AL3 :- From the Cockpit - Round 6 - Monaco

So, Monaco.. The only race where you are on the limit for 100% of the race. 78 laps of hell, and that's why people want to win it.

8 cars took to the circuit this weekend and when qualifying started, some already stepped out of their cars. The first car to set a lap time was in fact my team mate who did a 1.16. something on the prime tyres which was good considering he made some errors. I posted my lap time on the same tyres and produced a 1:13.4/5 I think, which I was pleased of. I sat in the garage just waiting for Richy to post a lap time.. He was slower, but only by 0.059 of a second. At Monaco, that's nothing. It just shows that I don't 'dominate' this league and that Pirelli gave me a prototype of their new tyres 'The Super-Super Soft tyres' at Spain. I qualified on Pole for the 2nd successive race (3rd if you count the actual Bahrain quali but i'll give that one to Brian). 2nd was Richy and 3rd was Toms who did a great effort beating Marc to 4th. Dastardly and Jay made up row 3 with Pagey and Brian not setting a time.

5 lights went out and away we went on the 'roller-coaster of hell'. 1st Corner carnage was inevitable and for the 2nd race in a row, my team-mate loses out within seconds of the start. He gave to much room and went smack into the wall before spinning and trying to find his reverse gear. The sound of "Oh for F*** Sake" meant that Ross Brawn would have to rely on me to get some decent points from the race.

So around 3 laps in and we already had the first safety car. To be fair, Moody did warn us about the 'glitch' just after the Nouvelle Chicane and before Tabac. Considering I met the glitch in AL1 a couple of days before hand, I kept well away from the wall the entire race. However the first DNF of the race was the current championship leader, Pagey_80, who had finished every race before hand but only managed 3 laps at the Monaco Grand Prix. The short gap I had opened up was reduced because of this safety car. At least my team mate would get to the back of the pack and could work his way up the field.

Racing resumed shortly after Pagey's incident but Bernd Maylander hadn't had time to drink his coffee as Toms ploughed his Ferrari into the wall forcing out the next Safety Car. In under 10 laps, we had 2 safety cars which I have never seen before. We got under away again on Lap 9 and I pulled away from Brian who was 2nd, closly followed by Richy in 3rd. Meanwhile after his 20th pitstop, my team mate was getting to be a lap down as he couldn't find the brake pedal's and lost in front wing multiple times into Sainte Devote. Richy did get past Brian and now was closing in on my quite fast. The fact that I wanted to finish the race showed in my pace as one small mistake can cost you big points at Monaco. The rain then came as it was expected and myself and Richy pitted on Lap 25. However, the Williams crew must have the worse weather radar in the world as for the 2nd time in 3 days, the cost their drivers time and valuable points. I went out on the inters, and Richy was on options. The track was still not really wet though and Richy did keep up with me for the next 3 or 4 laps. He did pit in though and my lead was around 17 seconds. Richy preferred the much damp conditions and kept on bringing the margin down. When the rain poured more though, I got into my stride and felt much more comfortable and increased the gap. At Half distance, The gap was around 20 seconds and I had lapped a few cars including my team mate who had just an awful race again :/, Jay and Dastardly (who were fighting over 4th and 5th)

Lap 47 came, I had lead every single lap up until going through the swimming pool section. The tyres were dying and a rookie mistake which I'm not proud of sent me into the wall. The back end clipped the edge of the barrier and sent me into the wall losing my wing. Honestly, to go 47 laps without making a huge mistake was an achievement in it's self. I boxed for Inters, and Richy took the lead for the first time in the race. Looking back on it, that pitstop was also a mistake as had I of focused more, I could of gone out on dry tyres. It was like in a flash somebody had turned on a light switch and the track was near enough bone dry. So I had to pit again. Richy came in and as I was about to lap Jay and go through Rascasse, Aletdownofstate had destroyed their vehicle..bringing out the safety car. Now if you look at his POV, he was going through tabac at a strange angle and clipped the barrier and went straight into the tyre barrier. After the race, Marc was question and simply said "I Crashed"..But did he do it on purpose? Well on purpose or not, Mercedes had brought me back in the race and I pitted for a fresh set of option tyres while Richy opted for Primes.

So the safety car took us round and I thought to myself that Richy was going to go to the end so I had to pass him. Lap 50 and we had 28 laps till the finish, the safety car came in and we once again racing. Knowing I had to get past, I took a good exit out of Antony Noghes and blasted the Kers. Through Sainte Devote and up Beau Rivage we went, into the sweeping corners of Massenet and Casino Square. Richy knocked himself against the Massenet wall and put himself offline for Casino Square. I went in deep from Casino Square and we travelled side-by-side into Mirabeau. Planting my Mercedes on the inside, I wasn't going to let him take this win away from me and I forced my way through on the inside and defended as we went the tight Hairpin. Thinking back on it, to pull that off at Monaco was special for me and the racing was Wheel2Wheel and clean, showing that AL3 isn't a pushover.

So I got pass and now I needed the 20 second gap that would help me leapfrog Richy, if he planned to go to the end. I had to attack and push. Setting quick times, the gap increased and my fastest time was a 1:13.6. Doing Maths in my head, I needed to pit between lap 63 and 65 to max out my tyres on both stints. On Lap 65 though, Richy Pitted. I was going to do the same but Jay blocked the pit entry and I was forced to do another lap. For the last time, the Mercedes Crew had 1 more pit-stop. 3.162 seconds.. and I was away. 12 more laps until the chequered flag with a 17 second advantage, all I needed to do was bring the car home. Honestly, I was quite nervous and was getting very sloppy. The car was battered and bruised and stunk of sweat.. (Maybe it wasn't Ross' car after all).. Hands were sore and feet ached but I carried on.

Lap 71, I found myself lapping Brian and he did a great Job of finishing 3rd. Dastardly managed to finish the race in 4th with the last finisher Jaywhywhy in 5th. Just shows that you can get a load of points by just finishing the race. With around 5 laps to go, I realised I was nearly there. Maybe I was cruising to much as I hit the wall and got orders from my own team-mate who had crashed out 30 odd laps before hand... maybe he did crash out on purpose after all .

Richy was catching me at a rate of knots but was found to have a 10 second time penalty at the end of the race. This was probably a corner cutting incident which showed that maybe he was pushing too much and could of lead to disqualification had he of continued. Lap 78 of 78 had arrived. I was only 1 minute and 20 seconds away from winning the jewel of the calendar. All 18 corners were taken with ease. I couldn't care if Richy was 50 seconds or 5 seconds behind, I wanted to win at Monaco.

Coming through Antony Noghues for the last time to weave across the line was special. 78 laps of pain turned into Glory. My 3rd consecutive win of the season and the best one so far. Repeating of Nico Rosberg himself, I had put Merecedes on the top stop of the podium at Monaco once again. Richy finished 5 seconds behind which was 15 seconds if you include his time penalty. The win puts me on top of the driver's championship with 90 points as a celebration, I jumped into the famous pool (my bath) and relaxed after a great race for myself to remember.


Awards :-

Driver of the day :- All the guys who finished
'Crashgate' award :- Aletdownofstate - crashed so coincidentally his team mate won the race.
Colour Blind award :- Williams Pit Stop Crew - Can't tell the difference from Red to Green...
'Another one bites the dust' - The annoying BS Wall glitch before Tabac - Claimed Pagey as a victim
BS Luck - Aletdownofstate - Another race to forget
2 Safety Cars within 10 laps - AL3
Unexpected - Toms - 3rd place in quali
Hat-trick - Chaz_B_97 - 3 wins in a row!

Pastor Maldonado sour grapes award after taking criticism: Chaz_B_97

Haha