Dave's random mumblings…

This weekend is Monaco, yeah the track is tight and in reality it’s more of a money printing exercise by F1 with a noisy interlude on Sunday afternoon to give everyone an excuse to be there.

As a fan of F1 it’s a very special place, qualifying is important and the race to Saint Devote on the first lap is incredible to watch. It’s a wonderful challenge for the driver and any race fan should have it on their “to-do” list. Not quite as atmospheric as Monza or as entertaining as Spa, but it’s a unique race in a very special place.

As a mechanic it’s a pain in the arse. The tiny rabbit hutches in the pit lane were replaced a few years ago, but they used to be big enough to storing a few things while the cars were running and that’s about it. Nearly all the work on the cars actually takes place in a garage a significant distance from the track. Despite all the issues, it’s still an event everyone looks forward to.

There is a unique atmosphere and it’s a special place with lots of tradition to go along with the Casino, multi-million dollar yachts and the royal family. The only problem is I won’t be there.

No one was quite able to touch Red Bulls in qualifying this year. All five pole positions and 8 out of the 10 front row places so far have gone to Weber and Vettel. Control the front row, stay out of trouble and you’ve a huge advantage.

Their advantage over the rest of the field appeared to have widened still further with the installation of an effective and comprehensive upgrade package at the Circuit de Catalunya. The other teams are certainly playing catch up with regard to qualifying. The Red Bull race reliability has not been the best; Vettel had brake problems last weekend that cost him dearly. This is a circuit that’s incredibly hard on cars in general and brakes specifically.

Jenson Button had a poor race in Spain, he won at Monaco last year and said this week “I think the Monaco result is extremely tough to call, there are a lot of very competitive drivers so there is a good chance of a slightly unpredictable race.”

Lewis Hamilton was running a rather comfortable second to Webber in Spain when a tyre deflation caused him to crash on the penultimate lap. Hamilton also has the usual high hopes for Monaco.

Hamilton said “Qualifying will be more important than ever. While we’re still working hard to improve our qualifying pace, Monaco is a place where the input of the driver is more important than at any other track, so I’m pretty confident that we’ll be able to do a good job.”

McLaren has won fifteen times in Monaco, so far this year the car seems reliable, if they do well in qualifying and be consistent in the race there is the opportunity to make it 16 and either makes Buttons lead on the championship a little more secure or put Hamilton right back in the thick of the race.

It’s 9 years since Ferrari won here, however Alonso has won twice here. His Ferrari was second in Spain and he’s constantly been among the best qualifiers so far this year. Maybe it’s his weekend.

Monaco is always unpredictable, and that fact on top of the atmosphere, boats, parties and thong bikinis makes it a very fun race to watch. Nelson Piquet never won the race, he said “It’s like trying to cycle round your living room”, but added “a win here was worth two anywhere else”.

Maybe next year…

Two stories yesterday, Beckhams injury and the Bahrain GP dominated the sports pages of the British papers.

The general belief is that Beckham was going to be part of Capello’s squad. I think his positive influence in the dressing room and ability to come off the bench to provide something extra late in a game made his inclusion in the 23 almost certain, even if he was unlikely to start games.

After tearing his Achilles in an Italian cup match certainly means he’s not going to his fourth world cup, the question is will he play top level football again?

He was due back in LA in July, I assume that’s not going to happen and Beckhams time in the MLS is over. Certainly as a player, however he has been linked to the ownership group of the potential Montreal MLS franchise as an investor and part owner of the team.

The 19^th MLS team story gone quiet, if the 2012 date is accurate then it’s now two years until kick-off and decisions should be getting close to being made. I get the league has a lot going on right now with the collective bargaining agreement, but they have put put all sorts of banal press releases, but nothing I’ve seen about further expansion.

Montreal seems the favourite, and like Seattle, Vancouver and Portland it’s a former USL-1 team, complete with existing front office, stadium and (unlike Portland) a history of some success.

The league seems to be rather determined to get back into the Southern Florida market once again, FC Barcelona were linked with a potential expansion franchise there, but that idea seems to have died. Two teams have been tried in Miami and Tampa, and both were ultimately failures and unable to draw a crowd. The current top level franchise in South Florida is Miami FC with an average attendance of just over 600 last year (Montréal are in the same league and draw over 11,000). I really don’t understand why MLS is so determined to have another try at the Florida market as the demand does not seem to exist.

The league has hinted in the recent past that it’s changing it’s marketing policy and going after the football fan, not the family marketing that’s been done in the past. This is smart, but has one big obstacle to overcome: an existing football fan understands the game and already has an allegiance to a team. Putting an MLS franchise into a town is not going to change that supporter, it’s the gameday experience that’s got to be sold along with the local connection, as lets be clear as the quality of play on the field is going to inferior to the leagues they already watch.

I do believe (and yes as a former USL Sounder fan I ‘m biased) that building on local history, with local rivalries (relative in the US, there will not be cross town derbies) and allowing the supporter groups to lead the rest of the crowd in creating excitement and a great atmosphere is the potential recipe for success. This is why Montreal rather than Miami seems like an obvious choice.

The second big story on the back pages was what happened in Bahrain, I missed the GP itself and the reports I read all talked of the lack of overtaking chances. That is mostly down to the track, but the longer braking distances of fully fuelled up cars did not help I’m sure.

Vettel had problems and Ferrari came away with a somewhat dominant 1-2. McLaren seemed to misjudge how it’s race strategy with Hamilton making some comments about being called in for tires earlier than he thought he should be.

The little I saw was that the leaders would all come in with in a lap of each other, no one got an advantage and it’s not worked quite as the spectators hoped, two weeks until Australia and we’ll see if Bahrain was an aberration or the norm for this year. I hope it’s the former.

Bernie E called a meeting of the teams to learn what happened. after what one team principal have been the most processional F1 race in years.

The preseason is over and the teams are arriving in Bahrain for the first race of the season, the waiting and teasing is almost over and we’ll get to see who has what for real.

Based on testing times it looks a little like the F1 world has returned to business as usual with McLaren and Ferrari a little ahead of the rest. The rest are led by Red Bull and Mercedes, with Sauber, Williams and Force India looking very competitive.

With the rule changes reading anything into pre-season testing times is probably more pointless than usual. Speeds with full fuel load and tire wear have become more important than the headline grabbing fast lap times.

The two biggest driver stories are clearly Schumacher’s return and how long the pairing at McLaren will play nicely together.

Love or hate him, Schumacher’s return to the grid can only been good. It’s a huge story in the most interesting off season in many years.

The cars will be starting with a comparatively huge fuel load, somewhere around twice as much as was carried at any point last year, somewhere around 165 or 170kg of fuel at the start. This means car set up will become much more of a compromise and conserving tyres and brakes become more important.

Like the drivers teams will have to adjust. Pitstops times and race strategy will change to become more reactive to what’s going on around them. Teams will be looking at the track 20 or 25 seconds behind their driver in order to get out and have a clear track to make best use of the fresh rubber. Unlike last year it will be possible to hold a driver out for a few more laps in order to get that elusive space.

I like the twist in the rules that the top 10 qualifiers start on the same tyres they qualified on. Go for a soft compound in qualifying, get a good grid place then be forced into pitting earlier than perhaps you’d like.

How will this differ when you compare wide open Singapore with the twists of Monaco?

As I’ve said, this could be a fascinating year with four world champions, really quick drivers like Vettel and Weber who want to join that club, and potentially 6 or 7 teams capable of competing at the sharp end.

Come Sunday evening we will know a lot more, we’ll find out who has been holding something back during testing and who flattered to deceive. This will be fun to watch.