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It seems like you can’t go wrong with backing Brawn GP this year.  Everybody in the f1buzz prediction game expected either Jenson Button or Rubens Barrichello to be on the podium in Monaco and that’s exactly what happened.

The biggest winner was Mark who correctly predicted a Button-Barrichello 1-2 and moves up to third place, but in the one race where Ferrari looked reasonable, nobody picked the Red Cars for anything.  Andrew maintains his 7 point lead in the standings.

It was a fairly unusual Monaco Grand Prix in that there were no safety car periods so the race was over quite quickly.  The sunny conditions and lack of any big accidents also had the effect of spreading the field out.  But there is still no other race like Monaco and I was lucky enough to be there this year.

If you are thinking of going, I can definitely recommend it.  No other track gets you so close to the cars and the atmosphere in Monte Carlo is fantastic.  I had tickets in grandstand K at Tabac and could see all the way from the tunnel to the swimming pool.  These tickets also gave access to the pit lane on Friday.

There are a few of my pictures in the Facebook group already and I’ll be adding more soon.

The next race is Turkey in 10 days time at the fatastic Istanbul Park.

Image: Brawn GP

Jenson Button has joined the ranks of Jackie Stewart, Nigel Mansell and Michael Schumacher by winning five out of the first six Grands Prix of the season when he drove to a flawless victory in Monaco on Sunday.

Even KERS couldn’t help Kimi Raikkonen to match the pace of the Brawn GP cars off the start and he dropped back to third behind Rubens Barrichello.

Ferrari must be encouraged by Kimi Raikkonen’s third place finish and Felipe Massa’s fourth, considering their woeful start to the season.  It gives them a nice haul of points and puts them fourth in the Constructors Championship.

Raikkonen might be happy for the team but he was disappointed not to finish higher:

Of course in the bigger picture I’m not happy with third place – I’m disappointed.  But, in this situation, for the team it’s a good result.

Despite the gains made by Ferrari the Brawn GP car just looks unstoppable now.  There doesn’t seem to be a circuit it is not suited to and Jenson Button’s driving is impressing even Ross Brawn:

I’m lost for words with him really. He’s exceeding everything I thought possible.

Button’s lead in the Drivers’ Championship is now 16 points over team mate Rubens Barrichello and 28 over Sebastian Vettel in third place.  Brawn GP lead the Constructor’s Championship by a massive 43.5 points, with more than twice as many points as Red Bull has in second place.

2009 Monaco Grand Prix Race Results

Image: David Keen

While today’s qualifying session for the Monaco Grand Prix was a disappointment for Lewis Hamilton, who hit the barriers in Q1, it was pole number four for fellow Brit Jenson Button.

Below is a graph showing the actual top ten qualifying times as well as those times adjusted for the weight of fuel each car is carrying.  The graph assumes a standard lap time cost of 0.3 seconds per 10kg of fuel.

While the order looks roughly correct, it does seem like Sebastian Vettel is a little out of position.  He has the lightest car on the grid and his adjusted time is slower than his team mate Mark Webber’s who is a couple of rows behind him in eighth.

The graph does show how good Kimi Raikkonen was, though.  He was the only driver to really match the pace of the Brawns and it wasn’t because he was running light.  With his KERS equipped Ferrari on the front row, he will be a definite threat to Jenson Button’s race on Sunday.

Image: Brawn GP

80 years ago, H.S.H. Prince Pierre of Monaco, grandfather of H.S.H. Prince Rainier III, formally opened the circuit of the 1st Grand Prix de Monaco.  That race was won by Englishman (and special agent) William Grover-Williams, driving a 2.3 litre supercharged Bugatti 35.

This Sunday, two more Englishmen will be fancying their chances at winning the world’s most glamourous motor race on a track that has remained largely unchanged since 1929.

Jenson Button has won four of the first five races this year so he remains a favourite but Lewis Hamilton has a much better chance of finishing on the podium in Monte Carlo than he did in Barcelona.  McLaren have won at Monaco 15 times – more than any other team and it is Hamilton’s favourite circuit:

The sensation you get from racing up the hill at 175mph, trying to make as straight a line as possible between the barriers while just shaving them with the walls of the tyres is unbelievable – the best sensation you could ever have in a Formula 1 car.  There’s an expectation that Monaco will be another good circuit for our car package because the combination of low-speed corners and absence of any really fast stuff should suit MP4-24.

But the uniqueness of Monaco means that any of a number of drivers could score a the podium.

Adrian Sutil managed to drive his Force India up to fourth last year before an out of control Kimi Raikkonen ploughed into him.  A podium is unlikely but could Force India score their first points on Sunday?

Ferrari, like McLaren, are keeping the KERS on their car, although its effectiveness on the tight circuit remains to be seen.  Their pace looked good in Spain so if there are no more tactical screwups in qualifying the Red Cars might do well.

Red Bull is also a threat.  Sebastian Vettel is the only driver apart from Button to have stood on the top step this year and Mark Webber has done well on the streets of Monte Carlo in the past, finishing third for Williams in 2005.  If they can get the new double diffuser fitted to the RB5 in time it will only increase their chances of a good result this weekend.

Who do you think will win?

To make your predictions in round 6 of the f1buzz prediction game (and be in with a chance to win some nice prizes), just leave a comment on this post with your driver predictions for the race in the following format:

Pole:
First:
Second:
Third:
Fastest lap:

Remember, practice is on Thursday in Monaco and the deadline for entries is start of qualifying on Saturday.  Good luck!

Image: BMW AG

Christies is auctioning some fantastic vintage posters in London on Wednesday including a number of old motor racing and Formula One posters.

They date from the 1920’s to the the 1970’s and include Le Mans, Silverstone, Monza and, of course, Monaco.

Most of the Monaco posters pre-date the modern Formula One World Championship.  The poster to the right is from 1936, the year Monaco became part of the European Championship, and seems to depict a Mercedes-Benz W25K rounding La Rascasse.  There is also a poster from the 1966 race, the year McLaren made their Formula One debut.

The earliest poster is one by Noel Alphonse for the 1927 French Grand Prix held at the Autodrome de Montlhéry outside of Paris.

Originally called the Autodrome parisien, this track had extremely high bankings and in 1925 Alberto Ascari’s father, Antonio was killed there while leading the French Grand Prix in an Alfa Romeo P2.

(Via Dinosaurs and Robots)