Team reaction after the Hungarian GP (part 2)

Mercedes GP

Michael Schumacher finished the Hungarian Grand Prix in 11th place today whilst Nico Rosberg retired following a pit stop incident.

Nico lost a position at the start and was running in seventh place when he came into the pits on lap 16 following the deployment of the safety car. A problem with the nut on the right rear wheel saw the wheel come loose as Nico went down the pitlane and led to his retirement. With Michael following quickly into the pits, the incident had an impact on his stop, costing valuable track time and despite a battle for tenth place, he ultimately finished outside of the points.

Michael Schumacher: "Today’s race was probably was one of the toughest that I have had so far. It was pretty edgy to drive the car on the limit so I had to fight my way through the race, and at the end, it was like walking on ice. Regarding the overtaking manoeuvre with Rubens, I indicated pretty early that I would move towards the inside and not simply give up the line, and there was just enough space for him to pass me without touching each other. It was a hard fight, and this is what we are here for, but I accept that the FIA stewards saw it as too hard. I look forward to the break now and to coming back out of it stronger in Spa."

Nico Rosberg: "It was a disappointing end to a difficult weekend today. I didn’t have a good start because I was on the dirty side and I was struggling to find the pace to keep up with Petrov, so it would have been tough to make up much ground. We needed to have a good pit stop to stay ahead of Kubica but unfortunately we had the problem with the right rear wheel. It’s disappointing to have my first retirement of the season but these things happen and we will learn from the experience. After I heard that my tyre hit big Nige, one of my old Williams truckies, I was more concerned about my tyre than him! But seriously, it’s great that he doesn’t have any serious injures and I’m sorry for the incident. We’ll come back in Spa ready to do better."

Ross Brawn: "Today was very disappointing for the team but sometimes these experiences happen and it is important that we learn from them. Nico and Michael struggled with their starts from the dirty side of the grid and it certainly cost Nico a place. The early safety car brought everyone in for their pit stops with our drivers due in quick succession. We had a problem with the right rear wheel during Nico’s stop and his car was sent without the wheel nut being properly fitted. We will have a thorough investigation into the incident and report our conclusions to the FIA. We are thankful that no serious harm was caused by the stray wheel and send our best wishes to the Williams mechanic who was unfortunately injured. Michael’s stop followed just under five seconds later and he was held whilst we sorted out the problem to ensure there was not a reoccurrence. This cost him a lot of track time at a crucial point and he came out down the field. Michael and Rubens had a tough battle in the closing laps which the stewards ultimately felt was too tough. We don’t necessarily agree with their decision but we do accept the penalty. It’s been a tough weekend but we will go away, lick our wounds and come back stronger at the next few races."

Norbert Haug: "A very disappointing result for our team. Nico and Michael were not able to score points due to problems during their pit stops. Thankfully the mechanic who was hit by the tyre was quickly released from his check-up in the medical centre and our apologies to him and the Williams team. Our pace was not great but we should have scored points which ultimately, due to the above mentioned problems, we did not. We now have a well deserved summer break for our hard-working team and we will try to do better in Spa."

Toro Rosso Ferrari

Sebastien Buemi: “My start was not great, but not too bad. On the way down to the first corner Michael (Schumacher) pushed me over to the left side and I had to go on the brakes, or I would have gone off the track and I don’t think it was very fair on his part. Then I had to try and fight back as I was behind a Lotus, although I was able to overtake Trulli quite easily. After the Safety Car period, I found myself behind Michael. I should have passed him when he came out of the pits on the Prime tyre, but I was not quick enough and I was unable to get ahead of him, spending most of the race in that position. Maybe if I had managed that, the point for tenth might have been within our reach. Then, towards the end of the race, I had some tyre degradation so I could no longer keep up with him. It was always going to be difficult to score points, but all the same finishing twelfth is rather disappointing.”

Jaime Alguersuari: “A very short race for me and I am not sure what the problem was, as I saw no alarms on my dash. I felt that I was beginning to lose torque and power and the pit wall told me to stop the car at the side of the track. I saw a lot of smoke and I realised I was losing some fluid, so I tried to stay off the racing line so as not to cause problems for the others. It was not the best way to celebrate the first anniversary of my Formula 1 debut.”

Force India Mercedes

The Force India F1 Team has finished the 2010 Hungarian Grand Prix with Tonio Liuzzi in 13th position. Tonio finished three places up from his starting position but unfortunately could not move up any further on the notoriously difficult to overtake Hungaroring.

Adrian Sutil did not finish the race after a frustrating pitlane accident. Adrian pitted under the safety car on lap 14 but was taken out by the Renault of Robert Kubica, which had been released from its own pit stop. Kubica piled into the side of Adrian, causing significant damage to the right rear of the VJM03. He retired on the spot.

The team maintains its sixth position in the constructors’ championship going into the ’summer break’ period before the Belgian Grand Prix.

Adrian Sutil: Things were going pretty well to begin with - I made up two positions at the start and was running behind the Sauber of de la Rosa. I was actually quicker than him but just couldn’t find a way past as making an opportunity is very hard on this track. Then the safety car came out and I got called into the pits. I was driving into my area when suddenly the Renault came out in front of me. There wasn’t anything I could do, they released him into my path and I just crashed into him and my car was damaged too badly to continue. It was definitely unsafe from their part. A real shame it’s my first DNF since Australia and it’s even more disappointing as it for sure wasn’t our issue.

Tonio Liuzzi: A tough race, as starting from that far behind it’s difficult to make up positions, but we showed a good pace and were close to the points. We lost a piece of the front wing at the first corner, which caused a lot of understeer, and then I had to come in for a change eventually, which dropped me back behind the field. With the soft tyres we were fast but then lost a lot of time behind the Toro Rosso, who was actually struggling much more than me. Even so I just couldn’t find a way to overtake. I tried hard until the last lap but there was just no chance. It’s been a difficult weekend, missing out on the points, but we confirmed we are competitive and always have the potential to score points. We also have some tracks coming up that should suit us better and I hope that from Spa onwards we should show a much more positive trend.

Dr Vijay Mallya, chairman and team principal: A difficult race, but we probably got as much as we could from it from Tonio’s side. The pace was good but he just couldn’t find a way past on the twisty track. Adrian was very unfortunate to be taken out by the Renault, and it’s very frustrating from our side as we would have had a good chance of picking up some points without that incident. Ultimately we’ve missed the points again, but we’ve got some tracks coming up that should suit us a lot better so we’ve got to keep looking forwards and focussed on maximising every opportunity.

Lotus Cosworth

Lotus Racing enjoyed an excellent day in the heat of the Hungarian Grand Prix with Heikki Kovalainen finishing 14th and Jarno Trulli just behind in 15th. A very exciting race, full of incidents throughout the grid, saw the Anglo / Malaysian squad firmly consolidate their position at the top of the new team chart, sending the team into the summer break full of confidence for the challenges that lay ahead when the Championship reconvenes in late August.

Heikki Kovalainen: “A great day for the team, and a great job from everyone to get us home in 14th and 15th. I think that was the maximum we could have hoped for, so we’re all really pleased. Despite starting behind Timo we were confident we could overtake him, and that’s how it panned out. My own race was fairly straightforward. I dropped a few places at the start but when the safety car came in I was brought straight in to pit and it worked out well as I jumped a couple of guys ahead. From then I was controlling my pace to the end, and making sure I didn’t make any mistakes. We head into the break very satisfied with how we performed today, and that’s great for the whole team.”

Jarno Trulli: “It’s a great day for the team. All weekend I’ve been strong, and today’s two car finish shows how hard the team’s been working. I made a very good start and managed to gain three places, and once I got ahead of Timo it was pretty comfortable staying in front. I lost out to Heikki in the strategy call during the safety car period, but that was in the best interests of the team, and as we are again ahead of our nearest rivals, we’ve achieved what we set out to today.”

Mike Gascoyne, Chief Technical Officer: “An excellent two car finish and once again we’re the best of the new teams. Both drivers drove strong races and Jarno had a particularly good start. Once the safety car came out we made a strategy call to keep Jarno out as we knew it would be a short period behind the safety car and this was the right strategy for the team. Unfortunately this meant Jarno lost a place to his teammate, so apologies to him, but we got the call right for the team. Heikki drove a good strong race to the end. He was bottled up behind Di Grassi at the start, but once he’d got past he was very comfortable running to the flag. All in all a really good result, and a very good day for the team.”

Kamarudin Meranun, Deputy Team Principal: “It was a very exciting race and moments like this are the ones you want to cherish. We made a very good decision with Heikki when the safety car came out, and both he and Jarno drove really well to keep their positions to the end. It’s a great day for the team, and I’ve just given Tony a challenge – let’s see you beat that next time you’re on the pitwall!”

Virgin Racing Cosworth

For race day temperatures returned to something closer to normal for the Hungarian summer and the sun shone all day, meaning that the race would be held in different conditions to those where the set-up had been determined. Virgin Racing had high hopes for a strong finish, as Timo had qualified fastest of the new teams, but starting on the dirty side of the grid meant that he was unable to capitalise on this.

Lucas made a good start though and he looked as though he would be able to benefit from a quick pitstop by the team when the Safety Car came out in order that some debris could be retrieved from the track. The pitlane was transformed into a hive of activity as most of the Option-shod drivers rushed to the pits where a number of the teams encountered difficulties. Lucas was also a victim of bad luck when there was a problem with the fitting of the left rear in his first pitstop and he was forced to drive slowly round to assess the problem and have a further new set of tyres fitted, which compromised his race.

From this point the race stabilised, with Timo circulating in formation with the two Lotuses, the gap between them determined mainly by the blue flags. Timo finished 16th, with Lucas two places behind, and although the team is pleased to have both cars finish, there is a strong sense of unfulfilled promise and a determination to put the record straight when we return after the summer break at Spa Francorchamps in Belgium.

Timo Glock: “I had a great start but I took the wrong line into the first corner, going round the outside when the inside would have worked out better and I lost several places. When the Safety Car came out I had to queue behind Lucas in the pits because he was first in. After the Safety Car I was behind Kovalainen and then Trulli pitted later and came out straight in front of me and we had a bit of a battle into turn one. Then I just tried to follow Lotus but with all the blue flags I couldn’t help but drop back and ended up finishing 16th. However, we finished the race with both cars and had an otherwise strong weekend and I think everyone is ready to enjoy the summer break now. Thanks to everyone in the team for all their hard work so far and I’m sure we can look forward to some good results in the rest of the season. I’m having a week’s holiday and the rest of the break will be taken up with training, so that we all come back ready for action again in Spa.”

Lucas di Grassi: “I had a very good first lap and I was running just behind Trulli and in front of Kovalainen. When the Safety Car came out we decided to pit. It was the perfect strategy move as it put me ahead of the new team cars, but unfortunately there was a problem with one of the wheels and I had to come in again on the next lap for another stop. This put me a lap down and my race was effectively over, so all I could do was push the car to the limit and in doing so I was able to secure the fastest lap of the new teams. This just underlines how far our car has progressed but I am disappointed that I wasn’t able to get more from the race today. Now we have the summer break and I’m heading home to Brazil to spend some time with my family and friends. I’d like to thank the team for all their hard work so far and I hope they have a good rest and we can all come back and take the fight to Lotus in the last seven races.”

John Booth, Team Principal: “This isn’t the result we were hoping for as we had an excellent weekend up until the race and a car good enough to finish ahead of the other new teams today. But we take away from Hungary the same sense of satisfaction at the underlying car performance that we have enjoyed for the past few races and the knowledge that there’s more of that to come in the remaining seven races. For now though our team head off on the summer break and to say that is richly deserved is something of an understatement. We have come so far since March and the guys have done an incredible job. I’m very proud of our team and I know there will be even more to come when we return to the track to race in Spa in four weeks’ time.”

Nick Wirth, Technical Director: “The results don’t lie and the combination of getting boxed in at the start, plus a pitstop problem effectively put us behind and once there, the nature of this track plus the blue flags meant that any possibility of finishing higher was over after the safety car. Still, we leave here with a lot of positive feelings - we are clearly performing at a good level now and the fact that we ended qualifying and the race with clearly the fastest laps of the new teams and a solid and reliable two-car finish gives us a good platform for the next phase of the season, where we must continue this trend of improving performance”

HRT F1 Cosworth

Hispania Racing, HRT F1 Team was able to finish the race with two cars for the fifth time of the season today at the Hungarian Grand Prix. Bruno Senna and Sakon Yamamoto made no mistakes and thanks to the good job the whole team did, they were able to finish 17th and 19th respectively. Taking into account that the Hungaroring is a high downforce circuit, it was a very positive result for the Spanish team.

Dr Colin Kolles, Team Principal: “We are very happy about another double car finish here in Hungary. Our performance was much better than yesterday’s and we could improve a lot. The gap to the other teams was smaller than expected and during the safety car period and the following pit stops, we could even win a position. We decided to work on different strategies. Bruno Senna started on option tyres and changed to prime tyres at the pit stops while Sakon Yamamoto used first the prime tyres and changed then to the option tyres. It was a good result for our team again and everyone did a great job this weekend. Now we are having a summer break and after it, we want to tie in this positive result.”

Sakon Yamamoto:
“I am happy for the team which achieved its target of a two-car finish. We decided to have a different tyre strategy as we started on prime tyres. This was good because we could get different data, which we can use in preparation for the next races. We are going to have a summer break in which I’d like to have a good preparation for the following races.”

Bruno Senna: “Our performance was better than in yesterday’s qualifying. It was a difficult race and to compete with the other teams was very difficult. But in the end, both cars finished the race and I want to thank the team, who did a good job. Now, we are all looking forward to the summer break and to compete again in the next races.”