Niki Lauda predicts Monaco victory for Red Bull

Niki Lauda thinks Red Bull are on course for another victory in Monaco.

With on-track action always kicking off a day earlier in Monaco, the back-to-back scheduling with Spain means that – volcanic ash disruptions or no – the F1 circus must now embark on a quick dash to the Riviera.

After starting from pole position, Red Bull’s Webber comfortably dominated the race in Barcelona, but the Circuit de Catalunya is famous for particularly rewarding the best cars aerodynamically.

On slower tracks like Monaco, the RB6’s predecessor was not a star.

But Lauda told Motorsport-Magazin.com: “If Red Bull were six tenths faster here, it will be the same picture in Monaco but maybe three or four tenths.

“The situation will not change at all for the next race,” added the triple world champion.

Red Bull boss Christian Horner said: “Monaco was not our strongest track, but we believe we have improved the car in areas where we were not so strong last year.”

And at the time of his braking problem on Sunday, Sebastian Vettel was being beaten on track by McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton.

The 2008 world champion is an unabashed Monaco fan and winner, and no team has won more times at F1’s blue-riband event than McLaren.

“We have to start in front of them (Red Bull) and then we can beat them,” said Martin Whitmarsh.

“Mark had a good pace today, but Sebastian was not a danger to Lewis.

“Monaco is very different to here.  We’ll see,” added the Briton.

However, Hamilton points out that even though Monaco is a very different circuit to Barcelona, both circuits similarly require high downforce.

“I have no doubt they are going to be extremely competitive in Monaco, but I am hoping we will be a little bit closer to them at Montreal,” he said.

“The circuits where we have the high downforce like we have here, they generally have quite a good edge on the rest of the field,” he admitted.

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