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Team Quotes - Sunday 25 May

SEASON INFORMATION
13/01/2018

2014 Grand Prix de Monaco

Team Quotes - Sunday 25 May

Red Bull
Christian Horner, Team Principal: "First of all we have to apologise to Sebastian for an issue with his power unit. It's frustrating that, after making a good start, his race came to a very premature end. Thereafter, Daniel benefitted from a puncture from Kimi to get some free air and was able to run his own race. We closed down the gap to the Mercedes at the end and got very close to Lewis, but round the streets of Monte Carlo it's always extremely difficult to overtake. It's the closest we've been to Mercedes all year and it's the first time we've been really racing them this season, so there are signs of progress and we're certainly getting closer. Finally, congratulations to the Marussia team on getting their first points in Formula One. Scoring points in this business is never easy and for a new team that stuck at it and scored their first points today, they deserve a large amount of recognition for that."

Thierry Salvi, Renault: "Today was a very up and down day. Daniel fought throughout the race and was able to come close to Hamilton towards the end. It is a great result for him and showed yet again today that he's strong enough to perform on such a difficult city track. For Seb he had a disaster today as he suffered a reliability failure from the power unit. We tried different settings to fix the problem but ultimately we had to retire. We'll look into the causes tonight and in the coming days to fully understand what happened."

Mercedes
Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton took a dramatic one-two finish this afternoon at the 2014 Monaco Grand Prix.

Nico took his second consecutive Monaco Grand Prix victory this afternoon, the first driver to do so since Ayrton Senna. Lewis finished in second place, securing the team's fifth consecutive one-two finish in the 2014 season. Both drivers ran one-stop strategies, pitting behind the Safety Car on lap 26 and retaining the leading two positions. The team has now taken five consecutive one-two finishes, for just the third time a team has achieved this in F1 history. This victory marked the team's 10th victory in the new era of the Silver Arrows since 2010.

Toto Wolff: A fantastic result for the team after a weekend where we had the pressure to deliver on the car's potential here in Monaco. Six wins from six races, and five one-two finishes in a row, is a very special achievement at the start of this 2014 season. Congratulations to Nico for a faultless race and to Lewis for following him home in spite of some unexpected challenges this afternoon. We were driving a controlled race when the Safety Car forced us to pit earlier than had been planned for our only stop of the afternoon. After that, both drivers pushed hard and that had the consequence that they started to run out of rear tyres in the closing laps. When Lewis had the problem with his eye, that was when Daniel Ricciardo came close. It just goes to show that we must never give up pushing because our rivals are right behind us - and working hard to run us down. We have absolutely no margin for error because if we make one little slip, our rivals are right there. We will enjoy this moment - but the hard work continues tomorrow at the factory.

Paddy Lowe: To take our fifth consecutive one-two finish is an incredible achievement for our team. It doesn't matter how good a car you've got: to achieve that kind of run, you need amazing drivers and a great team performing faultlessly. We have all of those elements and this afternoon again reinforced just how well both Nico and Lewis are driving right now. I also must say a special thank you to the team: to take a one-two at Monaco, you need a great chassis and a driveable engine, and this result shows our car is an all-round performer. In terms of the race itself, it wasn't without its challenges: Nico had to manage his fuel consumption quite carefully and we were working with the settings of Lewis' Power Unit to optimise the energy recovery and deployment in the first half of the race. In the final stages, we had some concerns with the tyres as we were running out of rubber, which in turn made it hard to maintain the tyre temperatures. We saw that when Lewis recovered from the problem with his eye, and couldn't get the tyres back working properly, which allowed Ricciardo to close in. But he was able to bring the car home and secure this fantastic team result.

Ferrari
Marco Mattiacci: "Historically, Monaco is an unpredictable Grand Prix and we are well aware there can be thousands of variables here. If we had managed to keep that third place, it would have been a boost for the entire team, but events beyond our control meant it was not to be. All of us are working flat out and I'm sure that thanks to the great professionalism of the people around me, we will be able to improve day by day and get back to being competitive in a short period of time. But above all, we must find a way to reach the ambitious goals that Ferrari should be fighting for."

Pat Fry: "Today in Monaco, luck was not on our side, especially in Kimi's case. Mercedes and Red Bull showed they have a greater potential than we do, but thanks to a really good start, I think that Kimi, who was third at the first corner, could have finished on the podium. Unfortunately, during the Safety Car period, his F14 T was hit by a Marussia and that meant he had to make two stops in the space of two laps, effectively ruining his race. Fernando also got away well, but a few moments later and for all of the first sector, his car suffered a temporary drop in power. Fortunately, he managed not to lose too many places and after that, he ran a rather solitary race. We start work again tomorrow in Maranello, looking at our weak points: we are sure we can improve and now we must prove those words with facts."

Lotus F1
Romain Grosjean took the chequered flag for his first time in the Monaco Grand Prix with a gritty drive to eighth in the final classification. Romain was hit from behind on the first lap, damaging a wheel rim which necessitated an early pit stop, but gradually worked his way up the order and into the points. Pastor Maldonado experienced a fuel supply issue with his E22 on the grid and was unable to make the race start.

Romain started from fourteenth position on new super soft tyres, changing to new softs on lap 1 then scrubbed super softs on lap 23. Pastor was due to start from fifteenth on the grid but a fuel pump issue meant he was unable to commence the formation lap.

Federico Gastaldi, Deputy Team Principal: "We scored some lucky points today but our overall weekend has been disappointing. It's been very frustrating that Pastor couldn't start the race and we have to identify the cause of this. Romain stayed focused and did a very good job to score the team some valuable points. We know that we still have work to do and Monaco certainly hasn't played to our strengths."

Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director: "It has been a disappointing weekend for us. Pastor's car didn't make it to the start of the race because of what looks like a fuel pump problem. Romain was hit from behind the first lap and got a puncture so we had to pit him early unfortunately. From then on, it was a long afternoon at the back of the field and in the end we were lucky with retirements and managed to score four points for an eighth place finish. We now look ahead to the next race and will work hard to correct issues we have seen here this weekend to get back up to an acceptable level of performance."

Simon Rebreyend, Renault Sport F1 track support leader: "Scoring points after a puncture on the first lap that dropped him to 19this a fantastic result for Romain; he kept focused and cautious with all the accidents and safety cars to come home eighth. For Pastor it was the opposite as he could not take the start. On the grid the team saw the fuel pressure dropping and on further investigation discovered an issue with the fuel pump. We are still unclear what happened but will look at everything in detail before Canada."

McLaren
Despite starting 12th, a brilliantly mature drive by Jenson netted him sixth position at the chequered flag.

Jenson was immediately on the move; he tangled with Sergio Perez at Mirabeau on the opening lap, but was able to continue, then moved into the top 10 following Sebastian Vettel's retirement. He went ninth when Daniil Kvyat also retired, and timed his pitstop to perfection, switching from Primes to Options just as the Safety Car boards went out at the pit entry.

Nonetheless, he was still jumped by Nico Hulkenberg's Force India, to run ninth. He slowly made places (running eighth after Jean-Eric Vergne took his drive-through, then seventh following Felipe Massa's late pitstop) and then capitalised on a late-race problem for Kevin to secure sixth at the flag.

Kevin jumped to seventh at the start by brilliantly driving around the outside of Daniil Kvyat at Ste Devote and was elevated to sixth when Vettel retired.

During the flurry of stops that followed the second Safety Car period of the race, he switched to Options at his stop. However, traffic in the pitlane delayed his release, and he was jumped by Jean-Eric Vergne. Kev jumped Vergne at the end of the Safety Car period, but made the move before it was permissible, and was required by the team to cede the place back. As he was doing this, he was also passed by Hulkenberg, who demoted Kevin to eighth by opportunistically out-braking him at the inside of the second Portier.

Thereafter, Kevin trailed Hulkenberg, closing the German down in the closing laps as his Option tyres began to fade. He was less than a second behind when he encountered a problem with his power-unit, which toppled him down the order. On lap 73, he tangled with Kimi Raikkonen, as the Finn tried unsuccessfully to slice down the inside at the hairpin. Both ended up lodged in the barriers, forcing Kevin to reverse back onto the track. He eventually finished 10th.

Eric Boullier, Racing Director: "Sixth and 10th isn't where we want to be, but we have to be realistic and acknowledge that this was a good performance - both from the perspective of the team, who worked brilliantly together, and also from both drivers, who drove tenaciously all weekend.

"Finishing 10th will be tough for Kevin to accept - he looked set for at least sixth place until the closing laps, when a problem with his power-unit dropped him down the order in quick succession. Fortunately, we were able to rectify the problem so he could proceed, but the incident with Kimi obviously didn't help.

"As usual, Jenson showed all his customary flair and experience to relentlessly move up the order from 12th on the grid. He was always well positioned to benefit from the incidents and action ahead of him, and judged the second Safety Car [to recover Adrian Sutil's damaged car] to perfection, choosing to dive into the pits at exactly the right time.

"Finally, I just want to pass on my congratulations to Jules Bianchi, John Booth, Graeme Lowdon and everybody at the Marussia team for scoring their very first world championship points today. Jules drove fantastically all weekend, and ninth place was a fantastic reward - not only for Jules' charging drive, but also for the team's efforts all season to improve and develop their car. They're a fantastic bunch of guys, and they really deserve this today."

Force India
Sahara Force India scored ten points today as Nico Hulkenberg finished in fifth place on the streets of Monaco. Sergio Perez was out of luck as he was eliminated on lap one following a collision at turn five.

Vijay Mallya, Team Principal and Managing Director: "Today's race equals our best ever result in Monaco, so I am obviously very pleased about Nico's performance. He drove a very clean and strong race, and was able to withstand incredible pressure in the last 20 laps to finish fifth despite being on very old tyres. He also pulled off one of the best overtaking moves of this season, so I think he will remember this day for a long time. Unfortunately, today also saw some disappointment as Checo was punted into the barrier on lap one. I am confident he would have been firmly in the fight to score big points as well, but I'm also sure he will bounce back immediately. Our pace looked really strong which is a good sign as we prepare for the next race in Canada."

Sauber
The Monaco Grand Prix ended early for both Sauber F1 Team drivers. On lap 24 Adrian Sutil lost control of the car when braking coming out of the tunnel and hit the guard rail. Esteban Gutierrez was in the top ten when he touched the guard rail on lap 60 in the Rascasse corner and spun. Before these two incidents the Sauber C33 had proved to be competitive, which opened the possibility of scoring points today. However, this opportunity was missed.

Monisha Kaltenborn, Team Principal: "This was a very unlucky way not to finish this race. We definitely had the chance to score points, but we are leaving Monaco empty handed. Adrian and Esteban were setting good lap times and were able to keep up with competition. This shows that the car was absolutely competitive today, and is important for the whole team to know. Of course, it's very regrettable to miss such good opportunities in this way."

Giampaolo Dall'Ara, Head of Track Engineering: "It was an eventful race, which is quite normal for Monaco. Obviously for our team it was a big disappointment, because we were competitive. We were more or less able to keep with the pace of a number of competitors, which was really positive. Today we were in a position to play a role in this race, but then the incidents happened, and we are left without points. Adrian damaged his front wing on lap one as a result of the Sergio Perez crash. We then changed his strategy, which worked well. Rather than doing a long stint on the soft tyres, we put him on the super soft. But then he lost the car under braking. Esteban had an issue with his starting position, but, apart from that, everything went according to plan before he hit the barrier and had to stop. We had the chance to score points today, so the end was really disappointing. The positive thing was that we were competitive. That's what we have to build on."

Toro Rosso
Franz Tost (Team Principal): "Starting today's race from seventh and ninth place and retiring both cars is definitely not the result we had expected. Both cars suffered an exhaust failure. Jean-Eric and Daniil both showed a strong performance today and all weekend, but unfortunately we could not provide them with a car capable of finishing where they would have deserved. We will now investigate the reasons for this failure and hopefully come back stronger at the next race in Canada."

Ricardo Penteado (Renault Sport F1 track support leader): "Today was a real shame as we had the pace on both cars to finish in the top ten. JEV especially looked in good shape until the drive-through penalty put him down the field. Unfortunately both then suffered exhaust failures and STR will push hard to find out what the cause of the problems was and how to put in place fixes for Montreal. There is a chance that some debris could have affected some of the parts of the PU, but we will investigate tonight and see what repairs, if any, we need to do."

WilliamsF1
Felipe Massa finished seventh whilst Valtteri Bottas race ended on lap 50 of 78 in the Monaco Grand Prix. Both drivers made strong starts and, despite two safety cars interrupting proceedings, looked in a strong position to collect a good points haul for the team following their pitstops. Felipe pushed hard to catch Button and capitalised on accidents between Magnussen and Raikkonen. Valtteri stopped on track following an issue related to the Power Unit. The cause is being investigated.

Rob Smedley, Head of Performance Engineering: Felipe's race went well; he recovered from 16th to seventh and stayed out of trouble, driving with a sensible head. The strategy was a risk but paid dividends as we didn't have to stack the cars during the pitstops. Valtteri would have got some good points today, but sadly there was a failure on his car. We now have to look forward to Canada and consider where we can make improvements to continue bringing home points.

Marussia
After four seasons and six races of sheer grit and determination, the Marussia F1 Team finally achieved its long-awaited first points-scoring finish in today's Monaco Grand Prix.

In his home race on the streets of the Principality, Jules Bianchi delivered a fantastic race performance in pursuit of the championship point he and the Team so badly craved. Then, much like buses, two came along at once, as he ended the race 8th on the road but 9th in the final classification.

Jules started the race in 21st position after a gearbox penalty dropped him to the back of the grid, save for Ericsson who was starting from 22nd position but from the pit lane. Jules made a perfect start, gaining five places to be 16th by the end of the first lap.

A short while into the race, the Team received five second penalties for each of its drivers, after they were deemed to have been out of position on the grid. With Maldonado unable to start the race, the back of the field had each moved forward a grid slot.

From 15th position Jules made his first pit stop on lap 29 and also served his five second penalty at the same time. He continued to make progess through the race and on lap 40 pulled off a brilliantly opportunistic manoeuvre to dispense with Kobayashi at Rascasse. From then on, Jules was pretty much unstoppable, climbing up to 10th position, at which time a further forfeit was imposed for the Team having served the previous penalty under the safety car. As he was not planning to make a further pit stop, this would need to take the form of five seconds being added to his time at the end of the race. Just as that elusive point seemed like it may not happen, a yellow flag incident involving Magnussen and Raikkinen propelled him to 8th position. With the addition of a five second time penalty he was relegated to 9th, although this secured the Marussia F1 Team's first two World Championship points. The Team is also promoted to 9th position in the Constructors' Championship standings.

It was a much tougher race for Max Chilton, who bogged down at the start and lost places, then went on to lose a lap after an unplanned pit stop following a coming together with Kimi Raikkonen. Nonetheless, he drove a strong race and ultimately extended his record to 25 finishes in 25 races.

John Booth, Team Principal: "Naturally we are overjoyed at today's result and it is a fantastic reward for all the hard work and determination, not just this year, but over the past four and a bit seasons. My congratulations to the team here in Monaco, back at base in Banbury and our much newer colleagues at Scuderia Ferrari. Our powertrain partnership is young, but we saw the potential right from the start of the relationship and we are now really starting to see the results of a true integration. A lot of this weekend's clear step stems from the progress we made at the recent Barcelona Test. We were cautiously optimistic about our performance increment, but we really needed to see it translate into a good race here in Monaco before we could feel too confident. We are only a young team, but we have every reason to believe in ourselves and a positive future. Clearly, in today's race, we benefited from some attrition but, throughout, we were running at a pace that allowed us to stay in position with the cars around us. It is clear that we are now able to race with the back of the midfield pack. The penalty situation was a cause for concern and the way in which we served this with Jules was the product of some unusual circumstances, but we understand and accept the decisions. Thankfully, the second penalty was not the determining factor that it could have been. A tough day for Max; today simply didn't go his way, but we are pleased for him that his finishing record continues."

Mattia Binotto, Scuderia Ferrari Engine & Electronics Deputy Director: "On behalf of the Scuderia Ferrari, I want to congratulate the Marussia F1 Team for this historic result. The first points finish for this team is a well-deserved reward for the hard work they're doing in such a competitive environment as Formula 1. For our part, we are pleased to have made our contribution to the achievement of a goal pursued by time and I would like also to thank the group of Ferrari technicians and mechanics who worked from the beginning of the year with the team based in Banbury. Jules achieved a flawless performance from every point of view, confirming that he is one of the most talented young drivers currently in F1. This ninth place should be a starting point and not an arrival for the collaboration between the Scuderia and the Marussia: there is still much work to do and lots of room to grow together. In a very challenging weekend in terms of reliability we are pleased to have seen both Ferrari-powered Marussias finish once again the race. It's true that there have been some problems over the weekend but we were able to handle them together and we got once more the first goal of each Grand Prix: pass under the chequered flag."

Caterham
Cedrik Staudohar, Renault Sport F1 track support leader: "On our side we had a pretty good race and are pleased to help the team to its best result of the season so far. We had a couple of issues with the ERS but nothing that really affected the lap time or overall performance so both drivers were able to attack and fight for position. This was very rewarding, particularly on a track such as Monaco where overtaking is almost impossible. Ultimately it's a bit bittersweet as our closest rivals scored points, but there will be more opportunities this year and we'll keep pushing to make the most of those that come our way."

Cyril Abiteboul, Team Principal: "Everyone knows Monaco can be a crazy race, and today it was so. It's a funny feeling because even though this equals our best ever finish it still feels like we had the chance to score our first point, as Marussia did today, but it was taken away from us despite the very good job both drivers and the whole team did today. We had the right strategy, we timed the stops perfectly and the pitcrew performed well in a tense race. I'm proud of the fact that we had both cars there at the end of the race, even with the damage to Kamui's car, and we have to take positives from this to help us fight back with improved performance from the car."

Pirelli
Just as he did last year, Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg led every lap of the Monaco Grand Prix, starting from pole on the P Zero Red supersoft tyre before switching to the P Zero Yellow soft. Not only that, but Mercedes has continued its record of leading every single lap so far this season.

Rosberg was locked in an intense battle with his team Lewis Hamilton from start to finish, with management of tyres and fuel proving to be a key factor, as there was such a small performance gap between them.

Both drivers made their sole pit stop on lap 25, with Rosberg pitting just in front of Hamilton as Mercedes, along with most teams, took advantage of a safety car period. The top six all stopped just once, with the highest placed two-stopper being Lotus F1 Team driver Romain Grosjean in eight.

Most drivers started on the supersoft, with Force India's Nico Hulkenberg the highest-placed driver to start on the soft. He used a one-stop strategy to climb six places from 11th to fifth.

Another innovative strategy was adopted by Williams and Felipe Massa, who ran with the supersoft tyre for 45 laps at the beginning of the race, before switching to the soft for a shorter final stint. This strategy enabled him to climb from 16th on the grid to seventh at the finish. Grosjean also completed more than 50 laps on a single set of supersofts, from lap 24 to the end.

After the Monaco Grand Prix, Pirelli will give reigning GP2 champion Fabio Leimer the chance to drive a Formula One car, as part of his prize for winning the title last year. The Swiss driver will take the wheel of a 2012 car supplied by the Lotus F1 Team at Paul Ricard in France on Tuesday.

Paul Hembery: "Monaco is synonymous with unpredictability, and once more we saw plenty of action, safety cars and racing incidents. Tyre wear and degradation was not an issue, as we saw from the very long stints completed by some drivers even on the supersoft, and the fact that most drivers completed just one stop. The tyres on Grosjean's car, for example, still had 20% of their rubber left despite having completed more than 50 laps. Track temperatures were cooler than they had been for qualifying, but the pace was still such that the top four lapped the rest of the field, with an extremely close fight between the top three. Although we're running a more durable tyre this year, performance is not generally compromised. As single tyre supplier, the tyres are what the first and the last car on the grid: all the rest is in the hands of the teams. Congratulations also to Marussia, who have scored their well-deserved first points in Formula One on our tyres."

Truth-O-Meter:

The teams had very little dry running on the supersoft, which made it hard to predict a strategy. But we expected those who started on the supersoft to switch to the soft on lap 30. In the end, their strategy was forced by the appearance of the safety car, with both cars stopping on lap 26.

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