RED BULL - Monaco GP - Qualifying
Saturday 24 May 2014
MONACO GP – QUALIFYING
DANIEL RICCIARDO, Position: 3rd, (3rd Practice – P2, 1:16.808)
“I think I could have been closer to the front today and I don’t like it when that’s the case. I made a mistake in the last run in Q3; we were up and I thought it was going well, but then I made a mistake and lost the time I had made. Anyways, there’s no room for excuses here so I’ll just have to learn for next time. I would be disappointed not to finish on the podium tomorrow. I think we have the pace to hang with Mercedes, so hopefully we can at least get one of them off the line and maybe do something with strategy and give ourselves a real chance of taking a win.”
SEBASTIAN VETTEL, Position: 4th, (3rd Practice – P4, 1:17.184)
“I had some problems in qualifying today. Somewhere in Q1 we lost ERS, so basically the electric power to discharge the car and we didn’t get it back. In the end we ran a different mode which was fine, but surely not as good as it should be. It was the first time it had failed this weekend, but these things happen. We tried lots of different modes, but at some point you have to just get your head down and get on with it. My time was okay but then we weren’t able to improve on the second flying lap in Q3 as there was a yellow flag. I thought we would give Mercedes a hard time today, but we struggled with some things and the gap was too big – it’s still good to be on the second row for tomorrow.”
CHRISTIAN HORNER: “Locking out the second row of the grid is a very positive result. Unfortunately we had an issue with Sebastian’s ERS today, which wasn’t functioning properly, so we had to run in a slightly down-graded mode for qualifying and that, combined with the yellow flags, meant he didn’t have a chance to improve on his second run. Daniel, who has been on it all weekend, did another super job to line up third on the grid and with both Red Bull cars on the second row, we have a good chance to make a race of it with Mercedes tomorrow.”
THIERRY SALVI: “We had a chance to be quicker than our rivals on this kind of street track today. Daniel was able to get into third place by managing his fastest lap in Q3. It’s a very good result but there was definitely more potential in the car today. Seb again suffered an ERS system issue that compromised his qualifying, but nevertheless managed to put the car into fourth place. Although it is a good qualifying overall for both drivers, it is a bit frustrating as we were not able to give the maximum power unit potential to the drivers. Let’s race and see what will happen as Monaco often gives unexpected results.”
*************************************************
DRIVEN TO RACE
Despite the hours in the garages and the thousands of kilometres of testing and racing everyone in F1 puts in, everyone in the team is very passionate about what they do. Team Manager Jonathan Wheatley reveals how he owes his 24-year career in F1 to his dad, the British Grand Prix and a chance encounter with an old friend…
What’s your first memory of motorsport?
As a child, at the British Grand Prix, I can remember being in a grandstand with my dad. I was very young, probably only three or four years old. I remember the noise, the colour, the spectacle. It gripped my imagination.
Did you actively pursue a career in motorsport?
Not really. When I was a child my father was racing and I spent a lot of time with him at circuits. I raced karts. I did an apprenticeship with a Ferrari dealer. They did a bit of racing and when I left there I went to another team that did a little bit of historic racing and then I bumped into an old friend who told me that there might be a job going at Benetton and I ended up in F1.
Do you still get excited coming to each race weekend?
I genuinely do. It’s almost a boyish excitement. I love the fact that we compete against the best in the world and there’s a result at the end of it. I can’t imagine how it is for people who have to go into an office and work for a company and not really have an idea how you’re doing. Here you’re measured every other weekend and you know exactly what you’ve achieved.
Tom Beeler
Tom has been a contributor to RIS since 1992. He was invited to join the staff as a full-time reporter/editor in 1995, and has covered IndyCar, Formula 1, NASCAR, Grand-Am, ALMS and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. In addition to his RIS work, Tom has been a contributor for General Motors, Nissan, Toyota and the ACO.
Volume 2014, Issue 5, Posted 2:16 PM, 05.24.2014