28/05/2023
NEWS STORY
Nyck de Vries: "It was an extremely difficult race with very challenging circumstances.
We could have managed the first stint better because I had a huge drop-off in pace and suddenly recovered a lot of speed in the last seven laps on the Mediums, before it started raining. Perhaps we could have pushed less on Oscar (Piastri) at the beginning, nevertheless, it was a solid race. The Intermediates initially didn't have any temperature or grip, but we kept our nose clean. Overall, I am satisfied with my weekend, no major mistakes in tricky conditions. It was encouraging to see that we were so close to the top 10, and we worked well as a team throughout the weekend to put the cars where they were on the grid, so we'll take those positives to Barcelona."
Yuki Tsunoda: "It's a tough result because we showed good pace and were in control, especially in the dry. With the rain starting, the timing of our pitstop from the Mediums to the Intermediates was perfect, so the team did a good job with that. The issue with the brakes I had all weekend amplified in the rain, and it was difficult to control and manage the situation. I felt like a passenger from then until the end of the race. Of course, I am frustrated, and so is the team, because points were possible today. It's hard to accept it, there are still things which need to be improved, but there are certainly positives to take from this weekend. We will now reset ourselves and focus on Barcelona."
Jody Egginton (Technical Director): "It was a super frustrating end to the race. Everything was going to plan for Yuki, his pace was good and he was able to manage tyre graining. Nyck was in a similar situation and, although he struggled a bit longer with graining, his pace was also good and he could move away from the pack behind once the tyres came back. So in the dry portion of the race, both cars were reasonably well placed regardless if it rained or not. The rain came and we boxed both cars on the same lap for Inters, which was the right call. However, Yuki immediately struggled with his brakes even with multiple adjustments to try and bring them in. They remained inconsistent, meaning he could not push the braking phases, hence his lap times suffered, both McLarens got past and he went off. Nyck was less affected by this issue and could achieve a good lap time progression on the Inter tyre, but even with the rain it was not possible to get him into the points today - it's never easy in Monaco. Overall, the car showed good pace in qualifying and during the dry part of the race here, which is promising, but not being able to finish the job and score the points which were there to be taken is very disappointing, especially on a day where we had one car ahead of all of our closest competitors. We now must understand the issues with braking, there is still much to learn about the aero update, and we look forward to taking the next step with the car in Barcelona."
Check out our Sunday gallery from Monaco here.