FORMULA 1 - 2010

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Schumi plays down Monaco chances

Michael Schumacher is optimistic that his Mercedes will be closer to the pace in Monaco, but warned his fans not to get carried away about his return to the track where he won five times in his original Formula 1 career.

Although Schumacher achieved the best result of his comeback by taking fourth in Spain, and also out-paced team-mate Nico Rosberg all weekend for the first time, the whole team was frustrated to be over a minute behind winner Mark Webber's Red Bull at the finish.

Schumacher believes the latest Mercedes will be more in tune with Monte Carlo, but played down expectations.

"We go there and hope that the characteristics of the street circuit suit our car better than in Spain last weekend," he said.

"On the other hand, we should be careful not to expect too much this time as we have seen in Barcelona that there is still a lot of work ahead of us."

But the German legend said his personal breakthrough in Spain had fired him up even more to get Mercedes on the lead pace as soon as possible.

"Other than having achieved my best result so far this season, I have taken with me a lot of motivation to work even harder with our engineers to improve the car further," he said.

Schumacher first won the Monaco Grand Prix with Benetton in 1994, repeating the result the following year.

He took a famous triumph in the wet for Ferrari in 1997, then won again in the dry in 1999 and 2001.

But Monte Carlo was also the scene of some of the lowest moments of Schumacher's F1 career, as he crashed on the first lap in 1996 having wrestled that year's uncompetitive Ferrari to a remarkable pole, and was put to the back of the grid in 2006 when the stewards ruled that he had deliberately stopped on track to try and prevent Fernando Alonso beating him to pole.

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Renault keeps standard aero package

Robert Kubica is unsure how Renault will fare this weekend, as the team has not brought a special aerodynamic package for the twists of Monaco.

The Monte Carlo race often sees teams roll out bespoke aero additions designed to increase downforce for the ultra-slow circuit, but Renault will keep its standard package this weekend.

"Monaco is quite a different grand prix to what we have raced this year, so it will be interesting to see how our car will be performing here," said Kubica.

"Unfortunately, from our side, we don't have a specific downforce level for here.

"Normally in the past I was used to having some different wings with more downforce.

"Drag and efficiency is not so important here in Monaco, but we will be using practically the same wings as all year, so we will have to see if our downforce level is good for here."

Kubica has been the underdog hero of the year, taking the still-recovering Renault team to second in Australia and getting among the top four teams on several occasions.

But he denied that his skill could make the difference if Renault did turn out to be off the pace in Monaco.

"The car is still very important," said Kubica.

"I finished second in 2008 and I was starting second last in 2009, so it shows that the car is still important, and that's why it's very, very difficult to predict.

"There are two options: either our car will be very good or our car will not be so good.

"Of course we are trying hard to improve the car and we hope that Monaco will be a good track for us."

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Buemi's fingers crossed for clean race

Sebastien Buemi admits he is desperate for a trouble-free race in Monaco this weekend so he can finally kick-start his season and take advantage of Toro Rosso’s improving pace.

The Swiss rookie has endured a tough start to his second season in Formula 1 and seen the chequered flags just once in five attempts courtesy of a combination of reliability problems and incidents with other drivers.

Last weekend in Spain he broke his front wing in a first-lap coming together with Pedro de la Rosa before later retiring with a hydraulic problem, while team-mate Jaime Alguersuari claimed the final point in 10th.

“It has been a very difficult start to the season for me with all the incidents and we had a lot of technical problems, so I am hoping to have a clean weekend,” Buemi said in Thursday’s pre-race press conference.

“That is most important.

“I am pretty sure we can do it as my team-mate seemed to have a consistent car until the end of the race, so I am hoping to have the same for this race but we will see.”

Buemi reckons the upgrades Toro Rosso brought to Barcelona allowed the team to leapfrog Williams and is optimistic the STR5 will continue to run well on Monaco’s streets.

“Our updates seemed to be working a bit better than expected as we seem to be ahead of Williams and near to Force India at the same level, so this is good for us,” he added.

“Now we need to see on this circuit how it reacts but I think we have a decent car for this kind of circuit.”

The 21-year-old, who qualified 11th in the Principality last year, added: “We were quite competitive last year and we have some new bits coming for here, so it should not be too bad.

“We should be near Q3, 10th space, 11th space, so that will be our objective and to score points.”

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Sutil 'won't need rain to star' in 2010

Adrian Sutil is confident that this year he will not need quirky weather conditions to allow him to impress in Monaco, as the 2010 Force India should automatically be a contender on the streets.

The young German has already earned a reputation as a Monte Carlo ace, having topped a damp practice session in his humble Spyker in 2007, then held fourth for Force India - then firmly at the back in most races - two years ago until rammed by Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen.

Rain helped him star on both occasions, but this year Sutil reckons he will need no help from the weather.

"This year is a very different situation," he said.

"I have a good car, and it doesn't matter which weather is around.

"If we have a good qualifying there, which is very important, a couple of points are possible there, or even more."

Team boss Vijay Mallya reckons Sutil is in the form of his life at present.

"I've never in the last three years seen Adrian be so happy and excited, and have such confidence," Mallya said.

Sutil added that he was particularly pleased to have taken seventh in Spain, where other teams had much larger upgrades than Force India.

"We brought some aero and mechanical parts to Spain and it was a reasonable step, but we've had bigger steps before," he said.

"For Monaco we have another package, and that should help us a lot.

"I can't wait to get there."

MIKA: I love it when you read drivers who are enthusiastic about driving like Adrian is. He may seem a little 'Cocky' but hey, he is a good driver. I just hope many teams are not messed up with the amount of slower cars on the track.

[MIKA27]

Hill to join Monaco stewards' panel

Damon Hill is the latest former F1 driver to take the role of drivers' representative on the stewards' panel for a grand prix weekend.

Hill, the 1996 F1 World Champion, will join the panel for this weekend's Monaco GP as part of the FIA's 2010 initiative to have at least one experienced driver on the panel at each race, giving a driver's perspective on any incidents that may take place.

And Hill will certainly have his work cut out for him in Monaco, as the nature of the track coupled with the increased field means there will be problems this weekend.

Already several drivers have complained about the decision not to split qualifying with Jenson Button summing it up perfectly: "A few of us will be angry and unhappy at the end of Q1... there are going to be a lot of people asking for penalties I think."

Hill's job will be advise the stewards if any of those penalties are warranted.

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Vettel: Red Bull on top of brake issue

Sebastian Vettel is confident that Red Bull have resolved their brake issues, although admits they actually aren't entirely sure of the cause.

Vettel suffered a front right brake problem in the latter stages of last weekend's Spanish GP, prompting Red Bull to launch an investigation into the cause.

And although the team is still not entirely certain what caused the problem, Vettel is confident he will not suffer the same fate this weekend in Monaco.

"We think we understood what happened," he said. "We are not 100 percent sure yet, so we have a fix for here and we don't expect to have similar problems. We will see when we get on track.

"Obviously we've had a couple of issues this year with reliability, and none of them were the same, or happened for the same reason. But we have always reacted very quickly and so far it hasn't happened again, so I'm quite confident we've again found a solution."

Vettel's Spanish issues marked the third time this season that Red Bull's reliability gremlins have cost the German valuable points as he also lost out in Bahrain and Australia.

The Red Bull racer, though, is refusing to let those lost points get him down as he is still only ten points behind Championship leader Jenson Button.

"Would, could, should is not happening," he said. "We can't change the races we've had. Another race like last week, the key was to get maximum points out of it, and third place was not a disaster. It could have been much worse.

"So it's good, unlike last year when we had a worse start to the season. We're not massively behind. Ten points sounds a lot, but we have a new points system as well, so it's not that much.

"Surely it shows if you look at the evolution of the Championship and the points, how important it is to finish races.

"Jenson has won two, and the other races he has been fifth or sixth, or something like that, so it shows how important it is to finish every single grand prix."

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Virgin: Now to add performance to reliability

Virgin team boss John Booth has revealed he has barely had time to catch his breath since pitching up in Monaco.

The principality's glamorous surroundings are a far cry from Booth's humble beginnings working in a butcher's shop run by his father in Rotherham.

But Booth and his team are now becoming an established part of the Formula One fraternity, although teething problems still abound.

Following the Spanish Grand Prix four days ago, for instance, they were the last team to erect their motorhome in the cramped confines of the Monte-Carlo paddock on Thursday alongside the harbour.

It has been a testing time for Booth and Virgin since they stepped into F1, in particular the last few days, leaving him with little time to appreciate his surroundings.

"When I stop working so hard, I'll be able to catch my breath then and look around," said Booth.

"But at the moment it's just a challenge we are facing, and we're working very hard on that, but it's still great to be here.

"The atmosphere is fantastic, but the challenges are just the same."

Booth at least had cause to smile after watching drivers Lucas di Grassi and Timo Glock set reasonable times at the end of Thursday's two 90-minute practice sessions.

It was expected the duo, along with the other new teams in Lotus and Hispania Racing, would be six to seven seconds off the pace.

That was only the case for Hispania as Di Grassi and Glock were 3.5secs and 3.8secs behind Ferrari's Fernando Alonso.

Following on from Barcelona when Virgin managed to bring two cars home for the first time this season, Booth is hoping things are on the up.

"Barcelona was massively important for us," added Booth.

"But in terms of seeing two cars over the line, we should have had those from race one.

"It took us five races to get there, far too long, but I'm very happy we have achieved it.

"Now we need to continue the reliability here and then look at the next race in Turkey to start improving performance.

"At the moment ninety-nine per cent of our effort is on reliability but hopefully from this race we can start adding performance to it."

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Schumi: Track characteristics have helped us

Michael Schumacher is feeling "quite confident" ahead of Saturday's qualifying, declaring that the Monaco track has played a role in closing the gap to the front runners.

Schumacher had a solid, if not spectacular, start to his weekend in Monte Carlo, finishing sixth and fifth respectively in Thursday's two practice sessions while the gap to pace-setter Fernando Alonso was just 0.239s by the end of the day.

However, the seven-time World Champion admits that the nature of the street circuit has a played a vital role in pushing Mercedes GP closer to the front.

"Today's practice was a lot of fun. You clearly have to say that Monaco is a very special place to drive and I really enjoyed it," said Schumacher.

"I got back into the rhythm of the track, especially on the long runs, and I think we can be quite confident for tomorrow as the car is definitely quite reasonable to handle.

"The other teams who have a certain top speed advantage on other tracks at the moment do not have this advantage here, so the whole field comes a bit closer together which will make it a very interesting qualifying in my view.

"I am looking forward to it."

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Vettel: It's too close to call

Sebastian Vettel believes the Monaco GP will be a closely fought battle as Thursday's timesheets saw the top 11 separated by less than a second.

Ferrari's Fernando Alonso set the pace on Thursday, clocking a 1:14.904, but he was by no means in a class of his own. The Spaniard was dogged by Merc's Nico Rosberg and Red Bull's Vettel, who were both less than two-tenths off the pace.

However, even more exciting for the proceedings ahead is the fact that the top 11 were all within a second of the Ferrari driver's P1 time.

And because of that, Vettel is not willing to make any predictions about the weekend ahead.

"We did a lot of laps today, which is good as that's important in Monaco. The car feels alright, but if you look at the times it's difficult to judge where we are," said the German.

"One thing that's clear it will be very, very over the weekend. The top four teams are split by a couple of tenths and fuel loads are not as important here, so it's close.

"It looks challenging. Qualifying been good for us at the last races and hope it continues on Saturday."

His team-mate Mark Webber finished tenth on Thursday's timesheets and is confident that this season Red Bull have a car capable of doing well around the tight, twisty street circuit in Monte Carlo.

"It was a pretty good day today - we went a bit early with the options to beat the weather and we've got a bit of work to do with the balance, but in general it was good.

"We've made progress in the low-speed stuff since last year. We saw indications of it in Singapore and Abu Dhabi and what we learned with the RB5 has rolled into the RB6.

"It will be tighter here than it was in Spain, it's a special track - we know that. Saturday will be an exciting qualifying session for definite."

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Lewis: Respect needed to make it through Q1

Lewis Hamilton reckons this year's F1 drivers need to show one another "respect" if they want a clean run in Monaco qualifying.

Just over a week ago in Spain, there were calls to split Q1 in Monaco due to an increased field adding to congestion on a track that is notorious for its traffic.

However, the drivers' pleas fell on deaf ears as some team bosses vetoed the plan in the somewhat cynical belief that their drivers could benefit from the chaos.

The drivers, though, may yet take matters into their own hands with Hamilton revealing that qualifying will be the hot topic when they hold the drivers' briefing ahead of Saturday's proceedings.

"I don't know what's going to happen but I'm going to hope that everyone is respectful," he told Autosport.

"Clearly everyone wants to get a lap for themselves, but hopefully we'll all get a lap.

"We managed to do it today, so it's not impossible. But a lot of people will have laps messed up and it will be very difficult out there.

"We have a drivers' briefing and we'll try to work together to make sure we all do the best job we can."

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Fri: Ferrari, Merc, Red Bull, Renault

Fernando Alonso set the pace in Monaco practice, finishing ahead of Nico Rosberg and Sebastian Vettel.

Ferrari

Fernando Alonso: "It's only Thursday, so the main aim was to understand how the tyres work and get confident with the circuit. On this track a major set up change might give you half a tenth, but trusting your driving can see you gain half a second. We therefore worked on finding the right feeling with the car and on making it easy to drive. There is still a lot of work to do and quite a margin for improvement. The track conditions will get better by Saturday, given that so many cars from the different categories will be running over the next couple of days. I hope that in two days time I will again find a well balanced car. I can understand that there could be a level of pessimism after the show of strength from Red Bull in Barcelona qualifying, but we know that here, having the right set-up can make more of a difference than pure aerodynamic downforce and we already have a good baseline, given that last year, Kimi nearly took pole with a car that was far off the F10 in terms of its potential."

Felipe Massa: "The situation is definitely very different to Barcelona. From one week to the next I have found a much more stable car which is easy to drive and has much more grip. I have to say I can only be happy with the F10 and the way things went today. Having said that, there is still a lot to do to be done to be as well prepared as possible for the rest of the weekend. The traffic could be a problem, especially in Q1 and we will have to try and manage the situation as well as possible. Here it is always difficult to get a perfect lap: there are so many slow corners where you can lose a lot of time, which you never get back. However, getting it right is really especially satisfying."

Red Bull

Sebastian Vettel: "We did a lot of laps today, which is good as that's important in Monaco. The car feels alright, but if you look at the times it's difficult to judge where we are. One thing that's clear it will be very, very tight over the weekend. The top four teams are split by a couple of tenths and fuel loads are not as important here, so it's close. It looks challenging. Qualifying been good for us at the last races and hope it continues on Saturday."

Mark Webber: "It was a pretty good day today - we went a bit early with the options to beat the weather and we've got a bit of work to do with the balance, but in general it was good. We've made progress in the low-speed stuff since last year. We saw indications of it in Singapore and Abu Dhabi and what we learned with the RB5 has rolled into the RB6. It will be tighter here than it was in Spain, it's a special track - we know that. Saturday will be an exciting qualifying session for definite."

Mercedes GP:

Nico Rosberg: "Monaco is a very special and challenging circuit and we had a positive start to our weekend here today. We made good progress this afternoon after losing some time in the morning with a pushrod problem that we had to fix. The lap times looked quite promising in the second session and I felt very comfortable in the car. We were able to improve the set-up continuously and get the tyres working better as the session went on. So everything looks promising after the first day and I'm looking forward to getting on with qualifying on Saturday."

Michael Schumacher: "Today's practice was a lot of fun. You clearly have to say that Monaco is a very special place to drive and I really enjoyed it. I got back into the rhythm of the track, especially on the long runs, and I think we can be quite confident for tomorrow as the car is definitely quite reasonable to handle. The other teams who have a certain top speed advantage on other tracks at the moment do not have this advantage here, so the whole field comes a bit closer together which will make it a very interesting qualifying in my view. I am looking forward to it."

Renault

Robert Kubica: "I'm a big fan of street circuits so it was good fun driving around Monaco today, and things went pretty well for me during both sessions. We still have a couple of issues to work on with the balance of the car so it's good that we have a free day tomorrow when we can look over the data. Hopefully we can improve the car a bit more before qualifying."

Vitaly Petrov: "I enjoyed my first experience of Monaco in an F1 car. We spent the day working on the set-up and we changed a lot between the morning and the afternoon, which made the car much better. It's a difficult track because you need to push hard all the time, the walls are very close and you have to concentrate hard to make sure you don't make any mistakes. At the moment the balance is not too bad, but we still need to work on some things to improve the car before qualifying on Saturday."

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Fri: Sauber, Lotus, Virgin, HRT

Sauber joined F1's newcomers, Lotus, Virgin and Hispania, at the bottom of the Monaco practice timesheets.

Sauber

Pedro de la Rosa: "We covered all the mileage we wanted to, and made a lot of changes between the two sessions. We are heading in the right direction and have more ideas for Saturday. We can still make the car quicker, but we lose too much in the slow corners. Personally I started the first session quite carefully. The last time I was here was in 2002, so for me it was like learning a new track and I needed to get to know it again. For the second session I felt a lot more confident."

Kamui Kobayashi: "It is really difficult to drive here and I had a few moments. I think we had a reasonable set-up from the beginning, but still it was difficult to find grip in the slow corners, which is our main problem. We will work and try to improve the set-up."

Lotus:

Heikki Kovalainen: "Overall it was a very good Thursday on track. We completed both sessions without any problems and managed to complete all our programmes. As soon as I got in the car on Thursday morning it felt good and throughout the day we've been able to improve it step by step, so we're definitely going in the right direction. We tried both compounds of tyres and they're both working fine, and the long run with the soft tyres went without any problems, so that's also pretty encouraging. We ended up pretty close to the car in front and anything can happen here so I'm looking forward to qualifying and the race. I'm really pleased with today's performance and I think everyone in the team can be very happy with the job we're doing."

Jarno Trulli: "It was a bit frustrating today as I lost time in the garage this afternoon, and didn't really get the chance to push as I'd have liked on track. The times were coming down but unfortunately in Monaco every single minute you lose being on track is going to cost you a little bit throughout the weekend. Obviously I'm experienced, so on the driver's side it won't affect me but with the car we still need to find the right setup and the right balance. Despite this it's good to be here and to see Lotus Racing on track, as I know how much that means to a lot of the fans, and also to see that we continue to improve the car every time we get out on track."

Virgin:

Lucas di Grassi: "It was a very good day, despite running with the old car. I felt comfortable straight away with the way the car was behaving here in Monaco. I think we are closer to the other teams than we were in Barcelona and in Free Practice 2 I was able to finish ahead of one of the Lotus cars and do a lot of laps. We had a small issue in Free Practice 1, no problems at all in Free Practice 2, so I'm very confident we can have a strong qualifying on Saturday. It's a very important race here and we have to qualify well here and finish the race."

Timo Glock: "Today was quite good with the car, no major problems. In Free Practice 2 we struggled a bit with the gearbox - the seamless shift wasn't working in that session which was a bit of a shame, but in general, no problems and we found a good set-up. Let's see what happens on Saturday and fight hard with Lotus again and see where we are."

Hispania:

Karun Chandhok: "It felt really good to be back and drive an F1 car around the streets of Monaco. I really enjoy driving on this circuit. We managed to go through our program today quite successfully on both tyres. I managed to get up to speed quite quickly and maintained that through the sessions. There is still a gap to the other new teams so we have to work on that. We are lucky that we have the whole day off tomorrow so will be sitting with my engineers working hard to find the right balance for qualifying on Saturday."

Bruno Senna: "I have been looking forward to driving here in Monaco again since my GP2 win a couple of years ago and here we are finally. Today we have been working very hard to make the car work as well as possible around this bumpy street circuit. It's not easy to be honest. The areas of car development needed on the 'normal' circuits we have raced on so far are magnified here in Monaco and the team has to work harder than ever to make the best of what we have got. I plan to get back on target on Saturday."

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Fri: McLaren, FIndia, STR, Williams

Both McLarens and Adrian Sutil finished in the top ten in Monaco practice, while STR and Williams were in the midfield.

McLaren

Lewis Hamilton: "Obviously, we weren't at the top of the timesheets, but I've really been enjoying driving around here today. When you're at Monaco, things just seem to happen so much faster than normal - it feels two or three times quicker than at other circuits. You're always on the edge, and if you brake just a little bit too late, then you'll be in the barrier. It's an incredible feeling. More importantly, this year's car just feels fantastic - it's light years ahead of last year's car. And we made some good steps forward with the set-up. Of course, everyone at the front of the grid is looking pretty competitive, but I think we should be okay. We'll do our homework tonight. Qualifying's going to be tough, I hope the weather stays okay for us and that we can fight for a spot in the top three."

Jenson Button: "This morning felt good, we went through some positive set-up changes and I felt pretty happy with the car. For P2, we made some further changes, but I don't think all of them were an improvement. So we went back in a few areas, and our long-run pace was good, so I'm feeling very happy about that. Tomorrow, we've still got a little bit of work to do to understand what's best for low fuel and new tyres. But I think we understand where we've got to be, because we were on the pace this morning. Overall, the Ferrari looks very quick, and I'm pretty sure Red Bull are hiding their pace. But it's the normal cars up at the front, and I'm sure we'll get a better idea on Saturday morning. McLaren always produces a good car around Monaco, they've won 15 times around here - more than anyone else - so hopefully we can do well on Saturday."

Force India:

Adrian Sutil: "It was a very good day for me. I'm very happy with my performance and with the car. The set-up was really good and we didn't have to make any major changes over the day, which means there is not so much work for tomorrow and Saturday's final practice. The car is going very consistently and I could set good lap times so the end classification looks promising, but we can also be very satisfied about the pace of the long runs. We didn't have many problems with the tyre compounds here, just a bit of graining on the soft one, but it's under control and nothing to worry about. Overall I think we look pretty strong for a practice day and can be confident going into qualifying."

Tonio Liuzzi: "It was a difficult Friday due to the traffic, as can be expected round here. It was tough with 24 cars in the field but you just need to have sensible driving from the others, particularly given the time differences between cars. But this isn't going to change - Monaco is always like this and it is always a bit of a gamble but we have to throw our lot in as well. Even though the final position is not optimum, overall we can be pretty happy as the car is very good on a high fuel load. We need to improve the balance on the low fuel runs as we still struggled a little with the rear end grip but in general I think we are in a better shape compared to the last race. We have quite a lot of data we can work on tomorrow to try to improve everything for Saturday."

Toro Rosso:

Sebastien Buemi: "It went well and I am quite happy with what we achieved in the two sessions. We had no technical issues at all, which is very good, as it meant I did a lot of laps. The new parts we have put on the car here seem to be working well. There is a big difference in behaviour between the two types of tyre: at the moment, the Option seemed to develop quite a bit of degradation, although it might be less by the time we run again. It means we have quite a clear picture therefore of how to manage the tyres in the race. Anyway, here we have plenty of time to analyse what we need to do before Saturday, even if the rain at the end of the session meant it was harder to assess everything properly."

Jaime Alguersuari: "It certainly felt different to last year, when I raced here in the World Series! It was a good testing day and even though I was stopped a bit before the end of my long stint in FP2 with a technical issue, I was able to complete a substantial number of laps. I think we know in what direction we must go to improve the car a bit more before qualifying and I should also pick up speed as I get more experience on the track. Both types of tyre suffered with degradation, but we have an idea what we can do on the car set-up side to deal with this."

Williams:

Nico Hulkenberg: "Today was my first time in a Formula One car around Monaco so this morning was initially about getting some mileage under my belt. The car feels ok; you can squeeze a lot out of it on one lap with the soft tyre. It also feels like we've made a gain with the new aero parts, the rear wing definitely provides more grip."

Rubens Barrichello: "The team brought some new parts for the car to Monaco. I had the new rear wing assembly this morning, Nico this afternoon. It looks promising and I hope to be a touch more competitive than some previous weekends. I'm looking forward to Saturday.

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Hamilton: I want to be remembered as a great

Lewis Hamilton has no intention of ending his Formula One career with stains on his character like Michael Schumacher.

Schumacher's brilliant, but tainted time in Formula One was again the subject of debate recently after his failure to apologise for one of his most outrageous indiscretions in Monaco four years ago.

The 41-year-old was offered ample opportunity to say sorry for feigning an accident and parking his Ferrari at Rascasse to block then bitter rival Fernando Alonso from grabbing pole position.

Throw in the Championship deciders in 1994 and 1997 when he tried to take out Damon Hill and Jacques Villeneuve, and Schumacher is as much remembered for such infamy as for his seven World titles.

Hamilton still has a long way to go to match Schumacher's more illustrious feats as the Briton has one world title and 12 race wins to his name.

Hamilton may also have been embroiled in 'lie-gate' at the start of last year, although he maintains he was acting on team orders, not of his own volition as was the case with Schumacher.

So one thing is clear, the 25-year-old is determined to keep it clean and play by the rules.

"When I leave F1 I want to be remembered as one of the best drivers of all time," Hamilton told Press Association Sport.

"My first thought was I am not really bothered if I am remembered or not, but then clearly I am going to be remembered.

"I am part of the sport, part of its history, a world champion, so I would like to be remembered in the best way and the best light.

"I want to be remembered as a fair driver, a clean driver, one who always drove with his heart, who battled through thick and thin to score the points and the championships I will hopefully earn."

Asked about Schumacher's occasional unscrupulous acts and whether he is intent on ensuring his character is not similarly blighted, Hamilton replied: "Absolutely.

"When I think about history, it is not just about me, it is about how my family raised me, where we came from.

"For that to be potentially tainted by something like that would really devastate me. That is something I don't want to be known for."

That Monaco weekend, Hamilton was in GP2, winning the feature race en route to claiming the rookie title for the series that year.

If he has an opinion on what Schumacher did, he is keeping it to himself as he said: "I don't really have a view on it.

"Everyone has their opinion, and the right to their opinion, but for me I just focus on my own job. It doesn't have any impact on me.

"Whether I think it was right or wrong, I wasn't in the car with him and I can't blame someone for something, so I honestly don't know."

At one of Schumacher's favourite tracks where he won five times, you would think Hamilton would be relishing the prospect of taking on the legend around the streets of the principality.

Monte Carlo is a venue Hamilton adores, but it would appear the novelty of going head to head with Schumacher has lost its appeal.

"It doesn't do anything for me whatsoever," added Hamilton, who was seventh quickest at the end of the two practice sessions, finishing 0.345secs adrift of Ferrari's Fernando Alonso.

"Of course, he is a World Champion and you want to be up against World Champions.

"It is always a privilege to be on the same track as him, as it is having him in the sport.

"Now for me it would be special if I was on the track with Ayrton (Senna), but everyone has their own points of view.

"But even if I was to finish ahead of Michael this weekend compared to the last time I won here (in 2008) it has no bearing.

"The grand prix I won here would be my best time."

MIKA: Hamilton is indeed talented but to say he is one of the greats, I don't agree.

One can not compare to Schumacher, cheat or not, he has 7DWC's, 91 wins and records that still stand and most will never be beaten.

Unfortunately, Lewis has already slightly tarnished his own image with Spy/Lie gate. He has many more years in F1 to go so lets just wait and see what else transpires.

[MIKA27]

Art Grand Prix confirm 2011 F1 application

French outfit ART Grand Prix have confirmed their application for entry to the 2011 Formula One championship season, joining the likes of: Epsilon Euskadi, Durango and Stefan GP.

The team currently compete in a range of series including GP2, GP3 and Formula 3. They have tasted varying success in all series, best of all GP2 in which they have taken the Team Championship on three occasions (2005, 2006 and 2009), powering Nico Rosberg, Lewis Hamilton and most recently Nico Hulkenberg to their season wins.

The Team Principal Frédéric Vasseur told France's AutoHebdo that an application has been submitted to the FIA for the 2011 season.

"Yes, we have submitted an application to the FIA to join the F1 World Championship in 2011," he explained.

"The application had to be made before 15 April and the FIA should get back to us by no later than 1 July; but before that, we will have to complete a technical and financial information file - that's why we hadn't communicated over the matter yet."

[MIKA27]

McLaren confirm the departure of Pat Fry

McLaren have confirmed that Pat Fry, one of the Woking based teams chief engineers, has left the team after seventeen years.

Fry initially worked for Benetton between 1987 and 1992 where he held the position of race engineer and test team engineer. He left Benetton for McLaren in 1993 to develop their active car before moving into engineering in 1995. In 2002 he finally took the position of chief engineer alongside Tim Goss.

The two alternate the role as lead designers, Fry developed the MP4-24 which disappointed before he developed it into a race winner, whilst Goss has developed the current 2010 car (MP4-25).

He was responsible for researching and developing the MP4-26 for 2011. That position will now be taken over by a 'younger' and 'hungrier' engineer according to team principal Martin Whitmarsh.

"I think it was probably good for him, the right decision for him to take a bit of a break, take a breather," said Whitmarsh in Thursday's FIA press conference.

"I think he's worked very hard for the team for a number of years. Within our team, then, I think we've got quite a bit of a talent and depth, so in these situations it's a great opportunity for someone younger, maybe hungrier, to come along and replace all of us.

"We're all replaceable. I think the process will be the same but we've manned with fresh new engineers."

[MIKA27]

Monaco practive photos:

Ferrari got its quest for a first Monaco victory for nine years off to the best possible start

Lewis's helmet design has been given a special Monaco flavour this weekend

As in Bahrain, Ferrari was finding good grip on the super-soft tyres

Button was pleased with his car's long-run pace, but says work is needed on lower fuel, new tyre runs

Sauber's C29 isn't liking the Principality's slower corners

The Lotus kicks up some sparks as it climbs the hill

A technical glitch halted Alguersuari's progress towards the end of his longest stint in practice

McLaren mechanics follow the tread trail as they push Hamilton back into the garage at the end of a run

No where in the world does a race circuit have such a magnificent backdrop

Webber is still searching for a slightly better balance on his RB6 after he finished second practice in 10th

http://www.itv-f1.com/ImageLibrary/57676_2.jpg' alt='57676_2.jpg'>

Petrov flashes through the tunnel on a hot lap in the R30

The Lotus marque enjoyed a positive first day back at Monaco

Bruno found the Hispania a big challenge to keep on top of around the bumpy streets

Alonso was the master of Monaco on Thursday

Michael Schumacher negotiates the harbourside chicane

Vettel powers out of the tunnel at 175mph

Adrian Sutil crests the hill into Massenet

One of the signature views of Monaco

Button skims the Armco at Tabac en route to the eighth fastest time

Nico Hulkenberg

Hamilton was seventh in both sessions

Jaime Alguersuari rounds the Loews hairpin in the Toro Rosso

After missing much of the morning session, Rosberg was bang on the pace in the afternoon

[MIKA27]

Trulli concerned by loss of running

Jarno Trulli is concerned that the loss of track time to an engine problem in practice today will harm Lotus' chances in Monaco.

The Italian only managed 13 laps this afternoon due to the issue, and though he underlined that he does not lack Monte Carlo mileage, he said his fledgling team needs all the laps it can get.

"It was a bit frustrating today as I lost time in the garage this afternoon, and didn't really get the chance to push as I'd have liked on track," said Trulli.

"The times were coming down but unfortunately in Monaco every single minute you lose being on track is going to cost you a little bit throughout the weekend.

"Obviously I'm experienced, so on the driver's side it won't affect me but with the car we still need to find the right set-up and the right balance.

"Despite this it's good to be here and to see Lotus Racing on track, as I know how much that means to a lot of the fans, and also to see that we continue to improve the car every time we get out on track."

Lotus technical chief Mike Gascoyne said the engine problem itself was not much of a concern.

"The engine in question was a high-mileage unit that reached the end of the line today," he said.

While Trulli had a disappointing second session, his team-mate Heikki Kovalainen was the quickest of the new teams' drivers.

"Overall it was a very good Thursday on track," he said. "As soon as I got in the car on Thursday morning it felt good and throughout the day we've been able to improve it step by step, so we're definitely going in the right direction.

"We ended up pretty close to the car in front and anything can happen here so I'm looking forward to qualifying and the race. I'm really pleased with today's performance and I think everyone in the team can be very happy with the job we're doing."

[MIKA27]

Kubica: Everything can happen in Monaco

Robert Kubica is feeling quietly confident about his chances in Monaco this weekend after a solid start in Thursday's practices.

The Renault driver was sixth quickest at the end of the two practice sessions, 0.288s behind pace-setter Fernando Alonso. The one thing Kubica did achieve, though, was consistently quick laps on both sets of the rubber that Bridgestone have brought to the Principality this weekend.

"The car felt good in practice and there were no real big surprises," he told Autosport. "There are a couple of things to be improved, but we have a lot of time here on Friday to work on them and find a solution.

"Everything can happen, especially here in Monaco, but also normally things can change very quickly.

"We hope to improve the car, to improve the balance, but the track changes very quickly. So you have to somehow get the right balance in the right moment, and this is not easy.

"So we will have to watch out how the track evolution is and try to anticipate changes for qualifying."

He added: "My confidence was good from the first session. Normally I think I don't miss confidence, especially when it comes to driving on the street circuits.

"But things can change very quickly in Monaco, so we have to watch out and try to put the car in the best window in the right moment - which will be qualifying."

Qualifying, though, is already causing a few headaches for some of the drivers, who fear increased traffic around the tight, twisty could cause chaos, putting some of the big names near the back of the grid.

Kubica, however, is refusing to let that get to him, conceding that traffic is just part of the Monaco weekend.

"In Monaco it (traffic) is quite tricky," he said ."But to be honest it was not too bad in practice.

"I believe for the guys who are driving the new cars it is not easy to keep the cars on the track and additionally moving out of the way where the track is narrow is not easy for them - just as it is not easy for us. But we shouldn't do too much talk about it - it is how it is."

[MIKA27]

Horner: Vettel's brake disc split in half

Christian Horner has revealed that a brake disc 'bizarrely' splitting in half was the cause of Sebastian Vettel's problems in Spain.

Vettel was forced to back off last Sunday when, 15 laps from the end of the Spanish Grand Prix, he suffered severe brake problems, afterward confirming that his left front brake had gone completely.

The team launched an investigation into the incident as this was the second time already this season that Vettel experienced brake problems.

And although the team has yet to identify the cause of the problem, team boss Christian Horner has revealed that the front left brake disc on Vettel's Red Bull split in half, not something that happens every day of the week.

"The problem was quite bizarre as basically the brake on the left hand side stopped working completely and the disc effectively split in half, straight down the middle of the spline," said Horner.

"You have just got a spacer in there and so he had only got three brakes, so all the bias was towards the rear and he was using mainly the aerodynamics to stop the car and built some huge margin into his braking zones.

"With having fitted the option tyre at the end of the race on relatively light fuel load he actually did a purple sector in the middle sector with three brakes.

"It was ironic as I was joking with Adrian (Newey) the night before about his first car being an Austin Allegro which only had three brake discs and unfortunately in the race Sebastian's car turned out to be similar to that.

"But he managed it incredibly well and to get the car home in third place was a valuable and brave performance by him."

[MIKA27]

Petrov chasing Monaco improvement

Vitaly Petrov has dismissed claims from his own Renault boss that he has done a sterling job this season.

In contrast, Petrov has been far from impressed with the start to his rookie season that has seen him collect just six points from the opening five grands prix.

Petrov was forced to retire in the first three races, suffering a suspension failure in Bahrain, spinning out in Australia and then a gearbox issue in Malaysia.

Seventh place and his first points followed in China, with the 25- year-old Russian only just missing out on another top-10 finish in Spain on Sunday when he came home 11th.

Although Petrov has displayed speed and bravery, notably taking on Lewis Hamilton at Sepang, he is far from happy.

"I've had too many mechanical problems," was Petrov's assessment ahead of Sunday's Monaco Grand Prix.

"If I had finished the first five races then I would have been much more prepared for here.

"From a personal perspective it's been okay, more difficult than when I was in GP2 last year, but it's Formula One so you need to adapt.

"But I'm relaxed. I don't like to feel under pressure, although I know I must always be in Q3 and to finish in the top 10, that is the target."

Petrov has discovered driving a car in GP2, in which he finished as runner-up last year, compared to F1 is almost like chalk and cheese around Monaco's twisty street circuit.

"It requires far more work," added Petrov.

"In F1 everything is different - driver style, braking, movement, it is more complicated, much quicker, so you must work harder, faster, be more concentrated, not make any mistakes.

"If I want to try something to go quicker, it is difficult because of the barriers.

"So you have to drive at 95 to 99 per cent. You cannot drive at 100 per cent all the time."

As to how that will translate in qualifying remains to be seen after the Russian finished 11th quickest in practice on Thursday as F1 cars do not run in Monaco on a Friday.

"We will see what happens tomorrow, but we all know how important it is to qualify well here," said Petrov.

"In first practice I was not so good, then in second practice I was better, but not fantastic, so we need to work hard.

"Confidence in the car is very important here. You have to trust in your engineers and believe in what your car can do."

[MIKA27]

Alonso: Perfection needed to beat Red Bull

Fernando Alonso knows he will have to be perfect on Saturday if he and Ferrari are to end Red Bull Racing's qualifying domination.

Alonso offered a glimmer of hope on Thursday that Red Bull might not have it all their own way around the streets of Monte Carlo after finishing quickest at the end of both practice sessions.

The Spaniard had previously only topped one of 15 practice periods over five grands prix this season, but would now appear to have a genuine shot at repeating his 2006 and 2007 victories.

Red Bull, though, have been in a league of their own on Saturday, claiming pole at all five races and locking out the front row in three of those.

But Alonso found a rhythm and is hoping he will again be in the groove following the traditional day off on Friday.

"This is a circuit where you need to get confidence as soon as possible," said the double World Champion.

"It is a circuit you need to feel okay in the car and to maximise the potential.

"So it was very good to start in such a way because we now don't need to go crazy, to completely change the set-up or find a miracle for tomorrow.

"We now just need continuity with the set-up and the way we do our runs.

"Overall I think we found a very good car from the beginning that is very easy to drive.

"But we know it will be close in qualifying as we saw yesterday, with just three tenths of a second separating seven or eight cars.

"So we cannot afford any mistake on our side or with the set-up. We need to be perfect tomorrow."

Like most of the drivers fighting it out for pole, Alonso is just as concerned at the prospect of traffic that could scupper his hopes.

With 24 cars on track during the opening 20 minutes of qualifying, the battle to scrape into Q2 will likely be a fraught, frantic affair.

"It will be difficult for everybody, a challenge for all of us," added the 28-year-old.

"It is a challenge for the drivers to get the space to do a lap and not destroy anyone, and a challenge for the team to find the right time to send us out and with the right strategy.

"Q1 will be the time to focus, concentrate and put a lap together.

"We maybe won't need a super lap, but just enough to be in the first 15 to 16, and we should be able to do that."

[MIKA27]

Trulli: Avoid barriers and look behind

Jarno Trulli is hoping to avoid a repeat of his first Monaco GP 13 years ago when he spent so much time looking in his mirrors he ended up in a barrier.

Trulli was competing in only the fourth race of his Formula One career with perennial backmarkers Minardi in 1997, and it was one to forget for the Italian.

After just seven laps Trulli spun off, and there are now fears this Sunday's grand prix - his 14th around the streets of Monte-Carlo - will culminate in something similar with Lotus.

Trulli is fully expecting to keep as much of an eye on the road as he will on the marshals waving blue flags urging him to pull over and let by the field's quicker cars.

"Because I was being given blue flags to let everybody past, and because of my inexperience, I ended up in the wall," said Trulli.

"I hope that's something I'm not going to do again this year with my greater experience.

"But on the other hand, since I've been racing this year, I would say I spend more than half the race looking out for blue flags.

"It's not fun as it requires a lot of concentration.

"But because the speed difference is quite a lot between ourselves and the quicker cars, you are going to hit blue flags nearly every lap from before halfway to the end.

"So it's not going to be easy for me, nor will it be easy for the guys who have to lap us. I hope they understand that.

"But I will personally do my best during the race to let them by."

At least Trulli and Lotus team-mate Heikki Kovalainen suggested the Norfolk-based marque might have a respectable weekend.

The duo finished 3.2secs and 3.7secs respectively behind Ferrari's Fernando Alonso at the end of Thursday's two 90-minute practice sessions.

Trulli, though, was hampered by an engine issue in the second session that allowed him to complete just 13 laps, which resulted in a feeling of "frustration."

"In losing time in the garage I didn't really get the chance to push as I'd have liked on track," added Trulli.

"The times were coming down, but unfortunately in Monaco every single minute you lose being on track is going to cost you a little bit throughout the weekend.

"Obviously I'm experienced, so on the driver's side it won't affect me, but with the car we still need to find the right set-up and the right balance."

[MIKA27]

Bernie vows to sort out HRT problems

Bernie Ecclestone says he working to ensure the new Hispania team has the funds to complete its debut season.

The Spanish-based outfit only made the first race in Australia following a last minute takeover deal by businessman Jose Ramon Carabante from founder Adrian Campos, which resulted in the team name being changed from Campos and Colin Kolles installed as team principal.

Hispania has lapped well off the pace at the back of the field so far this season and Ecclestone suggested in Monaco they are still experiencing financial difficulties – although he indicated he would do everything he could to ensure F1 retains its full compliment of teams.

"HRT have got problems,” he told the Daily Telegraph.

I will sort it out. I'd like to see 12 teams finish the season because they have made the commitment to come in.

“We might lose one of them. But I'm doing my bit to make sure it doesn't happen."

Meanwhile, Formula 1’s commercial supremo also indicated he was working on deals for Russia - at a new circuit in Sochi - and Rome to join the calendar.

He has suggested that both venues could feature in the sport from 2013.

"The Russians are good people,” Ecclestone added. “They get on with things. It is a matter of whether it suits us or not. I have to have a look at it first."

"Rome is moving forward. That is going to be good. It's a bit political, obviously.

“But Rome could be ready in 2013 and Russia about the same time."

[OZCUBAN]

Webber beats inspired Kubica to pole

Mark Webber continued his rich vein of form by storming to a second consecutive pole position in Monaco on Saturday, maintaining Red Bull’s 100% qualifying record in 2010.

The Chinese Grand Prix winner produced two laps fast enough for pole in a thrilling climax to Q3, putting himself in the ideal position to control Formula 1’s famous round-the-houses race from the front.

Robert Kubica produced a scintillating performance for Renault to join Webber on the front row, and for much of Q3 looked like he might ****** a shock pole position.

In the end he fell 0.3s short, but it was still a mighty effort and by far Renault’s best qualifying performance of the season so far.

Sebastian Vettel was no match for Red Bull team-mate Webber on this occasion – sliding wide at the harbour-front chicane on one flying lap and ending up 0.4s shy of the pole time.

Felipe Massa was the leading Ferrari qualifier in fourth, with team-mate Fernando Alonso watching the session from the sidelines after damaging his Ferrari’s tub in a morning practice crash.

McLaren had a disappointing session, with Lewis Hamilton taking fifth and Jenson Button eighth, the latter in particular unhappy with his MP4-25’s balance and ruing the decision to use the super-soft tyre.

Mercedes was another team that didn’t live up to expectations after showing well through free practice.

Nico Rosberg looked like a possible pole contender after topping the Q2 times, but dropped to sixth place when it mattered in Q3, blaming traffic and a mistake on his quickest lap.

Michael Schumacher was fractionally slower in seventh, and felt his main obstacle had been traffic – in the form of team-mate Rosberg, who he accused of impeding him on his best lap…

Rubens Barrichello claimed a respectable ninth on the grid for Williams, while rookie team-mate Nico Hulkenberg just missed the cut for Q3 and will line up 11th.

Force India had high hopes of getting both its cars into the top 10, but only Tonio Liuzzi managed it, the Italian bringing his recent run of qualifying disappointments to an end.

Team-mate Adrian Sutil, who had outpaced Liuzzi throughout practice, wound up a disappointed 12th after failing to string together a clean lap in Q2.

Sebastien Buemi was 13th for Toro Rosso, while Vitaly Petrov’s first Monaco qualifying session ended ignominiously when he crashed his Renault at Ste Devote.

The two Saubers of Pedro de la Rosa and Kamui Kobayashi struggled to 15th and 16th ahead of the second Toro Rosso of Jaime Alguersuari.

Heikki Kovalainen was fastest of the new team representatives in 18th, escaping unscathed from spins on successive laps at Mirabeau and Loews as he tried to extract more speed from the Lotus than it was willing to give.

The Finn’s deficit to the benchmark Q1 time was a much improved 2.3s, albeit on a short lap, an encouraging sign that Lotus is edging closer to the main midfield pack.

Virgin wasn’t far behind, with 20th-placed Timo Glock 0.3s adrift of Kovalainen, while Bruno Senna did a creditable job to lap within 3.8s of Q1 pace-setter Massa in his Hispania.

Monaco GP starting grid

1 WEBBER Red Bull

2 KUBICA Renault

3 VETTEL Red Bull

4 MASSA Ferrari

5 HAMILTON McLaren

6 ROSBERG Mercedes

7 SCHUMACHER Mercedes

8 BUTTON McLaren

9 BARRICHELLO Williams

10 LIUZZI Force India

11 HULKENBERG Williams

12 SUTIL Force India

13 BUEMI Toro Rosso

14 PETROV Renault

15 DE LA ROSA Sauber

16 KOBAYASHI Sauber

17 ALGUERSUARI Toro Rosso

18 KOVALAINEN Lotus

19 TRULLI Lotus

20 GLOCK Virgin

21 DI GRASSI Virgin

22 SENNA HRT

23 CHANDHOK HRT

24 ALONSO Ferrari*

* to start from pit lane

OZ Qualifying went a lot smoother than i had anticipated,but next year they might have to look at the qualifying system to try and give the drivers a bit more track space (i.e split the field )

But having said that it was a good session ,and hats off to Mark Webber for a brilliant lap,seems he is one of the in form drivers at the moment ,lets hope he can have a good start and stays out of trouble ,as the last five poll sitters have won the race if my memory serves me right

Should be a good race ,that is steeped in history,with NO margin for error

Cheers OZ