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The 2nd Thursday Practice Session for Round 6 of the 2005 F1 season at Monaco.
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00:23It is one of the glorious anachronisms in all of sport.
00:26The world's highest-tech race cars around one of its most bizarre and pedestrian circuits.
00:31But there is a glamour, unlike any other event in the world, at the Grand Prix of Monaco.
00:36Hello, everyone. I'm Bob Barsha, along with David Hobbs and Steve Matchett here on Speed Channel,
00:40ready for Thursday practice, the second of two sessions.
00:44As you see, the cars are going out. There's already been one free practice session today.
00:48Let's take a look at the highlights of what happened.
00:52This, of course, is the Star Wars weekend around the world,
00:55and that ubiquitous livery is right there on the Red Bull cars.
00:59Christian Kling, doing testing duties this weekend, was the fast man early on
01:04and wound up third in the session.
01:06And Kimi Raikkonen, winner two weeks ago in Spain, took to the track
01:09and very early on set a very fast clip.
01:13He was to end up, well, fairly well down in the end.
01:17In.
01:20Well, then, of course, Michael Schumacher has such a dismal weekend.
01:24A couple of weekends ago, went out and set past the time.
01:27He ended up fourth.
01:28Then, 45 minutes into the session, out comes Alonso.
01:3117.301 would put him second at the end of the session, as fast as that point.
01:37And then, out in the MP420 would be Montoya in the very closing seconds at his last lap, a 17
01:43.152.
01:45And perhaps putting to rest any questions about the health of that left shoulder
01:50that he injured in the tennis accident.
01:52We thought two weeks ago in Barcelona, Spain, that perhaps he was not ready to get back in the car.
01:57He did not have a good race there, though he did finish in the points.
02:00As you watch Ralph Schumacher climbing into the Toyota.
02:03Well, he had a bit of a strange race in Spain, didn't he?
02:05He had that tremendous spin, 180 degrees, didn't lose the position.
02:10But he did have a very sore shoulder, apparently.
02:12Those last two right-handers taking their toll on it.
02:14You see the times at the upper left.
02:16No incidents in this morning's opening session.
02:18On this, a track, the only street circuit in Formula One, a place where nobody tests.
02:25You have to deal with the oil build-up and the off-cambered corners.
02:30Well, of course, in regular traffic, this is Kimi Raikkonen now on board.
02:34As you can see, he's got a new helmet this weekend, going through Casino Square.
02:38A lot of bumps and dips, a lot of elevation change here, down to Mirabeau.
02:41This is a tight right-hander.
02:43Aim for the hotel on the corner, as is the next corner.
02:47Very tight.
02:48Tightest hairpin in all of Formula One.
02:49It's now the grand hotel hairpin.
02:52I always think of that as Lowe's hairpin.
02:54It'll always be Lowe's.
02:55I always think of it as a station hairpin.
02:57It used to be the railway station.
02:58So, if you hear it referred to it as the old station hairpin, Lowe's hairpin, Grand Hotel hairpin,
03:03you know what we're talking about.
03:05Hairpin being the outfit of courage.
03:07And it goes to go from the sublime to the corblimey.
03:09Two weeks ago in Spain, all that run-off area on all the corners,
03:13and as you can see from that guardrail, not much run-off area here at all.
03:17Here's the best part.
03:19It's perfect through here, around the casino, the swimming pool.
03:26There you get a chance just out of shot on to the left to see the new pitch complex.
03:31All rest cast.
03:33Back on to what we call the start-finish straight.
03:36Though, as you can see, it is not scraped at all.
03:40An end in this tight right-hander here.
03:43It's been improved the last few years.
03:44Got a bit of open area on the inside.
03:47Used to be guardrail right to the edge of the track.
03:48Now it's the pit exit.
03:50This is the Victorian boys looking on in there.
03:51Rather cute, coloured shirts.
03:53But you can see now they've actually got a pit complex to use.
03:56That shot there, you just saw where the guys were hanging out the pit board for the drivers.
04:00It's the old pit lane behind the back of the new pit.
04:03So they still use that as a signal in the area.
04:06But the new pit complex has been built on the opposite side of the old pit lane.
04:11But there is such a drop down to the track that the guys couldn't use the pit balls to signal
04:15to the drivers.
04:16It's probably about a 20-foot drop.
04:18One more note on this morning's session.
04:20We saw all of the racing drivers up at the front.
04:23Normally it's the Friday test drivers, the third drivers for the six teams that aren't in the top four in
04:29the World Championship.
04:30And it's usually those drivers who pile on the miles, check the tire compounds, check the fuel levels, and so
04:36forth.
04:37But this morning, Montoya, Alonso, Michael Schumacher, Giancarlo Fisichella, Weber, Ralph Schumacher, David Coulthard, Rubens Bartichello, all up in the
04:46top ten.
04:49This is Alex Wurtz talking to your Friday driver.
04:52He's one of them this week.
04:53Had a huge crash a couple of weekends a little.
04:55Not so far from here at Paul Ricard in France.
04:58Went off the road at 330 kilometers an hour.
05:01Of course, today is Thursday, and that's another Monaco-only tradition.
05:05First practice on Thursday.
05:07Friday's a quiet day.
05:08Whoops, someone off down there.
05:10In the harborside chicane.
05:12This run is longer than it looks, from the exit of the tunnel down to that chicane.
05:16Well, there we are, looking at it right now, Paul.
05:18There we go.
05:19Coming to the pizines, tobacco.
05:22The old tobacco shop is here before.
05:24It's still there underneath the, uh, underneath the grandstand, tucked away down there as a little tobacco.
05:30Well, being a non-smoker, I wouldn't know.
05:32Right.
05:34The clown's definitely looking pretty racy this weekend.
05:37That's the Anthony Nob complex, named for the man who came up with the idea for this race, who was,
05:42in fact, a tobacco shop owner.
05:46See, you learn something every day, listening to Bob Varsha.
05:49You do, don't you?
05:49Yeah, it's amazing.
05:50Well, a cigarette manufacturer as well.
05:52He was a cigarette manufacturer.
05:53Now, the car we're looking at right here, the R25 Renault, believe it or not, has a new diffuser, new
05:59front wing, new rear wing, new barge boards, new aerodynamics all over the car.
06:04The only thing they haven't built new for this track is the chassis, the monocoque itself.
06:09New suspension, of course, to get around that grand hotel hairpin.
06:13It's so tight, the tightest corner in Formula One, that the drivers cannot get sufficient lock on the car with
06:19the specification built for every other track in the calendar.
06:22They can't get the car to go around the corner, so every team produces and renders, all carbon fibre, new
06:29top front wishbones to allow the car to have more lock.
06:33So, I mean, the cars are basically all but brand new for this circuit.
06:39Downforce is a thing, of course, you want here, you'll see a lot of little winglets on all the cars.
06:43Ross Braun, curiously enough, I was talking to him yesterday about the Ferrari specification for Monaco.
06:47He said, you know, you'll see aerodynamic winglets coming up on all the other cars, but we actually are not
06:52going to use any, which is an indication, I guess, that they're happy with aerodynamics on the car.
06:56They've got their aerodynamics working as well as they can.
06:58Yeah, the Renault has sprung winglets and double flaps and biplanes everywhere.
07:05Yeah.
07:06This is not one of those tracks like Monaco or Indianapolis coming up soon on the Formula One schedule where
07:12the drivers plant their right foot and leave it there.
07:14The longest full throttle blast around this place is about seven or eight seconds.
07:20Yeah, it's very twisty, it's very squirt, on the brakes, off the brakes, throttle.
07:24Did I say Monaco? I meant Monza.
07:26This is Monaco.
07:28I didn't notice that, but I didn't want to bring it to your attention.
07:31The lap record here, Michael Schumacher, 114.4, which is exactly 100.399 miles an hour.
07:38So that is the lowest average speed.
07:40It took them a long time to get to that magic 100 mile an hour mark.
07:45Hovered around the 85 to 90 mile an hour for years and years and years, but you can see why.
07:51Over the years, you have a place like Indianapolis, which began in the early 1900s.
07:55It took years for the cars to sort of grow into that two and a half mile oval.
08:00Whereas you have a place like Monaco, about 50 years ago, the cars were too fast for this place.
08:06And yet they come back year after year.
08:12There's Heidfeld just going out the bottom of the picture.
08:14And you're right, man, fast man of the session right now with a 17.5, only four tenths off the
08:19quick time of the morning.
08:20And that's what we see around the streets of Monaco.
08:23The rubber builds up.
08:24The cars will get faster and faster.
08:28Liuzzi, one of the regular drivers, or the regular driver this weekend for Red Bull, is currently third.
08:32Alexander Virts is fourth.
08:34And there's a weekend driver for McLaren, Christian Klain.
08:37Weekend driver for Red Bull is fifth.
08:40All McLarens and Red Bulls up front right now.
08:43But a lot of time to go in this second one-hour session of Thursday practice from the Principality.
08:48We'll be back.
08:51Speed Channel's coverage of the FIA Formula One World Championship is brought to you by
08:56New Mobile One Extended Performance, the oil that's changing oil.
09:03Welcome back to Thursday practice at Monaco.
09:07Bob Barshis, Steve Matchett, David Hobbs with you.
09:09On board with Fernando Alonso, the championship leader.
09:13His three-race winning streak ended two weeks ago in his home Grand Prix in Barcelona,
09:18where he finished second to Kimi Räikkönen.
09:20Right now, Räikkönen leads the session.
09:22But Michael Schumacher has jumped up to second in his Ferrari.
09:25Alonso is third.
09:26When Pablo Montoya bumped down to fourth.
09:28And Giancarlo Fisichella and the other Renault is fifth.
09:31Alonso had just hung back there.
09:33Gone very slowly through the swimming pool section to give himself a bit of room.
09:37Obviously hoping to set off and do a very quick lap, but not...
09:41The first sector certainly wasn't quite up to speed.
09:44Well, there you go.
09:45Look at that.
09:45Big, big chunk out of that Räikkönen tunnel.
09:51You need to do that around here.
09:53You need to lay back to give yourself that space because there is nowhere to pass on this track, frankly.
09:58Your best opportunity possibly is coming out of the tunnel and down to what they call the Nouvelle Chicane.
10:04That's been there for quite a while.
10:06But, I mean, you can see the track is so narrow.
10:08First man into the 16s this weekend.
10:11Of course, obviously, this track gets quicker and quicker every lap they do.
10:16There you see the map.
10:18As you can see, there's an awful lot of corners packed into just two miles, the shortest track in the
10:22Grand Prix calendar.
10:23From Sandivote all the way uphill to the Casino Square.
10:26Then you start going downhill, downhill through Mirabeau.
10:28That very tight hairpin through Portier.
10:31Levels off through the tunnel.
10:32Then you carry on downhill to the Nouvelle Chicane.
10:34Then it's level all through Tabac and the swimming pool section there.
10:37A lot of very complex corners following on each other.
10:40They're all blind, of course, to the driver.
10:41He can't see there.
10:42His head only about 18 inches off the deck.
10:44Last cat of La Rascasse.
10:46A very tight right-hander with a restaurant right on the apex of the corner.
10:49Then, of course, that anti-no gauge corner onto, as Steve has already said, the start-finish straight,
10:53which, of course, is anything but straight.
10:55A lot of elevation change.
10:57And, of course, the surface is the most tricky thing on this circuit
10:59because it's used every day by trucks, buses, cars, taxis, pedestrians, dogs, etc.
11:04So it has all the wrong elements on the surface.
11:07And these guys have to wear it down.
11:08And it gets quicker and quicker as the weekend progresses.
11:10And I said the drop-down from the new pit lane down into the part of the track there is
11:15about 20 feet.
11:15Looking at that shot, it's more like 30.
11:17It is a very big elevation change there.
11:20But not only that, David, when you say that, you know, it's in use every day,
11:23but even during the Grand Prix weekend, when these sessions finish,
11:26those roads are open back up and they become public access roads around the principality.
11:31The parties must go on.
11:33Which, I mean, I must say, guys, it makes a fantastic trip to go to Monaco
11:38because you can walk around the track.
11:40You really feel like you're part of the event.
11:42At night, as I say, all the streets are opened up
11:45and you can walk around and have a thrilling time.
11:49Well, absolutely.
11:50I mean, it is the street track, the Wall Street track.
11:53David Coulthard, two-time winner here.
11:55You can see how close they go to these guardrails.
11:57I mean, they're really hemmed in.
11:58There is no room for error here at all.
12:00Precision driving is absolutely paramount.
12:03Let's ride with it.
12:04Thank you very much, Mr. Director.
12:07That's always the case, isn't it?
12:08I'm sorry, whatever I did to you.
12:10Coulthard has just jumped into fourth, bumping Ralph Schumacher's Toyota.
12:14Giancarlo Fisichella now up into third.
12:16So it's Alonso, Raikkonen, Fisichella, Michael Schumacher, DC,
12:20Ralph, Juan Pablo Montoya, Alex Wurtz, Mark Webber, and Vitantonio Luzzi.
12:25Rubens Barichello is 11th, and Jacques Villeneuve in the Sauber is 12th.
12:30The Red Bull team were pretty high on their hopes when they came here.
12:33They really do think they're going to have a great weekend,
12:35led by David Coulthard's enthusiasm.
12:37As I say, he's won here twice.
12:38He's been on the pole position here,
12:39and he really feels they can get the job done this weekend.
12:43And, of course, it all depends on qualifying on Saturday.
12:46That's two days from now, of course.
12:49Qualifying here, this race has been won practically every time
12:52in its 50-year career from the top three-foot throws.
12:55So it's vital to qualify well.
12:57Here's a guy who could use a good weekend.
12:59Absolutely.
13:0032-year-old Giancarlo Fisichella won the season opener in Melbourne,
13:03but it's been pretty grim since.
13:06Finally got a race finish in the points two weeks ago in Spain.
13:11But even then, that was after a lengthy pit stop
13:13that robbed him of a chance of at least second place
13:15when he suffered underbody damage running over debris.
13:21Up the hill he goes, past the big screen that the drivers insist
13:25they actually watched during the course of the race
13:27to tell what's going on.
13:28We'll be right back to Monaco.
13:401992 marked Hyatt and Senna's fifth win in Monte Carlo,
13:43although this win may not have occurred
13:45without some poor luck that befell Nigel Mansell.
13:47Mansell and Superior Williams held the lead
13:49until, with seven laps remaining,
13:51he was forced to pit with a punctured rear tyre.
13:53This handed the lead to Senna in the McLaren.
13:56Mansell caught Senna, and for the final three laps,
13:58Senna was pressured at every turn.
14:00Senna used every ounce of his skill and talent
14:02to hold off the Brit and take the chequered flag
14:04in one of the closest Monaco finishes ever.
14:10That was an absolutely awesome race back in 92.
14:14Well, it was, but it just showed how difficult it is.
14:16Look at that Liuzzi taking the lead
14:18on that first sector from Alonso,
14:20the two Renaults at the moment at the top of the timing sheets,
14:22but that was a tremendous race,
14:24and Nigel just tried every trick in the book,
14:26but, of course, here it's so difficult to get by.
14:29The cars, of course, then were even wider than they are now.
14:33That race was not celibized in the United States
14:36due to a brakes problem, as I recall.
14:40Having worked for both networks involved at the time,
14:43it was a mess, I can tell you.
14:45But you're right, David, what you say,
14:47they were wider, weren't they?
14:48They were 200 millimeters wide,
14:50or six or eight inches wide.
14:51They are now.
14:52They look pretty wide.
14:54He's quick again in that second sector,
14:55so Liuzzi looks like he's going to jump
14:57to the top of the timesheet.
14:59This is his final appearance in this car
15:01before his teammate Christian Kling gets back in,
15:03so this is where he really needs to get something done.
15:05He did not have a great race two weeks ago in Spain.
15:13And that will do for now.
15:15It's all right.
15:15That's that Sandy boat tour.
15:21There you see the Star Wars.
15:23Oh, we've got a Ferrari.
15:25A Ferrari.
15:26That's the most part of the world's way.
15:29About to be joined by a Toyota.
15:35There's Michael watching it all with amusement, no doubt.
15:38He wasn't amused the other night
15:39when he was tackled hard in a pouring rain.
15:42They had the Formula One driver's soccer team
15:44playing a group of professionals.
15:47Michael went down hard and came up
15:48and got right up in the grill
15:50of one of the pro stars he was playing against.
15:53Now, are we going to see a replay of
15:56the Barrichello incident?
15:57Or maybe this, this is Liuzzi in the Red Bull.
16:01Having just set the fastest time.
16:04Cleaning the road in the tunnel, actually.
16:06Here's Barrichello.
16:07See if we've got some lockup.
16:12Well, the left front wasn't rotating
16:14just when we came off that shot.
16:16There we go.
16:17White transfer.
16:21Well, if you're going to spin,
16:23not hitting something is a minor achievement.
16:26Certainly around here it is,
16:27because as you can see,
16:28there's not a lot of room anywhere.
16:29And of course,
16:30the other quirk of the rules this year
16:32is the same set of tyres
16:33from Saturday on,
16:36you know, through qualifying
16:37and into and through the race.
16:40And you've only got a very few set of tyres
16:42to choose from as the weekend goes on.
16:44So you've really got to be careful
16:45about flat spotting them,
16:46because you might need those tyres later on.
16:48Yeah, effectively,
16:49you only have three sets of tyres
16:50the whole weekend.
16:53They're issued two sets today,
16:54of course, on the Friday.
16:55The hard compound and the soft compound.
16:57And the priority job, really,
17:00in these sessions is to choose
17:01between the two.
17:02That marriage between Ferrari and Bridgestone,
17:05which has produced so many championships
17:07in recent years,
17:08really does appear to be going through
17:10a rough patch.
17:11The team, right up to chairman
17:13Luca Di Montezemolo,
17:15not hesitated of late of saying,
17:17our problem is simple.
17:18There's four of them,
17:19one at each corner.
17:20We'll be back in a moment.
17:26Speed Channel's coverage
17:27of the FIA Formula One World Championship
17:29is brought to you by
17:31New Mobile One Extended Performance,
17:33the oil that's changing oil.
17:37Welcome back to Thursday Practice.
17:39First day,
17:40the grandest Grand Prix each year.
17:42Monaco.
17:43I'm Bob Barsha with Steve Matchett,
17:45or should I say C-3PO.
17:47Steve stayed up all night
17:48to catch the worldwide premiere
17:51of the new Star Wars movie.
17:54Complete commitment.
17:56And all Bridgestone mail
17:58should be addressed to Robert Barsha.
18:01Hey, Carol.
18:02Don't shoot the messenger.
18:04Well, you bring up a good point, Bob,
18:06about Bridgestone situation.
18:08One of our colleagues
18:10close to the Japanese press
18:11was telling me that
18:13Hamashima, the technical manager
18:15from Bridgestone,
18:16has said that they have developed
18:18a new, a brand new family
18:19of polymers,
18:20something that both
18:21the manufacturers do
18:22throughout the year,
18:23a different way
18:23of building the compound.
18:26And Bridgestone is saying,
18:27if we do well at this track,
18:30we may be able to get back
18:32on terms with Michelin
18:33for the remainder of the season.
18:34If, however,
18:35we do not manage
18:36to do well at this track,
18:38we can pretty much
18:39write the season over
18:41for Bridgestone and Ferrari.
18:42Which is pretty,
18:43pretty strong words.
18:45It is.
18:45Absolutely.
18:46That's what we're hearing.
18:49Renault boys looking
18:50anxiously at the monitor.
18:52But these family
18:53of compounds
18:54that they come up
18:55with are different polymers.
18:56It's something, as I say,
18:57both manufacturers
18:58work on it throughout the year.
18:59They look at different ways.
19:00And, of course,
19:01for each race now,
19:02we're having new compounds
19:03and new constructions.
19:04None of the tyres
19:05remain the same
19:06for race to race
19:07any longer.
19:08Grit characteristics
19:09change from track
19:10to track, of course.
19:11Here, it's very low grip.
19:13Because it's a public road,
19:14it's very dusty,
19:15so you use a very soft
19:16compound tyre.
19:17But not only that,
19:18but the actual way
19:19that the rubber works
19:20as well
19:21is changing from
19:22track to track
19:22and event.
19:23Well, the rubber
19:24on this car
19:25looks like it's working
19:25pretty well at the moment.
19:26Alonso's going to snag
19:27that number one position.
19:28Look at that.
19:29Eight tenths quicker
19:29down into the fifteens.
19:31That's getting down
19:32to a serious time.
19:34Yeah, the 2004 Pole,
19:36remember,
19:36was a 13.985,
19:38so just shy of
19:39one minute 14,
19:41which is a fantastically
19:42quick time around here.
19:43And when you think
19:44of what they've done
19:45this year,
19:46what the authorities
19:46did this year
19:47to reduce the downforce
19:48and the speed
19:49of these cars,
19:50and it's just
19:50all been negated
19:52by the teams
19:53in the first six races.
19:54It's just all gone
19:54right away again.
19:55And so much of that
19:56has been down to
19:57the quality of the rubber.
19:58But looking at Pole,
19:59even back for a couple
20:01of years,
20:01in 98,
20:02it was a 1.229,
20:03a 1.23 more or less,
20:0699, a 1.222,
20:07and now,
20:08you know,
20:08last year down to a 1.139.
20:10I mean,
20:10the drop in times
20:11is absolutely astronomical.
20:13As I say,
20:14much of that came around
20:15when Michelin rejoined
20:16the fray
20:17and Bridgestone
20:19were forced to reply.
20:20Well, that's
20:20M Schumacher's
20:21fast lap gone away.
20:23It was three tenths
20:24off in that first
20:2422nd sector,
20:26so it wasn't going
20:27to be a great lap anyway,
20:28but over around the chicane.
20:29There's the fast man
20:30of the session,
20:31Alonso.
20:31Now, once again,
20:32we're not picking on Bridgestone.
20:33Bridgestone Firestone
20:34makes great products.
20:35We see it all the time
20:36in Oval Track Racing
20:37in the United States,
20:38the Champ Cars
20:38on road courses.
20:39The problem is
20:41Bridgestone has
20:42but one competitive team,
20:44Ferrari.
20:44and Michelin has
20:46all the other good teams
20:48and so when you've
20:48the data accumulated
20:50Well, over the winter,
20:51the Michelin teams
20:52did like 100,000 kilometers
20:54of testing
20:54and the Bridgestone teams
20:56did 20.
20:56It's a lot of data.
20:58It is,
20:58and of course,
20:58this is a case in a way.
21:00We're watching
21:00Michael Schumacher lock up,
21:02but remembering
21:02that this is the
21:03Friday practice sessions
21:04and of course,
21:05what the teams
21:05will be doing,
21:06I've seen Michael Schumacher
21:07do this time and time again,
21:09is they will keep adjusting
21:10that brake position.
21:11Yeah.
21:12David,
21:12trying to extend it
21:13a meter,
21:13a meter and a half
21:14just to get to
21:15the very last point
21:16and of course,
21:17once the drivers
21:17have learned that,
21:18you won't see them
21:19make that mistake
21:19for the rest of the weekend.
21:20And the other thing there,
21:21I don't think he wanted
21:22to have a long lock up
21:23going into that chicane
21:24to try and take the chicane
21:25so he lifted off the brakes
21:26let the car run by it
21:27because again,
21:28he didn't want to put some,
21:29you know,
21:30final flat spot on that tyre
21:32because he might need it
21:33again this weekend.
21:35And again,
21:35you know,
21:35looking at that Bridgestone situation
21:37in a way,
21:37the sour grapes
21:39that's being spoken
21:40about Bridgestone
21:41to an extent
21:41is a case of
21:42what have you done
21:42for me lately,
21:43isn't it?
21:43I mean,
21:44look at the combination
21:45of wins and championships
21:47that Bridgestone and Ferrari
21:48have pulled off together.
21:50Six consecutive
21:51Constructors' Championships
21:52over the last six years.
21:53That ain't doing
21:54too showy work.
21:55You can't complain too much.
21:56Michael Schumacher
21:57going for a record-tying
21:59sixth victory
22:00at Monaco this weekend.
22:01The late Ayrton
22:02Senna of Brazil
22:03did it.
22:03Michael could do it
22:06with his next win.
22:07And on board
22:07with Fernando Alonso
22:08whose teammate
22:09is now P2.
22:10So both Renaults
22:11are at the top
22:12of the charts.
22:13And again,
22:13even though this is
22:14the second race
22:15on a lot of these engines,
22:16most of the teams
22:17had new engines
22:18for Spain two weeks ago.
22:20They knew this place
22:21is easier on engines
22:23because you don't have
22:23as much sustained
22:24full throttle running.
22:26Still,
22:27the race drivers
22:27are doing a lot of laps.
22:28Well,
22:29I think it's a case
22:30of practice making perfect.
22:31They never get a chance
22:32to run here
22:32any other time of the year.
22:34They're all put in
22:35lots of laps
22:35because the track changes
22:36pretty well every lap here
22:37with the fact
22:38that it is a street circuit.
22:39So these guys
22:40want to get as much knowledge
22:42under their belt
22:42as possible.
22:43Don't forget,
22:43they've got tomorrow off.
22:44They're not turning
22:45the wheel tomorrow
22:46so the next time
22:47they go out
22:47will be Saturday.
22:49Practice
22:49and of course
22:50it's into qualifying.
22:52And qualifying
22:53will be interesting here.
22:55As you mentioned,
22:55David,
22:55the track changes
22:56with every lap
22:57so it is critical
22:58that you run last
22:59in the session
23:00or as far back
23:01as you can.
23:03Fernando Alonso
23:04made that point
23:04to the press this week.
23:05He said,
23:06I'm right where I want to be.
23:07I was second
23:07two weeks ago in Spain
23:08so I'll be going out
23:10late in qualifying.
23:11A good point
23:12that was made
23:13about that qualifying
23:13speed that Steve
23:15was talking about,
23:15you know,
23:16down to 13
23:16from the 20s
23:17in just a few years.
23:19And also,
23:20back in the late 90s
23:22of course
23:22all the qualifying
23:23was done on empty tanks.
23:25That qualifying speed
23:26last year
23:26was done on race fuel.
23:28That's a very good point.
23:29That goes as an indication
23:30of the quality
23:31of the tyres.
23:34There were no crew.
23:35Looks like they're
23:36feeling pretty good
23:36about things
23:37and well they should.
23:38Here's goes
23:38Kei Raikkonen
23:39currently third
23:40in the McLaren.
23:42We'll be back
23:42in a moment
23:43and tell you
23:44how he did.
23:52We'll be back
23:54to the next one.
23:55We'll be back
23:56in a moment
23:56to the next one.
23:56We'll be back
24:04next week.
24:23you never know what's going to happen around the streets of the principality of monaco welcome
24:30back this is thursday practice friday will be off then saturday we'll have
24:35first round qualifying for you here on speed channel sunday's second round qualifying and the
24:39race live no tape delays for the grand prix of monaco when we went to break kimmy raikkonen
24:46was on a hot lap turned out he was 2.1 seconds off the pace a very relaxed atmosphere in
24:53the
24:53sauber garage with the mechanic just leaning around and watching the cars but i tell you really at
24:59monaco there is very little to be done to the cars you set the cars with very soft suspension to
25:05give
25:05the car as much mechanical grip as you can you crank on as much downforce as you can because you
25:09need
25:10every ounce of downforce available and you pretty much send the car out on the softest compound of
25:15tires that's going to last the race distance that's what decided out now and put the rest of the hands
25:19of the driver and let him go there's not much more you can do just hope he doesn't bend it
25:24yeah they
25:25do that a lot very easy to do now see if we can see those wish now we always just
25:31come off the
25:31onboard shot when we go around the hairpin i think we must be breaking up on the camera feed off
25:37that
25:38but you'll see when we're talking about these top front wishbones being modified just for monaco
25:43what happens is the inside face of the wheel rim when it goes on the full lock will basically just
25:48machine itself cut itself straight through the wishbone so they have to effectively put a v-notch
25:54as one of the jordans getting a little bit out of shape coming through the with montero coming
25:59through the nouvelle chicane in fact his teammate car the can hasn't turned a lap in this session
26:03and it would be a very reasonable question to ask well why don't the teams just set the suspension
26:08to give the drivers as much luck as possible for every circuit on the calendar why build them just
26:14for monaco and the answer for that is it's a it's an aero drag drag penalty it creates drag by
26:21notching the wishbones out in that fashion and of course the last thing the aerodynamicist want is
26:25to create a drag penalty so they won't do it even on the wishbone when you think how small the
26:31front
26:32layer of a wishbone is too and to the regulations those wishbones carbon fiber wishbones now are not
26:37allowed to produce downforce but of course they are designed to produce the absolute minimum drag
26:44so they're given hours and hours of wind tunnel testing time to make sure they just slip through
26:49the air like a hot knife through butter so and of course the brake looks have to be modified as
26:53well
26:53to give that extra lock and they don't have to run the aero penalty on the brakes either
26:58this would be d'antonio iuzzi currently fifth his teammate david coolthard is seventh
27:05christian clean doing the testing is 14. these cars go well around this circuit they always have
27:11back when the team was known as stewart it was barichello finished on the podium here in monaco
27:16that was 1997 then in 2001 eddie irvine driving for what was then known as the jaguar team also hit
27:23the podium at monte carlo and this of course is the 2005 version of the jag really at the end
27:31of last
27:31year oops some people at ford who who dumped the jaguar racing team saying wow we'd known the new car
27:38was
27:38going to be quite good we might have stayed in a bit longer too late now boys you paid attention
27:42you
27:42might have known yeah this chassis is designated the rb1 red bull racing one chassis rb1 but you're
27:52right it is the 2005 jag we'll have a ferrari lump in the back next year and possibly bridgestone tires
27:59were here around the rest gas restaurant but one of the best seats in all of motorsports sit out there
28:06with the beverage and watch the cars come around that corner literally within arms reach bring your
28:12earplugs and again to finish that thought really about the wishbone i just think we may see that
28:17shot of the car going around the hairpin now and you'll see that lock on why the wishbones are designed
28:22not to produce downforce it's because the technical regulations you're not allowed to have a movable
28:27aerodynamic device which really plays to the wings you're not allowed to have wings that move because
28:33then you could take downforce on and off the car as you wanted so you take downforce off the car
28:39as
28:39the car went along the straight and then bang all that downforce as it went around the corner well to
28:44to stop the teams doing that they said that no aerodynamic components on the car can have any
28:48movement more than just the flexible quality of the carbon it's made of but of course the wishbones
28:53by virtue of the fact they move up and down with the suspension would be classed as a movable
28:58aerodynamic device and they cannot produce downfalls boy fisher keller not having a very good lap here
29:03at all getting mixed up with all sorts of traffic now he's slowing up to give himself a bit of
29:07a shot
29:08as as was the car in front of him i couldn't quite see who it was two-time podium finisher
29:13in monaco is
29:13joncarlo fisi keller we'll take a break and return with more from monte carlo
29:38welcome back to monaco principality so tiny you can walk around it completely in about an hour
29:45yet it contains three distinctive towns monte carlo where the famous casino is the rock old
29:51monaco seat of the royal family which of course is in mourning this weekend for the passing of
29:56prince renier and then there is fontville which is the home of many of the shops and
30:03hotels and such where many of the formula one drivers live here's christian albers in the
30:07minority with no front wing earlier we saw him going around slowly and the
30:13host broadcasters picked up in slow-mo a drink bottle falling off the back of the car down in
30:18the mirabeau corner i guess we're about to see what that was just oh note to self don't do that
30:25exiting
30:26casino square and there goes the old front avion a little bit of tail out job there clips the rail
30:34and of course that swings the car back immediately nails the front end into the guardrail removing the
30:39front wing came out very neatly didn't it the last we saw of him he was just going down the
30:43hill
30:43towards the tunnel so he'll be going through the tunnel very slowly which of course is as you can
30:47imagine a bit here's the here's the drink bottle episode watch the back of the car here we go
30:53well that's it i mean the isolation shot kind of just prevents us seeing where that drink bottle
30:58was on the car i can only assume it was one of the mechanics that had left it on the
31:02car
31:02and i have to say that is an absolute sin you should never ever under any circumstances leave
31:09anything on the car during the session well even in formula one it happens doesn't i remember martin
31:14brundle coming back into the pits might have been in his benetton days no no not that we're blaming
31:19anybody but he went out with a a wrench or a spanner as you might say he knew something was
31:24rattling
31:24around couldn't quite figure out what it was it's got somebody had left one under the bodywork
31:29just testing you martin and you passed
31:35welcome back live practice at monaco there's the red bull team garage
31:41and they are hovering around vid antonio liuzzi's car will be momentarily
31:47excuse me there's christian clean you notice no front wing and here is why
31:52just moments after christian albers put the minardi into the wall driver's left
31:56clean does it driver's right clean coming out of the casino square there seemed to take a somewhat
32:01tight line for some reason or the back end got away from an obscene nose right into the guardrail on
32:06his
32:06right here comes uh nick heidfeld we see those two big black streets behind the guy it looked to me
32:14i mean
32:14he managed to drive back but it looked like card shifted down two gears instead of one or
32:20something along those lines it didn't look right how it locked up like that
32:23but it was a funny line it was on but maybe they're locked up before we could actually see it
32:27maybe
32:28it locked up prior to appearing to view because it did leave two very large black marks there
32:34hit the boom the boom the boom
32:41and alonso remains the fast man of the session and now the only man in the one minute 15 second
32:46zone so
32:46consider this morning the fastest lap was a 117 one here we are with a quarter of an hour to
32:52go in
32:52this practice and we're down to 15 eight alonso very very smooth driver he has that slightly quirky
32:59like turn in there but obviously this is a very tight corner
33:05he seems to rinse the wheel over somewhat but it seems to work with him
33:08and
33:18jonathan wheatley just chief mechanic
33:23meanwhile down at the tunnel
33:27what an active driver faith it must be going through that tunnel of course you see when you
33:31come out to that burst of light i mean the tunnel is well lit but boy when you come out
33:35that bright
33:36afternoon sunshine you're blind going in blind coming out during it's the fastest part of the
33:40track up around 180 miles an hour and it's a blind right hander and you just gotta
33:45hang on well it's only just seven eight hundredths off at the end of that middle sector so he could
33:51just put it out in this last sector he's already second fastest
33:58see how close they get that wall on there actually that little right hand king
34:03get a one out of it no two by seventy seven thousandths of a second
34:08so that's a better time for alexander verse only seventy seven hundredths of a second off
34:13a thousandth out of zero
34:17cool tired up to third spot now talking about versus tire failure guys you mentioned it earlier
34:22on at paul rickhard it seems what happened i think tires are making a big uh big story really all
34:27through this weekend leading up to this it seems that the left rear michelin on the car was actually
34:33put onto the car the wrong way around these are unidirectional tires they have to be put on one
34:37way and one way only and it seems that a mix-up during the mountain stage of the uh of
34:42the carcass
34:43onto the rim itself was incorrect and that caused the tire failure and it was a colossal accident how
34:51he managed to walk away with that in such good condition is quite quite remarkable this is his
34:55testing accident of paul rickhard yeah right it has tore all four corners off the car at the same
34:59corner where helio de angeles lost his life having removed all the wheels it then spun reputely spun
35:07like eight times on the bottom of the chassis yeah but once you take away the four corners and it's
35:12got no rubber to scrub the speed off or you're basically just on it you're on a surf right it's
35:16like leather shoes on a slick linoleum floor it's just the way you go
35:28now of course you know you see these times popping up and down obviously around here they do that
35:32anyway because of the traffic the quirks of traffic but on on the other hand don't forget it is what
35:36would normally be fried in practice of course this week is 30 practice so you don't know what they're
35:40doing in terms of fuel load tires and obviously collecting data on on everything tire wear brake
35:46wear fuel consumption as you're going around here having to shift using your right hand taking it off
36:00the steering wheel with these kind of corner loadings and so we're talking about blasting out of the
36:07darkness of the tunnel just as your eyes adjust and you can see that dust still coming off the
36:11surface of the track inside the tunnel there so a lot of dust still lying around on this track look
36:16at that tire carcass wobble as he hits and his head too look at his head in slow-mo just
36:20wobbling
36:21about there most of the drivers using tinted visors here they normally do but boy here it is a
36:28compromise in the tunnel over the curb there you can see those bolts holding the curves down
36:35ross braun not as usual cheer yourself oh it's gone so well for ferrari for so many seasons and now
36:43they are definitely searching for answers just under 12 minutes to go michael schumacher
36:50obviously thinking about going out again
36:56ribbons varickello on track with jarno truly just behind him truly of course took his first career
37:01pole and victory in this race one year ago what a moment it was for him and has been consistently
37:08faster than his teammate ralph schumacher both obviously two new members at the toyota team
37:13truly has been consistently quicker than schumacher all year finishing just in front of him in spain a
37:19couple of weeks ago but not doing so well this weekend but you put that down to he's a bit
37:24worried about
37:24it ended well right second race on the angelus this is the the toyota among all the formula one
37:30cars very aero sensitive so they know there are tracks that they don't do terribly well at they
37:35knew imola for example where you have to pound the curves was not going to be good for them
37:38they didn't expect to be great here they compounded their troubles in the last two weeks when it
37:44became clear that toyota although they had an fia issued super license to race in formula one
37:50it was discovered that they had allowed their german racing license the team is based in cologne
37:56germany so they must race under the auspices of the german federation but their license to race in
38:02germany had expired apparently the toyota team thought well we have a super license we don't need
38:07the german license but the rules are very specific you must have a national racing license before you can
38:12get the big one to race in formula one the question was what happens to toyota for violating those
38:17registration rules and the answer was nothing nothing max mozi kind of the head of the fia kind of
38:25sloughed it off and said well an error of omission yeah commission bit of a pain with paperwork snafu who
38:31cares oh i was just gonna say on board with kimia raikun and then we went to look that's the
38:43kiss of
38:43death you all you have to do is think it and we get off the onboard shots
38:49beautiful views from here dr kane has at last gone out he's now now managed to do four laps in
38:54the
38:55toyota powered jordan or midland team but that's not what carter kia needs he has not raced here before
39:01i think unless he raced in formula three hasn't been here before so he needs all the practice time he
39:06can
39:06get or certainly in a formula one car you need to get out there and be a big difference around
39:11here
39:12i can only assume they've got a problem with something yeah must have into the tunnel goes
39:16giancarlo fisichella in the moment he'll come flashing out of it with slower traffic ahead
39:23looks like they'll make it to the chicane at harborside
39:26in good shape we'll take a break and return to monaco
39:33speed channel's coverage of the fia formula one world championship is brought to you by new
39:38mobile one extended performance the oil that's changing oil
39:44welcome back a little over seven minutes remain in the final thursday practice monaco
39:49grand prix weekend here on speed channel bob barsha steve matchit david hobbs with you
39:55here windsor is busily preparing his reports you'll see this weekend during our acura pre-race show
40:01preceding our live coverage of round six of the form of the one world championship
40:06now along the harbor side this is fernando alonso who remains the fast man of the session at a 115
40:11eight over alex mertz david kultbard in the red bull then giancarlo fisichella
40:17kimmy raikkonen vidantonio liuzzi felipe masa ralph schumacher ricardo zonta and guantablo montoya
40:24alonso currently leading the world championship by 18 points over llano truly in the toyota so
40:31another good finish here would really be a huge help to alonso's quest to win the world
40:36championship for the first time for standard 23 laps in this session alone for alonso
40:43remember he's on the second race on that engine
40:46his teammate visichella has done 29. there's a shot we haven't seen on board on the trio to look at
40:53the front wing you see there's two little winglets mounted on the outside the winglets in their own
40:58right they're not little extension flaps like we've seen on the r25 renault the sort of little
41:04winglets should expect to see on the back of the bodywork the little fences each side as well in
41:07the supporting pillar yeah so obviously they do have a bit of understeer this year most of these
41:12cars do the toyota in particular and that's obviously to try and help that meanwhile alonso has
41:18just said fast first sector of the session at a 19.6
41:32there's one of the things that's good for your engine she's hovering around that
41:3515 to 17 mark instead of up around the 19 and certainly not sustained anyway
41:45the man responsible for those little winglets mike gascoigne i have to say though he does seem to
41:53have done a remarkable job at turning around the fortunes of uh toyota great success early in his
42:02career with the team belonging to that yellow car in the background jordan he was with them in that
42:07team's heyday in the late 90s benetton maybe their successes and now toyota so credit where credit is
42:17due we've made fun of him all year so we have i mean tip the cap to him now the
42:22critics have said
42:23and certainly i've been amongst them that he's never really been around a team when they've had great
42:27success he's been around them at the point leading up to the success and mike gascon has kind of
42:32capitalized on every move in the career is made however toyota had been absolutely transformed he
42:39said that they would take time to get the car together i it was amongst one of those critics
42:43thinking well yeah come on you're gonna have to prove yourself more than that we want to see the car
42:47going faster well it is going faster it's been absolutely transformed i'll say just extraordinary
42:54this team too renault just come on by leaps and bounds this year they seem to have the best
43:00relationship with the the michelin tire supplier somehow they just seem to have got the absolute
43:05most out of those tires although obviously you can't take away from that devastating win of reichland
43:09two weeks ago in spain where he absolutely did put his clock and the renault seems very very easy on
43:16its tires certainly on the rear tires a lot more than last year it seems to be a lot better
43:20balance and
43:22seems to have better harmony in a way with his tires than a lot of other cars and that's making
43:26a big
43:26difference to the car but really look at this runner and the performance all year long we've
43:31just been talking about how well the toyota's going but it's been strong in all areas they've got
43:35horsepower which they lacked last year and look at the aerodynamic tweaks that shot shows it right
43:40there look at the treatment around the back of the car with the winglets the flick ups on the high
43:44on the low side of the rear tires how the body is sculpted so close in around the rear to
43:50flow the air
43:51away from the turbulence of the rear tires so much of the turbulence on these cars comes from the
43:57tires and you need to direct the air away from the tires of course the engineers would say well
44:01let's shroud the tires the regulations don't allow you to do that so you have to work around it
44:08getting back to design pointed out that since 1992 virtually every championship car has come from the
44:15design pen of either adrian newey now with mclaren or rory burn ferrari's designer she had a quick
44:23look at michael schumacher there i was surprised to see michael schumacher there obviously finished
44:28for the day just a few minutes to go but i thought he was going to have another go about
44:31seven or eight
44:32minutes ago sitting in his car looking racy but i thought he looked a bit chewed off there and um
44:37he's only done 11 laps this afternoon so they're either super confident or not confident at all
44:48so he's moved up past kimmy raikkonen into his fifth spot oops no sauber one of the saubers
44:54heavily into the tire wall at san devas masa yeah masa yeah
45:01you see the front wind main plane lying on the ground so certainly has lost the wing
45:05well this corner has changed often over the years it's only look what happens to him
45:10comes bollocking in there a bit on the quick side i think that's probably what's going to do it
45:15made you lock up on the right front now you've lost your steering oh oh he's going no he didn't
45:20get no it's gone now spun it over the curb oh there you go right that boom that'll do it
45:30thank goodness for tire barriers just angle just when the mechanics thought they had friday off
45:34yep boy he was locked up a country mile away wow i see yeah he hit the wall there way
45:40before he got
45:41to sandoval took the wall down the back yes well those tires are definitely not going to be seen
45:47anymore racing this weekend so let's hope he doesn't need them you saw the crane operator
45:51leaping to his seat getting ready to lift the sauber out of the way very neutral balanced car there
45:57very rare that we get the chance to see the car being on the crane and i always like to
46:00see which
46:01way the car is weighted the weight balance on the front or rear used to be a couple of years
46:06ago you'd see the rear of the car was weighted down because remember you've got the engine and
46:09the transmission of course at the back of the car but if anything look how much weight's on the
46:13front of the car and they've moved that ballast up the tire manufacturers have both said the same
46:20thing the car seems to work better now with these tires you need to get the weight further forward
46:25shift the weight is coming out the left front isn't brake burning i think it is someone's thinking
46:30should we get the fire extinguisher here or you know i'll be we need to put the left rear out
46:36but you
46:36want to put on the left front too boys let's calm down calm down we've got the fire extinguisher
46:55right bill nerves in 14. let's see it again so he just went in way too quick a thing though
47:01i think he did
47:03you see this right right front locker
47:05hit the binders that's there misses the wall on the left then goes cattywampus all the way across
47:15the apex and hard into the tire wall boy those tire walls have proved to be an incredible blessing
47:20over the years huge lock up there saw the corner workers on the move immediately too toward the impact
47:29point which is good to see yes normally not running away from the accident say the normal thing is to
47:35run away
47:39so good job
47:43see these guys have been suited up properly too with helmets and fire suits and so on it wasn't
47:47that long ago they'd be out there in t-shirts and shorts and leaping onto the racetrack to grab
47:51souvenirs anytime somebody lost a piece of body work
47:58flavia brettori on the left with a new contract for next year and formula one with renault in fact
48:04they hope to keep the whole team together they still have to work a deal with fernando alonso
48:08and they don't want to lose him no now the people they're looking a little bit down in the mouth
48:15as
48:15uh they surveyed this wreckage on their monitors in the pits there's believe that that's happened
48:19under the car
48:23save the engine save the tires save everything well sessions come to an end you can see that the
48:29clock down to zero traditionally at monaco you tend to see the cars on the start finish straight
48:33practice doing practice starts you probably just hear the audio there
48:38a couple of interesting anniversaries this weekend it is the 40th year since paul hawkins
48:45went into the harbor driving a lotus i believe david and 50 years since alberto escari became the
48:53first man to do that back in 1955. there you see the results of today's running both men swam away
49:01and i co-drive with paul just a few years later in 1968. saskari was killed just a few days
49:08later
49:08testing at monza i believe at the corner that now bears his name as you said earlier not many weekend
49:13drivers there ricardo zonta and alexander vertz the only two in there michael schumacher down in 11th
49:18has decided to call it a day so 1.3 seconds off the page we'll take another break and be
49:24back
49:24some things up the first day of practice from monaco
49:34no other vista in motorsports like the harbor in monaco site of this weekend's sixth round of
49:39the formula one world championship practice is now complete let's check the leaderboard with
49:44david hobbs and steve matchup well the current world championship leader fernando alonso and his
49:48renault is at the top of the timesheets alexander vertz who we won't be seeing again this weekend
49:52in the mclaren second david kulta a great job in the red bull third fisher keller in the second
49:56renault fourth montora and raikkonen there in the two mclaren's fifth and sixth the uc seventh
50:0310th spot then onto zonta and then michael schumacher there in 11th in the ferrari behind him
50:09weber michael schumacher i'm surprised he had a little bit more running in that session perhaps a
50:14technical problem with the car we'll follow that story up rubens barichello his teammate there looked
50:18down in 15th so britson are looking for a good result they've got their work cut out for them
50:22a moment ago i mentioned paul hawkins and alberto escari crashing into the harbor 40 and 50 years ago
50:28respectively don't forget it was 40 years ago that pete aaron also did it and of course was the
50:32character played by james garner in grand prix that does it for our practice from the grand
50:37prix of monaco don't forget to join us saturday not friday but saturday at 7 a.m for coverage of
50:42the
50:42first round of qualifying for the grand prix and saturday night at 8 p.m eastern tune in for speed
50:47channels formula one magazine show inside grand prix then sunday morning beginning at 6 30 a.m eastern
50:53check out coverage of the second round of qualifying to set the grid then finally at 7 30 in the
50:58morning
50:58sunday we begin our live coverage of the grand prix of monaco with the akura free race show featuring
51:03peter windsor who has plenty to talk about once again this weekend then at 8 a.m the cars will
51:08roll
51:08off for the grandest grand prix of all that's a little too early for you the race will also re
51:13-air
51:14at 11 30 a.m so you can sleep in but you're not a fan if you don't so there's
51:18the challenge for
51:19david hobbs and steve matchett i'm bob farsha we'll see you saturday for qualifying from monaco