- Thursday Practice Sessions. The unique set up of Monaco means we get Formula One a day earlier, and good timing too as there’s no footy on the Thursday night. The Fox Sports subscription pays for itself on nights like these.
- The performances of Rosberg, Hamilton and Mercedes after the big crash in the last round in Spain. The drivers come into the weekend in very different form. Rosberg has won the race three years in a row and leads the Championship by plenty, where Lewis Hamilton looks like F1 is a distraction from his social life, and he even admitted that he wanted to play James Bond on yet another red carpet moment (stay tuned for our thoughts on alternative F1 drivers as movie stars). There was even a report this week from an Italian news source that said Lewis Hamilton might be stepped down for this weekend’s Monaco GP due to some incident on the Red Carpet. Hardly form to take on the world beating teammate at a venue where he is on top. No wonder you can’t get odds for Pascal Wehrlein for the race, as he is the next up if Ham isn’t driving. Pity, Wehrlein’s teammate Haryanto is $251 to win, so there was good money to be made.
- Onto all the celebrities and which ones are handed the token stand in the garage with the steering wheel and pretending to know what the engineer is talking about and generally looking stupid. If there’s a celeb though, they’ll probably all be with Lewis Hamilton.
- Which driver of which Renault powered team get the new upgraded Renault/Tag Heuer engine. The Renault team’s decision is reasonably easy, where both divers as likely as each other to not finish anyway. The Red Bull situation is much tougher. Dan Ricciardo leads the points race for Red Bull drivers, and despite the arrival of new boy Max, has been ultra consistent and a threat in some races. But Max is the new power, and after the last start win in Spain, there’s an argument he could get the engine instead. The youngster would have been one of the non-Mercedes favourites in the Toro Rosso, and now with a Red Bull at his disposal is an even bigger chance. Possibly to leapfrog one of the Mercs at the front of the grid. Will Ricciardo channel Webber and get doited for the new engine, or will his consistency get him the advantage. If Renault were realistic they’d give both of them to Red Bull rather than waste one on a 14th place finish and DNF at Renault.
- Weather. There’s a chance for rain on Sunday, always a tremendous prospect. Here is the forecast from Accuweather as of Tuesday evening. Description are their official terms.
- THURSDAY – 17 / 22 – Periods of Sun
- SATURDAY – 17 / 25 – Beautiful with Clouds and Sun
- SUNDAY – 16 / 22 – Showers and a Heavier Thunderstorm.
BESTS BETS
- Put a little saver on Pascal Wehrlein in case the Hamilton no show rumour is true, if you can find an agency that allows a bet.
- A Max Verstappen win, and either Red Bull driver for the podium.
- With the wet, time to look for value, so what about the Hulk for a Top 3 / Top 6 long shot in the wet.
- But the Hulk’s luck isn’t real good this year, so why not try either Force India to be first retirement.