Who needs overtaking?
If I was given a pound every time someone told me that they ‘didn’t watch Formula 1 because it is just an expensive procession’, I would now be in a position to buy a two-seater F1 car and send them out for 5 laps with Raikkonen around Spa. Until that glorious time, I am afraid that I will have to argue my case on these pages.
Midway through the race on Sunday it did cross my mind how anybody could argue that the Monaco Grand Prix was anything but brilliant entertainment.
After years of complaining that we need overtaking in the sport, it seems relatively ironic that the most enjoyable race of the year so far was in the Principality, where it is harder to overtake than Hammersmith Broadway in rush hour, driving a bendy bus.
I am certainly not against the rule changes for next year, but the more circuits we have like Monaco and Singapore where mistakes are rewarded with a race-ending kiss of the barriers, the better as far as I can tell. I don’t want to lose the old faithfuls but I am already hoping that it’ll be raining in Monaco next year.
Sadly I wasn’t able to make it out there, but without a doubt, it was the most entertaining F1 race I had seen on the TV for a long time. Or was this just me getting a little over-excited?
Ed returned from a stint in Milan, working on the Italian version of Autocar, and joined the team in August 2007. After two years of countless scooter accidents and a constant battle against coffee addiction it was a relief for him to start writing in his mother tongue. As well as managing the website, Ed writes various features and is a regular contributor to CNN, Channel 4, Sky News, the BBC and a number of radio stations. He was also awarded the MSA/Renault Young Motoring Journalist of the Year in January 2009. 
Tony:
May 27th, 2008 10:52pm
I'd like F1 cars to have the levels of grip we saw at Monaco – when it's dry.
Timmy Green:
May 29th, 2008 3:46pm
Whereas I agree with you in general, I think a greater nod is needed to nature's input. The rain made the race far more exciting as driver errors (made more prevalent by the lack of driver aids perhaps?) caused more order shuffling than David Blaine could have achieved, and with more enthralling results. That Mother Nature behaved as a drunken, renegade back-marker in spoiling drivers' lines and team plans was excellent for the viewer, but if this sort of exhilarating spectacle is wanted by the public on a more regular basis, perhaps the spectators should be given water guns with each grandstand ticket and a rain-making Shaman employed? Otherwise I fear this was an anomalous high-water mark in an overtaking drought.
Timmy Green:
May 29th, 2008 3:52pm
Whereas I agree with you in general, I think a greater nod is needed to nature's input.
The rain made the race far more exciting as driver errors (made more prevalent by the lack of driver aids perhaps?) caused more order shuffling than David Blaine could have achieved, and with more enthralling results. That Mother Nature behaved as a drunken, renegade back-marker in spoiling drivers' lines and team plans was excellent for the viewer, but if this sort of exhilarating spectacle is wanted by the public on a more regular basis, perhaps the spectators should be given water guns with each grandstand ticket and a rain-making Shaman employed? Otherwise I fear this was an anomalous high-water mark in an overtaking drought.
Aleš Norský:
May 29th, 2008 4:40pm
It's not just you, it was interesting to watch. But about that race-ending kiss of the barriers… I would argue that such kiss has won the race for Hamilton. With the Safety Car shortly after his pit stop, he lost virtually nothing and it put him on perfect pit timing. He was able to use the intermediates to their fullest and switch to grooves just at the right time without needing an extra stop. So it is all relative, I guess.
H Donald Capps:
May 29th, 2008 10:05pm
"Or was this just me getting a little over-excited?"
Yes…..
Timmy Green:
May 30th, 2008 8:40am
Whereas I agree with you in general, I think a greater nod is needed to nature's input.
The rain made the race far more exciting as driver errors (made more prevalent by the lack of driver aids perhaps?) caused more order shuffling than David Blaine could have achieved, and with more enthralling results.
That Mother Nature behaved as a drunken, renegade back-marker in spoiling drivers' lines and team plans was excellent for the viewer, but if this sort of exhilarating spectacle is wanted by the public on a more regular basis, perhaps the spectators should be given water guns with each grandstand ticket and a rain-making Shaman employed? Otherwise I fear this was an anomalous high-water mark in an overtaking drought.
Michael Birbeck:
May 30th, 2008 4:27pm
It takes more than overtaking to produce a memorable Grand Prix.
I agree that this year's Monaco Grand Prix was a very exciting race. The rain is always a wildcard there and has precipitated (pun intended) some great races and extraordianry results (e.g. Jean Pierre Beltoise and the motley BRM crew in 1972).
Monaco is a special place and a special circuit. In many way it represents the final tenuous link with the old motor racing order and racing challenges such as the old Spa and the Nuburgring. Despite its' narrow confines it has a level of glamour and excitement absent from many of the other circuits on the F1 calendar. With their neat geometries, long run off areas and multiple chicanes many of these circuits seem better suited to go karting than F1.
Da Silva:
May 30th, 2008 5:14pm
Yes, a procession of ugly objects with someone inside who you can hardly see during the race.
Can we have some photos and results from the Monaco Classics, please.
Peter Fulbert:
June 3rd, 2008 11:00am
An interesting piece, Ed, but your reasoning – assuming it was a reasoned argument – is slightly skewed. Nobody can deny that Monaco was interesting, but was so DESPITE the lack of overtaking, not BECAUSE of it. Monaco is, and has always been, a race apart, to which the usual rules fail to apply. The place overawes any rational consideration of manifest sporting competition. It is a UNIQUE event, transcending F1, and it's exceptional features allow it to 'get away' with what other circuit's cannot.
Consider the exceptional brilliance of a race constituting both the challenges of Monaco's street-circuit 'furniture' AND overtaking.
kela:
June 4th, 2008 10:39am
Why only rain? maybe we could have some oil spils as well to make F1 more exiciting? Absolutely ridiculous .