Toro Rosso gambled to win Monaco
2012-05-30 08:26
GLORIOUS GAMBLE: Toro Rosso juniior team driver Jean-Eric Vergne could have been winner No.6 instead of Mark Webber from the 2012 Monaco F1 GP - but the rain came too late. Image: AFP
Toro Rosso's tyres gamble near the end of the 2012 Monaco G1 GP could have powered rookie Jean-Eric Vergne to victory.
At least that's the claim of French commentator Patrick Tambay, ex-Ferrari F1 driver, who said it was a move that could have seen the 22-year-old scythe through the field to victory.
'IF IT HAD RAINED...'
Red Bull's junior team, Toro Rosso, was ridiculed late on Sunday by opting to pull Vergne from a points position on the essentially dry Monaco track to fit intermediate tyres. In the end the heavy rain did not arrive until just after the chequered flag.
"If it had rained, he could have won," Tambay told RMC Sport. "Late in the race, everybody would have been on very worn dry tyres and having a lot of trouble staying on the track - others could have dived into the pits but it would have been risky with so few laps to run.
"Vergne, however, with his (intermediate) tyres, would have been passing cars one after another. It was quite possible that he could have won."