F1 News, Reports and Race Results

Boullier tells McLaren not to celebrate Monaco result

X (Twitter)X (Twitter)
FacebookFacebook
WhatsappWhatsapp

Eric Boullier says McLaren should not celebrate its double points finish in the Monaco Grand Prix because it has much bigger ambitions.

McLaren arrived in Monaco with high expectations but found its car did not work as well as hoped due to an inherent lack of dirty downforce - which creates more drag - an approach which has been necessary to compensate for its power unit deficit.

Despite the car's disappointing pace, Fernando Alonso still managed to secure fifth place with a good strategy while Jenson Button was ninth, but Boullier says taking advantage of a rain-affected race is the minimum he expects from the team.

“No, not celebrating," Boullier said. "We just did the job, we have good drivers, this is a good team, we delivered the strategy so it is a good reward for the guys and the drivers as well because I think Fernando and Jenson both enjoyed the race. But McLaren’s ambition is to win, so obviously we’re not very excited. We should not say this because we need to be happy, but…”

When it was put to Boullier that the way Alonso held off Nico Rosberg was encouraging, the racing director replied: “No, you’re not going to find anything to make me happy!

"It’s a good result for the team, good to get the points and to have taken your opportunities but this is the least you expect from us, so I’m not excited by this. We need to keep working, we were expecting to be a bit more competitive [in Monaco], we were not, we know why now. That’s it, we just need to keep working, Monaco is a one-off."

With Alonso crossing the line 50 seconds behind fourth-placed Sebastian Vettel, Boullier also warned the final gap to Ferrari was not representative either.

“Not only that though, you have to be careful because we managed our tyres. So if you go back through the race you will see [Button] was on his own so he could push more and he was a couple of seconds faster than Fernando.

"Fernando was just managing his pace to make sure that the tyres were lasting until the end. So it’s not the real pace, the gap between Vettel and us is not the real one.”

Monaco Grand Prix - Quotes of the week

Driver ratings - Monaco Grand Prix

Technical feature: What will the 2017 F1 cars look like?

Daniil Kvyat exclusive: Time to think about life after Red Bull

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter

Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.

Recent Posts

Aston Martin F1 confirms AMR25 roll-out date

Aston Martin fans, your wait is almost over as Team Silverstone has officially announced the…

49 mins ago

Red Bull junior Lindblad enjoys surprise F1 debut at Imola

Red Bull's prodigious 17-year-old protégé, Arvid Lindblad, enjoyed a surprise F1 test t Imola on…

2 hours ago

Steiner and Haas reach settlement in legal dispute

Former Haas F1 team principal Guenther Steiner and his former employer, the Haas F1 Team,…

4 hours ago

Remembering the man who conquered F1's most thrilling win

Peter Gethin, the man who secured perhaps the most thrilling win ever witnessed in Grand…

5 hours ago

FIA President floats sensational idea – and F1 fans are buzzing!

The sound of roaring V10 engines might just make a comeback, thanks to a sensational…

6 hours ago

Ferrari's SF-25: Masterpiece of engineering or risky gamble?

Ferrari’s new SF-25 Formula 1 car represents a bold evolution in the fourth and final…

7 hours ago