Driver quotes from todays Practice.
INFINITI RED BULL RACING
#1 Sebastian Vettel “Obviously we’d love to run in the dry the whole time here, but of course if it’s wet it’s the same for everyone. Mercedes were very quick this morning and we see that usually, come Saturday, they are able to pick up their pace, so we’ll try to do the same. We potentially are a little bit closer here, but you know at the moment it’s all guessing. I think the big advantage on this track would be that there’s not that many straights, but we have to wait and see. We were obviously limited today on what we could learn in terms of pace and range, we know that it’s quite important to qualify in the front here so if there is a chance then we have to use it.”
#3 Daniel Ricciardo “It was a shame we didn’t run so much this afternoon due to the conditions, but if it rains over the weekend then we’ll want to use the tyres, so there was a bit of waiting around, At the end the track still had a few damp patches, so we didn’t really learn that much this afternoon but I think the morning went well, so we’ve just got to try and get the set-up from that. The few laps I did this afternoon felt similar to the morning in terms of car balance and the things we need to work on, so I think the direction we’ve got to go is pretty clear. If we’re going to challenge the Mercs then I think this is the place for it, they don’t seem to have one sector at the moment which is blowing everyone
away, but obviously it’s still early days.”
MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS
#44 Lewis Hamilton « The car is still a work in progress but it felt really good out there today. I had a good first session and was then really pleased to get those last few laps in the dry this afternoon which was a big plus. I’m feeling pretty set for Saturday, there is still some work to do but we have tomorrow to look into that and finish all our preparations for the weekend. I just love racing here; this track is one of the coolest ever, and it was great to see all of the fans here already enjoying themselves. It’s such a classic race, and I’ve been trying to win here again since 2008, so I’m hoping this is the year as we have such a great car. »
#6 Nico Rosberg « That was a very good day. It seems that we are looking very quick here again, although our main competitors seems to be a little closer to us than in Barcelona. I still need to find my perfect set-up so there is still some work for us to do tomorrow to get ready for the weekend. The conditions weren’t great this afternoon so I didn’t take any risks as there was nothing to learn on the wet parts of the track. Now I’m looking forward to Saturday, but first to our team barbeque tonight! »
SCUDERIA FERRARI
#14 Fernando Alonso “Here in Monaco, the most important thing in practice is to do as many laps as possible, because it is a very special track and you need to have a good feeling from the car. Despite the rain reducing the amount of track time in the second session, we more or less managed to complete all our programme and, with or without a turbo, the complexity of this track remains the same, so doing well in qualifying will be crucial. The increase in grip we found over the few laps we did with the Supersoft tyres leaves us in no doubt that this will be the tyre to use on Saturday afternoon, while for the race there is still a lot to learn as no one has done a long run. So we might have to improvise
when it comes to strategy.”
#7 Kimi Raikkonen “Unfortunately, the bad weather affected this first day of practice and halved the possibility to complete the work we had planned. In the morning, on the dry track, we tried various set-up options, withoutencountering any particular problems, apart from a lack of grip at the front under braking. In the afternoon, wemade a few changes to improve the balance of the car, but having waited almost an hour before being able togo out on track, a problem with the gearbox prevented me from completing the session. On Saturday we will tryand make the most of the third free practice session to complete our programme for qualifying, which we knowis the key factor here.”
LOTUS F1 TEAM
#8 Roman Grosjean “This morning was a learning experience as the tyres are pretty hard here so it’s difficult to find enough grip. This made things a little tricky today as there’s no space for mistakes here. Certainly the car is working well and we could run through a decent programme today, even with missing a lot of the afternoon session because of the wet track. We hope the weather will be better on Saturday and we will have found a better balance with the car too.”
#13 Pastor Maldonado “It was disappointing in the afternoon as we planned to run more and test more parts of the car but we wouldn’t have learnt what we wanted to learn with a wet track. We did at least get some laps at the end of the session with the super soft tyre which means we do have a comparison between the two compounds. The morning went well, even if the track’s not yet 100%. We have a good amount of data so we can prepare for Saturday and qualifying which is so important here.”
McLAREN MERCEDES
#22 Jenson Button “It’s fantastic to be back at Monaco – it’s such a crazy circuit, and always a lot of fun. “In the dry, these turbo cars actually feel nice around here, although there’s not too much mechanical grip, which makes it more difficult. The Supersoft is a reasonable tyre, but it’s trickier in the wet – the Intermediates aren’t really working, even when the circuit’s almost dry. You’re wheel-spinning in fifth gear, which is an unusual feeling. “Yesterday, I said that the new asphalt in the middle sector might lack grip, but I’m really pleased to be able to say that the organisers have done a fantastic job with the fresh surface. A lot of circuits could learn from the job they’ve done with the asphalt here: considering it’s brand new, it’s really good – there’s so much grip. “I just hope we can get some some dry-weather running on Saturday morning – I think everyone needs a little more track time to complete their set-up work.”
#20 Kevin Magnussen “We didn’t have any issues today – we just lack overall downforce. When our aerodynamicists get on top of that, hopefully we’ll be able to maintain that good balance and make some good progress. “We haven’t done enough set-up work yet to be able to fully gauge our progress, but I felt comfortable driving the car. Of course, there are things to improve, but we’re taking it step by step. “It was good fun driving the track today – the electronics mean you don’t really feel the impact of the turbo, so it’s not really like the old days, but I’m really looking forward to low fuel and new tyres for qualifying on Saturday!”
SAHARA FORCE INDIA F1 TEAM
#27 Nico Hulkenberg “The wet weather did not give us an opportunity to run much this afternoon, but I feel we have made the most of the time available this morning. In terms of performance the car is feeling okay and we just need to make some set-up tweaks and work on the balance before Saturday. The focus has to be on qualifying here because it’s even more important than at any other track. So we just need to optimise the car to be ready for Saturday.”
#11 Sergio Perez “The day was disturbed by the weather so the work we have done is quite limited. I feel quite happy with the car and we ran in the top eight all day so it’s been positive. That’s where we need to be aiming for Saturday because qualifying well here is so important. There are still quite a few unknowns because I did not manage to do any long runs or race preparation, but it’s the same for everyone.”
SAUBER F1 TEAM
#99 Adrian Sutil “At the end of FP2, we were able to run a few laps on supersoft tyres, which worked out well. The car’s balance is decent. In general, we still have issues which we need to solve. The driveability needs to be improved. During acceleration and braking it is still difficult to keep the car under control. In FP1 I had a snap oversteer in turn 5, so I touched the barrier. The tyres were not up to temperature and it was difficult to keep the car under control. However, it was my mistake.”
#21 Esteban Gutierrez “Overall it was a good day. We lost valuable time in FP2 due to the weather conditions. During the session in the morning we made some changes to the car and it was getting better. We were able to improve lap by lap. I think we worked in the right direction. In FP2 I could only run for a few laps, so it is not representative due to the conditions and the traffic on track. We will analyse what we were able to gather during FP1 and FP2 and put everything together for tomorrow.”
SCUDERIA TORO ROSSO
#25 Jean-Eric Vergne “It was a satisfying Friday and I have a good feeling with the car. I like this track and even if I don’t think I’ll be P4 in Qualifying, I’m still happy with what we achieved today. This has been a proper way to build up confidence and it gives us an additional boost to fight for Q3 and points. We’ll keep on working hard to get ready for the rest of the weekend. This is a track where the driver can make the difference so I’m determined to remain always 100% concentrated and give it my best.”
#26 Daniil Kvyat “I enjoyed driving here in Monaco finally and it was a good day overall, in which I was able to learn the track quite well. Those were my instructions from the team, who told me to go out and do as many laps as possible. Of course, the rain that made the track wet for some of FP2 did not help so much, but at least I have tried the circuit in both dry and wet now. The results are obviously not very representative because of the tricky conditions this afternoon. We will now look at all the data between tonight and tomorrow to get the best out for Saturday’s Qualifying and Sunday’s race.”
WILLIAMS MARTINI RACING
#19 Felipe Massa Today was a tough day. I had some issues this morning with the power unit sensor so that limited my running, or at least the amount I could push. This afternoon it was wet and so I only went out at the end of the session and then suffered with traffic. The car is quick and Valtteri has shown that, so qualifying on Saturday will be very important.
#77 Valtteri Bottas It’s great to be here in Monaco and good fun with the current cars. There are still some improvements we can make to be quicker and the rain didn’t help in the afternoon, but we do have some good data to work from. Saturday will be vital in the morning for set-up and of course qualifying around Monaco is key to having a good weekend. Overall I am feeling positive and I’m looking forward to getting back in the car.
MARUSSIA F1 TEAM
#17 Jules Bianchi “It was very pleasing to find the car performing well here after a good test in Barcelona last week. We do not have all the data we were hoping for at this stage of the weekend, but I think the baseline is strong. Clearly the weather has been a factor for everyone today but there is still room for improvement for us and I am confident that we can make some more progress on Saturday.”
#4 Max Chilton “It’s been a tough start to my Monaco weekend, particularly the loss of track time in FP1 this morning. We were hoping to make up for lost time this afternoon, but the weather intervened and when we were able to get into the dry programme, of course everyone was taking advantage of the same improving conditions, so traffic was a factor. On a positive note, we seem to have carried through the good work from the test in Barcelona and the car seems to be performing well, so in many ways my weekend will start in FP3 on Saturday morning.”
CATERHAM F1 TEAM
#9 Kamui Kobayashi “38 laps in FP1 meant we were able to complete a good programme and made some decent progress throughout the session. We started with a similar grip issue to what we saw in Spain, but we made a few mechanical changes and it definitely improved, particularly in the high speed sections. That also helped take out some of the understeer I had in the first couple of runs but we still needed to work on traction and managing tyre temps so we had another look at that in FP2 and also took a step forward with both of those in the second session. “Like a few of the other teams we waited to start our FP2 runplan until there was a clear dry line which meant we had to shorten the programme a lot, but it was safer to do that than go out on inters and risk damaging the car. That’s not ideal, obviously, but with about five minutes left of the session we went out on a set of supersofts and had enough time for a couple of timed laps which gives us some data on that compound that will be useful for Saturday and Sunday. “Even with FP2 compromised like that it’s still been quite a positive day. We’ve brought a lot of what we learnt at the test in Spain here and I’m sure that we’ll be able to put that into action on Saturday.”
#10 Marcus Ericsson “Even though I’ve raced in Monaco quite a bit before this is obviously my first time in an F1 car and I have to say I really enjoyed both sessions today. I have a very special crash helmet for Monaco to pay tribute to Ronnie Peterson who won here 40 years ago, and I have his actual helmet bag from then for this weekend – having both of those in the garage with me today was a proud moment for me in my first F1 weekend here, especially as we’re from the same town in Sweden. “On track FP1 went well. I managed to do 40 laps in the session which meant we got through everything we’d planned and definitely improved the whole car balance from how we’d started. Like Kamui I had very low grip on the first run and poor traction so we changed the ride height and front wing angles and made a good step forwards – I still had a bit of understeer but the overall balance had improved and it was a good start to the race weekend. “It rained heavily over lunch and when FP2 started we waited for the track to dry before heading out. As the forecasts say it’s going to be dry on Saturday and Sunday we wouldn’t have learnt much from going out on inters and didn’t want to risk anything by running on a damp track so we had to wait until almost the end of the session and then did a couple of laps on supersofts so we could start having a look at how they performed here.”
