Up against the limits of 78 laps: no other grand prix circuit puts drivers andcars under such extreme strains. Nowhere else do man and machine haveto work together as perfectly as in the labyrinth of corners that is MonteCarlo. “This race is certainly Formula 1’s toughest challenge,” says SamMichael, Technical Director of the BMW WilliamsF1 Team.
When Formula 1 hits the small principality on the Côte d’Azur, not only the worldof the rich and the beautiful turns upside down. The Brazilian, Nelson Piquet, whoclaimed his third World Championship title with Williams in 1987 but nevermanaged to win in Monaco, once described the unique endurance test ofFormula 1’s last urban circuit by saying: “Driving a race here is like flying ahelicopter through your living room.” The 900bhp race cars speed along at up to300 kilometres per hour through streets that usually see only walking-pace traffic.Spacious run-off zones do not exist – even the slightest mistake inevitably leadsthe drivers straight into one of the 5,500 crash barriers installed especially for therace.
For the drivers the most important grand prix of the season is a tremendous tourde force. The 3,340km route, which passes the casino, harbour and swimmingpool in the city centre, does not hinge on specific critical points: it demands inch perfectprecision all the time. Nevertheless, some corners still stand out, such asMassenet following the rising Beau Rivage, where drivers must intuitively find thecorrect turn-in point while braking from 250km/h down to 130km/h.
The search for the ideal racing line is made all the more tricky by the unevennature of much of the circuit, as well as the slippery lane markings and zebracrossings.
This demands the highest possible degree of concentration from thedrivers over the entire race distance of 260,520km – and there is always thenagging certainty in the back of their minds that they can forget the race if theymake a single mistake.
This occasionally brings even the most stress-hardeneddrivers to their mental limit, and the physical strain is also enormous. The 15corners mean a constant change from acceleration to deceleration. No othercircuit in Formula 1 requires as many gearshifts as Monaco: on average, driverschange gear every two seconds, adding up to a total of 40 times per lap andalmost 3,100 times per race. Thirsty work, especially with temperatures insidetheir overalls reaching 60 degrees Celsius. Over the course of the race, thedrivers lose three to four litres of fluid, so anyone not perfectly fit does not stand achance.
Because overtaking is as good as impossible in Monte Carlo’s maze of corners, qualifyingcan often decide the race. A good starting position is more decisive for success here than atany other venue. At the start, it’s not only the driver’s good reactions that count – the perfectfunction of the clutch is also important. The race cars’ 900bhp need to be transferred to theroad in a careful balancing act. If the drivers were simply to put their feet down, the wheelswould spin because, when accelerating from a standstill, the cars develop hardly any downforce.So the power must be carefully controlled with a rocker switch which ensures that theclutch does not fully engage but grinds instead. The excess energy is absorbed by theclutch’s discs, heating them up to over 1,000 degrees Celsius in less than half a second.The engines suffer fewer stresses in Monaco than they do on high-speed circuits such asIndianapolis or Monza. They run at full throttle for only eight seconds per lap – the proportionof flat-out driving is thus merely 70 percent compared to a more usual race track. However,this circuit still holds its risks for the engines: no other Formula 1 track has such a largerange of speeds. After passing through the hairpin bend at the Grand Hotel at only 45km/h,the slowest stretch of all Formula 1 races, drivers in the tunnel are accelerating to 280km/honly seconds later.
Once Monte Carlo’s street carnival begins and 120,000 spectators storm the principality, lifealso changes drastically for the natives. It becomes a city in turmoil. The short walk to thecorner shop is blocked by fences and bars, and even accessing the dustbins – now locatedoff-limits – requires a special permit. There are only two things one can do: either close theshutters or become a Formula 1 fan.
And did you know……that the changing lighting conditions in the 400-metre tunnel in Monaco no longer troublethe drivers as severely as before since the sport’s governing body, the FIA, provided morelight in 2001? The optical ambient-condition system redirects sunlight into the tunnel’s interiorand creates a cone of light that makes entering the dark concrete tube easier for the driversand provides almost optimal illumination inside the tunnel. Everyday drivers are not affordedsuch luxuries.
“Although modern tunnels with exemplary illumination do exist,” Dr. HartmuthWolff of the Allianz Center for Technology (AZT) says, “most tunnels are rather badly lit oreven lack lighting altogether. To drivers, especially when facing the glare of oncoming traffic,they appear as black holes.”
Source : Allianz F1
