'I thought we might get into a punch-up!'

Contrast that with the more experienced Alex Wurz, for example, who managed to crash on Thursday, Saturday and Sunday! Not only that, but Jenson finished the first day of practice in a very respectable 13th place. Whether he was running with a lower fuel load than some of those behind him is immaterial; Monaco is not an easy place to learn.

Jenson surprised critics who think he sometimes takes too long to get up to speed, and reckoned he would have been quicker had he got a clear lap. However, perhaps the biggest disappointment of the weekend was his performance in the impromptu Monaco marathon; after letting the others get away at the start, he trailed home in fifth and last place. But there was a reason why he didn't try to make up ground...



"The first lap wasn't the best. I was still in my 14th position I think, and going into Loews de la Rosa was trying to go round the outside, which doesn't really work - or didn't work anyway."



"The front wing had actually broken off, which was a shame."



"I was still there because I didn't know what was going on or what was going to happen, and they'd already left. But there were still a couple there, Gene and someone else."



"I started running and was thinking I'd got some good speed, but I realised I was catching up to Pedro, so I thought I'd better slow down a bit. So I was right behind him, following him. I didn't want to get past because I thought we might get into a punch-up and I'd end up in the sea or something! But I was still running pretty fast back to the pits, but we didn't get back in time, which was a bit of a shame."



"I was running in 19th position, but it's impossible to overtake round here, as Mika found out. Then about four laps to when I retired it was not picking up very well, and then started smoking quite a bit, so they called me in and that was it. Game over."



"It's good to get some laps, and the race would have been good to get some more experience. Only completing about 16 laps isn't what I wanted to do. But there you go. Hopefully I'll get more experience next year when I arrive for the race, and get a better result."



"It is very good. It's actually tighter than what you expect to start with, and a lot slower. But otherwise pretty much as I expected, and I was pretty happy. But I wasn't able to get it together in qualifying, because of my lack of experience of the circuit, and it didn't happen in the race."



"No not really. I like road circuits. I've done Macau, which is very different from here, a lot faster, but it was good experience, and this was as well."



"It's quite wide and open. I'm looking forward to it, and from what I've seen it looks pretty exciting. I think I'll enjoy myself."