Christian Lundgaard had mixed emotions after Sunday’s Monterey GP, frustrated at securing second place, but pleased with his visit to the rostrum.
Starting back in seventh, Christian Lundgaard carved his way through the field during the chaotic Monterey GP, pulling multiple passes on rivals.
His most critical move came in the closing stages of the race, passing Colton Herta for a second place, with a stunning move at the final corner.
Speaking in the post-race press conference, Christian Lundgaard said gave an honest assessment when asked if Alex Palou can be caught.
“I think what’s very interesting with the 10 car is even though they’re having bad weekends, they still come out ahead, right? “he remarked. “That’s what’s super frustrating for all of us.
“Even if he makes a mistake, the team makes a mistake, they make it up somehow, which I feel like we’re all kind of struggling to do in a sense. They’re there every single time. You have to give them kudos for being that competitive every time, and they’ve raised the bar. I think we’ve all said that before.”
“I thought I had a tremendously good start to the season, and I was still way behind the 10 car in the championship after five races, and I had three podiums. The only difference is he won four out of those.”
Turning around a challenging start to the Monterey GP weekend
Christian Lundgaard endured a difficult start to his weekend, his McLaren lacking pace. He explained that work done to the car after first practice turned his car into a front-runner. The second session was abandoned due to poor weather.
“Yeah, I think it’s very interesting for me. I sat in this very chair with Colton after practice one, and I was probably the least happy driver on the grid leaving practice one.
“We turned it around somehow without a practice two. The car was really good in qualifying, and we got hurt by a yellow in the Fast 12. That hurt us from advancing into the Firestone Fast Six.
“In a sense, I think that helped us today. We had two sets of new alternate tyres, which I think helped our strategy.”
Christian Lundgaard said the recent re-laying of the circuit contributed to a very different race compared to previous iterations.
“You know, that’s the thing, right? I love coming to Laguna Seca. Obviously I’ve been faster in the past. I got to race here before the pavement, and I raced here with the new pavement. I think it produced very different racing.”
The Dane then reminisced about the chaotic 2023 race, won by Scott Dixon, a race that featured eight full course yellows.
“I think we also remember how big of a chaos 2023 was with, I guess, turn 11 with all the yellows that happened.
Praising an iconic circuit
Christian Lundgaard praised the racing at Laguna Seca, a track renowned for its challenhing layout and Corkscrew corner.
“I wanted to really showcase the racing that this track can produce. I was very frustrated after P1, and we just kept our head in it and focused on trying to make the car better.
“It’s a very similar situation to what we had in Toronto last weekend. We just weren’t able to turn it around. It kind of feels like a win for us on the 7 car, but we have to do it every single weekend.”
“That’s what the 10 car is doing, and that’s what we need to do better, but I guess that’s what everybody needs to do better.”
