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Team Quotes - Sunday 29 May

SEASON INFORMATION
13/01/2018

2011 Grande Prix de Monaco

Team Quotes - Sunday 29 May

Red Bull
Christian Horner, Team Principal: A phenomenal drive by Sebastian today. We had a communication problem with the first stop, which affected both drivers as they were both stopping on the same lap. It delayed Sebastian, but we managed to re-adjust our strategy. We didn't panic and managed to engineer ourselves out of the situation to get him back into the lead. He then had an awfully long way to go on the harder tyre, which he made work. He soaked up huge pressure from Fernando and Jenson and then our hearts were in our mouths when the accident happened just in front of him. But he picked his way through that and, with the benefit of the option tyre, was able to have a bit more comfort in the remaining laps after the re-start. It was a classy drive from Sebastian today and a tremendous team performance to recover from what looked to be a difficult first stop to win the race. At one stage Mark was 15th after the first round of stops, but he never gave up and kept on pushing through. He pulled a great move on Kobayashi on the last couple of laps who's not an easy guy to pass and it was a shame not to have him on the podium today, as he deserved to be there.

Cyril Dumont, Renault: Once again it was a really good result for Sebastian and it could be worse for the start of the season - five out of six wins! I don't know where we have to go back to, to see these kind of results. Regarding Mark, it was a bit chaotic in the first pit stop, but it was a great recovery and nice to see him finish fourth. It's hard to overtake on this track, but he did it. Overall we had a great result this weekend, we scored more points than our opponents and it's a great start to the season.

McLaren
Ferrari
Second podium of the season for Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro, once again courtesy of Fernando Alonso, who took the chequered flag in second place. Unfortunately, the 150º Italia Number 5 was the only Ferrari at the finish, because Felipe Massa had to retire on lap 33 after an accident which occurred as a result of a collision with Hamilton's McLaren. After the sixth race of the season, Fernando is still fifth in the Drivers' championship on 69 points, while Felipe is eighth on 24. The Scuderia has consolidated its third place in the Constructors' classification with 93 points to its name.

Stefano Domenicali: Going into this weekend, if we'd been told that we would finish second, eleven tenths off the winner, I would have signed up for it on the spot, but now there's no denying there is a slight feeling of regret. Fernando was fantastic all weekend long and today he fought for the win, right down to the final metre. The race had a deserving winner, but there's no doubt the red flag towards the end deprived our driver of the opportunity to attack in the final laps, making the most of having tyres with slightly less degradation. At the restart, with everyone on new tyres, there was not much more we could do. There's much regret for Felipe too, who was also capable of getting a good finish: the collision with Hamilton pretty much put him out of the running and then he immediately ended up in the barriers. It is only a week on from when we were lapped at the Catalunya Circuit and we have seen how quickly things can change, depending on the track characteristics and the type of tyre we are using. Clearly, the situation in both championships is getting ever more difficult, but we are not giving up: we are coming up to two races where, on paper, we should be competitive and then, before the summer break, we will see where we stand.

Pat Fry: It was an incredibly close race from the first to the last lap. After we managed to sort out Fernando's car, which had not been as quick in yesterday's qualifying as it had been in free practice, today we showed a good race pace on both types of tyre. I think we took the right decisions at the right time at every point in the race, making the most of our opportunities. When the race was neutralised after Felipe's accident, we chose to change tyres on Fernando's car, so as to put him in the right condition to attack in the final stages. Unfortunately, there was a red flag which meant the Spaniard could not try all the way to the end, but that's Monaco for you and you have to accept that anything can happen. As for Felipe, we have to work out why his DRS was not enabled by the FIA electronic control in the first part of the race, because maybe, if everything had worked properly, he would have managed to get past Rosberg sooner and not lose so much ground to the leaders. A shame, because I think he also had the potential to run a good race all the way to the end. Now we go to Canada, wanting to continue to improve our performance. There will be some new parts on the car: we must continue to push on the development front in order to reduce the gap which still separates us from the best.

Mercedes
The Monaco Grand Prix ended in disappointment for the Mercedes GP Petronas team with Nico Rosberg finishing outside of the points in 11th place and Michael Schumacher retiring on lap 33.

Both drivers suffered severe rear tyre degradation in the first stint, which forced early stops and cost valuable track position. This drop-off in tyre performance was not typical of what had been seen in practice, and will now be investigated in detail. Michael retired on lap 33 with a suspected airbox fire, as he was about to pit under the first Safety Car period. Michael had made a single pit stop on lap 12 for option tyres, having also started on the options. Nico made three stops on laps 15, 33 & 53 with an option/prime/prime/option strategy, finishing the race in 11th position.

Ross Brawn: "We felt confident after qualifying and practice that both drivers would have some good opportunities today but clearly it turned out to be a very disappointing race. The difficulties that we experienced on the first set of tyres, with the super softs falling away from us and graining so early, really dictated our race. We need to look into it as this was surprising after the good pace we had during the practice sessions. We had a few technical problems with the cars in the race but the core issue was the inability to make the first set of tyres last more than ten or twelve laps."

Norbert Haug: "These were not the results we wanted here in Monaco. Nico's accident on Saturday morning, from which he thankfully escaped unhurt, was certainly a handicap for us, but our guys did a fantastic job to build the car up in record time ready for qualifying. Michael started fifth but did not make a good getaway and the reason for this will be investigated. As a follow-up, his front wing was damaged in contact with another car at the first corner and this badly handicapped his performance in the first stint. After his pit stop, with a new nose and another set of option tyres, his lap times looked better, but an airbox fire stopped his race when he was about to pit during the first safety car period. In addition to a car that was not handling well, Nico suffered some KERS problems during the race and finished outside the points. Despite the lack of results, I would like to thank everybody in the team for their hard work and dedication throughout a difficult and challenging weekend. We will do a better job in Montreal."

Renault
LRGP secured four more points in a frenetic and memorable Monaco Grand Prix.

We opted for a one-stop strategy with both car. Nick finished in P8, which means Nick moves up a place in the Drivers' Championship to 6th with 29 points. Vitaly was caught up in the crash which took place on lap 68; he complained about a sore ankle and was taken to hospital as a precaution. No broken bones or fractures have been reported and he is expected to be released within the next couple of hours. Vitaly was on his way to a fourth place finish when the crash occurred on.

Eric Boullier, Team Principal and Managing Director: "It was a bit of a disappointing day to be honest. First of all we are glad to report that Vitaly is ok and he has no fractures. He has a sore ankle, but he is already joking and we expect the hospital to release him within the next couple of hours. With regards to the race result itself, there is disappointment because we could have finished P4. We had fresher tyres than Sutil and Kobayashi and so could have caught them, but they managed to pit when the safety car was called. Nick moved back up to tenth position, which was not bad and finishing eighth was ok given the position he started in. However, there was an opportunity to score more points."

James Allison, Technical Director: "After a disappointing weekend during which we struggled to find a decent qualifying pace, we managed to bring some points home. More importantly, Vitaly is OK and this is a relief for the whole team. We elected to go for a one-stop race in order to step ahead of the cars in front of us and this strategy seemed adequate a few laps before the end of the race, as both R31s were in the points. Unfortunately, Vitaly has been caught up in the crash involving Adrian Sutil and Jaime Alguersuari. There are not a lot of positives to be taken from this weekend, but Nick moves up one place in the drivers' championship and we have extended our lead over Mercedes GP in the constructors' classification. This said, we're under no illusions and we know we must raise our game in order to perform at the level we want to."

Riccardo Penteado, LRGP Engine Support Leader, Renault Sport F1: "First of all it's great news to hear that Vitaly is OK after a heavy impact with the barriers. Until that point he was looking like scoring some decent points but the most important thing is to know that he hasn't got any serious injuries. Nick finished in eighth after a busy race, which is good considering his starting position after a disappointing qualifying. It was a great team effort to gain so many positions and even though we would have expected more on previous form this season, it's a good result this weekend. We have, however, extended our advantage over Mercedes, which overall can be considered a good overall outcome."

WilliamsF1
In what was one of the most tense battles of the 2011 Championship so far, Rubens Barrichello took his best finishing position of the year and claimed AT&T Williams' first points of the season with a ninth place finish. Today's action-packed Monaco Grand Prix also allowed Pastor Maldonado to demonstrate his abilities. After a competitive performance in qualifying and a well managed race, Pastor looked set to bring home sixth for the team. The prospect of a double points-scoring conclusion, however, ended abruptly. Shortly after the re-start a collision with Hamilton's McLaren forced Pastor out of the race with just five laps to go.

Sam Michael, Technical Director: It was a good result to get some points on the board. It was close to being a lot more but that is the nature of Monte Carlo. Pastor has driven outstandingly all weekend, so it is a shame that his race ended in the barriers. The tyres were solid all afternoon but it became clear that it would be a two-stop race strategy for us. The safety cars both hurt us as well as we lost a lot of time with both drivers. On the positive side, we didn't have any reliability issues and we're looking to continue developing the car ahead of Canada.

Force India
An eventful Monaco Grand Prix saw Force India score six well-earned points as Adrian Sutil drove a well-judged race to come home in seventh place. Teammate Paul Di Resta also featured strongly in the opening laps, eventually coming home in P12 after picking up front wing damage and a drive-through penalty.

Vijay Mallya, Chairman and Team Principal: "Today's race was full of excitement, drama and great racing. With Adrian I believe we judged the strategy perfectly and his seventh place finish is a great reward for the whole team. He did an excellent job to keep his tyres alive in the middle part of the race when we were planning to do a one-stop strategy. Towards the end of the race we got a little bit lucky with the safety car, but we reacted well and Adrian kept pushing hard to score six important points.

"Paul's race was looking promising in the early laps until he picked up some damage after contact with the Toro Rosso. He was maybe a little over-eager to get by, but this was his first Grand Prix at Monaco and he will learn from this experience."

Sauber
After having a difficult time in qualifying Kamui Kobayashi improved from 12th on the grid to a fifth place finish at the Monaco Grand Prix. The Sauber F1 Team had planned a one-stop strategy, which worked perfectly well with Kobayashi being gentle enough with the super soft tyre compound to make the rubber last an extraordinarily long time. The result brings a positive end to what was a very difficult weekend for the Sauber F1 Team with Sergio Pérez's heavy accident on Saturday. Also one of the accidents in the race caused the medical car to be called into action: the team wants to send its best wishes to Vitaly Petrov.

Peter Sauber, Team Principal: "Once more Kamui drove a fantastic race, managing the tyres very well, and the car was strong too. This is a result he has deserved for a long time. My compliments to Kamui, and also a big thank you to the whole team who prepared the car perfectly. I now hope we can start in Montreal with our regular driver pairing."

James Key, Technical Director: "As always in Monaco, a very eventful race for all concerned. We entered just one car for Kamui with Sergio not racing. Our hopes really relied on Kamui. We opted to go for a one stop strategy, starting on the new soft tyres, and we had a new set of super soft for the second stint. Fundamentally Kamui drove a good race. It's great to bring points home in what has been a very mixed weekend, both in terms of performance and emotion with Checo's crash. We can dedicate these points to him as a team and hope that we can get back to normal in Montreal."

Toro Rosso
Franz Tost: "Another very exciting Formula 1 race, with action from the very beginning to the end, including a re-start. On top of that, the top three finished within 2.3 seconds, having each gone for different strategies - a one stop, a two and a three, which shows how complex it is to find the best strategy these days. From the Toro Rosso point of view, the whole team did a good job as we come away with one point, which was better than we could have expected after a rather disappointing qualifying performance yesterday. Sebastien Buemi did a very good job, not making any mistakes which is not easy at Monaco, eventually finishing six places higher than his grid position. Jaime Alguersuari was unfortunately involved in the accident that brought out the final safety car and then the red flag. He had nowhere to go and he could not avoid it. Now, we must analyse why our qualifying performance was not good enough, whereas our race pace was better. For the next two races, we will have the same Soft and Supersoft Pirelli tyres, which suggests that Montreal and Valencia should also produce some exciting racing."
Lotus
Thierry Salvi, Renault Sport F1 Support Leader: "I think that is a very good result for us, the best finish of the year for both cars. The car setup and strategy was good for both drivers and we are very satisfied with what we have achieved this weekend."

Mike Gascoyne, Chief Technical Officer: "A strong result for the team and it was good to get both cars over the finish line. Both drivers drove very strong races and we gave them a chance to fight with a two stop strategy, starting both cars on options. We switched Heikki to the prime for the last two stints because he had higher degradation but kept Jarno on the options until the second pitstop and even thought they were held up by slower cars we are very pleased with 13th and 14th."

Tony Fernandes, Team Principal: "I watched the race from Bali and that capped off an incredible week for us. This time last year neither car finished the race but today both cars crossed the line in 13th and 14th places. Our pace was good but most importantly both cars finished the race, we brought the Team Lotus brand home and we won the first of the GP2 races in Monaco. That constitutes a very good weeks work at the office. Now we go to Montreal and as we keep moving forwards to the rest of our history, our heritage and our destiny with Caterham. Thank you all for one hell of a ride."

HRT
Virgin
Today's 69th Monaco Grand Prix promised spectacle and certainly delivered it by the boat-load, including a restart with only six laps of the race remaining.

The streets of Monte Carlo basked in ambient temperatures peaking at 23°C, with the track high reaching a blistering 44°C. Marussia Virgin Racing drivers Timo Glock and Jerome D'Ambrosio both got off to a good start, managing to keep their noses clean during the opening lap and maintaining their positions.

Timo was demonstrating good pace after starting on the Super Soft Pirelli P-Zero tyres and was able to keep in touch with the cars ahead. On lap 22 he made his first and, as it turned out, only pit-stop, as just 12 laps later he was forced to retire due to right rear push-rod failure, pulling up in the Swimming Pool section of the track.

Meanwhile, Jerome was able to run consistently and look after his Prime tyres. With the Safety Car deployed as a result of Massa's incident in the tunnel, he pitted for Super Soft tyres and was back out on track in 16th position, defending well from the other cars. He was able to make the Option tyres work for around 30 laps until it became apparent that he would need another stop. With just six laps to go, red flags were deployed after a big crash involving Petrov and Alguersuari and the race was suspended temporarily to clear the cars and resulting debris. The cars returned to the grid and the race was restarted 20 minutes later behind the safety car. Jerome completed the remaining laps without incident and crossed the line in 15th position.

John Booth, Team Principal: "We predicted yesterday that the race would be incident-filled and that we would need to be ready to take advantage of any opportunity that came our way, and this is exactly what both drivers did today. It was a difficult decision to start both cars on a split strategy, but one that ultimately paid off at different stages in the race. We had information from Timo's first stint on the Option tyre that made us feel confident that, when the safety car came out, we could switch Jerome to a one-stop and take the track position that we were getting from the strategy. Jerome had done a great job of defending against Lotus for around 15 laps but unfortunately, due to running wide for a blue flag, he picked up some marbles and was unable to stay in front. Timo drove a strong first stint to keep in touch with the guys in front. Throughout the weekend he has demonstrated great skill and faultless performances but unfortunately we believe his right rear push-rod failed in the race, so we will go away and analyse what led to that. All in all it has been a challenging but rewarding couple of weeks of back to back racing and we will return to our base to prepare for the trip across to Canada in two weeks' time."

Pirelli

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