Patrick Head Q&A

"It's a very pleasing result. It was an incredible race, and every lap was a qualifying lap, and all the leading drivers were running unbelievably quickly. The tyres and the car and engine and obviously the main thing, the driver, held up very strongly. It was a pity for Ralf, because I think he was in very good shape early on, and then things seemed to go back a little bit on him. But anyway, Juan drove an incredible race, and I'm very pleased with the result."


"Well, it's very nice to win at Monaco, but I would have liked our first victory of the year to come back in Melbourne!"


"Obviously there are all motivated anyway for each individual race, but it helps a lot. Basically we've been putting a lot of pressure on ourselves, because we've not been happy with the way things have gone in the first races of this year, and we're working very hard on the car, and all the people in the factory arte working very hard. It's really nice to see a result like this, and it will be good for everybody back at home."


"I think around the first pit stop, getting in and out in front. Both pitstops were always fairly critical, because if there was a big difference in the times when the cars stopped it gave the opportunity for the one that stopped later to make up some ground. And then it was a question of whether you could get out in time each time. So it was quite critical."


"Yes, it's pleasing, but in this business you start thinking about the next challenge pretty soon after the one before. But I shall make a point of enjoying this one! I think it was a brilliant race in terms of how fast each of the frontrunners was going."


"We were pretty certain that they'd be making the second stop, but equally we knew it was going to be some time after us, so the question was whether Michael would be able to make up that gap while he stayed out longer. But he wasn't able to."


"I think very, very high. I can't remember all the previous ones now! But it was a very pleasurable win. It was such a tough race, there was no part where you could sit there and say, 'Well OK that's fine, it's just got to stay together to get the result.' It was a battle all the way. And Juan never made a mistake."


"Tiny details can make the difference. Ralf seemed to be very quick in the first stint until the safety car came out, which was obviously quite early on. By that time he was 2.5s ahead of Juan and 4.5s ahead of Raikkonen. It only takes tiny things to make a difference, and I think Ralf at one time wasn't very happy with the balance of his car on the tyres. You win some you lose some."


"They were set-up to pit with Ralf one lap before Juan, but in fact we pitted a little early on the first stop for various reasons."


"We should be strong there. We've got no reason not to be. And it would be really nice if we could try and make our mark this year and win two in a row now. In truth we need some big points to close up on those in front of us."