Kimi: “Picking up these points could make big difference”

Source: lotusf1team.com

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Despite having a weekend to forget in Monaco, Kimi considers the positives of another points finish and the importance it could have come the end of the year…

Q: Kimi, P9 was not exactly what you were aiming for this weekend; how was the race from your perspective?

KR: It wasn’t the best but sometimes that’s how it goes. We’ve been at the front all season so far and obviously we weren’t today, but Monaco is always a bit different. We got caught up in traffic a few times over the weekend, and I don’t think we really saw the true pace of the car today.

Q: You weren’t entirely happy with the car over the first two days of running; how did it feel today?

KR: At the start of the race the car felt very good. Eventually the tyres started to drop off a bit but we had done quite a few laps on them by that point. The soft tyres were a bit more tricky, especially in traffic and when the temperature dropped as it was hard to keep the temperature where it should be. Overall though the car felt ok today.

Q: You stayed out for quite a while in the first stint; what was the reason behind that decision?

KR: It was a difficult situation. We were expecting rain, and it didn’t make sense to change to another set of dry tyres if we may have to come in again for wets. In the end it didn’t really rain at all, apart from right at the end in certain parts of the track, but it was never enough to think about putting the intermediates on the car.

Q: Not the best race for the team; what can we take from today?

KR: We can’t say we achieved what we hoped for this weekend and it’s obviously disappointing, but if we can have a bad race like this and still take three points it’s not the end of the world. Picking up these points when we’re not at our best could make a big difference at the end of the season.