26-May:
At the post Race press conference for the Monaco GP, David
Coulthard was delighted to win the Monaco Grand Prix particularly
given McLaren's recent lack of pace and said "It's unbelievable. I
feel fantastic because naturally we've had a difficult start to the
season. It was looking pretty difficult for us to win a Grand Prix and our
hopes were pinned on coming to Monaco that we could have a good
performance. Obviously that's been the case and the traction control which
obviously caused me some problems last year worked fantastically this year
and then it was just a question of keeping it off the barriers."
David was confident of having a great start thanks to improvements made by
the McLaren launch control people and said "I just think that the
software guys have worked extremely hard, and we've made some improvements
since the beginning of the season. Obviously the first few races we were
getting beaten off the start and that really made us concentrate because
you do all the work in qualifying but then if you give away a place down
at the first corner then it's very expensive. They've made some big steps
forward and they were all confident, based on what happened in Austria,
that I would lead into the first corner, just by looking into the analysis
of the start from the Williams there, so all I had to do was take my
finger off the button and hope they were right."
Coulthard admitted that he was under pressure for most of the race and
said "As you saw, during the first few laps I opened up a small gap
then my tyres were graining, incredibly, and I thought I was going to
really be in big trouble. I dropped, I think two or three seconds on some
of the laps, and then once they cleaned up, they came back. And yes, as
you say, I had to keep pushing and this is the sort of track where you can
feel quite under control and then just one mistake can take you close to
the barrier and thankfully I didn't make any mistakes really except at the
chicane where you have a bit more room to do so, and I only touched one
barrier during the race at the swimming pool, and otherwise it was a
perfect race."
On the smoke coming out of the car halfway through the race, David said
"I radioed to say that I thought I was losing a little bit of power
and then after that I saw some of the smoke but the engineers told me that
they couldn't see anything, or what they actually said was that there was
no problem, so whether that means that they could see something but they
felt it wasn't a problem. And then it seemed to clear up, so that was OK.
There wasn't that much smoke when it was smoking."
As for his prospects for Canada, he said "Well, obviously Canada is a
very different circuit and even when you think of last year, when we were
quite competitive in the first half of the season, I think we were on the
second row there, so it may be a different story in Montreal, but
nonetheless, I think we are all going to enjoy this victory. It will be
difficult to come back and especially this season, and I'm delighted that
I was able to win this race for the McLaren team."
Michael Schumacher indicated that it would have
been very close if he didn't have traffic after his pit stop but added
that McLaren deserved the win and said "If the traffic we had during
the first couple of laps after our pit stop we wouldn't have had this. It
would have been very tight. But anyway, they did a great job and they
really deserved this win today."
Michael indicated that he enjoyed watching Montoya for the first half of
the race and said "It was quite entertaining to watch Juan. He was
clipping a few barriers, locking up, going sideways. He was overdriving a
bit. It was actually sometimes I thought he would be close to that he is
going to hit something and if I was staying too close it could be a
problem, so he didn't, he kept his concentration together."
Michael added that he kept pushing until the last lap but David didn't
give him any chances and said "I kept on pushing because in Monaco,
nothing is for certain and you really have to go until the last lap, last
corner, and that's what I did. I was trying to get my opportunity but he
drove a fine race and didn't give me any chance."
Ralf Schumacher indicated that he was happy to have
finally finished a Formula 1 race in Monaco and said "I had actually
never finished here in Formula One. The last time I finished here was in
Formula Three, I think it was in 1994 or 1995, I don't know. So I am pretty
happy to be here today."
He indicated that the car was good but not good enough to match the McLaren or
Ferrari on this track and said "The car was reasonable. It was good to
drive. Obviously not quick enough today, but obviously that was one of the
most difficult for us here. We have improved. Compared to the last two years
we are looking a lot better. We had an unexpected higher tyre wear, that is
why we came in a bit early, and then I had this problem with the other tyres
so I had to come back in again, but it didn't hurt me besides the fact that it
looks now that I have a big gap to the front. But I am still third so that's
fine."
When asked about Juan Pablo's problems, he jokingly said "Well it was
definitely not a team order! That was not the case. I think he had a technical
problem in the backside of his car. I don't know exactly what it was but he
knew that he couldn't go as quick so he let me by."
26-May: What the teams and
drivers said following the Race in Monaco ... Report
26-May:
Monaco GP
– Race: David Coulthard wins the race ahead of Michael Schumacher
and Ralf Schumacher. Jarno Trulli, Giancarlo Fisichella and Heinz Harald Frentzen
make the top 6
... Timed Results ... Report
... Notes
26-May:
Monaco GP
– Warm-up Session: Heinz Harald Frentzen sets the fastest time of
the session ahead of Michael Schumacher and David Coulthard, Jarno Trulli,
Kimi Raikkonen and Rubens Barrichello make the top 6
... Timed Results ... Report
... Notes
Thursday Practice Session 1
Thursday Practice Session 2
Saturday Practice Session 1
Saturday Practice Session 2 Qualifying Session
Warm-up Session Race
11 AM Monaco
Time / 9 AM GMT
1 PM Monaco Time / 11 AM GMT
9 AM Monaco Time / 7 AM GMT
10:15 AM Monaco Time / 8:15 AM GMT 1 PM Monaco Time / 11 AM GMT 9:30 AM Monaco Time / 7:30 AM GMT 2 PM Monaco Time / 12 PM GMT
