Although the controversial deletion of the lap times Michael Schumacher set during qualifying ultimately tarnished the Monaco Grand Prix, Fernando Alonso calmly scored his maiden win on the streets of the Principality. Moreover, F1 toilers David Coulthard, Mark Webber and Rubens Barrichello did much to restore their reputations.
By Mike Fourie – Editor
Although the controversial deletion of the lap times Michael Schumacher set during qualifying ultimately tarnished the Monaco Grand Prix, Fernando Alonso calmly scored his maiden win on the streets of the Principality. Moreover, F1 toilers David Coulthard, Mark Webber and Rubens Barrichello did much to restore their reputations.
Schumi’s ‘deliberate’ blunder
Michael Schumacher has not won seven world championship titles by chance… He is statistically the best F1 driver of all time, but has resorted to extraordinary and questionable driving tactics in his career. However, having seen footage of Schumacher coming unstuck in the dying moments of qualifying (his Ferrari understeered into the outer edge of the Rascasse and was stranded in a compromising part of the circuit), I still don’t think it would be fair to assume the German tried to clinch pole position by resorting to an action that could at worst have ended in a tragic accident. He is an experienced campaigner and would have known he’d still qualify in a strong position – at least the front or second row of the grid – if he completed the lap.
The stewards considered evidence presented to them by Ferrari and the FIA, viewed video evidence, and compared data evidence from Schumacher’s previous laps in qualifying. Their findings were: “Having set a fast time in sector one, the driver lost time in sector two, arrived at Turn 18 at a speed little, if any, different from his previous fastest lap, and braked with such force that his front wheels locked up, requiring the driver to regain control of the car.”
“Having compared all relevant data, the stewards can find no justifiable reason for the driver to have braked with such excessive and unusual pressure at this part of the circuit, and are left with no alternatives but to conclude that the driver deliberately stopped his car on the circuit in the last minutes of qualifying, at a time at which he had thus far set the fastest laptime,” a statement read.
Although I applaud the stewards for dealing with the matter in a decisive manner, Schumacher may feel that he was not penalised for his blunder, but a plethora of past crimes. The German clinched his first title courtesy of a collision with Damon Hill in Adelaide (1994), had his championship points stripped for deliberatedly clashing with Jacques Villeneuve at Jerez in 1997, manipulated the results of grands prix by pulling rank on former team-mate Barrichello – and he’s even won a race while cruising through the pitlane on the last lap. Schumi’s rap sheet is long and notorious, but he wasn’t the first – nor will he be the last – to fall foul of Monaco’s trecherous street circuit. Moreover, his penalty also robbed F1 fans of a potentially fascinating five-way battle for victory on Sunday.
Former champions Nigel Mansell, Alain Prost, Damon Hill and Mika Hakkinen (who went on sabattical in 2001, but never returned) left F1 feeling totally disillusioned with the sport. If the Monaco debacle doesn’t convince Schumacher that he should leave the sport at the end of 2006, nothing will. There will be much on Schumi’s mind in coming weeks and, although nobody is irreplaceable, F1 will one day be poorer for his absence.
A great race nonetheless
Alonso, set to become F1’s biggest superstar when Schumi packs it in, delivered a textbook performance to win the Monaco Grand Prix from pole position on Sunday. McLaren-Mercedes’ Kimi Räikkönen drove his best rac