Brought to you by TJ13 Courtroom Reporter & Crime Analyst: Adam Macdonald (@adamac39)

The Monaco Grand of 2015, a weekend which will be remembered for that strategy call, which could also have ripple effects for the rest of the year.  One point that seems to have been missed by a large proportion of the media was Hamilton’s pit stop time – a 4.1 second stop – was, at best, leisurely.  By modern standards it was positively slow and cost the Briton at least one place.

There again, had he emerged in second place then Mercedes would have had a catch 22 decision to make.  Instruct Rosberg to give the lead back to Hamilton and risk the integrity of the result or leave it as it was and leave questions about why they did not atone for their error.  I am reliably informed by our editor-in-chief that Mercedes said they would not have interfered, but in the heat of the moment there would surely have been the lingering thought of equalising their poor call.

So how did that affect predictions?  Let’s see…

On the Up

Climbing 38 places into the top 20 is Team Osprey which correctly predicted the podium.  Other than that there was little to shout about, but maybe that says more about how difficult this race was.

One to Forget

Rigel fell 9 places after scoring just 17% accuracy.  As with most, the Hamilton drop cost 18 points which would have completely changed the weekend.

Ask the expert – Alex Wurz

Even the experts have a bad day sometimes, although he did tip Carlos Sainz Jr for a good drive.

Nobody saw it coming

The lack of pace from the Williams pair was extraordinary given the improvement in Barcelona.  While their car may not be the best in terms of downforce, to not even make it into Q3 with either car was inconceivable to most in the league, as was reflected in the predictions.

Of course, Hamilton’s fall from the lead scuppered many a prediction, but those who were brave (or merely hopeful) were rewarded.

Food for thought

As we travel to circuit that requires almost the complete opposite conditions it will be interesting to see how the Toro Rosso cars perform.  It will be a great opportunity of a big points haul for the Sauber and Force India cars at a ‘power circuit.’

However, I’m sure the Williams cars will be amongst the action as they resume their place as the ‘thrid’ team. Positions 7-10 are available then, who are you going to select?

Remember when…

In this section there will be a question each week to test your memory from GPs gone by. The idea is not to look it up but see if you can remember it first!

Lewis Hamilton famously won in Monaco after starting from 3^rd on the grid and puncturing his tyre.  This time he had the all-important pole, but was not able to convert it into a win.

When was the last time the race was won by someone not starting from pole, which did not involve Lewis Hamilton?

(Answer will be posted in the next Predictor summary)

Last question’s answer (from the Bahrain GP Predictor post)

The question was: The thinking behind switching to a night race was logical.  An evening race would be better for fans around the world for broadcasting schedules, better for engineers (and the cars) working in the heat of the desert and better for locals who wished to attend the race, as Sunday is a working day in Bahrain. Attendance improved last year to break the record, which has happened again this year.  How many people are reported to have attended Sunday’s race?

Answer: 32,000 were reported to have attended, which was a record for the circuit.  If these are to be relied upon it would seem the sport is gaining a foothold within the country.