May 28, 2011

2011 Monaco GP: all about the first corner.



Oh what a surprise, Red Bulls were sandbagging!
Regardless of what Alonso may have said after qualifying, I doubt very much Hamilton would have been able to best Vettel's amazing lap, 1:13.554, a new lap record.

Watch the video, it will blow your mind. Figure it's almost ten seconds faster than laps in Senna's time, the ones people go on and on about. There is this current of thought that says that driving a current F1 car is "too easy". Frankly , I question the sanity of anyone making such a claim.

Watch the clip and lots more of our very own photography after the jump






(slow? let it load...)

Tomorrow there are a couple of things that could happen to Vettel, and they are all in the first lap....make that the first straight to Saint Devote. Button, Webber or Alonso might pass him at the start or there could be a big pile up. Barring that, it will be decided by pit stops and maybe safety cars, like every other Monaco GP.

Vitaly Petrov
Jaime Alguersauri
Jenson Button
Fernando Alonso

By now you have seen the accidents at the tunnel exit. Liuzzi, Petrov, Rosberg and worst of all Perez.
I can tell you the whole Casino Square went VERY quiet after letting out an initial gasp as replays were shown on the big screen. The time it took to extract the Sauber driver, with the sheets over him really was uncomfortable for all.
There were no news announced, I finally went up to a marshall and asked, he said they reported Perez had passed out but was essentially OK. Relief. I would imagine something will be done about that section of track by next year and now the decision not to let drivers use DRS in the tunnel seems very wise.

How Perez's accident happened is unknown yet, for sure he emerged from the tunnel in the wrong spot, way track left. One thing I thought curiou, you might be able to explain: is it possible there was enough force in the first hit to completely deflate the left, opposite side, tire or do you think it may have been going flat already, causing the crash?

Perez1



Lewis Hamilton
Sergio Perez
Michael Schumacher
Adrian Sutil

Go full screen, I spent a lot of time getting these shot today, enjoy them to the fullest!



12 comments:

  1. Great pictures, great commentary, really appreciate the video.... Enjoy the race tomorrow!

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  2. I really appreciate all of the work you put into this blog. It's awesome. I just wish I could link the video to facebook to share with my friends who don't get F1.

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  3. @ charlie, there is a "share on facebook" link below the post :)

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  4. Great pics! Really nice light considering it was the middle of the day.

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  5. Amazing photos man! Really enjoyed them.

    Watching Vettel's lap, you could see that Adrian Newey has once again worked his magic. In comparison to other drivers, Vettel's steering inputs are almost effortless.

    Everything seems to be going right for the team. Great drivers... great designer... amazing pit crew... strong backing.

    Let's see where today's race takes us. ENJOY!

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  6. @ danny: where I was standing, inside Casino, there is a a zone of shadow and bright light, matter of catching them at the right moment, exposing for highlights and then processing raws accordingly....

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  7. great post, great pics and videos. This is my first comment, I've been following the blog for a while and I've got to say it's amazing! Thank you so much, there are lots of interesant posts.

    As for the accident, I'm no racing driver so correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't it possible that it was simply a pilot's mistake?? As said in the post, he emerged from the tunnel way left, so maybe he tried to get back to the right line, and then braked with the car still in a (slight) angle. The bumpy asphalt did the rest...

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  8. Congrats to him he made it. It’s really hard to race like that. And I’m really fan of any racing sports.

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  9. Were you shooting with press credentials? Amazing work mate!

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  10. @Jamey :no, I don't think blogs get press credentials with the FIA even if I tried. For practice I had garbage men credentials! Yup, not as glamorous but Monaco sanitation sets up on the inside the Place du Casino, awesome spot, cars go past you 10 feet away!

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  11. Well you did a brilliant job. Im a professional hoping to be shooting F1 in the next year or so. Very impressed. Keep it up. Much better stuff than some of the pros get.

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