Sunday, 20 May 2012 10:48

Monte-Carlo, Sunday May 29

JENSON BUTTON MP4-26A-04

Started:  2nd

Finished: 3rd
Fastest lap:      1m16.463s (+0.229s, 3rd)
Pitstops:          Three: laps 15, 33 and 48 (Op-Op-Op-Pr; fitted Pr for restart)
2011 points:     76 (4th)

“First of all, I’m pleased to hear that Vitaly [Petrov] is okay after we saw another big shunt this weekend.

“As for my race, I didn’t put a foot wrong out there, pulled away into a good lead… but came away with ‘only’ 15 points in the end. But that’s Monte-Carlo.

“We jumped Sebastian [Vettel] at the first stop and I then pushed like crazy on the Super-Soft, even tapping the wall a couple of times. The car was good and I pulled out a big lead, about 15 seconds, so it was all looking great at that point.

“Then we made another tyre stop – just moments before the Safety Car was deployed. By that stage, we still hadn’t run the Prime, which meant we still had to fit another set of tyres to finish the race.

“With 10 laps to go, it was looking like either myself, Sebastian or Fernando [Alonso] could win the race: Sebastian’s tyres were going off and Fernando was pushing him really hard. I could tell that Fernando was getting ready to have a go into Turn One – it was fun to watch because they were either going to crash or there was going to be an opportunity for me to try and get through as they battled each other. Any of us could have won at that point.

“But after the red flag for Vitaly’s big accident, all the teams were able to fit fresh tyres – which meant we couldn’t do anything because the three of us were all on the same pace and I’d lost my advantage.

“The team did a great job this weekend and I’m very happy. We really went for it and had to try something different in order to beat Sebastian here. It was looking good, but it didn’t work out in the end…”

LEWIS HAMILTON MP4-26A-03

Started:  9th

Finished: 6th
Fastest lap:      1m17.847s (+1.613s, 5th)
Pitstops:          Two: laps 22 and 49, drive-through on lap 43 and post-race drive-through for causing collisions (Pr-Op-Pr; fitted Op for restart)

2011 points:     77 (2nd)

“It’s been a disappointing weekend, really.

“This afternoon, in the race itself, I made some strong moves on three drivers – Michael [Schumacher], Felipe [Massa] and Pastor [Maldonado] – and I got penalised for two of them.

“With Felipe, I went up the inside at the hairpin, he turned in early and we touched. With Pastor, again, he turned in and I was pushed over the kerb.

“The penalties were frustrating: it’s really tough to overtake around here, and you rarely get an opportunity to do so. I was racing my heart out and just wanted to put on a good show for everyone.”

MARTIN WHITMARSH, Team principal, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes

“Our car had a lot of pace here in Monte-Carlo today – race-winning pace in fact – and I guess we’d therefore have to count ourselves as a bit unlucky not to have been able to convert that pace into the race win it could well have achieved.

“We selected a three-stop strategy for Jenson – and, had the race not been red-flagged just as Jenson had caught Sebastian and Fernando, I think that that selection would have been revealed as the right one. Now, of course, we’ll never know – but it’s undeniable that Sebastian and Fernando were both on very worn tyres at the end, whereas Jenson’s were pretty fresh by comparison, so we definitely fancied his chances of being able to press home that advantage by overtaking the Ferrari and the Red Bull in the final laps. But, as I say, the red flag scuppered those chances.

“Having said that, Jenson drove not only faultlessly but also very, very fast here this afternoon. Indeed, he posted the team’s 10,000th lap in the lead of a grand prix today, a stunning statistic. On his charge, he caught the Sebastian-Fernando battle by almost two seconds per lap whilst still managing to conserve his tyres. It was a truly excellent performance.

“Lewis, by contrast, had a frustrating afternoon. I guess the reality is that, if you start anywhere other than at the front of the grid here in Monte-Carlo, you’re always going to run the risk of getting involved in incidents – especially if, like Lewis, you’re a forceful driver who never, ever, gives up. But that’s Lewis. That’s why he’s such a fantastic driver – and that’s why watching him race is so thrilling. So, yes, he’s disappointed, because he’s been seriously quick all weekend here, but that’s Monte-Carlo; that’s racing; that’s life.

“Immediately after the race he was very down, and during a post-race TV interview he made a poor joke about his penalties that referenced Ali G. However, I’m pleased to say that he chose to return to the track a little while later to speak to the stewards about the joke. They accepted his explanation.

“In summary, then, Sebastian was probably a bit luckier than Jenson today, but he drove well to win so congratulations are due. In Montreal, though, let’s hope it’s our turn to have a bit of luck on our side.”

Sunday, 20 May 2012 10:48

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.”

Fernando Alonso: “This is my best result of the year and I think it is very important, especially for the team. A podium was needed, we needed to be fighting to the end for the win. Sure, this is not a typical circuit and we should not draw conclusions from a race that always produces its own story. We must close down the distance that separates us from the best: in Canada, we will have some updates on the car and we hope they will prove useful. I got a good start: if there had been a bit more room, maybe I could have done the same as in Spain. Then I tried to look after the tyres, before attacking Vettel at the very end, but then came the red flag and that meant it was over, because on new tyres, he was impossible to beat. Unfortunately, these sort of things can always happen here and they are part of the character of this Grand Prix. We must be pleased with this result and look to Montreal and Valencia, two races where we went well last year, with confidence. The gap in the championship is very big, but there is still a long way to go.”

Felipe Massa: “I am very disappointed with the way my race ended. After Hamilton had tried to pass me at Loews, which is an impossible place to do it, hitting me and pushing me into Webber, the car was no longer right and I could not drive it properly, which is why he got on the inside of me inside the tunnel. That put me on the dirt and then I ended up in the barrier. At the start, I got away well, but at the first corner I found Webber and Fernando in front of me: I was on the outside and Rosberg managed to get inside me. That meant I missed out on the train that would have kept me up with the leaders, as I spent too much time behind the German’s Mercedes. Today, we were competitive and, given how things went, I could have finished fourth. Now, we head for Canada, where we hope to have a car capable of fighting, as was the case here. The fact we will have the same two types of tyre, the soft and supersoft, is definitely positive for us.”

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.”