In regard to the strategy decisions for the upcoming Monaco Grand Prix, James Allison has provided his insights on the considerations that Mercedes needs to make.
Mercedes’ James Allison has revealed the setup considerations his team will be taking into account for this weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix.
Securing a good qualifying position is of utmost importance during the entire weekend due to the Monte Carlo circuit’s well-known difficulty, bordering on near impossibility, when it comes to overtaking.
James Allison: Being on track critical for finding Monaco confidence
Saturday’s qualifying session holds the utmost importance in the entire season as the Monaco track stands apart from others, imposing unique demands on cars and drivers. With its extraordinary need for maximum downforce and emphasis on refining mechanical grip rather than aerodynamics, this session carries a significant weight.
In Monte Carlo, having the lead position is of utmost importance, as it allows cars to maintain a significant advantage over their competitors even when running several seconds slower per lap. A prime example of this was seen in 2018 when Daniel Ricciardo secured a remarkable victory despite his struggling Red Bull car.
Mercedes’ technical director, James Allison, was asked about the dilemma of prioritizing car setup for qualifying to secure a higher grid position, despite the significance of race pace.
“Yes and no, at the same time,” he said.
“I think one of the main things you need to do at Monaco is to make sure that you spend as much time on the track as possible in the free practice sessions.
“Things change so dramatically from the opening laps of FP1 to the end of FP3. Generally speaking, the teams that do well there are the ones that do not hang around in the garage but are just out there on the track, remembering what it takes to drive at Monaco, finding the confidence to push nearer to the walls and just tuning the car as the weekend conditions change. That is the sort of overriding compulsion when you are wanting a good Monaco weekend.
“While it is the case qualifying is super key at Monaco, you cannot afford to ignore the race pace on top of that.
“You cannot afford to because imagine you do a wonderful qualifying session and you manage to get the car right at the best it could be if it were just focused on a single lap.
“Come Sunday you will find a trail of cars behind you and, at a certain point, you will get frightened that they are going to undercut you and get past you into the lead and so you will probably stop sooner than you want to stop because you are frightened about losing the position to all those people behind you.”
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Allison cautioned that going all-in on the qualifying setup could have negative consequences on race day, regardless of a driver’s ability to keep a group of cars trailing behind them for an extended period.
“You will find as soon as you come in the pits if your race pace was lousy those cars will just go ‘Thank you’, and then they will just hair off into the distance in free air,” he said.
“They will not stop, they will just run long, they will overcut you because they have been sitting on their tyres gently and they have got loads left in the car and they will just disappear.
“You must have half an eye on the race pace and half an eye on the qualifying pace and spend as much of the weekend as you can on the track trying to get the most from that very unusual circuit so that you are good in both those conditions.”
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