News
25th May 2014, 19:00
Romain Grosjean on salvaging points despite 'thousands of misfortunes'; Nico Hulkenberg on his brilliant move on Kevin Magnussen; Lotus on why a 'lucky' top ten cannot disguise a 'disappointing' weekend. The drivers and senior team personnel report back on a tense and attritional Grand Prix in Monaco...
Lotus
Romain Grosjean, 8th
"It's good to finish the race here for the first time in my career and it's good to get some points too. It started as a pretty bad Sunday for us with a puncture for me on the first lap after Adrian [Sutil] drove into me. We swapped to the soft tyres but it was impossible to overtake on these so we came back in for the supersofts. The safety car timing didn't help us as we'd just gone out on the new tyres, but that's Monaco. You can have thousands of misfortunes in the race, but still be in the points at the end!"
Pastor Maldonado, DNF
"We don't know yet precisely what happened. The engine switched off after 30 seconds. When we did out laps to the grid the car and the power unit were working well. We need to work to find out what the problem was. It is disappointing and I was expecting a solid race, we had a good strategy in place, I love this circuit where I have been competitive in the past. We have already worked hard on performance and reliability but today it was not to be. This afternoon we're not happy but we are keeping focused on improving."
Federico Gastaldi, Lotus deputy team principal
"We scored some lucky points today but our overall weekend has been disappointing. It's been very frustrating that Pastor couldn't start the race and we have to identify the cause of this. Romain stayed focused and did a very good job to score the team some valuable points. We know that we still have work to do and Monaco certainly hasn't played to our strengths."
Alan Permane, Lotus trackside operations director Renault Sport F1 team support leader
"It has been a disappointing weekend for us. Pastor's car didn't make it to the start of the race because of what looks like a fuel pump problem. Romain was hit from behind the first lap and got a puncture so we had to pit him early unfortunately. From then on, it was a long afternoon at the back of the field and in the end we were lucky with retirements and managed to score four points for an eighth place finish. We now look ahead to the next race and will work hard to correct issues we have seen here this weekend to get back up to an acceptable level of performance."
Force India
Nico Hulkenberg, 5th
"Ten points today is a great reward after such a difficult race. The last twenty laps were really tricky because my supersoft tyres were at the end of their life and it was hard to hold off the cars behind me and stay away from the barriers. There were a few close moments when I kissed the wall, but I survived and managed to hold on to fifth place. Fortunately my car was quick in the right places
More... (http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2014/5/15884.html)
Lotus
Romain Grosjean, 8th
"It's good to finish the race here for the first time in my career and it's good to get some points too. It started as a pretty bad Sunday for us with a puncture for me on the first lap after Adrian [Sutil] drove into me. We swapped to the soft tyres but it was impossible to overtake on these so we came back in for the supersofts. The safety car timing didn't help us as we'd just gone out on the new tyres, but that's Monaco. You can have thousands of misfortunes in the race, but still be in the points at the end!"
Pastor Maldonado, DNF
"We don't know yet precisely what happened. The engine switched off after 30 seconds. When we did out laps to the grid the car and the power unit were working well. We need to work to find out what the problem was. It is disappointing and I was expecting a solid race, we had a good strategy in place, I love this circuit where I have been competitive in the past. We have already worked hard on performance and reliability but today it was not to be. This afternoon we're not happy but we are keeping focused on improving."
Federico Gastaldi, Lotus deputy team principal
"We scored some lucky points today but our overall weekend has been disappointing. It's been very frustrating that Pastor couldn't start the race and we have to identify the cause of this. Romain stayed focused and did a very good job to score the team some valuable points. We know that we still have work to do and Monaco certainly hasn't played to our strengths."
Alan Permane, Lotus trackside operations director Renault Sport F1 team support leader
"It has been a disappointing weekend for us. Pastor's car didn't make it to the start of the race because of what looks like a fuel pump problem. Romain was hit from behind the first lap and got a puncture so we had to pit him early unfortunately. From then on, it was a long afternoon at the back of the field and in the end we were lucky with retirements and managed to score four points for an eighth place finish. We now look ahead to the next race and will work hard to correct issues we have seen here this weekend to get back up to an acceptable level of performance."
Force India
Nico Hulkenberg, 5th
"Ten points today is a great reward after such a difficult race. The last twenty laps were really tricky because my supersoft tyres were at the end of their life and it was hard to hold off the cars behind me and stay away from the barriers. There were a few close moments when I kissed the wall, but I survived and managed to hold on to fifth place. Fortunately my car was quick in the right places
More... (http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2014/5/15884.html)