Lando Norris was pleased with the F1 Monaco GP result despite losing a place to George Russell, as Daniel Ricciardo was left disappointed outside Top 10.
Sixth place in Monaco GP plus an added bonus of the point for fastest lap was the sum total of Norris’ weekend despite not being 100% well. He finished on the podium in 2021 but so far in 2022, McLaren hasn’t been in the mix as they would have liked, but with his third top six finish, the Brit is slowly dragging the car consistently in points.
“It was a good race, although we lost one position to the Mercedes,” said Norris to media. “In these rain conditions, you just cannot take your risk of going one lap earlier. It is a risk, sometimes you’ll lose from it, sometimes you gain and they gained. So, fair play to them. George did a good job as well”.
“But we sort of made the most of it, with the fastest lap and the pace at the end. I think we may be lacking a little bit of race pace in the tyre preservation and things. I don’t think we’re in the best position with all of this. But apart from that: a good race and good points which I’m happy with,” summed up Norris.
He was possibly overthinking it maybe in terms of tyre preservation but a number of others were doing likewise, especially Fernando Alonso who slowed down everyone after the red flag re-start. Even in the first stint, several drivers weren’t sure about when to pit and were in reaction mode.
“There’s a lot of things to think about in Monaco,” said Norris. “And these conditions, it’s just never an easy thing. And we’re in a good position. And we have good points, we don’t want to risk too much. And it’s easy to go that way. So, they did everything for good reasons and said everything for good reasons. It’s just I guess my feeling inside the car”.
“It is not easy to get across to the team. I think we can have much better pace if we box and things like that. And it’s hard to describe that and say that in the easy ways. But no, they normally do a very good job. So, I’m not complaining. It’s just we’ve got a bit of work to do,” summed up Norris.
It was a tough race for all but is something to build on for the remaining two thirds of the season but by contrast, his teammate and former Monaco winner Ricciardo had another arduous weekend. For the Aussie, possible the most popular driver on the grid, there is not a lot of positivity there right now. Like those around him, he too had to contend with tricky and cumbersome conditions on the day.
“Certainly tricky, I mean it’s not often you drive in Monaco in the wet,” said Ricciardo. “And the wet is already a handful let alone on the tighter street circuits. We got to a point where we were slow in the extreme but to fit an inter for a few laps I know I would have lost more time so tried to ride it out until I could put a slick on”.
“But ultimately this weekend was not a good weekend, not really quick throughout, that was the race obviously. We know Monaco is so track position dependent. But obviously a tough weekend to take. Obviously, I am experienced with these as I have had a few of them in the last few months, so I feel like I can handle them a little bit better so therefore I will continue to smile or at least try to smile but deep down…”
“Yeah I will look at it now in debrief or whatever, probably take a few days off, I’ve a few friends here so will try to enjoy a few moments away from the track and then reset for Baku,” summed up Ricciardo.
A tough time but he remains somewhat upbeat to a certain extent but with sixth place at Melbourne his best result so far, it has been a downbeat season for the Australian whose contract situation come into the scene, even though he has one until next year.
“It’s tough…I mean no mistake Monaco you need confidence, you need to be at one with the car,” said Ricciardo. “If you aren’t quite there, it can show on the stopwatch and as much as I love this place, at the core that is what you need so it can probably exaggerate it a little bit”.
“I’d say there is still some stuff to get on top of, obviously, it’s been a while now and I wish it wasn’t the case. I think the reality is there are some tracks where it clicks from the first practice and we are good but I expect to still work at it and try to keep trying. I wont go down without a fight but I don’t wish to be fighting for 13th, I want to get back in the points soon,” summed up Ricciardo.
Team boss Seidl, meanwhile, was happy with the performance of Norris even though they lost a place to Russell, while for Ricciardo he thought with not much happening, that was the maximum he could have done as he struggled for pace.
“Overall, I’m very happy with the outcome of this race weekend,” said Seidl when asked by FormulaRapida.net. “We scored in the end some nine very good points for us in the constructors’ championship. More than all the competitors we are fighting with for this P4 and also the pace we had in the car this weekend was very encouraging and good confirmation too that all the hard work that the team has put in in this Barcelona package was helping us a lot to be competitive on a track where we need low speed performance”.
“Small disappointment because we lost a position to George but I’d say that was one of those 50/50 decisions that was so close, decided by one lap more or one lap less, the track was rapidly drying up within three laps and that’s why I would say overall it was a great job by the outside team and the drivers to keep it all together”.
“It was a challenging race, obviously on Daniels side, it was a tough weekend starting the race in P14 and finishing P13, I think that is pretty much everything that was possible today because there were not any big opportunities coming up, all the other strategies were forming in the same direction. Yep that’s it,” summed up Seidl.
In a way McLaren did as well as they could have expected for the weekend that was in it, especially on the side of Norris. Inclement conditions didn’t help them or the others. Baku in two weeks time is another step up the ladder for the Woking concern.