Photo credit: Mercedes AMG F1
Five-time Monaco Grand Prix winner Michael Schumacher is feeling confident heading into next weekends Monaco Grand Prix, even though the 7-time World Champion will suffer a five-place grid drop after qualifying. This is due to the incident he allegedly caused with Bruno Senna at the Spanish Grand Prix.
With Pirelli offering the teams the super-soft (red) tyres for the first time in 2012, tyres once again look set to be the talking point throughout the Monaco Grand Prix weekend. Due to this, Schumacher is optimistic that Mercedes will do well, with tyre management set to be a crucial aspect of the demanding 78 lap race.
“Monaco is just a circuit of its own very unique character. Every time you go there, you just look forward to finally getting out and driving the track. Of course, knowing that I will lose five positions on the grid does not add to this feeling but this just means that I will have to try even harder. I’m actually quite confident that we should look reasonably good in Monaco due to the hard work that everybody in the team is putting into the development of our car.”
Mercedes have already won a race in 2012, albeit at the hands of Schumacher’s team-mate Nico Rosberg. The 26-year-old believes there is as many as ten drivers’ who have a chance at winning the Monaco Grand Prix this year, a fact which could make the race one of the most intriguing and exciting around the Principality in many years.
The German Constructor hasn’t won a race around the Monte-Carlo street circuit since 1937, when Manfred von Brauchitsch took victory in a Mercedes 1-2-3 finish. Back then the race was 100 laps long, and took three hours to complete. However, Mercedes have won seven times at Monaco as engine suppliers, the last time being in 2009 when Jenson Button took his Mercedes powered Brawn to victory.
