Mercedes' Nico Rosberg has revealed that a victory in the Monaco Grand Prix on the most famous, glamorous and historic street circuit in the world means more to him than any other.
"Yeah it does," he told the drivers press conference in Monaco on Wednesday.
"It’s my home race. I sleep in my apartment, get out the front door. I’ve lived here all my life, so it’s a very special place. Also, if there’s one race to win then it’s Monaco and the combination of all that makes it the most special race."
Rosberg's been making a habit of winning here with three back-to-back Monaco victories heading into this weekend. If he makes it a fourth then it will be the first time anyone has managed it since Ayrton Senna in the early 1990s.
"I’m aware of the statistics of course, but it’s not something I’m concentrating on or even thinking about," said Rosberg, whose streak of seven success race wins came to an end last time out in Spain when his race ended prematurely in a collision with his team mate Lewis Hamilton.
"As I’ve said even in the past couple of races, what I want to do this weekend is try and win this race, just because it’s Monaco and I love winning here and that’s it. That’s only what I’m thinking about. That’s it."
Rosberg insisted that the early end to his race in Spain wouldn't be preying on his mind this weekend.
"For sure yeah it’s now a thing of the past, not thinking about it anymore. We’ve been through it and now looking forward. Just concentrating on Monaco and I want to try to win here and that’s that."
And Rosberg was confident that he wouldn't suffer the same problems at the start of the race as he did in Spain, when the wrong engine mode selection had left him slow into the opening corners and under attack from his team mate which ultimately led to disaster.
"It was in the wrong position. It’s my job to put it in the right position and that’s it. Pretty simple. Not much more to say with that," he remarked. "You need to think about what you’re doing. There’s a lot going on and that’s it. You need to come up with ways of making sure that everything is done properly. That’s it."
Romain Grosjean column: 'I want Jules to always be with us'
Chris Medland's 2016 Monaco Grand Prix preview
Jacques Villeneuve - Race of my life
Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter
Williams is continuing to fight uphill battles this weekend in Las Vegas as a knock-on…
It was a solid start to the Las Vegas weekend for Ferrari with Carlos Sainz…
Lando Norris didn’t hold back in his assessment of McLaren’s performance on the opening day…
Lewis Hamilton was particularly happy with his opening day of running at the Las Vegas…
Red Bull fears that its prospects for this weekend's Las Vegas Grand Prix - which…
Ferrari and Mercedes have both modified their car’s floor element in Las Vegas to comply…