F1 2016: six things you need to know about the Monaco GP

Some of the greatest F1 races ever have taken place on the streets of Monaco when the heavens have opened above the renowned principality: are we about to witness another this weekend?

While qualifying should be dry, forecasts are predicting that showers will interrupt the grand prix on Sunday, which will make the already tight circuit an even more challenging prospect for the drivers.

Don’t expect Mercedes to run away with it though: Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo has benefitted from an engine upgrade provided by Renault, and in practice yesterday he finished six tenths up on the Mercs while teammate Max Verstappen was nearly a second adrift.

“If the weather stays the same for the race and qualifying we won’t change too many things,” said the Aussie afterwards. “The goal here is pole and win.”

It’s fair to say that TG doesn’t know a lot about football. Unless it’s being played with cars, of course.

However, even someone with no knowledge of the game will be able to recognise that Fernando Alonso must be very good at it, as demonstrated by the free-kick he scored in annual charity match that precedes the Monaco GP.

The Spaniard – playing in a team stuffed with F1 drivers – netted brilliantly from 25 yards out during a 3-1 victory over Prince Albert of Monaco’s all-star side.

If McLaren-Honda don’t start delivering results soon, Alonso might be in for an unexpected career change...

Two weeks ago Daniil Kvyat was forced to watch Max Verstappen celebrate victory at the Spanish Grand Prix, in a car the Russian had been booted out of just days before. Never has the phrase ‘rubbing salt in the wounds’ been more appropriate.

Understandably Kvyat is still coming to terms with his demotion to Toro Rosso, and the 22-year-old now faces a battle to rebuild his reputation during the remainder of 2016.

“I was matching and beating Daniel, I scored more points than Daniel and it would have been the same this year again,” Kvyat told Autosport, reflecting on last season.

“I was performing more than well enough. I brought them the first podium of the year. Our pace was getting better and better. So I think I did everything right, absolutely everything right.”

Clearly Helmut Marko disagreed.

In the build-up to the last race in Barcelona, the issue of visor-tear offs being illegally thrown onto the track by drivers had become an issue once again.

Race director Charlie Whiting had planned to clamp down on the throwaway strips, but Jenson Button described the move as “silly” and the FIA has now backtracked on the decision following a meeting with the drivers.

Instead of asking the whole grid to store their used tear-offs somewhere inside the cockpit, drivers have been instructed to keep their usage to a minimum to limit the risk of plastic damaging other cars.

Meanwhile, the rule forcing drivers to keep a single helmet design for a whole year has been relaxed, and they may now wear a special set of colours once per season.

Felipe Massa is using his one-race allowance at Monaco with the yellow lid pictured above. Like it?

Pirelli introduced a new compound of rubber for 2016, and the purple-walled tyre will make its first appearance of the season in Monaco this weekend.

In theory the ultrasoft should have the shortest lifespan of Pirelli’s tyre range, although Lewis Hamilton believes that they are “pretty much supersofts with purple paint.”

The Monte Carlo circuit has the lowest degradation levels of any track on F1’s calendar, which means one-stop strategies may be possible on Sunday depending on the conditions.

Given that Monaco also has the slowest average speed of all the races this year, getting temperature into the tyres to make them work effectively is going to be more crucial than ever. Teams producing the highest amounts of downforce will likely do well on Sunday...