Trulli: Monaco can be good for us

By role
May 17 2004

Renault F1 driver, Jarno Trulli, is looking forward to this weekend's Monaco Grand Prix afetr a podium finish at Barcelona. The Italian rates Monaco as one of his favourite track and he is looking forward to a good weekend that should suit the R24 quite well.

Trulli is enjoying a very strong start of the season and is currently tied with Alonso on points for the Driver's Championship:

"So far, the team has had a very strong start to the season, and for me, this is definitely the best start I have had in my time at Renault. Barcelona was a great result because we earned our finish - there was nothing lucky about it, no presents from other teams - and both Fernando and I are performing strongly in the championship. As a team, we are strong with perfect reliability, and motivation is high for Monaco." He said.

Trulli enjoys quite a lot the Monaco Grand Prix:

"As a Renault driver, definitely! The atmosphere is nice because there are big crowds, and also lots of Renault supporters. It is uncomfortable because of the restricted space, but I think that things will improve this year with the new garages. In terms of working on the car, Monaco is a strange place: rather than looking for the optimum set-up, you concentrate on getting the car working so that you can put it where you want to on the circuit. You need a good car, and we have that, but the driver can make a real difference. There are compromises to be made everywhere, but to be quick, the driver has to be 100% confident in the car." He added.

renault has been strong at some tracks but less so at others this season. How competitive will they be at Montecarlo?

"We will only find out how fast we are when we actually get on to the track, but the circuit should suit us. Even though the layout stays the same, Monaco is a different race every year, with its own surprises and characteristics.We made progress with the car at Barcelona, and it was very consistent in performance during the race. I think this can be a good race for us, but there are too many variables now to make any definite predictions." He concluded.