Q & A with Stefano Domenicali

Stefano Domenicali: Yes, we had a problem with the wheel nut, because, as you know, with three minutes to go, you have to have the wheels fitted on the car, but really at the last second we had a call from a mechanic that there was a problem there and basically we were late.

That's the reason why we had the penalty. Unfortunately that spoiled Kimi's race because of course with that drive-through the race is finished.

Q. Do you normally fit the wheels at the last moment or just here?

SD: The tyres were already fitted for two minutes, that's why we need to understand why this has happened.

Q. Felipe said that the change of strategy was a problem. Do you think Felipe has the possibility to race to win?

SD: Hundred per cent. Hundred per cent because the performance was very good, just look at the first laps even in bad conditions. We take the gamble regarding strategy because we had more rain predicted on the radar and that was the reason why we gave him another set of intermediate tyres because we wanted to be ready for another shower.

But unfortunately that didn't happen, and with the Hamilton situation, who was able to have this kiss with the guardrail, where it should have been impossible to come back, but because there was this big gap behind him, he was able to come back (in a good position).

So there were a lot of circumstances that really we could not control. So we need to consider the points that were related to our decisions or our situation and look at the things that were really peculiar to what happened today in Monte Carlo.

Q. Felipe's first stop, did you have to stop then for the fuel or was that a change to get out on different tyres?

SD: The first one was to change for the fuel.

Q. And what probability were they telling you that it was going to rain?

SD: A lot, otherwise we wouldn't have done what we did. Unfortunately, that was the situation, that was the reason why we took a gamble.

Q. What happened when Kimi lost control out of the tunnel?

SD: We haven't analysed the data. For sure it was more a problem with a patch of wet or a problem with braking, we don't know yet. For sure, it was a shame because one of the things you want to have is not to gain any points this way. This is the situation and we had such a competitive car in Monaco that it was such a shame. We are also sorry for our client, Force India. Crashing into our engine, it was really not good.

Q. Do you feel after the performance in qualifying here and your pace in the race, compared to 12 months ago, you're actually quite encouraged by how the car performed on a tighter track, which has kind of been your Achilles heel over the past 12 months?

SD: I think so to be honest, because what we said, we wanted to prepare more in a different way and as we saw on Saturday, this was the real answer. In that respect, we want to be positive also for Canada because we take the same kind of approach but we need to be humble because the competition is always very strong.

As we always said, we mustn't forget that we won four races out of six, and that's something important. As I've always said, the championship will be very very long. In these conditions, you're going to lose some points, then the situation that happened with Lewis today means he's leading the championship, so it will be very, very long.

Q. Same question about Canada; Felipe said Ferrari is much closer to McLaren compared to 2007. Is there a chance for Ferrari?

SD: It's easy to say but difficult to do it. For sure, in terms of preparation, we are much more confident of the situation ad hopefully it should be different from what we saw last year.

Q.Which errors from today do you deem unacceptable and that must not be repeated?

SD: Unacceptable error is a strong expression that I don't feel like using in public. My responsibility is to analyse with everyone the things we can't afford to do wrongly. So, following from this principle, the matter of unacceptability is a matter that must be faced between us, in a calm and serene way, and without crucifying anyway, because I repeat, we've won four races out of six.

Q. Do McLaren have an advantage by edging their bets on just one driver instead of two?

SD: "I don't know. It's easy to say that today because Kovalainen didn't start. We'll have to see. It's always easy to analyze things in retrospect. If you look at previous races, Kovalainen's race lap times and what he could do in those races, besides some problems, show that he's second to no one. But this is not my problem. From this point of view we aren't changing.