Feature

Chris Medland's 2016 Monaco Grand Prix preview

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What time does the Monaco Grand Prix start? What channel is the Monaco Grand Prix on? The answers to all of that and more in F1i’s race preview

Well that escalated quickly… The seemingly relentless march towards another championship double for Mercedes abruptly stalled in Spain as Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton took each other out and Red Bull capitalised with Max Verstappen following his shock promotion with a fairytale win on debut for the team. As if that wasn’t already a tantalising enough situation at Mercedes coming in to this weekend, Monaco is a race where Hamilton and Rosberg have history. In 2014 Rosberg was accused of deliberately running wide during qualifying to secure pole, while Hamilton lost what was poised to be a dominant win last year when pitting under the safety car, handing his team-mate a third consecutive victory. This should be fun.

FORM GUIDE

Rosberg had taken the lead with a strong move at Turn 1 in Barcelona and believes he was set to win before the collision with Hamilton, so he still arrives in Monaco in good form after starting the year with four straight wins. Hamilton was back to his best in qualifying after reliability woes but needs to put together a clean weekend quickly. Verstappen may have won in Spain but what stood out was Red Bull’s pace compared to Ferrari, with Monaco set to suit the RB12 much more. Add in a Renault power unit upgrade and we could see Mercedes threatened once again, especially as the W07 has yet to run the ultrasoft tyre which will make its debut. McLaren is optimistic in will be strong on a track with less power unit emphasis, understandably so as it wasn’t far off the pace of Force India and Toro Rosso in Barcelona, while Williams has struggled in Monaco over the past two years.

2015 RESULT

Pole position: Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes), 1:15,098

Top three: Nico Rosberg (Mercedes), Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari), Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)

Fastest lap: Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull), 1:18.063

SESSION TIMES (All times local)

FP1: 10:00 - 11:30 (Thursday)

FP2: 14:00 - 15:30 (Thursday)

FP3: 11:00 - 12:00

Qualifying: 14:00 - 15:00

Race: 1400

TYRE CHOICES

©Pirelli

WEATHER FORECAST

The early forecast is for a warm and dry week in Monaco, until Sunday. Thursday’s practice sessions and Saturday’s qualifying should see similar conditions and temperatures, which is crucial as qualifying is more important in Monaco than at any track this season. Race day could prove dramatic if forecast rain hits, however, with wet weather expected throughout the day. Drivers on the limit in the dry in qualifying around the streets of Monte Carlo, followed by the challenge of a wet race? Perfect.

UK TELEVISION TIMINGS (All times UK)

Sky Sports F1 - Live coverage

FP1 - 0845 (Thursday)

FP2 - 1245 (Thursday)

FP3 - 0945

Qualifying - 1200

Race - 1130

Channel 4 - Highlights

Qualifying - 1745

Race - 1745

PODIUM PREDICTION

1st - Lewis Hamilton

2nd - Nico Rosberg

3rd - Daniel Ricciardo

2015 BEST SHOT

Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.