Nick, what are your reactions to the race in Monaco?
NH: Firstly, I’m glad that Vitaly was ok following the crash he was caught up in. Fortunately he did not break or fracture anything, so it’s good to see him in good spirits and that it is nothing too serious. He was unlucky because he was in a strong position at that point and could have been heading for fourth. From a personal point of view, I am at least glad I could pick up four more points for the team. We should be competing higher, we know that, but given how we qualified on Saturday at least we managed to get something from the race.
It was a race full of incidents and with more overtaking than expected…
NH: It really was. There was a lot taking place out there, especially with the safety cars and the restart. For me, the start of the race was ok, I almost overtook one of the Force Indias but unfortunately I did not quite manage to make up the place. When the safety car came out, I got a very late call into the pits but I made it, which definitely helped me. It was a difficult weekend for us here but to take four points for the team is ok given my qualifying position.”
We are now six races in to the season, how are you enjoying LRGP?
NH: It’s been a great experience so far. Obviously it was a very late call for me to come into the team; from the first day on I felt extremely welcome and I have really enjoyed working with the guys. We started trying to improve things together during winter testing and I’m still trying to work together with everyone to improve things further. As the season progresses, it becomes trickier to go into specific details (like you can when you are testing) because you are focusing just so much on the actual racing, but all in all it has been a positive experience so far. I am now looking forward to Montreal where I’m really hoping we can push forwards and challenge for the higher points we know we are capable of.
Source Lotus Renault GP