Monaco Mayhem Marred By Tragedy

Monaco has been an emotional track for the Model F1 World Championship, particularly for the folks in the Manor-Mercedes garage. The track where the late Marussia driver Jules Bianchi recorded his and Marussia’s first-ever points, the team was looking to record points for the second consecutive season under the Manor banner, continuing the trend set by current Haas driver Max Chilton last year. While the team was able to accomplish this, it was not without further tragedy.

Felipe Massa and Pastor Maldonado qualified 11th and 14th. Once again Massa began charging through the field with the help of DRS, and hung around the top ten for the majority of the race. The team stressed the importance of reliability for the race, and Massa proved this to be true, bringing the car home in 8th.

Meanwhile, Maldonado battled for 13th for the majority of the race with the BRM cars of Romain Grosjean. On lap 46, Maldonado collided with Grosjean’s rear in the chicane, sending debris everywhere. Maldonado was unable to leave the car, but the entire garage was able to let out a sigh of relief when he left the car.

After bringing what was left of the car back, the team deduced the main cause of the crash to be faulty brakes.

Remembering Keith

In Maldonado and Grosjean’s crash, some debris hit a nearby track marshal. The marshal, a young local worker by the name of Keith, was taken to a nearby hospital. Shortly after the race, Wolf member telluriumaivlat reported from the hospital, stating Keith has tragically succumbed to his injuries.

After doing some fact-hunting, Manor Motorsport Weekly found out much about Keith’s past. A volunteer marshal at the track, Keith was a former blackjack dealer at the famed Monte Carlo Casino before deciding he wanted to do more in his life. He moved to the United States after leaving his job, working as a marshal for the Model IndyCar Series at Sonoma Raceway, while also working as a marshal at the 2015 Model F1 United States Grand Prix. According to his father Nicholas, Keith had told him that he plans to work as a marshal at every Model F1 race in 2016, and kept true to his hopes.

The Model F1 community has its thoughts and prayers for Keith and his family. For the next race in Canada, Manor will add #ForzaKeith to their MM2 and invite the teams of the Model F1 Championship to join in.