Were you satisfied with the performance of the FW31 at Monaco?
Sam Michael: Williams have traditionally been strong at Monaco and this year was no exception, with Nico setting competitive qualifying times when it mattered. So, yes, I was satisfied with the car’s pace in Monaco.

Many cars had tyre wear issues on the super-soft rubber. Was it the same for Williams?
SM: The issue on the Super Soft compound was actually severe graining, not wear rate. Williams did not have any issue with this during the race, unlike a couple of teams, but that was purely because we planned a very short final stint on the Super Soft after we saw severe graining in practice. As a result, we never carried a lot of fuel with that tyre and the drivers were asked to take it easy on the Super Soft.

Nico was fastest in Q1, yet he qualified sixth. Did he have a problem in Q3?
SM: Yes, when he started his last run in Q3 he had a gap of 4.5 seconds between himself and Rubens Barrichello. Unfortunately, Rubens was doing a slow / fast lap sequence so Nico caught him half way around the lap, just before Tabac corner. We should have started the lap with a larger gap in the traffic.

Was sixth a good result for Nico in the race, all things considered?
SM: Three points is always welcome, but Formula One is all about expectation and we should have delivered more than that with the pace that the FW31 had around Monaco.

Did you think about letting Kazuki pass Nico when they were running nose-to-tail after Nico’s first stop?
SM: Yes, we briefly considered it but it would have hurt Nico's race too much. Nico was flat out on a clean track and trying to stay in front of the other cars around him at the time. As Nico was on a compromised strategy anyway (he had too little fuel on board for the first stint because of the traffic he had in the top ten shoot out in qualifying Q3), losing even half a second would have cost him.