Fahrerstimmen – Tag 3

“I’m so happy to win at the Red Bull Ring, and with so many Dutch fans here. It was also so unexpected, and that makes it even better. An amazing weekend. If you want to win a race this is the perfect place, in a Red Bull car at the Red Bull Ring. For the race I was very happy in general with how the car was behaving but I always just try to do my best race possible; if that is going to be first, second, third, it’s not in your hand. From my side I felt in control, I was driving to the best I could with the car I had and at the end we were struggling a little more than Ferrari with the tyre blistering but we managed to stay ahead. I knew that Daniel and Lewis had to pit again and I didn’t want that scenario so I was not driving to the full limit of the car but just managing everything. It was tougher than perhaps it looked but I just needed to be on top of my tyres. I’m very thankful to the engineers for making that strategy call under the VSC and full complements to the team for that pitstop, because that definitely made our race. The fans in the grandstand were great, so many orange t-shirts there. My focus was always on the track but for the last few laps I could look a little bit to my left and they were really cheering me on, it was amazing.”

”At the start I had a good getaway, but I found myself between two cars and I had to lift off to avoid them squeezing me, while I hoped they would see me. I lost momentum, speed and the chance to challenge them in the first corner. It’s a pity, because without that, I think I could have been in the lead. The first lap was quite hectic, then the situation calmed down for a while. Tyre management played a big part today: it was hard to know when to go flat out and be on the safe side at the same time. The beginning of both stints was a bit tricky; we struggled a bit to get the grip and to make the tyres work, but then it got better and in the end we had very good tyre. We were obviously hoping to catch Max, but by then it was perhaps a bit too late. Today we had the speed, but there just weren’t enough laps left in the race… Of course we wanted to win, we tried very hard, giving our best, but it was not enough. The good thing is that, as a team, we did a solid job. It was a strong weekend.”

“We did a good job and a good race. I had a very solid start, but in Turn 1 things got a bit messy. I tried to recover, but there was no room and lost some positions in Turn 3. From them on, I had to fight with Renault and Haas and lost some time. However, the car was very good, we had a very good pace and we didn’t have any issues with the tyres; in fact, the car was very good on them, even if I had to manage the Softs for a long stint, which again proves we have made good progress since Barcelona. Obviously, I am happy with the points that we’ve got and the podium, but I am not satisfied 100 per cent, because I think there would have been more up for grabs today, if I hadn’t got the penalty. We were the only cars that could be there with the Mercedes in terms of pace, but in the end, we proved more consistent.”

“It’s a great day for all of us, the whole team. They deserve such a good result with the cars finishing fourth and fifth. It’s incredible for our 50th grand prix. I’m so, so happy for all the guys. We’ve done an amazing job all weekend. We had some luck in the race with the Mercedes cars not finishing, but it’s been a great weekend and we can really build on that. There are still a few things we can improve here and there, but I’m happy we managed to get that long stint on the tires. The last 20 laps were not fun – there were blisters on the rears – and I was afraid they were going to explode at any time. I am just so happy that we hung in there and finished fourth and fifth.”

“We’ve had a very good weekend. To challenge for top-five, we didn’t expect that. We finished both cars in the top-five, and that’s an incredible job from the team and I’m really proud of the whole team. We were struggling with blistering on the tires – the whole of the soft stint. They blistered very badly. I managed that, and then had pressure from behind, so I had to push, but I had a good race. We’ve shown this weekend that we’ve got a good car. Actually, it’s not only this weekend – we’ve shown all year that the car is very competitive. We’ve just got to keep going like this.”

“I’m happy with this result and it’s a very good day for the team. We can be really pleased with our performance today. We managed our tyres well and made the one-stop race work when others around us were struggling. We kept our tyres going until the end and we also showed great teamwork with Checo as we swapped places to chase Magnussen. I think we showed where this team is strong. Hopefully the next updates will keep bringing performance to the car and we can keep the momentum going. The championship battle in the midfield is going to be very close until the end of the season and we need to keep pushing.”

“It’s been a really positive day for the team. We have come away with important points from a weekend that was quite challenging in the lead up to the race. Starting from P15 on the grid and finishing seventh is a great effort and we should be proud of this achievement. Yes, there were some cars that retired ahead of us, but we raced well and made our strategy work so that we could take advantage of these opportunities. We didn’t pit under the Virtual Safety Car, like many others did, but the strategy we chose worked really well and I had strong pace all afternoon, especially in the closing laps. I wanted to chase down Magnussen at the end, but it just wasn’t possible.”

“I’m very happy – we didn’t expect points today, so that was a very nice surprise. “It was a strange race. I started from the pit-lane, was then running 19th after the first laps, then I got stuck behind a group of cars and wasn’t able to run at my proper pace. Also, the front wing we ran was last year’s, so we didn’t know exactly how it would behave with the rest of the aero package. “The race was quite chaotic: the hot track temperatures caused a lot of blistering for everybody, but I was able to take care of them and capitalise on that. “The points were a nice reward, but we need to keep improving. The next race is our home grand prix and we need to be more competitive there.”

„Es war ein spannender Tag. Nachdem ich bei dem Start gut vorankam, fiel ich nach ein paar Runden zurück und hatte die Herausforderung vor mir, genügend Positionen zu gewinnen, um schlussendlich wieder in die Punkte zu fahren. Während des Rennens ist vieles passiert – es gab ein paar gute Überholungsmanöver, und ich habe es genossen heute zu fahren. Es ist toll für das Team, dass beide Autos das Rennen heute in den Top 10 beendet haben. Das ist ein zusätzlicher Motivationsschub für alle. Ich freue mich darauf zu sehen, was uns in den kommenden Rennen erwartet.“

„Es war ein tolles Rennen. Ich habe mich im Auto wohl gefühlt, und hatte seit dem Start gute Rundenzeiten. Unsere Strategie hat sehr gut funktioniert. Unsere Mechaniker hatten auch einen weiteren schnellen Boxenstopp – ich bin sehr stolz auf die Crew. Es war ein tolles Resultat für das gesamte Team, beide Autos in den Punkten zu haben – vor allem nach dem schwierigen Qualifying von gestern. Wir können alle stolz auf unsere Leistung sein. Ich freue mich für das Team und auch für mich selber. Ich freue mich nun auf Silverstone – eine meiner Lieblingsstrecken.“

"I think that was one of the most difficult races I've had. Stoffel and I had contact at Turn 3 on the first lap which caused heavy damage to my floor and after that the car was sliding everywhere. I gave it my best and we were running inside of the points, but it was super difficult to drive the car and in the end I had no grip left on my tyres. It's a shame to finish so close to the points. We brought an updated aero package to Austria this weekend, but with the damage I had on the floor, we lost a lot of downforce and we didn't get a clear read on it. Today there was a real opportunity to score points as we were running 8th with a few laps to go so it's a shame, but the potential is there. Now we have to focus on Silverstone next week and make a step forward."

“We had a lot of blistering on our tyres today and we need to investigate why. They degraded massively and a problem in the second pit-stop didn’t help either. We missed out on big points unfortunately. We have another opportunity next weekend to bounce back, and there will be a lot of preparation work in the build-up this week. There is no reason why we shouldn’t be up in the top ten again so I’m very positive for Silverstone."

It was a very disappointing race. Straight away at the start I was doing so well, but every time I was on the inside and very close to the collisions. However, with traffic ahead I was always slowing down to not hit the cars in front. Instead of gaining the positions, I’m afraid I lost a bit. From then onwards, I was in clean air and everything looked ok and I was keeping a few cars behind me. We pitted early and tried to be quite aggressive and push hard straight away in the second stint, but, I ran out of tyres. So overall, a disappointing day.

I thought we could do better today. Looking where we were in qualifying, I hoped we could potentially fight with some of the other teams, but unfortunately today was kind of the same story but a different day. I had a decent start, gained some positions, but from there it was just survival and we were really slow to the end as we struggled with pace. We were struggling with tyres, temperatures and everything and couldn't really do anything with our strategy today.

“It was a normal racing incident on lap one: into Turn Three, there were three or four cars side by side, and that corner closes up at the apex and the exit. There was no way to avoid contact, unfortunately. “After pitting for a new nose, I came back out in traffic, getting blue flags straight away as the leaders went past me. It was very frustrating to have to let all the cars through. “Towards the end, I got some clear laps and managed to overtake some cars again. There was some pace in the car – if you look at the lap-times, we were much more competitive today than we were in qualifying. That’s a plus. “The team getting another few points is another positive to take away from a difficult weekend.”

"We made a few changes to the aero balance compared to qualifying so I felt much better with the car today. In the first part of the race I seemed to struggle compared to the Saubers around me, but as the tyres got older, the car came alive and was getting stronger. Points were always going to be tough today, but I was battling with Ericsson and he finished 10th, so it's a bit disappointing to see that! We were clearly really strong on tyres today but then something failed on the rear of the car. Initially I thought it was a puncture because I could feel something moving on the rear, but I'm not entirely sure what the issue is. We'll look into the cause tonight and hopefully come back stronger next week in Silverstone."

“I’m obviously disappointed with how the day went. At one stage it was looking like a one-two, but in all honesty as soon as we put the softs on it didn’t feel like it gave me much. Even though we were able to get Kimi, I didn’t feel like I was able to pull away and then I saw the tyre was getting torn apart. So we had to pit and that put us out of contention for the podium. Then we had what I think was a broken exhaust which put me out of the race. I could feel something was wrong down the back straight before the last sector, so I mentioned it and then tried to do a procedure but the call came for me to stop. I’m happy for Red Bull today, the team, the brand, the people, and happy for Max who has so many fans here. I saw Mr Mateschitz earlier and I can imagine what he is feeling right now. Obviously it’s not my day but from the team’s point of view, for the Austrians and for Max it’s a big day for them, so I’m happy that some part of the team will be celebrating today. I don’t think I’ll celebrate too much for my birthday (today) but you know, maybe a cognac to get over these sniffles!”

Das ist mit Sicherheit das schlimmste Wochenende, an das ich mich seit einer langen Zeit erinnern kann. Heute spürt jeder im Team den Schmerz, aber wir müssen die positiven Zeichen des Wochenendes mitnehmen. Das Auto war das gesamte Wochenende über großartig. Wir waren die Schnellsten und unsere Zuverlässigkeit war viele Jahre lang fantastisch. So sehr es also auch schmerzen mag, im Leben gibt es immer Höhen und Tiefen. Ich habe volles Vertrauen in mein Team, dass wir zurückschlagen werden. Wir dürfen keine Punkte wegwerfen. Deshalb müssen wir eine fehlerfreie Lösung finden. Daran werden wir jetzt arbeiten und versuchen, aus der Situation gestärkt hervorzugehen.

“Obviously it wasn’t a great afternoon for the team. I suffered a loss of power and then the car went up in smoke and that was the end of our day. Carlos struggled as well, maybe because of the hotter temperatures today, and that made tyres hard to keep under control with a lot of blistering. It was a tough and disappointing afternoon, so we just refocus on Silverstone to make amends in a few days’ time.”

Das Pech, das ich in diesem Jahr habe, fühlt sich derzeit wie ein schlechter Scherz an. Mein Start war nicht ideal. Ich hatte relativ stark durchdrehende Räder und es gab weniger Grip, als wir erwartet hatten. Deshalb fiel ich einige Plätze zurück. Vor Kurve vier konnte ich mir aber zwei Plätze zurückholen und lag dann wieder auf Position zwei. Danach fühlte sich das Auto stark an und es lief gut - bis ich plötzlich den Hydraulikdruck verloren habe. Ich konnte nichts dagegen unternehmen. Jetzt müssen wir die Sache untersuchen und die Ursache für die heutigen Probleme herausfinden. Aber ich bin überzeugt, dass wir uns von diesem Ergebnis erholen werden. Es hat heute einfach nicht sollen sein. Aber eines Tages wird es wieder besser laufen.