Quotes from the F1 drivers at the end of the first practice day of the Monaco Grand Prix weekend, Round 6 of the 2016 Formula 1 World Championship, in Monte Carlo.
Lewis Hamilton: "It's been a relatively good day. No real surprises - except that the track has changed slightly at Turn 15, which has made it a bit quicker through there. Although the new tyres are definitely softer than the other compounds, they still feel pretty hard around here. It's not as easy to get them in the window as we would hope. But generally it's been a really positive start. We've got everything we needed done in both sessions and our pace looks good, so hopefully that continues through the rest of the weekend."
Nico Rosberg" It's great to be back on the streets of my home town here in Monaco - and also to see all the fans so close to us as we're on track. It was a tricky start in to the weekend for us, though. The sessions were a bit messy, with quite a few Virtual Safety Car periods - but I was able to learn a lot on the longer runs we managed to do which was a positive. A big applause for all of the circuit marshals, who did a great job as always to clear the cars quickly. As expected, Red Bull look very strong here. We have some more homework to do during tonight and tomorrow to find some time - but I can't wait for Saturday and the qualifying battle. It should be very close and very exciting, which is great for the sport."
Kimi Raikkonen: “It was not an ideal day, but it is still the first day of practice. In the morning I was not very happy with the car but in the afternoon we were able to improve the behavior. There’s a lot of work to do but of course this is not the easiest place when things are not running exactly as you want. It’s the first time we use the Ultrasoft compound in the race weekend, the feeling is that it’s the best fitting tire of all of those we have here, but we still need to find a way to make them work slightly better.”
Sebastian Vettel: “It was not a “clean” day in the office today. Our session was a bit scrappy: I touched the wall, damaged the rear wing, but luckily we were able to fix it and carry on. I just didn’t get everything out of the car, couldn’t find the rhythm and didn’t do good laps on the Ultrasoft tires. If you look at the standings, we don’t belong where we scored today. But overall the car is good and has the pace. So I am not worried for Saturday. Today our focus was not towards ranking high up, we tried a couple of things and it is fair to say that some of them didn’t work. Being the first practice day, it is also difficult to see what other people did.”
Valtteri Bottas: "We did a lot of laps today. The car set-up felt better than what we have tried here before. At the same time, it was more difficult to drive, with quite a bit of oversteer, so I was a little nervous. I had a bit of a moment in FP1, but that’s part of it. It’s a tough track. The times are looking very close, so any gain we can make before qualifying will be very useful."
Felipe Massa: "It was a difficult morning, losing so much time in the session when I could have been driving. I missed a lot of laps, and we know in Monaco it is important to be on the track all the time you can. It was not a very good afternoon for us. We struggled to get good lap times . We’re missing grip and traction, so we need to work on the car to try to improve and make it more competitive for this track, especially for the race. It is a very special weekend where I always enjoy driving, seeing the fans and how special this race is for them – so I hope we can do well for them."
Daniil Kvyat: “I think it was a decent day for us in the office today. We completed many useful laps and we had a very consistent day here in Monaco. We now have plenty of things to look at tonight and tomorrow, as well as analysing everything before qualifying and the race. I think that overall we are looking quite good, there is good potential for us, and I’d say that if we do our homework well we can have a strong weekend. It was the first time that we used the Ultrasoft tyres today and they felt okay; we just need to look into the data from the practice session in order to understand this compound well and extract the most out of it."
Carlos Sainz: "I enjoyed it a lot out there today! To have a smooth Thursday in Monaco is always important in order to build-up your confidence for the rest of the weekend. The track is really fast compared to last year and the lap times are coming down nicely… It feels like we’re pushing the Formula 1 cars back to really challenging times! I was a bit surprised with the amount of degradation on the Ultrasofts, which won’t be easy to handle, but it will be the same for everyone and we will see what we can do in the race. We were able to complete our programme and had no issues throughout the day, so we can be pretty happy with our start to the Monaco Grand Prix."
Fernando Alonso: “We know this is a good opportunity for us in terms of circuit layout, so we perhaps expected to be a little more competitive in today’s sessions. On the other hand, we need to stay calm – it’s still only Thursday and there’s a lot of potential in the car to be found by Saturday. The balance was not right today: I had quite a bit of understeer so there’s definitely more lap-time to come from us. We’ll see the truth on Saturday, and I’m sure we’ll deliver when it matters.”
Jenson Button: “The morning session was tough – we really struggled for grip – but started getting there in the afternoon. The day was made tougher for my side of garage by the drain cover, which came loose and broke through my front wing, front suspension, brake duct and floor. The mechanics did a great job to get the car ready for FP2, but we’ve still got a long way to go until we’re happy with our competitiveness. A racetrack is a controlled environment, and we take enough risks as racing drivers. Normally, the safety standards here are very good, but that incident is something we don’t want to see again., It was lucky that the drain cover stayed quite low on the ground. There’s still a big gap to the cars at the front, but we’ll do our best in qualifying and I hope we’ll be more competitive.”
Nico Hülkenberg: “It was a very promising start to our weekend, on a day in which our priority was to get in all of our planned running. Driving around this track is always a lot of fun as it’s a circuit that tests you to the limit. Even the newly-resurfaced areas have pretty good grip, so it gives you confidence as you drive. We ticked all the boxes in our plan and we were able to run on Ultra Soft tyres in the afternoon to learn about them. The feeling I got from the car is positive: there are a few tweaks we can make to get a bit more grip here and there, but the potential for a good weekend is there. It’s up to us to work well now and turn this promising start into a good result.”
Sergio Perez: “Driving in Monaco is always a big challenge, even during the practice sessions, because you have to find your rhythm quickly and build up speed with each lap. It has been a good day with no issues and we’ve collected the information we need on all three tyre compounds. I’m not completely happy with the car yet so I think there’s more to come. That’s what we need to look at tonight and tomorrow to make sure I feel totally confident with the car, which is especially important here.”
Kevin Magnussen: “It wasn’t the best day for us. We thought we’d made a step forward at the Barcelona test but on this track we didn’t have the car we expected. The latest spec engine certainly delivered and it’s a decent improvement, but we still have work to do on the set-up and, of course, finding more downforce. It was unfortunate to end the second session early. I just understeered into the wall; I turned in and I just had no grip. The data showed I wasn’t going any faster than the lap before so it’s frustrating. Thankfully the only damage was to the front wing which makes it easy for my crew as that’s just one bolt-on part.”
Jolyon Palmer: “We discovered a lot about the direction we want to go with the car and I think we can move forward quite well. The day didn’t start out all that pleasantly; the track was slippery and I made a mistake in Tabac; I just had a small bit of oversteer while pushing the limit and I found the wall. But we were trying something that we were doing in testing last week and, even if we weren’t quick, we took a great deal from it which is good. Let’s see what happens on Saturday!”
Romain Grosjean: “It was Monaco. It was tricky. This morning went quite smoothly. We made some setup changes for the afternoon, but I think we’ve got room for some big improvements. The first run this afternoon, I lost the car under braking into the chicane. The guys did an amazing job to put the car back together. We were lucky that there wasn’t too much damage. Eventually, we did manage to finish most of our program, which is good. We now have a full day tomorrow to work on the data. It’s always tricky to come to Monaco for the first time as a team, but I’m sure we can find some more performance.”
Esteban Gutierrez: “It was a very productive day, and fantastic to be back in Monaco as it’s a track I really enjoy. I think it was important for me at the start to get my confidence from the first session. I didn’t race last year, so it was great to try and get in as many laps as possible. The team did a great job to recover this morning from a small issue we had in FP1, so it was pretty good we managed to get out in FP2. Overall, I think we’ll be working on fine tuning a few details and then we’ll be ready for qualifying.”
Pascal Wehrlein: “In FP1 we didn’t get quite as much running as we’d hoped due to a combination of factors, including the virtual safety car interruptions and finally the red flag which ended the session early. FP2 was a lot better and we managed to get through a lot of work, which was quite satisfying, but there is still a lot to do in order to be prepared for the rest of the weekend. Today was the first time I have ever driven around this incredible track and also the first time we have run the Ultrasoft tyres, so a lot going on but all in all not a bad start to the weekend and now I can’t wait until Saturday to get back out there again.”
Rio Haryanto: “Today was going pretty well until my crash at St. Devote. I’d had a good morning, we’d been working our way through the run plan and I was looking forward to trying out the Ultrasoft tyre. Unfortunately I braked a little too late and hard and lost the car on the exit of the tunnel and into the chicane. Thankfully the impact with the Armco was not so bad and the car isn’t too badly damaged. Plus, we have the extra day to prepare the car, which eases the pressure on the guys a little. However, it’s unfortunate and it’s a shame that I wasn’t able to complete the programme as preparation is key here. Better luck in FP3 I hope.”
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