The secret to winning the Monaco Grand Prix

0:02This is a Global Player original podcast. I remember feeling that it was mine. You got Red Bull's first ever podium in Monaco when you were wearing a Superman cape. That third place. Was that the best lap of your life? I'm just glad they didn't film what we were getting up to. I got a bit goose bumpy on that, mate. That was really, that was mega. The word on the street is that Ferrari believe that it's still glamorous, it's exciting, it's dangerous, it's sexy, it's everything that Formula One should be.

0:49It's Will. It's David. Welcome to Up to Speed. Monaco Grand Prix week, the perfect man to talk us through everything that is Monaco. None other than David Coulthard, of course, himself a two-time Monaco Grand Prix winner. How are you, buddy? Been up to much? Well, it's funny you should say that. I know you're not a man that looks at the red tops, but I was away on my stag weekend for a few days in Marbella. Lovely place. I had not seen. Yeah, yeah, no, no, it was a quiet weekend. Actually, I had to, the best part, I laughed for four days straight, absolutely brilliant time. But I think the biggest laugh came from when I got home and we saw the little bits in the media.

1:36My wife looked at me and went, she went, because she was on her hen in Barcelona while I was on my stag in Marbella. So she's been away for a few days and she went, I'm just glad they didn't film what we were getting up to.

1:53A girlfriend had set in a whole bunch of dares. So you can imagine the kind of dares they had to do. Wonderful. Walk up to strangers and stuff like that. All I did was an old-fashioned piss-up. Brilliant. Brilliant. I love that. I love that. I don't love press intrusion on your personal likes, but I do love your missus' reaction. That's sensational, dude. You got a good one there, mate. That's why I married her. Indeed. Indeed, indeed. So what about you? You seem to be living stateside. Mate, I'm in New York, in New York for a couple of days. Then St. Louis this weekend. I was in Detroit last weekend.

2:27Then I finally get home and get some qualities home with the kids. So excited for that. Sad to be missing Monaco because it's such a great weekend. I was talking to Jolie about it the other day. You know, it's such a great race. It's so much fun. And you've got so much history there, dude. And it's your home. So do you do the thing where you live out of a suitcase? for the weekend so you don't forget stuff like do you leave your pass on your kitchen counter by accident and get to the paddock gates like oh shit i've got to go home now well actually funnily enough i hadn't even thought about my pass until you mentioned it uh i'm in my i'm in my office which is um in the same building as i live in the same building i've lived since 1995 so i i have a very short commute to the office in the morning which is fantastic and Fonvie's side which anyone who's been to Monaco will know you've got the Palace the Rocher right in the middle if you're looking out to see the left of the Palace you have Monte Carlo with the Grand Prix track up to Casino Square all that wonderful side Lovato what have you and on the right of the Palace you have Fonvie and this is the quiet part of Monaco during most of the year so you can except for the fact it's got a football stadium there well it does it does and I only went once to watch a football match when Scotland were doing in a way friendly with Estonia and I didn't really have anything tartan to put on other than a tartan tea cosy that someone had bought me so I went there looking like I don't know what do you call it a rooster with this tartan tea cosy in my head oh mate I love that it's a lovely part of town it's really as you say it's just enough out of the madness of Monte Carlo itself to kind of be as you say a little bit a little bit quiet a little bit a little bit out of it is that where most of the drivers kind of live around there yeah yeah yeah most most of the guys are around here and they they get left be um thankfully uh that we we don't really have that whole stand around lowes hairpin or fairmont hairpin or whatever hairpin it's called nowadays uh you know car spotting because it's pretty residential over here people walk take a bicycle you know i was i was out for a quick bite with my wife and a couple of friends are here for the Grand Prix and you know Carlos walked by with senior with Rebecca his his lovely Scottish girlfriend stroke fiance stroke future wife I you know I want to make this this recording timeless let's let yeah let's not uh let's not get back into the tabloids again with uh with with with with rumors mate um dude you got you got Red Bull's first ever podium in Monaco um when you were wearing a Superman cape that I I I remember that because when Red Bull entered, everyone just assumed it was like the big party team spent all the money on the parties and the float at home and all of that.

5:16And then you had the Superman sponsorship and you're there on the podium wearing a cape. And it was, you know, the first ever podium for Red Bull. The only two trophies I have in my office is that third place from my first podium with Red Bull. and funnily enough, nothing to do with Monaco, but my last ever podium, which was in Canada, when Robert Kubica, a fantastic Polish driver, won that Grand Prix. So all the winning trophies and all the other trophies are up in the museum in Scotland. But for some reason, I decided to keep these two. They somehow meant a lot more because it wasn't unexpected.

5:51I thought you were going to tell me it's because Ron kept all of the McLaren trophies. So they're actually in Woking. Yeah, he did. but we had an agreement that replicas were provided by the same manufacturer. So to give you an idea, Tiffany's did the winning steering wheel for one of the Grand Prix's. I forget which one it was. And it was€20 ,000 because it was all beautifully silver, the replica. Because the replica was just the same as the original, made by the same company, of course, but just one was actually handed to you and one was actually given to you later. And something like this, I've got two winning Monaco trophies and they cost for replicas 300 euros.

6:36That's majestic. The cheapest trophies on the calendar are supplied by a local supplier. Yeah, are from Monaco. And they're supplied by S. Berrazzoli Monaco. There you go. Brilliant. There's a bit of advertisement for him. Oh, I love that, dude. The thrill club can afford something a bit more expensive. You'd think, wouldn't you? What was it like for you? The first time, because I don't think as a fan or as a pundit or as a journalist, the first time you go to Monaco, nothing prepares you for it. Nothing prepares you for how close you are to the action. Nothing prepares you for the noise, the intensity, just the sheer speed of it.

7:14But when you've been used to, as a racing driver, the majority of the tracks you've done, well, wide open, you know, road courses in the countryside, and then you get to this rabbit warren of a circuit where it's like playing tennis in the toilet and suddenly everything is channeled in, everything is focused. Was that terrifying because life was coming at you faster than it ever had or had you done stuff like Poe and Macau and all that before you got to Monaco? Yeah, I'd won Macau, which is an incredible circuit. It was, I believe, a Portuguese colony just on the side of China. a hallowed racetrack for many the great late Ayrton Senna claimed it to be the best circuit in the world not many people have heard of Macau because of the fact it's not used in Formula One it's like Formula Three in touring cars I had raced at Po and had a second I didn't win there so I found my way around street circuits but we didn't have simulators back in 94 sorry 95 excuse me when i first came here and i had to go out and learn it the old-fashioned way which was ride a bicycle at sunrise when the track was nice and quiet um do a few laps and then go out and drive it and i i it was a shock i i think in first qualifying on friday it could back in those days we had an hour of practice and then qualifying friday at 30 excuse me then we did the same on saturday i think was 18th like nowhere and then i went away did a bit of soul searching looked at the data you know dreamt it through watch videos and came back and i think i qualified third for the grand prix itself so it's a baptism of fire it's a track like no other um and as you mentioned i'm sure you've done it you've walked to the swimming pool section or you stood at the back literally at you there's only however many millimeters of armco separating you and a grand prix car at speed and it's it's absolutely mesmerizing and i'm super excited actually for the weekend because it feels that we've now settled into this year you know there was a lot of uproar of course in the first couple of races but i think we're finding our feet and also the nature of this racetrack it's all about qualifying it's all about one lap because providing tires are not falling falling to pieces and we get sort of a weird multi-stop race because of that the argument would say qualify at the front and you win we both know it's not as simple as that but it certainly makes it a lot easier and you but you get you know the race isn't always renowned for the most overtakes that you ever see in the year unless it rains the chance of doing different alternate weird strategies doesn't usually kind of present itself but that's that that qualifying session there's nothing like it it's i mean for you as a driver i imagine just that maximum commitment everything on the line it's you know it's go hard or go home time 100 i was not renowned you may remember as being a mega qualifier i was always distracted by the detail of seeking perfection and i think that the very best the greatest of drivers tighten the seatbelts and go this is what i have now i'm going to go and extract absolutely everything from it which i really really admire that said to pick myself up for one moment i did get one pole position around here clearly i needed an exceptional car but i remember feeling that it was mine it was you know you just have so much confidence you just it didn't happen often in my career but when those moments came along it gave me an insight to what it must it must be like to be a max a lewis a airton a michael you know the guys that just live in that rare space of delivering time and time again was that the best lap of your life oh actually that's so it's really good i've never i'd never thought about the best lap of my life i've thought about the best race and and i claim that to be magnicor uh 2000 when when i had to overtake michael and say i want to be number one but yeah i remember that yeah i you know what you you've taken me to a place that it's taken me 55 years to get to and i am going to say that was the best lap of my life because you kiss the barrier on more than one occasion there is nothing but full commitment and belief and you need a little bit of luck along the way with traffic and all that sort of good stuff and that hope you don't find a ferrari parked at rascas and all the other you know Checo spinning on the way into the tunnel.

11:52There's a number of factors that can get in the way. And for our audience on Euroform 1, I'm referencing when Michael parked his car two corners from the end when he was on pole position, therefore meaning that no one else could because the yellow flags beat his lap time. And of course, that's when... Because Alonso had just set the fastest first sector of the lap and it was just like, park it up so he can't finish. Yeah, yeah. So the genius of the Uber successful, they are prepared to do almost anything to maintain that level of performance. Hey, but tell me this. You're a younger man. So I came here in 95.

12:29I actually was living here before I raced here. I moved here January 95. When did you first come here? Is that because you got your contract? You got your big time race deal contract and you were like, I'm just going to move straight to Monaco? Yeah, filled my wallet and I went, Okay. I'm off to Monaco. Love that. Yeah. My first, I think my first year in Monaco was 04. So I started in F1 in 02. And then 2004, so the magazine I was writing, I was writing for Formula One magazine at the time, and they shut down right at the start of 04. So I didn't have a job anymore. And so I just decided to drive to every race in 04.

13:09I bought a camper van. My parents lent me a bit of money, and I bought a camper van. And I drove around Europe driving to all the races and I got picked up by Metro newspaper in London and I became their F1 correspondent for a year. And I basically just drove myself around Europe. And every day it was like decide, do I want to eat or do I want to pay for fuel to get me to the next race? Well, around Europe, there's lots of farms. There's a lot of farms where you probably just stopped and borrowed a turnip or something. Pretty much. Yeah, that's pretty much it. um yeah i was incredibly skinny in 2004 um so i did imola drove to barcelona and then drove back to monaco um and it was it was mega mate it was absolutely mega but i had to i think i stopped at a campsite in monton and then got the train in from monton in the morning into into monaco um and just just blown away by all of it you know the the sight of it the smell of it the sound of it the enormity of the race and then just the boats you know and just being invited fosters used to have brilliant party on the wednesday thursday night whatever it was because they were a big sponsor at the time and it was great man i loved it you know the thing that i i love about hearing that story and i didn't know that about your journey the commitment that is needed yeah tell me more about about about winning in monaco mate because you've done what every single not just f1 driver every single person who ever steps into a racing car has a dream that they could one day win the monaco grand prix you know it's the one and you achieved it on multiple occasions how on earth do you tame the beast around monaco and and bring home a victory on the you know the toughest track and the most glorious track in the world yeah well you need a little bit of luck so i have to acknowledge in 2000 the first victory then michael i think he had a the exhaust issue that burnt through the carbon fibre suspension, so retired.

15:08So inherited in terms of track position rather than earned in an overtake or a stunning piece of strategy. But you, as part of the game, and there's certainly many races that we lost, I lost, because of reliability. And then 2002, so 2001 was the pole position, then the car stalled when I selected first gear. They put me to the back and I finished fifth. I spent 50 odd laps behind Enrique Bernoldi and the Red Bull sponsors I remember Ron going off about that Ron went eight yeah in fairness he was doing his job we were in the same race back then it was a one stop and I couldn't find a way past he was in an Arrows wasn't he Bernoldi yeah exactly once I got past I went about three seconds a lap faster and as I say finished fifth from the back that's incredible 2002, yeah, 2002, qualified second to a very fast Williams driven by Juan Pablo Montoya.

16:07I was so disappointed because, you know, off the back of the pole the previous year and I was going well, but I didn't quite get the lap together. But I was convinced I was going to outstart him, which is exactly what I did. So I led from the first lap, came through graining where I knew how to weave like a beep, and then cleaned the graining up, pushed before the pit stop and then just cruised it home. And the two things that stand out, the first victory, I sat with Prince Rainier, Prince Albert's father. And I was like a kid in the candy shop of just quizzing him about the greats that had raced around here.

16:44And he was very eloquent and knowledgeable. And then sitting with Prince Albert, who's of a similar, let's say, age of me, He's only a decade older. So let's say we see each other, we're members of the Whiskey Club here in Monaco, unsurprisingly, as a Scotsman. And he very much relates to his Irish heritage with Grace Kelly. But it was more of a sort of sportsman to sportsman conversation with Prince Albert because he did four Winter Olympics. Yeah, he did, didn't he? Cool runnings. And they had the Monaco Olympic bobsleigh team. But, you know, he understood the psyche of, you know, the athlete preparation and doing that over, well, 16 years takes commitment.

17:27I know he didn't actually push it as the driver, but nonetheless, you saw a very key part of high speed projectile down an icy path. What was the coolest story he told you? Yeah. So Prince Rainey, I was fascinated when he would talk about that era with Graham Hill and Jackie, of course, as a sort of young upstart. But Graham Hill, Damon Hill, who was a world champion, of course, in 96, I believe. It was. Then Graham, I think, won five times around the streets of Monaco. And he was famous for, as you go up the hill from Sandoval at the first corner, up through the various sort of kinks that don't really have any name.

18:11And just as you approach the entry to Casino Square, there used to be a bar that was right on the side of the street called Roses. and he would always ask Graham on the morning of the Grand Prix when he met the drivers what time he'd finished at Rosie's because he knew it was at some time in the small hours of the night. That's what they did. They raced in an era where you were taking your life in your own hands and they were, as Jackie Stewart has campaigned for safety and still a face of the paddock today, he would talk about going to two or three funerals a year from Formula One drivers. So I think they really understood.

18:53Here's the crazy thing. They spoke about packing their bag. Even if they were staying until the Monday, they would pack their bag before going to the Grand Prix on the Sunday morning because they didn't want somebody to go through the trauma of having to pack up their bag if they didn't make it after the Grand Prix because they'd experience going into the rooms and packing the bag of a deceased colleague because they didn't want the wife or the girlfriend or the partner to have to do that. Get your head around that. Now, I've had a few big nights, as you know, but none of them made me pack my bag in the morning in anticipation of, you know, am I coming home?

19:31It's a different world, isn't it? And you look at the photographs from then and you talk about, you know, the Armco barriers around the track. None of that. It's just pavement on either side. and photographers lying down on the pavement, you know, shooting the cars. And if you go a little bit wide, it was just a different world. Actually, so just to name drop a friend of ours, I had a coffee in my apartment earlier this afternoon with Mark Webber. He passed by the office and we're just sitting there chatting away. And I've got this beautiful sculpture of what is meant to be a Ferrari with a chequered kind of slightly on its side from I guess it would be the 60s with a chequered flag coming out the back.

20:16And we're just chanting away, chanting away. And it's such a beautiful piece of artwork. And it was awarded to me in 1995 from a town in Italy called Brzegella. And it's where Lorenzo Bandini, who sadly was killed. I was going to say, it sounds like the Lorenzo Bandini award. Yeah. But like you talk about Bandini obviously having that accident down at the Nouvelle Chicane after the tunnel. think about alberto askari launched himself into the harbor and they thought he was a goner and he came up and he just had a bruise on his nose and you know and and car sunk to the bottom of the ocean and askari came up to the top you have to be a kind of superman around that place you've got you've got to take your chances haven't you around there um there were some drivers who were always like they always were able to take just enough of a bite out of it without you know smashing into the barrier.

21:08Yeah. It's like a badge of honour against your teammate as well, isn't it? You know, if your teammates sort of out-qualified you in a couple of, let's say, just interesting racetracks, but you get one up here in Monaco, it doesn't give you any extra points, but it gets you a little bit closer to the first corner. So who do we think of the current, if we look at the form book, it feels, let's start with McLaren, it feels like Lando's maybe showing a bit more at ease with the car I'm going to you know Oscar's going to come out and nail it on the weekend exactly whoever we say is going to be the other one yeah I kind of feel Lando's got a real ease about him this year I caught up with him a couple of days ago when he was over here in the States and I was telling the other guys like one thing that really hit me about him was how at ease he is with himself and I think there's a thing about Monaco where if you have an element of freedom and joy with what you're doing and you're not trying to overdo it and you let it come to you that can really play to you so yeah i think i think you know from that perspective you kind of see lando's in a good place right now feels like lewis is in a good place right now antonelli's obviously in a good place right now um you know does it lean towards those guys who who are actually just loving life right now are they are they the ones who are going to take the most out of it yeah i think when you come back on lewis it does feel that he's the Lewis of old.

22:34It has been painful to sort of criticise that seven times could have been more world champion. But we deal with the facts and that involves, as we've said before, stopwatches and checker flags and then you can get into opinion after that. But those are the facts. But the fact is that it's been pretty tight with him and Charles and it feels that he'll be able to sniff an opportunity on Charles' home ground, a track that he's won for Ferrari to really get his elbows out. There's a lot on this weekend, isn't there? There's a lot on the line. What I enjoyed with Canada was watching Lewis dance the car and, you know, watching how Lewis used to dance the car around Monaco.

23:18And then he had to contend with driving a double-decker bus around the place for the last four years. You know, having a car that feels more, a little lighter, a little freer, something that he can play with, maybe that puts him back on that front foot again because when Lewis was electric at Monaco, there were a few drivers that are as exhilarating at that place as Lewis is. So yeah, hopeful that he manages to sort of maintain that. There's a lot of people who've got a lot riding on Ferrari this weekend. They think they're going to be the team in the ascendancy during qualifying, both Charles and Lewis.

23:52So that's going to be a fascinating one. And then Jolie and I, the other day, we had a chat about, you know, is this more of a George weekend because he's got the finesse and the calm and all of that. But it's a funny thing with Monaco, isn't it? You need the finesse. You can't make the mistakes. But at the same time, you almost need that that kind of animal instinct on the place to to just grab it by the scruff of the neck and and bring the track to you. Yeah, I've been talking to a few of the guys down here and the word on the street is that Ferrari believe that they're going to be in a really competitive position here, as you've just noted.

24:34And then at McLaren, they went, we believe. So it's interesting that it feels that they're slightly neglecting Mercedes in that, given that they've won everything but the Miami Sprint. So, yeah, I think this is a big, this is like, well, it's like a world championship in itself. It's like the ND500 of the Formula One weekend. and I don't think there'll be an element of the Mercedes team saying to Kimi you just need good points here, you don't need to show and that would make sense to say that to him, I'm not saying that in a condescending way. No, no, no, he can go for the, you know, take the best worst result you know, if you come home second to George for the next 10 races you're still going to be alright kid, like don't stress it, you don't have to go out there, stick the thing on pole position because you go out there and you try that and you're starting last, you're going to hemorrhage the points on this kind of a weekend.

25:39And that's it, man. Like when it all comes down to quali and what I love, what I love about qualifying in Monaco is you see, what was it two, three years ago, we had that amazing qualifying run where it was like Ocon jumped up there in, in the Alpine and then Fernando was up there. And then, you know, Max out of absolutely nowhere, he was down through the first sector. He was still down after the second sector. hits the bloody wall in sector three and takes the pole with one of the most insane laps you've ever seen in your entire life like the driver can make the difference here they can overcome the the partial inadequacies of the car and what we have is an established order of mercedes and the others does that just get torn up and thrown into the bin because when a driver's properly on it in qualifying there's that you know there's that magic dust and it just it suddenly becomes becomes something very, very special.

26:30Well, that feels like a perfect juncture to take a quick break and come back to talk more things Monaco. While we do take that break, don't forget, folks, you can follow us at UpToSpeedShow on the socials. And as always, get in touch with your questions, anything that you want to see or hear from us, any opinions that you might have. And when we come back, there's a question I've always wanted to ask DC.

26:59And we're back. And I have a question, actually. What's the key part of the circuit for you, DC? Actually, would you do me the great honour of putting us inside the cockpit with you? Like when you're approaching a lap of Monaco, how do you grab the most out of it? OK, that's a good one. Corner by corner. Yeah, absolutely. And I can still sense and feel Monaco in my body. And I had the opportunity to drive the Gen 4 Formula E car a few weeks ago here. Of course. Because we've got the Classic, we've got Formula E, and then we have Formula One. Three major events in a small principality is pretty impressive.

27:38But anyway, so the lap begins with the final corner named Anthony Nogues. He was a cigarette distributor who persuaded the then, it would have been Prince Albert's great grandfather, that a motor race would be a good way to attract tourists to the casino, where he would then be able to sell more cigarettes and cigars. And they did the first motor race here in whatever it was, 1926 or something. So you prepare for the Anthony Nogues corner by looking... I never knew that's who Anthony Nogues was. I never knew that's who Anthony Nogues was. That's brilliant. That's it. And his, it must be his great nephew, lives and works here.

28:23And his wife is a lawyer who has helped me in the past with a couple of purchases here in Monaco. But anyway, I digress. Every day is a school day. Brilliant. There you go. So through Anthony Nogues, as you come out of Rascasse, you look up because it rises up towards Anthony Nogues, the last corner, you look up and there is a witch's hat cone, a big classic motorway cone that is positioned on the top of the armcule barrier, three high. And if you aim for that cone with a little bit of speed, you will miss the barrier because of the drift of the car. So a bit like skiing, you know, skiing, you turn and you slide a little bit to the apex of whatever you're turning.

29:03And that will give you an unbelievable launch off the final corner and with that unbelievable launch you might steal two three kilometers an hour of speed by the time you get to start finish where you break the beam to start the lap the approach to San De Vought I never went down the escape road once in all the years I raced here at San De Vought the first corner why because I never tried to break late for that corner i just braked where it felt comfortable because if you get that corner right you've built the confidence for the lap because you haven't started with a mistake and gone wide or locked a wheel so the key to a quick lap is don't be quick at the first corner that's i explained that i explained that to a young sebastian vettel when he joined red bull racing i sat down with him in helmet marco and said look good helmet said speak to david he's been pretty handy around here and i I said, don't try San De Vot.

29:59Build the lap as you're going up the hills of Casino Square. What does he go? He goes out, tries to nail it at San De Vot and goes down the escape road. So anyway, he never turned out to be any success, did he? No. Imagine if he'd listened to you. Oh, I know. Imagine. So up the hill, it's just nice and easy. It's flat out. You just pick your line. Path of least resistance is the fastest. And then as you approach Casino Square, you can't see the breaking point because it's slightly over the brow. But if you wait until you're over the brow, you've break too late. You're going into the barrier. No question about it.

30:35So you have to... So as you're approaching Massonet, is there any visual cue? Because you're so low and the barriers now are so high. Can you take a visual cue from the casino appearing in front of you or any of the road signs that they're like? Or there's a shop on the left. Is there anything or is it just too fast? You nailed it. There is that point when you're just at the brow is where the sort of V of shops that sit below the Hotel de Paris start. So when you sense this sort of peripheral vision closing in, that's where you break. Middle of the road will give you a good sort of entry because the casino square corner is a really long corner.

31:24You know, people get really excited about, you know, certain corners in the world. That's one of the original very long corners. You're in it for a long time before the apex is quite a long way around. And the barrier at a certain point at the apex just sticks out a little bit. And if you aim for that, which is some way around the corner, you've nailed the speed through there. Classic right-hander to drop down the hill. come to the right as you're doing that coming out of casino square because there's a tree root that's under the tarmac and if the car jumps you get a little bit of wheel spin so all the cars pull to the right then come back to the left on a breaking into mirabeau don't go all the way to the barrier on the left because there's a crown in the road and if you're up on the flat part of the crown it's really difficult to get down into the apex of mirabeau corner so you compromise to be kind of straddling and then drop down early and hug the barrier nice and tight through Mirabo as soon as you sense it starting to open and at that point you won't see clear track because the barrier on the left still is coming towards you but you can nail it and at low rpm accelerate with a short burst circuit opens to you and then that's your breaking point into the lowest hairpin through the low steer pin with the steering at full lock using the front axle to slow you down with understeer is the most efficient way short burst down into the first portier lot of kerb on the right hand side because the barrier comes to you on the exit ask Michael Schumacher 96 where he went on the first lap leading crashed into that barrier it then opens with no barrier what you do is never look at the barrier on the left as you come out of the first portier you're only looking towards the second portier barrier a bit like the last corner.

33:13And once you see that, that gives you your apex to then get a brilliant launch out into the tunnel. Take a breath, blat it through the tunnel, come out into the bright light, break at the top of the crest, and then down into the chicane. The barrier on the left apex is just a barrier that stops. So what you see is all there is. So if you miss what you see, you can't hit anything. That allows you to steal a bit more circuit on the left to get a good right turn through the chicane, blat it out of there, down towards the back. Be careful because just before the braking point at the back, the Armco barrier on the right side moves probably only about seven or eight centimetres, but it moves closer to you.

33:55And drivers have hit the barrier on the right, just tiny amount, but it puts them off and then they crash in the next corner because they're distracted. So be aware of that. Again, the apex of the back, what you see is what is there. So if you aim for what you can see and you don't hit it, there is nothing beyond there to hit. Full power down through the swimming pool chicane. Nail the braking, of course, into the end of the swimming pool chicane. Kissing the barrier through the right. That is, you know, it's only polite. A little kiss on the cheek as you go through there. Nail the kerb. Short blast down into Rascas.

34:31Aim just directly at the first apex, using the front axle to slow the car down. second apex you want to be really really tight to it because that gives you maximum road to get acceleration look up for the witch's cone aim for that blat it out the last corner and let the engine do the rest of the work and hopefully you get a pole position that was awesome man i was right there it was brilliant but you know what i do know i love the most about that is is you just sort of nonchalantly got to the the swimming pool part of the track and you just went you know just aim it in and basically leather it through and like for us watching as as mere mortals watching you guys come through there is like the peak of the f1 season of the insane amount of skill bravery and probably insanity that you guys have to be able to thread that needle at that speed and just it wasn't even the most important part of the track for you guys you're just like you know you've got so much more going on about every other corner that part that we think is the most impressive bit for you is just point and squirt and done like it's amazing to me well it's a bit uh put it in and now that we we do our commentaries it's a little bit like you're you're talking about whatever you're talking about whilst you're hearing someone in your ear whilst you're thinking about you've got 30 seconds to close it out so you're ahead of your words and your your thought and for many people they would not know how that's possible it's the same in a grand prix car you've been doing it long enough that you're in the moment looking at the apex but you're thinking about where you want to have the car when you can see the exit but you can't see the exit right now and the consequence of that positioning for the next corner so you're moment ahead of the moment and you know visualizing the remainder of the lap and what you what you said about turn one makes so much sense because you you balls that up in the entire laps you're not making that time back anywhere no chance done as confidence gone time gone that was wonderful I got a bit goose bumpy on that, mate.

36:31That was really, that was mega. Thank you for taking us around your home track of Monaco. Very, very kind, mate. Very kind. It's a special place. Do you feel how special it is when you're in the cockpit? Yeah. Yeah, there's no question. You know, we know everyone will be out there doing the build-ups of the TV shows and all of the rest going, you know, it's a jewel in the crown and all those cliches. But it is. the drivers walking from the paddock down the pit lane, people up on the hillside with microphones shouting, them waving up to the fans. You don't see that when they come in classic tracks from their hospitality units into the back of the garage.

37:13It's just so much more intimate. You know, the fire marshals with those amazing sort of Darth Vader muttered helmets, some of the best marshals in the world, highly trained to recover vehicles. The whole thing is just, thankfully, it's still glamorous. It's exciting. It's dangerous. It's sexy. It's everything that Formula One should be. Cannot, cannot wait, man. It's going to be a great weekend. And that, folks, is about all we've got time for. As always, follow us at UpToSpeedShow. You can email us uptospeedatglobal.com. Subscribe, leave a review, say lovely things. we will be back next week with episodes as always on monday and thursday thank you very much dc thank you will and we'll catch you on monday after the race

38:05this has been a global player original production