02/06/2007
NEWS STORY
Monaco was difficult for the team, but there are some positives to take away from the weekend?
Colin Kolles, team principal and managing director: Of course! The race speed was very good. We lapped at a similar pace to the cars right up to the top 10 and Adrian drove well to keep the Aguri and the Toyota behind him. At the end of the race Christijan too was doing the same lap times as the cars in front. Very positively, Adrian put in a brilliant lap at the end of Saturday practice to go top of the timesheets, a position he completely deserved. The timing was right, the car was perfect and Adrian was on top of his form. Other cars were on track at the time, including Raikkonen, and they actually crossed the line after him and didn't go quicker. He's a real talent and just because we are at the back of the grid, we shouldn't rule him out of springing a surprise.
Ultimately though, the team didn't finish, you said after Malaysia that this was unacceptable.
CK: Nobody in any team is ever going to be satisfied if two cars don't make it to the chequered flag, especially now we have completed 25% of the season. I am not going to make excuses for this or say that I am happy about it, but you have to move on and be realistic about situations. Monaco is a circuit that if the circumstances work with you, you can do very well, or make a tiny mistake and you're out - it can be that close. Adrian is one of those cases; he missed a braking point by just a metre or so and touched the barrier. Under normal circumstances, this would not have put him out of the race.
Is the team still focussed on getting a top 10 finish in the Constructors' Championship this year?
CK: That has to be the goal. We have to focus on getting the cars to the finish, staying out of trouble and being there should any of the other cars have problems. It's still achievable I think.
Another story to come from the Monaco Grand Prix weekend were reports about Spyker Cars being in financial difficulty. How does this reflect on the Formula 1 team?
CK: The Formula 1 team's security is not based on the profits, losses or financial security of Spyker Cars NV in any way. Spyker Formula One is financed through its own consortium of investors, partners and suppliers and we are not reliant on input from the road car division. We have the full support of Spyker Cars and likewise we take a more than active interest in their success, but observers should not be predicting the fall of the F1 team any time soon. We have set goals and objectives and we will not be happy until we achieve them.