Not quite the result either Red Bull, Toyota, Super Aguri or Spyker wanted from the Monaco GP.
Red Bull
David Coulthard: Unfortunately I came together with Tonio (Liuzzi) and damaged the front wing and end plate of my car, so I had a lot of understeer all through the race. We were debating whether or not to change the wing at the pit stop, but decided to stick with it as the time lost in changing it would be so high - but we couldn't get anywhere. When I stopped at the end of the race, we saw the end plate was broken, so we must have been losing a lot of down force. The guys in the garage have done a great job turning mine and Mark's cars around this weekend. There are still a lot of races left this season and I still think Red Bull is going to improve."
Mark Webber: There were a couple of things going on. First I had a small misfire on the engine, which wasn't really fantastic, especially through the Swimming Pool section, but it also affected me at other parts of the track. I was pressing on and dealing with that. Then I lost third gear and although I tried switching between second and fourth, the car kept locking up. Initially I tried to drive around the problems, but when that happens here, you end up in the fence looking even more stupid!"
Toyota:
Jarno Trulli: At the start of the race the car almost stalled. I had to do a good job to pick up the clutch and start the race. I lost a lot of positions at the first corner so from the very start I was just keeping up with the cars in front of me and then the brakes started heating up as they did in qualifying. I had to slow down a bit and the only thing I could do from there was bring the car to the end of the race. It was a difficult race for me and now we have to work hard before the next race and make some improvements."
Ralf Schumacher: It was just stuck in traffic in the first laps. That made the race very difficult from then on. The pace was not too bad when you compare it with the others when I was on a clear track. I lost a lot of time stuck in that position as you could see from my lap times when I had a clear track in front of me. The balance was actually quite okay later on and I was able to push a bit harder. We could clearly have been fighting for points today for sure if we had qualified better. Qualifying was really where our race was decided but I will try hard to get that right and hope for better next time."
Super Aguri:
Takuma Sato: It was a tough race for us and we tried our best. I drove as hard as I possibly could on this circuit. In the traffic these are very difficult circumstances, but when I had clear air I was lapping very quickly and we were competitive. But, as is typical in Monaco, I caught up with the traffic a few times and that was really critical for my pace. Because of traffic before my second stop we missed an opportunity to improve on my position. We tried our best and recovered well I believe, but we needed more speed. On the positive side it is great to finish the demanding Monaco Grand Prix."
Anthony Davidson: Just to finish this race is an achievement in its own right. Going out there this afternoon I didn't expect much from the positions we were in and I got an average start. I went into Turn One with a Renault and I actually tapped him and got a hole in my nose cone. It didn't affect the car too badly and I was able to keep pushing. And then about half way through the race, when I was stuck behind Trulli's Toyota, Massa was slowly catching me up, two 10ths of a second a lap, and I was waiting until he got closer to let him by. I was going to let him pass when we got a drive through penalty. He was about two seconds behind me at that time, so I think it's a little bit unfair. I've always been good in traffic and I think that other people were being bad about the blue flags out there and maybe they made an example out of me."
Spyker:
Adrian Sutil: In general it was a good race until I crashed in Casino corner. The start was the normal Monaco crowded style but I managed to do the first corner quite well. Over the first 44 laps we had a very good performance, the tyres were consistent and I just went quicker and quicker as the track improved. It wasn't a lonely race as I always had somebody behind me and had to push so I enjoyed the race. I'm disappointed I made a mistake - the brakes had became worse and worse and it was hard to find the find the right braking performance as they were unpredictable. I went a little bit to the outside of the corner and there was so much rubber and dirt that I hit the barrier and the tyre came off the rim. There wasn't a lot of damage, it was just the tyres but I couldn't continue, which is sad for everyone."
Christijan Albers: It was a difficult weekend. First of all we had really bad luck with qualifying with the hydraulics and then we retired from the race. As we were at the back we had to take a risk and went for a really aggressive strategy, started on soft tyres and went for two stops. At first I was struggling with the rear but when I came in and changed to the normal soft tyres, it started to go really well and we went a lot faster, but then you are just lost in the traffic and have to let the leaders through. It's just a shame, but on the other hand if we had had some luck the strategy it could have worked out. Now we should leave this behind and go to Canada - I have some ideas about what we will change and make the car more driveable over there."
