Manor preparing for emotional Monaco weekend

Manor sporting director Graeme Lowdon admits the team is in for a very emotional weekend at the Monaco Grand Prix, the scene of Jules Bianchi's ninth place last year.

Bianchi scored the first points for the team - then known as Marussia - in Monte Carlo, a result which was celebrated wildly and eventually saw the team finish ninth in the constructors' championship ahead of Sauber and Caterham. Speaking exclusively to F1i, Lowdon says remembering Bianchi's success will make for a difficult weekend for the team.

“Yes, I think there will be quite a lot of emotion actually because it’s obviously the scene of some very, very happy times,” Lowdon said. “It was pretty much Jules’ home race really, last year, and we’ve all got some fantastic memories.

“It was a great team effort that result as well, it pretty much began [in Barcelona] at the test where we felt we got the car going a lot better and we were really troubling a couple of teams in front. I remember we were quite frustrated after FP1 and FP2 that we hadn’t got more data and we hadn’t made more progress. That was really a sign of how the team had progressed at that stage.

“We had a proper roller coaster weekend with penalties, gearbox changes, overtaking manoeuvres, safety cars, it had everything. It was a real roller coaster but I remember Jules crossing the line and it was a great feeling for everyone in the team. I’m sure everyone will have some thoughts when they’re there because we had such good memories.

“Bizarrely enough I think it’s more difficult to go there than Suzuka because we have such good memories.”

Click here for Wednesday's gallery from testing at the Circuit de Catalunya

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