Fahrerstimmen – Tag 3

Es fühlt sich an, als ob wir lange auf diesen Sieg hätten warten müssen. Das gesamte Team hat an diesem Wochenende fantastische Arbeit abgeliefert: Wir haben niemals aufgegeben, immer weiter gepusht und stets versucht, einfallsreich zu sein. Es ist unheimlich inspirierend, Teil des Ganzen zu sein und unglaublich, heute so ein Ergebnis einzufahren, gerade, wenn man bedenkt wie schnell Ferrari im ersten Stint gewesen ist. Es war richtig schwer, mit ihnen mitzuhalten, ganz besonders mit dem Unterschied bei den Reifen. Aber wir haben immer weiter gepusht und das Auto fühlte sich heute sehr gut an. Wir gingen davon aus, dass ihre Soft-Reifen während des ersten Stints abbauen würden, aber sie hatten so eine gute Pace, dass es mir schwergefallen ist, mit ihnen mitzuhalten. Das ist möglicherweise ein kleiner Warnhinweis für uns, denn es sah so aus, als ob sie sich diesbezüglich nicht verrechnet hatten. Ich blieb aber in Schlagdistanz und verringerte den Abstand zu ihnen, als ihre Reifen langsam abbauten. Nachdem Charles an die Box gegangen war, holte ich auf Seb auf und wir waren in einer guten Position, um noch lange draußen zu bleiben - selbst wenn das Safety Car nicht herausgekommen wäre, wäre es ein richtig gutes Rennen geworden. Aber dann spielte es uns in die Karten. Danach ging es nur darum, den Vorsprung herauszufahren, auf die Reifen zu achten und gleichzeitig so sauber wie möglich bis ins Ziel zu kommen. Mit Blick nach vorne sind immer weniger Rennen zu fahren, aber wir denken nur von Rennen zu Rennen, machen einen Schritt nach dem anderen, um nicht ins Straucheln zu geraten. In einem Duell wie diesem gibt man immer alles, lässt keinen Stein auf dem anderen und stellt alles in Frage, was man besser machen kann. Wir lieben diese Herausforderung und ich bin richtig heiß auf die nächsten Rennen.

Unser letzter Doppelsieg liegt schon eine ganze Weile zurück und es fühlte sich richtig gut an, wieder dort oben auf dem Podium zu stehen. Das ist ermutigend und eine Motivation für das gesamte Team. Uns war klar, dass ein Doppelsieg nur sehr schwer zu erreichen sein würde, aber er war machbar. Deshalb gingen wir heute Vormittag alle möglichen Strategien durch, die uns eine Chance geben würden. Ich denke, dass wir heute eine sehr gute Mannschaftsleistung gezeigt haben. Das ist ein echt gutes Ergebnis, wenn man bedenkt, wie sehr wir gestern zu kämpfen hatten. Ferrari hatte das gesamte Wochenende über das schnellere Auto und ich glaube, dass sie auch heute schneller waren. Unter diesen Vorzeichen einen Doppelsieg zu erzielen, bedeutet, dass wir als Team in allen Bereichen großartige Arbeit abgeliefert haben. Ich habe zu Beginn des Rennens einiges an Zeit verloren, als ich hinter Sainz festhing. Zudem fiel es mir schwer, auf den Medium-Reifen die Zeiten mitzugehen. Im zweiten Stint war es auf den Soft-Reifen viel besser. Nach dem Safety-Car-Restart stand ich etwas unter Druck, aber ich hatte alles unter Kontrolle. Ferrari hat in den vergangenen Wochen gute Fortschritte erzielt, entsprechend müssen wir für Japan weiter alles geben, aber ich freue mich auf die Herausforderung.

“It was a tricky race. I think that we had a good strategy to give us the best result as a team. At the start of the race, I gave Sebastian a tow so that we could race at the front and get ahead of our competitors together. Then, after the safety car, things became a bit more complicated and we aimed to find the right timing to swap positions, which we did when Seb pitted. Unfortunately, there was an issue on Seb’s car and he had to end the race early. From that point on it just didn’t go our way anymore and it was not possible for me to overtake the two cars in front. After we had such a strong weekend, ending the race with one car in P3 and the other retired is not the best feeling. But we are confident of our potential and will head into the next races with determination and give our all to bring home the best possible results.”

“I think P4 was the best possible result today and we had a little bit of luck with Seb retiring, but I’m satisfied with the points we scored considering the penalties and pace of Ferrari and Mercedes. There wasn’t too much going on for me once I cleared the mid-field traffic and from there I had a bit of a lonely race until the Safety Car closed us all up. We were clearly a bit slower than the top three today but at the end of the race it was also more difficult being on the medium compound tyre when the others were on the soft. For sure we maximised the result but of course we want to be scoring more podiums and victories so we still have work to do as the others are very strong. Now I’m looking forward to Suzuka and we want to do the best we can for all the Japanese fans at Honda’s home race.”

“It was a good race and I think P5 is the best we could have done. I wanted to bounce back and get a good result after yesterday’s crash so I’m really happy with how the race went, although we probably got a bit lucky with the Safety Car. Morale was obviously a little bit low on Saturday night and it was a lot of work for the Team so this result is for them. Starting from the pit lane was never going to be easy but the pace was quite strong on the softs and it was a good haul of points. I started out of position and had some fun coming back through the field, but I don’t want all of my races to be like that. I like boring races too so I’m hoping for a cleaner and smoother weekend in Japan. In the first stint I was struggling to get past Daniil and Pierre and it took me a long time. The downforce loss is immense when you’re following in a train of cars which I think is because the track is designed a bit like a street circuit. Up to the race it had been a tough weekend but I’m getting more comfortable. I just need to get up to speed and in a rhythm earlier on in the weekend, but that will come with more laps and time in the car. With the exception of Abu Dhabi, all of the remaining tracks will be new for me so Suzuka will be difficult, but I like new tracks.“

“Very good race. A great start and a very solid execution from everyone today. It was great to fight the Mercedes into Turn Two, which was one of my targets today. From then on I could control the race and I had good pace all the way through, even though it was impossible to hold both Red Bulls. “This was not an easy weekend for us, but we managed to put it together and take another best of the rest finish. Great performance from the whole team and double points again. Congratulations.”

"It was a very good race for us today. I’m very pleased with how we maximised the result. I think it’s been one of my greatest races that I can remember. We had a good start and great management throughout the stints, knowing when to fight and when to hold back, and that made a huge difference. We were unlucky with the timing of the Safety Car, but we recovered and we took every single opportunity. Since the summer break we’ve been on it and we’ve been scoring some important points. We worked hard for it today and we couldn’t have done any better."

“Today has been a positive day for the team with good points. Carlos and I both made good starts and gained positions. My first stint was reasonably good with decent pace, but then the VSC after my pit-stop shook things up. “Cars came out of the pits from the VSC who were slower, preventing me from pushing as much as I wanted to, and then I was vulnerable to cars behind on fresher tyres. It was tough to keep the Renault and Racing Point behind. But overall a good weekend with more points for the team, a good reward for their hard work.”

“I think it’s been a positive weekend in terms of our pace. In qualifying yesterday, it looked very good. I made a mistake unfortunately in Q2 and didn’t go through to Q3, the car had been perfect. Today we had good pace again. I made a good start, gained a few positions, had a good first stint followed by a decent second stint, then I lost a few spots at the end and got a stupid penalty. That’s how it is I guess. I had lost the position to Perez, lost a load of time, I had dirt on my tires, I’d already lost enough time. Then I get the penalty. I think though, I can speak for the whole team to say it’s been a great relief this weekend to be in contention from the beginning. It’s been a great job from the whole team to keep their heads up.”

“It was a frustrating race as the car deserved to be better than tenth. Everything that could go wrong seemed to go wrong today: a poor start, a slow pit-stop and an unfortunate VSC timing. It’s disappointing as the potential was there for a better result. I felt comfortable in the car all weekend, and it had been fairly solid, so to leave with one point is a little frustrating. The midfield is bunched up and it’s going to be like that for the rest of the season. It’ll be nip and tuck throughout and we need to ensure we’re getting the maximum from races.”

"It was a tough race today and to finish just outside the points is really frustrating. I spent a lot of time in traffic and I wasn’t really happy with the balance of the car. I struggled to keep the tyres under control throughout and we were sliding the rears a lot – and that cost me at the restart when I got overtaken by Hulkenberg. The car was more competitive this weekend so there are plenty of positives to take away, but we just have to keep it going until the end of the season.”

“I had a strong and competitive race today. It was a good effort from the team to start from the back of the grid and finish very close to the points. I had a good start and some enjoyable battles, I was really fighting until the very last lap, so I’m happy with my race. It was a good Sunday in the end, especially considering the problems we had in the previous days. It’s just a shame not to get the reward…the team would have deserved it.”

“It was a very difficult race from the start. I jumped the lights and from that point we knew a penalty was coming. We tried our best and closed the gap with the rest of the field thanks to the Safety Car, but in the end we couldn’t make up any more places than P13. The last four races have been very difficult for us, so we have to understand what has gone wrong and try to improve on it. We looked really strong in Spa, so the potential is there: we just have to get back to that level.”

“It was a pretty challenging day for us. We didn’t have the pace to fight for points today, I tried to do everything I could inside the cockpit but there wasn’t much we could do. I had a good fight with Dany as you always have to try to fight for positions. At the time, I was pushing for P12, a position that allows you to think that something can always happen in front of you and you can finish in P10. I tried to do what I could, but we didn’t have enough speed, so it was a tricky day. As today we underperformed compared to what we showed earlier this weekend, we now need to analyse and understand why to come back with better pace in Suzuka.”

“It was definitely not the kind of race I was hoping for but it is what it is. I got stuck in the middle between Ricciardo and Grosjean on lap one: I don’t know if Daniel knew I had Romain on the outside, but I ended up like in a sandwich. I tried to lift off and avoid contact, but that wasn’t enough and we touched. We’ll need to check if there was any further damage as it was quite a big hit and the car didn’t really feel right afterwards.”

“Unfortunately, our race was pretty much over from the start. I had too much damage on the car to carry on, which is a shame. It was a bit chaotic through Turn 2 and I had the inside line for Turn 4 where I thought I was safe. I got hit and had a puncture and damage to the floor. I’ll look at it with the perspective that if I qualify higher up the grid then I’m less likely to be in the bad stuff. I’ll take responsibility for that, but in terms of the accident, I was just a passenger.”

It was a disappointing Russian Grand Prix. The car was feeling good, and then all of sudden after the pitstop there was an issue and the next thing I knew, I was in the barrier. It was a shame for the race to end like that as we were showing some strong pace.

This weekend has been very disappointing. You always have to try your best with what you have, and this is what I was trying to do. After George’s DNF, the team decided to stop my car, to take care of the parts that we have on the car. We are not in an easy situation and Japan is around the corner.

“There’s not much to say, the footage is pretty clear. We’ve been working very hard all weekend, and we had a competitive car – we were going to go for points today. There was a huge amount of pressure on us to get into Q3 in qualifying yesterday, we don’t know how often we’ll get those chances. Obviously, our race was then ruined by turn four. I had no chance to react. It’s a bit of a disappointing afternoon. It’s hard to digest as I felt this was the weekend we could score. To be taken out on the first lap is very hard.”

“Today, we are very disheartened. We wanted to finish first and second, but all we got was a third place. It’s not the result we were hoping for. I got a good start and the first stint was pretty quick which allowed me to open up quite a gap. After the pit stop, I rejoined in second place but shortly afterwards the team asked me to stop the car because there was a problem with a hybrid component on my Power Unit. I hope the engine will be okay for the coming races. It has definitely been not our day today.”