A little bit of history will be made in Monaco's Formula One grand prix tonight, provided that Jenson Button, Fernando Alonso, Nico Rosberg, Sebastian Vettel and Pastor Maldonado have the decency to avoid being the first to greet Prince Albert afterwards.
If either Lewis Hamilton, Kimi Raikkonen, Michael Schumacher, Mark Webber or Romain Grosjean win, for the first time in the Formula One World Championship's history there will be a sixth different winner in the first six races.
Only three times in the past 62 seasons have five different drivers won the opening five races - Pedro Rodriguez, Denny Hulme, Jim Clark, Dan Gurney and Jack Brabham in 1967; Emerson Fittipaldi, Carlos Pace, Jody Scheckter, Jochen Mass and Niki Lauda in 1975; and Nelson Piquet, John Watson, Alain Prost, Patrick Tambay and Keke Rosberg in 1983. Aerodynamic changes have levelled the field this year, but the real head-scratcher is finding the elusive sweet spot of the Pirelli tyres. They operate in a small window of optimal temperature, and are so sensitive that half a pound of pressure was the difference between Jenson Button struggling in Friday morning practice in Spain recently, and then dominating in the afternoon.
Small wonder the man with a reputation for being easy on his rubber said he just did not understand why he could not better ninth place in the race.
"We are all terrified that somebody will unlock the secret and win everything," the McLaren driver said on Wednesday. "Unless, of course, that's us."
