Wednesday press conference - Monaco GP - Pt.2.

Drivers: Rubens Barrichello (Honda), David Coulthard (Red Bull), Juan Pablo Montoya (McLaren), Jarno Trulli (Toyota) and Alexander Wurz (Williams).

Questions from the floor.

Q: (Heinz Prueller - ORF).
Gentlemen because it is such a very special Grand Prix and a special circuit, I would like to ask each one of you for your personal opinion - which is the most critical, the most dangerous and most difficult spot on the track here and what is your favourite overtaking spot, if any?

Juan Pablo Montoya:
Every part of the circuit is different and challenging. You know, you have Casino; that is very challenging; and you have Tabac; and the swimming pool, which is very fast. And dangerous? There is none. You know, you make a mistake and you hit the wall and that is it. Get out of the car and deal with it. Overtaking is about impossible. If somebody makes a mistake you might be able to pass, but even when they make a mistake they can recover here.

Jarno Trulli:
I agree with Juan Pablo. Challenging? It's challenging a bit everywhere because, in a way, it is a street circuit and, so, each corner changes every lap basically. The one, which I like most - the spot, the corner which I find the most challenging - is probably the swimming pool, which is a very quick corner and technical and difficult, a little bit everywhere. (An) overtaking manoeuvre around here is nearly impossible and I remember, last year, I was following one Renault, which was three seconds a lap slower and I found it very difficult to overtake. That's it. That's Monaco.

David Coulthard:
There are only two corners where you have any room for error, which are into the chicane and, well, into both chicanes! After the tunnel and the swimming pool... And all the other corners are individual and challenging in their own way. As Jarno says, the swimming pool complex is the fastest section that we have so, you know, you often leave there thinking you could have gone a bit quicker, but like so much of this track you don't really see the corner until you arrive at the apex so that makes it quite difficult and challenging in its own way. Overtake? I think you saw Nick was able to overtake into the chicane last year and I think a few others did that as well, other than that I think it is very difficult to overtake anywhere else here.

Rubens Barrichello:
Well, I think it is a very difficult circuit and it is dangerous everywhere probably and it is very special and all because of that... At the beginning of the year, I asked a friend, who races IRL, where he would like to race in Formula One and he told me Monaco. That is because it makes it special. So, actually this weekend, I am racing his colours in this grand prix and I am racing in Indianapolis this weekend - there will be a car there with my colours - and this is just because Monaco is so special and I think Indianapolis is special, as well, that we swapped colours for the weekend. I don't think there is any place for overtaking and it is dangerous everywhere, but it is funny. Casino Square is probably the best place.

Alex Wurz:
I think that the most challenging parts of Monaco are next to the circuit and not on the circuit.

Q:
What do you mean by that?

AW:
I can't possibly talk about this because I am married.

Q: (Dan Knutson, National Speed Sport News).
For Rubens. First of all, when you say colours, do you mean helmet colours?

RB:
Yeah.

Q: (Dan Knutson, National Speed Sport News).
And secondly, you can always learn more about the team and the car and the tyres, but where do you feel you are now in that learning process?

RB:
I think the team has been working very hard. If people think the results have been sad for me, and I have not been up to it, I could prove that I have been working hard. I was not happy with the brakes to start with and it was only very unlucky that we qualified badly in Australia because of the traffic. Having said that, since then there has been an improvement and it is getting better all the time, but I am still not completely happy with the car in the way that it performs in a race especially with the traction control. Honda is working very hard and we have been testing new items every time we go to the track and we know the car is fast everywhere we go and we know we have to keep the pace for the race, but I am feeling very good and this is one of the places where I think we can perform very well and in the team everything is running very smoothly.

Q: (David Croft, BBC Radio 5).
Good afternoon, gentlemen. Another question for Rubens. I remember you saying, in Australia, that you found it difficult coming into the team with a car that was predominantly set up for Jenson's style of driving. With your improvements in the last few races, have you had to change your driving style?

RB:
There is a time when you have to get used to things. It is not just jumping from one car to another. The car had, predominantly, the brakes and the traction control working the same - and you have difference in balance, in the way that you drive the car and the position and everything - but it was completely different on the brake system. I attack the brakes harder than Jenson and I wasn't feeling the bite of the brakes. To be honest, it was a bit of a lack of experience within the team. In testing, I kept on saying 'the brakes, the brakes, the brakes' and they said 'ok, for the race, we are going to have new items and everything is going to be good' and, when the race came, everything was the same; and that is why I took so long and, after two or three races, when we tested new components, we actually found something; and then I improved that. I got used to the car up to a point, but I told them that if the car didn't come my way I was only going to be driving behind Jenson because I had to learn how he was driving the car. So, I am sure that, with the things I have been developing, it will help him eventually win a race as well. So, it is a mountain that we are both climbing.

Q: (Dan Knutson, National Speed Sport News).
Juan this is the one time of the year when you guys come close to walls, but in Indycar racing you came close to walls a lot on ovals. How does it compare?

JPM:
Well, there is no (nothing to) compare... In America, there are still about six or seven street courses, so, there, it was a normal thing to do a street course whereas here it is the only one we do so 'pow!' kind of thing you know. It is a shame we don't do more, but it is quite exciting.