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1 – Sebastian VETTEL
(Ferrari)
2 – Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN (Ferrari)
3 – Daniel RICCIARDO (Red Bull Racing)
PODIUM INTERVIEWS
(Conducted by Pedro de la Rosa)
PODIUM INTERVIEWS
(Conducted by Nico Rosberg)
Q: Sebastian, great weekend, first Ferrari win in 16 years, how does it
feel?
Sebastian VETTEL: Unbelievable. I think it was a very intense race. I was
hoping at the start to have a bit of a better launch but Kimi had a good
start. I had nowhere to go, so I had to be patient. Then, there was a phase
in the first stint that was really tricky, The tyres started to slide, I
think you remember how that feels, it was quite uncomfortable. I think
Valtteri and the pack was catching up a bit; we were facing some traffic.
But then I had a… I don’t know, a second attempt, a second set of tyres. I
had a couple of laps where the car was really, really good. I pushed,
everything I had, because I knew if there is a chance to win then that’s it.
So I was able to use that window and came out ahead, so at that point I
could control the race. After the restart it was really tricky with the cold
tyres. I think every one of us was really struggling, Daniel said he brushed
the wall in Turn 1 first lap. So it was really difficult but after a couple
of laps I was able again to control the gap to behind, so fantastic job, the
team has done really well, so great thanks to them and a fantastic weekend
for Ferrari.
Q: Was that planned, that when Kimi comes in, you stay out a bit longer?
SV: No, not really. I don’t think there… we couldn’t plan much. The plan was
to try and pull away, which we did. Then, Valtteri had really good pace. I
think we were struggling a little bit, both, with our rears and at that
point the window opened. So as soon as Valtteri pitted, Kimi responded. For
me, I think I still had a bit of a gap, nothing to lose in P2, so I tried to
push as hard as possible and within two laps I was surprised myself to be
able to pull a gap to be able to come out in front.
Q: Congrats. Kimi, I think it’s fair to say the whole F1 community would
have been very happy as well to see you get that win today. What are your
thoughts? You lost it during the pit stops of course, what are you thoughts
on that?
Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN: It’s hard to say really. Obviously it’s still second place,
but it doesn’t feel awful good but this is how it goes sometimes and we go
for the next race and try to do better but it’s one of those days that you
wish you get a bit more.
Q: I know how it feels. It is not a good feeling. But great result anyways.
Daniel, a great recovery after a problem in qualifying. You’re pleased with
that?
Daniel RICCIARDO: Yeah, happier today, for sure. Just yesterday I felt that
we had so much more to offer and it was just a shame not to be able to
really show our potential around here. I got my chance today when Max and
Bottas pitted. I had the track to myself for a few laps and just managed to
get some good times, good times in those tyres. I did some consistent laps
and got in the overcut, so I was happy with that.
Q: Turn 1 after the Safety Car looked like a bit of a hit, was it scary in
the car?
DR: Yeah! I didn’t enjoy that. I wasn’t sure if I damaged anything and then
I saw Bottas trying to get inside me. These tyres, man, when you get a
Safety Car they’re like driving on ice. It was hard. That was not a fun
moment, but happy to hold it.
Q: Sebastian, back to you, the Ferrari car is looking good at the moment, do
you think you are going to be able to keep it up for Canada?
SV: We hope so. Canada is a completely different track but to be honest, for
now I am just going to enjoy the win here. You know yourself, it’s very,
very special to win here. I think we’ll have a fun night and then we have
enough time to prepare for Canada.
Q: Where’s the party?
SV: I don’t know, you tell me! You won more times than me here!
PRESS CONFERENCE
Q: Sebastian, there are wins and there are big wins. First Ferrari Monaco
victory for 16 years, as Nico was saying, first Ferrari one-two since 2010
and more importantly perhaps a 25-point lead over Lewis Hamilton in the
drivers’ championship, so what does today mean to you?
SV: If you want the honest answer, I think it’s most important that we had a
very, very good day, a win. A supreme day for Ferrari; it’s been a long
time. Yeah, I think it means an awful lot to the team. I will not find the
right words but for me it was a pretty special race. At some point I was
thinking, “there must be a Safety Car” and then it came at the end when I
didn’t really need it but fine. I dreamt all night about how to get ahead of
the start because I knew that would probably be the only chance I would get.
It didn’t work. Kimi had a good start, mine was OK, so I couldn’t really go
anywhere. Then, I think in the first stint I was just trying to pace myself,
trying to stay within range. At some point I was really uncomfortable with
the rear tyres, they were sliding quite a bit. I think when the gap opened
again that’s when Kimi pitted. I knew that if I have any chance that might
be it until I get the call because Valtteri was on fresh tyres so it’s
likely that he will go quicker, so I just tried to push as hard as I can and
wait for the call to box. When it came and then when I came out ahead of
Kimi even, I was surprised myself. But for sure I take it. It’s a great win.
Those couple of laps were really crucial, I was pushing flat out. I had
better laps than in quali today in the race. I was very happy with how the
race went. The car was great. So to sum it up, it’s just been fantastic, a
fantastic weekend for the team and a great reward. This team is working very
hard. Obviously this year is very different to last year but the people are
the same, the spirit is the same, so it’s important that we keep pushing,
improving the car. We had again a couple of new bits for this race. Yeah,
the next race will be completely different but I don’t really care now, just
looking forward to tonight.
Q: Kimi, coming to you, obviously you lost the race in the pit stops. The
normal wisdom in Monaco is that when you’re leading you’re not the first one
to make a move. But just before you made your stop we heard a radio message
exchange with your engineer in which you were asking about pitting. So to be
clear, were you asking for the stop or did they call it?
KR: No, I was called in and that’s about it.
Q: How do you feel about the first one to move?
KR: I don’t know, obviously it didn’t work out very well for me. But apart
from that, I have no idea. I mean… that’s about as much as I can say about
it right now. I got the bad end of the story today. I mean it’s still second
place but obviously it doesn’t count a lot in my books at least.
Q: Thanks for that. Daniel, the story today was that the overcut was more
effective: Hamilton gained six places, Sebastian got the win because of it,
and you picked up two place spectacularly through that pit stop sequence.
Extremely fast once you got some clean air. Tell us about your approach
today?
DR: Yeah I’m really pleased to be up here. You don’t often start fifth and
get a podium here. It’s hard to make any positions. I was just frustrated
yesterday because I knew we had so much more to offer here, so much more to
give than what we showed. I felt like I didn’t really also get to show my
pace around here. It was how the pit stops worked, the two cars pitting
before me and that allowing me to show a bit more my pace. That was perfect
and we got into a realty good rhythm, I think we were doing 16 dead, 16 dead
and at the time I think that pace was really strong and I was able to do a
good overcut. It was a good combination of obviously the lap times coming
from me and the team leaving me out there and allowing me to run in clean
air. That was fun. That definitely made my race. The Safety Car nearly
ruined my race. At the restart I hit the wall in Turn 1. I hit it pretty
hard, so I thought I had damage. I assumed I would have damage. And then I
saw Valtteri. You don’t see much in these mirrors. I know Jenson has talked
about it. Obviously he hasn't been in the cars this year, but he has been
vocal about it. You certainly see it here and I knew Valtteri was kind of
there, in my blind spot but I just managed to hold on at the restart and
then I was quite happy to see the chequered because the tyres after restarts
are so tricky to get going.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Viktor Bognar – Magyarszo) Kimi, do you think it would have been
possible to cover Sebastian if you are stopping later?
KR: I don’t know. Obviously, this is what we got today. The end results. And
obviously for the team it’s a great result. Who knows? This is really the
end, we can say ‘if’ as much as we want but it doesn’t change anything.
Q: (Andrew Benson – BBC Sport) Kimi, when you pitted you came out behind
some traffic and Bottas was also behind Sainz at the time. Have you had an
explanation as to why they pitted you at that point?
KR: I don’t know. Obviously, I have just finished the race. I have no idea.
Obviously they have reasons for whatever we did do. It doesn’t matter here
or any other race. It’s not up to me to answer that.
Q: (Ben Anderson – Autosport) Kimi, in the first stint, you seemed to have
really strong pace in the early part and then from about lap 20 your pace
dropped off quite substantially. Was there an explanation for that? Were you
struggling with something in the car?
KR: Not really. I think the worst place was when we had lapped cars and got
stuck behind them on quite a few laps but apart from that the car was
behaving well. Not really having any issues. I think we had to take it a
little bit easier here and there but nothing to complain really. The most
lap time we lost behind the lapped traffic but that’s about it.
Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action / Speed Sport) Daniel, yesterday you told us
maybe you’d go for the overcut but was that a decision on the fly by the
team – and how did the team decide whether to pit you first or Max first?
DR: I’m not sure what position Max was in with the tyres at the time – I
don’t know if he wanted to make the pitstop and try to undercut Valtteri. I
assume that was probably the thinking behind it. Obviously I was at the tail
of that pack and we had pretty good communication with my engineer. We were
going back and forth and I think he had a pretty good idea of what my pace
was and what I could do. Yeah, then once we got clear air, I think probably
a couple of laps before that I closed in a bit on Max who I think was
closing in on Valtteri, so we seemed to bunch-up. And it looked like they
were struggling more, probably, with the tyres at that time, from what I
could see, so yeah, I was happy certainly to stay out there. Then it was
pretty evident that I could keep going quicker and quicker. So, it was nice
to push. Especially… if you don’t start on pole here you’re normally in
traffic for a lot of the race and you can’t really get a time to feel the
car on the limit on Sunday – but it was good to get that block of laps in.
Even though the tyres were sliding around a bit with the rear, it was still
quite fun in that session of the race.
Q: (Paul Johnson – Australian Associated Press) Daniel, obviously really
encouraging performance with the pace you had today throughout the middle
sector of the track. How encouraged are you moving forwards? Also, can you
take us through exactly what happened coming out of the Safety Car into Turn
One?
DR: Yeah. Today I felt like, particularly that point of the race where we
had clear track and were able to show our speed, I felt that was more
representative of what we could of probably done yesterday. It was nice to
at least show something this weekend and now at least get a podium for it.
After the Safety Car… I knew getting behind the Safety Car, I could see Kimi
in front of me trying to warm the tyres – well, keep them warm. I was trying
to do the same: doing burnouts and trying to scrub the front tyres and get
them going. They just turned to concrete blocks. They’re so slippery. So, I
think we were all dreading the restart, to be honest. At one point you see
it as an opportunity and I saw it as a potential opportunity to maybe jump
Kimi but as the same time it’s… you see it as a potential risk. Coming into
Turn One I didn’t feel like I came in hot at all – but as soon as I turned
it, I just kept going straight and the wall got closer until I hit it. I
think I hit it flush, which meant I avoided damage. Yeah, not fun.
Q: (Mike Doodson – Honorary) A bit more about the same thing. There were
several incidents at Turn One you may not have known about – several people,
a couple of other people crashed there. The track was breaking up – did that
contribute to your accident – or your smack of the wall?
DR: If I can use it as an excuse, sure! No, certainly not. It was in my
control. The excuse I guess is just cold tyres. We can see the temperatures
on our dash, so we’re aware when they’re cold. We can feel them, we don’t
always need to see the numbers but I could see they were very cold. They
just lose temperature really quick. We’re all aware of that but we’ll see.
Maybe in years to come we can have a super, super, supersoft tyre for
Monaco. I think will that be not only more fun in quali but avoid scary
moments like that in the race. I guess it keeps it exciting for everyone at
home.
Q: (Luigi Perna – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Question for Seb. Seb, you looked
very emotional on the podium. What were you thinking about in those moments?
And what does it mean to have 25 points ahead of Lewis Hamilton at this
point in the season?
SV: It’s a long way so I’m not really bothered about that. It was more the
fact to stand up there and see the team. I think obviously, it’s a small
part that we have here at the track but thinking of everyone else back in
Maranello in the factory. We got a lot of hard times last year and this year
everything seems to be upside down – but the team is the same, the people
are the same so it’s really clear to them. I guess in these small moments
you just realise that it’s a special group of people. If things go well,
we’ll work hand in hand, we must make sure we keep the momentum up in the
next couple of races – but I think we’re just having a great time.
Obviously, we wanted today to have the one-two and we got it. So for the
team obviously it means a lot. It’s been a long time – you know the numbers
better than I do – since Ferrari won here and then to get a one-two is just
fantastic. I think you can see when the guys are singing the Italian anthem.
I think it’s impossible not to get goosebumps and feel very special standing
up there representing them. For me, I think that’s what makes racing so
special. I love driving, I loved driving today, I loved a couple of laps
that I had where I could really, really push to the limit and I was so close
to touch the wall, a couple of times I thought, ‘OK, I’ll lose the car’ and
I just managed to get it back, so that’s obviously great fun. Big adrenaline
around here because you don’t have any room for error – but then to have the
rewards, standing on the podium, just send a message to base, to the
factory, is what it’s made for.
Q: (Beniamino Casadei Lucchi – Il Giornale) Question for Seb. It’s a
fantastic victory. But now, if you were Kimi, what do you think?
SV: Well, obviously I… we were right behind each other. In that case I think
it’s normal that the lead car gets the priority because you go normally
faster on the new set of tyres, and I when I got the lap times from
Valtteri, he was doing 16.1, I think, and Daniel was a little bit faster
with the old tyres with 16.0. I was, at that point, at 16.4, so I was a
little bit slower, so I was assuming Kimi must do something like Valtteri.
So I just… I knew that the team would call me as soon as we were really
tight to Valtteri. We had a little bit of a cushion. I was just going
flat-out, trying to go as fast as I can because for me it means that I’m
staying ahead of Valtteri, first of all, and close to Kimi. I was surprised
myself when I came out ahead. So, yeah, I think the warm-up on the supersoft
was fine. Arguably you can say it worked for Daniel and for myself today, it
worked well to stay out longer but I think if you were looking at it before
the race then you couldn’t predict. We are racing, we get along well, I can
understand that Kimi’s not entirely happy today. He drove well in the first
stint and then obviously you get the message to go in. You do the pitstop
and then you push. Obviously it’s a bad surprise when somebody comes out
ahead. For me, I take it, there’s no reason to lie, obviously I’m very happy
but I can understand obviously that he’s upset.
Q: (Daniele Sparisci – Corriere della Sera) Seb, how do you feel to be the
first Ferrari driver to win here after Michael Schumacher and compared to
the other victories with Ferrari, does Monaco have something special?
SV: Well, I think Monaco is always something special, it’s just the nature
of the weekend: a lot of attention, a lot of people which is great, a lot of
support. Definitely I felt that with the beginning of the season that we
had, Ferrari fans and Ferrari flags are increasing so that’s nice. A lot of
people screaming, from outside, Forza Ferrari. A lot of Italian lines which
in the recent years maybe I didn’t get so much so that was great to see.
It’s obviously a great day for the team. I’m just... I’m pretty exhausted
now, to be honest, so I’m very happy and it’s great to get the points, it’s
great to get the win so it’s been a fantastic day for all of us. To be the
first one after Michael for Ferrari – I don’t know, I wasn’t aware (of
that). I think the most important thing is that we won today. I’m sure there
were occasions more recently where Ferrari could have won but the most
important is what happens today.
Q: (Andrew Benson – BBC Sport) Seb, there’s nothing wrong with team orders,
they’re not illegal and you are the leading driver in the championship and
it wasn’t clear before the race whether the overcut or the undercut would be
the best strategy. So was there a plan to give you a chance to get ahead of
Kimi at some point?
SV: Not really. We spoke about the race before. It was clear that, as I
said, I think they had the same plan to be honest so the lead car normally
gets priority so if I had a choice at that point, sitting behind Kimi, if I
was going in the pits first, that’s maybe what you like to do because you
are sooner on the fresher tyres so I think it’s probably one of the rare
occasions where the overcut turned out to be positive, so I’m really glad I
made that work. From the team point of view, there was no plan of any team
orders or anything and as I said, I can understand that obviously Kimi’s not
happy, I would feel exactly the same, one hundred per cent the same, but as
I said myself, I was surprised that the overcut... I don’t think Daniel had
priority over Max going into the race. I don’t know where they are in terms
of points and so on so I don’t think they look into that but I think the
rule of thumb... the rule is pretty clear when you qualify ahead and you are
ahead in the first stint, you get priority on the first stop and that’s what
happened. As it turned out, obviously today it worked in my favour which, as
I said, I will take it but we are a team at the end of the day and I can see
that Kimi’s not happy.
Q: (Peter Farkas – Auto Motor) To Kimi and Sebastian, obviously now it seems
that Mercedes is sometimes very quick but at other tracks they have serious
problems. Of course it’s early in the championship but do you think this
consistency of the Ferrari car can really win you the championship this
year?
SV: I don’t know.
KR: It’s quite an early part of the year so we’ll see. It’s very hard to
know what happens in the future but we will keep trying and try to make the
best out of every weekend and just do what we can do. We cannot control what
the others will do but no, I’m sure everybody will have some difficult
weekends during the year. We will try to minimise those. When you have a
hard time, try to make the best out of it.
Q: (Silvia Arias – Parabrisas) Kimi, talking about lapping cars, do you
think the blue flag for Button came out a little bit too... not at the right
moment? The blue flag which signals to let you past immediately?
KR: I don’t know. There are obviously rules and I’m pretty sure I was – I
don’t know if it was one second or one and a half seconds but I was pretty
close in the hairpin and I was told that I have to be longer inside their
time, so it was not enough to be once, it was something that I’d never hard
before but anyhow that’s what happened and it cost a bit but that’s how it
is.
Q: (Stuart Codling - F1 Racing) Kimi, given that your team will have known
that when you pitted you would emerge in the vicinity of traffic, with those
two slower cars ahead, do you feel that you could have gone quicker in those
laps, before your pit stop, had you known this?
KR: I don’t know. We tried to figure out something that is impossible to
know right now, at least from my side. No, obviously it wasn’t ideal to end
up behind a lapped car and obviously it is something that definitely doesn’t
help but the end result is what it is but we have to see. We just finished
the race and I only know what happened and that’s it. Obviously I got second
place but yeah, for the team good but not for myself, not so great.
Q: (Marco Giachi – Paddock) Kimi, as a driver, could you reject the
instructions? From a technical point of view, did you have enough
information to decide by yourself or are you 100 percent in the hands of the
engineers?
KR: Obviously I can stop the car if I want! I’m driving it. We have a team,
we work as a team and if you start... if you don’t believe what you’ve been
told or how we work then it will get very complicated sometimes because we
always try to work as best as we can and today, as a team, we won it
one-two, that happened, but as for myself it could have been better, but
like I said, we just finished the race and who knows? We will talk about it
and I guess there are some reasons for everything that happens in life but
we will see. As a driver, I can obviously do what I want but that’s not how
we work as a team. Simple as that.
Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) Sebastian, did you expect that Kimi
would stop on lap 33 before the first part of the race and then when you
knew that, did you think this is my chance to overtake him? And were you
informed of Lewis’s position during the race?
SV: Well, I was told at some point where Lewis was but I didn’t really care
so... You have to do your own race around here. Daniel clipped the wall at
the restart, I brushed the wall on the laps to the grid so it’s really
close. You try to go as close as possible to the walls and you must not
allow yourself to drift away... your thoughts to drift away for even one
corner so you need to stay at it. Small mistakes, like Ericsson had
yesterday in qualifying, they have a big consequence and this can happen to
all of us. We all try to chase the limits, we all try to go close. I wasn’t
too keen to know what others were doing. Obviously we have a plan before the
race. I didn’t look down and count and say OK, we are getting to the window
but when I saw that Valtteri pitted, I saw it also on the screen, and then I
was told that Bottas is in the pits at the same time, then I knew that he
would try to undercut, otherwise what was the point for him to pit. If he
believes that it’s faster then he will stay out and try to put us under
pressure once we pit, so he was obviously waiting for his chance, went for
it and then I was told in the same lap that Kimi’s obviously getting the pit
stop and I know that I can’t pit at the same time, we were too close behind
each other to come in on the same lap, so I knew that at least I get one
lap, maybe I get two, I don’t know, depending on the gap to Bottas which
increased again to three, four seconds before the stop. At that point I was
just trying to go flat out, that was my race, obviously it made my race
today which, looking at the final result, it’s easy to say but at that point
it was impossible to predict. When I heard the lap times of Bottas, the
first lap, I think 16.1s, I was really... OK, I need to stretch myself. As I
said, I was surprised that I could take so much pace from the car and I was
going even below the 16s. At the same time, Daniel was lapping in 16.0s so
there seemed to be a second tyre somehow, because the laps before I was
struggling as much as Kimi was with the rears so yeah, I think there were a
couple of laps where we weren’t comfortable at all, Valtteri was closing the
gap, that was not the plan.
Q: (Ben Anderson – Autosport) Kimi, when you look back at a race, do you
feel that you were just unlucky with traffic and the way things fell or do
you think Ferrari’s strategy just cost you the victory?
KR: I don’t know. Like I said, I haven’t seen... I only know what happened
when I was in the car but I haven’t seen the bigger picture. I only know
that we came second, Seb won, the team got one-two, obviously great for the
team, but the rest... Until we have our meeting then obviously you can see
all the graphs, I don’t know. |
