Monaghan after Friday in Melbourne: 'Try maximising performance in qualifying'

Published on 06 March 2026 by Niels Hendrix

Paul Monaghan, chief engineering, car engineering, commented after the two free practice sessions on Friday in Melbourne: “Today we ran two cars with our own power unit for the first time at a race weekend, so we have done a fantastic job given both car were competitive in FP1. As it is all new, we are consistently gaining knowledge: it is easy to get things wrong and difficult to be perfect, so we will take lessons into tomorrow and make sure we are ready for qualifying. The balance was good and there were a couple of issues in FP2.”

Monaghan elaborated: “The electronic control box played up in the pit lane on car 3. We got it back and then couldn’t get it out of gear but we sorted it and then sent the car out again. Max also had a moment running into the gravel, however it is all repairable and we will be ready in plenty of time for FP3 tomorrow morning. It’s difficult to say who will be up at the front tomorrow and it is not in our control what others do. All we can do is get the best out of our car and see where we end up. Our main objective is sorting out how we get in as many laps as possible whilst maximising the performance of the car in qualifying."