sofaF1

So the long weekend beckons. But slap bang in the middle is the Monaco Grand Prix.

McLaren are usually very good around here and certainly Ron is one of the competitors with heritage enough in F1 to see a win at Monaco to be half a championship.

However it does seem that McLaren might have misjudged it this year. If the twisty sector three at turkey is anything to go by then Ferrari should be faster round the tight corners of Monaco. As Nick said the other day, it's as though McLaren and Ferrari have traded places this year.

But although Kimi topped the time sheets in Practice 1 it was a very disturbed session. In the more representititve Practice 2 Lewis was well ahead with Ferrari complaining about the super soft tires.

The fuel load and tire wear questions from raise another prospect for this weekend: Strategy.

There is, in theory a strategy that a slower team could employ if they could get one of their drivers to take one for the team. Monaco has some big problems for anyone needing to overtake. This normally means that it's a race to the first pit stop.

A bold move would be to fuel one driver very very light, and fuel one driver very very heavy. And then task the leading driver with holding up the pack. If you can stop the front runners from leaving your heavy driver behind then you are in a great situation once the pitstops start. You are guaranteed some flying laps if the front runners are being held back in front of you, once they pit. You need to be a real gamer to risk it. But perhaps McLaren or BMW might.

But all of this might be academic. The weather report says that it is likely to rain on Saturday and Sunday...

Anything can happen in Formula 1 and it usually does. What do you think anything means? Let us know your pole prediction and your top eight for the race.