Fahrerstimmen – Tag 3

Das war ein perfektes Rennen für mich. Der Start war knifflig, da ich auf der dreckigen Seite startete und Vettel an mir vorbeikam. Er hat sehr gute Arbeit am Start abgeliefert. Nach der roten Flagge wählten wir mit dem Wechsel auf den Medium-Reifen die perfekte Strategie. Vielen Dank an die Mannschaft am Kommandostand für diese Entscheidung sowie an alle in den Werken für dieses fantastische Auto - und natürlich auch an alle in Europa, die so früh aufgestanden sind, um sich das Rennen anzuschauen. Ich hoffe, es war eine gute Show für euch! Wir können diesen Moment jetzt genießen, aber wir wissen nun auch, wie stark die roten Autos in dieser Saison sein werden. Wir können es uns nicht leisten, uns auszuruhen. Ich freue mich sehr auf die nächsten Rennen und hoffentlich weitere spannende Zweikämpfe. Am Ende war es auch eine große Erleichterung, zu sehen, dass Fernando nach diesem Unfall unverletzt geblieben ist. Das zeigt, wie unglaublich sicher diese Fahrzeuge sind. Das ist ein großartig.

Ich fühlte mich vor dem Rennen zuversichtlich und hatte ein perfektes Wochenende, bis die Ampeln ausgingen. Am Start hatte ich leicht durchdrehende Räder und wurde dann in der ersten Kurve nach außen gedrängt - danach ging es nur darum, mich zurück zu kämpfen. So etwas passiert und ich bin dankbar dafür, wie ich mich danach wieder nach vorne arbeiten konnte. Der zweite Platz ist nach einem solchen Start als Schadensbegrenzung nicht schlecht. Ich hing lange hinter einem der Toro Rosso-Fahrer fest und konnte nicht viel dagegen unternehmen, da er auf einem schnelleren Reifen fuhr. Ich sah nur die anderen davonziehen. Deshalb hat mir das Safety Car definitiv geholfen, da wir dadurch alle wieder zusammengerückt sind. Zu diesem Zeitpunkt befand ich mich bereits auf einer Ein-Stopp-Strategie und wenn ich ehrlich bin, weiß ich nicht, warum nicht auch alle anderen auf den Medium gewechselt haben. Aber ich bin froh, dass sie es nicht gemacht haben, denn sonst wäre ich wahrscheinlich viel weiter hinten ins Ziel gekommen. Das Team hat in jedem Fall großartige Arbeit abgeliefert und uns wieder nach vorne gebracht. Noch stehen 20 Rennen aus, deshalb bin ich nicht besorgt. Ich hatte schon schlechtere Starts in eine Saison. Entsprechend nehme ich dieses Ergebnis mit und gehe erhobenen Hauptes in das nächste Rennen.

“I obviously had a great start, I was very happy to see that I had a better start than the two cars in front of me, reminding me of Hungary last year and it worked out. It was great to see that Kimi made it as well, so we got first and second and from there we dictated the pace. The red flag didn’t help us, but to be fair the most important thing was that Fernando and Esteban were alright. It was the right decision to stop the race. First time I went through I saw the debris on the track. Naturally the expectations are higher when you had a strong season last year and you wanted to close the gap. Yesterday we were a bit further away and today we were closer. In general it was a great race, I was racing flat out until to the end, I didn’t want to go onto the grass but I did the lawn mower! So I don’t have to do it next week when I go home, but for sure we would have liked more from today.”

"Today was fun for me, it was so good to be back racing. I came on the radio more than once expressing my joy to just being out there competing. That joy was emphasized by having a good car underneath me. At the start we were able to pick cars off. We had good pace with high fuel on the option and it was fun to be able to pass cars, I was enjoying that as always. I was sitting in a podium spot towards the end and I was hoping the tyres would last but I knew they weren't going to hold and I would have to pit again. But fourth is still a good result and I'm happy we're not that far off Mercedes and Ferrari. It was also good to see that Fernando and Esteban are okay. I haven't watched the replay yet but I saw the car upside down so I knew it wasn't a small accident."

It was a good race. To finish fifth, scoring some good points, is definitely a good start to the season. The red flag in the middle helped us to keep our strategy to one-stop and, thanks to that, we managed to overtake both Toro Rossos who had decided to go for different tyres. That’s why I am happy with the result - and for Valtteri as well, he started P16 and finished P8, so it was a great drive for him.

“A very good day at the office. This feels like a win. For all the guys who worked so hard over the last few weeks, this is unbelievable. We were unlucky yesterday, but got a bit lucky today with the red flag. Still, we were able to hold off the Williams (Valtteri Bottas) and the Force India (Hulkenberg). We didn’t have much set-up (time) on the car. It was a case of, off you go and see what happens. This is an unbelievable feeling. The guys did an amazing job and I told them, this is like a win for all of us. First race and here we are, P6. A happy day.”

“To get some points in the bag at the first race is a positive way to start the year. It was not an easy day and it’s difficult to know what would have happened without the race being stopped and restarted. I think the red flag made things a lot more difficult for our planned one-stop strategy because it gave everybody around us the chance to reset and change their tyres. So that was a shame and it meant I was out of position and got stuck behind the Haas for most of the race. It was not easy to get close to Romain [Grosjean] and I had a lot of cars behind me, which meant I was always under pressure and having to defend as well as chase. So, given all the circumstances, seventh place feels quite satisfying.”

It has obviously been a very difficult week. The struggles we had with qualifying and then the grid penalty compromised the race. It wasn’t the nice clean race we were hoping for, but we still have points from both of our cars. We are definitely aiming for better positions, and myself personally, so I am looking forward to Bahrain because I am sure we can do better than this weekend.

"I'm not entirely happy with today's result because I think we could've scored more points with the car we have, but I did everything I could to finish as high up as possible... To finish in P9 is frustrating. The race was a bit of a chaos, so it was difficult to get it all right. After the red flag things got interesting and even though it's not the easiest of tracks to overtake, I was able to do some good moves - some of them were quite tough! I did my race and I think we put on a good show. I enjoyed it out there but I think we deserved to end up higher up instead of going backwards after qualifying in P7 yesterday."

"Quite a frustrating afternoon. We had a great start to the race and were able to keep the Mercedes behind. The first pit-stop was also good. We had great pace and I didn't have pressure from behind, but after the red flag we had a bit of a miscommunication for the second stop and it got very difficult. We have a fantastic car and to finish P10 here is not where we should be. I'm very disappointed as this was a great opportunity for us to get a very good result. Now we just need to focus on the next race and try and score more points than today."

“I think the team has done an incredible job this weekend to qualify in Q2 and then finishing the race in eleventh and twelfth; it’s the maximum we could expect to achieve. It’s a good start, we were so close to scoring points, and we can move forward from here. The race itself was busy but good fun; I absolutely loved being wheel to wheel again after a year out of racing. It was great to be back in the fray and it all went pretty smoothly for me. Happy days.”

“We have a really good car; the pace is strong, as is the baseline set-up. It’s something we can continue to work from and evolve to gain more performance. Today was pretty tough at the start as I was really gutted about the puncture. I don’t think I had any contact so it was really unfortunate. You never want to see a red flag incident, and it’s a positive statement that Fernando could walk away from that dramatic crash, but the restart did benefit us. Our pace after the restart was very promising so I’m excited for the next races.”

“It's a real shame to finish outside of the points. My problems began at the start: I lost a couple of places off the line and that put me in a very difficult position. I spent my first stint behind Alonso, who was on a faster compound, and being stuck in the dirty air destroyed my tyres. Unfortunately there was a very similar situation after the restart because I was passed by Jenson (Button), who was on supersoft tyres, and that cost me a lot of time. Sadly the Safety Car and the red flag ruined our strategy, which was to stop only once. When the race restarted we had our work cut out: I had pressure from behind and the Renaults and Williams ahead were very difficult to catch - I got close but couldn't really attack. In the end I had an issue with overheating brakes, probably because I spent most of the race in traffic, but we still managed to finish the race. It's not an ideal start of the season for me, especially after the good work we had done in qualifying yesterday, but we have to keep looking ahead and continue working hard.”

"I’m really glad Fernando was able to walk away from that accident – I’m sure he’ll remember that one for a few weeks. “It’s amazing how far these cars can be catapulted when they touch tyres; under braking, it can all happen very quickly when it goes wrong. But the fact that his car survived shows how far the sport has come in terms of safety. “My car wasn’t too bad, but I think we made some imperfect strategic calls this afternoon. Also, the red flag hurt us because we’d already made our first stop. Then, after the restart, we ran the Supersoft – which lasted about 10 laps – and then fitted the Back-Up, which everyone else had been on since the restart. Around here, you can catch up but you can’t easily overtake, so we ended up at the back of the queue after making our stop.”

„Es war ein schwieriges Rennen vom Start bis ins Ziel. Im Vergleich zu unseren Konkurrenten hatten wir mit dem Renntempo zu kämpfen. Daher war uns relativ bald bewusst, dass wir mit den Autos vor uns nicht mithalten konnten. Positiv war lediglich, dass wir weitere, wichtige Daten zum C35 gewinnen konnten. Damit werden wir die Analyse im Detail fortsetzen und an unserer Performance arbeiten. Wir müssen den C35 in verschiedenen Bereichen verbessern. Da haben wir eine Menge Arbeit vor uns.“

“First of all it’s great to finish my first race and thanks to the team for that. I got a fantastic start and I was very happy to find myself in 15th place at the end of the opening lap. That first half of the race was really strong and I was pushing hard on the Supersoft and then the Soft. It was great to be as high as 13th at one point and to be racing with Sauber. Things turned for me after my first stop, which happened just before the red flag. Our plan was to have a short stint on the Supersoft which meant we pitted for the Soft not long before the crash, so that was a major setback because many of the other cars still hadn’t stopped. After that, everyone ahead started to pull away from me and because we were struggling with tyre degradation I couldn’t do anything about it. Towards the end I had a braking issue, so I just had to focus on getting to the flag. We’ve all learned a lot this weekend and everyone is working well together, so we’ve made a good start and now we have to push hard to improve.”

"I'm glad Fernando is OK, it looked like a very bad accident and it's a relief to know that he is alright. In terms of my day, it looks like an electronic issue put us out of the race before it started. I think Australia doesn't seem to be the luckiest place for me so far. The car just shut itself off – I guess it didn't want to do the race today, but we'll be back in Bahrain and we'll start again from there!"

“It’s not the race I was hoping for. However, the most important thing is that Fernando and I are both OK. The car was handling well and the results show we can be very competitive. Romain did a great job for the team. To achieve points in our first race is fantastic. I’m now looking ahead and focusing on Bahrain. I can’t wait to get back out racing.”

“I’m thankful I’m alive and that nothing serious happened – it was a big shunt. “A combination of factors caused Esteban [Gutierrez] and me to end up crashing. I was in the car flying and bouncing around – I could see the sky, then the ground, then the sky again. Then, when the car landed, I saw a little gap and I got out quickly to make sure that my mum, who was watching the race on TV at home, could see that I was okay! “It was a racing incident – I’m very happy we’re both fine, which is the most important thing. “But, soon afterwards, my thoughts switched to frustration and disappointment, because we missed an opportunity to get some points in the first race of the season, and we probably lost a power unit too because the car is more or less completely destroyed. “We risk our lives every time we get in a Formula 1 car: these things happen, but I’m extremely happy to be okay. The reason I’m still alive is probably thanks to all the fantastic work the FIA has done over the past 10 or 15 years to improve safety, work they continue to do. And I’m also grateful to everyone at McLaren, who built me such a strong and safe car.”

“Today we had a good first part of the race but at a certain point I lost power and had to retire. I don’t know exactly what happened, I don’t think that the problem was related to the engine because it was still running. It must have been something else. It’s a very unfortunate thing for the whole team. After the winter testing we had a rough idea that we should be pretty ok, Saturday was a funny day, with very odd conditions and circumstances, so we knew that the time difference in qualifying was not real. The car has been handling well, it’s fast and I had a good feeling but obviously we need to finish the race. We still have some work to do.”

„Es war kein guter Tag. Als das Rennen unterbrochen wurde, hatte ich vor dem erneuten Hinausfahren in der Boxengasse Schwierigkeiten mit einer Heizdecke. Es musste länger als sonst daran gearbeitet werden und deshalb erhielt ich eine Durchfahrtsstrafe. Nach der Wiederaufnahme des Rennens, spürte ich Vibrationen am linken Hinterrad und kehrte in die Box zurück. Es gibt eben Tage, wo alle diese Dinge zusammenkommen. Wir werden uns das genau anschauen, um beim nächsten Rennen in Bahrain unter besseren Voraussetzungen an den Start gehen zu können.“

“My race was short but really positive. I made a good start, the pace was strong and I was happy with the way I was managing the gap to the cars around me. Obviously I’m disappointed not to finish my first Grand Prix but I know the team are disappointed this happened. Everyone is really starting to work well together so I’m sure we’ll be on top of things for Bahrain. It’s been a mixed weekend; some positives, some things we need to learn from. Problems aside, my debut weekend was really special and the support I’ve had from the crowd here and everyone back in Indonesia has been incredible. I hope for a better reward for us in Bahrain.”