Monaco: The Qualifications Seen from the Stands

Mercedes

Nico Rosberg – Pole Position

Lewis Hamilton – 2nd

Toto Wolff, Executive Director: « It was an exciting practice session. We had two drivers fighting to the limit for every thousandth of a second, and that’s where mistakes happen, as it did for Nico today. It was an incredible fight between Nico and Lewis and, from the team’s perspective, it’s fantastic to have locked out the front row on the track where it’s the most important. But we still have a tough race ahead tomorrow and it’s one of the most demanding on the calendar. There is still a long way to go. »

– Read the drivers’ statements

Red Bull

Daniel Ricciardo – 3rd

Sebastian Vettel – 4th

Christian Horner, Team Principal: Securing the second row on the grid is a very positive result. Unfortunately, we had an issue with Sebastian’s ERS, which wasn’t working properly. So we had to run in a slightly downgraded mode for qualifying. This, combined with the yellow flags, prevented him from improving during his second run. Daniel, who has been very good all weekend, did an amazing job once again to start from third place on the grid. With both Red Bulls on the second row, we have a good chance to fight with the Mercedes tomorrow.

– Read the drivers’ statements

Ferrari

Fernando Alonso – 5th

Kimi Räikkönen – 6th

Pat Fry, Technical Director: Finding the right window in the fast laps and avoiding traffic is always a crucial aspect of qualifying for the Monaco Grand Prix, particularly in Q1 and Q2. Here, the tires take a few more laps to reach their best, and it’s a bit tricky, but fortunately, we didn’t have any major issues with the car. The gap has narrowed against Red Bull and also against Mercedes, but the result hasn’t changed from previous races. In any case, both Fernando and Kimi got the most out of the F14-T, which continues to improve step by step.

– Read the drivers’ statements

Toro Rosso

Jean-Eric Vergne – 7th

Daniil Kvyat – 10th

Ricardo Penteado, Track Support Manager at Renault F1: « An impressive qualifying session for both drivers. Daniil had to recover from a very unfortunate accident in Q1 but did a great job to get back into the rhythm and secure a spot in the top 10. Similarly, JEV had a very, very good day to place the team seventh. The updates tested on Thursday turned out to be really advantageous for us, especially with regard to the changes on the steering wheel. The limiter and the pickup (control module to prevent too abrupt engine speed increases) have also improved, both being very important here in Monaco. »

– Read the drivers’ statements

McLaren

Kevin Magnussen – 8th

Jenson Button – 12th

Eric Boullier, Team Principal: Having a car in the top 8 was what we could realistically hope for today, and Kevin did a great job achieving that. He drove with a lot of confidence throughout the weekend, made no mistakes, and put everything together when it mattered.

Jenson wasn’t lucky in Q2. He has been having balance issues since the beginning of the weekend and hasn’t been able to get rid of them. He was unlucky on his last stint: he couldn’t get a lap when the tires were at their best and missed Q3.

Our focus now shifts to tomorrow to maximize our chances of scoring points with both cars. A circuit like this can always hold surprises. We therefore hope to have a clean race for both drivers, confirming Kevin’s position in the top 10 and helping Jenson to get into the points.

The two drivers showed consistency and a good pace throughout the weekend, and they are both capable of grabbing a few places tomorrow. It is going to be a long and action-packed race.

– Read the drivers’ statements

Force India

Sergio Pérez – 9th

Nico Hülkenberg – 11th

Vijay Mallya, Team Principal: « Qualifying is crucial in Monaco and starting the race 10th and 11th is not such a bad result, all things considered. Sergio put in a great effort to make it to Q3, but it was a shame that Nico missed out, although he will have an extra set of new tires tomorrow. Our starting positions mean both drivers have a very good opportunity to fight for points. Throughout all sessions, we’ve seen the cars around us have a similar pace to ours, which means that choosing the right strategy will be key to gaining positions tomorrow. »

– Read the drivers’ statements

Williams

Valtteri Bottas – 13th

Felipe Massa – 16th

Rob Smedley, Head of Performance:

Today wasn’t the easiest of days as our positions show. Qualifying is important here, but there are 78 laps tomorrow, which means we have time to recover and score some points. The midfield was very tight and unfortunately due to the nature of the track, we were towards the back rather than at the front in our usual position. There were only a few tenths compared to where we should have been, so we need to analyze everything to ensure we understand well for tomorrow. Felipe was unlucky in this session with the incident with Ericsson, which was unfortunate because he looked good until that point and we didn’t have such a good pace with Valtteri’s car. There’s still a bit of work to do to be in the points tomorrow, but it’s still possible.

– Read the drivers’ statements

Lotus

Romain Grosjean – 14th

Pastor Maldonado – 15th

Alan Permane, Lotus Track Operations Director: « Disappointing, we just didn’t have the pace in the slow corners here. Unfortunately, there are a lot of slow corners here which means we’ve been struggling compared to our competitors, and the result is that we are 14th and 15th on the grid. Sunday will be a long race and we will seize every opportunity to gain positions to finish the race in the best possible position. We are facing a tough task. Monaco is the circuit of the season where it is the most difficult to overtake and the tires provided here are particularly durable, so it won’t be possible to be creative with the strategy unless a safety car works in our favor. Tonight, we will check all possible permutations to maximize every opportunity. »

– Read the drivers’ statements

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Sauber

Esteban Gutierrez – 17th

Adrian Sutil – 18th

Monisha Kaltenborn, Team Principal: « It was a disappointing qualifying session for us. None of our drivers were really satisfied with the car settings. If other circumstances arose, such as the yellow flags at the end of the session, this is how it ends. There is no doubt it will be a tough race for us. We need to focus on our work and extract the maximum from this situation. »

– Lire les déclarations des pilotes

Marussia

**Jules Bianchi** – 19th

Max Chilton – 20th

John Booth, Sporting Director: « We chose to run a little differently in FP3 due to the lost time on Thursday in the rain. Jules was happy with his car and Max wasn’t really. In qualifying, we revised Max’s setup and it improved dramatically for him. For Jules, unfortunately, his second attempt wasn’t productive due to yellow flags and traffic, but that’s Monaco! Overall, it’s very disappointing that we didn’t have the opportunity to show our true potential in what is always the most important qualifying session of the year. »

– Read the drivers’ statements

Caterham

Kamui Kobayashi – 21st

Marcus Ericsson – 22nd [will start from the pits after penalty]

Cedrik Staudohar, Renault F1 Logistics Support Manager: « Once again, we pushed the power unit to its limit to extract maximum performance from the engine and MGU-K without any issues. We are ready to fight tomorrow, with different energy management options to seize every opportunity that comes our way. »

– Read the drivers’ statements