Brought to you by TheJudge13 Technical Analyst Lorenzo De Luca

The 2014 Monaco Grand Prix has now been consigned to the archives, and will likely be remembered more for the minor niggles between the two Mercedes drivers (first and second under the checkered flag again) rather than the race itself and any breakthrough discoveries.

Three safety cars and a battle of fast laps which were comparable to the hundredth did not prevent the Mercedes team from scoring another dominant win. What remains daunting are the gaps separating Mercedes from their opponents. With just four cars on the same lap at the finish of the race – on a short track that is both undemanding of the tyre wear and the power unit – it gave us a true indication of the level of dominance of the Mercedes W05

If, from an aerodynamic/mechanical grip point of view, Red Bull seems to have got closer, it is also important to emphasize how just the half of the Renault powered cars actually saw the chequered flag – and this on a track where the pwoer units are at full speed for a mere ten seconds..

Analyzing the race pace and the fastest laps, it is even clearer that the only concern Mercedes had after creating a large enough gap to their opposition was maintaining the gap.

Fastest Lap chart :

Rosberg-Hamilton-Ricciardo-Alonso race pace comparison

Rosberg vs Hamilton race pace comparison with lap times

Hamilton vs Ricciardo race pace comparison with lap times

Monaco is a very twisty track where downforce and traction are critical and therefore it is unsurprising seeing Mercedes and Red Bull occupy the top positions – whilst the other teams were light years away. Many teams, in an attempt to achieve more downforce with their cars added or introduced new monkey seat under the rear wings

Red Bull closer ?

On a track like Monaco it’s easy to assume that Red Bull would have been closer, but the truth is Mercedes is still ahead, and once F1 returns to normal tracks, the gap will return to a significant gap once more.

Sector times/speed chart

Looking at the chart above, we could see Red Bull matching Mercedes times in 3rd sector, where there are only very slow corners and short accelerations, whilst in the sectors where more power is required Mercedes is still ahead. What’s obvious is that Red Bull were aided by the significantly lower power demands of Monaco and this allowed them to be so close in performance to Mercedes, yet during the race the significant gpas were due to more efficient ERS and fuel consumption.

To thi spoint we have limited ourselves to looking at the rivalry between Mercedes and Red Bull, essentially because the other opponents are too far away to be considered real opponents. With Ferrari’s acknowledged power unit problems, their worst weakness of previous generations of the F1 cars is still present, the F14-T’s lack of traction. This combined with an abrupt power delivery, was obvious here, and the continuous corrections on the steering wheel made by both drivers proved that there is a lack of downforce at the front end.

Fuel consumption chart

Finally FIA/FOM gaves us (even if for just three laps) some data on the fuel consumption during the race. It confirmed Red Bull to be the “thirstiest” car on the grid whereas Williams confirmed once more to be the most conservative. Significant progress has also been made by Ferrari in this area with its consumption more in line with the values of the competitors, a sure sign that the work done with Shell and on the power unit software is working well.

What to expect from Montreal

Montreal is the next race, a very fast track , with long straights and abrupt braking zones. It is very likely that we will witness another “Bahrain” and all the Mercedes powered cars (Williams and Force India most of all) will benefit from the PU106 great quality. Ferrari and Renault have already announced they will be bringing a new step of their power unit, we’ll see if this will be enough to take the role of first car behind Mercedes.