Lewis Hamilton ran for a full 47 laps on the ultrasoft, which had never been seen before

Lewis Hamilton ran for a full 47 laps on the ultrasoft, which had never been seen before

Monaco, May 29, 2016 – The Monaco Grand Prix got underway behind a safety car in wet conditions, which altered the complexion of race strategy entirely, as all the drivers had to start on the wet tyres.

The safety car came in after seven laps, with most drivers eventually switching to intermediates. Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton was one of just two competitors to stay out on the full wets as the circuit dried, switching straight to ultrasoft on lap 31.

Polesitter Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull) went to the supersoft one lap later after a long pit stop, due to his team not having the tyres ready, emerging directly behind Hamilton, which was the start of a brilliant duel for the lead between them.

An alternative strategy was adopted by Force India’s Sergio Perez, who finished third from eighth on the grid, going from the intermediate to the soft tyre.

All five types of tyre brought to Monaco – full wet, intermediate, soft, supersoft and ultrasoft – were used extensively throughout the race. Because it was a wet race at the beginning, there was no obligation to run at least two slick compounds. Hamilton ran for a full 47 laps on the ultrasoft, which had never been seen before in testing or free practice, setting fastest lap close to the end of the race.

Lewis Hamilton –This might be the best place ever to have win number 44 – it’s been eight years since I won here! What a special day… truly one of the hardest races I can ever remember having. To stay in the zone, not make any mistakes and come out on top is just unbelievable. I walk along here every day and think about the greats who have won this race – the likes of Fangio, Moss, Hill and Senna – and it’s a truly amazing feeling to have my name added to that list again. It’s very unusual that I’m able to take any credit for a strategy decision – but when the team first asked me to box, I could see the track drying and my tyres still felt pretty good. So I told them all that and they said to stay out, which worked out great. I just carried on looking after the tyres – picking up the pace a bit when I saw what times people were starting to do on the intermediates as it dried out. I was matching their times at that stage so I thought “I could actually hold onto this until it’s dry”. Staying in that window was really tricky, though, as the first two sectors were almost dry. When I came out on the slicks it was like driving on ice. It was tough knowing how hard to push and we came out very close together. If he hadn’t had a bad stop I wouldn’t have been ahead. But these things happen for a reason – and today the reason was that 44th win.

Daniel Ricciardo- 2nd, Start Position: pole position
“On the extremes in the beginning we were quick and I did everything I had to. I asked a couple of times how the people on inters were doing but they said that my pace was really good on the extremes so we stayed out and that was no problem. And then they said “box this lap”. We put the inters on and then we came out behind Lewis. Then when Lewis pitted we tried to pit the lap later to overcut him. It was all prepared and then I came into the pits and there were no tyres. I actually hate being like this. I hate being miserable. I got a podium in Monaco. I should be extremely happy, grateful and thankful. I’ve been fast now for two races and that’s the positive, but again no win so I’m a little bit sick of being fast and not getting any real rewards. I don’t like being the sad story. To end it on a positive note, we are fast in all conditions, which is good.”

 

Sergio Perez Sahara Force India – 3rd – “A podium in Monaco is a very special moment. It’s one of my best ever races, especially when you see how difficult the conditions were today: you had to concentrate so hard and it was easy to make a mistake. The key to my race was the strategy and we got things just about perfect today. The first difficult decision was when to fit the intermediate tyre and we delayed this as long as possible. The team said it was my call when to come in and it paid off because we managed to jump a couple of cars, including my teammate. The switch to dry tyres was another key moment because I pitted early, a lap before Rosberg and Vettel, and managed to jump ahead of them. The soft tyres worked really well, but I knew I needed to look after them and it wasn’t easy because there was pressure behind from Vettel for most of the race. Everybody in the team deserves this result and I want to dedicate this podium to Vijay Mallya in particular.”