Rosberg narrowly beats Hamilton to Monaco GP pole

By May 24, 2014, 9:06 AM EDT
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Nico Rosberg has secured pole position for the Monaco Grand Prix after edging out Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton by just 0.059 seconds in the final stage of qualifying today.

The German driver secured provisional pole on the first set of runs, but made a mistake on his final hot lap that saw him go off at Mirabeau. This brought out yellow flags, meaning that no-one could improve their time, and meant that Hamilton was forced to settle for second place.

Red Bull once again was best of the rest in third and fourth, with Daniel Ricciardo ahead of Sebastian Vettel, whilst Ferrari locked out the third row as Fernando Alonso finished fifth ahead of Kimi Raikkonen.

Qualifying began under bright blue skies and in warm conditions, and most of the drivers headed out early in order to post a banker lap time. There was a split in choice between the soft and super-soft tires, with some believing that it was not worth running on the slower compound to begin with. Predictably, Mercedes had faith in its pace and immediately went fastest on the soft tires with Rosberg ahead of Hamilton. Daniil Kvyat had a huge spin on the exit of the tunnel, and was lucky not to suffer more damage than a ruined front wing.

As is the norm in Monaco, traffic made setting a clean lap time hard for the drivers out there, with Nico Hulkenberg complaining over his radio that he had been blocked. Pastor Maldonado managed to put his super-soft tires to go use to sit third at the halfway point in the session, but Red Bull opted to bide its time, waiting before sending Daniel Ricciardo and Sebastian Vettel out. With their first efforts, Ricciardo went third fastest and Vettel slotted into fifth place.

With five minutes to go, most opted to pit for a fresh set of tires in a last effort to make it out of the drop zone. All teams except Mercedes and Red Bull had to make the switch to the super-soft tire in order to be sure of a place in Q2, and this worked for Jean-Eric Vergne as he finished the session in first place. The pressure was on Sauber once again as Esteban Gutierrez and Adrian Sutil were in the drop zone after Kvyat had returned to the track after his crash, and was in 16th place.

However, when Marcus Ericsson and Felipe Massa made contact at Mirabeau and brought out the yellow flags, it ruined all hot laps and meant that both Saubers were eliminated in Q1 alongside the Marussia and Caterham drivers. As a result of the incident, Massa was not able to go out in Q2, and as a result will start in 16th at best tomorrow. The stewards will investigate the collision after qualifying, as well as reports of blocking by Sergio Perez, Esteban Gutierrez, Pastor Maldonado and Daniil Kvyat.

On the super-soft tire, Mercedes once again ruled the roost, but Hamilton was still fractionally slower than Rosberg. Daniel Ricciardo continued to prove that Red Bull was best of the rest in third place, ahead of Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen. Sebastian Vettel was late out on track once again, but he moved up into P4 behind his teammate despite report that his ERS system wasn’t working properly.

In the final set of runs, Lewis Hamilton produced a fine lap to move up to P1 ahead of his teammate. Fernando Alonso improved his lap time to get up into third place, whilst Jean-Eric Vergne also managed to make it into the top ten alongside his teammate. This in turn bumped Nico Hulkenberg down outside of the top ten, ending his qualifying in Q2, whilst Lotus also failed to continue its string of top ten qualifyings as Grosjean and Maldonado qualified 14th and 15th respectively. Jenson Button and Valtteri Bottas also failed to make it into the top ten, and will start 12th and 13th tomorrow.

All ten drivers were quick to head out on track in order to have two runs in the fight for pole position. Sergio Perez was the first to lay down a benchmark, but he was soon bumped down the order as Rosberg and Hamilton warmed up their tires for their first hot lap. Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen briefly sat first and second, but the Mercedes and Red Bull drivers soon came out.

First blood went to Rosberg in the fight for pole, as he posted a time just 0.059 seconds quicker than Hamilton’s. Daniel Ricciardo was four-tenths further back, but remained ahead of teammate Sebastian Vettel in fourth place after their first runs.

On the final set of runs, Rosberg was pushing hard and locked up into Mirabeau, forcing him to take evasive action down the slip road. However, this did bring out yellow flags, and meant that none of the drivers could improve as they had to back off. This inadvertently secured pole position for the German driver ahead of his teammate and the Red Bulls of Daniel Ricciardo and Sebastian Vettel.

For the second year in a row, Rosberg will start on pole position at Monaco, but Hamilton seemed to be less than impressed to have finished second once the session was over. It could set the scene for an enthralling fight between the two Mercedes drivers tomorrow in Monaco.

You can watch the Monaco Grand Prix live from 7:30am ET on NBC, with the pre-race show starting at 7am ET on NBCSN.

After New York whirlwind, Josef Newgarden makes special trip to simulator before Detroit

By Jun 2, 2023, 10:00 AM EDT
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DETROIT – There’s no rest for the weary as an Indy 500 winner, but Josef Newgarden discovered there are plenty of extra laps.

The reigning Indy 500 champion added an extra trip Wednesday night back to Concord, N.C., for one last session on the GM Racing simulator before Sunday’s Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix.

After a 30-year run on the Belle Isle course, the race has been moved to a nine-turn, 1.7-mile layout downtown, so two extra hours on the simulator were worth it for Newgarden.

INDYCAR IN DETROIT: Entry list, schedule, TV info for this weekend

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“I really wanted to do it,” he told NBC Sports at a Thursday media luncheon. “If there’s any time that the sim is most useful, it’s in this situation when no one has ever been on a track, and we’re able to simulate it as best as we can. We want to get some seat time.

“It’s extra important coming off the Indy 500 because you’ve been out of rhythm for a road or street course-type environment, so I really wanted some laps. I was really appreciative to Chevy. There was a few guys that just came in and stayed late for me so I could get those laps before coming up here. I don’t know if it’s going to make a difference, but I feel like it’s going to help for me.”

After a whirlwind tour of New York for two days, Newgarden arrived at the simulator (which is at the GM Racing Technical Center adjacent to Hendrick Motorsports) in time for a two hour session that started at 6 p.m. Wednesday. He stayed overnight in Charlotte and then was up for an early commercial flight to Detroit, where he had more media obligations.

Newgarden joked that if he had a jet, he would have made a quick stop in Nashville, Tennessee, but a few more days away from home (where he has yet to return in weeks) is a worthy tradeoff for winning the Greatest Spectacle in Racing – though the nonstop interviews can take a toll.

“It’s the hardest part of the gig for me is all this fanfare and celebration,” Newgarden said. “I love doing it because I’m so passionate about the Indy 500 and that racetrack and what that race represents. I feel honored to be able to speak about it. It’s been really natural and easy for me to enjoy it because I’ve been there for so many years.

“Speaking about this win has been almost the easiest job I’ve ever had for postrace celebrations. But it’s still for me a lot of work. I get worn out pretty easily. I’m very introverted. So to do this for three days straight, it’s been a lot.”

Though he is terrified of heights, touring the top of the Empire State Building for the first time was a major highlight (and produced the tour’s most viral moment).

“I was scared to get to the very top level,” Newgarden said. “That thing was swaying. No one else thought it was swaying. I’m pretty sure it was. I really impressed by the facility. I’d never seen it before. It’s one of those bucket list things. If you go to New York, it’s really special to do that. So to be there with the wreath and the whole setup, it just felt like an honor to be in that moment.”

Now the attention shifts to Detroit and an inaugural circuit that’s expected to be challenging. Along with a Jefferson Avenue straightaway that’s 0.9 miles long, the track has several low-speed corners and a “split” pit lane (teams will stop on both sides of a rectangular area) with a narrow exit that blends just before a 90-degree lefthand turn into Turn 1.

Newgarden thinks the track is most similar to the Music City Grand Prix in Nashville.

“It’s really hard to predict with this stuff until we actually run,” he said. “Maybe we go super smooth and have no issues. Typically when you have a new event, you’re going to have some teething issues. That’s understandable. We’ve always got to massage the event to get it where we want it, but this team has worked pretty hard. They’ve tried to get feedback constantly on what are we doing right, what do we need to look out for. They’ve done a ton of grinding to make sure this surface is in as good of shape as possible.

“There’s been no expense spared, but you can’t foresee everything. I have no idea how it’s going to race. I think typically when you look at a circuit that seems simple on paper, people tend to think it’s not going to be an exciting race, or challenging. I find the opposite always happens when we think that way. Watch it be the most exciting, chaotic, entertaining race.

Newgarden won the last two pole positions at Belle Isle’s 2.35-mile layout and hopes to continue the momentum while avoiding any post-Brickyard letdown.

“I love this is an opportunity for us to get something right quicker than anyone else,” he said. “A new track is always exciting from that standpoint. I feel I’m in a different spot. I’m pretty run down. I’m really trying to refocus and gain some energy back for tomorrow. Which I’ll have time to today, which is great.

“I don’t want that Indy 500 hangover. People always talk about it. They’ve always observed it. That doesn’t mean we have to win this weekend, but I’d like to leave here feeling like we had a really complete event, did a good job and had a solid finish leading into the summer. I want to win everywhere I go, but if we come out of here with a solid result and no mistakes, then probably everyone will be happy with it.”