Monteiro works on race strategy

Tiago Monteiro was the faster of the two Jordan Toyota drivers in the Monaco Grand Prix during Saturday's first qualifying session, despite being in charge of a single-seater that was very difficult to control and not that ...

Tiago Monteiro was the faster of the two Jordan Toyota drivers in the Monaco Grand Prix during Saturday's first qualifying session, despite being in charge of a single-seater that was very difficult to control and not that well-balanced.

Tiago Monteiro.

Photo by xpb.cc.

However, the Silverstone based squad deliberately opted to primarily work on set up for the race, choosing the Bridgestone tyre that was best adapted to the most difficult track of the season, in the Monaco Principality.

The Minardi team, also equipped with the Japanese rubber, preferred to shine in qualifying and used soft tyres, therefore allowing the two black contenders to precede the two yellow ones on the provisional starting grid. Tiago ended up in 16th place and envisages the race with a certain serenity, even if many question marks persist.

"We will try to do only one pit stop during the race," reveals the Portuguese driver. "Therefore, the car was very difficult to control, in particular under braking, because these tyres do not function in an optimal way at the time of the first flying laps. For this reason, we did not succeed in recording the same lap times than in the morning."

With a one pit stop strategy, Tiago will take part in the Sunday qualifying session with 95 litres of fuel on board.

"Which makes our task even more complicated because the track is very slippery and the car heavy," he analyzed. "We know that our tyres were not the best for the qualifying, but we hope that our bet will pay off in the race!"