2024 Monaco Grand Prix - Monte Carlo, May 24 - 26

[ringo]

Undercutting doesn't work in Monaco because you will just come out of the pits behind a car that is going long. Monaco is THE overcutting track.

Although I wouldn't put it past the Ferrari strategy team to so something as outrageously stupid as attempting to undercut from the lead.

you are assuming that there wont be 'trains' formed. The gap between Ferrari/Redbull/McLaren as a group, and the rest is huge. I expect an Alonso train. Undercutting might actually help get in front of such a train, rather than into it. Trying to overcut may result in bottling up behind it, where you end up with 1.5 fast laps, when you really wanted 2 fast laps of squeezing out the last bit of pace left in your first tyre.

No I'm totally expecting a train, which is why undercutting isn't viable.

I'm expecting a car that undercuts to catch up to a train and get stuck in said train. Yes, if there is a massive gap between trains that opens up between, say, Alonso and Russell, you might be able to pit into said gap and catch back up to the first train, making an undercut viable.

The problem is that you can't overtake in Monaco. The car that is in the lead can always simply back the "fast train" up during stint one to prevent the gap between the "fast train" and "Slow train" from forming in the first place, meaning that undercutting never becomes viable. If the cars behind pit, they end up in the train. If they go long with the leader, the leader keeps backing them up so they can't pit without getting stuck. If the cars behind pit, the leader goes for a mad dash on tyres that are still in good shape because he never pushed, opening up the gap between the "fast train" and the "slow train", then pits into that gap, while the others were forced to pit into the slow train.

The only way this doesn't work is if the entire "slow train" pits before the cars fighting for the lead do, which is unlikely, because going long is viable in the slow train for the same reasons.

Monaco is a gamble. If the leader stays out too long, while losing pace to those who have pit before, he will eventually need to pit and still come out behind a train. The overtake problem is the same for under or over cut.
The assumption that the tyres will be in good shape is a big assumption. They wont be. The leader will need to build a gap.

[CHT]

Max could possibly break his current jointly held record with Senna on most consecutive poles this weekend.
While Perez needs to be careful not to crash the car and expose the RB20 floor to the world again and the same goes to Mclaren since their rival will be keen to have peek at their upgrades as well.

[Dunlay]

Max could possibly break his current jointly held record with Senna on most consecutive poles this weekend.
While Perez needs to be careful not to crash the car and expose the RB20 floor to the world again and the same goes to Mclaren since their rival will be keen to have peek at their upgrades as well.

It's now annual routine for Perez to crash and show their floor. If I am Red Bull, I would bolt an old floor on his car for this weekend. He is anyway not going to win or be on podium this race. So why not simply hide their new floor?

[F1Krof]

Hulkenberg putting it to pole would be something.

[CaribouBread]

Leclerc is really putting in those laps with those hards.

[Sieper]

Mercedes seems also in the mix.

[Luscion]

Mercedes seems also in the mix.

Lewis was right there with Leclerc on the hards but gotta wait till saturday and see if Merc falls off

[mkay]

Don't know fuel loads and engine modes, but it's definitely encouraging for Mercedes. They appear to be a little closer to the front than they were a year ago.

[vanburin]

Mercedes seems also in the mix.

It's the track surface. My guess is all teams have had to raise their car slightly to accommodate, which brings Merc back into play.

[sport777]

Mercedes seems also in the mix.

It's the track surface. My guess is all teams have had to raise their car slightly to accommodate, which brings Merc back into play.

you need to wait until qualifying, but I think it’s a matter of understanding the car and updates, it seems to me that Merce began to understand where to move and how to improve

[AnotherAlex]

Lewis was right there with Leclerc on the hards but gotta wait till saturday and see if Merc falls off

I'm fairly sure the Mercs were on the mediums.

[LM10]

Lewis was right there with Leclerc on the hards but gotta wait till saturday and see if Merc falls off

I'm fairly sure the Mercs were on the mediums.

And you're right.

[Sevach]

Hmm... Actually undercutting has worked in the past with good effect. It all depends on the nature of trye wear on that day and how much "recoil" is held back in the train when the teams trundle around playing musical chairs in the first stint.

Not sure it will work anymore with the 70 degrees warmers, only if the guy leading has really bad tires(and the guy who pits comes in free air).
All this discussion and they'll probably pit on the same lap under SC.

[mkay]

Lewis was right there with Leclerc on the hards but gotta wait till saturday and see if Merc falls off

I'm fairly sure the Mercs were on the mediums.

Not correct. They did run the hards for the first 15 minutes or so, then moved on to mediums, and then softs.

[AnotherAlex]

Lewis was right there with Leclerc on the hards but gotta wait till saturday and see if Merc falls off

I'm fairly sure the Mercs were on the mediums.

Not correct. They did run the hards for the first 15 minutes or so, then moved on to mediums, and then softs.

But when Lewis moved up to P2, 0.165 seconds behind Charles' P1 time, about 30 minutes into the session, he was on mediums to the Ferrari's hards.