Rowland not prepared to risk it for victory

Oliver Rowland was pleased with his second place finish in Monaco and felt like going for the victory was a risk not worth taking given how difficult it can be to overtake in the Principality.

Rowland put his Nissan e.dams onto provisional pole earlier in the day but was forced to drop down three places following his penalty from the previous race in Paris. The Englishman later was moved up to third on the grid after Mitch Evans lost his front row slot.

The 26-year-old had already accepted that the grid drop would make life difficult in Monaco but feels like he got the most out of the car.

“You know, you come here and a three place grid penalty is pretty hard to move forward. It’s obviously always difficult to pass,” said Rowland.

“The focus was qualifying, you know, it had to be pole, top two or three. Otherwise my race was going to be difficult from seventh or eighth. We did that and then luckily we moved up through Mitch’s penalty, and then yeah, obviously Pascal [Wehrlein] made a small mistake in the race so I capitalised on that.

“JEV [Jean-Eric Vergne] was there or there abouts and then I just kind of waited to see. It didn’t happen in the end but I’m very happy.”

Despite his strong pace throughout the day, Rowland felt as though risking an overtake for the lead was not worth it when asked if he had the speed to win.

“I think on pace, yes, but it’s Monaco, you know? It’s not the easiest place to overtake. It can be a bit of a risk, but I wasn’t prepared to take that so who knows?

“It’s clear that we’re doing a good job. Everything’s in line to be there or there abouts. We’ve just got to wait and see. Each time we’re getting more and more confident and I’m understanding things better and better. I just take it race-by-race and session-by-session.”

The Englishman is so far only contracted for season five with Nissan e.dams but hopes to remain part of the outfit into season six.

“Nothing’s out yet but I expect to be in next year with Nissan.”