Sunday: McLaren not far from victory
After an ideal start to the race, Jenson Button could only secure third place on the podium, even though he could have hoped for more. Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton did not have a good race, marked by incidents and penalties.
Jenson Button – 3rd
« First of all, I am happy to hear that Vitaly Petrov is doing well after this second major incident of the weekend.
As for my race, I didn’t make a single mistake, I pushed hard when I was in the lead… but I come back with only 15 points in the end. But that’s Monte Carlo.
We overtook Sebastian Vettel during the first stop, and I attacked like crazy on the super softs, touching the walls once or twice. The car was good, and I built a big lead, nearly 15 seconds, so things were looking very good at that moment. Then we made another tire change, just before the safety car was deployed. I still hadn’t used the soft tires, which meant we still had another set of tires to fit to finish the race.
Ten laps from the end, it seemed that both Sebastian, Fernando, and I could win: Sebastian’s tires were degrading, and Fernando was putting a lot of pressure on him. I can say that Fernando was ready to make a move in turn 1 — it was quite amusing because they could have collided or hindered each other, giving me an opportunity to overtake them. Any of us could have won at that moment.
But after the red flag, all the teams were able to fit fresh tires – which means we couldn’t do anything because we were on the same pace but I was losing my advantage.
The team did a very good job this weekend and I am very happy. We really gave it our all for this and we tried something different in order to beat Sebastian. It started off well, but it ultimately didn’t work…
Lewis Hamilton – 6th
It’s a disappointing weekend, really. This afternoon, during the race, I executed overtaking maneuvers on three drivers – Michael Schumacher, Felipe Massa, and Pastor Maldonado – and I got penalized for two of them. With Felipe, I went on the inside of the hairpin, he turned quite early, and we touched. With Pastor, once again, he turned, and I was pushed onto the curb. The penalties are really frustrating: it’s difficult to overtake here, and you rarely get the chance to do so. I gave it my all and just wanted to put on a good show for everyone.
Martin Whitmarsh
« Our car had a very good rhythm today – a winner’s rhythm in fact – and I think we can consider ourselves a bit unlucky not to have been able to convert this rhythm into a victory.
We chose a three-stop strategy for Jenson, and this choice seemed to be the right one. Now, obviously, you can never know for sure, but it’s undeniable that Sebastian and Fernando both had very worn tires while Jenson’s were in good condition, which could have led us to believe that he might capitalize on this advantage by overtaking the Ferrari and Red Bull in the final laps. But, as I said, the red flag ruined our chances.
That said, Jenson not only made no mistakes, but he was also very fast this afternoon. He caught up with the battle between Vettel and Alonso by gaining nearly two seconds per lap while taking care of his tires. It’s an excellent performance.
Lewis, on the other hand, had a frustrating day. It’s obvious that if you don’t start at the front here, you run the risk of being involved in some incidents, especially if, like Lewis, you’re an energetic driver who never gives up. But that’s Lewis. That’s what makes him a fantastic driver and why watching him race is so exciting. So yes, he’s disappointed because he’s been fast all weekend, but it’s Monaco, it’s racing, it’s life.
Immediately after the race, he was very upset, and during a televised interview, he made a bad joke about his penalties. I am glad he chose to revisit it a bit later and discuss it with the stewards. They accepted his explanation.
In summary, then, Sebastian was probably a bit luckier than Jenson today, but he drove very well to win and should be congratulated. In Montreal, we hope it will be our turn to have some luck.”
