Fahrerstimmen – Tag 3

This is such a fantastic circuit. I think all the drivers enjoy it with its fast corners, it’s a dream really – so to stay focused and keep your eyes open all the time during the race is not easy! The start was very important, then in the first stint I tried to pull away and make a gap, as I knew it would be crucial for the whole race. The car was fantastic, just unbelievable. I was able to push more and more and the tyres were very consistent. The second stint wasn’t so easy; there were a lot of lapped cars that were battling with each other, so the team told me to be careful. From the last pit stop I was in clean air and from then on I was just counting down each lap. I had quite a big gap to Mark and was controlling the race from that point on. Everyone in the team has been working so hard, both in the factory and at the track. The way the team has brought the car to where it is now is fantastic – and we’ve proven it’s a step in the right direction, so I’m very pleased. I also want to thank Silverstone. I enjoyed this race so much – when I looked in the grandstands everyone was standing up and clapping and when I took the chequered flag the atmosphere was so great. This is what I was dreaming of when I watched British grands prix when I was younger when Mansell was driving. It’s almost unreal now to think that I’m here and I’ve made it. I’ve won this grand prix and I’m very happy.

It’s a great day for the team. I’m disappointed not to take the win, but I think I lost my chance for victory yesterday during qualifying. I should have been on the front row and, if so, I would have tried to make Sebastian work a bit harder in the first stint when I was behind Rubens. I saved a lot of fuel in the first stint, which meant we were able to jump Rubens at the first pit stop. I don’t think I could have done much more today and congratulations to Sebastian, he did a good first stint, which is what laid the foundations for his win. And the team? Well, the guys have buried themselves recently with night shifts and the attention to detail that they go to is a credit to them. They’re being led very well and they’re responding to that. Results help and it’s an incredible injection for them to get the top result, a one-two on local turf. I enjoyed it today. Silverstone is an amazing track and it’s incredible to go through that first sector, lap after lap. It’s a great place to drive a Formula One car and the British fans are always fantastic, so it was great today.

I’m really proud of the third place that we achieved at Silverstone today. It’s been a tough weekend for the team and we knew that if the track temperatures didn’t increase, then it would be incredibly difficult to beat the Red Bulls. The car has been well balanced and we certainly haven’t lost performance since the last race, it’s just that we have suffered badly in the cool conditions with our tyre temperatures. I had a good start to maintain second but Sebastian then disappeared in front of me and we knew that we were competing for third. There’s been very little difference between the two tyre compounds this weekend but the softer tyre was definitely better in the race so it was tough for us to do the long middle stint on the harder tyre. Still to come away with third and the best position that the team could have achieved this weekend is very satisfying and I’m happy to have taken some points out of Jenson’s lead.

I almost feel as though I won the race! To start eleventh and finish fourth is a really great result. We weren’t expecting it and so we are doubly happy. We had a good strategy and I pushed to the maximum at the key moments. Today, the KERS was a great help, especially at the start, but the whole car was also working well. The team did a great job and the results speak for themselves. We have to continue down this route. It will be interesting to understand how the car’s performance improved from one day to the next. Maybe it just needed those few extra degrees of track temperature to get the tyres working better.

I am very pleased for the whole team, and for myself, that we had another good race. We still didn’t get the result that we are capable of today, but Barrichello was slow in the middle stint and I was stuck behind him and that cost me the place to Massa. If that hadn’t happened, we would have had a solid fourth place. I have to say a big well done to the team because everyone is doing a really great job and we are moving ahead in terms of development. We are consistent on every track so I’m looking forward to the races to come.

All points are important at this stage of the season and to come away with three from this weekend is therefore ok but it’s been a very frustrating home Grand Prix for us. I had a bad start as Trulli was slow off the line in front of me which left nowhere to go. I tried the inside and then the outside but everyone shot by me. From ninth place it was never going to be an easy race. I was stuck behind Trulli for the first stint which was really frustrating as the car felt good on the softer tyre and I was much quicker than him but couldn’t overtake. We then had a long middle stint on the harder tyre and both Rubens and I struggled to get the tyres into their working range in the cool conditions with a heavy fuel load. On the softer rubber at the end of the race, I was able to close right up to Rosberg and Massa very easily so the pace of the car was actually pretty good but it is so difficult to overtake that I couldn’t make any improvement on sixth position with only a few laps left. We need to understand why our car doesn’t work so well at low temperatures and hope for warmer races to come.

It was a very hard race for me. I had a difficult start because the car didn't pull away as fast as normal, so I lost a couple of positions. I was trying to fight back all through the race but it was not easy and the car was sliding around quite a lot; maybe this was because of the aero set-up I chose yesterday. I expected the weather today to be a little warmer than it was and I was struggling a bit with my set-up, especially on long runs. Our strategy was okay but we expected more from this race so I am determined to make up for it in Germany.

I got a good start, but then I was unable to push as much as I could have done because I was always in traffic. Obviously, my grid position, given my fuel load, penalised me in terms of strategy. After the first run of pit stops, I found myself right behind Trulli and from then on, my race was pretty much over. I tried to pass him getting very close sometimes, but it wasn’t really on as overtaking is still very difficult. I ended up fighting with Glock but I could defend my position comfortably, both thanks to the KERS and to the fact that I actually had quite a good pace. It’s a shame, because given where I was at the end of the first lap, I could have got a better result. A single point is definitely nothing to get excited about, but it’s better than nothing. The car wasn’t bad today, much better than it had been in qualifying yesterday.

It's a pity to miss out on the points, especially as I was really quick out of traffic and at the end I was able to catch Kimi (Raikkonen) quite easily. The problem was at the first corner when I lost a few positions; that left me in traffic and compromised my race. Still, I didn't give up and I was fighting with (Giancarlo) Fisichella in the middle stint when there was a chance to get in the points. On the hard tyres at the end the car felt good and I very quickly caught Kimi but I had no chance to overtake. I tried into the final corner on the last lap but it didn't work out. Now I am looking to the next Grand Prix, which is a home race for me and the team. I hope it will be a bit warmer there which would suit our car more than the low temperatures today.

A top 10 finish was our target this weekend. We thought it would be difficult but actually today was a very good race for me and we achieved the maximum we could do. It was a fun race. I had a good start and then on the first lap I overtook many drivers and even on the second lap I overtook Kubica and the two Renaults, so I was very focussed at the beginning. It was very important with my strategy to do this as we didn't have such a great starting position because of the red flag yesterday in qualifying. Perhaps we could have scored points if we'd started higher as eighth was just in front of me and at the end I was quicker than Kimi (Raikkonen) and Timo (Glock). It's a great step forward and I'm really looking forward to the next races now. The team did a fantastic job so we need to continue this. Dr Vijay Mallya, chairman and team principal

That result was not ideal for me. There weren’t any particular reasons for it. I was pleased with my start and I thought it was going to be a good race for me, but I was held up by the car in front before my first stop and then it was difficult to keep up with the cars ahead of me for the rest of the race.

The overall result is disappointing today, but I think I had a solid race. It’s clear that we must continue to work hard and hopefully introduce some new upgrades in time for the next race in a few weeks’ time. I know that I can be competitive if the car is good, however it’s down to me to improve my performance in qualifying.

Das war ein sehr schwieriges Rennen für mich. Von Startplatz zwölf aus war klar, dass wir unter normalen Umständen nicht viel ausrichten können. Deshalb gingen wir ein gewisses Risiko ein und entschieden, dass ich mit viel Benzin an Bord und mit den härteren Reifen starte. Das hat sich aber nicht gelohnt, weil ich große Schwierigkeiten hatte, die Reifen auf Temperatur zu bringen. So habe ich gleich zu Beginn Boden verloren. Wir müssen akzeptieren, dass Rang 13 das ist, was heute möglich war.

Our chance to score points today was over at the start as we lost two positions and I was stuck behind Heidfeld who was heavy on fuel, which cost us a lot of time. Although I had some good fights around the track, I’m obviously frustrated with the poor result and it’s clear we need to improve on all fronts before Germany.

Nach dem schlechten Qualifying lief das Rennen im Prinzip wie erwartet. Es war nicht viel zu holen. Beim Start habe ich sehr viel riskiert und bin in eine ziemlich kleine Lücke gestochen. Dabei habe ich mir den Frontflügel kaputt gemacht, aber ich konnte froh sein, dass nicht mehr passiert ist. Natürlich hat der Schaden die Aerodynamik stark beeinträchtigt, aber wir haben uns entschieden, mit dem Wechsel auf den regulären Stopp zu warten, um nicht noch mehr Zeit zu verlieren. Im zweiten Stint musste ich die härtere Reifenmischung fahren, hier waren die weichen Reifen klar die besseren.

“I gave it my all today,” Lewis said. “Despite fighting for the lower positions, I was absolutely on the limit for the whole race. We knew it would be difficult, and I enjoyed my battle with Fernando, but we didn’t have the pace today to get into the points. “The best thing about this weekend has been the fans: they really gave me some consolation by cheering me on throughout the race. I would love to have given them a result to make them happy and my country proud, but we still have a lot of work ahead of us before that will be realistic.”

We rebuilt the spare car after the crash yesterday caused too much damage to my race car, but then we had a problem on the formation lap with the fuel pressure. We could fix it and at least start but it was really disappointing today. We missed a big opportunity to qualify well because of the crash and the race was not spectacular as a result. I was really just driving around without much chance of overtaking anyone so it was a little boring, but it's another finish at least. Let's move onto Germany where I hope I can really take advantage of the new parts we had this weekend. Giancarlo Fisichella

It was a very tough race and we struggled to be on the pace and now we most try and work out why, as we have been quicker than this earlier in the weekend. On worn tyres especially, the car was very difficult to drive. Nurburgring will be another difficult weekend, but we are due to get some updates for Hungary, which will allow us to be more competitive and perform much better.

Of course, it’s disappointing not to finish the team’s home race,” Heikki said afterwards. “Until my retirement, the car had been working fine and the strategy was working for me too: we were on target. Then Bourdais just ran into the back of me and damaged the left-rear corner. I had to stop because the damage had made the car undriveable: we decided to retire for safety reasons.

Regarding my collision with Kovalainen, he changed line twice. At the exit to Stowe, I was on the normal line and he went to the inside, I moved to the outside, then he moved over so I moved across to the other side and he changed again. He braked early, because he’d only just left the pits on full tanks and cold tyres. I was trying to out-brake him, but he should not have changed line like that. It was frustrating and then at the end I lost water pressure and had to stop in the garage.