Fahrerstimmen – Tag 3

Der Champagner schmeckte gut! Der erste Sieg ist natürlich etwas Besonderes, aber dies war erst mein zweiter Erfolg. Deshalb war auch das ein super Gefühl. Das war mein bislang bestes Wochenende mit der Pole und dem Sieg. Hoffentlich können wir so weitermachen. Der Start war absolut perfekt – definitiv einer meiner besten überhaupt. Und man konnte sehen, wie eng es am Ende gegen Sebastian war, das habe ich heute gebraucht. Das Auto war an diesem Wochenende so gut. Ich wusste, dass wir es noch schaffen konnten. Im zweiten Stint hatte ich schon nach fünf Runden starke Blasenbildung am linken Hinterreifen. Dadurch ließ sich das Auto nur schwer fahren. Ich verlor immer mehr Performance, aber es war nicht das erste Mal, dass ich Sebastian hinter mir halten musste. Ich blieb konzentriert und beendete das Rennen, ohne einen Fehler zu machen. Es wäre schwierig geworden, Sebastian noch viel länger hinter mir zu halten. Umso schöner war es, die Zielflagge zu sehen. Ich bin noch immer im Titelkampf und werde immer besser. Wir steigern uns die ganze Zeit.

“Today I struggled in the first stint with the first set of tires, the Ultrasofts. I think they were just getting too hot. Then the clouds came in and the balance of the car improved. That’s why I think we were starting to get quicker. It was a shame that we couldn’t win, because we were close. We learnt more about the car in these days and there are many positive aspects regarding this race, but I feel like I could have won today and I didn’t, so I am not entirely happy. At the beginning of the race I was just not quick enough. The pace was there, but the balance wasn’t. I like this place, which has a lot of history and it’s the place where I drove a racing car for the first time, in 2003. It’s a long time ago, but I still have beautiful memories. And now I am already looking forward to going to Silverstone.”

“I do love a fight and Lewis came out of nowhere in the last few laps. It felt like the gap was stable and then within a handful of laps he was catching me pretty rapidly. I then had two laps to go and had to defend which made it a pretty exciting race for me. To have good speed around here in dry conditions was a pleasant surprise for us. I had Seb in front of me pretty much for the whole race and I know that his long runs on Friday looked quite a lot quicker than ours so we didn’t really expect to have a similar race pace to him or Mercedes today. Just to hold Lewis off, have a fight, defend and come out in front was cool. Another podium is pretty sweet. I enjoyed it up there. Silverstone is going to be great with these 2017 cars so I’m looking forward to that and I’m sure we’ll have a lot of Poms out there next weekend.”

Das war ein schwieriges Wochenende. Aber ich habe mich durch das Feld gekämpft und mit Blick auf die Punktesituation gegenüber Sebastian Schadensbegrenzung betrieben. Das Auto war heute großartig. Ich konnte das gesamte Rennen über auf den Reifen angreifen. Ich gab mein absolut Bestes. Ich glaube nicht, dass am Ende des Rennens noch viel mehr im Auto gesteckt hat. Aber ich war vielleicht etwas zu zurückhaltend im Duell mit Daniel und ließ ihm zu viel Raum. Das wird mir nicht noch einmal passieren. Wir sind im Vergleich zu Sebastian weiter zurückgefallen. Aber es ist noch immer ein langer Weg. Ich werde weiter kämpfen und niemals aufgeben. Valtteri hat das gesamte Wochenende über großartige Arbeit abgeliefert und verdient diesen Sieg absolut. Er liegt jetzt nur noch 15 Punkte hinter mir und ist ebenfalls im Titelkampf dabei. Jetzt freue ich mich richtig auf Silverstone. Mir bleiben ein paar Tage, um dieses Wochenende hinter mir zu lassen. Ich kann es kaum erwarten, meine heimischen Fans zu sehen und mit einem frischen Blatt Papier zu beginnen. Hoffentlich kann ich Silverstone als Sprungbrett für die zweite Saisonhälfte nutzen.

“In the first part of the race we had some difficulties with the balance of the car. I struggled a little bit with the first set of tires at the beginning, but then it was getting better and better. The second set was fine: at the beginning of the last stint the car felt very good and we had good speed, but at that point we were too far behind to try to recover. As the tires were getting older we obviously started to go slower, but we were still doing good lap times and the balance was improving. Overall, though, it was not a very easy weekend.”

“It was a really strong race. I had a really good first lap and was enjoying the racing for a little bit. Lewis (Hamilton) and Kimi (Räikkönen) got past, but I focused on keeping Sergio (Perez) behind. We pushed hard all the way and that’s the racing we like. It was a great race and a great job by all the guys. I was happy with the car all weekend long. There are a few things we need to improve, but today we were the best of the rest. We showed that when we get everything to work on the car we’re strong. It’s the experience of getting everything working in the window all the time that we’re missing a little bit. This was only our 30th race ever, so we can’t have everything. I’m looking forward to the next race. Silverstone’s going to be fun.”

“Finishing seventh is a great result for the team and a nice reward considering how difficult this weekend has been for us. We struggled in practice, but come qualifying and the race we were quite strong and we came home with some good points. It wasn’t the easiest of races for me. I made a good start, but I lost places to both Esteban and Lewis [Hamilton] at turn one. Thankfully I was able to pass them both at turn three and regain my starting position. I suffered from a lot of front graining in my first stint, but after the pit stop I was able to settle down into a rhythm, even though it wasn’t enough to attack Grosjean. We had very similar pace to him so we couldn’t get any closer. It has been a difficult weekend, but we recovered well and we can be happy with the outcome. Now our focus shifts to Silverstone. I really can’t wait to try these 2017 cars on the fastest track on the calendar.”

“I’m pleased with the points we’ve scored today and it was a strong race for the team. I made a good start and gained a couple of positions, but I was behind Lewis [Hamilton] going into turn three and got squeezed, which meant I had to ease off and lost momentum. Then it was just a case of keeping my head down and being consistent with my laptimes. I don’t think we went the right way with the strategy because I lost a lot of time to Massa after my stop and we just need to review things and see if we could have done anything differently. It’s not been the easiest of weekends for us, but we’ve worked hard and it’s satisfying to come away with good points even when things are not going perfectly. I think we showed our strength as a team.”

For sure you cannot celebrate a ninth position but starting 17th it was a fantastic race for me. I had a really good start, getting through the issues that were happening in corner one, and overtaking cars. It was a fantastic first lap as the pace was great, compared to qualifying, which is something we need to work to understand so that we don’t repeat starting out of position like today. At the end of the race it was a bit disappointing not to be able to pass Ocon, but I was just losing a lot of grip in the high-speed corners behind him, and he had good speed on the straight so it was quite difficult. I’m so happy with my race and it’s good to have both cars in the points.

It goes to show anything can happen in a race and it is not over on a Saturday. I am feeling very positive as I started 18th, finished 10th and picked up another point. It wasn't an easy race, although the start was good and we managed to gain some places. I knew after the start we were in a good position, so it was just a matter of staying focussed, not making any mistakes and saving the brakes and tyres towards the end of the race. First, there was Magnussen putting pressure on me and then at the end Palmer, but I just needed to defend as I know around here it is quite difficult to overtake. We just need to figure out what happened to us this weekend in qualifying and try to cure it for the next race. The next race is Silverstone, the home race for the team, so I am really looking forward to it.

“We started in P16 and finished eleventh, it’s my third race with an eleventh place finish, once more within touching distance of points! I had Lance Stroll in my way for just over forty laps and couldn’t get past him, which is frustrating. I need to focus on qualifying better, but throughout the weekend the pace seemed improved so overall there are some positives. It’s my home race coming up, and Silverstone’s a great track with a lot of fast corners and it’s one I really like to drive, so hopefully that can be the one that gets me in the points.”

“I’m actually a little bit disappointed with 12th – if you look at the pace we had throughout the race, I think points just might have been possible today. And that’s very encouraging. “Our weekend has generally been quite positive – we had no problems, our pace has been reasonable, and I felt very comfortable with the car. Unfortunately, I was stuck behind some cars and it was impossible to overtake – but that’s how it is for us at the moment. “I got a penalty, but we had to try something, and I don’t think I really lost a lot in terms of the overall result. It’s a shame we didn’t score points today, but our pace all weekend has been a positive for the whole team.”

“It was a difficult race for me. I had a terrible start; I triggered the anti-stall mode where the clutch kicks in to protect a stall from the engine, because grip on the grid is quite high here. That was the beginning of the end for me. I was almost last before the first corner and from then onwards it was clear that it was going to be a difficult afternoon. We were struggling on the Supersoft tyres with overheating as well as with balance and grip. We decided to do an early first stop, putting on the Softs, but then the leaders were coming through and I had blue flags twice, losing huge amounts of time. It was pretty difficult today; we need to review what happened and fully focus on Silverstone.”

„Ich musste das Rennen wegen eines Motorwechsels aus der Boxengasse starten. Nach dem Start bin ich in der ersten Runde, kurz vor Kurve vier, in ein Autoteil gefahren. Ich war zunächst etwas besorgt, dass mein Auto einen Schaden davon getragen hat, was aber glücklicherweise nicht der Fall war. Ich habe heute das Maximum herausgeholt; mehr war nicht möglich. Ich hoffe, dass wir in Silverstone konkurrenzfähiger sein werden.“

„Es war ein herausforderndes Rennen für mich. Am Anfang hatte ich Schwierigkeiten, die Reifen optimal zum Arbeiten zu bringen, was dazu führte, dass ich an Zeit verlor. Im späteren Verlauf des Rennens musste ich wegen den blauen Flaggen schnellere Autos vorbeilassen. Es war durchaus eine Herausforderung, die Reifentemperaturen im optimalen Arbeitsfenster zu halten. Nun müssen wir uns auf das kommende Rennen in Silverstone fokussieren. Ich hoffe, dass wir dort ein besseres Rennwochenende haben werden. Ich freue mich darauf, auch weil der Kurs zu meinen Lieblingsstrecken zählt.“

"Not the race we hoped for. Regarding the start, it was a good one, even if I had to suddenly go around my teammate. I then couldn't see too much of what was happening in front of me; I think Verstappen had a problem too, so Alonso reacted to that – he saw it, I didn't, so he took a step back while, on the other hand, I lost all my references. I tried to do my best but ended up colliding, unfortunately. It's upsetting for me and for the others for sure, but these things happen to all drivers. Now I just need a cold shower before Silverstone, have a look into it, correct what needs to be corrected and move on."

"What a big shame! We had an issue with the engine from the moment the race started – I felt it misfiring during the whole of the first ten laps, which meant I dropped from ninth to sixteenth. We tried everything in order to get it working and for 15 laps I was playing with the switches trying to make the car work. In the end this unfortunately didn't happen, even though we managed to recover a bit of pace, and as the issues persisted in the end we had to retire the car. It's disappointing and certainly not what we needed, especially because points looked possible today. All in all, a difficult end to what I'd describe as a good weekend – qualifying yesterday was good and I was running in the points before the problem started, so there are some positives to take. I now look forward to next week's British GP at Silverstone, one of my favorite tracks and a Grand Prix we can sort of consider my 'second home race' as I live in London when I'm not in Madrid!"

"We had a good start again, I was able to benefit from Carlos Sainz and Max Verstappen’s poor getaways, so I was already up to 10th when we arrived at the first corner. But the guys behind me arrived at the turn too quickly, didn’t brake enough and destroyed my race. “I was hoping for a good race but we were just unlucky – things were out of my hands; I was just a passenger. “We know it’s always tricky to start from the middle of the pack, but it’s just not necessary to gain an extra meter at the first corner. Sometimes, the guys behind risk things a bit too much.”

“It’s pretty tough when these things happen. You’re in a good position, the car’s working really well, and it was our strongest weekend with the most potential for a good result for both cars. I could easily have been up there with Romain and we could’ve had a perfect result for the team. It’s just been really poor luck this weekend. I’m hoping that we can keep our form up and have other races like this where we can have top results – like we should have had today. There’s only a few days to wait then we’re at it again, so I’m really hoping we can do well again.”

“We had a clutch issue at the start of the race. I could feel on the formation lap that it wasn’t great and then at the start it failed which triggered the anti-stall as I tried to launch. I pulled away after losing many positions and tried to stay out of trouble in to turn one but I got hit on the rear tyre. Because of the hit the clutch over engaged, braking the bearing in the clutch, so I had no drive. The boys are all working very hard and there is no blame on anyone, we have just had a lot of bad luck recently and I have to try and stay positive. It’s definitely not nice at the moment and I’m very disappointed again but it’s also very important to keep pushing everyone forward as there are still many races to go. We just hope that the next race will be better. I also feel disappointed for all the Dutch fans as they have travelled a long way. I wanted to put on a show for them but I could not even complete one corner today. We will of course try to do better at Silverstone.”