Fahrerstimmen – Tag 3

“It’s great to win here in Silverstone; it’s got such a lot of history and to win big races like this one and Monaco is so rewarding. The start was ideal, when I got to the first corner I was ahead and thought, ‘let’s get on with it’. It was a special day and a lot of hard work has gone in from the team - you don’t get results at this level if you’re not putting the effort in. They deserve this today. Yesterday was a unique situation, but I’m confident we can sort everything for the future. Going forward, I will do the best I can. It was an incredible day today and I’m looking forward to enjoying myself this evening.”

“It’s been a phenomenal weekend - and this result is a near-perfect way to finish it. I’m so happy: considering how far behind we were in practice, we really didn’t expect to be this far up today. I’m very proud of the team and the effort they put in, as always. At the start, I was able to jump Fernando [Alonso] and take a step forward. After that I chased Mark [Webber] for the whole race, but the Red Bull was about four or five tenths a lap faster than our car, so it was very difficult to stay close to him. Still, the most important thing is that we scored a lot of world championship points once again, so this is another great race result for us. It’s been the biggest turnout I’ve ever seen here. And the support from all the fans has been incredible, I couldn’t ask for more. You can’t hear them cheering their support in the car, but you can feel it; and I carry every single one of them with me in the car. They give me a huge boost of confidence on every lap. We’ve got two weeks to work on our upgrades before the next grand prix. I won the last race at Hockenheim, in 2008, and if we can get the new floor there, we should be looking pretty strong. We’ve just got to keep pushing: this world championship is still all to play for.”

“I had a good start today and was happy to be up to fourth place by the end of the first lap. Robert was holding me up and with Fernando pushing hard behind, it wasn’t easy to maintain the place. Our strategy was really strong today so thanks to the guys on the pit wall for their efforts and keeping me out on the options. I had a great lap and with the quick pit stop, it was enough to get me out ahead of Robert, and that made the podium possible. It’s been a good effort from the team to turn our situation around after Valencia. We have made a step forward and analysed where we went wrong and to come away with a podium today is fantastic. It’s a real turnaround and I am confident that there is more to come from us.”

“That was a great race, and I’m so happy to have made up 10 places. But it’s hard to overtake around here, so I knew I had to make up a lot of places off the start-line. In the event I made up six places, but I then had to push really hard on the Option tyre in the first stint. That strategy worked for us and I came out behind Fernando, who had a drive-through, so I picked up fourth. It’s a pity I couldn’t have overtaken Nico (Rosberg), but this is still a fantastic result for me. It’s a pity I couldn’t get onto the podium in front of my home crowd, who have been absolutely amazing all weekend. You can never forget the fans around here - I genuinely think they helped Lewis and me to a good result today. And they got to see and cheer Lewis on the podium too, so it’s not been a bad weekend for them overall, I hope. After Friday, to pick up second and fourth today is great. I’m still second in the drivers’ championship, and the only pain is that Lewis has pulled away a bit. But we’ll try and get that back at the next race. I reckon we’ll turn up at Hockenheim with a stronger car, and that therefore we won’t be fighting from the start of the weekend. I hope we’ll have a good race there and can really take the fight to the Red Bulls.”

It was a good race today. It started well on the opening lap and I managed to claim some positions without too much trouble. Around the stops and the Safety Car, we gained a position from Alonso and lost one to Jenson, but overall we were in a safe position to come home in fifth. It is a great effort from the team to achieve a top five finish two races in a row - not so much in absolute results, but the direction of improvement. The team is still not quite where it belongs, but we are quite happy with our performance today. We will continue to think and work positively and continue our forward progress.

„Ich freue mich sehr über das Ergebnis, aber ich habe gar nicht so viel zu erzählen. Mein Start von Platz zwölf aus war sehr gut, die Mannschaft hat einen grossartigen Boxenstopp gemacht, und das Auto war im Rennen so schnell wie erwartet. Ich war recht zuversichtlich vor dem Rennen, weil ich merke, wie das Auto stetig besser wird. Heute hatte ich keine Gelegenheit zum Überholen, aber das Rennen hat trotzdem Spass gemacht. Ich fand es auch nicht besonders anstrengend, ich habe praktisch nicht geschwitzt.“

“I had a bad start, we went too aggressive with the clutch and I had quite a lot of wheel-spin. Then I had the puncture, I didn’t feel anything, so I wasn’t sure what happened. After the first turn, something was strange and I saw the rear-right puncture. Unfortunately after I got it, I got a bit of damage to the car which lost me some performance, but I was able to recover and score some points, which was important. For the first 30 laps, I didn’t have much to do except going around trying to catch up, but after the safety car I had some people to fight and that was good fun, I was racing people like Felipe (Massa) and Michael (Schumacher) - it’s great as whenever you try something and you see a gap you know that they are smart enough to see it, so it was good fun for the last 20 laps. It’s always a good race here with a great atmosphere.”

It was fun and quite an interesting race. We started on the hard tyre as we wanted to try a long stint at the start but it was not really possible as the tyres didn't behave well at the beginning. I didn't have enough grip on the car so we came in to do an early stop and go on the soft tyre, so really the opposite strategy to everyone else. It worked well although the last ten laps were tough. But we managed it and there were some really good fights with Schumacher and then Vettel. It was good racing and I defended my position well against Vettel until the final lap, but then he just seemed to drive into me and I lost the racing line and had to move over. Otherwise I don't think he would have got past me. All the same eighth position was a good result in the end, it's more points and it keeps that momentum going. I'm really looking forward to my home Grand Prix in Germany next.

“Again a race which I am not really happy about today. It was ok and seeing Nico on the podium is good for the team but my race was obviously less rewarding. I was in traffic for most of the race and did not really have a clear track. After the pit stop where I had to push really hard to make it in front of Rubens, I unfortunately made a mistake out of a slow corner which put me off the track. That cost me a lot of time plus two positions and that was it for today. We now look towards Hockenheim where we obviously will do everything to perform in the best possible way.”

All in all that was a positive race. It’s a shame I lost places at the start though and going down the Hangar Straight Petrov just managed to overtake me round the outside. That, combined with not being able to get past Michael at the end, meant tenth for me today. A long first stint on the option tyre was the right strategy call and a good effort by the team.

I really enjoyed the second part of the race. We need to understand what happened in the first part of the race as with the hard tyres we had unbelievable understeer. I couldn't cope with the high speed corners and was really struggling to keep positions and a strong pace. We have to work it out as on the softer tyres we were performing very well and finished just a few hundredths from the points. Definitely without this issue we could have been in the points so we'll look at it and understand. We also still have an issue with the speed in the race but it was a great race overall and I always pushed 100% as you never know what can happen at the end.

“It did not go well for me today. In terms of our strategy, after my tyre change, I came out behind Liuzzi who had not pitted, so I spent around ten laps behind him, using my front tyres a lot and when the Safety Car went in, I had a lot of graining on my front left tyre. By the time that cleared up, I was able to put in some good lap times, but by then it was too late to do much. I am disappointed because I think one point might have been possible today, so we did not do a good job.”

„Ich glaube, heute wäre eine Punkteplatzierung möglich gewesen. Doch wenige Runden nach der Safety Car-Phase hatte ich einen Reifenschaden, der mich viel Zeit kostete. Mein Start war nicht übel, ich machte im Lauf der ersten Runde drei Plätze gut. Danach war es schwierig zu überholen, denn auf diesem Kurs gibt es keine langsamen Kurven – aber ich versuchte weiterhin mein Bestes. Immerhin konnte ich das Rennen zu Ende fahren. Damit haben wir eine Menge nützlicher Daten und ich viel Erfahrung mit dieser Strecke gesammelt.“

“I made a horrible start – we had some problems with the clutch – and then came the incident with Kubica which further affected my race. I do not wish to comment on the Stewards’ decision. The team acted correctly but the instruction to hand back the position arrived when I had already passed another driver and in the meantime, Kubica was visibly slowing down before retiring. On top of that, the penalty coincided with the Safety Car and so, rather than just losing a couple of positions, I lost around a dozen. Even with my difficult start, I am convinced I could have finished third, but instead I go home with nothing. The championship situation is definitely looking more difficult, but we have only just gone past the halfway point of the season and anything can still happen. The car is better and I was flying when I had a clear track ahead of me: we must continue to work and believe in ourselves.”

“I don’t know what to do, but I have to find some way of getting rid of the bad luck that is following me around! In the last few races, everything has happened to me. Today my race was soon over, when I touched with Fernando and got a puncture which dropped me to the back of the pack. The car was going well, but that’s not much use if you cannot get a result. The championship is not over after this race, but clearly my situation is compromised: I would need to win a lot of races while others run into the same difficulties that have come my way in recent races. However, we must not give up: we will keep our heads high and continue to push on the development of the car and then see what results come our way.”

“I finished the Grand Prix and managed to fight with the other teams after a pretty difficult weekend, so I’m very happy. It’s just great for the whole team as they worked really hard with some difficult problems, but the work paid off. My pace felt very good, especially when you consider that I didn’t have a chance to work on any set up changes, and I had to get used to the new section of the track in qualifying and during the first part of the race, so I think we all did a pretty good job!”

“I think my pace was good all the way through the race, but there was constant traffic in front of me. I lost my position on the first lap, which was frustrating, as I then got held up quite a bit. I don’t mind being a lap down, but it’s just a shame I couldn’t really push. Overall I’m very pleased that we managed to finish where we did and it has been a good day for the team here at Silverstone.”

“I had a bad start again and lost position against Jarno and Heikki. In the race I tried to stay with the Lotus, which pulled away slightly. When Heikki went in to the pits I had two really good laps and came in to the pits. The boys did a really good pit stop which brought me out in front of Heikki. Then I was following Jarno and I tried to keep up with him but I had a really big oversteer moment over a bump and nearly lost the car. Heikki then overtook me and so I finished behind the Lotus. On a positive note the pace was good and I was fairly happy with the car.”

“The race was pretty much as we expected to be honest. We weren't really in a position to race with others so I pushed early on to open about 15 seconds gap to Sakon. After the pit stop, I ran over some debris which damaged the barge board and the side pod on my car costing downforce. So after the safety car it was all about just managing the damage and the gap to Sakon. Another double finish for the team and that's about all we can expect at the moment.”

“I am very happy that the team achieved its target, another two car finish. It was a good experience for me to race in Formula 1 again. I could improve all over the weekend and got a better feeling for the car. I want to thank the team for giving me the chance to race here in Silverstone. I could show that I am prepared to be back in the cockpit and whenever I’ll get the opportunity to race again, I will take it. I also want to thank my fans who always supported me over the years. It was a very special and exciting weekend for me.”

“Of course I am disappointed not to have finished, but I was quite happy with my race up to that point, because the pace was there, I felt comfortable with the car and was getting faster as the race progressed. The team did a perfect job with my pit stop strategy. As usual, I suffer a bit at tracks I have not driven before, having to learn them from Friday to Saturday, but from Hungary onwards, I will have had that experience from last season, which will make life easier.”

“We didn’t have a very good day. The car was good at the start but then we lost hydraulic pressure which ended my race. I am obviously disappointed but on a positive note, the car is showing great progress and I am looking forward to the next race.”

„Ich bin natürlich sehr enttäuscht. Das Auto war gut. Ich hatte etwas Untersteuern, aber nichts Ernstes. Direkt nach dem Start fuhr ich neben Rubens Barrichello, der mich in Kurve eins nach aussen abdrängte, da habe ich zwei Positionen verloren und bin vom neunten auf den elften Platz zurückgefallen. Aber ich hatte immer noch gute Aussichten auf Punkte, weil noch nicht alle gestoppt hatten, als mir bei Halbzeit Adrian Sutil ins Heck fuhr. Leider war der Schaden zu gross, um weiterzufahren.“

„Mir gelang eine traumhafte erste Runde, ich gewann viele Plätze und fuhr auf Rang drei. Doch dann ließ unsere Pace nach und ich fand weniger Grip. Im Anschluss an meinen Reifenwechsel hatte ich einen unterhaltsamen Zweikampf mit Fernando Alonso. Er ging an mir vorbei, indem er in Turn 8 neben der Strecke abkürzte. Ich blieb auf meiner Linie, er überholte mich mit allen vier Rädern auf dem Gras. Das Team bestätigte mir, dass er mir die Position zurückgeben müsste, doch bevor es dazu kam, gab bei mir eine Antriebswelle den Geist auf. Ich konnte das Auto nur noch langsam in die Box zurückfahren und aufgeben.“