By Phil Huff (23/05/2004)
May 23 2004

Jenson's third fastest time meant the Lucky Strike BAR Honda had to face the press. Here's full details on what he said, including talk of Monaco, wins, understeer and a crash... Q: Jenson, on the front row for Monaco, you must be pleased with that.

Yeah, very pleased. It's obviously very disappointing for Ralf and both of these guys have been my team-mates so I know how good they are round here, so I'm very pleased to be where I am.

Q: Talk us through your lap – a shade off, perhaps, in sector two?

Yeah, I've been struggling there all day, really. I‘ve had a lot of understeer in the car and...

Q: If I can just ask there, what does sector two really mean when you say understeer? Which corners are you referring to?

It's mostly the slow corners on the circuit so you've got Mirabeau, Loews, the two right-handers before the tunnel and the exit from the tunnel. And I just had too much understeer. I think we've cured most of that, but I think I was losing a little bit of time due to that.

Q: Jenson, it did seem that the first sector time was particularly good for you.

Yeah, I was told that Taku had a problem warming his tyres up in the first sector so I pushed quite hard but I obviously didn't get them up to temperature and had a lot of understeer, especially in the first sector. But it came to me in those next two sectors so I am, um, pretty happy actually because this morning we were struggling a little bit for pace, so I am pretty happy.

Q: What do you think of Monaco as a whole, as a circuit?

As a circuit I love it, I really do enjoy driving around here. It is pretty crazy, it is, because it is always twice the speed because of the barriers but it is a great circuit to drive and to push to the limits, it really just gives you something back. It's great.

Q: If it is any help, in recent times it has been won more times from second on the grid than it has from first.

Has it? Erm, it would if they weren't both Renaults. As we all know they are very good off the line so we have gotta wait and see.

Q: How important will the first corner be in determining who eventually comes out on top?

JB: Yeah, I think it is very important and I haven't just got to look forwards to getting past Jarno, I have got to look behind and keep Fernando behind. But we have proved that Taku and myself have been able to get good starts this year. In Imola it was a pretty good start from the front, so it is going to be interesting.

Q: Is this just an exception or do you think your teams are finally closing the gap on Ferrari?

Obviously, I think the Michelin tyres have worked very well here because it is very difficult to make up that much margin over two weeks. But, if you look at their times in long-distance running, the Ferraris, they seem to be very, very strong, so obviously they are thinking about the strategy very much and we have to see what they do because they still will be a threat.

Q: Jenson, can you explain what happened in the crash in the car?

[Referring to an accident that happened when Jarno and Jenson were being driven to the press conference]

I actually didn't have my seatbelt on – bit naughty! I don't know, the car came around the corner waving a flag and crashed into us. We were going the wrong way around the circuit…