Highly efficient in long stints, Mercedes will have to contain the Red Bull threat in qualifying
After the controversy, it's back to sport for Hamilton and Rosberg with their first laps of the Monaco circuit. Dominant in the morning, Hamilton and Rosberg still need to work on their understanding of ultra-tendres to fend off any attacks from Red Bull.
Lewis Hamilton: FP1: 1:15.537 → P1 (31 Laps)
FP2: 1:15.213 → P2 ( 46 Laps )
After two controversial editions in the Principality, the reigning world champion certainly has a burning desire to triumph this Sunday. His start to the weekend certainly points in that direction. While he was leading in the morning, Daniel Ricciardo moved ahead in the standings in the afternoon. But despite the engine improvement on the Red Bull, Lewis Hamilton doesn’t seem too worried yet: « I didn’t achieve the lap I would have liked this afternoon. There was certainly a gap, but not six-tenths. In fact, we weren’t as far from them. I’m not surprised by their performance because their car has good downforce. »
Indeed, Hamilton is pleased with these two practice sessions: “It was a relatively good day for us. No real surprises, except for the fact that the track significantly changed at turn 15 (coming out of the Swimming Pool corner).”
Regarding the ultra-soft tires, surprisingly, the wear seems less significant than expected: « *Although they are the fastest here, I must say that I found them very hard! It wasn’t as simple as that to reach our operating window. But we completed our program in both sessions. Our pace was also solid. So I hope we continue that way for the rest of the weekend.* »
Therefore, can Daniel Ricciardo outperform him in Qualifying?
« Maybe we will be ahead, maybe it will be very close. In any case, we will see on Saturday: the qualifying will be crucial, the race is generally a procession here. »
Nico Rosberg: FP1: 1:15.638 → P2 39 Laps
FP2: 1:15.506 → P3 48 Laps
More productive in terms of laps, Nico Rosberg was nevertheless outpaced twice by his teammate. In response, the leader of the World Drivers’ Championship pointed to the numerous accidents of the day: « It feels good to be back in the streets of my city! But also to see all these fans close to the track. It was a complicated start to the weekend for us. The two sessions were a bit messy, with those Virtual Safety Car periods, but I was able to learn a lot about our tires during our long runs, which is positive. »
Like Hamilton, Rosberg must meet with his engineers to find those crucial last tenths between the rails: “I want to applaud the marshals for clearing all these cars so quickly. As announced, the Red Bull team is very strong here. We have work to do tonight and tomorrow to find a time gain, but I am already looking forward to Saturday and the Qualifications battle. It should be very tight and very interesting, which would be great for our sport.”
In front of the journalists, the two drivers also expressed mutual respect, aiming to finally ease the tensions that followed the Spanish Grand Prix. Lewis Hamilton admitted to having spoken with Nico Rosberg: « We talked together: it went well. There has always been respect between us anyway. I told him that I still respected him. And he told me the same thing. We agreed not to change our driving style. The matter is settled. And that’s very good: there would have been more tension in the past. I repeat, everything went well, we’re not going to change anything.
But despite this calm, there is no doubt that there will be tension in the air in less than 48 hours, at the decisive moment of the Qualifications!
