|
1. Jenson BUTTON (Brawn GP),
1m14.902s
2. Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN (Ferrari), 1m14.927s
3. Rubens BARRICHELLO (Brawn GP), 1m15.077s
Q: Jenson, this is the big one, this is Monaco. To some extent your home
grand prix and one of the most demanding grand prix circuits on the
calendar. What does this pole mean to you?
Jenson BUTTON: Yeah, I mean they all mean a lot. I have got to stop saying
that, but they do and today was a really tight fight as well. All through
the weekend I have been fighting with Rubens or Rubens has definitely had
the upper hand. The McLarens have been up there, the Ferraris have been up
there, the Red Bulls, the Williams. It has been a fun weekend I think for
everyone involved and hopefully the viewers. And qualifying was no
different. It was manic as it always is in Monaco I suppose but great to
come away with pole. I was right on the edge on that lap and to snatch pole
I am chuffed to bits.
Q: It looks from the outside to be a well paced weekend as the track picked
up grip on Thursday where you were a little bit in the background. But as
the track got faster today in Q1 and Q2 and building up to that perfect lap
in Q3. Was it perfect?
JB: Well, it might look like it from the outside but l was a long way off in
P1 on Thursday and really didn’t know where we were. I had very low grip but
worked with the balance a lot and all the way through the weekend we just
improved it little by little bit and that is the great thing with this car.
If I was driving last year’s car and I started Thursday as we were then I
would have massively struggled. But this car listens to changes. It is great
to be on pole especially around a circuit like this. Obviously with the
history that is involved with Monaco but also because this is a tough
circuit. Mentally it is very tough, so it is nice to be on pole.
Q: Kimi, the first front row start of the season. It looked like you had the
pace all qualifying and for a while there you were on pole and then right at
the end it was Jenson that got it.
Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN: I mean the car hasn’t been too bad here. Since the first
practice it has always been getting better once the circuit has been picking
up the grip and in qualifying the car was good. In the first qualifying it
was a bit difficult and I made some mistakes and I didn’t get a very good
lap. The second qualifying was good and then in the last one it was good. I
had one more lap and I went off in the first corner, so I don’t know if it
would have made any difference but it was a good result for us especially in
this kind of place. The car has been behaving pretty well, so it is nice to
be back on the front and hopefully we can fight for victory tomorrow.
Q: Rubens, on your birthday. You have been very quick all weekend and no
doubt you were eyeing the pole here.
Rubens BARRICHELLO: Well, qualifying went very well. I had good pace all
through. Every day, actually, the car has been good. Honestly I thought I
had the upper hand on Jenson today. It was going very well and my lap on the
end was very good. That’s why I congratulated him as he must have had a
fantastic lap as my lap was really good and I am happy with it. There wasn’t
anything more I could have done. Yeah, you can push a little bit here and
there but I have got to say I am really happy with all the work and I am
sorry that on my birthday I didn’t get pole position. I hope to get two
better tomorrow.
Q: Jenson, try to describe for us the treadmill you are on right now. It
looks unstoppable from the outside. Do you allow yourself to enjoy moments
like this or do you just focus on the race tomorrow?
JB: Of course you enjoy the moment but it is strange as it is a lot more
stressful than you think. It might sound silly but it is and you want to
stay in this position obviously and anything less is a downfall I suppose.
This part of the season it is really important for me to be at the front and
to pick up the points and tomorrow is going to be a tough race and Rubens
has been very strong this weekend and Kimi also, so it is not going to be
easy. I know it is difficult to overtake here but for sure it is not going
to be easy. But the way things are going this season it is a great feeling
and hopefully it will continue. I have got to thank all the guys at Brackley
who have done a fantastic job and Mercedes Benz, so yeah, thanks again and
hopefully we can have a good day tomorrow.
PRESS CONFERENCE
Q: Jenson, how exciting was that lap? Tell us about it.
JB: Yeah, it was pretty much on the edge. I thought I was going to be in the
harbour at one point. It was a good lap and I really did get everything out
of the car. It is the best lap I have done this weekend. On Thursday I
struggled a little bit to get to grips with the car and the circuit. But we
have done a lot of work since then and the car came to me in qualifying. We
had a few problems that we needed to sort out and we did through the
session. The car was great in Q3 and it was definitely one of the best laps
I’ve ever done for sure.
Q: You say you have made a lot of changes since Thursday as you were not
happy with the car. How much did you change it from this morning to this
afternoon?
JB: We changed a few things. I was really struggling just having no front
end on the car. High speed corners and a little bit low speed apexes, so we
changed a few things and it has improved the car dramatically especially on
the prime tyre. I couldn’t get the prime tyre to work all weekend. I was a
second off Rubens on the prime tyre, so we got it to work and the option was
the same, so I’m so happy to be on pole here. It is a fantastic feeling
because it was really on the edge the whole lap, every single corner, so it
was a fantastic, enjoyable lap for me for sure.
Q: It does seem to be one of the attributes of the car that it does react to
changes?
JB: Yeah, that is one of the things about the cars for the last couple of
years. If we started with a bad car here then we would race with a bad car.
With this car you can change the set-up and it listens to the changes which
is fantastic, obviously, good or bad. And they are always going to be good.
But yeah, it is so important the racing car and I really feel at home in
this car. Even when things are bad you know you can make them better, so I
am very happy. Very happy for myself and for the whole team and Rubens has
been so bloody quick all weekend which is good for me. Having a team-mate
who is not pushing you but is in front of you for the whole weekend does
spur you on.
Q: You talked in Spain about changing your driving style here. How much have
you done that?
JB: I tried that in the first session and it didn’t really work. I sort of
scraped a few barriers with the rear of the car and it looked pretty cool
but the lap time wasn’t there. I found a reasonably good balance. We have
just got to make sure that we look after the tyres in the race as I am
damaging the rears a little bit. But hopefully it will be a different
situation in the race and I think it will be. I am pretty happy with where
we are.
Q: You have had two points’ scores here in eight races, so it hasn’t been a
lucky circuit for you.
JB: It hasn’t but 2004 was pretty good. I finished second. In the melee of
safety cars I think we probably lost that race. But I enjoy driving around
here. With a bad car it is very tough but when you get a good car and you
get the set up right it is such a buzz. It is such an adrenalin rush to get
a lap out of a car around here as the whole time you are on the edge. There
were a few corners when I thought I was going to be in the wall. I don’t
know if it was the same for these two but it was for me. But I got the lap
done, so I am very happy.
Q: Kimi, your third time starting from second on the grid. You said on
Thursday that things could be better. What sort of improvements have you
made to the car?
KR: I mean the car is basically the same as the last race, so in that way we
haven’t changed it. There are still a few issues that are hurting all the
time but we cannot change it right now. It is mainly for me but that is how
it is. I mean it has been pretty good. On Thursday it was okay but all the
time when the circuit seems to pick up grip we seem to improve the handling,
so that seems to be a benefit for us. I am happy we are second after the
start of the season but here it is not very good, so I am pretty
disappointed not to be at the front as that gives you a massive edge in the
race and that is more or less the only way to win the race, so we will see
what we can do tomorrow and try to go for a win.
Q: How much satisfaction does this give you after the season you have had so
far?
KR: Not much. I would rather have been in the front. It is nice to be second
but still we lost the first place for a small margin but that’s what we are
aiming for and once we get there I will be happy. But especially in this
race. In any other race it maybe doesn’t make much difference but here the
difference is much bigger between first and second. But it is going to be a
long race, so we will see what we can do.
Q: I think the team said that the car was better on the soft tyres rather
than the super softs?
KR: No, I did my fastest lap on the softer ones. Both of them work very well
but they seem to be best.
Q: Rubens, not quite the birthday present you were hoping for but you still
can’t be unhappy with it.
RB: No, quite honestly I’ve had a great Saturday. Did everything I had to do
in the morning, setting the car up and everything, so I was extremely happy.
My fastest lap throughout the weekend is on a used set of tyres, which is
quite amazing, to be honest with you, and we need to make an exercise to see
why the new tyres are not working so much for me. As you could see, I did a
1m14.8s and with fuel in the car I did a 1m15.0s, so I’ve got to be
extremely happy with that. I honestly, in front of him (Jenson Button), I
can say I thought I had the upper hand because I had a good lap. I had
everything and he did a 15.7s when I did a 15.4s, so I wasn’t expecting… I
was expecting someone to be around me and with the time that Kimi set, I was
of course expecting something good, but I never thought Jenson could do a
14.9s. It is his fastest lap of the weekend, on the fuel, so it’s a pretty
amazing lap. So as soon as I got out of the car I asked him how he did it
because I’ve done (those laps) the whole weekend but not when it mattered. I
am extremely happy. I did all I could do for the whole weekend and hopeful
for tomorrow. My car is running well on a used set and we have plenty of
laps on used sets tomorrow.
Q: This is your best grid position in 17 qualifying sessions around here;
what are your thoughts on the circuit?
RB: I tell you, I love this place in qualifying and today my thought was
‘don’t leave anything, don’t leave even a hair (breadth) for you to think
oh, I should have done better.’ I tell you, round the swimming pool I almost
went flat through there. It was fantastic, I’m really proud of what I’ve
achieved today. Unfortunately, it’s still a tenth away from pole but I’ve
got to be happy. Like I said, I’ve left nothing out of my car.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Livio Oricchio – O Estado de Sao Paulo) Jenson, in Q2 you did 1m15.016s
and in Q3 you did 1m14.902s. Can you explain this please?
JB: No, not really. I think I just went quicker, I suppose. Q3 is the one
that matters. In Q2 I did struggle with a bit of understeer. I was behind
another car on my lap which cost me some time. I was a little bit scared
that I wasn’t going to make it through Q2 but I did and Q3 is the important
one. For sure, I pushed harder in Q3 than I did in Q2. The fuel effect
wasn’t anywhere near like I thought it was going to be. I was able to brake
in similar places with higher fuel as I was with lower fuel, so I don’t
quite understand that. Yeah, I just pushed that little bit harder. If I was
95 percent in Q2, I was 100 percent in Q3. I couldn’t have got anything else
out of it. I have been nowhere near Rubens through the swimming pool but I
drove as fast as I could through there and yeah, I thought I was going to
end up in Flavio’s (Briatore) boat which he would not have been very happy
with. It was a good lap, I was very happy with it.
Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Kimi, is KERS your weapon against Jenson
at the start?
KR: Here it can maybe help a little bit but it’s such a short straight to
the first corner, it’s very tight, it’s very difficult, you need to really
have a jump. Much better to be able to beat the first guy but we will try,
we will try what we can and see what happens.
Q: (Tom Cary – The Daily Telegraph) Jenson, you made a big deal about being
aggressive over the past few races. You touched on it just before saying you
found a balance in the car. Are you going to have to return to your smooth
driving action, now that you’ve got pole? Do you just want to stay out ahead
of everyone or are you going to have to be right on the edge the whole way
through?
JB: You’ve got to be on the edge but you’ve got to think in a different way
than you do in qualifying because in a way you’ve to look after the tyres,
you have to also be on the edge, so it’s a difficult one. But you can’t be
touching any barriers in the race because that would screw your race. You
have to drive a little bit differently than in qualifying and I will drive
as quickly as I can, obviously within the limits. You’ve got to respect the
barriers. I hit one on Thursday, I only just tapped it, but it bent
something on the car, a track rod. Yeah, I will be staying away from them,
for sure.
Q: (Malcolm Folley – The Mail on Sunday) Jenson, we talk about this place
being the most important race on the calendar to get the pole. You’ve got it
here today, and now with the race strategy the race is in your hands. Can
you tell us how you go to bed tonight considering that you wait all your
career to get pole at Monaco and going into the race tomorrow, people at
home are going to be so excited about what’s going to happen?
JB: Well, honestly, I didn’t… this might be a negative attitude but I
honestly didn’t think I was going to outqualify Rubens today but I have, so
I’m very, very happy and I’ll go to bed happy but also already thinking
about tomorrow. This circuit is very unusual, it’s different to any other
circuit. People will say if you’re quick round Monaco you’re a master and
what have you but I don’t think that’s the case. I think it’s just different
to other circuits, it takes a little bit of a different driving style and
that’s it really. Some drivers might be very quick for the rest of the
season and they’re not so quick around here. It’s just the way it is. But
I’m very happy that I’ve worked closely with the team and Rubens over this
weekend and I’ve been able to get the best out of the car and put it on
pole. I’m not thinking about tomorrow yet. That will be when I get back to
the team. It’s not over yet; starting on pole is obviously an advantage,
that’s why we get so happy about the best lap in qualifying but it’s a long
race and anything can happen, as they always say. We don’t know what fuel
other people are on. I don’t know what fuel Kimi’s on, we’ll find out soon,
but they might be much longer than us which would obviously make them more
competitive than us. We have to wait and see and as you might have seen in
practice, there’s been a lot of graining on these tyres, especially the
rears, so that’s going to come into play. The Ferrari seems good on the
harder of the two tyres, maybe quicker than what I’ve been, so it’s going to
be an exciting race. Some people say Monaco can be a procession but I don’t
think that will be the case. There will be a lot of marbles, I think there
will be quite a few mistakes tomorrow with the tyres graining, so it will be
an exciting race, I think we will put on a good show for the fans.
Q: (James Allen – Financial Times) Jenson, in the last two races you’ve
arrived and the car hasn’t really been working for you and you’ve had to
work quite hard to get yourself into a position to challenge, so I wonder if
you could say a little bit about whether that gives you great satisfaction
at the end of it to then be sitting here and looking good for tomorrow, and
also just talk a little bit about the confidence that you need to drive you
through that process.
JB: Turning up at the first races and qualifying on pole and winning that
race was the same sort of feeling as I’ve had this weekend, to a much bigger
extent, obviously. But with it being so difficult over the last couple of
years and winning the first race this year was a magnificent feeling and
this weekend has been a little bit like that in a way because I struggled on
Thursday, then got to grips with the car and everything’s come together in
qualifying. We need to look at why we’re turning up and I’m not happy with
the car to start with. Obviously I’ll sit down with my engineers and we’ll
all go through it but they’ve done a great job to put me in this position,
we’ve all worked very hard on improving the car. I have quite a lot of
confidence, obviously, so far this season, but you take every race as it
comes and even though I’ve won four races this year you still come here and
think I’ve got to win this race, I’ve got to get on pole, and if you don’t,
you think of it as a little bit of a failure. You take every race as it
comes. Even if I hadn’t had the first five races, I would have confidence
but you never know what’s going to happen.
Q: Kimi, given your difficult start to the season will you really risk
everything for a victory tomorrow or will you try to ensure some good
points?
KR: I’m only interested in winning, so I have nothing really to lose. OK,
the team needs points but in the end they are happier with a win than just
some points. We’re not really in the championship. We know that the team has
not had a very easy time this year but we have shown some signs that we are
getting better. We still need to work. This is a special place, so if we
have good speed here, I wouldn’t say that we would be where we want to be on
a good circuit, maybe not as good as Brawn, so that’s what we’re really
aiming to improve, so I will definitely try to do everything that I can.
Q: Jenson, Monaco is really difficult to overtake, sometimes it makes for a
really boring race. Does it mean that’s perfect for you?
JB: It’s perfect for the guy that starts on pole always. You think that
going into the race, but as I said, anything can happen. The first lap of
the race is always exciting for us all. If there is a car that can overtake
us it will for sure be a car with KERS. There are a couple of places on the
circuit where there is always that possibility. The first few laps are
important but the way the system is now with fuel, going into qualifying,
Kimi might be running five laps longer than us on the first stint which
might work better, might work in his favour, might not. We have to see, so
it’s not as easy as just qualifying on pole and you’ve won the race. But it
won’t be a boring race, I don’t think so.
Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto Motor und Sport) Jenson, Rubens mentioned that he
has got at least one fresh set of soft tyres. How is it with you and is this
a big advantage to have a new one left for the race or a disadvantage if you
don’t?
JB: Yeah, it matters when you’re going to use it in the race, for sure. If
you’re going to use it at the start, your first pit stop, your second pit
stops, your third pit stop, whatever. We have to wait and see. But yeah, I
have one set of the super soft tyres left.
Q: (Ingo Rörsch – Sport Bild) I have a question for Jenson: could you
explain the difference between the preparations for Sunday’s race now you’re
on pole compared to the races last year? Is it more exciting or are you just
more focused on the race or do you sleep as you do every day?
JB: I always sleep very well. It’s a much nicer position, for sure,
especially round Monaco, to be at the front because there can be mayhem
around here. People know that it’s difficult to overtake, so everything
happens on the first lap. It’s much nicer being at the front, as it always
is. Last year I had a lot of accidents, more than I’ve had in my whole
career and it’s because I know how important it was to fight my way through,
on the first couple of laps. So yeah, it’s a nice position to be in and I’m
sure every driver will say the same, it’s pretty normal. |
