Fahrerstimmen – Tag 3

This is exactly the start we wanted, a one-two finish. I’m incredibly proud that we have achieved this as a Team. I could see early on that we had the pace in the car, I was able to build a gap from the start and then just managed it for the rest of the race, it was a straightforward day for us. It also feels good to finally win in Bahrain, I haven’t had the best history here. Looking ahead to Jeddah, it's a completely different track with different conditions, there’s a lot of long straights and fast corners, so it will give us a completely different picture of where everyone is on the grid but at least this was a very good start for us.

My start wasn’t ideal, Charles was a little too aggressive, pushed me to the right and I did my best to avoid him. That meant my first stint wasn’t ideal, Charles was very strong on that new tyre and it was difficult to get through him quickly enough. I think that’s where I lost out to Max, I was behind him by about 10 or 12 seconds and after that it was game over on catching Max, it was all about getting Charles. It was important to get by him, minimise the damage and get that P2 for the Team. There are a lot of improvements we can still make to try and make our car better, there is still plenty of work going on behind the scenes. On this tarmac we have been very strong but Bahrain is a very unique circuit and things will be closer at other circuits.

This is an incredible result from the entire team and we must enjoy this moment. I am very proud of the job everybody has done. We did not have the best start, but the race pace was strong. The car has been very predictable from day one [of testing] and I have felt very comfortable throughout the whole weekend. I really enjoyed the race and, even after the chequered flag, I felt like I could have driven for another hour! We had some great fights out there today, especially with [Carlos] Sainz and [Lewis] Hamilton. Lewis is a legend of the sport and it was great to have so much respect between us out there. It was also an incredible effort from Lance, who was a hero today for driving so well so soon after his injury to pick up some great points. You can feel the energy in the team: everybody is working flat out at the moment and we are all very motivated. This weekend feels like a dream, but we must stay realistic because this is just one track and the first race. Jeddah is a very different kind of circuit; a very different challenge. I cannot wait to get back in the car.

It was a challenging Sunday. We knew already from testing that it was going to be tough here in Bahrain and now we need to focus on improving for the upcoming races. Time to put our heads down, work hard and see how we can close the gap to the top. It’s only race one, so we’ll keep pushing no matter what.

Wir haben heute unser Bestes gegeben. Wir sind im Moment das viertschnellste Team, und Ferrari sowie Aston, gegen die wir gekämpft haben, waren einfach schneller als wir. Es war für einen Moment knapp mit Sainz, aber ich konnte nicht dranbleiben und er zog in den letzten Runden einfach davon.  Herzlichen Glückwunsch an Fernando und das gesamte Team von Aston Martin. Sie haben heute einen tollen Job gemacht. Das Duell hat für einen  Moment viel Spaß gemacht, aber er war zu schnell. Uns fehlt eine Menge Abtrieb, und wir haben noch viel Arbeit vor uns, um mehr Downforce für das Auto zu finden. Sobald wir diesen an der Vorder- und Hinterachse erzeugen können, können wir unsere Pace erhöhen. Wir müssen einfach weiterarbeiten; wir wissen, dass wir noch nicht da sind, wo wir sein müssten. Ich muss jetzt positiv bleiben, den Kopf oben behalten und das Team weiter pushen. Ich werde für das Team voranschreiten und so viele Punkte wie möglich holen.

It was a fun race and I am super pleased to score good points tonight. It was not the most comfortable race for me, because of the injuries I have been dealing with, but to finish sixth has made it worth enduring all that pain. This is an amazing result for the team and the best way to start the season. Well done to everybody at Silverstone and here at the track. Fernando put in a great drive to take a podium first time out and has really shown the potential of this car. It feels great to be battling with Mercedes. Even with the adrenaline, the pain was the biggest limiting factor in the second half of the race. I must thank everyone who has helped me be in the best shape possible for today. I will now use the coming days ahead of Jeddah to work on recovery.

Uns fehlt es an Performance und wir sind weit von dem entfernt, wo wir sein wollen. Aston Martin ist in diesem Jahr das Überraschungspaket, und unser Rückstand auf Red Bull sowie die vor uns liegenden Teams ist zu groß. Das Positive, das wir mitnehmen können, ist, dass es kein grundsätzliches Problem mit dem Auto gibt, außer dass es ihm an Abtrieb mangelt. So dumm es klingt, aber das ist eines der am einfachsten zu  lösenden Probleme im Vergleich zu dem, was wir letztes Jahr leisten mussten. Wir sind alle hier, um zu gewinnen. Wenn wir einige Rennen oder einen Teil dieser Saison opfern müssen, um uns eine Chance zu geben, in der zweiten Saisonhälfte oder sogar im nächsten Jahr um Siege zu kämpfen, dann werden wir das tun müssen. Wir wissen, dass das Team gut darin ist, das Auto weiterzuentwickeln und Performance zu finden, aber wir sind noch lange nicht da, wo wir sein wollen. Wir müssen schnell mehr Performance finden. Die Strecke in Bahrain ist ein Sonderfall, aber die Performance wird sich von Strecke zu Strecke nicht mehr als drei Zehntel zum Positiven oder Negativen verändern.

I am really pleased with our race tonight: four points are a good reward for the team and show that all the work everyone back at base did during the winter is paying off. We showed we have a good race car and that we can fight with all the teams around us. It was a solid start to our season, but the work is not finished, of course: we have to keep improving, keep pushing – I know everyone in Hinwil is working to bring upgrades to our car. My race was good, a bit quiet at times: the start was really important, making those places on the opening lap was crucial as the cars around us are very well matched and overtaking is not easy. We went out aggressively, both on track and with our strategy, and it was definitely the right thing to do. We also had to be smart and pick our battles, making sure we kept some of our tyres for when we needed it: it turned out to be important at the end, when it got a bit close with Gasly, but in the end we brought it home. It was also important for Zhou to get the fastest lap right at the end to steal the point from our competition – he did a good job and it shows how well we work as a team. P8 was the most we could get tonight and there’s nothing more we could have done.

I’m happy with today’s race and it’s a great way to mark my debut with Alpine. After yesterday’s Qualifying we were all feeling disappointed as that’s not where we aimed to be, so well done to the entire team for their hard work in turning it around for the race. It was always going to be challenging to take points today, but we had confidence in the performance of our race car and we knew we had a chance to score points with a good strategy. We need to continue to work hard, we have a good base and it’s important we now build on that. I know there’s much more to come from us. It was a pity with what happened to Esteban, and we’ll debrief collectively to make sure we’re in a better position to help both cars score points.

In my opinion we were out of position on the grid due to a tricky Qualifying session but we had a really good start, made up some positions off the line and then had our elbows out at a couple of moments during the race. We were strong, we were fighting and our race pace was better than expected. It was a tough race, a lot of management, but we made it work. We’re maybe not quite midfield pace, but we’re close and to get a point in the first race is pretty amazing. I’m super happy and super proud of the team; it was a job well done by everyone at Williams Racing.

The race pace was better than we expected, but at the same time, it’s very frustrating to just miss out on points. The start was the decisive moment as I lost some positions to Williams, and their straight-line speed was too strong for us, so we couldn’t manage to overtake them. I'm happy with my tyre management, although we struggled more than we thought. As soon as we wanted to push, the tyres began to overheat, and I started to slide around and lose the rear. We have more work to do to develop the car so we can consistently fight the midfield, starting with Saudi Arabia. Since we struggled with high-speed performance, Saudi might be difficult, but I’m staying positive as I’m sure the team and I will be able to extract speed from the car to be able to score points.

I absolutely loved every second of my debut race. The first time going off the line was special. I'm proud of the team, I think we outperformed everything we expected coming from testing. Congratulations to Alex and everyone at Williams Racing for scoring the first point of the season. From myself, everything went smoothly from race start to pit-stops to Virtual Safety Car. Hopefully, we can use this as a good base and continue to make progress throughout the year.

I was pleasantly surprised with our race pace. We started P17 but still made up a few positions and it felt like the pace was alright in terms of where we came from. I think we were struggling a lot in testing and on Friday with tire wear and in the race it seemed like we made a step, which is positive. It wasn’t the weekend we dreamed of, but we learned a lot.

I'm pretty satisfied with our race today. Obviously, it could have been better and there is room for improvement, but in terms of performance, our race pace was decent. Given where we started, it was a good day because we could still fight some cars around us. Not pitting under the VSC meant I was driving on the hard compound tyre for the remainder of the race, but ultimately, the mileage and experience will help us for the season. Points weren't possible today, so we'll look ahead to Saudi Arabia, which is a bit quicker, meaning the midfield will look different again. We know there's more work to do, but as a team, we'll continue to work hard on the areas that require improvements to give us a stronger performance moving forward.

It was a tricky race – especially the first half. I had contact with someone on lap one which I didn’t really notice so that was a bit frustrating. I had quite a lot missing from the front wing and lost a lot of load and grip with that, and that made the first half of the race very tough. We tried to hang in there, but I was going through my tires like a hot knife through butter, so we decided there was no point in continuing like that and we pitted for a new front wing. We did a race distance though and got lots of good information, so we’ll definitely take that.

It’s obviously good to see Valtteri scoring points for the team in the season opener, it’s a good starting place for all of us, and I was glad to give my contribution by setting the fastest lap in the closing stages. The car felt better than in qualifying, which shows we’re going in the right direction: we must keep finding these margins to keep improving ahead of the next few races and I know everyone trackside and in Switzerland is working to do it. As for tonight’s race, I suffered a bit of wheelspin in the opening lap, losing a few places and ending stuck in a DRS train for most of the race. The VSC came out at the wrong time and there wasn’t much we could do to improve our position at that stage. Still, there are positives we can get out of this race, as a team, as we head to Saudi Arabia with the knowledge we can fight for the points in every race.

A very tough race. We had a few issues we had to manage, which really took us out of the race but we tried to stay in it for as long as possible, just in case there was a Safety Car or something and we might have had a chance at the end. I think the pace was alright otherwise. Just too many issues today to fight for points, so we’ll go again next time.

We had a great start and everything felt good. We had a solid gap behind us and were managing the pace well until unfortunately, we lost power. It’s a shame and we will look into the causes to make sure we understand what happened.

Today was not our day. Unfortunately, we made too many operational mistakes and it has cost us today. We need to analyse everything, all the details and learn from those quickly. We’ll take it on the chin together as a team and look forward to the next race where I’m sure we’ll come back stronger. On a positive note, our race pace and performance was good and clearly, we had the speed to have both cars inside the points. I’m already looking forward to Jeddah. We’re going there determined to bounce back and get our season underway.

It was disappointing to have finished so soon. We were going quite well, got a decent start and made some good overtakes. I thought up until the electrical problem, we were doing a good job. We’re still working out what the issue is and we hoped changing the steering wheel would fix it but unfortunately it didn’t.
Obviously not the finish to the weekend that I wanted but there are positives to take, and the car seemed to have better pace in the race. I still learned a lot and I’m glad I’ve now made my debut, and experienced some of the F1 race weekend firsts. I’m now looking forward to having a better weekend in Saudi Arabia.