Monaco, May 26th 2011 – Pirelli’s new PZero Red supersoft tyres made their debut at
the Monaco Grand Prix circuit today with two free practice sessions around the tight and
twisty confines of the 3.340-kilometre circuit.
On the track, the drivers also used the Pirelli PZero Yellow soft tyres, particularly during
the first session when Sebastian Vettel went quickest for Red Bull Racing with a time of
1m16.619s. Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso was fastest in the second afternoon session,
setting a time of 1m15.123s on the PZero Red tyres, in temperatures that peaked at 27
degrees centigrade ambient and 45 degrees centigrade on the track. The new PZero red
tyres have red stripes on the sidewalls to make them easier to pick out on television this
week.
The drivers used the session not just to assess the relative performance of the supersoft
and soft tyres, which turned out to be as expected within the region of 1.2-1.4 seconds
per lap, but also the durability of the tyres around the demanding and slippery Monte
Carlo circuit.
Red Bull Racing’s Sebastian Vettel completed 22 laps on the supersoft in the afternoon
while the soft tyres are expected to provide a two to three stop strategy on race day.
Today’s free practice session was crucial to prepare for qualifying on Saturday: a vital
key to success in Monaco as six out of the last seven grands prix in the Principality have
been won from pole position.
Paul Hembery commented: “We were absolutely delighted to welcome Prince
Albert to our hospitality: as the sovereign of Monaco he hosts a fantastic
show that quite rightly deserves its place as the highlight of the Formula
One calendar. Today has given the teams some vital experience of running on our tyres in unique
conditions and we’re very encouraged by both the performance and the durability of our
tyres here, on the debut for the supersoft. We look forward now to the all-important
qualifying session on Saturday, where we will see which team gets the most out of their
tyres on the day and which strategies they are likely to run in the race.”
Length of lap:
3.340km
Lap record:
1:14.439
(Michael Schumacher
Ferrari, 2004)
Start line/finish line offset:
0.000km
Total number of race laps:
78
Total race distance:
260.520km
Pitlane speed limits:
60km/h during practice, qualifying and race
MONACO GRAND PRIX: FAST FACTS
Although the 1950 Monaco Grand Prix (won by Juan-Manual Fangio, for Alfa Romeo), formed part of the inaugural Formula One World Championship, financial and regulatory difficulties in subsequent years meant it was not staged again until 1955. That year’s Monaco Grand Prix, the 13th, was won by Maurice Trintignant, for Ferrari. It has remained a fixture on the Formula One calendar ever since.
The winner of the first Grand Prix de Monaco, William Grover-Williams, is commemorated with a large sculpture at St Devote Curve. It depicts him at the wheel of his Type 35B Bugatti. After his racing career Williams, a fluent French speaker, was recruited to the Special Operations Executive and worked for the French resistance in Paris. He was executed in 1945.
Such are the challenges of the Monaco Grand Prix, only Formula One’s greatest drivers
have excelled repeatedly on its tight streets. The multiple winners are: triple world champion Ayrton Senna – six wins; double champion Graham Hill and seven-times champion Michael Schumacher – five wins; four-times champion Alain Prost – four wins; Stirling Moss and triple champion Sir Jackie Stewart – three wins. Juan-Manuel Fangio, Maurice Trintignant, Niki Lauda, Jody Scheckter, David Coulthard and Fernando Alonso have all won twice.
While the Monaco circuit’s fundamental character has been retained over six decades, the track layout has evolved several times. Key developments include: 1973, swimming pool section included; 1976, two new chicanes at Sainte Devote and La Rascasse; 1986, widening of the circuit at the ‘Nouvelle Chicane’; 1997, redesign of the swimming pool section to create the Louis Chiron bend; 2003-4, revised swimming
pool to La Rascasse section, to allow building of a new pits complex.
It takes approximately six weeks to prepare the public streets of Monte Carlo for the grand prix, and three weeks to return them to their normal configuration.
The Circuit de Monaco has 33km of safety rails, 3600 tyres in tyre
barriers, 554m of Tecpro barriers and 20,000 square meters of protective wire netting.
Circuit safety features include: 650 race marshals in 22 marshal sectors, 43 intervention stations, seven ‘express’ fire vehicles and three extraction vehicles, along with 120 professional fire fighters and 500 fire extinguishers – equivalent to one every 15m.
Reigning World Champion Sebastian Vettel has won seven of the past nine races and has not been off the
front row since the 2010 Singapore GP.
MONACO GRAND PRIX: TRACK MAP
CHANGES TO THE CIRCUIT SINCE 2010
All drain covers will be provided with a means of positively securing them for the Grand Prix.
New debris fences with overhanging sections will be installed on the left before turn 3.
“I love Monaco, it’s a race I remember watching when I was a kid and it’s a place that really showcases Formula 1 at its very best: racing flat-out against around the toughest and greatest circuit in the world.
“After such a strong showing in Spain, I’m really looking forward to Monaco this year because I think we’ll see a different race from previous years. I think a combination of DRS, KERS Hybrid and the tyres will really make the racing come alive, and I’d love to see some overtaking action and some hard racing this year.
“I think the DRS zone at Monaco is only around 300 metres, so it’s pretty short, and not really long enough to enable us to really get enough of a launch on the car ahead. I think the aerodynamics will only really start working properly once we’ve reached the braking zone for Ste Devote, so I don’t think we’ll see too many DRS-assisted overtaking moves next weekend.
“However, I think the tyres will probably give us the greatest scope for excitement and the best chance of passing. While I don’t think the Super-Soft and Soft compounds will be as critical around Monaco as they were at a place like Turkey, I still think the drop-off we encounter as the tyres go off should create opportunities for overtaking. And I don’t think the marbles will be as bad as people fear, because they tend to occur at the exits of high-speed corners, and Monaco is generally quite a low-speed track, so I don’t think we’ll see the build-up that we saw at somewhere like Turkey’s Turn Eight, for example.
“I’m already looking forward to it.”
Jenson Button
“Monaco is the most glamorous and historic race on the calendar. Winning there [in 2009] was the fulfillment of a lifelong dream, and it remains one of my favourite grand prix victories.
“It’s always a strange contrast going from a circuit like Barcelona, which is fast, open and flowing, then arriving a few days later at Monaco – which is the slowest, tightest and toughest track on the calendar.
“On your first lap out of the pits, the acceleration just feels incredible and the barriers feel far too close! But you build up a little more gradually than you would at any other circuit, and you quickly find your focus. Still, it’s an intense and slightly unbelievable feeling.
“There’s been some suggestion that KERS Hybrid might not provide a useful laptime benefit around Monaco, because you might think you couldn’t really exploit it to give you a boost onto a straight. But our simulations suggest that it’s worth as much at Monaco as it is pretty much anywhere else, which is another positive because I think that the Mercedes-Benz unit is the best in Formula 1.
Martin Whitmarsh Team principal, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes
“Both our drivers have won the Monaco Grand Prix, and McLaren has an enviable record around the streets of the principality – we’ve won the race on 15 occasions which is more than any other team – and we go into next weekend aiming to make it 16!
“Our Barcelona race pace, in particular our sector three times, looked very respectable indeed last weekend – and hopefully that will give us a good idea of what to expect at Monaco, because it’s a slow, stop-start section of the track. I think one of the strengths of the MP4-26 is its low-speed grip and traction, so I think we should be in good shape from the start of the weekend.
“Additionally, I don’t think the deployment of driver-operated tools like the DRS and KERS Hybrid will affect the concentration of our drivers. One of the many strengths of having two strong drivers is that they are both gifted enough to be able to deal with those added complexities within the cockpit without it affecting their performance.
“Let’s hope we can put on a showcase race at Formula 1’s showcase event.”
MONACO GRAND PRIX PREVIEW
When: Thursday 26 to Sunday 29 May, 2011
Where: Circuit de Monaco
Round: 6 of 19
The jewel in Formula One’s crown. The dash through the Principality’s tortuous streets is the most prestigious on the calendar; it stands on a pedestal, almost distinct from the sport from which it was born.
The 78-lap race is one of the most intense and mentally draining of the year for the drivers. The proximity of the barriers leaves no room for error and there are no straights along which they can relax. Overtaking is virtually impossible, which places extra importance on Saturday afternoon’s qualifying session. Grid position is crucial.
Add the glamour of the Monaco harbour and a handful of A-list celebrities into the mix and you have one of the biggest sporting events in the world.
Sam Michael, Technical Director: The Spain - Monaco back-to-back presents clear logistical challenges for the operational group and engineering team. Any modifications to the cars based on information gained in Barcelona must be turned around quickly so it will be a busy week.
Monaco is a low grip street circuit, requiring the softest springs and highest ride heights that we operate over the whole season. Normally reducing understeer and improving traction are the keys to a good laptime.
Rubens Barrichello: Monaco is a second home for me so I really enjoy this race weekend, especially qualifying. We need to wait and see how we can use DRS. While the FIA is conscious of that fact that it is notoriously difficult to overtake around Monaco, they want to try and make it possible without making it dangerous. I am open-minded to whatever they decide. We are keen to keep on fighting as we want to score some points as soon as possible.
Pastor Maldonado: I feel good heading to Monaco and it is definitely my favourite track and a place where I’ve had great results over the last five years (including one win in World Series and two wins and two podium finishes in GP2). For me it has a magical atmosphere and to be there racing in Formula One has always been a dream of mine. I would love to score my first points of the year there. I think it will be difficult for us as we don’t have much time between these two races and we’ve never tried the supersoft tyres before. Once we see how they perform, we can then see how we can improve our performance within the car.
From Cosworth’s perspective: Monaco is one of the least demanding tracks of the season in terms of requiring outright engine power with just half the lap spent at full throttle. It does pose its own unique challenges, though. The lack of any long straights and the number of low speed corners means that cooling becomes a critical issue. Drivers need to find a rhythm to put a quick lap time together, which requires driveability from the engine, traction through the slow corners and quick acceleration in the low speed gear range. There is also the added pressure of Monaco being a street circuit; the bumpy nature of the track puts all elements from the driver, car and engine under some considerable strain which can certainly take its toll over 78 gruelling laps.
From Pirelli’s perspective: This race is where our new supersoft tyres, which are ideally suited to a circuit like Monaco, are making their debut.. . It’s a question of extracting the maximum performance and grip in Monaco within the shortest space of time, and that’s what our supersofts are designed to do. It’s not exactly a qualifying tyre but the supersoft is nonetheless quite focussed and we think that the drivers are going to enjoy using them. Monaco is a race where qualifying is all-important and anything can happen. We think it should suit Williams and it’s a track that definitely presents the team with a good opportunity.
Junkie Jabber 
