wickens is expected to take Rookie of the Year after an impressive ninth place finish in the absence of bumped teammate James Hinchcliffe.
Will Power, driver of the #12 Verizon Team Penske IndyCar Chevrolet V6, celebrates his victory Sunday, May 27, 2018, after winning the Verizon IndyCar 102nd running of the Indianapolis 500 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indianapolis, Indiana. This is the first Indy 500 win for Power and the 17th win for team owner Roger Penske. Image courtesy of media.gm.com and the photo by Phillip Abbott/LAT for Chevy Racing.
With the 102nd running done, it won’t be long before talk points to the 103rd running of the Indy 500 however, for now, IndyCar heads to the double header that is the Duel in Detroit next weekend before completing the second, and most valuable, triple header at Texas Motor Speedway.
Full Race Result:
Will Power
Ed Carpenter
Scott Dixon
Alexander Rossi
Ryan Hunter-Reay
Simon Pagenaud
Carlos Munoz
Josef Newgarden
Robert Wickens (R)
Graham Rahal
JR Hildebrand
Marco Andretti
Matheus Leist (R)
Gabby Chaves
Stefan Wilson
Jack Harvey
Oriol Servia
Charlie Kimball
Zachary Claman De Melo (R)
Spencer Pigot
Conor Daly
Max Chilton
Zach Veach (R)
Jay Howard
DNF – Tony Kanaan, Sage Karam, Helio Castroneves, Sebastien Bourdais, Kyle Kaiser (R), Danica Patrick, Ed Jones, Takuma Sato, James Davison
Lanan Motorsport’s Kush Maini remained upbeat despite losing ground to championship rivals Linus undqvist and Nicolai Kjaergaard.
Maini finished Race Two 14th after a third in Race One on Saturday, his race scuppered by a puncture sustained while trying to move through the field.
The 17-year-old Indian made no excuses.
“It’s a setback, the puncture was a bit of my own fault. That’s racing, Nicolai had similar luck. All I can do is look forward. It’s disappointing but it is all about how you react.
“You win championships on how you react on your bad weekends, not your good weekends. At Oulton I could easily have lost my head and not finished races there but I got a podium, a fifth and made the best of the situation. The race was my error in race two, but it’s all a case of what ifs now.”
Maini was still able to take third in the final race of the day, having threatened the Scandinavian lead duo of Lundqvist and Kjaergaard early on.
Having already suffered in Race Two, he was keen to stay in the race avoid risks at a circuit that proved difficult to pass on.
“I was driving with my head, honestly. It played a little on my mind, there was a time where I could get second off Nicolai where he’d gone off trying to pass Linus. I could have risked it but if I’d risked it there it could have been all over. We’re still in the game.
“I wanted more than third as we had got the best lap in Race Two but this track is so difficult to follow at. I was getting closer in the slower corners but in the fast ones I was losing it all again, because you lose downforce.”
Lanan were strong at Silverstone last year, and Maini is hoping to repeat that form when the British F3 series visits the home of British Motorsport again in two weeks time.
“We went really well at Silverstone last year, two firsts and a second and we did well at the test. You can expect a fight between us three again, I’m excited and I can’t wait for it.
“I love getting in the car and driving my heart out, I always have fun. Let’s see what happens at Silverstone.”
Nicolai Kjaergaard is hopeful that luck will soon start smiling down on him after a costly retirement in Race Two on Sunday.
The Carlin Motorsport driver had ascended to the top of the standings on Saturday with victory in the opening race of the weekend, but contact with Tom Gamble saw him retire having climbed ten places early on.
“I had gained a lot of positions in the first two laps and my speed was good.
“I thought I was on for a podium so that was really good, but then I came up to Gamble. We were close to touching at Turn One, and he misjudged it at Turn Three where I was on his outside, put us on the grass and we hit the wall. He probably thought he left more room.
“Hopefully that is my last DNF of the season.”
Kjaergaard was second in the final race of the day behind championship leader Linus Lundqvist, and admits that the Swede’s consistency is cause for concern.
“He just doesn’t not finish. He’s always there, and not making mistakes. I was really pushing, but Linus was just too fast. He’s getting further and further away in the championship so I really need to finish ahead of him now in all races.”
Kjaergaard was realistic about his chances in Race Two, with Snetterton proving hard to pass at this weekend.
“Second is a lot better than Race Two, it’s difficult to expect much around here because it is not an easy track to overtake on. The pole man has won here in all three races which tells the story. I was hoping for the win but we knew it was going to be hard.”
And the Dane is looking forward to Silverstone in two weeks’ time, where he sees an opportunity to start making up ground to Lundqvist.
“Usually at Silverstone Carlin have a really good car so I’m expecting to be at the front as we have been for these first three weekends. We need to get some wins.”
Sweden’s Linus Lundqvist enjoyed an almost perfect Sunday at Snetterton to stretch out a 30-point lead over nearest rival Nicolai Kjaergaard.
In the full reverse grid Race Two, Lundqvist picked his way from 15th to fourth while Kjaergaard came to grief with Tom Gamble and third in the standings Kush Maini also faltered.
Lundqvist was quick to acknowledge his good fortune in the morning.
“I don’t like to be happy about other people’s misfortune but with the position in the championship, I won’t say that I was disappointed to see Nicolai off the track.
“All in all I’m very happy with how my race turned out, my performance that we had a great car balance. We’ve had a strong car all weekend and we improved from yesterday’s race, the car and me as I’ve made less mistakes today. A big thanks to RR Racing for that.”
The championship leader was keen to take advantage of opportunities presented to him by slower drivers starting higher up the grid, despite the difficulty in overtaking at Snetterton.
“Going into this race we knew that there would be overtaking opportunities early on but we actually made up some places later on in the race, had some good battles, so I’m very happy and quite surprised at how close we could battle. That’s what this full reverse grid offers in that sense”
Lundqvist went on to win from pole in Race Three, and dedicated the victory to his mother on Mother’s Day in his homeland, and places importance on the support his family offer.
“I hope my mother is happy and proud of this result, I have planned something else for Swedish Mothers’ Day! I’m sure she’s happy. My family have been here with me every weekend since I started over here, it means a lot to me to have them here.”
The mantra from Lundqvist throughout the weekend has been about staying consistent, and after three straight podiums at Rockingham followed by a second, fourth and a win he felt it important to build on the strong results achieved four weeks ago.
“I’ll take these results any day, we’ve built on the weekend we had a Rockingham where we had all of those podiums. Here, we almost got the same results and it’s been a very good weekend results wise and championship wise. It feels really good leaving the weekend with these results, I just played my part in a team effort all weekend.”
With Kjaergaard and Maini praising the intelligence shown by the championship leader, he agrees that it is the big weapon in his arsenal.
“It is definitely an advantage I would say. We’ve been happy to take those fourth, fifth positions and score good points.”
Joe Osborne took the chequered flag in Race One for the #56 Tolman Motorsport McLaren to take their first win of the season, while in Race Two the #42 BMW Century Motorsport piloted by Ben Tuck and Ben Green rescued a late victory after being spun early in the race.
Victory in the #56 McLaren also driven by David Pattison exceeded expectations for Osborne.
“I’m absolutely delighted, especially when you don’t expect it at the start of the race. I always have an expectation, position that we’d be happy with and pre-race I’d have been super-happy with a top five.
“With the Safety Car and David’s start, I changed those expectations to third, a podium was on the cards and the pitstop worked out so cleanly for us. I had to bring it home, manage it, do all the boring bits and not mess up.”
After that good fortune from a Safety Car lasting almost eight minutes right up until the opening of the pit window, Osborne is hopeful that the #56’s luck is changing.
“The Safety Car brought us into contention. You get your luck, last year we lost out in the Safety Car with a huge lead, things have maybe righted themselves.
“I’d like it to be sign of things turning, bad luck is pretty boring and tends to follow you for a long time, and good luck comes and seems to disappear earlier. It definitely sets us up for a good second half of the season although it’s only the third weekend.”
After victory at Snetterton, Osborne is now expecting more of a challenge from an entry that has not started with momentum in 2018.
“It’s difficult. Success penalties with a podium stops you getting on a mega-roll for the next race, you’re shot in the kneecaps but I still haven’t changed my expectations from the start of the season to try and win the Pro/Am class and be in the mix for the top three overall. This definitely helps my predictions more than the first two weekends. Hopefully we carry this on.”
In GT4 it was a last-minute move that won the day for Century Motorsport for Ben Tuck, after teammate Green hit strife when tagged into a spin shortly before the pitstops.
“I thought that was it,” he began.
“We had three instances of contact in the first stint, worked hard to get up to the front and I kept pushing even as the car didn’t feel good after the contact, Ben did a great second half of the race.
“I am absolutely delighted, so so happy. You get spun off, in the grass, facing the wrong way and think it’s all over. You just have to keep pushing no matter what happens.”
Both men praised the two-hour sprint format in use for the final time this season in Norfolk.
Green believes that the extra race means more chances for a big result.
“The two-race format means more opportunities to do well, you can have a poor one in the first one but still dominate in the second like we did. But, a two-hour race is much harder because there’s less flexibility.”
Tuck confessed to having more motivation for the shorter races this weekend.
“The shorter races make you want it more because you have less time to get the job done. With the longer races it’s about managing tyres and looking after the car a lot more, it’s a good mix and good to have both in the championship.
BMW’s second driver was delighted with the manner of his late victory, as he took his maiden British GT win.
“The second group out was the Ams so I could pick them off a little easier, and up against the other silver cars the McLaren was struggling on the tyres at the end.
“That is one of my favourite ever moves to be honest, seeing as it got us a win in the British GT for the very first time. It’s definitely one for the memories.”
And Tuck believes there’s more to come, with the BMW outfit having improved as the season has gone on.
“Winning it late is a different buzz, definitely. It’s a great feeling anyway because this season BMW and Century have done a great job, we’ve been learning and developing a lot more and getting better and better. It’s all come out on top here this weekend, doing it right at the end does create a different buzz because you know you have to do it. It’s almost do or die.”
Aston Martin dominated the British GT GT3 class with two victories from Snetterton’s two sprint races on Sunday.
Nikki Thiim and Mark Farmer in the TF Sport #11 Aston Martin eased home after pole position for race one, and Farmer was relieved with his second GT victory after falling back to third.
“I made a bit of a mistake which cost me momentum. Sadly the Aston got me and the Bentley got me because of that, it went from perfection to losing out in the blink of an eye but that is how it is.
“We had a lightning driver change, we’d been practicing all morning, it was really fast and we jumped them in the pits.”
Farmer was quick to point to the guidance given to him by Thiim, a world champion at sportscar level.
“It’s massive to have a Pro driver like Nikki with you, as an Am you’re still finding your way in the sport so to have someone that can guide you an coach you is super important. I had John Barnes for a long time, to have Nikki as well, I’m extremely fortunate.
“They’re both very different, but we get on well and I’m learning a lot from him.”
After finishing well back at Rockingham with technical gremlins affecting his Aston Martin, there’s plenty of motivation for the #11 Am driver, who conceded that the team cannot afford any more mistakes.
“We were really quick in Rockingham but had a technical issue, these things happen and our championship starts now. The competition is really tough, you can’t afford to slip up and we have at Oulton and Rockingham. We need to be flawless from now.”
Later in the afternoon, a stint-long battle between Derek Johnston’s #17 Aston and Andrew Howard in the #99 Beechdean Aston eventually went the way of the former.
Howard had been all over Johnston and despite pushing, Johnston held on for a far from stress-free victory.
I don’t know if it was fun! That’s the hardest I’ve worked in a race I think, Andrew kept me on it and as we’re in identical cars he knows what I can do and vice versa. That is why we go racing. For two old guys like me and him to be out there like that, that was perfect.
“I thought “What have I got to do?” because he just kept on following me through back markers. I was working harder and harder. He just never let me breathe.”
Johnston was well aware of the importance of teammate Marco Sorensen passing the #33 Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini of Phil Keen at the start of the race, which kept the #17 in touch with the leading #11 of Nikki Thiim.
“To pass Phil at T1 at the start was important for us, we weren’t quite as quick as the sister car early on but all in all that was great. We had a BOP (Balance of Performance) disadvantage and we thought that may affect us, but the Aston is still a good old car at seven years old.”
And the #17 Am driver praised the two-race, sprint format in use this weekend.
“Two races lets you know whether you have made a mistake on setup, you can put it right. For me, I rarely get the opportunity to take the chequered flag with a win so that was phenomenal. The best feeling in the world.”
Ricciardo – 10
