Vodafone McLaren-Mercedes preview

The Principality of Monaco is the heady and glamorous location for round six of the 2008 Formula 1 World Championship. The 20 cars and drivers will compete around the 3.34km street circuit, racing between the Princes’s Palace and the Mediterranean sea covered in some of the World’s most lavish yachts.

The focus for the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes drivers, Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen, will be on adding to the illustrious history of the team at the Monaco Grand Prix.

Since the start of the McLaren and Mercedes-Benz era, the team has won the race on five occasions. Mika Hakkinen in 1998, David Coulthard in 2000 and 2002, Kimi Raikkonen took the spoils in 2005 with Fernando Alonso claiming victory just ahead of then team-mate Lewis last year.

The connection to the race stretches back to the 60s, with Bruce McLaren taking the M2B to the track to make the marque’s Formula 1 debut. In that time, the team has won a record 14 out of the 65 of Grands Prix staged in the Principality. This began with Alain Prost in 1984, kicking off a winning streak that stretched until 1993, with the exception of 1987. Five of these were at the hands of Ayrton Senna.

As part of the team’s ongoing relationship with Steinmetz, creators of the world’s finest diamonds, Lewis and Heikki will wear special diamond encrusted Monaco helmets for the race. Each helmet has the signature of the driver pavéd with a line of hundreds of Steinmetz’s handcrafted diamonds.

This also marks the first time that the Steinmetz logo - or any other sponsor’s logo in Formula 1 history - has been incorporated into the design of the helmets through the application of diamonds.

Lewis Heikki Vodafone McLaren Mercedes Race Starts 22 22 636
Race Wins 5 0 157
Pole Positions 7 0 134
Points 137 44 3219.5
Podiums 15 2 419
Fastest Laps 2 2 137

Circuit length 3.340 km / 2.075 miles
Race distance 260.520 km / 161.887 miles
Laps 78
Number of corners 19
Inaugural race 1929

For Lewis’s video circuit guide of the streets of Monte Carlo - click here http://www.mclaren.com/f1season/2008/monaco/video.php

Kimi Raikkonen 35
Lewis Hamilton 28
Felipe Massa 28
Robert Kubica 24
Nick Heidfeld 20
Heikki Kovalainen 14
Mark Webber 10
Fernando Alonso 9
Jarno Trulli 9
Nico Rosberg 8
Kazuki Nakajima 5
Jenson Button 3
Sebastien Bourdais 2

2008 Constructors’ World Championship

Ferrari 63
BMW Sauber 44
Vodafone McLaren Mercedes 42
WilliamsF1 13
Red Bull Racing 10
Renault 9
Toyota 9
Honda 3
Toro Rosso 2  

- Ellen Kolby, Wolfgang Schattling -