Fahrerstimmen – Tag 3

Was für ein Tag! Einfach unglaublich! Ich hatte nicht erwartet, heute so stark zu sein. Ich hatte einen großartigen Start. Wir haben hart daran gearbeitet, schneller und konstanter am Start wegzukommen. Die harte Arbeit hat sich definitiv ausgezahlt. Einen großen Dank an die Jungs in der Box. Ich freue mich, dass sie jetzt eine wohlverdiente Pause bekommen. Sie haben es sich verdient. Mit dem Tag heute bin ich sehr zufrieden – vor allem nach gestern. Wenn ich persönlich scheitere und nach 23 Jahren Erfahrung weiß, dass ich auf jeden Fall besser hätte sein können, dann verpasse ich mir selber einen Tritt. Heute habe ich das gegenteilige Gefühl. Ich habe das abgeliefert, was meine Aufgabe war. Ich weiß, dass ich die Pace hatte. Ich bekam die Reifen richtig zum Arbeiten und die Jungs hinter mir waren zu keiner Zeit eine Bedrohung. Diesmal habe ich auch keine Fehler gemacht, damit bin ich sehr zufrieden. Es ist fantastisch, mit solch einem Hoch in die Pause zu gehen. Zu einem Zeitpunkt hatte ich 43 Punkte Rückstand. An diesem Abstand immer weiterzuarbeiten und ihn umzudrehen ist großartig. Zum Schluss möchte ich den Fans ein großes Dankeschön aussprechen. So viele von ihnen sind nach Deutschland gekommen und haben mich unterstützt. Diese positive Energie treibt mich wirklich an. Deshalb noch einmal vielen Dank. Ich hoffe, sie haben tolle Ferien. Also ich auf jeden Fall!

“I’m very pleased with today obviously. To beat one Mercedes is nice but for both cars to beat one Mercedes and the pole-sitter was really good. In the first part of the race I was sitting in third and the pace was okay but I think I really came to life in the second half of the race and that’s when I was able to show a bit more speed and capture second place. It was the best we could do today and I’m now happy to go into the summer break with another podium in the bag. For me the strategy worked very well, I was comfortable on the supersofts and it worked out my pace was better in the end with that tyre. Drinking out of the shoe on the podium is an Australian thing. It’s called a “shoey”. I said if I win a race this year I’ll do it, but just in case, I thought I’ll do it next time I’m on the podium. The last few races I got a bit more out of the race weekends and it’s nice to get a bit of momentum now before the summer break. Just to stand up there on the podium is the best feeling in the world.”

“The start was very strong and during the race we had good pace. We didn’t expect it to be that good this weekend so we definitely maximised the result. Strategy doesn’t always work for you but I took one for the team today and we still finished second and third and in front of Ferrari, which was the main aim. Rosberg just braked very late and then didn’t turn into the corner, that incident cost me a lot of time, he pushed me wide and put me in a bad situation. I then let Daniel go by as was the strategy of the team, in the end the most important thing was to score the points and move up in the Constructors’ Championship. Finishing only 10 seconds back from Mercedes is very good. It is still too early to say how close we can get by the end of the season as I think they may have some in reserve. It’s good to go on a little break now and spend some time with family and then be ready to go again in Spa and see all the Dutch fans.”

Das war ein schwieriger und enttäuschender Tag für mich. Beim Start drehten meine Räder stark durch. Das war merkwürdig, denn mein Start während der Formationsrunde funktionierte gut. Das hat mich die Führung und zwei weitere Plätze gekostet. Von da an sollte es ein schwieriges Rennen für mich werden. Ich war froh, dass ich mich nach einem harten Duell mit Max zurück auf den zweiten Platz kämpfen konnte. Über meine Strafe war ich dann sehr überrascht. Wir haben zudem viel Zeit in der Boxengasse verloren. Heute ging also einiges schief. Am Ende zählt das aber nichts. Wegen der Strafe war es unmöglich, die Red Bull zu besiegen. Insgesamt fühlte ich mich nicht so wohl im Auto wie in der Vergangenheit – vor allem nicht mit den Hinterreifen. Ich hatte heute ein paar Probleme mit ihnen. Jetzt muss ich die Ärmel hochkrempeln und zusammen mit meinen Ingenieuren herausfinden, was falsch lief. Ich freue mich auf die Sommerpause und will daraus stärker hervorgehen. Ich hoffe, dass jeder im Team seine Akkus aufladen kann. Das haben sie sich sehr verdient.

”We’re usually faster in the race than we are in qualifying, but this wasn’t the case today: we were sliding around too much and this affected the tires as well. Fifth and sixth place was the best we could do but we obviously can’t accept that, we will be working to improve and we know what to do, the stuff that’s coming up for the next races has always been part of our plan. The first part of the season didn’t go as we wanted, we need to work on ourselves and I, for one, had too many ups and downs which cost me some points. But we’ll keep fighting. As for today’s race, the decision to fit Softs in the end was a pretty straightforward one, as we had a new set available. I decided to stay out for some more laps as I did not want to go too long with the last set, with hindsight it was probably a too conservative choice as we would have had a chance to put some pressure on the car ahead. The atmosphere today, with all the German and the Ferrari flags, was incredible and from this point of view it was my best home Grand Prix ever!”

”It was a very quiet and boring race, nothing much happened. At the start I had some wheelspin and lost one position on Sebastian. With new tires the car felt pretty ok but then I was starting having understeer and oversteer, as basically we lacked grip. In the last stint we had to do fuel saving so there was not much to do. Obviously we have to improve the car in all areas, if we add downforce it will definitively help us. We all want to do better and it’s painful to see that we are not where we want to be, but I believe in the team. We need some time and hard work and we’ll get there. It’s important for us to find improvements and work as a group.”

“Seventh was probably the best result available to us today, so it feels good to get the maximum from our race and score some important points. The team did a great job with the strategy because we went into the race believing a two-stopper was possible, but then made an early decision to switch to three stops. It was definitely the right way to go and allowed me to take seventh place in the final few laps. The tyre degradation was very high so most of the race was about managing the tyres. It was also quite a lonely and straightforward race because my main fight was against Bottas and we were running different strategies. So it’s a happy Nico and a happy team. We can look forward to the summer break and aim to carry this momentum forward in the second part of the season.”

“I made a very good start and made up most of the places there. After that, it was just about looking after the tyres, which were degrading faster than we’d expected. We also had to do a fair amount of fuel-saving, too, particularly in the last 10 laps. In fact, I went off the circuit towards the end, just because I was doing so much fuel-saving that I hit the brakes and they were just stone cold. I hadn’t even been braking hard. “At the end, I was able to pick off Valtteri, who was struggling on his tyres. It feels satisfying to have beaten both Williams, but eighth was as good as it was going to get today – we were 20 seconds behind the car in front, and there’s still quite a bit to go before we catch those guys. “Still, we’ve made good progress: we’re consistently fighting in the points, and the team are doing a great job this year, bringing something new to pretty much every single race. I want to say thank-you and well done to the whole team for their efforts. “I’m looking forward to coming back and fighting after the summer break – but, right now, I’m looking forward to a holiday!”

The race was going OK until Force India managed to get in front of us with the undercut. They did a three-stop and we tried a two-stop. There was definitely something wrong with our tyre calculations, because there was no way to get to the end on that set of tyres. The stint was just way too long and that really cost us some points today.

“It’s safe to say today was the worst start in my whole career. I had a lot of wheelspin at the start and dropped back to P16 - so it was a long fight back through the pack. The team had to think on their feet and tweak the strategy to get me back into a competitive position. Degradation was quite high, especially when following other cars, and I spent a lot of time in the middle of the race fighting with Fernando [Alonso]. In the last few laps I was running out of tyres, but I knew Fernando was in a similar situation, so when I saw an opportunity I knew I had to take it. I honestly didn’t think we would score points after turn one, but we did it. We go on holiday now, proud of the incredible work we have done as a team in the first half of the season. I am confident we have a lot of good days ahead of us in the final nine races, but for now it’s important to get some rest.”

“It wasn’t an easy start. I had too much wheel spin and I was passed by quite a few cars. We were the only ones on soft tyres, which was an aggressive strategy, so we were expecting to struggle for the first stint. After that I started to hold as much as I could and then began to fight back in the second stint. I was pushing all the way, trying to recover as much as I could, as well as trying to handle fuel saving. We’re not satisfied where we ended up, as we didn’t get the points we were aiming for. Now we head into the summer break, which will be good for the team after four races in five weeks. We’re all going to recharge our batteries and come back stronger, fighting for points at Spa.”

“It was a very tough race, possibly one of the toughest so far this season, especially towards the end, when my tyres were finished and I had to do a lot of fuel-saving. “We knew before we came here that it might be a tough weekend. Ultimately, I lost 10th position at the end of the race, so we didn’t score that last point that we were hoping for. But we just didn’t have the pace throughout the entire race. “Getting ready for the Belgian Grand Prix is our priority now – hopefully we’ll come back stronger after the summer break.”

“It wasn’t too bad. I think we had a good pace, but the middle stint behind the Renault saw my brakes massively overheat, and I lost them completely for a few laps. That clearly put us on the back foot. I couldn’t get by, and that cost us having a shot at points. We need to understand that, but generally the car behaved in the race. I’m happier this afternoon than I was yesterday. Overall, it’s been an awesome first half of the season. I want us to be able to come back and score regularly in the top-10. There are a few things we need to unlock. We’ve got the potential in the car. We just need to put it all together.”

“It wasn’t the best of races… Starting from P15 because of the three position grid penalty meant it was never going to be easy, but we had a good start and the first part of the race wasn’t’ that bad. We were able to overtake quite a few cars, make a good recovery and get very close to the points positions, racing in P11. It even looked like another comeback was possible, but we lost quite a lot of time during our first pit-stop, and that cost us the places we had gained earlier out on track. From then onwards we were unfortunately stuck in P14, which is definitely not where we wanted to be. I’d say it’s not the perfect way to end the first half of the season but in general I’m happy with my performance so far this year – now it’s time for a well-deserved break but I can’t wait to go back racing again in a few weeks’ time!”

“Our race pace was a bit more consistent today and we had some good laps, even though we were missing a bit of grip and power in the straight lines. It was therefore difficult to battle the other guys ahead of us and it was a tough race, where we ended quite far away from the points. We now need to see where we can improve, try and maximize our strong points and come back stronger for the second part of the season…today’s pace is not enough. I will now use the summer break to recharge my batteries and come back as fresh as possible for the next races.”

“We decided on a two-stop strategy before the race as all the data pointed to it being the correct thing to do, however we saw that the three-stop strategy of our rivals worked better today. This wasn’t immediately obvious and we were too committed to the two-stop so it’s a lesson learnt. We were too slow on the soft compound on the final stint and our degradation on the supersoft was greater than expected which undid our opportunities of finishing higher today.”

Great job Pascal, in your first home race. How does that feel? “Yes, I’m really happy. It was a very straightforward race, so there were no opportunities to improve further through the field, but we still achieved our target of finishing ahead of Sauber and we got a Renault too. So it was a good race.” How did the strategy work out for you today? “Pretty good. I was on a three stop strategy, so it meant that there were many cars to overtake – and overtake again – so it made the race very interesting and fun. For most of the race I was running without a front-wing end plate, but it didn’t hurt us too much.” What was it like racing in front of your home crowd? “It was a very special atmosphere and you could really feel the crowd. Before the race, we stopped in the Motodrom to greet the fans and they were really great and supportive. It is something very special to see so many German flags and I think they got a good race today after so long without a German Grand Prix. I’m happy that I got a good result too. Now we have the Summer Break and though I’m not that eager to hang up my helmet for four weeks, everyone in the team deserves a holiday, so my thanks to them and I’m looking forward to us coming back stronger than ever in Spa.”

„Wenn man bedenkt, dass wir aus der letzten Startreihe ins Rennen gegangen sind, war es kein schlechtes Rennen. Ich hatte einen ordentlichen Start und konnte schon vor der ersten Kurve einige Konkurrenten überholen. Doch dann bremste ein Fahrer vor mir so abrupt, dass ich auch stark bremsen musste und nach der ersten Kurve wieder ans Ende des Feldes zurückfiel. Eine Enttäuschung nach diesem Start. Natürlich bin ich mit Platz 18 nicht zufrieden, wir wussten allerdings, wie hart es in diesem Rennen werden würde. Wir haben das, was möglich war, versucht.“

“Everything was really positive coming into this event, and I had a good start; I think I was up to tenth, so it’s a disappointing result today. I had a big lock up in turn two and massively flat-spotted my tyres. I could barely see where I was going because of the vibrations and I tipped a Williams whilst trying to hold on from one of the McLarens. This damaged my front wing which we changed at the second pit stop. After that there wasn’t much I could do. It’s a shame but we can take the positives, put the rest behind us and focus on the second half of the season.”

A not-so-straightforward race for you today Rio, but two cars home is a good team result? “Overall, the race wasn’t too bad for me. We were still fighting with Sauber, which is what we need to keep doing. Early in the race, I saw an opportunity to pass my team-mate when the gap between us came right down. Unfortunately it didn’t work out and we ended up touching, so I damaged my front wing in the process. We kept going until my first pit stop and in the meantime I was able to keep in touch with Ericsson, just ahead between Pascal and me.” At your first stop you pitted for a new nose, which set you back a little bit? “Yes, we knew we had some damage, but we kept going until our first planned stop, then made the nose change at the same time. It takes a bit longer, so I lost some time, but after that I was catching back up to Ericsson and trading places with Nasr as our respective strategies played out.” Good to end the first part of the season with a two-car finish. Now you can look forward to some rest? “Yes, it was a good weekend for us and a nice result for the team at an important race for us. Not too much rest though; we’re busy working to ensure I continue into the second half of the season. But I do wish the rest of the team a good break because it has been a very long 12 races and everyone has worked incredibly hard. My thanks to them for a good job so far.”

It’s such a shame that someone hit my rear right tyre on the first lap because it felt like something definitely happened to that area of the car. Perhaps a toe issue or something, because the car felt undriveable. Although I tried to carry on with the race, I was suffering massively. The pace was just so slow to the point where it was better to retire than carry on. Now, I’m going to take the summer break as an opportunity to relax with my family and prepare for the second half of the season to make it much better than the first half.

„Das war heute kein guter Tag für mich. Dabei konnte ich nach dem Start gleich einige Positionen nach vorne rücken. Doch meine Reifen verloren zu schnell an Haftung. Dann büssten wir beim ersten Boxenstopp Zeit ein, weil ich die Crew zu spät darüber informierte. Als ich einige Runden vor dem Ende des Rennens plötzlich an Motorleistung verlor, musste ich wegen technischen Schwierigkeiten vorzeitig stoppen. Schade, dass ich dieses Rennen so beenden musste, doch auch das gehört eben zum Motorsport.“