26/05/2007
NEWS STORY
Pastor Maldonado - Winner: Let me say that: this weekend, the team and I were on top always and in any track condition. Today`s win crowned a wonderful team work started long before Monte Carlo, and the results came since the first laps turned in practice. I immediately knew that we were going to have a clear margin over our rivals. The race was very long and difficult, but I was able to get in control without major issues. The only high-tension moment was when I missed my breaking point at La Rascasse, but fortunately all my rivals were far enough. There`s a long way to go: we`ll try to get as many wins as possible, then see what we can do for the Championship.
Luca Filippi - 4th: I am very happy with my race. Thanks to a good start I succeeded in getting an important 4th position. The car set up was perfect and I felt very comfortable on Monaco's circuit. My only regret is the problem I got during yesterday's qualifying session, which kept me from fighting for victory. "I wanted to be among the first six but I am satisfied about how things went on, considering the fact that I did my best time overtaking two cars with old tyres. Tomorrow it will be very important to have a good start and overtake risks during the first laps. Then adopting the right strategies, we will aim at the podio". And so he did: immediately after a good start he gained two more positions. There is not enough room to overtake in Monaco". In fact , trying to overtake Glock, he had a contact that bent his front car, but with his ability and the perfect set up of the car, he headed for the chequered flag and finished fourth. "With a best position at the grid, I could have won a place on the podium.
Lucas Di Grassi - 5th: Fifth place in qualifying was a little frustrating after being first in free practice but I made a good start, I was able to avoid Zuber, who had stalled and I found myself third at the first turn. The podium then became possible, but Pantano was slow at the start of the race. I wasted time getting into the pits, because of the Lapierre's accident, and this made me fall back to 5th place. I am 3rd in the championship, but the next race is the team's home event and we will work hard to ensure that things go a lot better in Magny- Cours.
Sébastien Buemi - 7th: The beginning of the weekend went very well, but its conclusion left me hungry for more as I really wanted to be able to do much better than this 7th place. However, it is necessary to be realistic; to beat everyone in just my first appearance in the GP2 Series would have been utopian! I arrived here on Wednesday at 11 pm and worked on my driving seat the following morning at 6am. The team was fantastic and did everything they could to help me undertake the free practice sessions under ideal conditions, by explaining what I had to do and how to do so in order to acclimatize to the car and the way of doing things. I could immediately be competitive and I was very happy with my performances in free practice. In qualifying, I think that 2nd was possible without coming across all the traffic on my fastest lap. I had a little problem with the clutch at the beginning of the race, I was too nice with it! On the first turn Lucas was beside me, Filippi was also there, and I could not get ahead. My personal errors cost us time, in particular during the pit stop, and without them we would not have lost places at start as well as at the time of the pit stop. That being said, I succeeded in passing several drivers on the track and finished in 7th place. It is a little frustrating compared to how things went at the beginning of the weekend, but overall it was rather a positive first race in GP2.
Kazuki Nakajima - 10th: The strategy and the car were good so I am not happy with the result. Nevertheless, I finished the race and it is very important for my experience and the remaining races.
Bruno Senna - 11th: Today was not a good result but we had very bad rear tyre degradation and I just couldn't push any harder. I just didn't have any pace, and the lap times were the best that I could do. Strategy here is tricky and I stopped late to try to avoid getting stuck behind slow cars that were then difficult to overtake. It's frustrating because it's so hard here to make the right call, but you can't win every race and we made the right call in Barcelona. Fortunately this weekend is only one race, so I only lost points for one race, not two, so that's a positive on the bad result. With my overtake on Hirate, I was a lot faster than him so I was pushing him into making mistakes. I already nudged him on the hairpin because he was very slow, so on that lap I went on the inside, he lost momentum and I went past him. He did try to get back on the line but I wouldn't let him and squeezed him a bit. It's great because it's the only time I could use the road like that in Monaco and not get stopped by the police!
Kohei Hirate - 12th: My race was a very a complicated one, as I expected, considering my starting position. I recovered several positions despite fighting an understeering car, that made it even more difficult. I`m sorry for the position lost to Senna in the closing stages. It was definitely my mistake: I hit the pit-lane limiter while braking before the chicane, and the car just slowed down. Now we have some time to plan our summer, and I hope to score the best possible results.
Andy Soucek - 14th: I made it difficult for myself having had the first lap incident with Chandhok and from that point onwards I just had to focus on keeping on the track and reaching the end. It's not easy when the car isn't handling well, but I kept going and reached the chequered flag. I'm now looking towards the test to make further progress with the car.
Sergio Jimenez - 17th: The race wasn't too bad and I had good pace from the start but I was blocked in and it is so difficult to pass. The car was great after the pit stop, I tried passing the guy in front 5 laps from the end but he closed the door on me and I was out of the race. I just need to do better in qualifying so that I am higher up the grid.
Christian Bakkerud - DNF: It's just such an amazing place. I've had such a good time here, driving on this historic track, which is so challenging, exciting, awesome! It's a shame I just made a small mistake which put us out of the race, as we were running at a really good pace. It gives me lots of confidence for next year though.” Of suffering illness for two events in a row he says, “I can't believe I've been ill for the last two races, it's the first, and hopefully, last time in my career that this has happened. I just hope it's been all at once and I can be back to 100% health now.
Javier Villa - DNF: I started 14th and made it through the first lap OK, I was pushing all the time and the car was going well but the tyres were starting to get really old by the time I made my pit stop. I came out of the pits and started to push again but there was some sort of problem at the rear of the car and I couldn't avoid spinning and hitting the barrier
Nicolas Lapierre - DNF: I did a good start and I could have scored points but Buemi pushed me at the Rascasse corner.
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