Fahrerstimmen – Tag 3

In dieser Saison ging es für uns bisher auf und ab, es war wie eine Achterbahnfahrt. Aber das Team blieb immer stark. Wir befinden uns jetzt in einer großartigen Ausgangssituation, jetzt kommt es darauf an, dass wir so weitermachen. An den vergangenen beiden Wochenenden hatten wir den Regen auf unserer Seite, dafür bin ich dankbar. Die Jungs haben in diesem Jahr sehr hart gearbeitet und sie haben ein gutes Ergebnis verdient. Es gibt aber noch viel zu tun, da Ferrari immer noch leicht vor uns liegt. Sie hatten an diesem Wochenende die Pace, besonders auf dieser Strecke. Heute hatte ich sie im Griff, aber wenn sie von der Pole gestartet wären, hätten wir zu kämpfen gehabt. Deshalb müssen wir unser Gesamtpaket verbessern und versuchen, den Rückstand auf sie aufzuholen. Aber ich bin sehr glücklich mit der Arbeit, die alle bislang geleistet haben. Genauso müssen wir weitermachen. Jetzt ist es unser Ziel, weiter an einem Strang zu ziehen und in der zweiten Saisonhälfte noch stärker zu sein. Das wird entscheidend sein, um auf unserer Basis aus der ersten Jahreshälfte aufzubauen. Ich freue mich auf die Sommerpause und werde in den zwei Wochen viel unternehmen. Aber ich werde die gesamte Zeit über auch trainieren und versuchen, meine Fitness zu steigern. Ich habe mit meiner körperlichen Verfassung überhaupt keine Probleme, aber man kann sich immer in irgendeinem Bereich verbessern und ich möchte sicherstellen, dass ich voller Energie zurückkomme, damit wir in der zweiten Saisonhälfte noch bessere Leistungen abrufen können.

“Today we were fast in the first stint, but at the end I was a little bit disappointed because I had lost 3 or 4 seconds in the traffic. The pit stop we did was not ideal either, as we lost some time there. Then it was very hard, when I was running close to Valtteri and trying to overtake him. However, at the end I knew I could be faster than him thanks to my tires, which were fresher. However, we tried everything we could and I think second position is the best result we could get today. I think there’s a lot of things we did well and some others not that much, but that’s part of the game. It has been a very hard week for all of us, so I think that having both cars on the podium is a very good result. I am happy to see that the car is fast, it has worked well on every track so far, so I think this is the most important thing. Our car has a big potential, so I feel relaxed, going on holiday, for the races to come.”

“The start was ok, I got a tow and I was deciding which side I should go; but then Bottas moved the same side, trying to block me, so I braked earlier and lost the position to Sebastian. After that it was all about trying to get some free air and use the speed I had, giving myself a hard time in trying to to put pressure on the others and not being able to save the tires. The race went by pretty quick, we were pushing through the whole race with decent tires all the time because of the two-strategy stops we had. The fact of not having my drink bottle available was obviously not ideal, but not so much of an issue either. Today we had the speed, but we know that this is a tricky circuit for overtaking. The race was decided yesterday in qualifying, but in the end we managed to get back one place each. Second and third is the maximum we could hope for today; it’s quite an ok result, but it’s not what we want. On the second half of the season we’ll try to turn it around and do a bit better. I know it’s still a long way to go, anything can happen and things can change quickly. We keep pushing, trying to improve on the small details and be consistent, and I’m sure we can get higher podium positions.”

“We had a pretty good car and I was able to make it to fourth having been at P16 at one point on the first lap, so in the end it was a good result for us. The start was pretty chaotic and I took a hit on my front left tyre which caused some vibrations and we lost a few positions there. Ocon then went really deep in Turn 6, cut the chicane and stayed in front of me for two laps. That was frustrating, especially at the beginning when everyone is so close, you lose a lot of ground. After this with the pace advantage we had we were able to get on and do some overtakes, and I had some fun with that and could get up the field. Before the incident at the end with Valtteri in Turn 1, I knew he had some damage, so I knew it should be relatively easy to pass him, but he obviously just went too deep into that turn. I couldn’t see his car in my blind spot so I left room, and then I got the hit but fortunately I didn’t spin. I thought it was likely he would get a penalty but I really wanted to pass him on track, which fortunately I could do on the last lap. I was happy today, happy to finish and get some points and have a race I feel I maximized.”

Es ist schade, dass ich am Ende auf Platz fünf ins Ziel gekommen bin. Wir hatten uns heute mehr erhofft und es wäre großartig gewesen, mit einem Doppelsieg in die Sommerpause zu gehen. Ich habe alles versucht, aber der Stint auf den weichen Reifen war einfach zu lang. Theoretisch hätte eine Ein-Stopp-Strategie funktionieren müssen. Aber wir mussten früher als geplant stoppen, um auf Kimi zu reagieren, der eine Runde vor mir an die Box gegangen ist. Bis ungefähr 15 oder 20 Runden vor Rennende ging unser Plan auf. Wir kontrollierten die Pace und meine Position befand sich nicht in Gefahr. Aber dann bauten die Hinterreifen ab. Gegen Rennende hatte ich einen Zwischenfall mit Sebastian in Kurve zwei. Er war auf der Außenseite und ich war mit meiner Nase noch innen. Er lenkte früh ein und ich konnte nirgends hin ausweichen. Deshalb haben wir uns berührt und ich habe mir dabei meinen Frontflügel beschädigt. Für mich war es ein Rennunfall - genauso wie der Zwischenfall mit Daniel. Ich war wieder auf der Innenseite und er außen. Zu diesem Zeitpunkt fehlte die Hälfte von meinem Frontflügel, ich verbremste mich und wir berührten uns. Jetzt freue ich mich auf die kommenden Wochen. Eine kleine Pause wird mir guttun und danach möchte ich gestärkt zurückkommen.

"It was an amazing day for us to finish sixth! Yesterday was already fantastic for the team, but this is even better! The car was mega, the strategy was fantastic, I just had to give everything I could which wasn't easy in these conditions, in the end we managed to do it. After the past few races, which were quite difficult for us, it's a great result for the team. When you're fighting in the midfield you know there will be races where opportunities present themselves, and you just need to make sure you take them when they come. We did it in Bahrain, Monaco and again this weekend, so it's great and it's a nice way to end the first half of the season. I had a good start and managed to pass Sainz at the beginning, then I had free air to focus on my driving and make the tyres last and it ended up being a great race. The main thing was not to make any mistakes; I was on the limit for 70 laps which was a challenge, but I did my best to have a clean race and push as hard as I could to take these fantastic 8 points home."

“I was quite happy today. Had a good first lap, gained some positions, and took it home from there. Not a very eventful race, except for the first lap, but that’s fine for us. We scored a double-points finish for the team and that’s a good way to go on holiday.”

“It was definitely a good Sunday for us and it was down to the pit-wall, as they executed the perfect strategy. They decided to extend the first stint as much as we could, doing something around 15 laps more than the others, and that meant Stoffel and myself recovered three or four positions. “We really deserved eighth and ninth places today, but unfortunately the gearbox problem prevented Stoffel from taking any points, otherwise it would’ve been a perfect Sunday for us. “I’m happy we’ve delivered the result and have scored another four points for the team. Sunday is where it finally counts! “Now it’s time to relax, before jumping in a car again mid-August.”

“It was a frustrating race. It was a tough first lap with the Soft, but I got off the line well until I was pushed out at turn one and lost some positions. As the race settled, I started to pick up the pace and put in some fast laps when we boxed. Traffic then didn’t help and it cost us time against both McLarens, who came out in front after their first stop. We need to see what happened there but for sure we could have done things better today.”

“Both of us in the top-10 is really good. The race was frustrating. We need to understand how to get the tires better in these circumstances. I spent 50 laps behind (Carlos) Sainz, being half-a-second to one second faster. As soon as you get close to the car in front of you, it just goes and there’s nothing you can do. That was a bit of a shame but, overall, I think we really did a great job. We jumped (Nico) Hulkenberg and (Brendon) Hartley, showing that we had an amazing pace. Generally, I think we had a great pace, so it’s good to have two cars in the top-10. We’ve had a really good weekend. The race pace was so much better than P10.”

"I'm disappointed not to score points after a strong qualifying. I had a great start but decided not to dive up the inside of Gasly which ultimately lost me a place to Magnussen. My race was then destroyed as I was stuck behind Sainz during the first half of the race when he was on a harder tyre. We then reacted too early to Hulkenberg pitting behind and putting the Medium tyre, which didn't give me the best performance. I fully understand why the team split the strategies but today it didn't work out for me. I made no mistakes, I had a good start but unfortunately no points to show for it. I'm happy for the team to score more points which is a nice reward for all the hard work over the last months."

“We didn’t have the pace in the car today, and the balance felt poor. Ultimately, we weren’t fast enough. We had a good one last weekend and it wasn’t so good this weekend, but that’s racing. When you don’t have the pace, everything gets difficult and I was in traffic most of the time, which makes things hard. We thought this track layout would suit us, so we need to understand what’s gone on this weekend and why the car was difficult to drive. We look forward, though, testing this week before a bit of time off. The team, the engineers and the mechanics deserve the break.”

“A difficult race for us and we knew it was going to be a big challenge to score points today. The start of the race was strong and we made up a few positions, but we didn’t have enough pace to recover from the back of the grid and fight for points. I enjoyed some good battles with the Renaults, but the problems in qualifying yesterday really determined our result today. We have a few weeks off now and there is still a long way to go in the second half of the season. Everybody deserves a rest so that we can come back stronger in Spa.”

“It hasn’t been an ideal day for us, but we knew it was going to be a tough Sunday all along. We started from the back and chose to go with an aggressive strategy, but in the end we just didn’t have the pace to make it work. I had a good start but lost some places after touching with Leclerc and after that it was always going to be difficult to recover on a circuit where overtaking is very difficult. I am glad we have the summer break now. The last few months have been tough mentally but I’m still here and I’m in the top ten of the drivers’ championship. We will come back stronger after the holidays – all the off-track issues will have been settled down and we can come to Spa with the right approach and a stable environment around us.”

„Es war ein kompliziertes Rennen. Ich habe nach einer Kollision auf der ersten Runde einige Positionen verloren, und bin auf den letzten Platz zurückgefallen. Danach habe ich versucht, die Autos vor mir zu überholen – auf einer Strecke wie dieser ist das sehr schwierig. Als das Safety Car auf der Strecke war, haben wir uns dazu entschieden auf medium Reifen zu wechseln. Es war eine gute Entscheidung, und wir haben es geschafft ein paar Positionen wieder gut zu machen. Allgemein war es kein tolles Rennen für uns, aber wir werden davon lernen und wachsen. Ich werde kommende Woche einen Tag testfahren, und danach in die Sommerferien starten. Ich freue mich etwas Zeit zu haben, um die bisherige Saison Revue passieren zu lassen, und stärker zurückzukehren.“

I think we can say we have finished the first half of the year on a high. Obviously, it’s not that visible in the results but, being realistic from where we started, the strategy we had and dealing with blue flags we can be happy with how we performed. There’s still some room for improvement, which we will analyse and correct throughout the summer break, but we can take quite a lot of positives from this race and all of us can take a deserved rest.

Yesterday it was nice to get into Q2, but obviously Q2 didn't go the way we wanted it to and today, we had to start from the pitlane. We put the old front wing on, which we haven't had for a couple of races now. I definitely felt the loss in performance, and the car felt like it wasn't cooperating as well as it has been since we got the new front wing. We went on a different strategy to Sergey and tried to pick up the pace at the end of the race with the qualifying tyres, but there just weren't enough laps left. It was one of those races.

„Es ist schade, das letzte Rennen vor der Sommerpause so zu beenden. Kurz nach dem Start bin ich zwischen zwei Autos steckengeblieben. Mein Auto wurde dabei beschädigt, und ich musste das Rennen sofort beenden. Die Saison war allerdings soweit sehr positiv. Wir haben bessere Fortschritte gemacht als erwartet, ich habe viel gelernt, und sogar ein paar Punkte gemacht. Ich freue mich nun auf die Sommerpause, in der ich entspannen und mich auf die zweite Saisonhälfte vorbereiten werde.“

“Today didn’t go the way we planned. I felt good with the car and had a strong start but the race was then over within six laps. It is really frustrating after putting all the effort in and being in a promising position, but then having to stop due to reliability. As I was happy with the car I think we could have had a good battle with the front group, it’s a shame to have missed out on that and some valuable points. It’s such a shame for not just myself and the team but also the fans that travel all the way here supporting me. It’s not fun to watch me complete a few laps and then retire. I’m not sure if this will mean engine penalties for Spa, we will look into it as a team and discuss the best way to come back strong after the summer break. I don’t really feel like going away on holiday now as this isn’t the way I wanted to finish the first part of the season. I would like to get back in the car to race again and finish on a strong result, unfortunately I can’t.”

“A really disappointing race for me. We had a superb start, after we started a bit further down the grid than we wanted after yesterday, and gained a few places on the opening lap. We had really good tyre management in the opening stint and strong pace when it counted, a good pit-stop and we managed to jump a lot of cars during the pit window. It was a great strategy from the team to come out in the points with both cars and we were feeling comfortable, so it was just about bringing the car home. “Unfortunately, we had a technical problem and I had to stop the car. It shows it’s a mechanical sport. It’s disappointing to finish like that but I think as a team we did everything right today. We got ourselves as high as we could and it’s a shame not to finish the first part of the season with a few more points. “On a personal note, I felt good this weekend. I think we’ve shown today that the pace was back to where it had been before, with a more ‘normal’ feeling, and I can be happy with my performance. I’m looking forward to the summer break, to relax a bit, clear my head and turn up in Spa for my home race.”