Pre-GP Stats Analysis: Monaco

The grid in Monaco

Monte Carlo is one of the most difficult tracks as far as overtaking is concerned, and with little room for tactical surprises, as the strategy often is the same for all cars, the grid position becomes a key factor for the win.

Out of 54 Monaco Grands Prix run so far, the win has come from pole 22 times, 13 times from the second spot on the grid, and nine times from the third.

So a total of 44 races out of 54 (81 percent) were won from the first three positions on the grid. Since 1997 these have been the only starting positions of the race winner.

One notable exception was the famous 1996 Grand Prix, won by Olivier Panis from the 14th spot in grid.

Being at the front was emphasized in 2003, when there was no overtaking for the entire race. A look at the lap charts reveals that 17 times out of 54, the winner kept the lead for the entire race.

The last one to achieve the win in this way was Kimi Raikkonen in 2005, although Fernando Alonso came close in 2006, when he let Mark Webber lead for one lap when he made his first pit stop.

Ferrari and McLaren records in Monaco

Ferrari is not the team that achieved the highest number of wins in Monaco. The wins chart at the moment has McLaren at 14 and Ferrari at eight.

The last Ferrari win was recorded in 2001. This is not the longest wins drought for the Italian team, though - the red cars weren't able to win in Monte Carlo for nineteen years, the period between Trintignant's win in 1955 and Niki Lauda's in 1975.

The second-longest drought came from 1982 to 1996: 15 years from Gilles Villeneuve's success to Michael Schumacher's triumph in the rain. During this period McLaren won in Monaco nine times.

Another striking comparison is related to the sequence of wins in Monaco. In its history, Ferrari was able to record only one back-to-back win in Monaco, in the 1975 and 1976 editions with Lauda. McLaren was able to win six straight wins in the Principality from 1988 to 1993 and three straight from 1984 to 1986.

Survival rate

Monaco is traditionally a track where contact with the barriers racks up several victims every year.

Race accidents or contacts with the guard rails in the previous 54 editions account for 35 percent of the total retirements, while a considerable percentage is also due to gearbox failures (12 percent).

In 2007 however, the highest percentage of cars taking the chequered flag was recorded, with 19 cars classified out of 22 starters, or 86 percent. The three retirements of 2007 were Adrian Sutil and Tonio Liuzzi from accidents and Webber from a gearbox failure.

This beat a long-standing record, as the previous one was set in 1956, with 11 cars at the end out of 14 starters (78.6 percent). The 'survival percentage' from 2005 onwards has always been above 75 percent.

200 for Giancarlo

The Monaco Grand Prix will be Giancarlo Fisichella's 200th start in a Formula One race. The Italian is the ninth driver to reach this goal. This is the all-time table before this weekend:

Moments to remember in the Monaco Grand Prix

1998 - Schumacher and Wurz

It's not the lonely win of Mika Hakkinen that will be remembered, but what happened behind him.

Michael Schumacher, with his Ferrari equipped with Goodyear tyres, had problems in keeping up with Bridgestone-shod cars and he was only fourth in grid - behind the two McLarens was the the Benetton of Giancarlo Fisichella, all equipped with Japanese rubber.

At the start the McLarens pulled away on their own and Schumacher had to sit behind Fisichella in fourth. Coulthard (McLaren) retired after 17 laps, but for Schumacher the third place was not enough. He anticipated his pit stop and managed to come out in front of Fisichella, but behind Alex Wurz in the other Benetton, who still had to stop.

Schumacher took his chances at the 38th lap at the Loews hairpin, diving inside Wurz. The Austrian didn't concede room and the cars banged wheels several times, with the result that Schumacher was forced into the pits and Wurz slammed into the guard-rails after a few laps due to the damages sustained in the contact with the German.

Without Coulthard behind him, Hakkinen was able to walk away with an easy win, Fisichella was second and Eddie Irvine (Ferrari) a distant third.

1999 - A rocket start

The week before the race, Michael Schumacher spent time at Fiorano practising starts. After qualifying he was neither worried nor disappointed with his second place, despite Hakkinen taking pole in a controversial way: under yellow flags he arrived at Tabac and lifted his arm, but not his foot ...

At the start Schumacher rocketed away, leaving Hakkinen behind. It was an amazing start, and when asked the reason for this performance he said the he would tell us, maybe, after the end of his career. We are still waiting.

Schumacher was able to set the pace he liked and pulled away from Hakkinen, who fell on the clutches of the other Ferrari of Eddie Irvine.

But Irvine pitted early, giving the Finn some room. After 39 laps it was time for Mika to pay for his dubious pole of the day before - he was one of the first drivers to arrive on the oil left by Tora Takagi's Arrows and went straight on at Mirabeau.

He had to reverse and get back into the track, right in front of Irvine. Hakkinen still had to stop, but had to load more fuel than Irvine who was on a two-stopper, so it meant that the Finn had lost his position for good and the final order was Schumacher first, Irvine second, and Hakkinen third.

2000 - A cooked suspension

Jarno Trulli was the key factor in qualifying and in the first stages of the race. He managed to qualify second behind Schumacher and kept his position after the start behind the German.

But the performance difference between his Jordan and Schumacher's Ferrari was huge, and Michael was able to build a lead of more than half a minute by mid-race. That's when Trulli's race ended with a spin.

At this point Coulthard (McLaren), was able to show McLaren's potential. The Scot was really unchained and put in some very fast laps, and came behind Schumacher, but the Ferrari had already refuelled, while Coulthard still had to stop.

That was academic however, because after 55 laps Schumacher's Ferrari was suddenly marching on three wheels. One of his exhausts had broken and cooked the upper part of the suspension. He was forced to retire and Coulthard won the race easily.

Meanwhile his team-mate Hakkinen had a troubled weekend - in qualifying he was only sixth and in the race he had brake problems.

2001 - McLaren disaster

The grid looked promising for the Silver Arrows, as Coulthard was in pole and Hakkinen third; they were split by Schumacher's Ferrari.

Coulthard, however, was hit by a common problem for McLaren in 2001: the failure of the launch control, which forced him to take the start from the back of the grid.

Schumacher pulled away easily, helped by Hakkinen retiring after a handful of laps, reporting that the car "pulled to the right". He came to the pits and nothing was found. It was a controversial retirement that cast doubts over his racing attitude.

Without the McLarens it was easy for Schumacher and Barrichello to record a double.

2002 - Ah, radiowaves ...

Coulthard was quicker at the start and was first into Ste Devote, pipping polesitter Juan Pablo Montoya. Coulthard played his cards in a very clever way - he took things easy on the first laps, saving his tyres and creating traffic behind him, then he started to increase gradually his pace.

At this stage puffs of smoke started to come out the back of his McLaren. It seemed all over for him, but from the pits the crew was able to fix the problem with the use of bi-directional telemetry.

After that episode, the only moment when Coulthard could have lost his race came at the moment of his pit-stop, because Schumacher, his most dangerous rival, had already refuelled and was charging behind him. But Coulthard was able to pit and come back on track right in front of the German, who spent the last 25 laps on his tail.

2003 - No overtaking

In qualifying Ralf Schumacher took pole in front of Kimi Raikkonen and team-mate Montoya. Michael Schumacher was only fifth on the grid - his Bridgestone tyres weren't up to the task in a single lap of the Monte Carlo track, while his rivals were well-equipped with their Michelins.

The race was decided largely at the start when Montoya was able to overtake Raikkonen and install himself behind Ralf. The latter had the worst strategy around - to take pole he took very little fuel on board and was the first one to stop, falling into traffic.

Montoya was able to take the lead with a couple of fastest laps that put him clear of Raikkonen. The only scary moment for the Colombian came after his second stop, because Raikkonen ran longer than him and put in some amazing laps before his own stop. The Finn was able to recover a handful of seconds, but came on track behind Juan Pablo, who won the race.

This race will be remembered because after the first lap there was no overtaking on the track.

2004 - Crashes in the tunnel

Trulli claimed his first pole position thanks to a perfect lap in qualifying and was able to keep the lead at the first corner followed by Fernando Alonso, who stole second place from Jenson Button.

The Renault duo was able to pull away at the front, with only minor worries when Michael Schumacher recorded a handful of fastest laps once he had a clear track in front of him.

This quiet scenario was turned upside down on the 42nd lap when Alonso came out of the tunnel scraping along the guard rail. It seemed that Ralf Schumacher was not so easy to lap, and the Spaniard ended up on the dirt and lost control of his car.

The safety car was sent in and many of the leaders took advantage to make their stops. Surprisingly, Michael Schumacher did not, and he found himself in the lead, but with a compromised race strategy. That wasn't his main problem though, as inside the tunnel, moments before the race was about to restart, Montoya - who was lapped - rammed into the German, leaving him on three wheels.

At this point Trulli had no rivals left and was able to take his first win after controlling Button, who was at his heels for the final laps.

2005 - Renault hari-kiri

As often happened in 2005, Raikkonen and his McLaren were the fastest around and took pole in front of Alonso, a surprising Mark Webber and Fisichella.

These were the only ones to fight for the win as Michael Schumacher was in a deep crisis and started only eighth and Montoya, with the other McLaren, was 16th, having been penalised for causing an accident in practice.

Raikkonen took the lead at the start, followed by the two Renaults of Alonso and Fisichella who, as usual, were able to make perfect getaways.

The race proceeded without major incidents up until the 24th lap, when a traffic jam at Mirabeau caused the intervention of the safety car.

Many drivers refuelled, and exactly at this point Renault made a crucial mistake that cost its cars from the fight for the win. The tyre choice, paired with the fuel load to finish the race, made the cars almost undriveable after some laps, with increasingly slow lap times as the race wore on.

Raikkonen gradually found himself with an enormous advantage, with Alonso and Fisichella behind him slowing everyone else down. The Finn was able to made a safe pit stop and slow down considerably to save his fragile McLaren and take the win, while the Renaultsw were passed on the final laps and Nick Heidfeld came second and Webber third.

2006 - Finding a parking spot in Monte Carlo

In the final stages of qualifying Michael Schumacher had just taken pole when he arrived at Rascasse and inexplicably missed the corner, parking his Ferrari across the road.

It happened right when his rivals were improving their times, only to find the yellow flags when they came upon the incident. The German's time obviously couldn't be beaten and the reactions were furious, both from the media and from rival teams.

The stewards examined the episode and decided to send Schumacher to the back of the grid, where he was joined by his team-mate Felipe Massa, who had to change his engine.

The pole spot went then to Alonso, who in the race had to keep an eye on Raikkonen until the Finn's McLaren broke down, leaving the Spaniard to take his first win in Monaco. Second was Montoya and third Coulthard, who gave Red Bull its first podium.

2007 - The spy story begins

After the Massa's dominant displays in Bahrain and Spain, Ferrari entered the weekend with optimism. But McLaren fought back and made a clean sweep, with Alonso in first and Hamilton second.

Massa was left more than one minute behind and Raikkonen was out of the contest right from the start, as he damaged his suspension in qualifying and started in 16th place, not a favourable spot in Monaco.

There were complaints after the race because McLaren fixed the positions of his drivers after the first pit stop, recalling practices of the Schumacher era in Ferrari.

But the pivotal moment of the weekend happened elsewhere, both off the track and behind the scenes. Nigel Stepney was caught with an unidentified white powder close to Ferrari fuel tanks. That was the fact that started the whole investigation over Stepney's behaviour, and later evolved into the infamous spy story.

Monaco personal scorecard

• Kimi Raikkonen has alternated one classification and one retirement since his debut back in 2001. The Finn won in 2005 and was second in 2003. Last year his chances were compromised by an accident in qualifying that left him 16th on grid, his worst qualifying performance in Monaco.

• Felipe Massa obtained his best Monte Carlo result last year with a third position. The Brazilian endured some hairy moments before his podium in 2007 - in 2002 he destroyed the car on Thursday and again on race day after a brake failure.

The same thing happened in 2005 with an accident on thursday and another during the race, this time with team-mate Jacques Villeneuve - they both went up the escape road at Ste Devote. In 2006 he destroyed the car during qualifying.

• Nick Heidfeld finished on the podium in second place in 2005, his only relevant result out of a string of classifications that started back in 2002. The German's weak point is in qualifying - he was only able to go inside the top ten in 2005 (sixth) and last year (seventh).

• Fernando Alonso was the winner and the polesitter of the last two editions of the Monaco race. He was also fighting for the win in 2004 when an accident put him out of the race.

• Nico Rosberg has never scored points in Monaco.

• David Coulthard has two wins and two more podiums, including the first podium for Red Bull in 2006.

• Mark Webber has retired with mechanical failures four times out of six starts. He has only scored points in 2005 when he finished third.

• Jarno Trulli scored the only win of his career in Monaco in 2004. Since then he has never been inside the top ten in Monte Carlo.

• Jenson Button has only scored points only in 2004, when he was second behind Trulli. In the last two races he was classified 11th twice.

• Rubens Barrichello scored four podiums in Monte Carlo out of 15 starts. His last podium appearance was back in 2004.

• Giancarlo Fisichella climbed on the podium in 1998 and 2000. He was in the points both in 2006 and 2007.

• Lewis Hamilton ... lost his first race in Monaco last year. In 2005 in F3 won both races and in 2006 won the GP2 event.

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