FORMULA 1 GRAND PRIX DE MONACO 2014 - First practice session

1	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:18.271		32
2	6	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1:18.303	0.032	31
3	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull Racing-Renault	1:18.506	0.235	37
4	14	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	1:18.930	0.659	31
5	1	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull Racing-Renault	1:19.043	0.772	33
6	7	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	1:19.467	1.196	31
7	77	Valtteri Bottas	Williams-Mercedes	1:19.494	1.223	31
8	11	Sergio Perez	Force India-Mercedes	1:19.666	1.395	29
9	20	Kevin Magnussen	McLaren-Mercedes	1:19.789	1.518	29
10	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India-Mercedes	1:19.856	1.585	38
11	22	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	1:20.033	1.762	35
12	21	Esteban Gutierrez	Sauber-Ferrari	1:20.118	1.847	33
13	8	Romain Grosjean	Lotus-Renault	1:20.207	1.936	33
14	13	Pastor Maldonado	Lotus-Renault	1:20.241	1.970	38
15	25	Jean-Eric Vergne	STR-Renault	1:20.260	1.989	36
16	19	Felipe Massa	Williams-Mercedes	1:20.517	2.246	25
17	99	Adrian Sutil	Sauber-Ferrari	1:20.736	2.465	18
18	26	Daniil Kvyat	STR-Renault	1:20.914	2.643	37
19	17	Jules Bianchi	Marussia-Ferrari	1:21.310	3.039	27
20	9	Marcus Ericsson	Caterham-Renault	1:22.063	3.792	40
21	10	Kamui Kobayashi	Caterham-Renault	1:22.492	4.221	38
22	4	Max Chilton	Marussia-Ferrari	1:25.817	7.546	7

2014 Monaco GP - Press Conference VIDEO

FIA Wednesday press conference - Monaco

Drivers: Jules Bianchi (Marussia), Valtteri Bottas (Williams), Romain Grosjean (Lotus), Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari), Nico Rosberg (Mercedes), Jean-Eric Vergne (Toro Rosso)

PRESS CONFERENCE

Q: Jules, can I start with you? Obviously it's been quite a tough start to the season for you. What do you put that down to? Is it adapting to the car, is it bad luck or a combination of those things? 
Jules Bianchi: Yeah, obviously it's been a very difficult start. The first few races have been pretty tough for me and the team but actually the last one especially was pretty good for me, so I am happy with that. So I will think about this only now and be focused for the next races coming now.

Q: Tell us about your experience and thoughts about this unique race track here in Monaco. You had a good result here back in Renault 3.5 a few years ago, does that junior experience help in the first few years in Formula One?
JB: Yeah it helps a lot for sure to race in Monaco before your first year in Formula One. Last year has been really difficult for me. I had some issues in qualifying, I had engine failure and then in the race again some issue with the engine to start with and a brake failure to finish with, so it was not the best race I could have but I'm pretty confident now that I can do a good race this year.

Q: Coming to you Valtteri, you're seventh now in the drivers' championship and well ahead of your team mate. You had another good result in Spain. Do you feel that you and the team have moved up a gear now? 
Valtteri Bottas: Yeah, since the start of the season everything's been positive if we compare it to the year before. All the time during this year we've been able to make progress, we've been bringing some updates, which always gave us a little bit. That's what we aim for, for that to continue for the whole season. We are definitely keeping up at least with the development. We just need to keep pushing really, because everyone is going to improve so much.

Q: You said in the build-up to this race that you feel confident this year at Monaco. I wonder how much of a handicap it was last year for you that you'd never driven anything around this circuit? Can you tell us a bit what it's like to drive this place with absolutely zero database when you're driving a Formula One car.
VB: Yeah, definitely it was really tough last year, first time, immediately with a Formula One car but, you know, you just need to adapt to it, you need to build the speed up step-by-step in the practice. Definitely going for the race this season I know the track well now, so it's much easier to approach the weekend and build from practice one onwards. I definitely feel very confident for this weekend and I really think we can fight as a team for some really good points.

Q: Nico, winner from pole here last year. Can you tell us what a win around this race track means to a Formula One driver, what it did for you personally and for your confidence?
Nico Rosberg: For me personally it was a very, very special experience, because it's my home, it's where I've grown up. My whole life has been centred around Monaco. So to win here, yeah it was great. And not only that but also it'sthe race to win. It's the most challenging race to win and the most prestigious race to win, so really that was awesome.

Q: With what happened in Spain, losing the initiative in the championship to your team mate, how are you feeling at this point, going into this race? Do you feel the strain or do you feel an impatience to get that lead back again?
NR: I'm not too focused on that. Of course I would prefer to be ahead than behind but it's very, very close and there still a long way to go. So I'm just focused on this weekend here, looking forward to it, because I know that I have a fantastic car at the moment and I expect the car to be very, very quick also here in Monaco. The gap - they might be a lot closer to us this weekend and we need to wait and see if we are the fastest and the chances are we will be, so I look forward it and hope to have a fantastic weekend again.

Q: Jean-Eric, like Jules you've had a difficult start to the season. You got four points in the opening round but since then you've been in a position to score more points but then you've had non-finishes. What's been going on?
Jean-Eric Vergne: Yeah I think I've been pretty unlucky since the beginning of the season, started well in Melbourne and then always in a position to score some good points. But that's how it is; it's part of the sport. I'll just keep on smiling and hopefully the bad luck will go away and get tired of me. I'm just hoping to finish the race and have a good car and that's all I'm hoping for. So it will come.

Q: You won here in your junior career I believe and last year this race was the start of a real turnaround in your season. What are your thoughts on the venue and your prospects for the weekend? I also noted that you said that a driver must arrive in a humble state of mind at the beginning of a weekend in Monaco. What do you mean by that and what happens from there?
JEV: Well, I think this track is really difficult for sure. You want to stay far away from the walls and at the beginning the walls always look really close, a lot close than in the end of the weekend. This is a particular track where even the first session, the first P1, is really important for the confidence over the whole weekend, so you really have to build up your weekend in a good way.

Q: Romain, coming to you, first points of the season obviously in Spain and also fifth on the grid, followed up by what looked like a very encouraging test for Maldonado and Pic in Barcelona. Can you sum up where Lotus are now and what level of optimism there is for this next phase of the championship?
Romain Grosjean: Well, if you look at the trend from Melbourne, we've been improving every time, going to Q3 for the first time in China, going to Q3 and being fifth on the grid in Barcelona. I think we were looking good in the race to keep the Ferrari behind but I had a small problem. It's good that all the work has been done, and the fact we understand more and more our car, it's going in the right direction and, of course, if you are fifth on the grid in Monaco, the race is even kind of easier to defend your position. You never know what you are going to get when you come to Monaco. It's such a specific track. But I do hope we get the same kind of car we had in Barcelona. Then we can be well placed in Q3 and score some more points.

Q: Looking at your record here over the years, Monaco has not been a very happy hunting ground for you, in Formula One or the junior categories, has it? Why is that, do you think?
RG: I think that's not fair to say. I've been on pole position here in GP2, won the race in GP2 - but on the other side if you have a look at crashes, I have a good record and few corners I know too well. To be fair, last year I completely missed my weekend and wherever I would have been, it would have been the same story. So, just try to not do that again. You have to respect the track. Every mistake is more obvious than everywhere else - but I've always been quick so I'll try to keep that in my pocket but stay away from the rails.

Q: Kimi, another Monaco winner, do you consider a win here to be more important than other races? What did you feel when you ticked that Monaco win off your bucket list?
Kimi Raikkonen: Obviously it's been pretty OK many times for me the race but then it's not always from your side that the things go wrong here. There's so many things that can affect your result in the end. Previous years haven't been the best again but hopefully this year can be a bit better and hopefully we get some good points - but obviously it's too early to say how the car will be. Everything is different from last year so we have to just go open-minded and try to do the best that we can.

Q: Was Spain something of a turning point for you in terms of being able to extract closer to the maximum potential from the Ferrari? What made the difference there for you? And also, can you say anything about your analysis of the strategy in that race afterwards?
KR: We've been pretty good in other races also but obviously had some problems in the race or in practice and always messed up the complete big picture a bit. But obviously it was a bit better last time around. To be honest, if we finished where we finished, I think sixth and seventh, it's not at all where we want to be as a team, so we still have an awful lot of work to do. We improve things little-by-little but the other teams are also going forward so it's not a simple thing to fix and be in front suddenly. We know how it works and we know how much things have to improve but we keep working hard and for sure one day we will get there.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Aron Day - FormulaSpy.com) Kimi, you've driven the V10s, the V8s around Monaco. Do you think the new cars will be more difficult to drive?
KR: It's difficult to say before we drive. I think if your car is normally good, it doesn't really matter where you go. You know how it behaves and it will be OK. Obviously a bit less grip this year and maybe some cars are a bit more hard to handle but we have to see how it goes on the first practice and see what it is. But I think we've improved a lot since the winter and it should be OK.

Q: (Paolo Ianieri - Gazzetta dello Sport) Nico, Lewis says he should be dominating you more. Does it mean the time of smiles is getting over slowly? Are we going to see a harder battle between you and him?
NR: I don't know what he said so I'm not going to… I didn't hear it myself so I'm not going to comment on such things. But, in general, it's been a tough battle up until now and I expect it to continue like that. Of course now he's had the result rhythm in a couple of races but it's been very close. I just need a tiny bit to turn it around. I'll start with trying to do that here in Monaco.

Q: (Vladamir Rogovets - SB Belarus Segodnya) To all of you: what is your favourite braking zone in Monaco? 
JB: Well, I think after the tunnel, that's good, I like that.
JEV: Last corner, there is nearly no braking. I don't know.
VB: Yeah, I think the tunnel as well, because that's one of the places it could be possible to overtake, so let's say that. Yeah.
RG: Casino. It goes quickly up hill and when you get to the top you just have to brake. It's quite a nice feeling. 
NR: Same, up the hill, it's very, very difficult because it's a very, very fast corner and you're trying to carry the speed in and if you get it wrong and you're going too fast, it's very easy to lose the line.
KR: No, I don't really have one favourite one. Any of them. You can choose.

Q: (Heikki Kulta - Turun Sanomat) Kimi, are you going to carry on with the James Hunt-style design of your helmet here? 
KR: No.

Q: (Vincent Marre - Sports Zeitung) To all six of you: if there is one day race that we have now in this calendar that you would like to change into a night race, assuming there is no technical issue, which one would it be? There must be one. 
VB: This one would be cool, I think. It would look nice.
JEV: Yeah, I think this one as well under lights.
JB: Same, same thing. It would be really nice to race in Monaco at night.
RG: I don't know; why not Melbourne?
NR: Japan, so there's no jetlag.
KR: I cannot hear the question. I understood by their answers but I'm happy how they are, we can always dream about things but we don't make the rules, so there's no point.

Q: (Haoran Zhou - Formula One Express) Nico, last year you controlled the race all the way until the last few laps because of the fear of tyre degradation. This year's tyres have more endurance, and also your car is quite good on tyre management. Are you going to be able to push more in the race, according to your simulation? 
NR: Well, last year, before Monaco, it was really, really bad, our car with the tyres so in Monaco it was all about just trying to make the tyres last for the race but this year the tyres are more durable and also we have a better control on tyres, as a team, so it should be a faster race if I'm at the front.

Q: (Pierre van Vliet - F1i.com) Nico, four pole positions for Lewis so far; do you plan to change your approach to qualifying? You know that you dominated him last year; what do you plan to maybe change something in qualifying? 
NR: No. Of course three of those qualifyings were in the wet; in the dry it's 1-1 and it's supposed to be dry on Saturday so I'm confident I can make it happen so I'm not changing my approach or anything.

Q: (Ben Edwards - BBC) Nico and Kimi; we lost a legend of Formula One, Sir Jack Brabham, this last week. Obviously his exploits were before you guys were born but can I just ask if you had any contact with Sir Jack Brabham, if you have any thoughts about his career and also if you'd been born in a different era, would you have ever considered going down that kind of route that he did, of building his own car? Kimi, you've set up teams; Nico you have an interest in engineering. If you'd been born in that era, could you have seen yourselves go down that route? 
KR: Obviously I read and I was so sad to hear that he had passed away. Obviously these days are different than the days that they used to race and they could do different categories, different races. It would be very nice if they would be able to do different things at the same time and different races and try different things more. But the problem is everything gets so much more expensive these days and obviously people are more scared that you get hurt that they try to limit everything that you do. It's a shame because I think it would be more fun for everybody and all sports would also benefit from it, and F1. It would be nice to do stuff like they did.
NR: It's an amazing achievement that he did at the time, to win in another team but also in his own team, in his own car that he built. It's extremely unlikely to ever happen again but you never know, but it's a record that is definitely going to last a long time.

(source: f1.com)

FIA press conference schedule - Monaco

Amongst the drivers who will take part in the official FIA press conference in Monaco on Wednesday will be last year’s victor, Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg, plus Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen, who won in the Principality back in 2005. 

Meanwhile on Thursday, Ferrari’s recently-installed team principal Marco Mattiacci will make his first press conference appearance as he joins other senior personnel in answering questions from the press. The line-ups in full... 

Wednesday, May 21, 1500 hours local time (1400 GMT)
Jules Bianchi (Marussia), Valtteri Bottas (Williams), Romain Grosjean (Lotus), Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari), Nico Rosberg (Mercedes), Jean-Eric Vergne (Toro Rosso)

Thursday, May 22, 1600 hours local time (1500 GMT)
Eric Boullier (McLaren), Federico Gastaldi (Lotus), Christian Horner (Red Bull), Marco Mattiacci (Ferrari), Claire Williams (Williams), Toto Wolff (Mercedes)

The qualifying and post-race press conferences with the top three drivers will take place immediately after the respective sessions.

(source: f1.com)

2014 Monaco Grand Prix preview

Monaco, the most legendary track in Formula One. It starts on Thursday because Friday is usually a day of. There is no real explanation but some say that drivers celebrate in Monaco on Thursday so it wouldn't be ok to drive the next day. Maybe there is some other explanation nowadays? I don't know.

Monaco hosted their first F1 Grand Prix in 1950. It was also the second F1 race ever driven. Back then it was just sick how many laps they drove! 100 laps and it took over 3 hours!! Monaco has hosted GP's also before the F1 series started. The first race was in 1929.

The first F1 race in Monaco was won by Juan Manuel Fangio who started from pole and also set the fastest lap of the race. 9 cars crashed on the first lap and one car on the second. Only 7 cars finished the race and Fangio was much faster than everybody else! Alberto Ascari was 2nd 1 lap behind, Louis Chiron was 3rd 2 laps behind, Raymond Sommer 4th 3 laps behind, Prince Bira 5th 5 laps behind, Bob Gerard 6th 6 laps behind and Johnny Claes 7th also 6 laps behind.

The next time they held an official GP in Monaco was in 1955 and it has been a part of the calendar since that year.

In 1959 Monaco was the first race of the season and Jack Brabham won the race. He passed away today so I thought it was nice to mention him as well. He was such a super driver! Had his own team and won a championship with it. Who else has done that?

Monaco started the F1 season many times after 1959 but when they wanted more races in the calendar they had to fit in other races before it. The race in Monaco has always been in May.

I could talk about Monaco for days so let's stop here about the history and move on to statistics instead. Maybe I'll talk a bit about history as well.. can't control myself when it's Monaco we are talking about.

Most wins in Monaco: Ayrton Senna, 6 wins. 1984-1993 the Monaco GP was only won by Ayrton Senna or Alain Prost. Senna could have probably won in 1984 if the race wouldn't have been stopped. In 1988 he led the race almost 1 minute over Prost but made a mistake when McLaren told him several times to slow down.

Most wins by constructor - McLaren, 15 wins. Senna 5 times, Prost 4 times, Mika Häkkinen, Kimi Räikkönen, Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton once and David Coulthard 2 times.

The fastest lap in Monaco is 1:14.439 and it was set by Michael Schumacher in 2004.

The track length is 3.340km and they are lapping it 78 times.

Then it's time for my predictions. Yes I know that I haven't talked much about this years race but I'll focus on this year when the race is over. If you want to hear opinions etc. ask me.

Pole position: Nico Rosberg, Mercedes

The race:

1. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes
2. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
3. Fernando Alonso, Ferrari

Fastest lap: Nico Rosberg, Mercedes

Surprise: Sergio Perez has pushed hard in Monaco but failed almost every time. Maybe he will succeed this year?

Remember to post your own predictions to our F1-4-LIFE PREDICTORS LEAGUE.

The rules:

POINTS: 1st - 3
2nd - 5
3rd - 10

HOW IT WORKS: the aim of the game is simply predict who comes where in the race (top3). A total of 18 points can be won on a race day. If you get winner and and 3rd place right but 2nd wrong you get 13 points same if you get 1 correct. eg. 2nd you get 5 points. If a driver wins the race and you said he would come 2nd or 3rd no points would be awarded. Same if he came in another position, and you predicted that wrong. A table will be posted up every race weekend. The point scoring system will change once the cars become more competitive. Everyone will say a merc 1,2 so it won't be close or fun.

HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR PREDICTIONS: send an email to f14lifeblog@gmail.com or message the Facebook page to submit your predictions. You have until lights out to make them. If you submit them when the race has started they won't count. So be quick! like the Mercedes.

THE PRIZE: the winner of the league will win themselves a admin place on the F1 4 LIFE page along side JT, AE & MW. If you don't want to be an admin you are welcome to participate anyway. We may also come up with some other prize if it helps.

That's it for today and if you want to send me feedback then email me: f14lifeblog@gmail.com