News
22nd May 2014, 19:10
Lewis Hamilton on why his Mercedes is still a work in progress; Jean-Eric Vergne on a confidence-boosting opening day in Monte Carlo; Sergio Perez on dealing with the disruptions of the afternoon downpour. The drivers and senior team personnel give their feedback after an interesting, rain-hit first day in Monaco...
Toro Rosso
Jean-Eric Vergne, P1 - 1:20.260, 15th; P2 - 1:19.351, 4th
"It was a satisfying Friday and I have a good feeling with the car. I like this track and even if I don't think I'll be P4 in qualifying, I'm still happy with what we achieved today. This has been a proper way to build up confidence and it gives us an additional boost to fight for Q3 and points. We'll keep on working hard to get ready for the rest of the weekend. This is a track where the driver can make the difference so I'm determined to remain always 100 per cent concentrated and give it my best."
Daniil Kvyat, P1 - 1:20.914, 18th; P2 - 1:20.622, 12th
"I enjoyed driving here in Monaco finally and it was a good day overall, in which I was able to learn the track quite well. Those were my instructions from the team, who told me to go out and do as many laps as possible. Of course, the rain that made the track wet for some of FP2 did not help so much, but at least I have tried the circuit in both dry and wet now. The results are obviously not very representative because of the tricky conditions this afternoon. We will now look at all the data between tonight and tomorrow to get the best out for Saturday's Qualifying and Sunday's race."
Phil Charles, Toro Rosso chief race engineer
"Today went well and we were able to work through our programme on both cars, even though we had to deal with some tricky conditions in the wet in FP2. In fact, even in FP1 there was not much grip because of the cool temperatures and the fact that part of the track has been resurfaced. Both drivers did a run on the Inters, before waiting for the track to dry, when JEV did a lap on the Prime tyre to check out the conditions. With Daniil we followed a slightly different programme, waiting to use the Option tyre, which was probably the right decision with him to give him a feel for the car on the softer tyre. In fact, his whole programme today was aimed at giving him as many laps as possible on his first visit here. Overall, we are quite happy with how the day went."
Marussia
Jules Bianchi, P1 - 1:21.310, 19th; P2 - 1:21.937, 18th
"It was very pleasing to find the car performing well here after a good test in Barcelona last week. We do not have all the data we were hoping for at this stage of the weekend, but I think the baseline is strong. Clearly the weather has been a factor for everyone today but there is still room for improvement for us and I am confident that we can make some more progress on Saturday."
Max Chilton, P1 - 1:25.817, 22nd; P2 - 1:22.683, 19th
"It's been a tough start to my Monaco weekend, particularly the loss of track time in FP1 this morning. We were hoping to make up for lost time this afternoon, but the weather intervened and when we were able to get into the dry programme, of course everyone was taking advantage of the same improving conditions, so traffic was a factor. On a positive note, we seem to have carried through the good work from the test in Barcelona and the car seems to be performing well, so in many ways my weekend will start in FP3 on Saturday morning."
John Booth, Marussia team principal
"Overall, a rather frustrating day. The morning started well for Jules, with the car behaving as it had been at the Barcelona Test. This represented a positive translation of our set-up development work to suit the specific nature of the Monaco circuit. Max got caught out early on in the session and unfortunately at this track this means you end up losing the whole session. We were also running some upgraded parts on Max's car and therefore the combination of the lost track time this morning and the wet conditions in FP2, with only a very short period on the supersoft at the end of the afternoon, has left us a little short on data. When we were able to push on the drying track at the end of FP2, both drivers experienced traffic. The
More... (http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2014/5/15855.html)
Toro Rosso
Jean-Eric Vergne, P1 - 1:20.260, 15th; P2 - 1:19.351, 4th
"It was a satisfying Friday and I have a good feeling with the car. I like this track and even if I don't think I'll be P4 in qualifying, I'm still happy with what we achieved today. This has been a proper way to build up confidence and it gives us an additional boost to fight for Q3 and points. We'll keep on working hard to get ready for the rest of the weekend. This is a track where the driver can make the difference so I'm determined to remain always 100 per cent concentrated and give it my best."
Daniil Kvyat, P1 - 1:20.914, 18th; P2 - 1:20.622, 12th
"I enjoyed driving here in Monaco finally and it was a good day overall, in which I was able to learn the track quite well. Those were my instructions from the team, who told me to go out and do as many laps as possible. Of course, the rain that made the track wet for some of FP2 did not help so much, but at least I have tried the circuit in both dry and wet now. The results are obviously not very representative because of the tricky conditions this afternoon. We will now look at all the data between tonight and tomorrow to get the best out for Saturday's Qualifying and Sunday's race."
Phil Charles, Toro Rosso chief race engineer
"Today went well and we were able to work through our programme on both cars, even though we had to deal with some tricky conditions in the wet in FP2. In fact, even in FP1 there was not much grip because of the cool temperatures and the fact that part of the track has been resurfaced. Both drivers did a run on the Inters, before waiting for the track to dry, when JEV did a lap on the Prime tyre to check out the conditions. With Daniil we followed a slightly different programme, waiting to use the Option tyre, which was probably the right decision with him to give him a feel for the car on the softer tyre. In fact, his whole programme today was aimed at giving him as many laps as possible on his first visit here. Overall, we are quite happy with how the day went."
Marussia
Jules Bianchi, P1 - 1:21.310, 19th; P2 - 1:21.937, 18th
"It was very pleasing to find the car performing well here after a good test in Barcelona last week. We do not have all the data we were hoping for at this stage of the weekend, but I think the baseline is strong. Clearly the weather has been a factor for everyone today but there is still room for improvement for us and I am confident that we can make some more progress on Saturday."
Max Chilton, P1 - 1:25.817, 22nd; P2 - 1:22.683, 19th
"It's been a tough start to my Monaco weekend, particularly the loss of track time in FP1 this morning. We were hoping to make up for lost time this afternoon, but the weather intervened and when we were able to get into the dry programme, of course everyone was taking advantage of the same improving conditions, so traffic was a factor. On a positive note, we seem to have carried through the good work from the test in Barcelona and the car seems to be performing well, so in many ways my weekend will start in FP3 on Saturday morning."
John Booth, Marussia team principal
"Overall, a rather frustrating day. The morning started well for Jules, with the car behaving as it had been at the Barcelona Test. This represented a positive translation of our set-up development work to suit the specific nature of the Monaco circuit. Max got caught out early on in the session and unfortunately at this track this means you end up losing the whole session. We were also running some upgraded parts on Max's car and therefore the combination of the lost track time this morning and the wet conditions in FP2, with only a very short period on the supersoft at the end of the afternoon, has left us a little short on data. When we were able to push on the drying track at the end of FP2, both drivers experienced traffic. The
More... (http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2014/5/15855.html)