Fahrerstimmen – Tag 3

“This circuit is very special – the fans are incredible here and to get my second win in Suzuka is fantastic. It was a nice Sunday; to have qualifying and the race in one day is a unique experience and to finish top in both is great. Thanks to the team, to those here and also back in the UK – they all work very, very hard. We had some small upgrades here and they were a step forward. Our car loves this type of circuit and I’m very happy and very proud of today’s result. Mark was running in second and was trying to put me under pressure, but having track position helps and the race was basically about managing the car and the tyres until the first stop. It wasn’t certain when the soft tyres would go off, but the timing of the pit-stop was right. We were then behind Jenson at the start of the second stint. I wasn’t pushing as I trying to control the gap while waiting for him to make his stop. It wasn’t easy today, but it was a nice and controlled race.”

“Sebastian had an extra half tenth this morning and pole position is a nice thing to have on the chess board going into this race. Ultimately qualifying was important, but I’m happy with how I drove today – I couldn’t have got a great deal more out of the car. I wasn’t that happy with the set-up on Friday, but the guys did a good job to get it back to a place where I was happier. I pushed Sebastian in the race – we pulled away on the soft tyre in the first stint and I was comfortable on the hard tyre after my stop. It was a formation finish and a one-two for the team; it’s a great result for us in the Constructors’ Championship and a good result for me in the Drivers’. Sebastian deserved the victory today, I’m happy.”

“All things considered this was a positive day for us. On a circuit that seemed purpose built to show off the strengths of the Red Bull, we managed to get on the podium, losing just three points to the championship leader. We had a bit of luck because Kubica’s retirement meant a potentially very strong rival was out of the reckoning. I did not make an ideal start, partly because of a problem with the clutch, but then I soon made up a place over Button. In the first part, we ran a defensive race, trying to keep the McLarens at a distance, especially Jenson, who was on a very different strategy to ours. Then when we realised they were no longer a threat we tried to put the Red Bulls under a bit of pressure, but there was nothing to be done. Here they were perfect and when that happens they are really hard to beat. However, experience tells us that it is not always like this, or they would have already won the championship. So we must try and make the most of every opportunity. We are trying to improve the F10 with every passing race: here for example we had a new oil from Shell and other minor aerodynamic updates. We will have further new parts in the next few races: maybe not so big but put together they could give us a few tenths which is always useful. We come out of this weekend with our heads held high, knowing that we must try and beat Webber in the coming races to close down the gap to the top.”

“At the start of the race, the drivers in front weren’t struggling on the option tyre as much as we’d expected. So we were a little bit compromised, and I think we stayed out too long for our first stint. As soon as we saw the others were quick on the option, and I wasn’t able to pull a gap, or pressure anyone in front, maybe it would have been sensible to pit at that point and fit the option. We’ll go away and look at the data, and the reasons for it. It was a tough race on such old tyres, but it was fun once we’d fitted the option; the car felt great - I had a lot of grip, and the car was very fast. Still, we weren’t quick enough today to beat the Red Bulls and possibly the Ferrari. And I don’t think we’d have finished any further up. I’m in the same championship position as I was before this race, so the title’s getting more difficult. We came here with a lot of different new parts - some of them worked really well, while others need a bit of work. We’ve just got to hope that when we put the new package on the car in Korea, we get the best out of it. For the next race, we’ll hopefully have the performance we’d expected to have here.”

“This wasn’t a great weekend for me. I made a mistake on Friday, then we changed the gearbox yesterday and I got a grid penalty, and then I had another gearbox problem in the race. That’s an unfortunate amount of collective bad luck, but the team and I will bounce back.With the gearbox, I was running normally, then downshifted into third, accelerated and lost the gear. After that, I had to rely on just fourth gear and above. I didn’t think the car would make it - it was making a lot of strange noises, but I kept my fingers crossed, tried not to shift too much and looked after it to the flag. I’m thankful and so happy that I least saw the end of the race - it’s my first finish for a long time. The championship doesn’t look great at the moment. But there are still three races to go and 75 points available, so we’ll remain optimistic and keep doing the best job we can. I’ll keep fighting.”

“I am quite happy with the race today and the car felt really good. The opportunity to make up places was just what I hoped for and sixth place was the maximum that we could have achieved. It was good racing and it must have been very entertaining for the crowd. It was fun to be racing Nico so it is a shame what happened to him. We are now heading to South Korea and although I don’t really know what to expect, if our car is as good as it was here, then I hope for another encouraging race.”

„Ich habe mein Bestes gegeben und bin sehr glücklich. Es war ein tolles Rennen für unser Team, und ich freue mich für die japanischen Fans, die heute einen spannenden Grand Prix gesehen haben. Wir sind zum zweiten Mal mit beiden Autos in die Punkte gefahren. Es hat mir wirklich viel bedeutet, nach sieben Jahren wieder ein Rennen vor meinen Landsleuten in Japan zu fahren. Aber es war ein richtig harter Tag! Qualifying und Rennen innerhalb weniger Stunden zu fahren, ist natürlich völlig ungewohnt. Nach dem Start habe ich Unfälle vor mir gesehen und hatte einfach Glück, dass ich nicht getroffen wurde. Später war es nicht einfach, zu überholen, und ich hatte auch Berührungen. Mein Auto ist beschädigt, aber es war nicht zu schlimm, und ich konnte das Rennen zu Ende fahren. Ich möchte mich beim Team für die grossartige Arbeit bedanken und bei den Fans für ihre fantastische Unterstützung.“

„Ich bin ganz zufrieden – es ist das bisher beste Saisonergebnis für das Team. Am Ende hätte ich einen Platz besser abschneiden können, aber ich war auf einer anderen Reifenstrategie als Kamui, und er war zu diesem Zeitpunkt mit den frischen Option-Reifen schneller. Ich bin auf Option gestartet. Natürlich war die Idee, damit zu Rennbeginn möglichst viele schnelle Runden zu fahren, aber dann kam die Safety-Car-Phase, und anschliessend hing ich hinter Rubens (Barrichello) fest. Es war sehr gut vom Team, mich früh zum Wechsel auf die Prime-Reifen reinzuholen. Im Vergleich zum Singapur-Wochenende haben wir bezüglich unserer Leistungsfähigkeit im Rennen gute Fortschritte gemacht. Im Qualifying könnte es noch besser laufen. Ich freue mich auf die verbleibenden drei Rennen.“

My car was skating all over the track this afternoon. I don’t know why and, to make matters worse, I had quite a lot of vibration. We managed to salvage some points today, but I really thought we were going to finish higher up.

“It was a good race for us and I am happy to have got a point. However, it was a bit frustrating as, towards the end, I was catching Barrichello by around one second per lap and maybe if I had switched to the Option tyre earlier I would have been more competitive and got closer to him and maybe got past. The problem I had in qualifying with the floor of my car did not help, as it was the first time I have failed to get into Q2.”

“We knew it would be a tough weekend for us here and it was, although I had hoped to qualify better than I did. In the race, I pushed as hard as I could. In the later part, Kobayashi was much faster than me, but that is not a reason to let him past, so I fought as hard as I could and we touched and I had to pit for a new nose. I hope my team principal is happy that I was very determined. I am happy for the team that Buemi got a point.”

"It was a wicked race,really absolutely fantastic for me, Jarno and the whole team. Wedecided to start with the soft tyre, which was a little bit of agamble, and then stayed out during the safety car. The target wasto build up enough of a gap to allow me to pit without losingplaces to the guys behind and we did that, though it was very closewith Jarno when I came out. On the harder tyre the car just feltbrilliant - I had a huge amount of grip from the second set and itwas a lot of fun to push for the rest of the race. Our pace wasamazing - we were only lapped once and at this kind of circuit,where we needed to perform, we could not have done any more. Anamazing day for the whole team, and now we're another big stepcloser to that tenth place, which is obviously the main aim of thewhole season."

"What a great day for thewhole team, just fantastic. I'm really pleased for everyone withthe result, and congratulations to Heikki as well on a great race.I had a really good start and came in under the safety car toswitch to the primes. I came out behind Yamamoto and immediatelyattacked him - I got past him pretty quick and then went afterHeikki. We both had a strong run to the end, and even though I hadanother hydraulics issue in the last couple of laps, I managed toget the car home which was obviously the main objective."

“The start of the race was reasonable for me but the safety car came out straight away, so we decided to do two pitstops in a row to get the Option tyre out of the way, which we hadn’t been able to get to work on the car in Free Practice. We ended up behind Yamamoto and just couldn’t get past him. He blocked me for most of the race and in the end all I could do was focus on just getting to the end of the race. It has been a strange weekend here in Suzuka and I think we’ll be happy to head to Korea and hope for better things.”

“I am really happy with today’s result, as I was able to achieve my best result in a race this season, as well as helping the team who has now finished six races with two cars since Bahrain. After an exciting start and many incidents, it was a good decision to do an early pit stop, and I was able to fight for positions and do a good race. I can’t leave Japan without saying thank you to all the spectators who have been supporting us during the weekend.”

“I am glad about my best race result this season and I want to especially thank the Japanese crowd for their great support. It was a tough race and I had some fuel pressure drops. But even though we could fight for positions and could control one of our competitors during many laps. In the end, it was a special feeling to race again here in Suzuka and to be able to help the team achieve its sixth double-car finish this season. I also want to thank the team for doing a great job.”

“It was a disappointing end to the weekend today. Due to a clutch problem, my start was poor but our strategy was good to change tyres under the safety car on the first lap which enabled me to recover the places and be racing in sixth position. My tyres were suffering from having done such a long stint so it was tough to maintain a good pace but it was enough to keep Michael behind. Then something broke on the rear of the car and put me into the tyre barrier which ended my race early.”

It was a real shame today. In qualifying we really struggled with the softer tyres and couldn't get as good a result as we would have liked but I made a fantastic start off the line and was already in the top ten by the end of the first lap. We came in quite early so I could push when everyone else pitted and I was in for a good shot of the points. Then coming up to the end of the race I went into the 130R corner and the tyres started to slide around and smoke started to come out the back of the car. I felt the car let go and then that was it: I had to bring it into the pits. At the time we didn't know what was wrong, but when I stopped we could see oil coming out of the car. A disappointing end to a hard day, but let's focus on Korea now.

“I think I was really cursed today! This morning in qualifying, because of traffic, I failed to get into Q3. This afternoon in the race, I didn’t even manage to get through the first two corners. At the start, Rosberg, who was in front of me, got away poorly and at first I tried to move to the left, but Sutil was coming there. Then I moved to the right, but in so doing I found myself on the grass and the kerb. At that point the car took off on its own, I was unable to make it through the first corner and I ended up colliding with Liuzzi’s Force India. It’s a shame, because as Fernando showed, in the race our car had a good pace and I could have fought for a points finish. The main problem is still qualifying: again today I struggled, even if traffic played its part. In the race, the situation is better but we know how difficult it is to overtake. These past two races have been frustrating for me but we have seen many times this year how quickly the situation can change: I will be trying my very best in the remaining three Grand Prix.”

“I am disappointed that I wasn't able to take part in the race. I had a big crash in the 130R corner while preparing the car to go to the grid. I'm glad I'm physically fine and will keep pushing harder than ever together with my team."

I had a bad start and I didn’t get off the line at all. I then saw Petrov coming up behind me. He touched my front right wheel and that was it. You never want to finish a race that early, but today it happened and it was unfortunate for us both. The team are doing a really good job developing the car and that showed in our qualifying performance so it was a shame to finish that early.

„Mir gelang ein guter Start – ich konnte mich auf Platz zwei schieben. Während wir hinter dem Safety Car fuhren, hielt ich die Reifen durch Slalomfahren auf Temperatur, als plötzlich das Auto ausbrach. Ich dachte zuerst, eine Antriebswelle wäre gebrochen, doch dann merkte ich, dass es mit einem Hinterrad zusammenhing. Ich konnte kaum mit dem Safety Car mithalten, deshalb fuhr ich zur Seite und stellte das Auto ab. Dabei löste sich das Hinterrad vollständig. Ich weiß nicht, ob es sich um ein technisches Problem handelt.“

„Ich startete gut und konnte mich an Felipe Massa vorbeischieben. Dann überholte ich Nico Hülkenberg. Von rechts zog Nick Heidfeld herüber, deshalb musste ich etwas nach links gehen, um eine Kollision zu vermeiden. Leider berührte ich die Flanke von Hülkenbergs Auto und rutschte von der Strecke.“

I'm disappointed that for the second race in a row I couldn't do more than a couple of laps. At the time I was a passenger really. I had a great start and passed five or six cars before the first corner and thought I was pretty safe but then when I went into turn one I saw Felipe coming up on the inside - I don't know if he had broken something on the car but he seemed to come into my side like a bullet. I don't think he was in control of the car at the time, but it's a shame as it's another first corner accident and then retirement for me. I'm now going to go back to the factory to prepare for Korea and not dw