What we learnt about #F1 this weekend

Today's Monaco GP wasn't a classic, although there were enough incidents and controversy to make an interesting highlights show, I imagine. It did teach us a few things though.

1. By Jesus those Red Bulls are quick! I bet David Coulthard's thinking he may have retired a year or two too early. They seem to be quick on a variety of tracks too, not just a particular type of track like Kubica's Renault.
2. Overtaking hasn't got any easier. The trouble that Alonso had passing cars that he was 2 to 3 seconds quicker than in the early stages demonstrated amply the problems that still beset Formula 1.
3. Michael Schumacher still has a passion and a desire to win. I'll admit it. I'd dismissed Schumacher's return to Formula 1. I thought he'd been out too long and, having won the championship 7 times, wouldn't be able to fire himself up in a mid-tier team requiring at least a year's development to be running at the front. However, that cheeky little move after the Safety Car had gone in showed he still had the desire to grab that extra place and the quick reactions to achieve it.
4. Either F1's rules are badly written or the Stewards don't understand them. Rule 41.3 (or something like that) appears to have deprived Schumacher of that extra place. But it's either written incorrectly or been misunderstood. The rules states: "if the race ends whilst the safety car is deployed it will enter the pit-lane at the end of the last lap and the cars will take the chequered flag as normal without overtaking". So the Safety Car was always going to leave the track before the finish. The crucial point is whether the finish happened "under the safety car". The teams had been told the safety car was coming in at the end of the of the final lap. Therefore, the finish was not "under the safety car" and Schumacher's pass should be legit. I'm no supporter of Schumacher (although I'm even less a fan of Alonso's) but in my mind the Stewards' decision is incorrect.
5. Either Red Bull driver would make a good champion. I'm unashamed to say my bias is heavily toward Hamilton and Button and, therefore, MacLaren. But it's important for F1 to have a champion that is outgoing, open to the press, interesting to talk about and good fun to watch. Jenson was all of those last year and was for a short while at the start of this season. He's been a little less so when things haven't gone his way. Both Webber and Vettel look like they would enjoy being a champion and share that enjoyment with the world through the media. The Red Bull team celebrations, shown on BBC's Fans' Forum were wild, fun and mad. Excellent TV fodder.
   

Just my two-penneth. But what do I know?

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