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1. Mark WEBBER (Red Bull),
1h50m13.355s
2. Sebastian VETTEL (Red Bull), 1h50m13.803s
3. Robert KUBICA (Renault), 1h50m15.030s
Q: Mark, you are leading the World Championship and you are a Monaco winner.
How does it feel?
Mark WEBBER: Absolutely incredible and for sure the greatest day of my life
today. To win here is a very, very special day. It started yesterday with
qualifying when it went well but this place is such a test for two hours. I
had a lot of work to do. The track was changing quite a lot during the grand
prix as well, we had backmarkers and a lot of safety cars so we were tested
quite often. Getting restarts and tyre pressures right - all the basics that
could test you were in front of us today, so very, very rewarding win and
just absolutely elated. To join Ayrton Senna and those guys around here is
great. It’s a real Blue Riband event.
Q: Sebastian, second place today but you didn’t seem able to take the fight
to Mark. What happened?
Sebastian VETTEL: Well, we need to see. Especially in the beginning and the
restarts I wasn't able to keep up with him, there was a big difference.
Later on when I finally felt the grip I wasn’t too far off but by then he
was already 10 seconds down the road and winning the race by five, six,
seven seconds, so there was no real point to make the effort trying to catch
him. Obviously overtaking is too difficult and I had to look more in the
mirrors. Robert was pushing quite hard and it was quite difficult to get
away from him at the restarts. I was going more sideways than straight or
forward, so it was quite difficult. But in the end I think it was our
optimum today. I am very, very happy. I think we couldn’t have done better.
A lot of good points and those count at the end of the year by quite a bit.
It is a long season but I am very happy today.
Q: Robert, second on the grid but third in the race. For you it was all
about the start, was it?
Robert KUBICA: I mean I always knew that starting from the first row on the
dirty side would be difficult for me. Normally I would defend the position
but I saw that Mark was slow pulling away from the box, so I thought I might
have the chance to overtake. Just went on power a bit too early and got a
lot of wheelspin and it was too late to close the door to Sebastian and then
I had to defend from Felipe (Massa), so overall the first lap I lost
position. I was able to keep up with the pace of Sebastian. Actually I think
we were a bit quicker, especially after the restarts. On prime tyres I think
our pace was just slightly better than on options. Then 30 laps to go before
the last safety car came into corner one I had big flat spot on the inside
wheel, so I had big vibration and I was really scared that I might pit again
and change front tyres. I couldn’t see even the pit board. Over 250 metres
it was really difficult to see braking point and I was surprised about the
pace. But third place we have to be positive. I think no-one was expecting
us to finish on the podium here. We were up there in the front all weekend,
so congratulations to all the guys and for Renault for three spots on the
podium as engine supplier.
Q: Mark, four safety cars and a lot of rebuilding of leads and you almost
got involved in a pile-up of backmarkers at the end of the race.
MW: Yeah, I was on the radio and they said look you have got Jarno (Trulli)
and I think it was (Karun) Chandhok in front with a few laps to go. I was
nursing the car quite a lot in the last part of the race but with
backmarkers you can lose a lot of time when you catch them. I saw Jarno
going for a lunge down the inside of Rascasse and I thought ‘what the hell
is going to happen here’ and they interlocked wheels, he went flying in the
air and I just hoped I had some options to go on the inside and sure enough
I did. I was just really hoping that Chandhok was okay as it looked like the
car was around the head area and I thought ‘God, now we have another safety
car but let’s finish it under the safety car so I don’t have to worry about
doing one lap after the restart’. It was good obviously as both of us could
just cross the line quite straightforward and get a very good one-two for
the team.
Q: Sebastian, tell us about your move on Robert at the start?
SV: Well, initially I had quite a bad feeling for the pull away. The revs
dropped quite a lot. Still I felt that my start was better than Mark’s who
was ahead and also then I saw Robert. He mentioned his car had a lot of
wheelspin and I could see that, so I was driving down the inside. The sprint
down to turn one is not that long, so I was able to get side-by-side, even a
bit ahead, so I could take it a bit easier into turn one, not to do
something stupid and maybe run into the back of Mark. It was quite important
and it was the key to finish second today.
Q: Tell us about when you closed up on Sebastian. Did you think there might
be a chance to find a way through?
RK: Well, not really especially after I got the front locked up. I had huge
vibrations, so I was looking quite a lot on the tyre vibration might be very
dangerous for exploding the tyres, so I was just controlling it, so it
didn’t get worse. When I saw that the tyres were handling well, although the
visibility was not great, I was able to keep up the pace to Sebastian and
controlling Felipe (Massa) behind there was no real chance unless Sebastian
made a mistake but he didn’t, so I was never really close and in Monaco it
is nearly impossible to overtake especially if you are a bit slower than the
front two guys.
Q: Mark, Red Bull have been on top speed-wise throughout this year but it
has taken until now to get on top of both championships. Where do you go
from here?
MW: Well, continue to work hard. We are not here because we have been
slacking. The effort has gone in from two-and-a-half-years ago. This is not
just the sake of the last two weeks work. This has been a continuous effort
off the back of RB5 into RB6. Fantastic continuity within the team. Rob
Marshall, Adrian Newey, it’s impossible to mention everyone. The cars were
very reliable for us today. Very, very good for both of us and we have just
got to keep going to each venue. Of course it would be nice if it was the
last race today but it is not. We have got a lot of work to do. We are very
optimistic for the future and we had the maximum we could do today. It is
the best result we could get and we need to try and make that as often as
possible.
PRESS CONFERENCE
Q: Mark, congratulations. This ranks pretty high. Two victories in eight
days don’t come better than that and one of them in Monaco.
MW: You are absolutely right. I said in the last press conference that this
is the greatest day of my life. To win in Monaco is a dream for any Formula
One driver. It is a very, very special event and every Formula One victory
is special but to win on the streets here fair and square off the pole, no
attrition again, that’s nice and control the race from the front. To join
such great winners here is a real special moment for me. I was reminded
yesterday that Jack Brabham won here in 1959, so it has been a while for the
Australians. A special day.
Q: Four safety car periods. Did that upset the concentration or did it allow
you to rest? How did that affect you?
MW: I certainly would not have wanted them. It is nice when you get the
buffer and work on the gaps and then it is neutralised by the safety car
which is a bit frustrating. I was totally open to that happening around here
at some stage and I thought after the first one, which happened after the
first lap, I thought ‘okay.’ Then we get up to the first stop and
immediately after that it started. Never ideal to have a break-up in the
rhythm for anyone that is leading the race. It gives the people who are
hunting you more of a chance when they come back up on your tail. Apart from
the manhole cover one, that one I didn’t really understand, as I did not see
any problem but obviously the boys, Charlie (Whiting) and the guys saw
something there which we needed the safety car out for one lap. But for the
others we needed them as they were decent shunts. It was an absolutely
faultless day except for the start which didn’t go exactly according to plan
but it was good that I did it here at Monaco instead of last weekend in
Barcelona as it is a long run there and it wasn’t the best start but I think
I know why. After that it was basically counting the laps off. It was also a
relief, to be honest, that Seb got Robert as I thought Robert would have
been very, very strong today. It was good that we got a one-two for the
team. It was the ultimate result for us.
Q: That safety car period was for a loose drain cover at turn three.
MW: I was told that but I didn’t really… it was probably in the kerb. The
guys probably had a good visual on it and saw that they needed to address
something but from the cockpit I didn’t see anything.
Q: Both you Red Bull drivers had relatively late stops for tyres; were they
good right to the end?
MW: Yeah, fine, absolutely fine. You don’t go crazy on them at the
beginning, you give them a good chance to keep going. I’ve got a good
feeling, had a pace. We’re learning a lot at each race, we know how to go
about that. Obviously with the first safety car it bunched the field up a
bit, so we knew that the stops would happen a bit later than we probably
anticipated before. It was just a nice situation, obviously, with a bit of a
buffer as well to be able to pit, to have a bit more of an option when you
want to pit instead of having more attention around you with competitors.
Q: Having been fairly restrained last Sunday evening, you’ve got a fair
amount of celebrating to do tonight.
MW: Well, I think it’s going to be a pretty dangerous night tonight for Red
Bull. It’s not a back-to-back race and I think the ash cloud will cause a
lot of people to stay here as well. I’m predicting some very bad headaches
in the morning, that’s for sure. The team deserves it, there’s no question
about it. You have to enjoy your victories. At the end of the day we’ve got
some bigger goals to achieve this year but this is a very, very unique day
for the team. Last year at Silverstone, we had a one-two which is great for
a British… obviously it’s Austrian but there’s also a lot of British
influence in the team. There were a lot of firsts last year and to get a
one-two in the Principality for the team… sensational.
Q: Sebastian, you seemed to be coming back a bit at the end; did you feel
you had some tyres left?
SV: Yeah, it was absolutely no problem with the prime tyres. I think they
were bomb-proof. I don’t know when we stopped in the beginning because stops
were obviously delayed because of the safety car, but to do around fifty or
sixty laps on the primes was absolutely no problem today. It was getting
better and better. For sure, tyres start to wear and you start to slide a
bit more but I think it was fine. For me, the main difficulty today was to
switch the tyres on after the stop. I was quite a lot clear of Robert when I
came out of the pits and then obviously within a couple of corners he was
right there again, so it was quite difficult. I was sliding a lot. Also the
restarts – maybe not the first initial lap, but then after the first five
timed laps, I was struggling to keep up the pace. Obviously that was when
Mark disappeared and when Robert was pushing from behind. So we need to see.
Then afterwards we really got a lot of laps in and I was able to find the
rhythm more and more and then I think also in terms of lap times it
stabilised and then we were more or less competitive. All in all, I think it
was very good day for us. I’m very happy, we achieved the optimum so, yeah,
I can sleep well tonight.
Q: How close did Robert get to you?
SV: Obviously, in Monaco it’s difficult to pass, and I knew that if I didn’t
do anything stupid and always got good exits and take care of my tyres,
there would be no way for him to pass. So I focused on that, it worked.
Sometimes he was close and sometimes he was a bit behind, but I think he was
always between half a second, a second and two seconds, so not far off, but
enough.
Q: It was still fairly close.
SV: It was still close. It’s not nice, obviously it would have nicer to have
a bit of a gap. In the end what matters is the track position.
Q: Robert, obviously a phenomenal result today for Renault and for your team
as well. At this stage, do you regard that as not necessarily a lucky result
but perhaps your best chance was round here?
RK: For sure we were more competitive here than we were on the other
circuits, but on the other hand we hope to be in the position to fight for
another podium in the remaining races. I think that today, on normal race
tracks, we are not in the position but some nice tracks are coming like
Hungary, like Canada. I think we can be strong in Canada, so it will suit
our downforce level better. So we hope to be at least as competitive as we
were here. But for sure, when you have qualified on the first row, although
we were starting on the dirty side, you always expect the pole guy to make
the better start, but actually Mark didn’t make an excellent start. I was
maybe a bit too optimistic and I was hoping to get in front of him and then
got too much wheelspin and Sebastian overtook me.
Q: Is that because the track was dirty on that side?
RK: I don’t know. I didn’t start on the other side. Not really, normally the
plan was to defend second place, but when I saw Mark pulling slowly out of
the box I was maybe too optimistic on the throttle and had too much
wheelspin. I lost the time to close the door to Sebastian. I took the risk,
it didn’t work but if you don’t take a chance, you won’t know if you can
make it.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Frederic Ferret – L’Equipe) Mark, you already won in Monaco, nine years
ago. What’s the difference and did you believe in 2001 that you could win
the great race?
MW: Well, I said to the people who know me well last night that when I was
on pole position here last time, I shared a room with Anne, my father and
someone else. There were a lot of us in the room because we didn’t have much
money to all stay in a room. But my father was snoring all night and I got
no sleep, so in the middle of the night I got the mattress and threw it
upside down and said ‘I’m on pole position tomorrow, I have to sleep.’ It
was over there. I think it was an old brothel where we were staying. I said
I’d had a much better night’s sleep this night, when I was on pole. My dad
can really cut some wood, he can really snore like hell. To win here in any
category is a special day. We had Daniel (Ricciardo) win today, so it’s the
second time we’ve had the Australian national anthem playing here, he drove
very well in the World Series race. And yeah, my F3000 race was nice here
but obviously this is the biggest Formula One race you can probably win.
There are some classics, obviously Spa, a few real classics but this is
right up there. Yeah, winning but obviously at a higher level.
Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Mark, it looks like the fight for the
championship will be between you and Sebastian. Do you agree?
MW: Two races ago everyone was saying someone else. In two races time they
might be saying someone else again. I understand you guys have to write
stuff but no one knows, there is no one who knows who is going to be in the
hunt with a few races to go. Sure, we have a very good foundation, we’re in
a good position, we’re leading both championships I hear. Obviously Seb and
I are equal or close on points or whatever. We’ve got some different venues
coming up, keep in mind that engines are going to come into play in the back
part of the championship, there’s lots of things to roll into this situation
yet. It’s a good position to be in. I would obviously rather be here than
forty points behind. We have a good tally at the moment but I don’t think
it’s between two guys, too early.
Q: (Flavio Vanetti – Corriere della Sera) Sebastian, which aspect do you
have to improve to try to catch Mark again?
SV: Well, every weekend is a new challenge. I think this weekend we did our
optimum, it wasn’t enough to win, Mark was a little bit better. Maybe next
time it might look different.
Q: (Joris Fioriti – AFP) Mark, I was wondering if you could be the new
Jenson Button for 2011, an experienced driver who gets to win and be better
and better in his older days.
MW: As I’ve always said, in any sport you do, you can talk as much as you
want but actions speak louder than words, so you need to do the talking in
any sport which is in your activity, so clearly Jenson had a very good year
last year, we all know that. He was written off in seasons before, through
lots of different reasons here and there. But I still feel I’m driving
pretty well. The fire is still burning pretty solidly inside. I’m not 21, of
course. I would love to be 21 again but in the end, I don’t think I’m losing
too much by being a bit older. Of course I have some wisdom and it’s not
holding me back too much. So I’ll keep going.
Q: (Edd Straw – Autosport) Mark, people always talk about momentum being the
key to winning championships in any sport. Do you feel that you now have
momentum on your side and does that give you a lot of confidence?
MW: Oh, for sure I’m not low on confidence at the moment. It’s two races
we’ve done well. If you’re doing this three or four, five times, in terms of
good results in a row, podiums and whatnot, then for sure that is a good
run. We were on the back foot in Shanghai, it wasn’t a good race for us, so
you can look back at that and say we really needed the result in Barcelona
and then this one was a very unique challenge for us in terms of a very
specific circuit. To be honest, we thought it was going to be a very, very
tight fight, which it was, it wasn’t particularly straightforward. Obviously
there were a few other guys involved. I think if Fernando had had a normal
weekend he probably would have been around a bit more as well. Let’s go to
Turkey, do that and just keep chipping away. You know as well as anyone,
Edd, that things can change very quickly in this game. I’ve been round the
block long enough to know that as well, so feet on the ground.
Q: (Joris Fioriti – AFP) Sebastian, is there a certain amount of frustration
not being able to get the rhythm of your team-mate?
SV: I think, in all respects, it could have been much worse. I think I’m
happy with today’s second, as I say. Obviously, yes, I would love to win but
today it didn’t work, so we try next time, but for now I’m very pleased. As
far as I know, maybe you know differently, as far as I know you still get
some points for second, so it’s not a complete disaster.
Q: (Edd Straw – Autosport) Robert, we’ve seen Renault make a lot of progress
this year. This has been the strongest race this year for you in terms of
pure pace. Do you feel now that with Renault you’re really working on a team
that’s building towards being able to win races and fight for championships
in the future?
RK: Well, it depends on which future we are talking about. I think for this
year winning races will be extremely difficult. Of course, in Formula One
everything is possible but we have to wait and see. In reality, I think the
gap to the Red Bulls, especially, is much bigger than it was here this
weekend. I think Monaco was one of the tracks which suited our car best, our
characteristics, so we will see. For sure there will be some opportunities.
There are tracks to come where I think our car can do well but not only Red
Bull but Ferrari as well are extremely quick, so it will be difficult. I
think we are fourth row on normal race tracks on pure pace. Here we were
just fighting with Red Bull. Of course, we were a bit slower than Mark but
on a similar pace to Sebastian which was already surprising. Of course we
are still working, still pushing and then we will see.
Q: (Joris Fioriti – AFP) Robert, does it bother you that people always talk
about the top four teams and never about the top five, because now Renault
is as fast as many other teams?
RK: I think it’s because of the names: Renault, in the past, especially in
the last two years, was not so good. The team is somehow building up again
with a bit of a different mentality, bit of a different approach and I think
it’s working. Nobody, before the start of the season, would put one euro on
us. We managed to finish on the podium twice. We showed good pace,
especially here in Monaco. We are bringing quite a lot of new bits on the
car. All the guys in the factory are really working hard to improve the car.
I think we are getting better direction than maybe in the past and it seems
to be giving results. We hope to be able to proceed as we are but the way to
catch the top cars is still a long way away, so we have to keep working and
pushing and I believe and I hope that one day we will be able to really
fight for victories. |
