Formula 1

Marussia Duo Have Different Fortunes During Qualifying in Monte Carlo

2 Mins read
Timo Glock - Photo Credit: Marussia F1 Team

Timo Glock - Photo Credit: Marussia F1 Team

 

The two Marussia drivers had contrasting qualifying sessions today in Monaco.

Although Timo Glock and Charles Pic were separated by only two places in qualifying – P20 and P22 respectively – their moods after the session, at least those conveyed by their analysis, were markedly different.

“I think another good day for me,” said Glock, who was clearly the happier of the two drivers. “FP3 this morning was quite a solid session and we worked our way through the programme. As a crew we've worked well together all weekend – my engineers, mechanics and myself – and together we got the car in good shape for qualifying. We made some slight adjustments between the two sessions and I felt happy with the car.

“After Perez's incident (five minutes into the qualifying session) and the red flag, the job was harder as we could only have one shot on the Super Soft tyres and with all the traffic. So I'm quite happy with my lap and thanks to my engineers for putting me in the best possible spot for my quick lap. Now I look forward to tomorrow and what I'm sure will be an exciting race. It was nice of DTM's Mike Rockenfeller to pop by before qualifying for a surprise visit. Very good to see him.”

Pic, on the other hand, could not get his car hooked up around Monaco, a track he has won at twice in junior series. “Overall it was not a great qualifying for me,” said the French rookie. “I think our pace here in Monaco is less strong than it was in Barcelona. I also had some traffic in my fast lap, so not a good day.

“Now we have to focus all we can on tomorrow and what we can do to improve. We know that sometimes in Monaco there are opportunities, so we will have to put ourselves in the best position to be able to take advantage of them.”

Team principal John Booth summarised the day from the team’s point of view: “Unfortunately we find ourselves having experienced mixed fortunes between the two cars in qualifying,” he said.

“The objective going into this race was to improve Timo's balance and continue to see Charles improving his form, but it seems that we've managed to achieve the former, but not helped Charles with the latter. For his car, we need to spend some time understanding the decisions we've made between FP2 and qualifying.

“As a team we need to get to the point where both drivers perform at their best in qualifying and this will be our goal going forward. For tomorrow they are still placed where we expected and I'm sure both drivers will make good progress and be ready to take advantage of any situations that arise in this typically eventful race.”

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