Gritty race by Pérez without rewards
Fastest lap of the Monaco Grand Prix was small consolation for Sergio Pérez after a spirited drive that saw the Sauber F1 Team driver come from the back row of the grid to finish 11th. Kamui Kobayashi retired from the race on lap six with damaged suspension, which was the result of a collision between his Sauber C31-Ferrari and the Lotus of Romain Grosjean just after the start.
Sergio Pérez, 11th, Sauber C31-Ferrari (Chassis 04/Ferrari 056):
Start on new super soft tyres, after 34 laps change to new soft tyres
“We were very quick, but from my grid position it is very difficult to overtake and move forward. After the drive through I managed to make up some positions, but the race was lost yesterday. We expected and hoped for more rain in the race. Nothing much happened and it was quite a normal race at the end. It was a shame, but for the next races we can be up there as we have a very good pace.”
Kamui Kobayashi, DNF , Sauber C31-Ferrari (Chassis 03/Ferrari 056):
Start on new super soft tyres, after 1 lap change to new soft tyres
“I had a great start and was fighting with Sebastian Vettel, so maybe could have been just behind him. First Romain Grosjean went on the inside, but suddently he came back on the outside. I tried to avoid him, but he didn’t brake, hit my rear tyres and damaged my suspension. Maybe if I had had two wheels and not four I would have been fine! It was too dangerous to continue to drive.“
Peter Sauber, Team Principal:
“Sergio not only did the fastest race lap, but for long periods of the race he was the fastest driver on the track. This clearly shows what we can achieve if everything goes right for us. Now it is up to the entire team to turn our opportunities into success.”
Giampaolo Dall’Ara, Head of Track Engineering:
“It is difficult to decide whether to laugh or cry. On the one hand we can be very happy about how quick our car was, especially on a track which historically doesn’t favour us. On the other hand if something was going to go wrong then we were in the middle of it. Kamui just had bad luck being hit by Romain Grosjean’s Lotus in the first corner. Due to a part of the suspension being damaged he had to retire after six laps. It is to Sergio’s credit that he didn’t give up today despite his difficult starting position and heavy traffic. He made some good overtaking manoeuvres. On strategy we actually didn’t help him. The ideal time for a tyre change obviously would have been earlier, but we calculated more rain would come and lengthened his stint a bit. However, later in the race this turned out to be an advantage as his tyres then were fresher than those of the other drivers. We clearly wanted points here and didn’t get them.”
