FORMULA 1 - 2016

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FORMULA 1 CONFIRMS HALO COCKPIT SYSTEM FOR 2017

Reports have emerged that appear to confirm that Formula 1 cars will be fitted with a further development of the ‘halo’ cockpit protection system in 2017.

Auto Motor und Sport said the decision was taken by the FIA as well as team technical directors during a five-hour meeting at Monaco’s Novotel hotel on Friday.

The decision to definitely push ahead with a controversial covering for the premier open-cockpit formula followed a scary incident in Thursday practice, when a flying metal drain cover was hit by Jenson Button’s car.

“We must make sure that the risk for all of us (drivers) is reduced to the minimum possible,” fellow F1 veteran Fernando Alonso told RTL broadcaster.

The 2017 ‘halo’ will in fact be a development of the black carbon version seen on the Ferrari earlier this year, in stylised titanium and possible to open via a hinge.

But it is believed the Red Bull-devised ‘aeroscreen’ – favoured by many in the pitlane – is still in the running to replace the halo for 2018 and beyond.

MIKA: The Halo over Aeroscreen, really!? 

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KEHM COLLECTS AWARD ON BEHALF OF SCHUMACHER

Michael Schumacher’s manager on Friday collected a lifetime achievement award, organised by the Nurburgring, on behalf of the F1 legend.

“This award is an acknowledgement of his great willpower, his motivation, his talent, his discipline and his work ethic,” Sabine Kehm said.

47-year-old Schumacher has not been seen publicly since suffering serious brain injuries in a late 2013 skiing fall.

Kehm said: “I realise we would all like it if Michael himself could be here, but unfortunately that is not possible.

“We have to accept it and learn to deal with it,” she added. “We will continue to hope and do everything so that it will be different again.”

Schumacher won a record 91 grands prix and seven world championships.

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Kaltenborn scolds Sauber drivers for 'unacceptable behaviour'

Sauber team boss Monisha Kaltenborn has scolded her drivers after Marcus Ericsson and Felipe Nasr collided with one another during the Monaco Grand Prix.

With Ericsson trailing Nasr on a different strategy, the team requested he be let through, but Nasr refused to do so, which led to the Swede attempting a pass into La Rascasse. However the pair ended up making contact, which eventually led to a double retirement, which Kaltenborn described as "unacceptable" and promised it wouldn't happen again.

"It was unacceptable behaviour by both drivers," she said. "Today the work of the whole team ended in a collision.

"Marcus and Felipe both know how much work is put into every race weekend. They have the responsibility to make it to the end of the race."

Explaining the situation, Kaltenborn made it clear that Ericsson was quicker and should have been let through as requested by the team.

"After evaluating the overall situation, it was important to bring the fastest car as far as possible to the front, so that we were able to use any chances," she added. 

"Our decision was based on the data from both cars. After this, we have clarified the situation internally and both drivers are aware of their responsibilities. Such an incident will not happen again."

Both drivers apologised to the team and accepted a share of the blame for the coming together.

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Palmer caught out by 'appalling traction' on white lines

Jolyon Palmer has admitted he was simply caught out by the lack of traction at the start of the Monaco Grand Prix, which saw him crash out.

The Renault driver lost his car on a zebra crossing which crosses the start/finish straight, which saw him spin-off left into the barrier before coming to a rest in the tyre wall at Ste Devote.

"The traction was appalling after the safety car and I got caught out," he declared. "I had wheelspin in fifth gear on the white line that crosses the track. There was nothing I could do – I was just a passenger and went straight away into the wall.

"It’s so difficult as we know that the white lines are slippery but they are everywhere."

Palmer has put the difficult race weekend behind him and is now focussing on the next race in Canada.

"I’m disappointed as I love this track and it’s been good for me in the past. But I’m now looking forward to Canada and putting this weekend behind me.

"Monaco hasn’t been good to me this year so we need to move on to the next race and look for a better weekend."

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Wehrlein, Bottas, Kvyat and Ericsson pick up post-Monaco penalties

Pascal Wehrlein, Valtteri Bottas, Daniil Kvyat and Marcus Ericsson have all picked up post-race penalties after incidents during the 2016 Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix.

Wehrlein was given two 10-second time penalties and four penalty points on his license for ignoring blue flags and not staying above the Virtual Safety Car time.

The stewards deemed the Manor driver had impeded other cars during the Monaco GP and found he did not stay above the set time required during the VSC.

Bottas collided with Esteban Gutierrez on the final lap of the race and the stewards decided he was at fault, giving him a 10-second time penalty and two points on his license.

Meanwhile Kvyat crashed into Kevin Magnussen mid-way through the Monaco GP at Rascasse and was handed two penalty points – meaning he has seven in total – and a three-place grid drop for the next round in Canada.

Ericsson was given the same set of penalties as Kvyat, meaning he has six points for the 12-month period, after crashing into his team-mate Felipe Nasr at Rascasse in the second half of the race.

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Perez 'extremely happy' with 'tremendous' team effort to finish third

Sergio Perez has hailed the "tremendous job" his Force India team did with his strategy during the Monaco Grand Prix, to see him finish on the podium despite starting down in eighth.

Perez came through the field and defended from Sebastian Vettel in the closing laps to finish third, to claim the team's best finish of the season and move them up to fifth in the championship standings, seven points clear of Toro Rosso.

"I'm extremely happy because my team has done a tremendous job with the strategy, with the calls, with the pit stops," he said. 

"It's been an amazing day for us, my podium with the team, a special one to have in Monaco, especially in these race conditions.

"I want to dedicate this podium to our boss, Vijay Mallya. He has been very supportive during these times, and I really want to dedicate this one to him."

The Mexican believes the team got the tyre strategy spot on, which ultimately enabled him to defend when required.

"I think we did the right calls, I think the best tyre for us was the softs at the end," he explained. "I was controlling the pace in the beginning. Seb [Vettel] had a lot of pace, he was a lot faster than us. I think I was saving my tyres. When I needed to push I had the tyre left. It was an amazing race with all the calls and everything. I'm extremely happy."

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The best photos from the Monaco Grand Prix

Jolyon Palmer's race ends before it's even begun with an early crash

Nico Rosberg in a world of his own as he struggled for pace throughout the race

Red Bull's Max Verstappen kicks up some spray just a few laps before his crashed out

It was a pretty wet affair with spray kicked up by the McLaren of Fernando Alonso

A broken front-wing for Kimi Raikkonen was just one of many problems

Daniel Ricciardo attempts a pass on race leader Lewis Hamilton

Third for Force India as Sergio Perez completes the Monaco podium

A well earned victory - Lewis Hamilton's first of the 2016 season

Time to celebrate as Hamilton jumps into his mechanics arms

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No excuses for Verstappen after crash

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen was left disappointed after the Monaco Grand Prix when he was forced to retire early following a crash into the barrier at Massenet.

Starting from the pitlane, the Dutchman plowed through the field one-by-one in impressive style and before he knew it he was in the top ten.

However, the tremendous comeback was short lived after the youngster locked up and went flying into the wall.

The Spanish Grand Prix Champion offered no excuses and took full responsibility for the accident.

“It was a shame,” the 18-year-old claimed.

“Before that, the pace was really good. It was comfortable. But then it was tricky conditions and I locked up a bit and from there I was basically a passenger.

“You have one dry line. I came off the dry line a bit and came onto the dirty and wet bit and hit the wall.

“This year I think it was very difficult in general with the conditions. But that’s not an excuse. Hopefully next time will be better.”

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Wolff in two minds after Monaco GP

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has admitted that he doesn’t know whether to be happy or sad as both of his drivers had two contrasting races.

On one side, he is delighted that World Champion Lewis Hamilton was able to claim his 44th victory at the Monaco Grand Prix. On the other side, he is disappointed that Nico Rosberg finished in a lowly P7 because of performance problems.

During the early stages of the race, Wolff requested that Rosberg yield for Hamilton as the German was lacking the pace to keep up with Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo, who also started on pole.

When quizzed about the order he issued, the Austrian explained it was a tough decision to make but it was definitely the right call as it proved to be a success.

"It was like he had a damaged car; this is why we made the call," explained Wolff.

"We debated [making the call] for quite a long time, because it's not what we've done in the past. But it was clear that there was a problem on the car.

"First we told him to pick up the pace, if he was capable of doing that, and if not, to let Lewis by, so a lap later we gave him the call to let him by and he did it.

"Nico had a scrappy pit-stop and the car didn't have any pace, so for him, all the bad luck came in one race, which is why he only finished seventh.

"We are extremely delighted and happy for Lewis that he won the race in that manner, which is just at the right moment, but equally it was such a bad race for Nico.

"I'm in two minds [about the Grand Prix]."

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Alonso satisfied with Monaco result

Fernando Alonso said he was happier with his fifth place than he was about McLaren's form during the Monaco Grand Prix weekend.

The Spaniard secured his best result of the year - and his best since last year's Hungarian Grand Prix - after surviving a very complicated race in mixed conditions.

But, having struggled with the handling of his car all weekend, Alonso admitted the most positive aspect was the result.

"It feels good, because when you complete such a difficult race it's a good satisfaction," said Alonso.

"But the best thing is the fifth place. It doesn't matter if you are happy or not with your race if the result is not there.

"We can't draw many conclusions. The track is too unique, too different. The result was the best of the year until now.

"The level of competitiveness wasn't excellent. We struggled for pace all weekend, so there are still a lot of things to improve."

The two-time champion conceded the race had not been easy at all given the tricky conditions.

"Obviously it's always a satisfaction when you execute a difficult race, and this was one of those," he added.

"It was tough from the beginning, zero visibility behind the safety car, and then we switched to inters guessing what the grip will be because they were the first laps in wet conditions of the weekend.

"And then the most difficult thing was switching to dry tyres, the track was one metre wide because there was only a [tiny] dry line – and if you put one centimetre of the tyre on the wet part you will crash, this is Monaco."

Alonso's teammate Jenson Button came him in ninth position, giving McLaren its second double points finish of the year.

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Vettel says traffic cost him victory shot in Monaco

Sebastian Vettel says getting stuck behind Felipe Massa ruined any chance of fighting for victory in the Monaco Grand Prix.

The Ferrari driver pitted early for intermediates, while Williams rival Massa decided to stretch his stint on full wets for several more laps.

Vettel rejoined behind the Brazilian, but was unable to pass him despite running much quicker.

By the time Massa stopped, Vettel had already lost too much time and then got stuck in traffic again when switching to slicks.

"We were aggressive in the first stop, which I think it was the right call, but at that point I needed to find a way past Felipe, which I didn't," admitted Vettel, who ended up fourth in the race.

"That cost us all the momentum, and that's the reason why we then sort of tangled up with all that group.

  

"If I had cleared Felipe, then we would have focused more the first two positions rather than worry about the podium.

"That's when we lost the race. The car was quick enough to do better than where we finished.

Vettel finished 15 seconds off the lead after having opted to switch to soft tyres as leaders Lewis Hamilton and Daniel Ricciardo chose the ultrasoft and the supersoft.

With Hamilton having to do 45 laps on the softest compound, Vettel admitted he expected his rivals' tyre to drop off.

"I thought they were both on the ultrasoft, to be honest, but yeah, I expected them to run into trouble and that they had to stop again," said the German.

"The track was green and usually you struggle a little bit more with degradation, but both of them seemed to be fine until the end.

"I think it was the right call to go on the soft.

"It was the quicker tyre until the end. We closed the gap gradually to the leaders, but there was no chance to catch them unless they did another stop, which unfortunately they didn't."

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David Coulthard Vs. Jenson Button – 50 Years Of McLaren-Honda | Mobil 1 The Grid

 

As McLaren-Honda celebrate 50 years in Grand Prix racing, Mobil 1 The Grid sat down with two of the team’s most successful drivers in recent times – former driver turned F1 broadcaster David Coulthard, and current driver Jenson Button – to test their knowledge of McLaren’s rich and ever-growing history.

 

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Button laments team communication after Monaco "mistake"

Jenson Button says his McLaren team needs to improve communication after a mistake with its strategy calls during the Monaco Grand Prix.

Button was one of the first drivers to switch from wet to dry tyres, but ended up being stuck in traffic as he rejoined behind the two Manors, which had not pitted at that point.

Unable to pass them, Button lost a lot of time and any chance of a better result that would have rewarded his call, ultimately finishing ninth.

The McLaren driver suggested the team should have warned him he would emerge in traffic.

"I am pretty good at making calls. I am not that good, but it seems everybody copied exactly what I did, so it make it a bit of a pain," said Button.

"I also got stuck behind the Manors.

  

"I think in terms of communication between the team and myself it wasn't good enough, really, because we should have been ahead of the Manors, which you can't overtake around here.

"We had a four-second difference in laptime, and it was impossible to overtake. So a bit of mistake, but good points and we wouldn't have scored this many points if it was dry.

"In terms of making the right calls on strategy, in terms of pace, I definitely made the right calls. Problems is I came out in traffic and I didn't know I was going to be in traffic."

Button agreed with his teammate Fernando Alonso that today's result was not a true reflection of McLaren's performance.

"These points are not because we are competitive. These points are because we made good calls," he said.

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Rosberg: I wanted to win my home race

Nico Rosberg says he understands the call from Mercedes to allow Lewis Hamilton through early on in the Monaco Grand Prix as he struggled to keep up with leader Daniel Ricciardo, but says it made team order no less 'painful' regardless. 

Rosberg started the wet race in second place, but lost contact with the Red Bull of Ricciardo early on as he struggled for pace, with Hamilton following closely as he sought an easy route through on his team-mate and title rival. 

With Rosberg given the 'hurry up' to justify holding position, eventually Mercedes ordered the championship leader to move over and allow Hamilton ahead in the hope he would challenge for victory. 

With Hamilton going to on to win his first race of the season, Rosberg insists the call to help his Mercedes counterpart was 'simple' if difficult to admit. 

“First of all, at the time it was pretty simple because it's a rule that we've had for many, many years now and it was pretty damn obvious at the time that I'm not going to be able to fight for the win with that pace,” he said. 

“It's clear that we need to give Lewis the chance to do it and they gave me a warning to try and up the pace and I wasn't able to and then the next step is to let Lewis by and I think obviously the final result made it worthwhile in that sense for the team. So it proved that was the right thing to do at the time otherwise Lewis wouldn't have won. 

"So that got the team the win in Monaco and therefore fully understandable and simple at the time. Very painful of course, that's clear but easy to decide to do that and I've been saying I'm not thinking about the championship at the moment. 

Blaming his slow pace on a 'lack of confidence' in the car in wet conditions, Rosberg – a winner in Monaco for the last three seasons – dropped from third to sixth in the first round of pit-stops, before slipping to seventh on the final lap when Nico Hulkenberg got the jump on him. 

“It was just a complete lack of confidence in those conditions and around Monaco it's not a good feeling to have. So that was the most painful one because at that point I realised with that feeling in the car I wasn't able to fight for the win 

“I am disappointed because I wanted to win Monaco, I wanted to win my home race, it's the most exciting race of the year and that's what I was out there to do and I'm very disappointed because I was absolutely miles off it and that's it.” 

Rosberg's lead at the head of the overall standings has been slashed from 43 points to 24 points. 

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Horner explains Ricciardo pit blunder, takes blame

Christian Horner says the unique layout of the garage and a miscommunication were the predominant reasons it crucially wasn't as prepared as it should have been in the pit box for Daniel Ricciardo as it let a probable Monaco Grand Prix victory slip through its fingers. 

Starting from his first-ever F1 pole position in wet conditions, Ricciardo was in fine form during the early stages of the race, lapping quickly on wet tyres and again when he made the switch to intermediate rubber for his second stint. 

However, with Mercedes choosing to keep Hamilton out on track longer with wet rubber in the hope of swapping him directly onto slicks as the circuit dried, Ricciardo was running closely behind him with a similar predicament in mind. 

In the end, Hamilton pitted on lap 30 for slicks, with Ricciardo coming in a lap later in an effort to cover him off. However, when he entered the pits, the mechanics were not prepared for him, causing a scramble as they busily attempted to find the tyres. Losing him upwards of ten seconds, the measure of the time lost was shown when Ricciardo re-joined the circuit just behind the Mercedes, where he would stay to the chequered flag. 

Marking the second race in succession that Ricciardo has lost out on a possible win due to an erroneous strategy call, though Red Bull says the decision to put its driver on super-soft tyres was compromised because they were at the back of the garage. Indeed, though Christian Horner says the call was made in good time, bad communications, the unfavourable location of the tyres and the short lap combined to leave the team floundering. 

“We knew that that was our window of opportunity to get back past Hamilton [at the second stop], so Daniel was extremely quick on his in-lap. I think he was about seven or eight seconds quicker than Lewis was on his equivalent out-lap, and having seen the Mercedes put on the ultra-soft, the call was made with plenty of time – at least I felt it was plenty of time – for us to go one step harder on the compound and go on to the super-soft. 

“If we were to come out behind Lewis – it wasn't clear at that point of the lap how much up or down he would be – we felt that tyre had better range. So the call was made to go to the super-soft tyre and based on how we are set up here in Monaco – the pit wall is upstairs and obviously the garage is downstairs – the tyres are on heat both in the garage and behind the garage, and unfortunately the set of tyres that were called for weren't readily to hand and were at the back of the garage. 

“There was a scramble, with the mechanics originally having a soft tyre ready, and when that change was requested to go to the super-soft those tyres were actually right at the back of the garage and couldn't be got to the car in time. It cost probably about 10 seconds in the stop, and even despite the delay the two drivers were side-by-side when Daniel came out, showing how quick Daniel's in-lap had been and how slow Lewis' out-lap had been. 

Despite the explanation, Horner concedes it let Ricciardo down again and didn't do him justice on a weekend where the Australian has been in superb form. 

“I'm not making excuses because there are none, obviously the tightness of the garages here it's very tight to have extreme wets, intermediates and three different types of slicks for both cars in the garage at one time. But as I say, it's a communication error that has happened at short notice, with 30 seconds notice, that on a normal working day would have been no issue at all.” 
 

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WHAT NEXT FOR DANIEL RICCIARDO AFTER TEAM COSTS HIM A SECOND FORMULA 1 VICTORY?

Daniel Ricciardo scored his first podium of the season and his best result in Monaco, but it was scant consolation for another race victory that had slipped through his fingers when he had the race under control.

He was blunt, saying that he’d been ‘screwed’ for a second race in succession and there is no question that in Monaco, as in Spain, Ricciardo was controlling the race, when the team again decided to make the first move against a competitor and it ended up costing him the win.

In Spain, he was switched to a two stop strategy; being first mover turned out to be a disadvantage. In Monaco he had an 11 second lead over Lewis Hamilton and 43 seconds margin over Nico Rosberg in third place. So there was no pressure from behind Hamilton, a large gap to play with and no need to move first onto Intermediate tyres, which gave Hamilton track position. At Monaco that is the one thing you never give up lightly.

As soon as Red Bull made that move and zigged, it allowed Mercedes and Hamilton the chance to zag and stay out on the wet tyres until the track was ready for slicks. This was a bold move as no-one had any real experience of these new Pirelli wet tyres, so staying out was a step into the unknown. But a combination of Hamilton’s feel for the tyres and Mercedes working out the maths on how far he needed to go to make the finish on the UltraSoft tyre, meant that they could stop Hamilton once only.

At this point, the race was not lost for Ricciardo. Hamilton’s out lap on the slicks wasn’t particularly fast, so Ricciardo would have retained the lead with around eight seconds advantage if his stop had gone according to plan.

But it didn’t; as team boss Christian Horner explained: “We saw Hamilton the lap earlier go onto the ultra-soft tyre, which we felt was quite marginal to go to the end of the race,” he said.

“So we elected to put Daniel onto one step harder tyre (SuperSoft). Basically there was a miscommunication as to what tyres were in the garage at what time.

“The pitwall is upstairs, obviously the garage is downstairs, tyres are on heat both in the garage and behind the garage. Unfortunately the set of tyres that were called for weren’t readily to hand and were at the back of the garage.

“There was a scramble, with the mechanics originally having the soft tyre ready.”

Ricciardo didn’t mince his words, “Two weekends in a row I’ve been screwed now,” he lamented. “We were quick in the wet, we had a comfortable lead, pitted for inters, got stuck behind Lewis and we just effectively put ourselves in a race we didn’t need to be into.

“Then I got called into the pits for the slicks and the tyres weren’t ready. I didn’t make the call. I didn’t make the late call. I got to the pits and everyone’s running around like headless chooks.

“Massively, massively disappointed. I don’t like being up here being miserable, because I got a podium in Formula One, so it should be a good day, but when it happens two weekends in a row it’s hard to take.”

So where does Ricciardo go from here?

Clearly the team owe him a massive apology, as Horner has spelled out clearly this evening.

Looking back at the Spanish GP episode, the team would argue that when Vettel closed up in the second stint, they needed Ricciardo to be quicker and risked losing the race, so opted to switch him. He would argue that the team would have easily won the race if they’d asked Verstappen to sit three seconds behind him and cover the undercut risk from Vettel.

But this one was clear cut and, all the more costly, as Ricciardo pointed out; “It’s not like we’re in Mercedes’ position, we’re not able to win a race, so to have an opportunity to lead two races in a row and especially here in Monaco.

“I think I took Barcelona on the chin and then took it well but two in a row now…”

A tyre mix-up can happen to anyone; it happened to Mercedes a couple of seasons ago and other teams can remember a painful experience like this. But coming on the back of Barcelona and when Ricciardo had taken care to do all the right things to put himself in a winning position, it’s not acceptable.

It doesn’t help that Red Bull was party central all weekend. Hosting parties in Monaco goes back to the days when Red Bull were building up their competence and their parties were better than their on track performances.

But after four world championships and over 50 Grand Prix victories they are a top team and, while it’s great to invite team members and sponsors to dance to an international DJ the night before the race, if you then go out the next day and fail to get the basics right then it’s fair enough for the driver to ask some serious questions.

Will it push Ricciardo into looking elsewhere, to Ferrari for example? Perhaps, but given the choice most seasoned F1 observers would probably advise him to stick where he is, albeit with some apprehension about how it might work long-term with Verstappen as his team-mate. Ricciardo is world champion material, he will be worried that he might not get a chance to fulfil that potential.

The new 2017 rules with more emphasis on aerodynamics, a Red Bull strength, and an improved Renault engine, should give him a chance to have a crack at it while Verstappen is still maturing as a driver.

Ricciardo should keep the faith – but having read the riot act behind the scenes after this episode.

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HAMILTON: THANK YOU NICO FOR BEING A GENTLEMAN

Monaco Grand Prix winner Lewis Hamilton thanked Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg on Sunday after the German followed team orders and let him pass, even though it damaged his own championship chances.

“I said thank you for being a gentleman,” the triple champion told reporters.

Rosberg had started on the front row, next to Red Bull’s polesitter Daniel Ricciardo, in wet conditions with Hamilton third on the grid.

The safety car led the field for the first seven laps but it then became clear, with Ricciardo pulling away, that Rosberg was struggling to get his tyres up to temperature and Hamilton was faster.

“It was clear that not reversing the situation between Nico and Lewis would definitely lose us the race,” said Mercedes motorsport head Toto Wolff. “We waited for quite a while, gave him more laps, for the tyre to come in but it didn’t. And then finally we decided to call it because the pace was just so much slower. It proved to be the right decision.”

Wolff paid tribute to Rosberg, winner of the previous three races in the principality, for giving up the position and understanding what was at stake.

The German, who won the first four races of the season and had led by 39 points before Sunday, had his advantage over Hamilton slashed to 24 – less than a race win – with 15 grands prix remaining.

He said it had been a very difficult afternoon, with the tyres cold due to the rain, “At the time it was pretty simple because it’s a rule that we’ve had since many, many years now. It was pretty damn obvious at the time that I’m not going to be able to fight for a win with that pace.”

“They gave me a warning, ‘try and up the pace’, and I wasn’t able to. The next step is ‘let Lewis by’ and I think the final result made it worthwhile for the team because Lewis wouldn’t have won otherwise.”

Monaco, with its tight and twisty layout, is hard enough to overtake on without the additional problem of spray and poor visibility.

Although conditions improved during the race, Ricciardo would likely have disappeared into the distance without Rosberg’s action.

“Very painful, that’s clear, but easy to decide to do that,” said Rosberg. “I’m not thinking about the championship. Today I’m disappointed because I wanted to win Monaco. I wanted to win my home race, it’s the most exciting race of the year and that’s what I was out there to do.”

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ROSBERG: I’M BAFFLED BY THAT LACK OF PACE

Nico Rosberg was left baffled by his lack of pace and a costly pit stop that wrecked his hopes of claiming a fourth consecutive victory in the Monaco Grand Prix, won by his Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton.

The 30-year-old German, who leads defending champion Hamilton by 24 points in this year’s drivers’ world championship, finished seventh in his home event.

“I’m disappointed with today,” he said. “I wanted to win my home race and I didn’t manage it. Definitely, I’m baffled by that lack of pace initially I just felt completely, I don’t know what, no confidence in the beginning on those tyres.

“And then it just didn’t go my way in the pit-stops. We had an issue at the pit-stop As a result of that, I got traffic so I had to hold – and lost even more time and places as cars just went by. And when you’re behind cars in Monaco, that’s it.”

He said he had no argument with the team’s request for him to move over and allow Hamilton to pass him during the first phase of the race.

“It was pretty simple, I was very far off the pace and Lewis still had a chance to win the race, quite clearly, as he did,” he said. “It was quite straightforward from the team, give the other guy a chance to win the race. It was painful, but quite simple at the time.”

He added that he was disappointed also to lose sixth place to fellow German Nico Hulkenberg of Force India on the final lap.

“He had soft tyres on, so he had a lot more rubber left,” said Rosberg. “I was on the ultra-soft and the rubber was finished at the end.”

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Pirelli presents the 2017 F1 tyres, bigger and better

Formula 1 gets bigger and better in 2017. And a key part of that will be the tyres provided by Pirelli.

 

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ARRIVABENE: THERE ARE 15 RACES TO GO WHICH IS PLENTY OF TIME

Despite a nearly anonymous Monaco for the great Italian marque, Maurizio Arrivabene insists the world championship is still within Ferrari’s grasp.

However, after a poor weekend in Spain, the red cars were once again behind not just Mercedes but also a resurgent Red Bull and even Sergio Perez’s Force India on the streets of Monaco.

But boss Arrivabene denied that Ferrari is increasingly weak in 2016, “Only once have we not been on the podium, which is here.”

“I don’t want to go back over all the races, but we all know where and why we lost a lot of points and perhaps the chance of victory,” the Italian added.

“At the same time I do not want to give excuses. In Barcelona, we were just not good enough in Q3, and this was repeated here and we paid for it again in the race.”

Arrivabene said Ferrari’s problem is not some sort of ‘crisis’ but a matter of working on the setup so the car is always in Pirelli’s delicate tyre-operation “window”.

So when asked if the world championship is slowly slipping away, he insisted: “No! My responsibilities are to keep the team concentrated and focused as there are still 15 races to go which is plenty of time. But we need to find the reasons for the problem in the final qualifying session.”

Finally, Arrivabene defended Kimi Raikkonen at the end of a bad weekend for the Finn, whose contract is up for renewal at the end of the season.

“Each driver has tracks he does not like, and Kimi does not like Monaco even if he has won here. I see no reason why I should complain about Kimi — on other tracks he is driving as good as before,” he added.

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MARKO: I DON’T KNOW WHEN BUT SAINZ WILL GET HIS CHANCE

While Daniil Kvyat’s place in the Red Bull future appears to be increasingly shaky, Carlos Sainz remains on track to progress.

That is the view of Helmut Marko, the chief of Red Bull’s controversial driver programme that is speeding Max Verstappen to F1 glory and putting Russian Kvyat’s future in jeopardy.

Now driving for Toro Rosso, Kvyat had a bad Sunday in Monaco, incurring a grid penalty for Canada in two weeks by crashing with Kevin Magnussen.

But his Spanish teammate Sainz, on the other hand, is still on track for a bright future, Marko told Movistar, “Carlos Sainz is doing a great job at Toro Rosso and I’m sure his chance will come. I don’t know when, but it will come.”

Some insiders believe that Red Bull could drop Kvyat at the end of the year in order to open a Toro Rosso seat for the next young hotshoe, Pierre Gasly.

“I’m not so pessimistic,” Igor Ermilin, a presidential advisor of the Russian automobile federation, told Ria Novosti news agency when considering Kvyat’s future.

“There are still 15 races, giving him the opportunity to demonstrate his talent, his ability to handle pressure and his desire to fight.

“I think he can prove that he still has a place in F1, all the more with the contracts of many drivers ending at the end of the season,” Ermilin added.

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PROST URGES RENAULT TO SWITCH FOCUS TO 2017

Formula 1 legend Alain Prost thinks the time for Renault to switch its full focus to 2017 is now approaching.

The quadruple world champion, now an ambassador for the French carmaker and a paddock television pundit, hailed Renault for the improvements it has made to its power unit this year.

Prost was speaking in Monaco, where the Renault customer Red Bull was driven to pole by Daniel Ricciardo, who then only narrowly missed victory due to a pitstop bungle.

“This was an extremely fast turnaround by Renault,” Prost told Ouest France. “It’s pretty rare that it happened in a very calculated world like formula one. It can happen with something like aerodynamics but not so often with the engine. It’s good for the morale of the people working on the Renault project.”

On the other hand, Ricciardo’s Mercedes-beating pace in Monaco also demonstrated the shortcomings of the works Renault chassis, which is fitted with the same power unit, “It showed all the work that Renault must do with the chassis. Honestly, it’s a very big task.”

Team boss Frederic Vasseur has acknowledged that Renault has to work hard to get ready for 2017, but he also says the 2016 chassis will not be abandoned as it may affect the ‘competitive spirit’ of the Enstone based team.

“There is a choice to be made but it isn’t mine,” insisted Prost. “It’s a management decision. It is not easy but at some point, a decision has to be made. The important thing is to build for the future. This is precisely what Mercedes did for three years and then took advantage of the change in regulations.”

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SANTANDER KEEN ON LONG TERM DEAL WITH FERRARI

Spanish bank Santander officials are in talks about extending its major sponsorship contract with Ferrari beyond the 2017 season.

In 2012, it was reported that a new contract extension had pushed the existing Santander deal all the way until the end of next year.

“Our sponsorship with Ferrari is the best marketing operation in the 150 year history of the bank,” chairman Emilio Botin said in 2012, two years before he died of a heart attack.

Now, two international reports suggest Santander – headed today by Botin’s 55-year-old daughter Ana Patricia – is still happy with the deal and wants to extend it again.

But Marca, a Spanish sports daily, said Santander may be moving to reduce the value of the deal, and therefore the visibility on Ferrari’s red livery.

The report said Santander’s current deal is currently worth an estimated EUR 45 million per year.

Also reporting from Monaco at the weekend, the German-language Speed Week said Santander is likely to negotiate a new contract with a cost reduction of one third.

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CAPITO NOT WORKING AT MCLAREN YET SAYS BOULLIER

It is understood Jost Capito will start work at McLaren at the end of August.

Capito was actually signed up by the Woking team to be its new chief executive in January, but he said he would only leave his role as VW’s racing chief once a successor is appointed.

Capito, 57, is in Monaco this weekend, triggering speculation he might now be ready to start work.

But team boss Eric Boullier said: “I don’t know when exactly he will officially take up his duties.

“But in my view everything is simple. Ron Dennis has the highest position in the McLaren Technology Group. I am race director at all of the races.

“But McLaren Racing has more than 600 employees, and with 20-21 races each year then I’m away from them for about four months of the year. As a race team we have 80 people but more than 500 are at the factory and need to be managed,” Boullier added.

“Therefore responsibilities are divided between me and Jost Capito, who will also be responsible for the development strategy of McLaren Racing,” he said.

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Verstappen's Monaco crashes 'part of the learning curve' - Horner

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner isn't too concerned by Max Verstappen's trio of errors during the Monaco Grand Prix, insisting it's all part of his "learning curve".

The 18-year-old, who on his debut with Red Bull just a fortnight ago, claimed victory at the Spanish GP, suffered a torrid weekend in Monaco, starting with a practice crash, which was then followed by a crash in qualifying which meant he had to start from the pitlane on Sunday.

However things began to look up for the Dutchman as he posted fastest lap after fastest lap during the opening half of the race to climb through the field from 21st to eighth. But his race ended when he binned his RB12 in the wall at Massenet.

"He had a very strong first half of the race," Horner is quoted as saying by Motorsport. "He had made some great overtaking moves, and had made good progress to be running in the top ten.

"He was pushing on because basically he saw that [Nico] Rosberg was not that far ahead, and unfortunately the conditions caught him out at the top of the hill. He wasn't the only one today who was caught out."

The incidents aren't a major cause for concern according to Horner though: "It has been a very contrasting weekend for him compared to two weeks ago, but I think it is all part of the learning curve that he is on.

"I think the trajectory that you can see is still extremely impressive, and I think he can only learn. And I doubt you will see him make the same mistakes this time next year."