Williams were relatively happy with their Monaco Grand Prix performance after compromising their race strategy in qualifying. Nico Rosberg was a respectable sixth, producing one of the few highlights of the race when he flashed past Vettel’s Red Bull.
Rosberg’s team mate, Kazuki Nakajima didn’t fair much better as he struggled to make his race strategy work, finally crashing out in the closing stages of the race.
Nico Rosberg – 6th: “I’ve got to be happy with sixth place today, more just wasn’t possible and we did the best we could have in the circumstances. It was a great start with lots going on, but I managed to come through and it set me up well for the early phase of the race. We then did a long middle stint on primes as we were worried about the durability of the option tyre, but they seemed to hold on much better than expected in the last stint, perhaps due to the amount of rubber down on the circuit by the end of the race. That said, I always enjoy racing here, it is a huge challenge that requires you to be inch perfect and it was very demanding out there.”
Kazuki Nakajima – DNF: “The start and the initial part of the race was good for me, but ultimately it was frustrating as I always seemed to be picking up traffic out of the pitlane or responding to blue flags and then losing track position to the one-stoppers. In the final analysis the outcome was disappointing, I was on the option tyre and I was pushing perhaps too hard when I had my accident nearly at the finish, but at least I had a good feeling with the car today.”
Sam Michael, Technical Director: “It was good to collect some points today and Nico drove well, unfortunately we were on a compromise strategy as a result of yesterday’s qualifying, so it was always going to be quite difficult for Nico to beat the guys around him, but he did well to earn some points. It was difficult to progress Kazuki somewhere like Monaco where you can’t overtake. The car was good in terms of pace around here and if we keep pushing the development, the performance will start to show through.”
