German Car Zone

Circuit length: 2.075 miles (3.34 km)
Number of laps: 78
Race length: 161.88 miles (260.520 km)
Joined F1 calendar: 1950

2008 winner: Lewis Hamilton
2008 polesitter: Felipe Massa, 1:15.787
Lap record: 1:14.439 (Michael Schumacher, Ferrari, 2004)


MONACO FORECAST
Today Hi 22°C / 72°F Partly Cloudy Lo 13°C / 55°F
Tomorrow Hi 23°C / 73°F Partly Cloudy Lo 12°C / 53°F
Saturday Hi 23°C / 73°F Partly Cloudy Lo 13°C / 55°F
Sunday Hi 21°C / 70°F Showers Lo 13°C / 55°F

Q & A with Robert Kubica

Robert Kubica is still searching for his first points of 2009, and although BMW Sauber introduced a host of new parts for Spain, the upgrades did not launch the team back to the front.
On Wednesday in Monte Carlo the Pole told reporters about his current situation, and his expectations for the coming races.

Q. What's your verdict on the improvements BMW introduced in Spain? It was a difficult race, so where does the team stand?

Robert Kubica: Barcelona was not so easy. The race was quite difficult. Already in qualifying we had the unfortunate problem with the tyres in the last quali session, then another problem in a very important moment at the start of the race with the clutch. So in the two most important moments of the race weekend unfortunately I had some problems, which unfortunately influenced the race and my race pace quite a lot.
Then all the race I was in traffic, losing quite a lot of downforce following other cars, so overall the car was quite difficult to drive. But looking at quali pace and the few laps where I was out of traffic, the pace was better than at previous events. So we have made a step forward. It's not as big as we were hoping or expecting, but it was there.
We need additional upgrades to get better and to come closer to the top.

Q. Ferrari made a big step when it introduced its double diffuser in Spain, are you hoping for something similar?

RK: Of course we hope so. I hope we will get at least as big, or even a better, step in Turkey as in Barcelona. But I don't know how big the step will be, or how the others will improve.
In Barcelona all in all everybody had improved - some more, some less. The grid was a bit shuffled, but overall the gaps were pretty similar. So we have to keep working and hoping that in Turkey will get quite a big step forward.

Q. How unhappy are you to be six races into the season and still have no points?

RK: It's the reality. No reason to worry, I would say. Of course it would be better if I had some points or some wins in my account, but the reality is different, so we have to keep working, pushing and see what we can get out of the season.

Q. But you must have good memories from Monaco last year?

RK: Monaco has always been good for performance. In 2007 I was performing very well, then in qualifying I was very heavy, so started quite far behind. Then last year finishing was second in the wet conditions, so I always have performed well on street circuits, so let's hope that this year we'll get a good result.
It's difficult to predict as all the circuits have different characteristics. Also you have to have a car that gives you confidence to push and is easy to drive, otherwise it is very difficult to get 100 per cent out of everything, if you are not feeling confident in the car on a street circuit.
So we have to see how the confidence will be and how the car will suit the track.

Q. Does the BMW normally give you confidence?

RK: Normally a car which is quick, which has downforce and has grip, gives you confidence. I don't know how our car will be in Monaco as the grip level is completely different to Barcelona and the track is much more bumpy. There are many things that might have an influence, but I'm staying positive and hoping that tomorrow we'll have a good surprise. But we'll see.

Q. Do you need wet weather to get a good result here?

RK: I don't know, as I said, it's difficult to predict. Who knows? It's already a very, very tight pack this year, although there's a big gap to the real frontrunners like Brawn and Red Bull, and now even Ferrari. But then there's a big group which is very close together. On a normal track you could be eighth, you could be 15th. On a street circuit there are many more factors that could have a positive or negative influence.

Q. Are you one of the drivers who is fed up with all the politics in F1 at present?

RK: I don't think so. It's true that lately I think around Formula 1 there are a lot of things happening that are not involved in the sport. So I'm not directly involved in it as a driver, so I don't really have the information to judge it. I'm a racing driver, all I'm trying to do is to make our car faster and to prepare for each race. What is going on, I cannot judge.

Q. Does the current situation make it hard to make decisions about next year?

RK: For now it will be difficult to decide who will be racing next year, looking at what's going on. There is still a long way to go. From a driver point of view, I'm concentrated on trying to improve our pace. This is our target. What will happen in the future, we will see.

Q. Last year BMW stopped development on 2008 to get an early start on 2009, but it didn't pay off. What are your views on that?

RK: Somehow as a driver you have to be prepared for something like this. Of course I was hoping that we might be in good shape for this season, but already during the winter we had the first information that we might not be as strong as we were thinking and we were hoping to be.
With the new regulations it was like a new Formula 1. The room for improvement was much bigger, and that's what happened. Some teams that were in difficulty made a big step forward, and with the double diffusers soon there was a final FIA okay, and they went for it straight away, so we were falling behind at every race.
If you were faster by a second and you lost two tenths every race, you would still be first, but if you were already fifth or sixth and then falling behind, in a season like this when the pack is extremely competitive, we fell much further behind than we expected.
I might say I'm surprised, but in Formula 1, especially when you have so many new regulations and changes, it can happen, and unfortunately it happened to us.

Q. Last year you said the team had to take the chance to fight for the title while it could...

RK: The season is still not over. In the end we will judge our season in a later phase of the year. But we have to stay realistic, it will be very difficult to repeat what we achieved last year. But everything is possible. We have to keep working, and then we'll see.

Mclaren are looking strong and Hamilton is a Monaco specialist. Hopefully there is a possibility for a third consecutive Mclaren victory in Monte Carlo

Q1
1 23 Rubens Barrichello Brawn-Mercedes 1:17.189 26
2 3 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:17.499 0.310 31
3 1 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:17.578 0.389 26
4 2 Heikki Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes 1:17.686 0.497 30
5 4 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1:17.839 0.650 30
6 17 Kazuki Nakajima Williams-Toyota 1:18.000 0.811 29
7 16 Nico Rosberg Williams-Toyota 1:18.024 0.835 27
8 22 Jenson Button Brawn-Mercedes 1:18.080 0.891 28
9 7 Fernando Alonso Renault 1:18.283 1.094 31
10 14 Mark Webber RBR-Renault 1:18.348 1.159 22
11 12 Sebastien Buemi STR-Ferrari 1:18.695 1.506 37
12 8 Nelsinho Piquet Renault 1:19.204 2.015 36
13 15 Sebastian Vettel RBR-Renault 1:19.233 2.044 16
14 11 Sebastien Bourdais STR-Ferrari 1:19.255 2.066 31
15 21 Giancarlo Fisichella Force India-Mercedes 1:19.534 2.345 28
16 5 Robert Kubica BMW Sauber 1:19.560 2.371 20
17 6 Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber 1:19.579 2.390 23
18 20 Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1:19.600 2.411 24
19 10 Timo Glock Toyota 1:19.698 2.509 24
20 9 Jarno Trulli Toyota 1:19.831 2.642 28

Looking good for Hammi, hes making progress!

Hamilton is on a charge!! He can take this one home.

Q2
1 16 Nico Rosberg Williams-Toyota 1:15.243
2 1 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:15.445 0.202
3 23 Rubens Barrichello Brawn-Mercedes 1:15.590 0.347
4 22 Jenson Button Brawn-Mercedes 1:15.774 0.531
5 3 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:15.832 0.589
6 15 Sebastian Vettel RBR-Renault 1:15.847 0.604
7 2 Heikki Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes 1:15.984 0.741
8 4 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1:15.985 0.742
9 17 Kazuki Nakajima Williams-Toyota 1:16.260 1.017
10 8 Nelsinho Piquet Renault 1:16.286 1.043
11 7 Fernando Alonso Renault 1:16.552 1.309
12 14 Mark Webber RBR-Renault 1:16.579 1.336
13 20 Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1:16.675 1.432
14 9 Jarno Trulli Toyota 1:16.915 1.672
15 12 Sebastien Buemi STR-Ferrari 1:16.983 1.740
16 11 Sebastien Bourdais STR-Ferrari 1:17.052 1.809
17 6 Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber 1:17.109 1.866
18 10 Timo Glock Toyota 1:17.207 1.964
19 21 Giancarlo Fisichella Force India-Mercedes 1:17.504 2.261
20 5 Robert Kubica BMW Sauber

Monaco does not know the economy is bad.
$30,000 to moor your boat, doesn't matter what size it is.
Jackie Stewart is not there this year, his hotel room went up in price, from $40,000 for the weekend to $75,000.

Final practise was incredibly tight with all the big boys flexing them muscles. The entire top 7 was monstrously fast capable of giving even more. Qualifying will be a thriller though traffic will be quite a hurdle. Many of the drivers had their laps impaired during practice and I wouldn't be surprised if penalties are dealt out tomorrow. Pole will obviously b e important but to will fuel load because it's Monaco after all, so a SC is well expected.

P3
1 7 Fernando Alonso Renault 1:15.164
2 22 Jenson Button Brawn-Mercedes 1:15.233 0.069
3 2 Heikki Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes 1:15.278 0.114
4 23 Rubens Barrichello Brawn-Mercedes 1:15.286 0.122
5 3 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:15.293 0.129
6 4 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1:15.382 0.218
7 1 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:15.389 0.225
8 15 Sebastian Vettel RBR-Renault 1:15.722 0.558
9 16 Nico Rosberg Williams-Toyota 1:15.758 0.594
10 14 Mark Webber RBR-Renault 1:15.985 0.821
11 17 Kazuki Nakajima Williams-Toyota 1:16.103 0.939
12 20 Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1:16.228 1.064
13 11 Sebastien Bourdais STR-Ferrari 1:16.301 1.137
14 21 Giancarlo Fisichella Force India-Mercedes 1:16.317 1.153
15 8 Nelsinho Piquet Renault 1:16.382 1.218
16 12 Sebastien Buemi STR-Ferrari 1:16.432 1.268
17 10 Timo Glock Toyota 1:16.527 1.363
18 5 Robert Kubica BMW Sauber 1:16.599 1.435
19 6 Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber 1:16.661 1.497
20 9 Jarno Trulli Toyota 1:16.810 1.646

****** hell.. hamilton has crashed..

BMW and toyota sucks ass..

Lewis He was on a charge, and this is his favourite track. Such a missed opportunity, especially when the car was up to contention for pole. There is very minimal chance for rain tomorrow and overtaking at Monaco is a pain. So it's a pretty lost race for him unless a SC comes out a million times and shuffle the grid around.

Arghh sh!t

I feel Hammis pain

Since when Hamilton became of Monaco specialist?