Welcome back ladies and gentlemen; I hope you all had a fantastic Memorial Day weekend.  To kick things off this bright May morning we have a recap of the F1 race that transpired in Monte Carlo over the weekend.  As usual, if you have it TIVO'd and plan on catching it later, read no further; otherwise, keep reading for the full press release.

In qualifying, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes driver Fernando Alonso managed to capture his first pole position of the year, while teammate Lewis Hamilton managed to capture second place on the starting grid alongside the reigning F1 world champion.  When the race began, both drivers managed to maintain the lead over the rest of the field, with Ferrari's Felipe Massa finishing the opening lap in third.

On lap 26, Fernando entered the pits for his first refueling stop of the day, while Hamilton followed suit three laps later at the end of lap 29. On lap 44, Fernando posted the race's fastest lap time of 1 min 15.284, a time which was also the fastest of the weekend. On lap 52, Fernando made his second stop of the day, while Hamilton made his stop two laps later, after which he and his teammate again held the top two positions.

After 78 laps, Fernando captured his 17th grand prix victory, followed by Hamilton, while third place went to Massa who trailed by 69.1 seconds.

All-in-all, a great outing for the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team.

To learn more about this weekend's F1 race in Monte Carlo as well as what the drivers and team had to say about the festivities, keep reading for the official press release.

Enjoy.













OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE


F1 Monte Carlo: Fernando Alonso wins from Lewis Hamilton

Monte Carlo, May 27, 2007
The start: Fernando started the race from his first pole position for Vodafone McLaren Mercedes with Lewis lining up alongside him in second place on the front row of the grid. Both maintained their positions on the opening lap ahead of Felipe Massa (Ferrari).

The race: Fernando led to the end of lap 26 when he came in for his first routine refueling stop in which he was stationary for 7.5sec. Lewis took the lead before coming in for his own refueling stop at the end of lap 29 in 8.9sec. By this stage, Massa was holding third place 22.7sec behind.

On lap 44, Fernando posted the fastest lap of the race on 1min15.284, which was also the fastest lap of the weekend. Fernando made his second refueling stop on lap 52 in 7.9sec with Lewis making his second stop two laps later, resuming in second place again behind his team-mate.

After 78 laps, Fernando scored his 17th grand prix victory with Lewis in second place. Third placeman Massa was 69.1sec behind and the remainder of the field was lapped.

Comments

Fernando Alonso: “This win means a lot to me and our World Championship Campaign. It’s a very nice surprise to see how the team’s hard work during the last couple of weeks has made our car so competitive. I have never had the experience of being more than one minute ahead of the competition, which probably makes this one of my best victories. I didn’t get off the line brilliantly from pole position, but as there is such a short run to the first corner I was pretty sure that I would be able to keep the lead. However, as I was able to save fuel in my first stint I was able to stay out for two more laps than originally planned. After that the race was pretty quiet with only the backmarkers causing a few problems especially shortly before my second pitstop when I lost a lot of time. I will enjoy this victory and look forward to the races in North America.”

Lewis Hamilton: “To finish second and running similar lap times to Fernando at the prestigious Monaco Grand Prix makes me very happy. The team has done a fantastic job, and Fernando and I were able to give them the result they deserved. My start was quite good, and I could run close to Fernando but obviously it didn’t make sense to try anything crazy as our job is to ensure the maximum amount of points for the team. It’s almost impossible to overtake in Monaco and as a result your only chance is for the guy in front of you to make a mistake. However, Fernando is a double world champion so I knew there would be none. I had good pace in the beginning, but then I had some graining on my front tyres which didn’t help. It was an exciting race, which also saw me tapping the guardrails a couple of times, fortunately without influencing the handling of the car. All in all a great weekend for the team and me.”

Ron Dennis, Team Principal: “An outstanding result for the team. Both Fernando and Lewis drove so well and responded excellently to the team’s wishes of bringing both cars home safely in what was a memorable one-two result and McLaren’s 14th victory in the Principality. However there is some disappointment because of the different strategies we needed to follow to cope with a potential deployment of the Safety Car which has happened four times in the last five years. Consequently you virtually have to decide in advance which one of the team’s two drivers will claim the victory. Once the first round of pitstops had taken place we reverted Lewis from a one-stop-strategy to the faster two-stop-strategy and at the same time slowed both cars down to conserve the brakes. As a team we would like to race but this circuit requires a disciplined approach and as a result we can leave Monte Carlo with the maximum amount of points.”

Norbert Haug, Vice President Mercedes-Benz Motorsport: “The team showed a picture book performance today in Monaco. At this challenging circuit Fernando and Lewis were fast like nobody else on both the Bridgestone Potenza prime and option tyres which worked perfectly well on our car. Both drivers’ performances were flawless and the team’s strategy was perfect. Thank you to the colleagues in Woking, Brixworth and Stuttgart for all their hard work making this second 1-2 victory in the fifth race of the season possible.”

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