Unhappy - I was going for the perfect 0 season!

Gimmie New Zealand in world cup draw please gods of luck!

hehe Kamui did great today considering he had bad start....he'll be fighting for 6-8 soon

Of all the races on the Formula One calendar, Monaco can surely claim the most historic and glamorous reputation. Here the drivers and senior team personnel explain what makes the Monte Carlo event so special and reveal how they think they may fare over the coming weekend…

Pedro de la Rosa
2009 Qualifying - n/a, 2009 Race - n/a
"My last race in Monte Carlo was in 2002 and I finished tenth in the Jaguar. For me this is the most difficult circuit of the season, as it is very challenging. You have to really concentrate in order to avoid the slightest mistake. To have maximum track time in the practice sessions and find a good rhythm is very important. You need a lot of downforce and a good car for the narrow, slow corners. I'm afraid we may struggle a bit in Monaco, so I don't expect an easy weekend for us. Off the track I understand why people love coming to Monaco, although it is absolutely not my sort of lifestyle. They are on a party mission, while we have a different schedule and tasks. As a racing driver I find it a rather chaotic weekend, from a fan's perspective it must be great fun."

Kamui Kobayashi
2009 Qualifying - n/a, 2009 Race - n/a
"It will be my first Formula One race in Monaco, but I have some experience from GP2 - although not the best ones. Both races turned out to be short for me when I was involved in accidents. It wasn't my fault and it can easily happen in Monaco. Driving there in a Formula One car must be fantastic. I'm really excited and looking forward to it, especially as I can see us improving as there is a positive trend. But I know it will be difficult to continue this in Monaco, as I don't think our car is ideal for slow corners. Of course Monaco is very challenging also for a driver. I'm well aware I have room for improvement, so I will push hard and do my best."

James Key, BMW Sauber technical director
"It will be a very different event, as it is the first very high-downforce circuit of the season. It will be interesting to see how these longer wheelbase, high fuel level cars work there because it's something we haven't experienced before. But obviously a very exciting event. Tyres will be very soft, so we have to see how we manage those. And, of course, we have to be extremely careful how we time our qualifying runs with so many cars now on the track. We have some small developments on the car specifically for Monaco. We have to work hard on the mechanical set-up to make sure that we can cope with the bumps, but also keep the aerodynamics strong as well, then it could be reasonable for us. But it's a very different event from the first five races, so it will be interesting to see how that shuffles the pack."

More to follow.

Their qualifying speed, fine weather, and the difficulty of passing in Barcelona meant the odds were heavily stacked in favour of a dominant Red Bull one-two in Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix. It wasn’t to be. Their race pace was not as quick as expected, and although polesitter Mark Webber won as he pleased, technical gremlins again struck the RB6, meaning Sebastian Vettel had to rely on others’ misfortune for his podium finish. We take a team-by-team look at Sunday afternoon’s events…

Red Bull
Mark Webber, P1
Sebastian Vettel, P3
The result looked good for Red Bull, with Webber an excellent first after a superb race, and Vettel third. But while the Australian enjoyed a trouble-free Grand Prix that he controlled at will, the German said his RB6 had poor balance throughout. Then on the 54th lap failure of the left front brake put him off course in the esses, and a pit stop for fresh rubber and a quick visual checkover did not help him to regain lost pace. He was lucky that Hamilton crashed out with two laps to go.

Ferrari
Fernando Alonso, P2
Felipe Massa, P6
Ferrari lacked real pace, and Alonso admitted that he was very fortunate that both Vettel and Hamilton struck trouble late in the race, promoting him from fourth to second. Massa said his F10 still lacked rear-end grip in sector three, and could not pass either Schumacher or Button. His cause wasn’t helped when he clobbered Chandhok while lapping him, generating understeer after damaging the left-hand endplate on the front wing.

Mercedes GP
Michael Schumacher, P4
Nico Rosberg, P13
The race proved that Mercedes are not fast enough, but Schumacher looked his tough and resolute old self as he robustly defended against Button on his way to a lucky fourth place. Rosberg got bundled down the order at the start when Kubica would not give way and he found himself on the grass, and later his pit stop was botched when he had to be pushed back to have the right front wheel nut retightened. His run of points-scoring finishes was ended by a 13th place.

McLaren
Jenson Button, P5
Lewis Hamilton, retired lap 54, accident
McLaren still lead the constructors’ title chase, but they would have been further ahead had Hamilton not suffered that tyre problem. He drove brilliantly to split the Red Bulls, and set fastest lap, but crashed out in Turn Three on lap 64 when, the team suspected, he suffered a similar incident to Kovalainen here in 2008: it is thought that a stone jammed between the left front upright and the wheel, machining through the rim so that the tyre exploded as the wheel collapsed. Button ran right behind Alonso initially, but lost his dashboard display early on. That meant he had to judge gearshifts, and could not activate the launch control system in his pit stop, resultant in clutch drag and delaying wheelspin. That put him behind Schumacher, and he could not find a way past thereafter. Nevertheless, he still leads the championship for drivers.

Force India
Adrian Sutil, P7
Tonio Liuzzi, retired lap 66, power loss
Sutil made a great start and was always in the hunt for points, and did a great job to stay ahead of hard-charging Kubica without making any mistakes. Seventh was just reward. Liuzzi struggled with his car on the soft Bridgestone rubber and was the first to switch to the harder primes, after which his car became good enough to match his team mate’s lap times. Right at the end, however, he stopped out on the track when his engine suffered power loss, but it did not affect his finishing position.

Renault
Robert Kubica, P8
Vitaly Petrov, P11
Renault had a rough opening lap, with Kubica coming together with Kobayashi and losing two places, and Petrov being too cautious. While the Pole then spent most of his race chasing Sutil, en route to eighth, the Russian hounded Kobayashi to finish 12th. Interestingly, they set near-identical best lap times in 1m 25.466s and 1m 25.470s respectively.

Williams
Rubens Barrichello, P9
Nico Hulkenberg, P16
Initially the two Williams ran nose to tail in team order, but whereas Barrichello was able to convert 17th place on the grid to a solid ninth place result, Hulkenberg lost pace and ground after an off-road moment following his pit stop robbed his FW32 of downforce.

Toro Rosso
Jaime Alguersuari, P10
Sebastien Buemi, Retired lap 43, hydraulics
Alguersuari had a messy race, running right behind Sutil and ahead of Kubica early on before a sticking front left wheel nut lost him a lot of ground in the first pit stop. Later he carved up Chandhok when he misjudged a lapping move, and got a drive-through penalty for his troubles. A point on home ground was thus welcome, but he was disappointed that he could not convert good race pace into something better. Buemi walloped De la Rosa on the opening lap and needed a new nose at the end of it, later got a drive-through for an unsafe release into Trulli’s path, and then retired with hydraulic problems.

BMW Sauber
Kamui Kobayashi, P12
Pedro de la Rosa, retired lap 18, collision damage
Both drivers were involved in first-lap incidents, Kobayashi with Kubica, and De la Rosa with Buemi. The Japanese driver lost ground, and the chance for points; the bitterly disappointed Spaniard had to pit to have a shredded left rear tyre replaced, and retired soon afterwards with undertray damage which could not be repaired.

Lotus
Jarno Trulli, P17
Heikki Kovalainen, did not start, gearbox software
Lotus lost Kovalainen as his car was fired up on the grid and a software glitch promptly selected two gears at once. But Trulli drove a strong race, albeit it in a car that he said did not have the same edge that it did in practice, to finish best of the new teams just ahead of Glock’s Virgin.

Virgin
Timo Glock, P18
Lucas di Grassi, P19
Virgin got both cars home, and Glock really charged after Trulli’s Lotus and kept the Italian honest throughout the race. They finished just 1.4s apart. Di Grassi showed great presence of mind to keep out of the way of Hamilton and Vettel in Turn One on the 18th lap.

HRT
Karun Chandhok, retired lap 28, collision damage
Bruno Senna, retired lap 1, accident
Senna’s undertray had been repaired after damage was discovered that had lost him downforce all through practice and qualifying, but he got caught out in Turn Four on the opening lap after a spectacular start, and crashed out. Chandhok started at the back after a gearbox replacement, but made good progress until he was assaulted by Alguersuari and had to pit for a replacement nose. Soon after, further damage sustained in the incident forced him out.

Although it was not the best weekend for Mercedes in general, who slipped further behind the other three big teams – Red Bull, McLaren and Ferrari – in terms of raw pace, Schumacher beat team-mate Nico Rosberg for the first time this season and showed characteristic ruthlessness in passing Button following the latter's pit-stop on lap 16. The McLaren driver had lost time in the pits with a clutch problem, and as he arrived at turn one Schumacher swept around the outside of him to gain fifth place.

"I didn't really know where Michael was on the outside of me," Button said. "He turned in and if I didn't back out of it we would have crashed. So he didn't really give me a lot of room there. There you go, you'd think with his experience he would know. It wasn't really the right move."

No doubt Schumacher will take such comments – routine during his former years – as another promising sign that he is recovering his form. And Button conceded that having passed him, there was nothing he could do to reclaim his spot, despite having the faster car.

"It's tough to overtake here, and Michael's not silly," the Briton said. "He knows where to put his car, so on a track like this you're not going to overtake him.

"He was putting it on the inside, and I couldn't pass on the outside because he just pushed me wide every time. He didn't make a mistake, so it was very frustrating.

"Fifth place is OK, but it's frustrating because the car was quick here. That's a positive and a negative, because I didn't get to use the speed."

Schumacher described the skirmish as "interesting" but said he was still not happy with Mercedes' pace.

"All we could do was to hope for reliability problems of others in order to make up positions and that's not really what you want to do," the 41 year-old said. "In the end the gap to the front was just too big to be happy after this race. For Monaco, we hope that the characteristics of the track will suit our car better."

Local favourite Fernando Alonso, who delighted the estimated 92,000 crowd by claiming second spot thanks to Lewis Hamilton's late retirement and Sebastian Vettel's brake problems, was also of the view that his team needed to work harder to catch Red Bull.

"I feel extremely happy after the result today and when you gain two positions in the last part of race, unexpected positions, it feels great," said the Spaniard, who climbed to second in the championship as a result, just three points behind Button.

"But we need to improve. We worked again to maximise our potential. We know sometimes we will be third, sometimes fifth, sometimes first hopefully."

McLaren’s Jenson Button and Ferrari’s Felipe Massa are among the five drivers answering questions on Wednesday, while Red Bull’s Christian Horner and Lotus’s Tony Fernandes face the media alongside two other team principals on Thursday. The line-up in full…

Wednesday, May 12, 1500 hours local time (1300 GMT):
Sebastien Buemi (Toro Rosso), Jenson Button (McLaren), Timo Glock (Virgin), Robert Kubica (Renault) and Felipe Massa (Ferrari).

Thursday, May 13, 1600 hours local time (1400 GMT):
John Booth (Virgin), Tony Fernandes (Lotus), Christian Horner (Red Bull) and Martin Whitmarsh (McLaren).

The qualifying and post-race conferences with the top three drivers will take place immediately after the respective sessions.

Formula1.com will bring you full transcripts.

we are now going to a party sunday but its looking to be after the race but if not i may sit with my ipod on listening to radio coverage
any ideas what weather is gonna be doing?
and since we said bout it on twitter eoin i cant shift that horrid feeling bout it

sorry about that, i just think that theyve pushed their luck at onaco for too long now....

eh weather is just cloudy according to F1.com but they always wrong....

i'm hoping to be proved wrong but after what i saw on twitter of a heikki quote its just scared me even more cos he said he has a job to do and even as 1 of backmarkers wont be moving over for noone o.O i understand he is gonna wanna drive well but surely thats lacking in common sense somewhat for somewhere like monaco

yeah and the likes of chandhock who should never be allowed to drive an F1 car in any normal circumstances is going to be the big problem....i want him gone he's too dangerous, he thinks just becuase he's in F1 he's good, he clearly isn't and has no experience......

yeah i agree bout him his trouble is he is too nice nice guys dont make good racing drivers imo plus i know he a rookie and not in the best of cars but jeez he is crap

the whole alguesuari incident was his fault in my opinion.....there was at least 3 other times where me and my bro were shouting at tv saying chandhock what the fook are you doing....

he just reminds me of a sunday driver yeah i know races are on sundays but i mean like those oblivous oaps who poodle along in their own little world

yeah know exactly what you mean, just sent him a twitter message there...bit mean but whatever! lol

Reproduced with kind permission of the FIA

Drivers: Sebastien Buemi (Toro Rosso), Jenson Button (McLaren), Timo Glock (Virgin), Robert Kubica (Renault), Felipe Massa (Ferrari)

Q: A question to you all. Just look back at last weekend and look ahead to this weekend. What do you think of this circuit? What are your chances? Sebastien, perhaps we can start with you.
Sebastien Buemi: Barcelona was a new start to the season with all the new updates. I think we didn’t do too bad considering we are a small team, so I am expecting to have a good car here in Monaco. We were quite competitive last year and we have some new bits coming for here, so it should not be too bad. We should be near Q3, 10th space, 11th space, so that will be our objective and to score points.

Q: You have had a lot of bad luck so far this year. How can you get rid of that as this is not the best place to get rid of bad luck is it?
SB: Exactly. It has been a very difficult start to the season for me with all the incidents and we had a lot of technical problems, so I am hoping to have a clean weekend. That is most important. I am pretty sure we can do it as my team-mate seemed to have a consistent car until the end of the race, so I am hoping to have the same for this race but we will see.

Q: Do you think you made a jump forward with the updates from last weekend?
SB: I think we stayed more or less where we were. Our updates seemed to be working a bit better than expected as we seem to be ahead of Williams and near to Force India at the same level, so this is good for us. Now we need to see on this circuit how it reacts but I think we have a decent car for this kind of circuit.

Q: Robert, your thoughts of last weekend and this coming weekend?
Robert Kubica: Barcelona on our side was a good weekend for us performance wise. We were a bit surprised about our performance in qualifying. We did not bring a big upgrade to Barcelona, so we were expecting to maybe lose some ground. Actually we did lose some ground to Red Bull but to the others cars like Ferrari, McLaren or Mercedes we were quite close, so good performance. But, unfortunately, not so good first lap and then all race with a damaged front wing, so it was not easy but I managed to finish eighth. We know Barcelona is very difficult for overtaking, so it has been quite a tough race, but anyway quite a good weekend. For here, Monaco is quite a different grand prix to what we have raced this year, so it will be interesting to see how our car will be performing here. Unfortunately, from our side, we don’t have a specific downforce level for here. Normally from the past I was used to having some different wings with more downforce. Drag and efficiency is not so important here in Monaco, but we will be using practically the same wings as all year, so we will have to see if our downforce level is good for here.

Q: But you like kart tracks and this is like a big kart track, isn’t it?
RK: I like street circuits. I used to always make quite good results here and overall on street circuits, so I enjoy driving and I am looking forward to that.

Q: You are in a new team. How is the relationship going? Do you feel you are building the team around you?
RK: So far so good. When you are joining a new team or when you are working you try to create a good atmosphere with the engineers, the mechanics in the workshop and on the race track, so I think it is normal you are trying to do the best atmosphere you can to work well. Especially when you have problems then it helps when you have a good relationship and respect with each other. This is what we are doing, so from this point of view there is nothing we can improve. All is going quite well.

Q: Timo, tell us about last weekend, this weekend?
Timo Glock: Last weekend was good for the whole team to bring both cars through the race without problems. I was quite happy that at least the changes we made worked out. For here I think it will be a difficult one for us. The track will be quite hard for our car. We struggle a bit especially in low and medium speed corners with general downforce, so it will be a bit of a struggle. But we will work as hard as possible and be close again to Lotus. We had a good pace in the race in Barcelona against Lotus. We struggled a bit in qualifying. That is our target to be closer to them again.

Q: Is it going to be really difficult with 24 cars out on the circuit, particularly in qualifying?
TG: Yeah, qualifying will be difficult. For us we have to find a way to get two runs in with a clean lap. But the race is another point. We had a lot of blue flags coming up in Barcelona and Barcelona is a really easy track to have a look at your mirrors and see and judge where the others are. That will be a bit more challenging here. But the team is doing a really good job on that and try to inform me as much as possible. We will see how we get around it.

Q: One of the new drivers said he had 15 laps without blue flags last weekend out of 66. That has got to be so difficult?
TG: Yeah, definitely. I think my stint was only until the first pit stop without any blue flags. Then I came out of the pits and it started to be from that lap on to the end with blue flags and here it will be really difficult.

Q: Jenson, last weekend, this weekend?´
Jenson Button: Last weekend was a bit frustrating. The pace of the car in qualifying wasn’t where we hoped it would be. The Red Bulls had a big gap at the front. I think it was almost one second, so that was disappointing but in the race the cars seemed to be working well. The pace of the car was pretty good. I wasn’t able to unlock that for most of the race as I was stuck behind Michael (Schumacher). But it was a pretty tricky race for me as I lost my dash I think on lap three, so I had no lights or anything. You learn where to shift but when you are in tow some lap and not others you are hitting the limiter a lot, so it was pretty tricky. Also on my pit stop I came in in second gear instead of first and I had no lights or anything for the launch, so it wasn’t the best situation. I think we dealt with it pretty well and got some good points but there were a lot more points out there for us. I think the pace of the car was good and if we had got everything right it would have been much better. But I still came away from there with 10 points, so not too bad but looking forward to this weekend and really put it right and have a good race here and get the best out of the car. It is a very unique race Monaco. I don’t think and I hope Red Bull don’t have the advantage they had in Barcelona. If it is dry I think we can have a good race here. We won’t really know until tomorrow if the car is performing well here but there is no reason it won’t be. McLaren have a very good record here and if it is wet it will throw it up in the air. It will be pretty crazy for all of us. But it is a race we all look forward to. It is unique and to get a good result here means a lot.

Q: Two things about last year. First of all you parked in the wrong place having just won the race and also you said at the press conference after the race that you tried to downplay in your mind the importance of what a fantastic race it would be to win and of course you went on to win it. How do you treat it this year?
JB: It is a little bit different as I won the race last year. You come into this race a lot more relaxed and I am really looking forward to it. I am excited about the challenge. I would prefer if it was dry this weekend. It is an exciting race in the dry and is exciting enough. If it is wet it is going to be pretty crazy for us out there especially with so many cars. In qualifying with 24 cars out there it will be pretty mad in the dry, but in the wet pretty impossible to get a clear lap. But I am excited about the weekend. It is a fun weekend and for Formula One it is the most glamorous weekend we have on the calendar. For us we are heads down and doing our work but for the people and the fans of Formula One it is a lot of fun and we will hopefully put on a good show.

Q: Felipe, last weekend, this weekend?
Felipe Massa: Last weekend was not really great for me, especially in qualifying, looking at the difference. Red Bull was in front of most of the other teams. I was struggling a lot to find the good grip level on the tyres and in the race, starting ninth and finishing sixth was not so bad. I did a good start and then the race was quite boring as Jenson said. Difficult to overtake, almost impossible, and struggling a lot with the grip level as well. I did most of the race behind them and I just had no grip to try anything. It was not a very nice race to do, so I hope we can do a better job this weekend and also the different tyres which on our car were working quite well in Bahrain. We will see how it is going to be. Also, Monaco is always Monaco but I hope we can do a better job here.

Q: And the driver can make the difference here as well?
FM: Yeah. It is always a difficult track and you can lose time very easily in whatever corner you go here, so the driver is always important to do a little bit better on some of the little details. We will see how the weather is going to be as if it is raining here it is always a lottery but I am looking forwards to doing a good job here.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Sarah Holt - BBC Sport) Jenson and Felipe and anyone else if they would like to comment. Do you think the Red Bulls will be as far ahead as they were in Barcelona here or do you think that the different nature of this track means there is an opportunity to close the gap a little bit?
JB: It is a very difficult question to answer as we haven’t been around the circuit and we haven’t done a single lap yet. But if you look at every race this season the Red Bulls have qualified on pole whatever the conditions and whatever the type of circuit. They are going to be quick but I am hoping the gap is not quite what it was in Barcelona. If they get it a little bit wrong in qualifying there might be another team that can fight them for the pole which is exciting. I don’t think we expected that after Friday in Barcelona for the Spanish Grand Prix. But here I think it will be a bit more mixed up and I hope so as they were quite a bit in front in qualifying in Barcelona. But this is a very different circuit to Barcelona, a lot of very low speed corners here and you need good mechanical grip and I think we are all doing our best to make sure it is an exciting race for ourselves and for you guys. We don’t want the Red Bulls walking off with it into the distance.
FM: Red Bull has always been the best car in qualifying this season. I think they have a very good car which works very well on new tyres in qualifying. In many races we have seen them very strong in qualifying but then their race pace was a little bit different than how it was in qualifying. Maybe they can again be very strong in qualifying, but we need to try to be closer, or even better would be to be in front, because I think the races are always a little different. Qualifying is very important as Red Bull have shown. Until now, they have been the best in qualifying, so it’s something that we need to understand, how to prepare the best for one timed lap, or even two timed laps, depending on Q1, Q2 or Q3.

Q: (Andrew Frankl - Forza) To Jenson and Felipe, the FIA is trying to promote safe driving. How can you promote safe driving if some of you guys are doing 190 mph with one hand on the steering wheel?
RK: Good question.
JB: Always a great question to try and answer. We’re in a controlled environment, this is very different from driving on the road. We are professionals, this is what we’ve grown up doing and we are supposed to be the best in the world at what we do. I think it’s wrong to compare it to driving on the road. I think the way that we drive on the road is very different to the way we work on the circuit and the way that we drive on the circuit. I’m a little bit surprised that you try to make out that they are the same.

Q: (Andrew Frankl - Forza) As an example to millions of young people, who are trying to imitate what you are doing and I just think it’s a bad example. I’m not suggesting that you are the guilty party. I’m just asking.
JB: I think youngsters are probably more intelligent than you’re letting on. I think that they understand that driving on the road is very different than driving in a racing car. It hasn’t changed for the last 50 years. There have been professionals in motor sport and there have been kids growing up and driving on the roads. That’s not changed. I think kids these days understand the difference between what we do and also driving on the M25 around London, for example.

Q: (Bob McKenzie - The Daily Express) There was a suggestion that they might split qualifying but that seems to have been shot down. Wouldn’t you have preferred to have the top teams running in a separate qualifying and the slow backmarkers on their own, because you are going to get held up?
FM: When you are qualifying and you cannot do your lap it’s always not nice. Here it is the worst track for that. I think we’ve done a good job until now in qualifying: Q1, Q2 and Q3 but here will be a big problem, I think, especially in Q1. It would be nice to have a little bit different qualifying. At least you can make it more real, to give the possibility for every driver to do his best. I think to find a free lap here will not be easy. But anyway, the decision has been made and so we need to try to do our best.
TG: The point is that we all signed up for that and the situation is as it is and we can’t change it. The point is that in GP2 they have 24 or 26 cars and they manage it as well. It’s difficult. I had the same situation in 2007 when I never found a clear lap but that’s Monaco. Monaco is different and we all have to manage it.
JB: There’s obviously a bigger time difference between the cars in F1 than in GP2 but it’s going to be tricky for all of us. Normally, if you’re on a flying lap and you find traffic you want to back out of it and try and find space for the next lap but I think we’ve got to just keep hammering it around. I don’t think we can back off. We’ve got to just try and stay on it, because that might be the quickest lap we do. I think it’s going to be pretty tricky in Q1 but we’ll cope, I’m sure. A few of us will be angry at the end of Q1 and not happy but we’ve all got to deal with the same situation.

Q: (Bob McKenzie - The Daily Express) Did you not vote for it to happen?
JB: It’s not down to us, it was down to the teams to make a decision, wasn’t it?

Q: (Joris Fioriti - AFP) Jenson, are you happy with the Red Bulls’ lack of reliability this year because otherwise they would be in the same situation that you were in with the best car in many ways last year?
JB: Yeah. At the last race they had a second advantage over pretty much anyone. I don’t think we’ve seen that in Formula One for many years. So yeah, they do have a good advantage in qualifying and they’re also quite fast in the race. F1 is never straightforward and obviously they’ve had their issues and haven’t been able to come away with five victories out of five, which is great for us because at the moment we’re all playing a little bit of catch-up when it comes to qualifying pace anyway. We’re all working hard to catch them. So yes, we are in a good position and maybe they haven’t made the best out of some of the situations they’ve found themselves in.

Q: (Livio Oricchio - O Estado de Sao Paulo) Question to Kubica: the car here is a little less important than on other tracks and you like to drive on street circuits. What do you predict for yourself this weekend?
RK: The car is still very important. I finished second in 2008 and I was starting second last in 2009, so it shows that the car is still important, and that’s why it’s very, very difficult to predict. There are two options: either our car will be very good or our car will not be so good. Of course we are trying hard to improve the car and we hope that Monaco will be a good track for us.

Q: (Joris Fioriti - AFP) Sebastian, when do you think your bad luck is going to end?
SB: I hope this weekend. Obviously it’s not all through bad luck, but we try to fix our problems and to understand why they happen, so I hope it will be fine for this weekend.

Q: (Andrea Cremonesi - La Gazzetta dello Sport) Felipe, Ferrari won’t be using the F-duct here and you didn’t seem to be very happy about it last weekend. How will the situation be in the future? Is it possible that Fernando can use it and you not, for example, in Turkey and other races?
FM: No, because we’re not using it for a reason. It depends on the track when we use it and it depends on the track when we don’t use it. We always prepare the best for every track we go to, so if we don’t have the F-duct on this track it’s because it’s better without it. But for sure we’re going to use it in other races.

Q: (Carlos Miquel - Diario AS) Question for all of you: how proud are you to compete in Formula One? Tomorrow is Formula One’s birthday. When you see Formula One’s history, are you proud to be in this competition?
JB: Yeah, this is where we wanted to be years ago, well, for me anyway. I’m 30 now, getting on, but when I was eight years old I used to watch racing between Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna when they were both at McLaren. I was very passionate about racing then. My dream was obviously to be in Formula One and to fight against the best drivers in the world. It’s a real privilege to be racing against the best drivers in the world and also to be in one of the most successful teams in the world. Yes, I’ve been in it for ten years now. This is my eleventh year in Formula One, so to be here for so long does mean a lot to me.
FM: Yeah, it’s the same. I think Formula One is a dream for every driver. To become a Formula One driver means you are at the top of motor sport. You are doing what you always dreamed of, especially when you get to Formula One and then you have the possibility to improve and to grow inside the category, to go to good teams. We are doing what we love to do. We have a great life. When you’re working in an area which you love, I think you do so with a lot of pleasure and passion. That’s why time goes by too quickly, because we’re doing what we like to do. It’s really a big pleasure for all of us.
SB: I think Felipe and Jenson summed it up quite well. Maybe ten years ago when I was driving in karting I was just dreaming of one day being in Formula One and now I’m there, it’s my second season, so for sure, you do what you love to do, so you just try to do your best and I hope it’s going to continue like that for many years and for sure, you are so proud because you can fight against the best people and against the best teams. You’re part of it and you just want to grow inside it and have good success.
RK: Same. There’s not a lot to add.
TG: As everyone already said, when you start in go-karting you just look up to Formula One and you have your heroes. Jenson has been here for ten years. It’s my third year and I was watching him sometimes on TV. It’s great to be in Formula One and to achieve that target as a driver, just a big pleasure to be here and fight against all the top guys.

Q: (Marco Evangelisti - Corriere dello Sport) Felipe, how much did the car efficiency let you down in the five races so far? Did you expect, at the beginning of the season, to have a better car or did you expect a little bit more from yourself in terms of fitting to the F10?
FM: All during the winter tests I was 110 percent happy with the car and then we went to the first race and the car was great, everything was working perfectly as I wanted and then when we changed the tyres I was always struggling a little bit more to get used to the car, to get used to the grip level, so that was the biggest problem, the biggest issue that I felt in the last races. There are some issues that I felt this year but I’m working very hard and I’m going to solve the problem. We know it’s an issue that has cost me a few points in the last races, but it’s something that I know I’m going to solve.

Q: (Anne Giuntini - L’Equipe) Felipe, why, precisely, were you not happy with the F-duct? Was it the way you have to use it which is not comfortable, or is it in its own efficiency?
FM: I never said I was not happy with the F-duct.

Q: (Anne Giuntini - L’Equipe) It’s just the previous remark, it’s not the question that you’re not unhappy with it.
FM: As I said, I had some races where I was struggling with the grip level of the car and we didn’t have the F-duct, so it’s not really with the F-duct that I have a problem.

Q: (Sarah Holt - BBC Sport) Felipe, it’s a similar question really. After Barcelona, Stefano said the guys back at the factory were going to look into some potential problems with your car because you hadn’t felt comfortable with that. Have they found anything that might improve things for this weekend?
FM: Yeah, we have so many ideas, looking around Barcelona, so let’s try to use these ideas to see if they’re going to work but for sure we have a group inside the factory and myself as well working very hard to solve all the problems I had.

Reproduced with kind permission of the FIA

Drivers: Sebastien Buemi (Toro Rosso), Jenson Button (McLaren), Timo Glock (Virgin), Robert Kubica (Renault), Felipe Massa (Ferrari)

Q: A question to you all. Just look back at last weekend and look ahead to this weekend. What do you think of this circuit? What are your chances? Sebastien, perhaps we can start with you.
Sebastien Buemi: Barcelona was a new start to the season with all the new updates. I think we didn’t do too bad considering we are a small team, so I am expecting to have a good car here in Monaco. We were quite competitive last year and we have some new bits coming for here, so it should not be too bad. We should be near Q3, 10th space, 11th space, so that will be our objective and to score points.

Q: You have had a lot of bad luck so far this year. How can you get rid of that as this is not the best place to get rid of bad luck is it?
SB: Exactly. It has been a very difficult start to the season for me with all the incidents and we had a lot of technical problems, so I am hoping to have a clean weekend. That is most important. I am pretty sure we can do it as my team-mate seemed to have a consistent car until the end of the race, so I am hoping to have the same for this race but we will see.

Q: Do you think you made a jump forward with the updates from last weekend?
SB: I think we stayed more or less where we were. Our updates seemed to be working a bit better than expected as we seem to be ahead of Williams and near to Force India at the same level, so this is good for us. Now we need to see on this circuit how it reacts but I think we have a decent car for this kind of circuit.

Q: Robert, your thoughts of last weekend and this coming weekend?
Robert Kubica: Barcelona on our side was a good weekend for us performance wise. We were a bit surprised about our performance in qualifying. We did not bring a big upgrade to Barcelona, so we were expecting to maybe lose some ground. Actually we did lose some ground to Red Bull but to the others cars like Ferrari, McLaren or Mercedes we were quite close, so good performance. But, unfortunately, not so good first lap and then all race with a damaged front wing, so it was not easy but I managed to finish eighth. We know Barcelona is very difficult for overtaking, so it has been quite a tough race, but anyway quite a good weekend. For here, Monaco is quite a different grand prix to what we have raced this year, so it will be interesting to see how our car will be performing here. Unfortunately, from our side, we don’t have a specific downforce level for here. Normally from the past I was used to having some different wings with more downforce. Drag and efficiency is not so important here in Monaco, but we will be using practically the same wings as all year, so we will have to see if our downforce level is good for here.

Q: But you like kart tracks and this is like a big kart track, isn’t it?
RK: I like street circuits. I used to always make quite good results here and overall on street circuits, so I enjoy driving and I am looking forward to that.

Q: You are in a new team. How is the relationship going? Do you feel you are building the team around you?
RK: So far so good. When you are joining a new team or when you are working you try to create a good atmosphere with the engineers, the mechanics in the workshop and on the race track, so I think it is normal you are trying to do the best atmosphere you can to work well. Especially when you have problems then it helps when you have a good relationship and respect with each other. This is what we are doing, so from this point of view there is nothing we can improve. All is going quite well.

Q: Timo, tell us about last weekend, this weekend?
Timo Glock: Last weekend was good for the whole team to bring both cars through the race without problems. I was quite happy that at least the changes we made worked out. For here I think it will be a difficult one for us. The track will be quite hard for our car. We struggle a bit especially in low and medium speed corners with general downforce, so it will be a bit of a struggle. But we will work as hard as possible and be close again to Lotus. We had a good pace in the race in Barcelona against Lotus. We struggled a bit in qualifying. That is our target to be closer to them again.

Q: Is it going to be really difficult with 24 cars out on the circuit, particularly in qualifying?
TG: Yeah, qualifying will be difficult. For us we have to find a way to get two runs in with a clean lap. But the race is another point. We had a lot of blue flags coming up in Barcelona and Barcelona is a really easy track to have a look at your mirrors and see and judge where the others are. That will be a bit more challenging here. But the team is doing a really good job on that and try to inform me as much as possible. We will see how we get around it.

Q: One of the new drivers said he had 15 laps without blue flags last weekend out of 66. That has got to be so difficult?
TG: Yeah, definitely. I think my stint was only until the first pit stop without any blue flags. Then I came out of the pits and it started to be from that lap on to the end with blue flags and here it will be really difficult.

Q: Jenson, last weekend, this weekend?´
Jenson Button: Last weekend was a bit frustrating. The pace of the car in qualifying wasn’t where we hoped it would be. The Red Bulls had a big gap at the front. I think it was almost one second, so that was disappointing but in the race the cars seemed to be working well. The pace of the car was pretty good. I wasn’t able to unlock that for most of the race as I was stuck behind Michael (Schumacher). But it was a pretty tricky race for me as I lost my dash I think on lap three, so I had no lights or anything. You learn where to shift but when you are in tow some lap and not others you are hitting the limiter a lot, so it was pretty tricky. Also on my pit stop I came in in second gear instead of first and I had no lights or anything for the launch, so it wasn’t the best situation. I think we dealt with it pretty well and got some good points but there were a lot more points out there for us. I think the pace of the car was good and if we had got everything right it would have been much better. But I still came away from there with 10 points, so not too bad but looking forward to this weekend and really put it right and have a good race here and get the best out of the car. It is a very unique race Monaco. I don’t think and I hope Red Bull don’t have the advantage they had in Barcelona. If it is dry I think we can have a good race here. We won’t really know until tomorrow if the car is performing well here but there is no reason it won’t be. McLaren have a very good record here and if it is wet it will throw it up in the air. It will be pretty crazy for all of us. But it is a race we all look forward to. It is unique and to get a good result here means a lot.

Q: Two things about last year. First of all you parked in the wrong place having just won the race and also you said at the press conference after the race that you tried to downplay in your mind the importance of what a fantastic race it would be to win and of course you went on to win it. How do you treat it this year?
JB: It is a little bit different as I won the race last year. You come into this race a lot more relaxed and I am really looking forward to it. I am excited about the challenge. I would prefer if it was dry this weekend. It is an exciting race in the dry and is exciting enough. If it is wet it is going to be pretty crazy for us out there especially with so many cars. In qualifying with 24 cars out there it will be pretty mad in the dry, but in the wet pretty impossible to get a clear lap. But I am excited about the weekend. It is a fun weekend and for Formula One it is the most glamorous weekend we have on the calendar. For us we are heads down and doing our work but for the people and the fans of Formula One it is a lot of fun and we will hopefully put on a good show.

Q: Felipe, last weekend, this weekend?
Felipe Massa: Last weekend was not really great for me, especially in qualifying, looking at the difference. Red Bull was in front of most of the other teams. I was struggling a lot to find the good grip level on the tyres and in the race, starting ninth and finishing sixth was not so bad. I did a good start and then the race was quite boring as Jenson said. Difficult to overtake, almost impossible, and struggling a lot with the grip level as well. I did most of the race behind them and I just had no grip to try anything. It was not a very nice race to do, so I hope we can do a better job this weekend and also the different tyres which on our car were working quite well in Bahrain. We will see how it is going to be. Also, Monaco is always Monaco but I hope we can do a better job here.

Q: And the driver can make the difference here as well?
FM: Yeah. It is always a difficult track and you can lose time very easily in whatever corner you go here, so the driver is always important to do a little bit better on some of the little details. We will see how the weather is going to be as if it is raining here it is always a lottery but I am looking forwards to doing a good job here.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Sarah Holt - BBC Sport) Jenson and Felipe and anyone else if they would like to comment. Do you think the Red Bulls will be as far ahead as they were in Barcelona here or do you think that the different nature of this track means there is an opportunity to close the gap a little bit?
JB: It is a very difficult question to answer as we haven’t been around the circuit and we haven’t done a single lap yet. But if you look at every race this season the Red Bulls have qualified on pole whatever the conditions and whatever the type of circuit. They are going to be quick but I am hoping the gap is not quite what it was in Barcelona. If they get it a little bit wrong in qualifying there might be another team that can fight them for the pole which is exciting. I don’t think we expected that after Friday in Barcelona for the Spanish Grand Prix. But here I think it will be a bit more mixed up and I hope so as they were quite a bit in front in qualifying in Barcelona. But this is a very different circuit to Barcelona, a lot of very low speed corners here and you need good mechanical grip and I think we are all doing our best to make sure it is an exciting race for ourselves and for you guys. We don’t want the Red Bulls walking off with it into the distance.
FM: Red Bull has always been the best car in qualifying this season. I think they have a very good car which works very well on new tyres in qualifying. In many races we have seen them very strong in qualifying but then their race pace was a little bit different than how it was in qualifying. Maybe they can again be very strong in qualifying, but we need to try to be closer, or even better would be to be in front, because I think the races are always a little different. Qualifying is very important as Red Bull have shown. Until now, they have been the best in qualifying, so it’s something that we need to understand, how to prepare the best for one timed lap, or even two timed laps, depending on Q1, Q2 or Q3.

Q: (Andrew Frankl - Forza) To Jenson and Felipe, the FIA is trying to promote safe driving. How can you promote safe driving if some of you guys are doing 190 mph with one hand on the steering wheel?
RK: Good question.
JB: Always a great question to try and answer. We’re in a controlled environment, this is very different from driving on the road. We are professionals, this is what we’ve grown up doing and we are supposed to be the best in the world at what we do. I think it’s wrong to compare it to driving on the road. I think the way that we drive on the road is very different to the way we work on the circuit and the way that we drive on the circuit. I’m a little bit surprised that you try to make out that they are the same.

Q: (Andrew Frankl - Forza) As an example to millions of young people, who are trying to imitate what you are doing and I just think it’s a bad example. I’m not suggesting that you are the guilty party. I’m just asking.
JB: I think youngsters are probably more intelligent than you’re letting on. I think that they understand that driving on the road is very different than driving in a racing car. It hasn’t changed for the last 50 years. There have been professionals in motor sport and there have been kids growing up and driving on the roads. That’s not changed. I think kids these days understand the difference between what we do and also driving on the M25 around London, for example.

Q: (Bob McKenzie - The Daily Express) There was a suggestion that they might split qualifying but that seems to have been shot down. Wouldn’t you have preferred to have the top teams running in a separate qualifying and the slow backmarkers on their own, because you are going to get held up?
FM: When you are qualifying and you cannot do your lap it’s always not nice. Here it is the worst track for that. I think we’ve done a good job until now in qualifying: Q1, Q2 and Q3 but here will be a big problem, I think, especially in Q1. It would be nice to have a little bit different qualifying. At least you can make it more real, to give the possibility for every driver to do his best. I think to find a free lap here will not be easy. But anyway, the decision has been made and so we need to try to do our best.
TG: The point is that we all signed up for that and the situation is as it is and we can’t change it. The point is that in GP2 they have 24 or 26 cars and they manage it as well. It’s difficult. I had the same situation in 2007 when I never found a clear lap but that’s Monaco. Monaco is different and we all have to manage it.
JB: There’s obviously a bigger time difference between the cars in F1 than in GP2 but it’s going to be tricky for all of us. Normally, if you’re on a flying lap and you find traffic you want to back out of it and try and find space for the next lap but I think we’ve got to just keep hammering it around. I don’t think we can back off. We’ve got to just try and stay on it, because that might be the quickest lap we do. I think it’s going to be pretty tricky in Q1 but we’ll cope, I’m sure. A few of us will be angry at the end of Q1 and not happy but we’ve all got to deal with the same situation.

Q: (Bob McKenzie - The Daily Express) Did you not vote for it to happen?
JB: It’s not down to us, it was down to the teams to make a decision, wasn’t it?

Q: (Joris Fioriti - AFP) Jenson, are you happy with the Red Bulls’ lack of reliability this year because otherwise they would be in the same situation that you were in with the best car in many ways last year?
JB: Yeah. At the last race they had a second advantage over pretty much anyone. I don’t think we’ve seen that in Formula One for many years. So yeah, they do have a good advantage in qualifying and they’re also quite fast in the race. F1 is never straightforward and obviously they’ve had their issues and haven’t been able to come away with five victories out of five, which is great for us because at the moment we’re all playing a little bit of catch-up when it comes to qualifying pace anyway. We’re all working hard to catch them. So yes, we are in a good position and maybe they haven’t made the best out of some of the situations they’ve found themselves in.

Q: (Livio Oricchio - O Estado de Sao Paulo) Question to Kubica: the car here is a little less important than on other tracks and you like to drive on street circuits. What do you predict for yourself this weekend?
RK: The car is still very important. I finished second in 2008 and I was starting second last in 2009, so it shows that the car is still important, and that’s why it’s very, very difficult to predict. There are two options: either our car will be very good or our car will not be so good. Of course we are trying hard to improve the car and we hope that Monaco will be a good track for us.

Q: (Joris Fioriti - AFP) Sebastian, when do you think your bad luck is going to end?
SB: I hope this weekend. Obviously it’s not all through bad luck, but we try to fix our problems and to understand why they happen, so I hope it will be fine for this weekend.

Q: (Andrea Cremonesi - La Gazzetta dello Sport) Felipe, Ferrari won’t be using the F-duct here and you didn’t seem to be very happy about it last weekend. How will the situation be in the future? Is it possible that Fernando can use it and you not, for example, in Turkey and other races?
FM: No, because we’re not using it for a reason. It depends on the track when we use it and it depends on the track when we don’t use it. We always prepare the best for every track we go to, so if we don’t have the F-duct on this track it’s because it’s better without it. But for sure we’re going to use it in other races.

Q: (Carlos Miquel - Diario AS) Question for all of you: how proud are you to compete in Formula One? Tomorrow is Formula One’s birthday. When you see Formula One’s history, are you proud to be in this competition?
JB: Yeah, this is where we wanted to be years ago, well, for me anyway. I’m 30 now, getting on, but when I was eight years old I used to watch racing between Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna when they were both at McLaren. I was very passionate about racing then. My dream was obviously to be in Formula One and to fight against the best drivers in the world. It’s a real privilege to be racing against the best drivers in the world and also to be in one of the most successful teams in the world. Yes, I’ve been in it for ten years now. This is my eleventh year in Formula One, so to be here for so long does mean a lot to me.
FM: Yeah, it’s the same. I think Formula One is a dream for every driver. To become a Formula One driver means you are at the top of motor sport. You are doing what you always dreamed of, especially when you get to Formula One and then you have the possibility to improve and to grow inside the category, to go to good teams. We are doing what we love to do. We have a great life. When you’re working in an area which you love, I think you do so with a lot of pleasure and passion. That’s why time goes by too quickly, because we’re doing what we like to do. It’s really a big pleasure for all of us.
SB: I think Felipe and Jenson summed it up quite well. Maybe ten years ago when I was driving in karting I was just dreaming of one day being in Formula One and now I’m there, it’s my second season, so for sure, you do what you love to do, so you just try to do your best and I hope it’s going to continue like that for many years and for sure, you are so proud because you can fight against the best people and against the best teams. You’re part of it and you just want to grow inside it and have good success.
RK: Same. There’s not a lot to add.
TG: As everyone already said, when you start in go-karting you just look up to Formula One and you have your heroes. Jenson has been here for ten years. It’s my third year and I was watching him sometimes on TV. It’s great to be in Formula One and to achieve that target as a driver, just a big pleasure to be here and fight against all the top guys.

Q: (Marco Evangelisti - Corriere dello Sport) Felipe, how much did the car efficiency let you down in the five races so far? Did you expect, at the beginning of the season, to have a better car or did you expect a little bit more from yourself in terms of fitting to the F10?
FM: All during the winter tests I was 110 percent happy with the car and then we went to the first race and the car was great, everything was working perfectly as I wanted and then when we changed the tyres I was always struggling a little bit more to get used to the car, to get used to the grip level, so that was the biggest problem, the biggest issue that I felt in the last races. There are some issues that I felt this year but I’m working very hard and I’m going to solve the problem. We know it’s an issue that has cost me a few points in the last races, but it’s something that I know I’m going to solve.

Q: (Anne Giuntini - L’Equipe) Felipe, why, precisely, were you not happy with the F-duct? Was it the way you have to use it which is not comfortable, or is it in its own efficiency?
FM: I never said I was not happy with the F-duct.

Q: (Anne Giuntini - L’Equipe) It’s just the previous remark, it’s not the question that you’re not unhappy with it.
FM: As I said, I had some races where I was struggling with the grip level of the car and we didn’t have the F-duct, so it’s not really with the F-duct that I have a problem.

Q: (Sarah Holt - BBC Sport) Felipe, it’s a similar question really. After Barcelona, Stefano said the guys back at the factory were going to look into some potential problems with your car because you hadn’t felt comfortable with that. Have they found anything that might improve things for this weekend?
FM: Yeah, we have so many ideas, looking around Barcelona, so let’s try to use these ideas to see if they’re going to work but for sure we have a group inside the factory and myself as well working very hard to solve all the problems I had.

LMFAO at your tweet to him
reading that 1 driver had 15 laps out of 66 not with blue flag at barcalona its gonna be carnage at monaco

oh jeez its just not a track that you can overtake on anymore, schumi did it coulthard did it, hamilton did it to an extent but now its just crazy to try

i cant shift this feeling its gonna be a bad weekend and the more i see and hear the more its playing on my mind :( i love this track seriously but i'm gonna end up watching through my fingers at this rate
just seen these tweets from adam cooper

holy crap the cars wont clear that??? surely something has to be done......sorry if i planted a seed just after last few races seeing how slow new teams are i got a bad feeling.

he said in a earlier tweet before the pic its basically a ski-jump :-O you get some of the big boys who admitedly love the kerbs like lewis seb alonso etc hitting that at their pace & without even factoring in a slow backer being in the mix too they are literally gonna be flying
tis ok i had been kinda thinking it too cos like i said bout monaco i love it but its one of those that scares me anyway like after that kimi/sutil incident there just is basically no room for error

fingers crossed for this weekend that they all make it round safely though, but im doubtful i reckon crash in Q1 and then again at start of race.

yeah reckon there gonna be at least 1 red flag which is a horrid thing to say really cos i just want to watch good racing but i just dunno if reality will live up to that this weekend

yeah and with them cars being so off the pace its easy to see why a red flag is almost inevitable.....really dont see why they didnt just let them 6 or 8 have their own qualifying session.

They say that Formula One is a fast-moving business. No sooner than 45 minutes after Mark Webber's super victory at the Circuit de Catalunya were the F1 Paddock dismantling their sumptuous motorhomes and gigantic freight-carrying trucks to head down the A19 motorway north towards Monte Carlo.

Volcanic ash drifting over from Iceland meant that yet again, travel plans had been disrupted and many team personnel would have to forego a trip home before heading out to the small principality.

Hispania Racing team mates Bruno Senna and Karun Chandhok took it upon themselves to hire a car and race down to the Riviera, whereas many of the other journalists and team members also chose the motorway as their method of travel.

However, as we push on into the fast-approaching Monaco Grand Prix weekend, it is Mark Webber and Red Bull who are still out ahead. The pace in hand from the Australian during yesterday's race was frightening, after his admission that he was taking it easy after half distance.

Despite Vettel's problems, he was also untouchable through qualifying and the first part of the race, albeit in a slightly less untouchable mood than his team mate who truly was in a different race. With no big updates forecast from any of the front-running teams, the running order should remain untouched with Dietrich Materschitz's team heading the grid.

The usual suspects will be in close attendance, with Mclaren, Ferrari and Mercedes all providing a sustained challenge after falling short in Sunday's Spanish Grand Prix.

Lewis Hamilton will be eager to compensate for his lack of points and smart money should be put on him to be very quick around the streets of Monte Carlo, having won once and finished second to a slower Fernando Alonso in 2007. Hamilton also showed signs of promise in 2009 despite the poor pace of the Mclaren last year, before putting it in the barriers in Q1.

Joining Mclaren in the fight for top honours will be Ferrari, who will be pleasantly surprised with Fernando Alonso's somewhat fortunate second position in Spain.

The Scuderia disappointed many initially with their relative lack of pace in relation to Red Bull and Mclaren, as there is no discernible reason for their lack of development. Similarly, Mercedes had brought a raft of updates to Barcelona only to see themselves finish over a minute behind eventual winner Mark Webber.

Michael Schumacher appears to be happier with the revised MGP-01, which will please the sponsors. However, Nico Rosberg's public displeasure with his car will raise a few eyebrows, especially from those who weren't particularly affectionate towards Ferrari during the Schumacher era.

Something to watch out for this weekend is the pace of the Renault. The car was faster than expected at Barcelona according to Robert Kubica, who suffered a damaged front wing in a first-lap collision which handicapped him for the remainder of the race.

The good levels of downforce on the Renault allied with it's excellent levels of traction will mean that they could spring a surprise on Sunday, and it isn't out of the question that they will join the battle at the front with the established teams for this one-off Grand Prix.

At the back of the grid, life goes on. Williams slipped dangerously close to the pace of the also-rans in Barcelona, before Rubens Barrichello made up for his poor qualifying performance to finish a creditable 9th, albeit with help from mistakes and retirements in front of him.

There is a 3 team scrap in the midfield with Toro Rosso and Force India also joining the party, it'll be interesting to see who comes out on top in the development race in that particular battle. With the rate of development exhibited last year, Force India will feel that they are underperforming and remain favourites to break free of the midfield scrap as we head into the summer.

No change at HRT, Lotus and Virgin, with the order unchanged since the beginning of the season. Around Monaco, expect shares in carbon fibre manufacturers to rocket.

Despite victory at his sole GP2 Monaco race meeting, Bruno Senna, Karun Chandhok and Lucas di Grassi have never sampled F1 around the tight confines of the circuit and could find themselves in trouble in such underperforming machinery.

Yet again, changeable weather conditions are forecast in Monte Carlo throughout the week. Saturday's qualifying is especially forecast to be a complete washout, which will play absolute havoc with 24 cars on track all trying to set a fast time.

The Q1 session promises to be the biggest spectacle of the weekend and it's more than likely that a number of big names could fall at the first hurdle. Thursday also marks the 60th anniversary of Formula One, let us hope that with such a fascinating championship battle unfolding before us, Monte Carlo provides us with the magic that only it can provide.

http://www.jamesrossionf1.com

http://www.yallaf1.com


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Paul Kirk 298656 Default-user-icon-comment posted about 17 hours ago 1273641955 2262104 Paul

Rossi, it's not the 60th year of F1. As I understand it, it was originally called Grand Prix racing, and then named F1. I can't remember exactly when, but I'm guessing the 60s or 70s.
PK.
Rossi, it's not the 60th year of F1. As I understand it, it was originally called Grand Prix racing, and then named F1. I can't remember exactly when, but I'm guessing the 60s or 70s. PK.

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James Rossi 105037 Sign_monza_comment posted about 16 hours ago 1273647281 2262347 2262104 James

"As you understand", which isn't a lot, the Formula 1 name was incepted in 1950 (specifically at the British Grand Prix, with the birth of the World Drivers' Championship), not the 60s or 70s as you "guessed".

Beforehand, there was no strict name aside from the European Grand Prix "scene" which began in the 1920s. Previously there had been loose "Grand Prix" meetings, mostly in France, one of the first being the Paris-Rouen Trials of 1874.

There's a commemorative function that I was invited to on behalf of YallaF1 in Monaco celebrating 60 years of FORMULA ONE on Thursday. I wouldn't have mentioned it if it wasn't so.

I appreciate all comments. However, if you're going to adopt such a tone, at least have a slight idea of what you're talking about. Thanks.
"As you understand", which isn't a lot, the Formula 1 name was incepted in 1950 (specifically at the British Grand Prix, with the birth of the World Drivers' Championship), not the 60s or 70s as you "guessed". Beforehand, there was no strict name aside from the European Grand Prix "scene" which began in the 1920s. Previously there had been loose "Grand Prix" meetings, mostly in France, one of the first being the Paris-Rouen Trials of 1874. There's a commemorative function that I was invited to on behalf of YallaF1 in Monaco celebrating 60 years of FORMULA ONE on Thursday. I wouldn't have mentioned it if it wasn't so. I appreciate all comments. However, if you're going to adopt such a tone, at least have a slight idea of what you're talking about. Thanks.

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Paul Kirk 298656 Default-user-icon-comment posted 5 minutes ago 1273699169 2265149 2262347 Paul

Good on you, Rossi, I gratiously accept your correction to my reply and straightening me out on the F1 60 year point. I must admit it's been bugging me for quite some time when journalists refered to "F1" from the early days, (when I was a boy) when I thought the term "F1" came later. My mistake, and now I won't be "bugged" any more.
Thank's
Regards,
PK.
Good on you, Rossi, I gratiously accept your correction to my reply and straightening me out on the F1 60 year point. I must admit it's been bugging me for quite some time when journalists refered to "F1" from the early days, (when I was a boy) when I thought the term "F1" came later. My mistake, and now I won't be "bugged" any more. Thank's Regards, PK.

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Paul Kirk 298656 Default-user-icon-comment posted 3 minutes ago 1273699267 2265157 2262347 Paul

@Paul: Boy, time flys when we're having fun!!!
PK.
Boy, time flys when we're having fun!!! PK.

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