Monaco 2021 Grand Prix Weekend
After the qualifying race, everyone thought that the favorite, Kisielewicz, would maintain the pole position and win the race, but after the ten laps and a constant wheel-to-wheel between the Majeyaux drivers leading the race, it was Casalini atop the podium. Read on to know more!
Monaco’s qualifiers left us with a familiar view; the highest-ranking drivers at the top, and Hatena’s engines at the lower half. Such potent engines having poor performances is making people talk, are the drivers at fault?
The Epona team had a great qualifiers race and was able to get the pole position and the second spot. They seem to be having a lot of fun on this track.
Other than that, there weren’t many surprises during the qualifying race, except that Casalini was out of the top positions. We, just as you, have grown accustomed to seeing the French driver leading, but his times at the fourth quickest time for most of the track and he was only able to steal the third position from Biskup in the last segment of it.
Now let’s talk about the GP!
Everybody was excited as to what the race would bring to the Epona team; both pilots started quick but in the first 600 meters, Wichman had a slip-up and lost traction on Saint Devote. Such an early mistake allowed Simernino and Casalini to steal second and third place respectively and start chasing Kisielewicz.
Gaburi K. kept tailing Casalini and this would continue for the whole race, never dropping below the fourth position. She put up a great show which we hope will silence the few voices that remain clamoring for the creation of a female-only league.
Saint Devote would prove to be a tough spot, when Biskup also lost traction on it during the second lap, dropping from the sixth position to the tenth. Meanwhile, Simernino and Casalini appeared to be in a personal competition, both being (overly?) aggressive with Casalini constantly striking at Simernino for the second place, is this maybe a sign of internal competition in the Red Rockets? it may at points seem that Casalini is not willing to be considered the second driver to the veteran Italian pilot…
While both Majeyaux struggled, it seemed impossible to keep up, not to mention surpass Kisielewicz at this point.
The second lap was a gift that would keep on giving for those who love the excitement of FormulaProc, as Geckinho saved his life and car, just barely when going through the tunnel! We have to confess we did close our eyes! How did you fare? It ended up well, however, only costing him several positions that he could never recover in the track.
And then during the same lap, a miracle for Majeyaux! Kisielewicz lost traction as he kept trying to perfect his lap times. This was what Casalini and Simernino needed, and it seems they finally decided to stop competing between themselves and left Kisielewicz behind!
Third lap! And we start it up with Wichman not calculating risks and running off the track at Rascasse! This would cost him any chance to score in the race for Epona.
As the race went to its midpoint, there were three groups running over the track; leading far ahead we had Casalini and Simernino with their friendly sparring, followed by Gaburi and Jochen, who was trying to get some points for Queenscape. Then we had Denzi and Kisielewicz, who managed to fight back a couple of positions, and Biskup driving alone trying to catch up with them without great success. Finally, we had Zapata (with a mediocre performance), Wichman, and Geckinho in the last positions.
But more surprises awaited us! The dogfight between the Majeyaux would finally produce some problems as Simernino nearly crashed trying to grow some distance between him and Casalini near Saint Devote on lap 6. This allowed Gaburi and Jochen to get past him, and for Casalini to claim first place. Then we had a terrible scare as Wichman crashed near Mirebeau. Luckily, he managed to get out of the Epona car in one piece, but he remains unable to score and his future in the Italian team grows more uncertain every time.
We can’t be sure of it, but we believe this caused at least some tensions in the team as Kisielewicz seemed to throw his helmet to Wichman at the end of the race. Maybe he is feeling the lack of a reliable partner in the track? Wichman refused to comment, and the official word from Epona was not very convincing. “Kisielewicz was angry indeed, and threw his helmet, but not at Wichman! He just didn’t see his teammate. Epona’s drivers are all team players!” said Alessandro Ricci, Epona’s spokesman.
The split into groups saved Gaburi’s performance as she almost crashed near Rascasse. How did she manage to get back on track we have no idea, but such was her distance ahead of Kisielewicz that she managed to break, breathe and resume driving again and not lose her position! Even with his own mediocre performance on the track, Zapata must be happy for managing to snatch her up for his team.
Kisielewicz looked like the fastest driver on the track, but it seems he had a lot of pressure over him leading him to make small mistakes here and there, and after Wichman’s crash the nerves finally got to him leading him to lose the third position and only managing to rescue one point for Epona over Casalini at the finish line.
Casalini’s victory made him advance two positions in the table, and now leads the drivers’ championship pushing Kisielewicz and Simernino one position downwards. Gaburi was the biggest winner of the weekend, jumping to rank #7 after her first podium.
There were no movements in the ranks of the teams’ table, but the gap between Epona and Queenscape continues growing and may soon be out of reach with Wichman’s disappointing results. Queenscape had a good race too, almost placing both drivers on the podium, with Kisielewicz taking Casalini out of the scoring ranks in the final segment of the track they continue closing the gap to Majeyaux.
This was a thrilling race, we can’t wait for what comes next in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix!
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