Sauber and Williams in Monaco: Race of missed opportunities

B e Force India was cheered. Paul di Resta and Nico Hülkenberg brought ten championship points to their account. That's a lot of wood with a car that, according to sports director Otmar Szafnauer, is currently three to five tenths behind the potential winners. And that includes not only the usual suspects Red Bull, McLaren, Ferrari, Mercedes and Lotus in this nasty year but also Sauber and Williams.

Sauber was victorious

Aerodynamic measurements in Barcelona even showed that the Sauber C31 and the Williams FW34 are the best cars in the field in terms of aerodynamic efficiency. Better than Red Bull, McLaren or Ferrari? Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko is not surprised by these numbers. 'They have good cars, but nobody knows why. They are not as sophisticated as a Red Bull or a McLaren, but apparently easy to drive and understand. In the current situation, anything is possible. If you talk about a lucky strike at Williams in Barcelona , then you have to do the same with our successes. There are a number of good cars and the conditions make the difference between victory and defeat. '

Sauber and Williams would have been good in Monte Carlo too. Peter Sauber dared to say: 'Our car had the quality to win.' The lap times in the free practice sessions confirmed this. As usual, the Sauber C31 did well in the fast sections. 'But we were also strong in sector three, and that's where traction really counts,' said a delighted Sauber.

Maldonado's stupid mistakes

Same goes for Williams. Chief designer Ed Wood said bitterly on Saturday evening: 'The Maldonado had the speed for a place in the first two rows. Now we're at the back.' On the back row of the grid, the Barcelona winner met Sergio Perez, the man he drove into the car without motivation on Saturday morning. Even at Williams people were amazed at the action. Maldonado's excuse that he would have had to get used to the steering behavior of the now much lighter car after draining 100 kilograms of fuel was refuted by the stewards. An aerial photo clearly showed that the Venezuelan suddenly deviated from the racing line and steered into the Sauber. The unorthodox line became all the more clear when one saw it over that of Lewis Hamiltonwho followed the brawlers. On the racing line, of course. Maldonado couldn't find a plausible explanation for this deviation and was punished.

In addition to the ten starting positions, another five were added later because some innards of the gearbox had been damaged in the subsequent accident at the casino. The Williams engineers fished metal shavings from the transmission oil. Maldonado's race lasted only 500 meters. Then he crashed into the rear of Pedro de la Rosa's HRT. There is no more stupid way to throw away a Monaco race. 'It's actually a shame,' said one of the team. 'Pastor is always particularly strong in Monaco and Senna has demonstrated in the race what should have been important for him.'

After all, Bruno Senna saved his employer one more World Championship point. Clean came out completely empty. Sergio Perez's accident in the first leg of qualifying will likely never be resolved. The data showed no irregularities until shortly before the impact. If the tie rod had broken beforehand, as Perez suspected, this should have been seen in the steering angle and the steering forces. An inspection of the suspension parts in the factory in Hinwil only revealed that they were so destroyed that a precise sequence can no longer be reconstructed. The following applies: In case of doubt, against the accused. Perez was probably too fast. At a time when it was all about getting ahead.

The Mexican did not look happy in the race either. Although he improved from 23rd to 11th place and also drove the fastest race lap, he then received a drive-through penalty for obstructing a competitor. When he drove to the pits, he simply cut off Kimi Räikkönen's path. The Finn had to brake and lost a place to Hulkenberg. 'The line in the pits was okay,' explained team manager Beat Zehnder, 'unfortunately Checo forgot that Kimi was behind him.' It is difficult to judge whether the penalty cost points. Zehnder: 'We might still have finished eleventh, but not one lap behind.'

The fastest race lap, which was 1.509 seconds below Mark Webber's best time, was little consolation for Peter Sauber: 'You shows us what would have been possible. ' Kamui Kobayashi couldn't show it. The Japanese suffered a similar blackout as Perez in training, luckily without consequences, but he couldn't help the retirement in the race. 'The Grosjean destroyed us a race for the second time,' said Sauber angrily. 'In Barcelona he slit Perez's tire and here he slips into Kamui's car.' That resented the tie rod at the front right.