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Arguably the most famous street race in the world and
without question the jewel in Formula One's crown, the
Monaco Grand Prix is much more than a race. It is a
premier social event and it's where Formula One gets its
glamorous reputation. The cars run through the impossibly
narrow, Armco-lined, millionaire's playground of Monte
Carlo with every driver on the grid looking for victory in
the most prestigious event of the year.
The circuit itself is a low-grip, bumpy, twisty and narrow
challenge for the drivers and the teams. Cars need to run
maximum downforce and have exceptional mechanical grip to
master the track with such famous names as Rascasse, Loews
and Casino. Many of the teams' garages are in a
multi-storey car park, a long and arduous trek from the
pit-lane, especially when pushing an F1 car. That's the
irony of Monaco: the working conditions are tough, the
track is the antithesis of today's modern F1 circuits, but
Monaco remains a firm favourite for everyone.
The Lucky Strike B.A.R Honda team had a great result in
Austria with Jenson Button's storming drive to fourth
place, matching his best ever result. This result was
bitter-sweet however as his team-mate, Jacques Villeneuve
had electronics problems that hampered his progress in the
race.
The team completed a four-day test (20-23 May) at the
tight and twisty Valencia track in preparation for this
race. Concentrating on the ongoing aerodynamics
development programme, tyre and engine testing, the team
put in four days of hard work with the full driver line-up
taking part.
Jacques Villeneuve got his best ever Monaco result with
B.A.R in 2001 when he crossed the line in fourth position.
Neither driver finished in 2002, Olivier Panis' race
coming to an abrupt end after a collision with a young
Briton in a Renault!
Jacques Villeneuve:
"Monaco is an extremely glamorous race and the fans
have a great time, but from a driver's point of view it is
a difficult track to race on. The track is very narrow and
has a lot of corners, but the actual layout of the circuit
is fun."
"Qualifying is very important here as it is extremely
difficult to overtake during the race. If you are further
down the grid at the start, the pit-stops play an
important part in making up positions. It's a very
exciting track but there is no room for error. You can't
make any mistakes because you are surrounded by guard
rails instead of kerbs and grass and there are no run-off
areas. This brings new stress levels psychologically which
do not happen at any other races."
"The car has been competitive all season, so it
should be competitive in Monaco as well. It's fun to race
there, but if we continue to have reliability problems,
then I will not be looking forward to the race."
Jenson Button:
"If Monaco goes as well for me as Austria I'll be
happy. I really enjoyed the race there as we could
challenge the top teams. It was great to be competitive
and score some points."
"As far as the Monaco race itself goes it's a tough
one. The circuit is really twisty and bumpy and it takes
it toll, especially on your arms, because of all the tight
turns. Most of the corners are blind so you have to take a
leap of faith and hope nothing has happened on the track
in front of you. I read that someone once said it's like
'riding a bicycle in your living room' and they weren't
wrong!"
"Of course it's nice to race in the place where you
live as it means no travel and no hotels for a whole
weekend. It's an extremely busy race off the track as
there are always many sponsor and media commitments but,
having said that, the Monaco Grand Prix is a really
exciting event."
David Richards, Team Principal:
"Monaco is a great occasion for everyone: the teams,
the sponsors and the spectators. As always it will be a
tremendously busy race for us and we will be working hard
to continue the steady progress we are making. The team
here are working on an ongoing aerodynamics development
programme and Honda continue to give us evolutions so we
are pushing hard."
"We still have reliability issues as Jacques' car had
an electrical problem in Austria. We have addressed this
and are hopeful for a two-car points finish in Monaco. The
first step though will be to secure good qualifying
positions. Overtaking is impossible in Monaco so I expect
the final qualifying session will be more fraught than
ever with a lot of strategic thinking taking place."
Geoffrey Willis, Technical Director:
"After the strong performance at the A1-Ring, the
team have a completely different challenge this weekend in
Monaco. At the last race we showed our chassis performance
and the strength and power of the latest Honda engine. At
Valencia we have been testing new parts for the next race;
aero parts, including front and rear wings."
"Monaco is a very bumpy circuit with a lot of adverse
cambers, which means that you can never get a car set-up
perfectly but mechanically the track is not so hard on the
chassis. The transmission can take some punishment from
the bumps, but the traction control system helps cut out a
lot of the stress of former times. The soft-chassis set-up
also relieves much of the stress from riding the
bumps."
"The impact of tyre performance is also critical at
Monaco as tyres represent a bigger overall percentage of
performance than usual, owing to the slippery surface.
We've done a great deal of testing with Bridgestone in
recent weeks and have confidence in their strategy for
Monaco."
Shuhei Nakamoto, Engineering Director, Honda Racing
Development:
"Building on our competitive weekend in Austria we
have further upgraded the engine, which we have been
testing at Valencia in preparation for running at Monaco.
After a strong and encouraging race at the A1-Ring I'm
really looking forward to seeing what we can do."
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