After a frustrating Monaco Grand Prix where his gap to the Drivers’ Championship lead increased from four to twenty-one points, Kimi heads to Montréal focused on getting right back in the fight.
What are your feelings after Monaco?
We had a bad result on Sunday in Monaco; that was clear for anyone to see. It could have been even worse, but it could have been much better as well. We came out with one point so at least we got something back after losing the solid fifth place, but that’s not much consolation. The car felt good for qualifying and the race which is a positive as it was another circuit – and a difficult circuit – where we’ve been able to have the car pretty much as we wanted. We still lack just a little bit of speed in qualifying sometimes, but our race pace was good again; not that you can show that when you’re stuck behind slower cars like we saw in Monaco. We don’t know how the car will be in Montréal – we will have the answer to that question soon – but there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be competitive again.
It was quite some fightback you made at the end of the race…
Well, that was a bit different as I had fresh tyres and we should never have been in that position in the first place, but it was good to at least get a point at the end. In a way, it almost makes it more frustrating as when we had the clean air after the pit stop it was probably the first time you saw how quick our car really was.
You were pretty frustrated after the race?
No-one wants to lose so many points thanks to the actions of another driver, but that race is over; Monaco is just a distant memory and I’m all ready for Canada.
What’s your opinion of Canada?
I have won there which was pretty good, but I have experienced some setbacks there as well. Many times the race has been quite a lottery as there seem to be different things which affect it. The weather can change a lot, sometimes the tyres or the track aren’t working very well, sometimes there are a lot of safety cars, or sometimes another driver runs into the back of you when you’re waiting at a red light. As for the place itself, I’ve always liked Montréal. It is one of the nicest cities we visit all year.
What do you need for a good result in Canada?
A good car. Like at every circuit you need to get the set-up exactly right. You need a well-balanced chassis in the medium downforce configuration and you don’t want to be too hard on brakes as there’s a lot of aggressive braking there. It’s something I quite enjoy, the stop and go style of the circuit.
Is Montréal another circuit where qualifying is crucial?
Qualifying is important at every circuit, but not as essential as it was in Monaco to get a good result. It’s not easy to get past, but there are one or two places to overtake.
What are your thoughts on the Championship after losing ground to Sebastian Vettel?
For sure we lost ground on the lead in Monaco, but it’s not over yet. It’s still early in the season and twenty-one points behind is not too much to catch up; especially if Sebastian has a bad weekend too at some point. The most important thing is that we return to our race level before Monaco to get things going our way as soon as possible.