The Monaco Grand Prix preview

The Monaco Grand Prix has long been regarded more as an event than a real race, with the tight and twisty streets of the principality on the Cote d'Azur offering precious little overtaking opportunities. This year, things might be a little different, with the DRS and, more significantly, Pirelli's high-degradation tyres having teams and drivers making all sorts of wild predictions about the kind of race we will see on Sunday afternoon.

If there's one thing that this season has taught is, it is that anticipating how the tyres will behave heading into a weekend is a recipe for disaster. Pirelli has allocated the soft and hitherto unraced super soft rubber for this weekend. Opinion is divided as to how long the super softs will go during a stint, with some predicting that the fastest qualifiers will either be heading to the pits, or creating a rolling roadblock, within a few laps of the start.

This poses another question - will the difference in performance and degradation make overtaking possible? The answer is, most likely, yes. While this race will never be an overtaking-fest, it's possible that a car on good tyres can pull off a move on someone struggling with degraded rubber, particularly in the hard braking area into the chicane.

However, they won't have the benefit of the DRS to help them there. In the race, the DRS activation zone has been placed on the start/finish straight, and although it is possible to imagine an overtaking move into Ste Devote, it's not exactly probable, so expect, at most, only the odd one and possibly none at all.

The tunnel will be a DRS-free zone in practice and qualifying as well, with FIA technical delegate Charlie Whiting opting to outlaw its use completely after concern from a majority of drivers about hurtling through that section of the track with the wing open.

So who will be best-placed to cash in this weekend? Inevitably, Sebastian Vettel is ranked as the favourite by most bookmakers having won four out of five races this year. But there are two things that count against him. Firstly, his record at Monaco is less than stellar. He has never won here and was beaten fair and square by team-mate Mark Webber last year. Secondly, this circuit should negate Red Bull's trump card - high-speed downforce. The RB7 will surely be capable of winning - although it might be that Webber is the more likely driver to make best use of it - but this track should bring McLaren and perhaps even Ferrari into the hunt.

There are plenty of people tipping Lewis Hamilton to succeed. A former winner here (and not only in F1), this is a track made for Hamilton. The McLaren showed potential resewing pace in race conditions in Spain last week and will definitely not be one second shy in qualifying, as it was in Barcelona. And don't count out Jenson Button either. He too has winning pedigree here and his ability to see the bigger picture strategically could prove to be a trump card.

Ferrari is a more difficult team to judge. The blood-letting has begun, with technical Aldo Costa stepping down after Fernando Alonso finished a lap down in Spain. Last year, Ferrari headed here with similar pace, but Fernando Alonso might have been able to fight for a win had he not smashed into the barrier at Massenet during Saturday morning practice. Felipe Massa, too, is a former pole position winner, but it's hard to see him outdoing the Spaniard.

The wild card could once again be Renault. Its cars were strong in the slower sector three at Barcelona. Last year, Robert Kubica was inspired and could even have won the race with a better start, so the question is whether Nick Heidfeld or Vitaly Petrov can emulate something approaching that kind of form. The Russian was way off last year, but has taken a huge stride forward in 2011.

Heidfeld is perhaps the better bet, with a decade of F1 experience in Monaco to help him, but has only twice qualified in the top 10 here and save for his second place for Williams in 2005, has only a smattering of points finishes around the streets.

In fact, there are wild cards throughout the field. Keep an eye on Williams in particular, for Rubens Barrichello is always quick here and often the right man to deliver a strong result in a chaotic race. Pastor Maldonado, too, is a serial Monaco winner in GP2 and Renault World Series, so if he can keep away from the walls and overcome his tendency to overdrive, he could be well up in the top 10.

But what will really count here is tyres. It won't be until Thursday that we start to get a realistic picture of what might happen. Even then, on-one really knows. Once again, Pirelli's return to F1 is set to create the conditions for a classic race.

Weather

Strategy

Pirelli rubber has made strategy harder to call than ever this year, and with the super soft appearing for the first time, it's into the unknown for everyone.

Pirelli believes that a two-stopper is possible, although there are plenty of teams and drivers scoffing at that prospect. One thing is for sure, however; most of the frontrunners will choose to qualify on the faster super soft rubber and hope to pull out a big enough gap on the midfield to pit and not risk getting bottled up behind a Toro Rosso or a Sauber.

From there, it's anyone's guess. If a soft-starter can get to the front when those on the super softs pit and then stay out for a significant number of laps, they could come into play. But the question then is, when do they take the super softs?

And can a late-race super soft runner charge past cars trying to stretch soft rubber to the chequered flag?

A hell of a lot of questions and not a lot of answers...