Rarely is something both the slowest and the hardest at the same time, but that all goes out the window when you’re talking about the Grand Prix at Monaco. For the majority of the F1 season, the drivers get to open up their cars a good bit. At Monaco, those chances to go wide open are limited to about three, as there are only a three extended straightaways on the track.

Besides those three straights, drivers get to deal with a plethora of intense twists and blind turns that require great care to negotiate correctly. These tight turns all amount to Monaco being the lowest average speed course on the F1 circuit, and arguably the hardest one on the circuit.

Well, the 70th running of this ultra-technical road course is due to start on May 27, 2012 and we're going to provide a quick preview of what’s to come.

Click past the jump to read all about the Grand Prix at Monaco

History

After some persuasion from the Automobile Club of Monaco members, then president of the club and Prince launched the Grand Prix of Monaco. The inaugural race went off on April 14th, 1929. The second running took place on April 19th, 1932 with world speed record holder Captain Sir Malcom Campbell winning in his Rolls Royce.

The Grand Prix failed to run from 1938 through 1947, due to economic reasons and lack of interest from participants. The race resumed in 1948 but was cancelled again the following year after the death of Prince Louis II. Races took place again in 1950 and `52, but they were cancelled in `53 and `54. The following year, the race went off without a hitch and it has continued that way for 57 years.

2012 Schedule

The 2012 running of the Grand Prix of Monaco is a four-day event that consists of multiple practices and a series of qualifying runs for positioning. The schedule is as follows:

Thursday May 24, 2012

Time

Event

7:00

Road closure to traffic

8:30 to 9:15

Free practice session Formula Renault 3.5

10:00 to 11:30

1st Free Practice Session F1

12:00 to 12:30

Free practice session GP2

14:00 to 15:30

2rd Free Practice Session F1

16:00 to 16:30

Qualifying GP2

16:55 to 17:25

Free practice Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup

19:00

Opening of track to road traffic


Friday May 25, 2012

Time

Event

7:00

Road closure to traffic

9:45 to 10:15

Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup (First qualifying session)

10:50 to 11:55

GP2 - First Race (42 laps or 60 mins)

14:00

Opening of track to road traffic


Saturday May 26, 2012

Time

Event

6:00

Road closure to traffic

9:00 to 9:25

Formula Renault 3.5 (Qualifying - série A)

9:30 to 9:55

Formula Renault 3.5 (Qualifying - série B)

11:00 to 12:00

3rd Free Practice Session F1

14:00 to 15:00

Free practice Qualifying F1

16:00 to 16:50

GP2 - Second Race (30 laps or 45 mins)

19:00

Opening of track to road traffic


Sunday May 27, 2012

Time

Event

7:00

Road closure to traffic

9:45 to 10:15

Porsche Mobil 1 SuperCup (16 laps or 30 mins)

11:10 to 12:00

Formula Renault 3.5 - (25 laps or 45 mins)

12:30

Formula 1 - Drivers parade

14:00

70th GRAND PRIX of MONACO 2012 (lasting 78 laps or 2 hours)

19:00

Opening of track to road traffic


Weather

Weather always plays a huge factor on the Grand Prix of Monaco, as it is a very wet area. As of now, it looks like there will be showers throughout the day and night. On race day it looks to be partly cloudy and only reaching a high of 69 degrees, so areas of the track may still be damp, depending on when the rain ends and how the sunshine goes.

Keep in mind that the race is bracketed between two days of rain – it is supposed to rain on Monday too – so there is a good chance of a little of the wet stuff on race day. That always makes things a little interesting.

Practice Results

With both practice days in the books, we can get a good idea of how all of the drivers are doing thus far. This won’t tell us who’ll win, but it gives you a good idea of who’s feeling “it” and who is not on their game yet.

Practice 1 Results

Pos

No

Driver

Team

Time/Retired

Gap

Laps

1

5

Fernando Alonso

Ferrari

1:16.265

N/A

22

2

10

Romain Grosjean

Lotus-Renault

1:16.630

0.365

17

3

15

Sergio Perez

Sauber-Ferrari

1:16.711

0.446

19

4

4

Lewis Hamilton

McLaren-Mercedes

1:16.747

0.482

12

5

18

Pastor Maldonado

Williams-Renault

1:16.760

0.495

20

6

6

Felipe Massa

Ferrari

1:16.843

0.578

19

7

14

Kamui Kobayashi

Sauber-Ferrari

1:17.038

0.773

21

8

3

Jenson Button

McLaren-Mercedes

1:17.190

0.925

13

9

1

Sebastian Vettel

Red Bull Racing-Renault

1:17.222

0.957

14

10

8

Nico Rosberg

Mercedes

1:17.261

0.996

18

11

7

Michael Schumacher

Mercedes

1:17.413

1.148

14

12

12

Nico Hulkenberg

Force India-Mercedes

1:17.631

1.366

18

13

2

Mark Webber

Red Bull Racing-Renault

1:18.106

1.841

14

14

17

Jean-Eric Vergne

STR-Ferrari

1:18.209

1.944

25

15

16

Daniel Ricciardo

STR-Ferrari

1:18.252

1.987

28

16

11

Paul di Resta

Force India-Mercedes

1:18.302

2.037

16

17

19

Bruno Senna

Williams-Renault

1:18.617

2.352

20

18

20

Heikki Kovalainen

Caterham-Renault

1:19.039

2.774

20

19

21

Vitaly Petrov

Caterham-Renault

1:19.341

3.076

16

20

23

Narain Karthikeyan

HRT-Cosworth

1:20.838

4.573

26

21

25

Charles Pic

Marussia-Cosworth

1:20.895

4.630

18

22

24

Timo Glock

Marussia-Cosworth

1:21.638

5.373

9

23

22

Pedro de la Rosa

HRT-Cosworth

1:22.423

6.158

15

24

9

Kimi Räikkönen

Lotus-Renault

No time

N/A

1


Practice 2 Results

Pos

No

Driver

Team

Time/Retired

Gap

Laps

1

3

Jenson Button

McLaren-Mercedes

1:15 .746

N/A

17

2

10

Romain Grosjean

Lotus-Renault

1:16 .138

0.392

19

3

6

Felipe Massa

Ferrari

1:16.602

0.856

21

4

5

Fernando Alonso

Ferrari

1:16.661

0.915

23

5

18

Pastor Maldonado

Williams-Renault

1:16.820

1.074

20

6

8

Nico Rosberg

Mercedes

1:17.021

1.275

15

7

2

Mark Webber

Red Bull Racing-Renault

1:17.148

1.402

23

8

14

Kamui Kobayashi

Sauber-Ferrari

1:17.153

1.407

22

9

7

Michael Schumacher

Mercedes

1:17.293

1.547

11

10

1

Sebastian Vettel

Red Bull Racing-Renault

1:17.303

1.557

21

11

4

Lewis Hamilton

McLaren-Mercedes

1:17.375

1.629

19

12

11

Paul di Resta

Force India-Mercedes

1:17.395

1.649

21

13

19

Bruno Senna

Williams-Renault

1:17.655

1.909

18

14

12

Nico Hulkenberg

Force India-Mercedes

1:17.800

2.054

25

15

15

Sergio Perez

Sauber-Ferrari

1:18.251

2.505

24

16

21

Vitaly Petrov

Caterham-Renault

1:18.440

2.694

25

17

17

Jean-Eric Vergne

STR-Ferrari

1:18.522

2.776

22

18

16

Daniel Ricciardo

STR-Ferrari

1:18.808

3.062

26

19

9

Kimi Räikkönen

Lotus-Renault

1:19.267

3.521

25

20

24

Timo Glock

Marussia-Cosworth

1:19.309

3.563

29

21

20

Heikki Kovalainen

Caterham-Renault

1:20.029

4.283

13

22

25

Charles Pic

Marussia-Cosworth

1:20.240

4.494

21

23

22

Pedro de la Rosa

HRT-Cosworth

1:20.631

4.885

12

24

23

Narain Karthikeyan

HRT-Cosworth

1:20.886

5.140

10


F1 Points Standings

The 2012 Grand Prix of Monaco will certainly have some impact on the points standings, as you have Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso tied in first with 61 points each. Almost the entire top drivers can see overall standings shifts, depending on their finish on Sunday, as the largest gap is only eight points, which is between No. 1 and No. 2 and a No. 1 finish will net a driver 25 points.

To finish things up, let’s have a look at the points standings as we head into Monaco:

Pos

Driver

Pos

Team

Driver

1

Sebastian Vettel

German

Red Bull Racing-Renault

61

2

Fernando Alonso

Spanish

Ferrari

61

3

Lewis Hamilton

British

McLaren-Mercedes

53

4

Kimi Räikkönen

Finnish

Lotus-Renault

49

5

Mark Webber

Australian

Red Bull Racing-Renault

48

6

Jenson Button

British

McLaren-Mercedes

45

7

Nico Rosberg

German

Mercedes

41

8

Romain Grosjean

French

Lotus-Renault

35

9

Pastor Maldonado

Venezuelan

Williams-Renault

29

10

Sergio Perez

Mexican

Sauber-Ferrari

22

11

Kamui Kobayashi

Japanese

Sauber-Ferrari

19

12

Paul di Resta

British

Force India-Mercedes

15

13

Bruno Senna

Brazilian

Williams-Renault

14

14

Jean-Eric Vergne

French

STR-Ferrari

4

15

Nico Hulkenberg

German

Force India-Mercedes

3

16

Daniel Ricciardo

Australian

STR-Ferrari

2

17

Felipe Massa

Brazilian

Ferrari

2

18

Michael Schumacher

German

Mercedes

2

19

Timo Glock

German

Marussia-Cosworth

0

20

Charles Pic

French

Marussia-Cosworth

0

21

Vitaly Petrov

Russian

Caterham-Renault

0

22

Heikki Kovalainen

Finnish

Caterham-Renault

0

23

Pedro de la Rosa

Spanish

HRT-Coswort

0

24

Narain Karthikeyan

Indian

HRT-Cosworth

0