Monaco Grand Prix – driver and team reactions

Daniel Ricciardo claimed his second race win of the season with victory at the Monaco Grand Prix.

The Red Bull driver nursed his car to the finish after struggling with a power problem for much of the race, staying ahead of Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton, who joined him on the podium.

Here’s what the drivers had to say after the race in Monte Carlo:

Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull – 1st):

“Wow, it still hasn’t sunk in. It was a perfect weekend but a crazy race. It’s such a long week and because I get so excited for this race, I find it hard to control myself and I just couldn’t wait for the lights to go out today. The start went well and I thought, I’ve pretty much done the hard part so let’s just finish this race. Then on lap 28 I exited a corner and felt like I pretty much had no power. When it was clear that it was an MGU-K issue I wanted to close my eyes and start crying as I thought the race was over and I wondered just what I have to do to win here.

“I spoke with my engineer on the radio and we changed a lot of things that didn’t fix the problem but we just had to survive with the problem and keep Seb behind. We had a lot less power, fortunately, it’s a tight track and we had a good car so I could make up enough time in the corners not to be vulnerable on the straights. On any other circuit, there was no way I would have won today. It wasn’t fun driving like that and I’m pretty exhausted, but very, very happy. We finally got some redemption and this is the sweetest feeling. It wasn’t easy but now I can say I’m a winner here and it’s great to win the team’s 250th race.”

 

Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari – 2nd):

“Today, I was trying to get closer to the car in front and do something; but obviously if you get closer it doesn’t help with your tires. In some corners you don’t really need power and Ricciardo was quicker than us. He was always able to open the gap and I was never really there. He could keep his pace and I think that perhaps it could have been worse for us if he hadn’t had some issues. Unfortunately, there weren’t many chances to do something different. I think it was tricky for us to make the tires work the right way. Then, when the Virtual Safety Car came on, a McLaren was just exiting the box and took a lot of time, while I was struggling with tire warm-up, and I think that was the biggest issue that cost me quite a few seconds. It took to me one and a half lap to get the rhythm back, but by then it was too late. However, there are so many races to go and I believe we need to understand our problems. We have a good car, but we can make it better.”

 

Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes – 3rd):

“A big congratulations to Daniel, I’m really happy for him. He was so close to winning his first Monaco Grand Prix two years ago, so it’s good for him to have it now. I’m happy with the weekend – we were the third quickest team and we almost got second. I’m grateful to only have lost three points to Sebastian in the championship fight – I’ll take that and move forwards. It wasn’t a really difficult race, we just had to take the tyres go a long way; I didn’t think they were going to go as far as they did. It’s a shame that the race is unfortunately not as exciting as the whole spectacle of Monaco, especially since through practice there’s no place like it and the track is just epic in Qualifying. We hope that Canada will suit our car a little bit better; but it will be another close fight, especially with the Ferrari.”

 

Toto Wolff (Mercedes – Team Principal):

“In sport, you have to accept that there are days when you won’t win and, if you’d offered us third and fifth before the weekend, we’d probably have taken it as a fair result. Congratulations to Daniel, he deserved the win and was the quickest man out there this weekend. It was a tough and frustrating afternoon for Lewis and Valtteri. Lewis suffered from graining on both tyre compounds which he had to manage through most of the race; we discussed making another stop but it would only have cost us positions, not gained any, so it was the right call to stay out. Valtteri ended up running most of the race on the best compound, the SuperSoft, but there was no way past Kimi so he had to follow him to the flag. Overall, this was a weekend of damage limitation for us and we can be pleased to leave Monaco in the lead of both championships. Now we will regroup and aim to return to winning form in Canada.”

 

Max Verstappen (Red Bull – 9th):

“Although we knew it was going to be damage limitation I still really enjoyed myself out there today as I was able to race other cars and be competitive pretty much from start to finish. Deep down of course I am still disappointed as we could have had a much better result if I hadn’t made the mistake in practice, but on the other hand, I made the most of the race. I had fun, I was passing cars and fighting every lap which is especially rare here in Monaco, normally it is just cruising during the race. The car handled well and we got the strategy spot on and finished in the points so I think that is a good day’s work all things considered. I have learnt throughout my career that it is easy afterwards to say it could have been like this or that, but I always have to look at myself. This weekend I made a mistake but Daniel did a superb job so a massive congratulations to him on winning the race and having a very special moment.”

We had the right strategy and I enjoyed the race. Considering I started last, this was the best result possible. Congrats to @danielricciardo on the win and the great job by @redbullracing 👍 #keeppushing #MonacoGP #Monaco250 pic.twitter.com/zAlYJExewH

— Max Verstappen (@Max33Verstappen) May 27, 2018

 

Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari – 4th):

“Today nothing really happened in the race; to be honest, it was a pretty boring one. We know that on this track, once everybody has stopped, whoever is in the front dictates the speed and no matter if he goes four second slower on a lap, there’s no way to pass unless somebody makes a big mistake or runs out of tires. We end up following each other through the whole race. I had no problem managing my tires, in fact they were pretty good. I only had some graining with the first set, but apart from that they were ok. I was never worried about Bottas behind me, we had the speed and I could easily close up with the car in front, but there was no way to pass him. We were all the time doing our best, but couldn’t use our pace. Obviously we cannot be happy with fourth position, but as always, we try to learn from every race.”

 

Pierre Gasly (Toro Rosso – 7th):

“My first Monaco GP in Formula 1 and my second time in the points, honestly, it was an amazing race! Starting P10, we knew it could be difficult but the car was just so fast! I tried to be careful with the tyres from the beginning, and when I was alone on track I could just push flat out because I was feeling good with the car. We managed to exit after the pits in front of the others and I fought hard to keep Hulkenberg behind because we know that in Monaco it’s hard to pass. I just tried to stay focussed and not to make any mistakes because in the end the tyres were quite used – It wasn’t easy but we managed to finish in P7. I’m just super happy!”

 

Esteban Ocon (Force India – 6th):

“A fantastic result today. I’m really happy and it was great fun. The pace we had was impressive and the team did a fantastic job with the strategy. We had a great understanding of the tyres and there were times during the race when we were the fastest car on track. In the final few laps I was catching Bottas and Raikkonen by over a second per lap and I was right behind them at the end. It feels great to get this result and a good bunch of points after a few disappointing races. I hope we can have many more weekends like this one.”

Fantastic week end P6 today, Monaco I love you ❤️!
Week end fantastique P6 aujourd’hui, Monaco je t’aime ❤️! #EO31 #monacogp pic.twitter.com/HIm6EVB4bE

— Esteban Ocon (@OconEsteban) May 27, 2018

 

Christian Horner (Red Bull – Team Principal):

Difficult to describe the performance Daniel put in today. From lap 28 when the MGU-K expired, which creates all kinds of issues with cooling, with brake and tyre temperatures, he managed it in the calmest of manners while defending with Sebastian Vettel no more than a second behind him, and I never believed with approximately a 25 per cent loss of power that he would hold the lead for another 50 laps and win our 250th grand prix. The day and the entire race weekend has belonged to Daniel with a phenomenal performance. It was a great recovery from Max. From the back of the grid it’s always going to be a tough afternoon but he made good progress with some good overtaking which is very difficult to do here, and he benefitted from some good teamwork and strategy and managed to get in to the top 10.”

 

Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes – 5th):

“That’s Monaco – sometimes a lot of things happen; sometimes nothing happens and you get a pretty uneventful race like today. I think we made the right choice with the SuperSoft tyre for my second stint, it felt like it was working better than the UltraSofts. The first stint was difficult because of the tyre drop-off, but the second stint was really good, I could put pressure on the cars ahead. I had more pace than the cars in front of me, and yet there was nothing I could do; even with the pace difference overtaking was impossible. We knew the weekend might be difficult and that’s how it turned out to be, but we managed to do successful damage limitation. Qualifying P5 did not make that any easier for me and I don’t think we could have done anything different today with the car we have. Montreal should be a better hunting ground for our car, so we hope for a better outcome in Canada.”

 

Nico Hulkenberg (Renault – 8th):

“It’s a positive feeling today. I had the possibility of running a different strategy to Carlos and it worked well. It was a good recovery from a not so successful qualifying yesterday and I think eighth was the best we could do in the situation. My first stint was very successful. It was very difficult in the middle as I had a lot of graining, but the tyre recovered and I could do some very quick laps and it brought the race back to me. That’s the thing with Monaco; it can be crazy or it can be like today, but we made the most of the opportunities.”

 

Fernando Alonso (McLaren – DNF):

“It was quite a boring race: I was cruising around in seventh position as there were barely any yellow flags or Safety Cars. I’m obviously disappointed because this was our first retirement of the season today. First, I felt a loss of power and then I was somehow stuck in fifth gear. It’s painful because we had seventh place in the bag. We were the fourth fastest car around here this weekend, and seventh in the race is what we would have deserved. There’s nothing we can do about it now, but we obviously need to improve our reliability for the forthcoming races.”

 

Carlos Sainz (Renault – 10th):

“It was a very difficult race for me. We changed tyres on lap 16 and then I had to do over 60 laps with the Ultrasoft tyre, which was not ideal due to the heavy graining we had. There wasn’t much I could do – the other cars on other strategies were just much quicker. Let’s look at everything calmly next week and come back stronger in Montreal.”

 

Marcus Ericsson (Alfa Romeo Sauber – 11th):

“As expected, it was a tricky race for us. It was good though, and I am happy with my result. The focus of the race was on tyre management. It was challenging to keep them working in the right window, and make sure to not use them too quickly. It was tough to advance, as we were both stuck behind Brendon (Hartley) for the majority of the race. We lost a lot of time there. It was a good team effort overall, and there are a lot of positives. Next up is Montreal, which is a track that suits us much better. I look forward to that.”

Good race today 👍🏻. Finished P11 less then 1 sec from the points. I'll get them next race instead 👊🏻💯 #ME9 #MonacoGP #F12018 #KeepPushing pic.twitter.com/ukADCHjDt5

— Marcus Ericsson (@Ericsson_Marcus) May 27, 2018

 

Sergio Perez (Force India – 12th):

“I am disappointed today because we didn’t get the result our pace deserved. We had a problem at the pit stop and this completely ruined our race. Our first stint was strong, we looked after the tyres well and pushed hard just before the stop. We had a good rhythm but we pitted slightly early to react to what was happening around us. We lost some time, but in the second part of the race we had good pace. Unfortunately, it was impossible to overtake. I was quicker than the cars in front, but you need a big advantage to be able pass around here, especially with these very wide cars. I leave Monaco feeling we have lost some important points. Esteban showed what we could do today and it feels like an opportunity lost.”

 

Kevin Magnussen (Haas – 13th):

“The car that we had this weekend is not representative of what we should have. I’m just glad we’re out of here, and I can’t wait to go to Montreal and get back into the fight. Everyone on the team deserves that. We’re moving on. We’re all looking forward to Canada and to putting some new parts on the car, getting back into our normal shape, and getting back in the fight for points.”

 

Charles Leclerc (Alfa Romeo Sauber – DNF):

“It was a tough race, and it is disappointing that I could not finish it. Everything was going quite well, we had a good pace, and were competitive in the midfield. We lost a bit of time getting stuck behind Brendon (Hartley) for much of the race and, being on a track where it is difficult to overtake, there was not much we could do. Unfortunately, there was an issue with my brakes just a few laps before finishing. I tried to avoid the car ahead, but there was nothing I could do. A shame, but I look forward to the next race in Canada now.”

 

Eric Boullier (McLaren – Racing Director):

“It’s bitterly disappointing to be walking away from the most prestigious grand prix of the year with no points – but, sometimes, that’s motor racing. It’s made even more frustrating by the fact that Fernando had driven a faultless race and, through no fault of his own, was forced to park the car with a transmission problem on lap 53. Stoffel had limited opportunities to make progress from his 12th position on the grid. But he kept his nose clean all afternoon, managed to recover a flat-spot, and pushed all the way to the flag. There are positives to take away from the weekend: our pace on Saturday was a clear improvement, and our upgrades continue to deliver on the track. There’s a lot more work still to be done, but we head to Canada feeling confident that we’re headed in the right direction.”

 

Sergey Sirotkin (Williams – 16th):

“It’s not ideal to finish where we did but, in some ways, it was a good race. We had a car that was definitely allowing me to fight. I think we had the pace, the car really had the pace and I think we had a good chance to be in the points, but a bit of bad luck with the penalty following what went wrong on the grid. I think we showed a good improvement in qualifying. We showed a good improvement in the pace within the race itself. We’ll just keep working, harder and harder, and we’ll get there.”

 

Stoffel Vandoorne (McLaren – 14th):

“This was a disappointing race for me. The first stint was really tough – I’d started on the Ultrasoft and was looking to run longer than the Hypersoft runners, but I had too much degradation and couldn’t manage it. Then I lost a lot of time at my first pit-stop, and that also lost me track position. My final stint – on the Hypersoft – was a bit quicker, and I could take the fight to the cars in front, but obviously Monaco is no place at which to overtake. We were expecting more, but I still think we’ve taken a step forward with our qualifying pace. But I think we need to really focus on improving our car performance so we’re better placed to score points.”

 

Romain Grosjean (Haas – 15th):

“It was a tough race. We struggled and didn’t have much pace. Unfortunately, with no crazy thing in the race, we were always going to be in a difficult position. I think we should have a good car in Canada.”

 

Brendon Hartley (Toro Rosso – DNF):

“It was a tough race starting from 15th. I had a pretty good start, but I damaged my front wing on the first lap at Turn 5 which was annoying. It was an uphill battle from there, the tyres quickly faded with lack of front downforce, but we held on and made a big effort to make the Ultrasofts last until the end. We pitted really early to make an undercut which was a good strategy, and towards the end of the race I was catching Carlos for P10, but then I got hit from behind by a Sauber. Charles and I spoke afterwards and he said he lost the brakes, it’s pretty frustrating, but that’s Monaco. We were strong all weekend apart from Q1, where we didn’t get it all together. I was happy with how I was driving today but ultimately it wasn’t meant to be.”

 

Lance Stroll (Williams – 17th):

“It was a pretty terrible day. I got a puncture on lap nine and lost a bunch of time, like a lap, just getting to the pits. After that I was busy letting cars through with blue flags as I was a lap down. Then we had temperature problems all race, and I was told to give gaps and let cars by, so there was not much of an opportunity and we just weren’t racing today. Looking forward I am very excited about my home race next and hope we can have a much better weekend in Canada.”