Tag: Monaco GP

Verstappen ‘touched a few walls’ to snatch Monaco pole

Max Verstappen says he touched a few walls pushing harder than ever in the final sector to overturn a 0.2s deficit to take pole position at the Monaco Grand Prix. Fernando Alonso was on provisional pole and Verstappen was 0.2s down entering the …

Max Verstappen says he touched a few walls pushing harder than ever in the final sector to overturn a 0.2s deficit to take pole position at the Monaco Grand Prix.

Fernando Alonso was on provisional pole and Verstappen was 0.2s down entering the Swimming Pool section, with just the 19s final sector to go. Despite looking like he would miss out on the front row, Verstappen pulled out his fastest sector to take pole by just under 0.1s, and admits he took more risks than ever to leapfrog Alonso, Charles Leclerc and Esteban Ocon.

“Touched a few walls!” Verstappen said of what he did differently on his final run. “I was always quite quick in the last sector, but I definitely pushed a bit harder in the last lap.

“I’m just happy to get my first pole here. It’s always super hectic, and finally we also had…clean running in Q3 as well, so that was nice for everyone to just push to the limit.

“The whole qualifying I think went pretty well. I struggled a bit to put it in the first lap with (warming up) the tires and putting it all together, all the sectors. But I knew that the last lap, I had to do it because they improved. And I also knew that going into the last sector I was down on them, so I had to push flat out in the last sector, risk everything to get back the lap time. And luckily we did.”

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The dramatic session saw three other teams — Aston Martin, Ferrari and Alpine — threaten Verstappen for pole position, but he says it wasn’t a surprise as Monaco doesn’t suit Red Bull’s car.

“Not really. I knew that going into this weekend, it was going to be tight around here. It’s proven that in qualifying,” he said.

“The race should be OK. It’s just about having a clean start. There’s always chaos involved in Monaco, but I think our race pace and general behavior of the car on the tires is fine. But it was all about just putting that together over one lap, which I knew was going to be a little bit harder for us here in Monaco, just with how our car is, the characteristics of it. Still, to be first here is great for the whole team.”

Even less surprising to Verstappen was the fact Alonso was his closest challenger, with the Spaniard coming close to his first pole position since 2012.

“For me, it’s nothing of a surprise. I grew up watching Fernando in F1 and I liked his style, and for him to still be here at 41, it’s very impressive and a great example for people out there. If you stay committed and believe in yourself, believe in the opportunities that come to you, then you can show something like he’s doing right now. But you need also a lot of natural raw talent with that.”

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Alonso ‘over the limit’ but content with second in Monaco qualifying

Fernando Alonso views second place on the grid at the Monaco Grand Prix as job done after admitting he took risks “to an uncomfortable level” chasing pole position. Aston Martin has been Red Bull’s nearest challenger this season and Monaco’s track …

Fernando Alonso views second place on the grid at the Monaco Grand Prix as job done after admitting he took risks “to an uncomfortable level” chasing pole position.

Aston Martin has been Red Bull’s nearest challenger this season and Monaco’s track layout was expected to bring the two teams closer together in qualifying trim, opening up the possibility to fight for pole. That proved true as the session progressed, with Alonso on provisional pole before a stunning final sector from Max Verstappen pipped the Spaniard, who was content with his result.

“You never know here in Monaco — anything can happen, always a couple of incidents, yellows, red flags; better to put a lap on the board and be at the front,” Alonso said. “When they told me I was P1 with just (Yuki) Tsunoda and Max completing the laps I knew the possibility was there to be P2, but I think even if it feels very close to the pole position we have to be happy.

“We came here with some concerns about our performance on Saturdays. We seem very good on Sundays, and taking care of the tires — degradation — is good on our car, but we struggle a bit on street circuits to put the temperature in to hit the lap in Q3, but we are starting the first row of the grid in Monaco so I think it’s job done today.

“I think both laps in Q3 we were increasing the level of risk to an uncomfortable level. I think both laps were a little bit over the limit sometimes but everything went fine. The last sector seems our weakest part of the circuit. Already in FP3 we were eighth quickest I think there, so maybe there is something going on there we need to analyze a bit; maybe going into Singapore is the next opportunity we have.”

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On previous occasions when he has started on the front row — Miami comes to mind — Alonso has stated his aim to take the lead at the start and head the field for a spell, but given the risks that come with trying to overtake in Monaco he says cleanly executing the race is his main target.

“I think I risked enough today! So tomorrow we will try to finish the race to see the checkered flag, try to take the maximum points. If there is a normal Monaco race we should be on the podium, more or less secure in the positions we see here in this moment and if there is an opportunity or a mechanical failure for Max, or bad pit stop or lucky strategy, we will take it.

“But…coming from our side, we risk a little bit more or less and then we will have a chance to win. There’s no way you will overtake anyone. It’s just avoiding a mistake, which sounds a boring race from Sundays in Monaco. From the outside (it) looks easy, but it is still extremely difficult to keep he car in good shape for the 78 laps.”

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Critical Monaco qualifying error leaves Perez in disbelief

Sergio Perez says he cannot believe his mistake after crashing out of Q1 at the Monaco Grand Prix, leaving himself last on the grid. Red Bull entered the race weekend in the knowledge it was facing its biggest test from the likes of Aston Martin and …

Sergio Perez says he cannot believe his mistake after crashing out of Q1 at the Monaco Grand Prix, leaving himself last on the grid.

Red Bull entered the race weekend in the knowledge it was facing its biggest test from the likes of Aston Martin and Ferrari in Monaco, but both Perez and Max Verstappen had shown the pace to be on pole position on Saturday. On just his fifth lap of qualifying, Perez appeared to carry too much speed into Sainte Devote — the first corner — and hit the barrier hard on the outside, suffering heavy damage and ending his chances early on.

“It’s an unbelievable day,” Perez said. “I cannot believe what I’ve done. It just caught me by surprise. Just getting that rear out of shape, especially really late into the corner… That really caught me out.

“It’s (the) way that we were trying to get a lap time out of it, but I just went over the limit and I became a passenger. There was nothing else I could do because it was really late in the corner — I could not cut the corner or go out of the corner.”

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Insisting he wasn’t distracted by an Alpine cutting Turn 1 to get out of his way, as team principal Christian Horner suggested, Perez says the nature of the mistake is what surprised him,

“It came around as a big surprise. Saying that, it isn’t an excuse. I should have done better today. All I can say is, ‘Very sorry,’ to my team. You put in so much energy and so much work preparing everything and you just disappoint everyone like this. It’s not fair to my team. I’m very disappointed today with myself and I know that tomorrow is going to be an impossible race.

“I knew that today we could have had a shot at pole but I didn’t drive to my level, so that’s why I’m here.”

Perez doesn’t believe he can use strategy to recover towards the points given how tough to overtake it is in Monaco.

“No, not really. It’s just going to be a nightmare tomorrow. I do expect a very difficult race. Whatever you do, people just cover you and you end up in the same position pretty much.”

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Verstappen snatches last-gasp Monaco pole from Alonso

Max Verstappen beat Fernando Alonso to pole position with a last-gasp lap at the end of a thrilling and unpredictable qualifying session at the Monaco Grand Prix. Pole position changed hands five times after the end of the first runs, with Alonso, …

Max Verstappen beat Fernando Alonso to pole position with a last-gasp lap at the end of a thrilling and unpredictable qualifying session at the Monaco Grand Prix.

Pole position changed hands five times after the end of the first runs, with Alonso, the Ferrari drivers and even Esteban Ocon rotating through top spot before Verstappen’s final lap.

Track grip was ramping up constantly, and Red Bull hatched a plan to have Verstappen be the last driver on track to take advantage of the conditions.

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The Dutchman completed two laps on his first set of tires, taking top spot with both, but he then made a rapid pit stop for his last fresh set to ensure he could complete an unusual third flying lap. Meanwhile, Ocon took top spot with a superb lap in his Alpine before Charles Leclerc deposed him.

Alonso then assumed provisional pole with a slender 0.022-second margin, but with just seconds left on the clock Verstappen rounded the final corner to start his last lap.

The Dutchman set personal-best sectors at the first two splits but wasn’t projected to have enough to overhaul Alonso. But an all-or-nothing final sector made the difference, propelling him to P1 by just 0.084s – his first pole position in Monte Carlo.

“In qualifying you need to call out and risk it all,” he said. “My first sector wasn’t ideal on my final lap … but then I knew I was behind, so in the last sector I gave it everything I had.”

Alonso said he’d been “pushing like an animal” to take top spot twice through Q3 but said he had to be satisfied with second knowing he’d left nothing on the table.

“It felt good,” he said. “Obviously pole position means a lot here in Monaco, but today Max was a little bit faster, which was a shame. But I think the first row on the grid for us is quite a big thing here.”

In pursuit of his first win since 2013, Alonso said he was still targeting victory on Sunday.

“Let’s see tomorrow what we can do in terms of strategy,” he said. “We have normally good starts this year – Max is a little bit inconsistent, so maybe [he has] one of those bad ones tomorrow!”

It wasn’t a perfect day for Red Bull Racing, however, with Sergio Pérez crashing out of qualifying early in Q1.

Perez’s afternoon lasted just six minutes and three laps after carrying far too much speed into the first corner, giving the outside barrier a hefty whack.

His left-rear corner took the brunt of the impact before the car bounced back into the middle of the track and out of the session.

Having set only one time up to that point, Perez plummeted down the order after the 11-minute suspension, leaving him last on the grid.

Charles Leclerc qualified third and just 0.106s off the pace but under investigation for what appeared to be a clear case of impeding Lando Norris in the tunnel late in Q3, which could earn him a grid drop for Sunday.

Speaking before seeing the stewards, Leclerc said he was trying to look at the bright side of a second-row start after a mixed build-up to qualifying.

“It was a very tricky quali but [also] weekend for me especially. I struggle a lot in the car,” he said. “But in qualifying the car was a bit more alive, I was a bit more at ease with the car. So all in all, I’m happy.”

Esteban Ocon ended up a spectacular fourth for Alpine and only 0.188s shy of Verstappen’s pole time, the Frenchman splitting Leclerc from Ferrari teammate Carlos Sainz, who was fifth quickest.

Lewis Hamilton could manage only sixth in his updated Mercedes at 0.36s off the pace ahead of Pierre Gasly, George Russell and Yuki Tsunoda.

The impeded Norris was 10th fastest ahead of teammate Oscar Piastri, who missed a spot in the top-10 shootout by just 0.018s, leaving him 11th on the grid alongside AlphaTauri rookie Nyck de Vries.

Alex Albon was 13th for Williams ahead of the shock omission of Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll, who ended the session under investigation for failing to step for the mandatory weighbridge check when signaled upon entry to pit lane, and Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas.

Williams rookie Logan Sargeant will start 16th, missing out on progression by just 0.059s.

Haas teammates Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg followed, the duo split by just 0.009s.

Zhou Guanyu will line up 19th ahead of the crashed Perez in 20th.

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Verstappen fastest as Hamilton crash ends final Monaco practice early

Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez controlled final practice at the Monaco Grand Prix before a Lewis Hamilton red flag ended the session six minutes early. Red Bull had changes made overnight to drastically improve balance of the RB19, having starting …

Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez controlled final practice at the Monaco Grand Prix before a Lewis Hamilton red flag ended the session six minutes early.

Red Bull had changes made overnight to drastically improve balance of the RB19, having starting the weekend unusually wide of the mark, and Verstappen made great use of his new setup to top the timesheets with a lap of 1m 12.776s.

Perez rotated through top spots during the session but ended up a wafer-thin 0.073s adrift of his teammate.

Most drivers took a final set of fresh softs in the final 15 minutes of the hour, but a combination of grip conditions that appeared to have reached their peak and heavy traffic on track meant few were able to meaningful improve their times.

Hamilton was one of the few who appeared to have some forward momentum and had just completed the fastest first sector when he carried too much speed into the downhill right-hander Mirabeau and slid across the track and into the barrier. Damage was isolated to the front-left corner of the car, but didn’t appear to be extensive.

With the session ending early and unable to be resumed, Lance Stroll finished third at 0.166s adrift for Aston Martin.

Carlos Sainz was the fastest Ferrari car in a tricky session for the Italian team. The Spaniard was 0.485s off the pace but still 0.214s faster than teammate Charles Leclerc down in seventh.

The Monegasque complained of severe bottoming-out, particularly around the second half of the lap, and looked generally uncompetitive at his home race.

“We need to change the car,” Leclerc said. “I need to lift in the S of the Swimming Pool because I have no control of the car.”

Lando Norris slotted into fifth and 0.62s off the pace, just pipping Pierre Gasly’s Alpine ahead of Leclerc.

Hamilton was eighth and 0.71s off the pace ahead of Esteban Ocon in the second Alpine despite the Frenchman suffering a loss of power early in the session that required him to execute a system restart while stopped in the tunnel.

Valtteri Bottas rounded out the top 10 for Alfa Romeo.

George Russell continued to be off Hamilton’s pace in the upgraded Mercedes in 11th ahead of the stopped Kevin Magnussen, who had to park his Haas at Portier with an apparent power steering failure late in the session.

Fernando Alonso was a surprisingly lowly 14th in part thanks to traffic during the session.

Yuki Tsunoda followed in 15th ahead Zhou Guanyu, Logan Sargeant and Alex Albon.

Rookies Oscar Piastri and Nyck de Vries completed the order in 19th and 20th.

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Hamilton buoyed by Mercedes gains

Lewis Hamilton says he was surprised not to be closer to the front in practice at the Monaco Grand Prix as he felt the benefit of Mercedes upgrades during what he described as “an amazing day.” Mercedes has brought a major new update package to …

Lewis Hamilton says he was surprised not to be closer to the front in practice at the Monaco Grand Prix as he felt the benefit of Mercedes upgrades during what he described as “an amazing day.”

Mercedes has brought a major new update package to Monaco that includes a new front suspension and more conventional sidepods after a disappointing start to the season, running the parts on both cars on Friday. Hamilton was sixth fastest in FP2 — half a second off pace-setter Max Verstappen — despite looking comfortable with the new specification of car, and admits he was expecting to be higher up on the timesheets.

“I’ve generally had an amazing day,” Hamilton said. “I’ve really enjoyed driving today. I want to say a big, big thank you to everyone back in the factory, because to build and design and develop a car is not an easy thing, and everyone has put so much time in, so many hours of hard work to have us here today. I’m glad we were able to keep it on-track for them, and I think we got a lot of data.

“It’s not the place to ultimately test an upgrade, but the car was generally feeling good. It’s a shame we weren’t as close as I hoped at the end of the session but definitely felt the improvements, and I’m grateful for that. Just got to keep chipping away at it and see if we can squeeze any more juice out of the car.”

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Despite downplaying the potential to see the impact of the upgrades in Monaco, Hamilton says he could feel the difference from the previous car in one area in particular.

“There is (a clear improvement), I’m not going to say where! But there is, and it’s very clear where the lack of performance is for me. We’ll talk about that in the debrief. We’ll put our heads together and try and figure out how we can do that within what we have. But hopefully this gives us a platform to build on moving forwards.

“In P1, I thought, ‘Wow, maybe we’re looking pretty good’ — we’re always looking pretty good in P1 for some reason. In this (second) session, we were close to half a second off I think, maybe that could have been three tenths. But I don’t think we have half a second in the bag. We’ll see. We’ll work on it, and see if we can get some more out tonight.”

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Verstappen leads second Monaco practice; Sainz crashes

Max Verstappen edged out Charles Leclerc for top spot in second practice at the Monaco Grand Prix after FP1 leader Carlos Sainz crashed out of the session. Verstappen set the benchmark late in the soft-tire runs at 1m12.462s, though it was enough to …

Max Verstappen edged out Charles Leclerc for top spot in second practice at the Monaco Grand Prix after FP1 leader Carlos Sainz crashed out of the session.

Verstappen set the benchmark late in the soft-tire runs at 1m12.462s, though it was enough to pip Leclerc by only 0.065s. The Red Bull driver’s slender advantage was through the first two sectors, with the Ferrari again the car to beat in the final split.

Sainz was third, 0.107s off the headline time, but crashed shortly after setting his fastest lap. The Spaniard, who was comfortably fastest in the first practice hour, clipped the inside apex exiting the second Swimming Pool chicane and snapped his suspension, which sent him careening into the exit barrier.

The crash triggered a six-minute red flag suspension to collect the stricken car.

Fernando Alonso was an early leader on softs but was fourth at the conclusion of the hour, losing 0.22s to Verstappen despite setting the fastest first-sector time. The Aston Martin driver complained several times of traffic around the lap, with positioning proving difficult in the circuit’s busiest moments.

Lando Norris spent the first 12 minutes of the session in the pits for some setup changes, restricting him to just 18 laps at the end of the session, but he made the most of his limited time to finished fifth and just 0.444s off the pace.

Lewis Hamilton followed in sixth a further 0.054s adrift, with Sergio Perez following in seventh more than half a second down on his leading teammate.

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Valtteri Bottas impressed with eighth in his heavily revised Alfa Romeo car, beating Alpine teammates Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon to complete the top 10.

Lance Stroll and George Russell again lacked the pace of their respective Aston Martin and Mercedes teammates, languishing in 11th and 12th at just over 0.72s off the pace.

Zhou Guanyu was 13th for Alfa Romeo ahead of Haas teammates Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg.

Yuki Tsunoda finished the session 16th and under investigation for speeding in the pit lane; he was less than 0.1s quicker than under-pressure teammate Nyck de Vries.

Rookie Oscar Piastri was 18th in his first grand prix appearance in Monaco, while Alex Albon was 19th, having had time to set just 10 laps after repairs for his late-FP1 crash went deep into the hour. The Thai driver needed a new gearbox, front and rear wing, floor and left-front suspension to make it back on track. His teammate, Williams rookie Logan Sargeant, completed the order in 20th.

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Sainz tops Alonso in first Monaco GP practice

Carlos Sainz edged Fernando Alonso to top spot in first practice at the Monaco Grand Prix as the Red Bull Racing drivers struggled for composure around the serpentine street track. With medium tires bolted on, Sainz and Alonso spent the final 15 …

Carlos Sainz edged Fernando Alonso to top spot in first practice at the Monaco Grand Prix as the Red Bull Racing drivers struggled for composure around the serpentine street track.

With medium tires bolted on, Sainz and Alonso spent the final 15 minutes trading fastest laps, gradually separating themselves from the chasing pack. But with around five minutes to go Sainz set a sizzling final time of 1m13.372s to put top spot beyond reach of the Aston Martin driver, the margin 0.338s.

Despite setting the quickest time in the first split, Alonso lost the opportunity to respond when Alex Albon put his Williams in the barriers at Sainte Devote, bringing out red flags with four minutes remaining.

The Thai driver carried too much speed into the first turn and slammed his Williams into the barrier, the left-rear wheel bearing the brunt of the impact.

The session wasn’t resumed, leaving Sainz with top spot.

Lewis Hamilton was third in his heavily upgraded Mercedes car, the Briton 0.663s off the pace.

Sergio Perez, winner of last year’s race in Monte Carlo, was the happier Red Bull Racing driver, and though the RB19 looked competitive in the first sector, it shipped time to Sainz in the final two splits.

Home driver Charles Leclerc was fifth and 0.721s slower than his teammate, while a troubled Max Verstappen was 0.872s adrift. The Dutchman was unhappy with the balance of his car throughout the session, and though changes were made in the middle of the hour, the RB19 still looked twitchy on his push laps. The team signaled more tweaks would be made out of session before FP2.

Lando Norris was the first driver more than a second adrift, leading Esteban Ocon, Lance Stroll and the crashed Albon to complete the top 10.

Valtteri Bottas was 11th ahead of Kevin Magnussen, Yuki Tsunoda and Pierre Gasly.

George Russell was far less happy with his updated Mercedes relative to third-placed teammate Hamilton. The younger Briton complained he couldn’t get temperature into his tires and lacked confidence in the turns, noting that he needed more rear downforce.

Nyck de Vries was 16th ahead of Oscar Piastri, Logan Sargeant — the American ended the session under investigation from the stewards for being sent out on track in an unsafe condition, apparently related to a loose wheel — and Zhou Guanyu.

Nico Hulkenberg was 20th with a punctured left-reartire after taking a bite out of the inside apex barrier exiting the tunnel into the chicane. His Haas was spun backwards, but he was able to limp back to the pits down a tire to retire from the session.

F1 technical updates: 2023 Monaco Grand Prix

Mercedes’ new upgrade package headlines a number of significant developments introduced by the entire grid at the Monaco Grand Prix. Imola’s cancellation delayed the new parts for all teams until this weekend, and Mercedes is finally running its …

Mercedes’ new upgrade package headlines a number of significant developments introduced by the entire grid at the Monaco Grand Prix.

Imola’s cancellation delayed the new parts for all teams until this weekend, and Mercedes is finally running its long-awaited package that includes a new front suspension, floor fences, sidepods, engine cover, rear wing and winglets on the rear corner of the car.

The sidepods are the most obvious update as Mercedes opts for a more conventional layout compared to its previous design, saying it is intended to “improve flow to the floor edge, which results in more floor load and also improved flow to the rear corner.” The suspension changes similarly are designed to improve the airflow to the sidepods themselves and rest of the car.

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Red Bull has made minor changes, with a circuit-specific rear wing that lets the team run maximum downforce, and a wishbone shroud tweak that allows the required steering lock in Monaco. Ferrari has a similar rear wing update to Red Bull, as well as adaptations to its rear brake ducts, brake cooling inlets and suspension fairings.

Significant upgrades for Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin AMR23 at Monaco. Andy Hone/Motorsport Images

Aston Martin has a more significant update, with front and rear suspension and front corner changes to improve overall load, while there is a new rear brake duct specific to Monaco and high-downforce rear wing too.

While McLaren has tweaked its floor fences and rear corner for performance — also adding a larger front brake scoop for cooling purposes and a high-downforce rear wing — Alpine has brought further developments including front suspension fairings, a wider sidepod with deeper gulley and an adapted floor edge alongside its rear wing changes.

The biggest number of updates are seen at AlphaTauri with nine areas — including a new floor, diffuser, sidepods, engine cover, front suspension and rear wing – just ahead of the eight new parts introduced by Alfa Romeo. The Sauber-run team has a new floor, engine cover, rear suspension and rear brake ducts for performance, as well as circuit-specific cooling and rear wing changes.

All 10 teams have new parts, with Haas bringing a new front wing and front suspension geometry while Williams is introducing front suspension changes alongside circuit-specific front brake ducts and rear wing.

His focus on a Monaco win, Alonso sets future plans aside

Fernando Alonso promises to “attack more than any other weekend” as he feels he has a chance to win the Monaco Grand Prix, but left unclear whether he’ll still be racing for Aston Martin when it partners with Honda in 2026. Aston Martin has …

Fernando Alonso promises to “attack more than any other weekend” as he feels he has a chance to win the Monaco Grand Prix, but left unclear whether he’ll still be racing for Aston Martin when it partners with Honda in 2026.

Aston Martin has struggled with straight-line efficiency compared to Red Bull, but the low-speed nature of Monaco reduces the impact of that deficit. With Red Bull also enjoying a bigger advantage in races than in qualifying, the importance of grid position in Monaco opens up the potential for a slower car to hold on if out in front, and Alonso admits that’s on his mind.

“We are not thinking we are the strongest in Monaco — I don’t think it’s going to be a huge change compared to Baku, which is still a street circuit,” Alonso said. “I think Ferrari was outstanding in Baku — we could see another great weekend for them here — but then if I tell you that I don’t come here thinking that I can win the race, I would be lying to you.

“This is a one-off opportunity — we know Monaco, Singapore, there are specific racetracks where you need to gain the confidence in free practice, get closer and closer to the walls, and I will attack more than any other weekend, yes.

“There are couple of weekends like this one that I come here thinking that I will try to win. Maybe it’s our worst weekend and we are out of the points — you never know, it is a very specific circuit — but there are these kind of one-off opportunities that you try to maximize.

“We saw a gearbox failure for Max (Verstappen) in Saudi in Q2; we had problems in Checo (Perez)’s car in Australia all through free practice and qualifying, so if one of those things happens on a Sunday, automatically you close the gap massively and it starts to be more interesting. So the championship is long and we will not give up.”

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Honda’s full works manufacturer return with Aston Martin led to questions about the Japanese manufacturer working with Alonso again in 2026 — saying it “will have no objections whatsoever” if he’s still racing at that time — but the Spaniard says it’s too far in the future for him to consider.

“I don’t know what I will do in 2026. I would be lying if I tell you that I know right now. For sure I feel fresh, I feel motivated now, I feel sharp, still fast, and if I keep enjoying I would love to keep racing. But I know that one day I will wake up and I will not feel maybe motivated or happy to keep traveling and all these kind of things. Or maybe I don’t feel fast and I will be the first one to raise my hand and say maybe it’s time.

“Let’s see. I think it’s a long way until 2026. I will focus first of all in Monaco, now, because I think it’s an important weekend, and then this season. The next one, hopefully we can make another step and fight for bigger things.

“And then racing again with Honda, no, it’s going to be no problem at all from my side. I know that it didn’t work out last time in 2015, ’16, ’17. It was even worse maybe for some of my teammates like Stoffel (Vandoorne) or whoever, coming from dominating F3, F2 and then joining the project that maybe was not fully ready back then. But I think they proved that they have a competitive package now. They won the championship in ’21, they won the championship in ’22, most likely will win the championship in ’23, so I think they now have a very strong package. It’s a new set of regulations but I think it will be a very exciting project, for sure.”