Race - Monaco GP report: Manor Mercedes

Pascal Wehrlein

“Today was quite tough to be honest. Early on in the race, with the track staying quite wet, we decided to stay out on the extreme tyre and run longer. With other cars pitting earlier onto the Inters, we had track position and when we did stop we actually managed to jump some cars. So that strategy worked perfectly. We were able to keep the Haas behind until the chequered flag but with the penalties the race got away from us and we dropped behind. It’s disappointing, but going into the race 14th might have looked like a good result. It’s been a challenging weekend but also very exciting to be racing in Monaco for the first time and disappointments aside I have really enjoyed the experience.”

Rio Haryanto

“A difficult race today. Obviously the first part was quite tricky for everyone with the wet conditions but actually when the race got underway I was able to keep pace; the first two stints were okay for me. Then, towards the end, there was a lot of traffic and under the blue flags I was struggling to keep temperature in the tyres, so I was losing lap time. Although it’s been a tough day, it has also been a real privilege to race in my first Monaco Grand Prix. Now we look forward to Canada, which is a track that should suit us better.”

Dave Ryan, Racing Director

“At the end of a weekend that has seen so many incidents up and down the field, on the face of it two cars home in 14th and 15th position is not a bad result. It was quite a tough race for us with the wet start and typical Monaco traffic challenges making it very difficult to maintain the momentum that we started the race with. Both drivers did a good job in their debut here and though you always hope that some of the attrition can lead to a better result, they did manage to keep their noses clean and take the chequered flag. So, we look forward to Canada now; a different kind of challenge and one that we hope may play to our advantage slightly more.”