Fahrerstimmen – Tag 3

Ich weiß, dass wir, oder besser gesagt ich, oft sage, dies geht über meine kühnsten Träume hinaus. Aber ich glaube, dass ich mein gesamtes Leben insgeheim so große Träume hatte, sie schienen nur immer in weiter Ferne zu sein. Ich erinnere mich daran, wie Michael seine Titel eingefahren hat. Wir alle geben als Fahrer unser Bestes und es ist harte Arbeit, nur einen, zwei oder gar drei Titel zu gewinnen. Sieben Mal Weltmeister zu werden, ist absolut unvorstellbar. Aber wenn man mit einer so fantastischen Truppe an Menschen zusammenarbeitet, miteinander kommuniziert, sich gegenseitig vertraut und zuhört, ist kein Ende in Sicht, was wir, dieses Team und ich, gemeinsam erreichen können. Ich bin sehr stolz auf das, was wir zusammen geschafft haben. Das Vertrauen, das sie heute da draußen in mich gesteckt haben, muss sich über die Zeit entwickeln. Dieses Jahr war sehr hart. Ich bin nicht weggegangen, ich war nicht zum Essen, ich bin nur in meiner Blase geblieben. Ich hatte jeden Tag Zimmerservice und nichts wirklich Spannendes. Der Grund dafür ist, dass ich um einen Titel gekämpft habe. Ich glaube, dass ich in diesem Jahr mehr Opfer als jemals zuvor in meinem Leben erbracht habe. Das war richtig schwierig. Wenn ich dann solche Momente erlebe, möchte ich darauf warten, bis ich von meiner Familie umgeben bin und mit meinen Freunden zusammen sein kann, weil ich möchte diese Erinnerungen mit ihnen teilen. Ich bin sehr stolz auf das heutige Rennen. Ich habe mich an Augenblicke erinnert, in denen es in der Vergangenheit schiefgegangen ist, etwa in China 2007, als ich den Titel auf abgefahrenen Reifen in der Boxengasse verloren habe. Alle diese Dinge habe ich im Laufe der Zeit gelernt und heute konnte ich sie umsetzen. Das ist der Grund, warum wir heute dieses Ergebnis und diesen Abstand gesehen haben. Gleichzeitig habe ich das Gefühl, dass es gerade erst losgeht. Das ist richtig seltsam. Ich fühle mich körperlich in toller Verfassung und mental war dieses Jahr für viele Menschen, für Millionen von Menschen, das härteste. Ich weiß, dass es hier immer toll aussieht, auf der großen Bühne, aber es ist für uns Athleten nicht anders. Es war eine Herausforderung, von der ich nicht wusste, wie ich sie meistern sollte. Aber mit der Hilfe der großartigen Menschen um mich herum, mit der Hilfe meines Teams, von Team LH, habe ich mich über Wasser gehalten und bin konzentriert geblieben. Ich hoffe, dass wir alle nächstes Jahr ein besseres Jahr erleben werden. Ich würde liebend gerne bleiben, ich habe das Gefühl, dass hier noch viel Arbeit vor uns liegt. Ich arbeite hart daran, dass wir uns als Sport selbst in die Verantwortung nehmen, damit wir bemerken, dass wir die Menschenrechts-Themen, die in den Ländern existieren, in denen wir antreten, nicht ignorieren dürfen, sondern uns ihnen stellen müssen. Es geht darum, wie wir mit diesen Ländern sprechen und sie stärken können, um sich zu verändern, und das nicht erst in 10 oder 20 Jahren, sondern schon jetzt. Ich möchte der Formel 1 und auch Mercedes auf dem Weg helfen, noch nachhaltiger zu werden. Ich hoffe, dass ich zumindest in der Anfangsphase noch ein bisschen länger ein Teil des Ganzen sein werde.

“We’ve come close to a podium several times this year, so it’s great to enjoy the moment now with the team. It was an exciting race and a difficult one all the way to the end. I was trying to look after the tyres, push at the right time to keep the temperatures in the right window, and learn the track all at the same time. It’s a great result and we called it exactly right. When I crossed the line, I told the team that I didn’t think the tyres could last another lap! They were vibrating like hell at the end. It was about keeping it on the track and making the right calls, which we did. The key was managing the intermediates at the beginning and end of the second stint, it made a huge difference. Lewis was on another level today and, once he got by me, he controlled the race. So, second was the best we could achieve and we did a great job to keep the Red Bulls and Ferraris behind. I had no idea Max was chasing me with all the spray and my mirrors being fogged up: I just saw him run wide and then disappear. There was also a crazy end to the race with Charles! I made a little mistake into Turn 9 and he got by me, but I was able to cut back in front at Turn 11 and then Seb got through too! We’re all delighted with today’s result and it was a great effort by the team. We’re going to enjoy it tonight!”

“There are some races that are special, where anything can happen. I think today’s race confirmed that I have a special relationship with Istanbul Park. One could say my Formula 1 career began here and here again, in what has so far definitely been a difficult season, I have managed to finish on the podium for the first time. The first lap was incredible. I got away well and with the heavy wet tyres, I had great grip. Then, when we switched to the intermediates, I struggled a bit more. I think the fact there was less water on the track helped and so, in the closing stages I was really quick. In the last few laps I caught Charles and Perez who were fighting. Charles overtook the Racing Point, but locked up at turn 12, so I went inside and I only just missed out on getting second place too. I am sorry for him and I can understand he is very angry about what happened, because in many ways, I see myself in him. But he is so strong that very soon, this day will be completely unimportant in his mind. He drove a great race.”

“I am extremely disappointed with myself. I messed it up in the last corner and there’s not much else to say really, because in the end it’s the result that counts. My start was bad, from the dirty side of the track, but then things went better and in the middle part of the race we were extremely quick and I did a good job of catching up with the leading group that had been several seconds in front, but then I threw everything in the bin at the end. I am sorry for the team, as we could have finished second today. On the other hand, I am pleased for Seb as he has had a difficult season so far and completely deserves this first podium.”

"Very, very good day for us after a disappointing Saturday. We managed to put together a very strong race under super tricky conditions. I had a very good start, picking up six places, switching on the tyres and keeping a solid pace with both compounds. From there, I managed to pull off some good overtakes to finish P5. I definitely rate this race as one of the hardest I’ve done in F1 so far and I’m very happy to have recovered 10 positions in these conditions. I'm also happy for the entire team because it looks like we saved a tough weekend with both cars again in the points. "Last but not least, big congrats to Lewis on equalling such an incredible record – seven championships is a great achievement."

“Today was just a very difficult race to be honest. The start was not great and I dropped back to fourth with the lack of grip on the dirty side of the grid. I got back up to third and tried to follow Checo through the kink but washed out massively which put me onto the green on the exit kerb and I had a big spin. I tried to keep it out of the wall but flat spotted my tyres and needed to pit. With fresh tyres of course you very quickly catch up with the guys in front but then you can’t pass. There’s just one line around here and already that line is very slippery and you just have to do the same line as the person ahead which is very frustrating. Also, the fact that the track wasn’t really drying meant we couldn’t switch to slicks so we had to stay on intermediates which just get destroyed pretty quickly. It was a complicated race with a mixture of just following the car ahead, having no grip and trying to survive! It's not been a great day and I guess it was just not meant to be.”

“I have mixed feelings as everything was going to plan and it looked like we were on for the win but it was a strange race and finishing seventh is definitely confusing. We have been so competitive all weekend so today is a tough one to take. Both of us had poor starts but we picked our way through the field and when we pitted for inters, we had incredible grip and we were so quick. The pace was really strong but then we boxed for a second set of inters and we had no grip and no pace so there’s a bit of head scratching. It’s hard to understand but we’ll sit down and understand it as these conditions were so unusual. This weekend has been going really well, I’m happy with the progress we’ve made and some things on my side of the garage have definitely helped so I can’t wait to get out there in Bahrain and get going again.”

“That was a good race – a lot of fun. My start wasn't great, but I think a lot of people on the left-hand side of the grid had bad starts. Everything after that was good, it was just very difficult to overtake. Normally it’s like that in the dry, but in the wet there was only one line you could use and it was almost impossible to pass. But, when we were in clean air, we had really good pace all the time. I think we did the best job we could during the race – and I had the fastest lap, so that showed the car was genuinely quick. "Finally, a massive congratulations to Lewis on winning his seventh championship. It's a really amazing achievement."

“It’s really hard to understand what happened today and we need to go away and figure it out. I made a good start from pole position and I was able to build up a lead of over 10 seconds in the first stint, which gave us a real platform for the second stint to get a great result. Throughout the race, I was struggling with graining on the intermediate tyre. The team made the right call to pit when we did because the graining was extremely difficult and it didn’t look like slick conditions would ever arrive. But we then had significant graining on my second set of intermediates, and I couldn’t push to make up places. In hindsight, maybe staying out would have allowed the tyre to clean up, but it’s easy to say that now. Getting pole yesterday was a great achievement, but the points are scored on Sunday. It was fun to lead so many laps, but we didn’t lead enough! While I’m frustrated today, Checo’s scored valuable points and we’ll switch focus to the final few races.”

“We made a great start today, but I was squashed in between Lewis [Hamilton] and Esteban into Turn 1, so I had nowhere to go and I clipped my team-mate which is the last thing you want to do. We lost a couple of positions from the incident and then when we switched to the Intermediate tyres and we just couldn’t make them last. There were moments during the race when I was told I was one of the fastest out there, then just a few laps later my tyres were completely gone so it was all a bit of a lottery. Obviously, a big congratulations to Lewis for wrapping up his seventh drivers’ championship and to do it in such a dominant fashion today is very impressive.”

“It was a difficult race for us today. I got hit twice at the start and that ended our chances of scoring good points. I was happy with my start and it was probably my best one of the year. I was third or fourth at Turn 1 and then I was unlucky to spin after Lewis [Hamilton] got close to Daniel, who clipped my rear. I then got hit at Turn 9, which punctured my rear tyre and from there it was always going to be hard to recover. We did our best and we move onto the next one. Congratulations to Lewis on the seventh world title.”

“It was a difficult race for us today. I got hit twice at the start and that ended our chances of scoring good points. I was happy with my start and it was probably my best one of the year. I was third or fourth at Turn 1 and then I was unlucky to spin after Lewis [Hamilton] got close to Daniel, who clipped my rear. I then got hit at Turn 9, which punctured my rear tyre and from there it was always going to be hard to recover. We did our best and we move onto the next one. Congratulations to Lewis on the seventh world title.”

“It wasn’t a very eventful day. I just drove my race and finished P12, there wasn’t much that we could have done better. I’m a bit frustrated because there are no points for us today, it’s not pleasant to fight the car all race and finish with no reward. It was a very tricky race, luckily I made very little mistakes today aside from one spin, so it felt good as a driver to bring the car home in these conditions, it’s good training for my concentration! Generally speaking, our pace in the wet this weekend wasn’t good, and we struggled to get the car in the right window. We just need to understand what we did wrong this weekend and learn from it.”

“The whole weekend was really bad for us. We had very poor performance on the wet tyres yesterday, and with today being wet again, we knew we were going to struggle massively. It’s a bit embarrassing because if it was all fine in the dry during practice on Friday, it means we were just too slow with the wets and intermediate tyres, we just couldn’t switch them on and struggled in FP3 and Quali. In addition, we took a penalty today. We need to understand what went wrong and what didn’t work in order to do better, in case we find ourselves in the same conditions. We already have some answers but still, we should have done a better job and I’m disappointed. Now it’s done and we should look at the next few races.”

Das war ein langes Rennen. Ein richtig langer Tag. Schon ab der ersten Runde ist für mich alles schiefgelaufen. Ich weiß nicht, wer es war, aber jemand hat sich in der ersten Kurve vor mir gedreht. Ich bin ihm ausgewichen und habe mich dabei selbst gedreht. Dann hatte ich eine Berührung in Kurve 9 und danach war das Auto nicht mehr das gleiche. Ich hatte Schwierigkeiten, es auf der Strecke zu halten. Das Lenkrad stand krumm und es fehlte ein Stück an meinem Frontflügel. Danach ging es nur noch darum, das Rennen zu Ende zu fahren – das war nicht gut. Herzlichen Glückwunsch an Lewis. Er hat den Titel absolut verdient: Er war in diesem Jahr alles in allem der Bessere von uns und sieben WM-Titel sind eine sehr beeindruckende Leistung in unserem Sport.

„Das Rennen war alles andere als lustig, aber es ist ein bisschen das, was wir erwartet hatten, als wir das Wetter sahen. Bei vollem Regen hätten wir wahrscheinlich einen viel besseren Speed gehabt, aber die gemischten Bedingungen haben definitiv nicht zu unseren Gunsten funktioniert. Wir hatten Mühe, die Reifen zum Funktionieren zu bringen. Wenn sie funktionierten, waren sie zehn Runden lang gut und dann liessen sie nach, so dass es schwierig war, einen guten Rhythmus zu finden. Zumindest haben wir in der Meisterschaft keine Punkte gegenüber unseren Rivalen verloren.”

We made the decision to start from the pitlane, which was always the intention. On the laps to grid I knocked the front wing off at the pit entry, but the guys did a great job to get the car fixed. The race itself was very tricky in the opening stages, but then we found ourselves in P11 and it was looking really promising, the car and tyres were feeling good. From then, the tyres dropped off, so we boxed for another set of intermediates which didn’t work. None of us were able to push the car to the limit, slipping and sliding around. This weekend wasn’t a lot of fun which is a shame as it is a fantastic circuit and we didn’t get the opportunity to fully appreciate it. A massive congratulations to Lewis, he keeps on delivering and is setting the bar for all of us to chase.

“The race had been going really well. The tires really wore down to the carcass, and when they got to that stage we were really strong. I think we cost ourselves some points today. I guess a tire didn’t come on I guess at the pit stop. I had to stop the car and get pulled back. I lost two laps and that was it really. We had really good speed in the car, so once again it’s very sad that we’ve missed a points opportunity.”

„Es war ein herausfordernder Sonntag nach den starken Qualifikationsergebnissen von gestern. Ich habe das Auto auf dem Weg zur Startaufstellung verloren, aber zum Glück habe ich nur den Frontflügel beschädigt. Die Crew hat einen tollen Job gemacht, ihn zu wechseln und das Auto für den Start des Rennens vorzubereiten. Leider dauerte unser Rennen nicht lange: Wir hatten ein Getriebeproblem und mussten das Auto zurückziehen. Es war ein Tag wie dieser, die Bedingungen waren noch kniffliger als gestern, und am Ende war das Glück nicht auf unserer Seite. Ich freue mich einfach auf das nächste Rennen.“

We had some damage on the car after contact with Romain Grosjean, so we decided to retire. I was getting lapped, but my mirrors were so dirty that I literally couldn’t see behind me. I knew I had to move over but it was difficult to judge where they were. There was no grip out there and therefore you can’t generate tyre temperature, so with the damage on the car, there was no point staying out. There was no part of the race that was enjoyable for me and overall, it was a weekend to forget.

“It was a tricky race as suspected – it was very slippery. We struggled all weekend to generate tire temperature. I didn’t feel very comfortable in the car, or at least I couldn’t really push the way I wanted. There were times in the race it was getting better, other times it wasn’t. Then Nicholas (Latifi) crashed into me which heavily damaged my floor. We retired the car shortly after that. We were struggling in these conditions from the beginning, it was always going to be a hard race. If there were mixed conditions maybe we could have done something, but in a pure wet race it was harder.”