This will be my tenth Monaco Grand Prix. It’s a great weekend ahead of us, while we got this thrilling challenge to go fast in the special event at Monte Carlo.
The one day longer weekend brings always a little bit extra for all the exciting challenges of motor racing.
I’ve got three podiums in Monaco. To win it back in 2005 is a memory, I won’t never forget. It gives you such an unbeatable feeling, while you get right every lap. Obviously, you want to feel it again and again, but it’s the trickiest race of them all to have a perfect day.
You never know beforehand how it goes in racing, and especially for Monaco you can’t even guess how it might go. Obviously, we have done some mistakes in the first few races so far, but you can’t afford even a smaller one, if you want to get things done in Monaco.
I have a positive feeling with the car. It has been good and competitive everywhere, but we have to understand more some details with temparature changes and the tyres, too.
The qualifying is always hundred times more important in Monaco compared to other places. You cannot exaggerate the importance of this qualifying. Obviously for us, the qualifying is something we really have to get right. Lately we have had some hard lessons of it.
To get to the front row does not help, if you are second and you have to start from the dirtier side of the circuit, it’s not easy to keep your place – or to improve it. I’ve been there before and it seems that every time I loose one position simply because you always suffer from the wheelspin.
Coming to Monaco we’ve got now two podiums in a row this season and we have had good points with both cars. So there is a good basis to build on further.
A podium should be a possible target for Monaco, as well. But to achieve it, we have to have a solid and clean weekend all way long since Thursday morning.
Most of all it’s a question of the best drive of the year – the 100% concentration with the 100% working car all the 78 laps of the Grand Prix. That’s the only way to be real happy after the race in Monaco.
Everybody in the team has pushed really hard and it has been good and very motivating time since we started the season. Now it’s time to enjoy the Monaco weekend!
Does anyone have Soren's website bookmarked in their web browser? I was hoping maybe we could contact him and post his previews/reviews here as well. " title="wink" />
Monaco is now just a distant memory and everything is charged for Canada. It was a weekend I won't count among the good ones for me. Well, that's racing. Some races are good, some are not that good.
Obviously, I knew what was coming on, while we missed the dry training on Thursday. We tried something new, it didn't work out well and that was the reason we have to go back and change almost the whole front end of the car before starting the practise runs.
In Monaco all the laps are so important to get the car right. After missing FP1 we were behind the others all way long. It was a painful, of course. Not being able to qualify at your best, it hurts the most while you race in Monaco.
Still I expected to be in TOP5. I had one a betterish lap, but then I locked up the tyre in the second part of the Swimming Pool area, and we lost some places there. Then it was P8 in the grid. It was like a ticket to a train, while not being in the front, means usually 'doing the loco-motion' in the race.
The start was not that bad, but I ended up behind Vettel and Ferraris in P7. For a while I was faster, but in Monaco that doesn't help you a bit to improve your position - without huge errors from the guys in front of you.
Obviously, all of us expected the rain to fall. Lap by lap the supersoft tyres started to drop off, but being aware of the possibility of the water coming down, we waited a while, and then we really started to struggle with the temperatures of the breaks and with the lost grip of the tyres.
Finally we decided not to wait anymore, stopped and after that it was just a matter of finishing the race. At least a couple of teams had their problems and we managed to get back in points. I can assure that coming home in P9 and getting two points by doing that, didn't feel bad at all.
This season is about to be consistent and clinching points every time. While having a bad race and still getting a couple of points, is better than nothing. Who knows how important points these two will be in the end of the season?
Is it just me or did his previews and reviews get really boring this year (I know it´s not him who writes them). Those finish ones were way more interesting " title="oi" />
To finish eighth was not, what we were looking for in Canada. But if you start from P12 and gain four places before coming to the chequared flag, you didn¹t waste the whole afternoon for nothing.
Obviously, we would have needed a more normal weekend. It all went wrong on Saturday. The car was OK in the morning practise and we were expecting to fight for a place in the top 5 of the grid.
The issue with the hydraulics gave some signs already on Friday. Then it came back during the qualifying session. The differential was not working properly, and, for sure, that¹s bad with the wheel spin, while you have to get everything together in one lap in Q2.
We tried, but lost a little bit to qualify further, and that was position 12 in the grid. It¹s not as bad as it would have been in Monaco, but close, enough. It¹s a shame to know it now afterwards.
The circuit has the straights, but the DRS zone was not the whole straight. It¹s not a simple place to overtake. That¹s how people were stuck behind the slower car and you just cannot do enough to improve your position.
We raced against Rosberg, and lost the position there with the pit stops. We would have needed to gain 1-2 seconds somewhere to do better after our pit stop. Now we didn¹t have that second and I felt every time somebody came back from the pits, he just got in front of us.
Obviously, that was frustrating to experience, but that¹s how it goes sometimes in racing. It was not our day, that¹s for sure.
After the pit stops I tried a couple of times the overtake Webber, but the Red Bull was extremely quick exiting the corner and I just could not get close enough in that straight.
Well, we finished again and got some valuable points. Although we were not that happy with the race, the team had a real nice time and Romain got a fine podium finish. Obviously, I would have needed to be in Q3, too, to have a chance to get better result, as well.
Now we return to Europe. The car showed the potential is still there. Let¹s wait and see, how the weekend goes in Valencia. We can improve, and that is an encouraging starting point!
ZitatKimi European GP preview Hot Stuff
Obviously, I like Spain. I have won twice in Barcelona, and I’ve been on the podium in Valencia, so there are some good memories. I have never raced with Lotus in Valencia, so in a way it’s a brand new adventure for me, like every single Grand Prix weekend this year. The circuit is all about the corners, there are some straights, and it’s generally quite a challenging weekend ahead, again. With so many corners you have to be very consistent, while the smallest error will hurt your lap time substantially. I have raced twice in Valencia and the weather has always been good. It should be hot again, and that would suit our car very well. As a team we like the Hot Stuff in this season! We have been working hard with the qualifying settings. The boys at Enstone have done long days to get things going better in one lap. We know it has been our weakest point, and that has kept us from challenging for the top positions on the starting grid.
I just wish to have one normal weekend, from P1 on Friday morning to the finish of the race on Sunday afternoon.
The circuit itself is not that difficult compared to Monaco. There are a few straights, but still, it’s one of those places, where overtaking is very tricky, if not impossible.
That means qualifying is very important, but still keeping in mind the race gives the points. That’s our target - to keep on going well with the race distance. The hotter it is, the better it is for us.
Now we can leave the issues with the supersofts, and focus on the soft and medium choice from Pirelli. Obviously, the surface and the hot weather will bring a challenge of its’ own kind for this race. It’s the same for everybody, and whoever gets it right, will do well and will catch good points.
Let’s wait and see, what we are able to do. As a team the effort is at the highest level, while we try our very best to carry on strongly in the constructors’ championship, too.
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Tue May 22, 2012 6:12 pm
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