Fahrerstimmen – Tag 3

Das ist ein perfekter Abschluss für diese Saison. Darauf hatte ich nach einem schwierigen Jahr gehofft. Sechs Poles und drei Siege in Folge eingefahren zu haben ist unglaublich. Ich bin überglücklich, dass ich zum Saisonende zu einer solchen Performance gefunden habe. Nachdem ich im vergangenen Jahr hier den härtesten Moment meiner Karriere erlebt habe, konnte ich nun mit dieser Strecke Frieden schließen. Das ist ein schönes Gefühl. Das war heute ein absolut perfektes Rennen. Der Start, die Boxenstopps und das Reifenmanagement waren sehr gut und ich hatte das Gefühl, alles unter Kontrolle zu haben. Vielen Dank an mein Team für diesen fantastischen Silberpfeil. Jeder in den Werken und hier an der Strecke hat in diesem Jahr Unglaubliches geleistet. Ich würde gerne schon morgen in die Saison 2016 starten. Aber ich weiß, dass das nicht möglich ist. Es ist seltsam, ich genieße den Moment sehr. Aber ich denke bereits viel an das nächste Jahr und was ich ändern oder verbessern könnte. Jetzt steht für uns alle eine wohlverdiente Pause mit unseren Familien an und ich freue mich darauf, mehr Zeit mit meiner Frau und meiner kleinen Tochter verbringen zu können.

Das war ein sehr schwieriges Rennen. Meine Reifen waren zum Schluss des ersten Stints hinter Nico am Ende. Der zweite Stint war sehr gut. Aber ich weiß nicht genau, was letztlich mit der Strategie war. Ich habe die Saison nicht so stark beendet, wie ich sie begonnen habe. Aber es war ein unglaubliches Jahr. Dieses Team hat beeindruckende Arbeit abgeliefert. Vielen Dank an alle in den Werken dafür. Ohne sie würde ich heute nicht als Weltmeister hier stehen. Jetzt gehe ich in die Winterpause und möchte gestärkt, fitter und bereit für unser neues Auto für 2016 zurückkommen.

It has been a nice and clean weekend, the car was handling well and we had no issues. In the race I was pretty happy with the speed and everything ran smoothly . We only had a small delay in the pit stops, which dropped us off a bit and we did not manage to really challenge the Mercedes. I think today we could have been closer, but third place here is an OK result, even if we always want to win and challenge for that. If we think where we were last year, there has been a really good effort from all the guys in the team. We have been pretty satisfied with the car all year long and the results have got better. Next year there is a new challenge and a new car: I think we have to keep doing the same things we did this year, improving consistently and working as one team, following the progress we did this year. Nobody knows what will happen next year and it’s too early to start guessing. We can only do our best and then we’ll see what the others do. Only time will tell.

Obviously I would have loved to get the podium again, but I think today’s result was the best possible one for us as a team. I lost quite a lot of time at the beginning and then kept playing catch up until the end. The pace was good, especially in the first and final stint, the car was also good and I managed to do some overtaking. I was very happy, it was good fun. We knew from before that Kimi and I would have crossed path with each other, as we were on very different tire strategies. It was clear that when Kimi would be close enough I would give him way to haunt the Mercedes: unfortunately that was not enough to achieve that, but I did not want to be in his way. I think we can be very happy for this season. Of course the last step to catch the Mercedes will also be the hardest one, but if you think about where we were only one year ago, this has been a miracle season. I can’t think of any other team which improved so much over a year. Big smiles are going around in our garage and for next year we want to increase the amount of smiles. I’ m very happy to have joined the team in this moment and to have had an opening year with Ferrari like I had. Hopefully we’ll have many more good ones coming

It feels great to end the season with a strong performance and I’m very satisfied with how everything has gone this weekend – both in qualifying and the race. We pushed hard to try and beat Vettel today, but he had too much pace on the supersofts and it wasn’t possible to hold him back. The rest of the race was straightforward for me, with no big dramas, because I was on my own looking after the tyres. When I was running fourth I was pushing very hard to stay within Vettel’s pit window, which took a lot from my tyres and meant that Ricciardo was able to get close to me at the end of the race. Fortunately I had enough left to hold him off. I think we got the maximum that was available to us and we can be proud of our performance. Looking back on the whole season it’s been my best year in Formula One and the most successful year for the team. There is a lot of potential for next season and we will be aiming even higher.

Top 5 would have been a bit sweeter, but I couldn’t hold off Seb, whom we expected to get past us more towards the end of the race. I held him off for a lap and then, especially on those Options, his pace was so much quicker. I tried to get Perez, but couldn’t get close enough. At the start I had a sniff at Hulkenberg and went for it and that paid off. Parts of it were fun. I would have liked more battles though, but it looked quite spread out. It’s a circuit I enjoy fighting on. I have confidence in the big breaking zones here. I think we ended the season well and feel I got the most out of the car, so I’m leaving the season more happy than I was a few races ago. Sixth is probably not that representative of how good our weekend was, but I’m pretty pleased. I would love to go racing next weekend but at the same time I’m happy the season is over and I’m optimistic that next year will be better. I think we ended the season with a lot more feeling and confidence in the chassis. This season has made us stronger as a unit and I’m happy to move forward with these guys to be better next year.

The race was a bit of a struggle at times, and I had a hard job on my hands. The start was pretty good - everyone went to the inside so I stuck to the outside. It was a brave move and I was able to make up a few places. However, I had a lot of understeer and it was difficult to get the car to turn in, especially at a track with so many tight corners, so I suffered in the first two stints. The final part of the race was a bit better and I was able to get into a rhythm, which was important to keep our position. It was a tough race so it was a really good result to come home with seventh place. It's been a good season for the team and we will be aiming to build on it over the winter months. From a personal point of view, it hasn't been one of my best years but it gives me an opportunity to learn from what happened and come back stronger. I am already looking forward to 2016 and working hard to make sure we are competitive from the first race of the season

It was a very tough race, but not much happened apart from trying to overtake a car with very similar pace. We didn't have the pace we wanted and we've paid the price in the last few races. This is a poor way to end the season, but it is a good motivator to come back strong in 2016. The guys are working hard so we hope to make gains over the winter.

It’s been an emotional journey for me and I’m so happy to be able to reward everyone at Enstone with points in my final race for the team. I had to push all the way and it wasn’t always plain sailing as there was a lot to manage on the car. The calls from the pit wall were great and my pit stops were fantastic. I owe a lot to this team and it really feels like a family to me. I hope to be back one day in the future. This has been the best season of my career.

It was good that we managed to finish and I was happy with my pace in the first half of the race. So, up until about midway, it looked as though we could have had a really strong race, as I was controlling Massa and attacking Hulkenberg, but then we had electronic issues and we had to give up the fight in a way. From then on we were losing a lot of time on the straight. Almost every lap we had to do something about our electronic issues, so under the circumstances, we did absolutely the best job we could today and I'm happy about that. Our focus from now is 2016 and if we can make some steps forward over the winter, we will be happy.

I'd say it's been a good day and a positive weekend overall after a very tough start. I'm pleased because we managed to overcome all the problems we had on Friday and we put a very good race together to finish in P11 – I think it was the maximum we could do today. It shows that when we don't suffer any problems we can be there. My rookie season ends with a positive feeling because I think we've had a good year and overall I've definitely learned a lot every race, become a better driver and this will make me stronger. I'd also like to thank the whole team for all their hard work during this year, it's been great!

“That was probably my best race of the year. “At my first pit-stop, I saw that Valtteri was going to get released – which his team shouldn’t really have done, as I was pulling into the pit-box – and I braced myself for the hit. It disrupted my stop and unsettled the boys quite a bit – the worst outcome for me was that I fell out of the DRS zone I’d been chasing to stay within all race. That has been our game-plan all year, and I lost time because of that. “I’m happy with all we did today. I had to save fuel for the whole race, which hurt us and made things difficult, but I was still having fun out there. You wouldn’t think I’d have been able to keep a Williams-Mercedes behind for so long in the closing laps, because it was so much quicker in a straight line, but we could. That was a surprise, but a real positive to take away from today. “I’m already looking forward to next year – we just need to keep pushing.”

Of course that was not the way we wanted to finish the season. But in the end this could be good - it was a proper wake-up call that we really need to raise our game if we want to challenge for the wins next year. We all know the facts, we need to find big gains with the car during the winter, and there are operational things we need to do better. Everyone knows it and we are fully motivated to fix these things and have a much better season next year. I need to say a big thank you to everyone in the team because we achieved third place in the Constructors' and with this team I managed to be fifth place in the Drivers' Championship. This season gave me some good things to remember, like a couple of very special podiums, but we want more so none of us are fully satisfied yet.

Nach einem schwierigen Wochenende war das Rennen in Ordnung. Wir probierten verschiedene Strategien, hatten aber stets damit zu kämpfen, in die Nähe des Mittelfeldes zu kommen, wo es um Punkte ging. Bezüglich Performance konnten wir heute einfach nicht mehr herausholen. Natürlich ist das Resultat enttäuschend. Ich habe nun meine erste Saison mit dem Sauber F1 Team hinter mir – und kann sagen, dass es mir Freude gemacht hat. Dafür möchte ich mich bei allen, die an der Strecke wie in der Fabrik so hart gearbeitet haben, bedanken. Ich habe in diesem Team sehr viele grossartige Leute kennengelernt. Und ich habe während der Saison sehr viel dazugelernt. Deshalb freue ich mich auch in der nächsten Saison hier zu sein. Ich bin überzeugt davon, dass wir uns 2016 steigern können.

Der Start des Rennens verlief für mich unglücklich. Ich geriet zwischen zwei Autos, was zur Beschädigung meines Frontflügels führte. Deshalb musste ich vorzeitig an die Box, was Zeit kostete. Danach ging es darum, den Rückstand wieder gutzumachen und zu den Konkurrenten aufzuschliessen. Letztlich ist diese Platzierung nicht gerade das, was ich mir fürs letzte Saisonrennen gewünscht habe. Doch alles in allem war es eine gute Saison für mich. Ich freue mich, dass wir als Team den achten Rang in der Konstrukteurs-Wertung einfuhren und ich in der Fahrerwertung 13. wurde. Jeder im Team hat in dieser Saison sehr viel an Leistungsbereitschaft gezeigt. Ich möchte allen für ihre harte und engagierte Arbeit Danke sagen. Ab jetzt konzentrieren wir uns auf 2016.

It wasn't my day today. The pace was good, especially at the beginning, but it's a shame that I locked-up my tyres into Turn 8 and therefore had to do an extra stop. From there on, my whole race was compromised and I knew it was going to be difficult to end up in the points. At least I enjoyed some last overtakes! It's been a great season overall, I've really enjoyed my rookie season and I think we delivered some strong performances. This team has become already like a second family and I'd like to thank everyone here and at the factory in Faenza and Bicester.

“This has been a tough and unlucky weekend: I had the puncture in Q1 yesterday, then I had no control at the start today, which pushed me into Pastor. “That was it for me: there were no battles in the race, and I was pretty much alone. The race became more of a test session for me – hopefully we got some useful information for the winter, but I still had to save tyres and fuel. “During the race, I told my engineers, ‘Guys, let’s try to push’, as we wanted to test the Supersoft tyre on low fuel, and everything worked fine. “My preparations for 2016 start almost immediately: I have a seat-fit and simulator tests at the MTC next week. I’m optimistic that we can make good progress.”

I’m really pleased to end my debut season on a positive note with yet another two-car finish. It was also the best possible reward for the team - both here in Abu Dhabi and back at the factory - at the end of a long hard season. I’ve been feeling really comfortable in the car all weekend and thankfully I was able to carry that confidence through to the race today. On the whole, I’m pretty satisfied with how things have gone for me in my debut season. I gave it everything I have and I definitely feel like I’m just getting started, so fingers crossed this is just the beginning. I would like to thank everyone in the team for their support, but in particular John and Graeme, who we say goodbye to here today.

A disappointing race for me today and not the finish to the season I was hoping for. We started from the pit lane after a mechanical set-up change during parc ferme conditions, so that made everything much more difficult for us. Then on the first stint I flat-spotted my tyres, but we’ve struggled with the brakes all weekend here. Nonetheless, I have a lot of positives from my debut F1 season to reflect on, including our best race result of the season - P12 at Silverstone. I would like to thank the whole team, not only for this opportunity but for the hard work throughout the season. We’ve had some difficult times, but I am very proud of us. My thanks also to John and Graeme and I wish them well for the future. I am sure we have not seen the last of them!

It’s sad to end the race in the first corner because we were looking good for the race. Today we had a good strategy to go with our better race pace, but anyway this is racing and it can happen. I didn’t see the contact I just felt it in the back of the car from Fernando. I tried to restart but then I saw the suspension damage. Imagine if that incident had been the other way round, it would’ve been big news then!