Pre-Race quotes from Ferrari, Mercedes and Williams

by Jack Lamure on May 25th, 2011

Ahead of this weekend's Monaco Grand Prix we've been taking a look at what the drivers have to say about the most prestigious race on the calendar. Here we're running through the thoughts of Felipe Massa, Michael Schumacher and Pastor Maldonado, representing Ferrari, Mercedes and Williams respectively.

Ferrari

Massa pleased with quick opportunity to make up for Spanish nightmare.

"I got back home to Monaco on Monday morning, after a very disappointing weekend at the Spanish Grand Prix. We had hoped to do much better than this in performance terms and also I suffered our first technical failure of the season.

"I enjoy the whole Monaco weekend and it is an important event on the calendar. Nothing compares because even if Singapore comes close, that track is much bigger.

"It’s nice to be home and I’m very lucky as I think I’m one of the few drivers to have two real home races, not just races that take place in the country you come from. Both here and Sao Paolo I actually get to sleep in my own bed in my own home and then have a short trip to the track. It’s another very nice aspect of this weekend, during which I hope we can make up for the disappointment of Spain.

"At least we don’t have long to wait to be on track again!"

Mercedes

Michael Schumacher displays his vocabulary: anachronism - something... that is not in its correct historical or chronological time, especially a thing... that belongs to an earlier time.

“I love driving [in Monaco]. The street circuit may be somewhat anachronistic when we usually care so much about safety, but the race is so special on the Formula One calendar that for once, you just go for it. What I also like is that it must be great for the fans to be close to the cars and experience the power.

"We had a more positive weekend in Barcelona so I hope that we can carry this progress through to Monaco. It’s difficult to predict how the car will perform as it is such a unique circuit so we will have to wait and see.”

Williams

Pastor Maldonado looks forward to a circuit he's really very good at.

"I feel good heading to Monaco and it is definitely my favourite track and a place where I’ve had great results over the last five years (including one win in World Series and two wins and two podium finishes in GP2). For me it has a magical atmosphere and to be there racing in Formula One has always been a dream of mine.

"I would love to score my first points of the year there. I think it will be difficult for us as we don’t have much time between these two races and we’ve never tried the supersoft tyres before. Once we see how they perform, we can then see how we can improve our performance within the car."