Monaco Grand Prix Thursday press conference
21 May, 2021
Full transcript from the FIA-hosted press conference after Thursday practice for the Monaco Grand Prix, Round 5 of the 2021 Formula 1 World Championship.
PART ONE
Featuring Mattia Binotto (Ferrari), Toto Wolff (Mercedes) and Laurent Rossi (Alpine).
Q: Mattia, can we start with you please. What is it about Charles Leclerc and his home race? A very frustrating start to the weekend for him with that gearbox problem.
Mattia BINOTTO: At first, I think enjoyable, exciting, I think it’s important for him, he knows very well the city, very well the streets and knows that he can drive very well around that layout. Last year we didn’t race here, the year before, we had somehow, let me say, a problem or an issue, a bad choice in quali that put him out of the top ten in quali. So, it was frustrating in the past and he knows that being back here this weekend he can try to do certainly better. I think it’s important to support him to his best, to our best, so that he can have a good weekend. The start, as you said, not exactly what we were hoping for. He had a gearbox problem very soon in the session, so he had to stop and that’s a shame – because certainly in Monaco it’s important to build the confidence and the more you can drive, the better it is. So certainly, he had missed an entire session – but he knows as well there is an entire history before quali and for him it will be important to get the experience he is missing from the morning.