Pippa Mann – Monaco 2008
Monaco is something of an interesting event for the World Series drivers and teams. It is often called the crown jewel of the Formula One calendar, undoubtedly a great privilege to drive the streets of Monte Carlo, and good for the drivers to be able to showcase their talent once a year in front of the F1 teams and fans… However, while all of this is true, the Monaco Grand Prix weekend is also something of a pain for the drivers and teams…
Firstly, we are used to having the garages on our race weekends, whereas during Monaco we all work out of awnings, and our paddock is in a car-park, on a hill. Admittedly a very glamorous car park with a great view, and apparently Roger Federer and Rafeal Nadal park their cars when competing in the Monte Carlo Tennis Club Tournament, but all the same, we still only amount to a bunch of tents in a car-park!
Secondly, World Series normally does most of it’s testing on race weekends, and we have very little testing outside of these weekends. However at Monaco, we are not the main event and merely a support race, and as such we get a rather limited amount of track time. In fact, we get just 20 laps at 8:30 am on Thursday morning to be precise, which means we have a pre-grid up at our paddock (cars and drivers all ready to go when called down to the circuit) at 7:00am – so you’d better be a morning person!
The other thing about Monaco of course, is it’s a street circuit. This means lots of barriers and no run off areas. If you make a mistake you’re going to take the wheels off your wagon for sure, which would mean a late night for the mechanics, loss of precious track time for you, and a very substantial damage bill to be paid…
It is all generally worth it though, just to be part of the show, and to race our one race of the weekend right before the F1 boys come out to play. Also the Monaco Grand Prix is synonymous for sunshine and nice weather, and after a long cold winter and starting the season in places like Spa where it kept drizzling with rain the whole time, everyone was looking forward to that little bit of warmth.
Except this year it rained… Now remember that comment I made earlier about the barriers? Well suddenly it’s a lot harder to stay away from them. Also the pre-grid where we have to wait with our cars is in the open air, and the rain is coming down filling everyone’s race-seats, so when the drivers get in we have to sit in a puddle… Lovely! Plus you’re cold, damp and fed up (as are the mechanics) as you’ve been hanging around in the rain for the past hour or so getting wet, which is not the perfect attitude to go into qualifying or a race with!
As usual for qualifying (which was at 9.00am on Saturday morning and we hadn’t run since the 20 laps 8.30 am Thursday morning) we were split into two groups. I was in the second group, and whist for the first group the track was very wet, it had actually stopped raining. This meant that as my group went out on track, although still very wet in some places, the track was definitely drying, and going to be getting quicker every lap. Being there at the end of the session was going to be very important. But at Monaco we also have rule whereby after ten minutes the qualifying session, if a red flag comes out the stewards may decide not to re-start the session. So you not only need to be there at the end, you also need to make sure every single lap is a good one because if the red flag comes out you don’t want to have been taking it too easy and start too far down the order.
I spent a couple of laps working out where the grip was, and then started to push. The plan seemed to be working, and every time I came past my pit board the boys were holding out to me 8th, 9th or 10th in group. I managed a good lap and popped up to 5th in group, but unfortunately on the very next lap with five minutes to go, and the track getting quicker all the time, I managed to do exactly what I wasn’t supposed to and stuff the car into a wall. Oops! Not a lot of damage thankfully, and only to the front wing, but I was out of the session and going to just have to watch myself fall down the times, possibly right to the back. Some people came in for slicks in the dying minutes, and all of the sudden the times at the front tumbled, but when the session finished somehow I was still 10th in the group, and not any further back. So starting 19th for the race! After hitting the car against a wall and thinking I was going to be right at the very back, I was kind of satisfied with this result. Also as I struggled so much at this circuit last year it was satisfying to know I had been there or there abouts before I binned it.
After we all arrived back at the paddock, and the cars finally came out of their ’Parc Ferme’ conditions, we received a radio call telling us that myself, the car in front of me, and all the cars behind me in the group hadn’t qualified for the race and would have to start at the back of the grid. I could not believe it. Basically, because the cars on the dry weather slick tyres had gone so much quicker, all our times were now outside the 107% time limit set for cars to qualify, and the pole man was 1.5 seconds clear of the next car, so only he was shoving us out. We would now all have to start behind everyone else from the other group as well, and for me this ended up being p23. I was gutted.
The following morning race day loomed, and for the first time in my career I was doing a rain dance. On a circuit where it’s notoriously difficult to overtake, I thought my best chance of climbing up the order would be some bad weather, and doing my best to stay on while everyone else struggled… I got my wish and it poured down! There was standing water everywhere and as race car tyres are designed to clear water from the track, they throw it up into the air causing spray, which makes it pretty hard work to see anything. So we were all about to go racing on one of the most notorious circuits of the year, in hideous weather, and everyone other than the leader would basically be wearing a blind-fold… Staying on the circuit – if I could manage it -seemed like a plan!
It seems unfortunately, that everyone else out there had the same plan! Other than squeezing past one car on the very first lap, and one near the end, the race was largely just one long train of cars. The spray meant as soon as you got close you just couldn’t see anything. The track, as is normally everyday roads, is crested, so the standing water accumulates on the edges near the barriers. This means everyone drives down the middle of the track almost everywhere, and it’s physically impossible to get a World Series car through the gap! In the few laps I had by myself after squeezing past the car on the first lap, my times were pretty good, but as soon as I caught the next set of traffic I was stuck. I kept thinking about it and having a look, but there was never enough room to get a car down there and out the other side with it’s wheels still attached. Four people crashed, there were two safety cars, and then that was it – the race was over.
The next race is at Silverstone on Saturday 7th / Sunday 8th June, and I’m looking forward to it already. I’ve never raced on the full Grand Prix layout before, but I have raced on the other layouts and have always been quick on them. Also it’s a nice big wide track again, so hopefully it’ll make overtaking possible, regardless of the weather. But the one really good thing to come out of the Monaco weekend is that I no longer mind racing in the rain. I’ve never really liked it at all, but now I can honestly say I quite enjoyed it. So thanks Monaco, I guess you taught me something last weekend after all…
Yours Pippa