Team reaction after qualifying in Monaco (part 1)

Red Bull Renault

Mark Webber: “It’s a sensational feeling to be on pole in Monaco. It’s a vicious venue in terms of punishment for mistakes.
It felt like I found another gear in terms of confidence in the car today, I knew how important it was to nail a good lap because of the competition. The last thing I wanted was to be sitting on row three or four of the
grid. When you’re concentrating that hard and you’re putting everything on the edge like that your heart rate goes so high! Then you have that horrible wait when everyone else is finishing their laps and you can’t do
any more. It’s a special day. I know every team works hard, but our guys were here at 5am this morning to work on some things, so this pole is a credit to them. I hope we can convert it to a good finish tomorrow.”

Sebastian Vettel: “Even though there were only ten cars on track I got a little bit of traffic, which was quite a surprise. It wasn’t ideal to use the tyres properly, they came in nicely but when there was the peak I couldn’t use it. I got space in the end, but obviously the lap time wasn’t enough. All in all, it’s a good result for the team, congratulations to them and also to Renault; it’s great for them to have the top three cars on the grid. I’m
looking forward to tomorrow, it’s a long race and a lot of things can happen.”

Christian Horner: “A great team result. Six out of six poles is quite an achievement and they’re evenly distributed between the drivers. Mark found a good rhythm and a good gap on track to set a time that was
remarkably quick. Sebastian was only a tenth off a front row lock out, but third on the grid is a good place to be starting here. It’s important that we convert today’s result into a good points haul tomorrow. It’s testimony
to the hard work that’s going on from the whole team to achieve this performance and I’d also like to congratulate Renault on a one-two-three.”

Fabrice Lom (Renault): “A superb result. A sixth pole position is very good, especially at Monaco, which is a special venue. We know that here power is nothing but that drivability and all the other engine qualities
are important. We have three Renaults in the top three starting places and are very proud of all the work that’s been done at the factory and the track to improve the drivability and the efficiency of our engine. We
can see it works for both teams, Red Bull and Renault. Congratulations to Kubica for his good lap and let’s hope we get a perfect result tomorrow.”

Renault

Robert Kubica: Second on the grid at Monaco is a great result for us. The car has been great all weekend and I think we got the most from it today. We took a different approach to the session and saved two sets of option tyres for Q3 so I could do two runs on new tyres. On the final lap of my second run I did a very quick first sector, but for the second half of the lap the tyres were already gone so I struggled for grip and could only match my earlier lap time. When you come so close to pole, you are always a bit disappointed to miss out, but I think we can be very happy with our performance because we are in a great position to have a strong race tomorrow.

Vitaly Petrov: The balance of the car is quite good here in Monaco and we made quite big changes in time for qualifying so I think it would have been possible to make Q3 today. But unfortunately in Q2 I was struggling with the brake balance and my front tyres were locking all the time. I tried to change the brake balance to the rear, but it was too much for my first flying lap and the rear locked, I spun and touched the wall. For tomorrow my target will be to finish the race. It’s very difficult to make up ground at the start, but anything can happen so hopefully I can score some points.

Eric Boullier, Team Principal: Robert’s second place today is a great result for the team after an awesome qualifying session. The car has been very quick throughout all the sessions and this performance confirms the progress we have made recently. It’s also a great to see three Renault engines in the first three places. Obviously we are a bit disappointed for Vitaly because he has done a good job all weekend and was looking on course to make Q3. It’s a reminder that it’s very easy to get caught out in Monaco. We are now looking forward to an exciting race tomorrow and hopefully coming away with a great result.

Alan Permane, Chief Race Engineer: To qualify on the front row here is an excellent result for the team. The car has been working well all weekend and Robert has been exceptional. Starting near the front is very important at Monaco so today’s result is especially rewarding. It’s also nice to see three Renault engines at the front and we are looking forward to racing the Red Bulls tomorrow. Vitaly will start in 14th and was unfortunate to get caught out at the first corner in Q2 because he was looking competitive and would have been very close to making Q3. I’m sure he will race hard tomorrow and hopefully challenge for some points.

Ferrari

Only one F10 will start the Monaco Grand Prix from the grid tomorrow; that of Felipe Massa who set the fourth fastest time in this afternoon’s qualifying session. Fernando Alonso took no part in this afternoon’s proceedings, because of the damage to his car sustained in this morning’s free practice. The chassis could not be repaired and the rules forbid the use of two of them on the same day.

Stefano Domenicali: “The way this day has ended is very regrettable. We had the potential to do very well, but Fernando’s accident immediately diminished our chances. It’s a shame, as we had shown right from the start of this weekend that we were very competitive. Tomorrow, we will effectively run two races. Felipe is perfectly placed to get a good result, while Fernando, who starts from pit lane, will have a mountain to climb, a veritable Alpine peak. We will try and bring home as many points as possible and then we will see where we stand in both championships.”

Felipe Massa: “Fourth is not a bad place. It will be a long race tomorrow with lots of unexpected situations and starting from the second row puts me in a strong position. Sure, I’d hoped to do a bit better because I was pleased with the handling of the car but, on my last lap in Q3, I was nearly always behind Rosberg and I was unable to improve my time. In all three sessions of qualifying, the time came at the end of the series of laps: I managed it in Q1 and Q2, but not in Q3. It’s a shame as I could have got onto the front row. I will try and pick up as many points as possible, because in this championship, it is vital to always finish in the top ten. Here, the F10 is easier to driver than at the last two races and the tyres are working very well, especially the harder ones.”

Fernando Alonso: “This is the worst possible place to have to start from pit lane, given that overtaking is always problematic. It is a real shame, because the car was going very well. It was my mistake but, it was also very unlucky, because with an impact at ninety, you don’t normally write off a chassis! Unfortunately, the angle of impact with the barrier was such that the damage could not be repaired and the rules don’t let you use the spare chassis. So, I had to watch qualifying from the garage, along with the team, hoping to see Felipe end the Red Bull domination: it was very close and tomorrow we will do our best to bring home some points that can be useful for the classification. Do I think I’ve made too many mistakes this year? In Barcelona, where I am maybe under the most pressure, I did my best qualifying lap and had my best race. If after ten years in Formula 1, I still have to prove that I do not feel pressure, then it’s not worth talking about it anymore…”

Chris Dyer: “It’s been a very difficult day for us. We had a car that had the potential to fight for pole on a difficult track like this one, but we were only able to do so with just one car. The rules do not allow the use of a second chassis on the same day and the damage to Fernando’s car, after his accident this morning, was too serious to be fixed. Felipe did very well in Q1 and Q2, but he did not manage to put together the perfect lap in Q3 and had to settle for fourth place, which is still good enough to have a strong race tomorrow. Fernando will start from pit lane: a few years ago, someone in a similar situation managed to finish fifth in a Ferrari, so we hope we can improve on that performance!”

McLaren Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton: “I put everything into those three qualifying sessions, especially on my last flying lap, when I literally got every last drop of performance from the car – there was absolutely nothing left!

“Today, I touched all the barriers I could possibly touch and used all the road I could possibly use, so I’m happy with my performance. But it’s clear that the Red Bulls have more downforce than we do, particularly in the middle sector, and it’s evident that we need to find a decent step in performance to keep up with them in future. They can get onto full throttle earlier than we can, and they can carry more speed into the corners, and that gives them greater confidence to attack.

“But we’re definitely getting there, and it’s very close on the grid ahead of me. It would have been great to have been on pole, but the race is tomorrow, I’m on the inside line for the start and it’s not over ’til it’s over.”

Jenson Button: “In Q1 my car felt pretty good on the harder tyres, but we didn’t run them in Q3, which was a little bit of a shame as it was probably the better option. Like everyone else, we ran the softer tyre at the end, and I struggled on it – there was a lot of movement at the rear and understeer in the low-speed corners. It didn’t feel great, to be honest.

“I don’t really know what Felipe [Massa] was thinking in Q3 – there were only 10 cars out there, so it should have been relatively easy for him to keep out of the way of other cars. I guess he obviously wasn’t looking in his mirrors. I don’t know what my laptime on that lap would have been, but it was annoying because that lap was compromised. The next lap was compromised as well because I obviously got a bad run onto the pit straight.

“Our race pace has looked great all weekend, so it’s frustrating to be where we are now, because the likelihood is that we simply won’t be able to deploy that pace in the race. To sum it up, then, I’ll just say that today was a tough day.”

Martin Whitmarsh, Team principal: “Over the weekend so far, we’ve seen strong long-run pace from both our drivers, but we’ve found it a bit more difficult to get sufficient pace from the tyres in the early laps. Unfortunately, we couldn’t rectify that issue to the extent that we’d ideally have liked prior to qualifying, and the consequence was that both Jenson and Lewis had to dig very deep to get through Q1 and Q2 and into Q3.

“As always on race day at Monaco, grid positions will be crucial, and undoubtedly we’ll have a battle on our hands tomorrow. But, as I’ve said before and don’t apologise for saying again, both Jenson and Lewis are supremely combative race drivers – and, even at Monaco, where it’s notoriously difficult to overtake, they’ll be doing their utmost to convert their starting positions into the maximum possible points haul for Vodafone McLaren Mercedes.”

Mercedes GP

MERCEDES GP PETRONAS drivers Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher will start the Monaco Grand Prix from sixth and seventh positions respectively after today’s qualifying hour around the streets of Monte Carlo.

With 23 cars fighting for position on the 3.340km street circuit, Nico and Michael needed just one run on the prime tyre in Q1 to progress through to the second session. Switching to the option tyres, Nico set the quickest time of Q2 during his first run, whilst Michael completed two runs and ended the session in seventh position.

The pair went out for one run on the options in Q3 but both drivers struggled to have a good lap with Nico qualifying in sixth position and Michael just 0.046s down from his team-mate in seventh position.

Nico Rosberg: "My pace has been really good here throughout the weekend and in the first two qualifying sessions today, so it was a disappointing result to only qualify in sixth position. I was hopeful of competing for the front row after our performance in Q2 but the final session just didn’t work out for us today. I had a lot of traffic to overcome and made a mistake on what should have been my fastest lap. Unfortunately the tyres were not at their best then for the final quick lap. It’s difficult to make up positions in the race here as overtaking is almost impossible. However you never know what can happen and we will work hard to try and finish in a better position tomorrow.

Michael Schumacher: "Qualifying confirmed that the gaps between the teams are smaller here but not small enough to really get some profit out of it, which is what we would have wished obviously. We all had some concerns about qualifying because of the number of cars but I have to say that from my point of view, everybody did a great job. I had a clean situation most of the time, except for once unintentionally with Nico. I think we got out of the car what we could today and the positive news is that I am on the inside which is a good starting position and our starts have gone well recently. So we can at least hope to make up one or two positions for the race."

Ross Brawn: "We had the chance for a better position today so we are disappointed with our performance in the final qualifying session. We didn’t quite get the track and the tyres together at the right time for both drivers and we didn’t keep them well enough informed of their relative track positions in Q3. The performance in Q2, particularly from Nico, is more indicative of what we should have been fighting for and it is obviously frustrating that we didn’t realise that potential. However the car is going well here in Monaco and it is a long race tomorrow so we are still in a reasonable position to have a good outcome to the weekend."

Norbert Haug: "Not the qualifying results that we wanted to achieve here in Monaco. Nico posted the fastest time in Q2 with just a single outing which proved that our speed is there. Traffic in Q2 for both Nico and Michael, and a slight mistake in Nico’s only fast lap he could do under these circumstances, made it impossible to get better places on the grid than sixth and seventh. We certainly had the speed to end up in row one or two but could not use it as planned. This was today and tomorrow can possibly be a different story. Lots of things can happen during the race on this traditional street circuit and we certainly will not give up too early."

Williams Cosworth

Formula One’s drivers and engineers successfully negotiated twenty three cars around Monte Carlo’s narrow, three mile street circuit today to produce an incident free qualifying session ahead of tomorrow’s Monaco Grand Prix. For the third time this season, Rubens Barrichello made it into the top ten, putting his FW32 in P9 on the timesheets. In only his first outing around the Principality, Nico Hulkenberg put in a creditable performance to secure P11 for Sunday’s race.

Rubens Barrichello: I enjoyed myself out there today and I’m happy with ninth. I took everything out of the car that I could and I don’t think we could have done much better. We all thought traffic was going to be an issue this afternoon, but really it was fine. Monaco is a good track for our car so hopefully we will do well tomorrow.

Nico Hulkenberg: As expected, it was a bit busy in Q1 but everyone seemed to get a lap in. The car felt pretty competitive, but my lap wasn’t perfect and I’m disappointed to have missed out on Q3 by a fraction.
Eleventh is not bad, but when your team mate is ahead of you it’s never very pleasant. It’s still possible to have a good race from 11th though and I’m hoping for a decent result in my first Monaco Grand Prix.

Sam Michael, Technical Director: It was a good effort to get one car into the top ten, but we were not quite fast enough to get both through. Rubens extracted everything he could from the car and Nico performed well considering it’s his first time in a Formula One car around Monaco. The development parts worked well here and we have more coming to the next three races. We’ll now focus our attention on getting good starts in the race.