- Language:
What a weekend! Despite the lack of a happy ending, I love Monaco and will always strive to be successful there. But let’s start at the beginning.
When I arrived in Monaco on the Tuesday and heard the weather forecasts for the weekend, I felt pretty confident. Our car needs difficult conditions in order to cause an upset. And Monaco in the rain is not the easiest thing in the world, I can tell you. My track record in Monaco is good: both in F3 where I hold the lap record ahead of Lewis Hamilton and last year in the free practice session when I recorded the fastest time.
On the Thursday we kicked things off with a great party held on the Indian Empress, the boat of team owner Vijay Mallya. Prince Albert was the guest of honour, and Lance Armstrong and Kate Hudson also attended. Sadly I had to go to bed early…. but I heard that the last guests left the boat at 05:30 the next morning.
I had a really good feeling about the weekend. This was later to be confirmed on the Saturday morning with my eighth place in training. Unfortunately my hopes of qualifying in Q2 were quickly dashed, but I did manage to beat my team mate Giancarlo Fisichella who is a highly experienced Monaco driver. That was my target, and it’s something I hope to repeat more often in future.
When I looked out of my hotel window on the Sunday morning onto the wet Monte Carlo streets I knew we were in for surprises. When it rains in Monaco anything can happen. My strategy was to keep out of the mêlée at the start and get through the first laps with everything intact. The weather looked changeable which suits me perfectly.
I had a good start and soon got into a good rhythm. As a result of accidents, pit stops and a good performance I climbed up the field one position after another. When lying in P4 I heard from my team over the radio: “Kovalainen is ahead of you, you’re not racing him, you’re overlapping Kovalainen”… I felt like I was dreaming. Webber, Räikkönnen behind me, only Massa, Kubica and Lewis ahead of me… well, that’s something you can get used to!
At no stage did I think that I couldn’t succeed and even during yet another safety car phase just before the end, I still had no fears. Although it was a shame that the 20 second advantage I had built up over Kimi was wiped away in an instant, I knew that he could only get passed me if I made a mistake, and I had no intention of doing that. At the restart I was able to track Hamilton, Kubica and Massa ahead of me, with Kimi all the time in my mirror. Since only the ideal line was dry, I knew he had no chance of overtaking provided I kept my line. Unfortunately Kimi's brakes mustn't have been at the right temperature as we braked at the chicane after the tunnel. To make matters worse he must have hit a bump in the road, lost control and hit my rear. The impact shattered all my dreams. At first I hoped that there was no major damage, but after 100 metres I knew it was all over. I felt like crying, we had been so close to a fourth place in Monaco. The whole team would have deserved it; I would have deserved it too! But yet again we were unable to reap the rewards of our efforts. I’m not angry with Kimi; it wasn’t intentional, it was just fate. It was a racing accident and he has apologised since. We have to put it to the back of our minds even though it really hurts and the whole team is extremely disappointed.
In 14 days’ time we will start in Montreal with a clean slate. I don’t know if we will get such an opportunity again this year. But it’s no good moaning and looking back. We have to stand up and be counted. I enjoyed the race immensely - until the moment when my dreams were shattered. It’s incredible how much support I’ve received from fans and friends. It really helps. All the F1 team bosses and journalists congratulated me on my race and tried to console me. For me it was the start to what had been a difficult season to date. I will continue to push on and try to get the maximum out of myself and the car. We’ll see what Montreal brings.
Many thanks for your support. Till then!
Yours,
Adrian
When I arrived in Monaco on the Tuesday and heard the weather forecasts for the weekend, I felt pretty confident. Our car needs difficult conditions in order to cause an upset. And Monaco in the rain is not the easiest thing in the world, I can tell you. My track record in Monaco is good: both in F3 where I hold the lap record ahead of Lewis Hamilton and last year in the free practice session when I recorded the fastest time.
On the Thursday we kicked things off with a great party held on the Indian Empress, the boat of team owner Vijay Mallya. Prince Albert was the guest of honour, and Lance Armstrong and Kate Hudson also attended. Sadly I had to go to bed early…. but I heard that the last guests left the boat at 05:30 the next morning.
I had a really good feeling about the weekend. This was later to be confirmed on the Saturday morning with my eighth place in training. Unfortunately my hopes of qualifying in Q2 were quickly dashed, but I did manage to beat my team mate Giancarlo Fisichella who is a highly experienced Monaco driver. That was my target, and it’s something I hope to repeat more often in future.
When I looked out of my hotel window on the Sunday morning onto the wet Monte Carlo streets I knew we were in for surprises. When it rains in Monaco anything can happen. My strategy was to keep out of the mêlée at the start and get through the first laps with everything intact. The weather looked changeable which suits me perfectly.
I had a good start and soon got into a good rhythm. As a result of accidents, pit stops and a good performance I climbed up the field one position after another. When lying in P4 I heard from my team over the radio: “Kovalainen is ahead of you, you’re not racing him, you’re overlapping Kovalainen”… I felt like I was dreaming. Webber, Räikkönnen behind me, only Massa, Kubica and Lewis ahead of me… well, that’s something you can get used to!
At no stage did I think that I couldn’t succeed and even during yet another safety car phase just before the end, I still had no fears. Although it was a shame that the 20 second advantage I had built up over Kimi was wiped away in an instant, I knew that he could only get passed me if I made a mistake, and I had no intention of doing that. At the restart I was able to track Hamilton, Kubica and Massa ahead of me, with Kimi all the time in my mirror. Since only the ideal line was dry, I knew he had no chance of overtaking provided I kept my line. Unfortunately Kimi's brakes mustn't have been at the right temperature as we braked at the chicane after the tunnel. To make matters worse he must have hit a bump in the road, lost control and hit my rear. The impact shattered all my dreams. At first I hoped that there was no major damage, but after 100 metres I knew it was all over. I felt like crying, we had been so close to a fourth place in Monaco. The whole team would have deserved it; I would have deserved it too! But yet again we were unable to reap the rewards of our efforts. I’m not angry with Kimi; it wasn’t intentional, it was just fate. It was a racing accident and he has apologised since. We have to put it to the back of our minds even though it really hurts and the whole team is extremely disappointed.
In 14 days’ time we will start in Montreal with a clean slate. I don’t know if we will get such an opportunity again this year. But it’s no good moaning and looking back. We have to stand up and be counted. I enjoyed the race immensely - until the moment when my dreams were shattered. It’s incredible how much support I’ve received from fans and friends. It really helps. All the F1 team bosses and journalists congratulated me on my race and tried to console me. For me it was the start to what had been a difficult season to date. I will continue to push on and try to get the maximum out of myself and the car. We’ll see what Montreal brings.
Many thanks for your support. Till then!
Yours,
Adrian
