Monaco Grand Prix 2011: shadows encroach on sunny Monte Carlo as Bahrain GP ethics debate heats up
Rarely has Somerset Maugham’s description of Monaco as “a sunny place for shady people” seemed more apt.
Sunny spectacle: Monaco is the jewel in the Formula One crown Photo: GETTY IMAGES
By Tom Cary, F1 Correspondent in Monaco 7:03PM BST 27 May 2011
Follow Tom Cary on Twitter
Comments
Already this week we have had the unedifying sight of Flavio Briatore, a man shamed for ordering a young driver to crash his car when he was at Renault, padding around the paddock dispensing his wisdom.
We have had team bosses weighing up the commercial and logistical complications of racing in Bahrain, a country still under martial law where human rights abuses are allegedly being carried out daily.
Meanwhile, in London on Friday, Justice Peter Smith handed down his judgment in the long-running Lotus v Lotus naming row.
After months of arguing and legal bills which surely amount to more than Hispania Racing’s entire annual budget, both teams will continue to use the Lotus name.
Neither had to change their livery. Both claimed victory.
Their lawyers were rubbing their hands at the prospect of an appeal from Group Lotus. The Monaco Grand Prix is the highlight of any season. The good, the bad and the ugly of Formula One distilled into one tax haven.
And this year, for once, we have the prospect of some racing.
Monaco is usually famed for producing processions, with limited overtaking opportunities. But the new regulations, including fast-wearing tyres and a movable rear wing which gives the cars a boost of speed, may make it a race.
Lewis Hamilton certainly hopes so. The only man to have beaten Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel in five races this year, he knows how important this weekend is to halting the German’s title charge.
Monaco has no high-speed corners of the type which favour Red Bull. The next race, in Montreal in a fortnight, is similarly packed with low to medium-speed corners. Hamilton has targeted maximum points in both.
“We want to score as many points as we can and if we can take a step ahead of the Red Bulls then fantastic,” he said. “If we have the pace that we had in the last race then we should be pretty good here.”
Ferrari and Mercedes were similarly encouraged by Thursday practice, setting up the prospect of a fascinating qualifying session this afternoon.
Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali revealed on Friday that the inaugural Indian Grand Prix could be pushed back to Dec 11, two weeks after the season is scheduled to finish, to accommodate Bahrain.
A final decision on Bahrain is due next Friday and Human Rights Watch on Friday asked the governing body, the FIA, to consider very carefully whether it wishes to send the sport to “an environment characterised by large-scale arbitrary arrests, prolonged incommunicado detentions, credible allegations of torture, and mass dismissals of workers”.
sebastian vettel, flavio briatore, somerset maugham, monaco grand prix, bahrain gp, human rights abuses, getty images, team bosses, rsquo, sunny place, legal bills, peter smith, medium speed, tax haven, martial law, lewis hamilton, livery, red bull, paddock, fortnight
Hiç yorum yok:
Yorum Gönder