Buddh - Team reaction after the race

Caterham Renault

Vitaly Petrov: “I had a pretty good start and was pretty quickly up with Heikki and holding pace with him and the cars ahead until the first stops. The pace and degradation levels were both really good on the first set of tyres so we opted to go longer and changed strategy from two to one stops. I came out just behind my teammate and then passed him when he had a KERS problem – after that I was up to 15th but with a few laps to go a couple of quicker cars behind passed me and I finished up 17th. Despite that it was a good race. The car felt great all afternoon and everyone’s worked really hard all weekend. We have some new parts coming next week in Abu Dhabi so let’s see what happens there.”

Heikki Kovalainen: “My start was good. I was up to 17th after the first lap and keeping pace with Kobayashi and the pack ahead as we pulled away from the cars behind. We had planned to do two stops but with the way the car was performing we went long on the first stint and switched to a one stop, boxing just after halfway. I had a good stop but about two thirds of the way through the race I had a KERS problem which meant I had to let Vitaly pass. From there it was really just a matter of getting my car to the end of the race. Losing KERS obviously didn’t help but it was still pretty easy to pull away from the cars behind and without that problem I’m sure I’d have finished higher. Now we look ahead to next week’s race where we’ll have a few updates on the car and maybe those will help us close the gap to the cars ahead enough to help us fight for longer on race day.”

Toro Rosso Ferrari

Daniel Ricciardo: “It was quite an eventful first lap. I was on the dirty side of the grid, but to be honest I did the best I could with the grip level I had. It was not enough for me to keep my position as Di Resta got ahead of me and I passed Schumacher who had a problem after Turn 1. There was some chaos at Turn 4 and I was three wide with Di Resta and Senna going into Turn 5, but I was on the outside and had to back off. I tried to push hard after that during my first stint, but I did not have a very good feeling on the Prime and was a bit off the pace. After I made my single stop to fit the Option, the car felt much better and was able to get into a good rhythm and was pushing and pushing. But it was not enough to catch Di Resta and towards the end I had to defend from Kobayashi. So, not exactly an exciting race but we can try again in just a few days in Abu Dhabi.”

Jean-Eric Vergne: “Immediately after the lights went out, I was caught up in a bit of a sandwich and had to brake harder and earlier than I wanted to. That meant I locked my wheels and made contact with the back of Schumacher’s car. It broke my front wing, so I had to pit and my race was more or less over after that. I continued to push as hard as I could, trying to do good lap times, but the performance of my car has not really been that great this weekend. In one way, it’s a race to forget, but in another sense, we have to see what we can learn from it, so that we arrive in better shape in Abu Dhabi. We have seen that, even when races are just one week apart, it doesn’t mean one’s performance is going to be the same at both of them, so we can be optimistic about the next round.”

Franz Tost: “Both our drivers lost the chance to score points after difficulties on the first lap. In Jean-Eric’s case it was more serious as he was involved in a collision with Schumacher and we had to bring him in to change the front wing, which dropped him down the order, while Daniel lost a place to Di Resta off the line. The overall pace of our car was not too bad during the rest of the race, running at the same rate as Di Resta and Senna. However, both our guys were stuck in the traffic and that meant an end to our run of three consecutive points finishes. If we can find a good set-up in a few days time in Abu Dhabi, then maybe we can aim for another top ten finish there.”

Sauber Ferrari

The Indian Grand Prix was a real disappointment for the Sauber F1 Team. Sergio Pérez, who qualified eighth, retired after 20 laps. Kamui Kobayashi, who had started 17th, finished 14th on the Buddh International Circuit. A lack of straight-line speed didn’t allow for proper overtaking.

Kamui Kobayashi: “I have to say it wasn’t our weekend here. In the race I was never alone, I always had someone in front of me but not enough straight line pace to overtake. This was frustrating. I was stuck behind Daniel Ricciardo and there was nothing I could do. The issue with Pastor Maldonado was a bit strange. He had overtaken me but then he suddenly came on my racing line again. I could not avoid having contact. I think we should make sure we have a smooth weekend in Abu Dhabi and forget about this one here.”

Sergio Pérez: “Today was a total disappointment. First of all I had to pit after 14 laps because the front left tyre was blistering badly. We don’t know yet why this happened. I wanted to recover the lost positions but touched Daniel Ricciardo’s front wing when I overtook him. The rear right tyre came off the rim and damaged something at the rear of the car. So my race was over after 20 laps.”

Monisha Kaltenborn, Team Principal: “A disappointing race. Kamui fought hard but his grid position was too much of a handicap. Sergio made a good start but then had unexpected problems with his front left tyre. After an early pit stop he had a puncture and was forced to stop because the car felt strange. Our goal to fight for fifth position in the constructors’ championship will now be more difficult to achieve.”

Giampaolo Dall’Ara, Head of Track Engineering: “Sergio’s speed was as expected, but then he had to stop early because the front left tyre had blisters and we had to change to a two stop strategy. He went out on another set of soft tyres, but then had contact with Daniel Ricciardo’s car and had a puncture. After his second pit stop he reported problems with the rear of the car and we decided to retire him. Kamui had to start too far behind and, although he had better pace than Daniel, he was not able to overtake him and lost too much time in the first part of the race. Kamui was not able to recover from that.”

HRT F1 Cosworth

After the two days practice sessions at the Indian Grand Prix, HRT Formula 1 Team held high expectations for today’s race, but the seventeenth event of the season didn’t go as well as expected. Issues with overheating of the brakes, which was thought to be something of the past, resurfaced and impeded Narain Karthikeyan from finishing above 21st in front of his home crowd and Pedro de la Rosa from finishing the Grand Prix.

Despite the fact that Karthikeyan and de la Rosa got off to good starts, the Spanish driver moving up to seventeenth, the problem was detected on the third lap and both drivers had to give away ground to control the temperature of the brakes and complete the 60 laps. Karthikeyan, with a very good race pace on the hard tyres, finished in 21st whilst de la Rosa’s brakes failed with fifteen laps to go and was unable to finish the race.

With no time to lose, the team heads to Abu Dhabi where the third from last race of the season will take place.

Pedro de la Rosa: "It’s a shame that I had to retire because the car was running well on the hard tyres but, with no warning, the brakes failed. This circuit is very demanding with three consecutive hard braking corners and with the high temperatures this can happen but the important thing is that I’m fine and the car isn’t too damaged for Abu Dhabi. We have to understand why this failure occurred and fix it because Abu Dhabi is another challenging circuit for the brakes”.

Narain Karthikeyan: "I got off to a good start but had an incident on the first corner and lost a chunk of my front wing. The damage wasn’t too severe but we had problems with the balance of the car from then on. But the greatest problem was the overheating of the brakes. They warned me on the radio that I had to look after them because we had to make it to the end. And we did that. Today we got the most out of what we had and I’m happy to have finished my home race”.

Luis Pérez-Sala, Team Principal: "It was a tough race, especially at the beginning, because of the overheating of the brakes. Something which we weren’t expecting to have at this circuit. From the start we were running to the limit temperature-wise and we had to reduce our pace a bit. We improved from then on and maintained our pace but towards the end Pedro had a brake failure and was unable to finish. Narain also had a complicated race but at least was able to finish in front of his home fans and that’s the most positive thing”.

Mercedes AMG

Nico Rosberg finished the Indian Grand Prix in 11th place today with team-mate Michael Schumacher classified in P22.
— Nico completed a one-stop strategy, running soft then hard tyres, and made his pit stop on lap 27
— Michael suffered a first lap right-rear puncture after contact with another car at the first corner
— He made two stops on laps one and 33, starting the race on the hard tyre, then running two sets of soft tyres

Nico Rosberg: Finishing just outside of the points is always tough, and it was a hard afternoon for us out there. Starting with new tyres, I hoped to be able to make up a couple of places but we just didn’t have the pace so I had to keep fighting off the cars coming from behind me. It’s a difficult time for us but we are learning for next year so that’s one positive thing.
Michael Schumacher
That was a pretty unsatisfactory race today. It was effectively over just after the start; I lost so much time getting back to the pits with the puncture that any hope of scoring points was gone. In the meantime, the pace was pretty good but I was too far behind to make up more than a few positions. In the end, we had to retire the car for technical reasons.

Ross Brawn: We are racing in a closely-matched field this season, where a few tenths of a second in lap time make a significant difference to your position. At the moment, we are on the wrong end of those precious tenths and that once again left us outside the points this afternoon. Nico made his one-stop strategy work well, looking after his tyres so that he still had reasonable speed at the end of both stints, but otherwise he had a relatively quiet race. As for Michael, the contact at the first corner made it an uphill battle for him from turn two onwards, and left him at the back of the field. However, by running two stints on the option tyre, he was able to show respectable speed at some points of the race. We brought his car in before the end of the race as a precaution after we became aware of some gearbox concerns.

Norbert Haug: Michael suffered contact on the opening lap, which caused a puncture and put him to the back of the field after his pit stop. He retired the car with a gearbox issue five laps before the finish. As for Nico, his car didn´t have the speed to score points after starting from 10th position. We have a lot of work to do and everybody in the team is well aware of it.

Williams Renault

Race Notes
— Bruno Senna made his one-stop strategy work, overtaking Nico Rosberg to finish in tenth position and claim one world championship point.
— Pastor looked set to finish in the points, but his race was hindered by a right-rear puncture after contact with Kobayashi, and eventually finished in 16th.
— The Williams-Renault FW34 has shown a clear improvement in pace this weekend and the team will be looking to build on this result in Abu Dhabi next weekend.

Mark Gillan, Chief Operations Engineer: We are pleased to see that the race pace is strong once more with Bruno coming home in tenth even though our race was ultimately compromised with traffic and Pastor’s race effectively finished when he picked up a rear puncture when Kobayashi made contact with him in Turn 5 on lap 31.

Bruno Senna: We had a strong car in the race and after a disappointing qualifying yesterday, getting a point means that I am happy with today’s performance. It was a fun race because I was fighting with cars that were very similar on pace so I had to make my overtaking manoeuvres stick, and so that was very satisfying. The car has felt much better this weekend so we will head to the next race with a lot more confidence.

Pastor Maldonado: The car was feeling good today and I was confident that I was going to score points, but my race was effectively over when I was hit and picked up a puncture which put me towards the back and lost me a lot of time. It was a very unlucky race for me in the end, but we can take some positives in the fact that the pace of the car has improved and we should be more competitive for the final three races of the season.
Laurent Debout, Renault Sport F1 team support leader: Tenth position for Bruno is at least one point, but everyone expected more from the race. It was a shame that Pastor lost some time with the puncture as the car has been quick this weekend. We’ll hope to get two cars in the points in Abu Dhabi.

Lotus Renault

Kimi Räikkönen took seventh while Romain Grosjean finished ninth in a solid but frustrating Indian Grand Prix where both drivers finished right behind the cars ahead. Kimi maintains third position in the Drivers’ Championship on 173 points ; 54 away from Fernando Alonso ahead and six in front of Mark Webber behind. The team remains fourth in the Constructors’ Championship on 263 points ; 43 behind McLaren and an increased 127 in front of Mercedes.

— Kimi started on soft tyres, pitting on lap 27 for a set of new hards.
— Romain started on hard tyres, pitting on lap 36 for a set of new softs.

Kimi Räikkönen: "I had a very good car today but I just couldn’t do anything with it as I was not able to pass on the straight. It was quite disappointing but that’s how it goes. We put ourselves in that position yesterday with the set-up we chose for qualifying and we paid the price today. We had the speed but not in the right place and when you are behind someone there’s not much you can do. Hopefully in the next race we can be a bit more smart and use our race speed to take some more Championship points."

Romain Grosjean: "Finishing 9th after starting from 12th is good but we could have done even better. That said, I think it was a very good race from myself, my engineers, and the crew during the pit stops. We did everything we could ; everybody was working at 100% but today we were lacking some speed in a straight line which makes it impossible to overtake. I pushed on every lap - it was like 90 minutes of qualifying - and gave everything to get the best performance from the car, so I’m very happy."

Eric Boullier, Team Principal: "Like every race, qualifying is obviously the key to get good points so yesterday’s performance defined our race. Unfortunately Kimi was unable to overtake Felipe and stayed stuck behind. I think we had the pace to be a little bit better and get nearer the front. We clearly need to work on qualifying and make sure we do a better job. We know our car is strong in the race and I think both drivers today did the job we were expecting. The team did a great job on the pit stop strategy so we cannot complain. Let’s just say we’re frustrated that we didn’t do a little bit better."

Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director: "Both drivers reported that their cars were excellent during the race, which was good. The downside was that Kimi spent the whole race looking at the back of Massa’s car and Romain was held up for around four laps whilst Michael (Schumacher) received blue flags ahead of him. This circuit is pretty difficult to overtake on ; even though there’s a very long straight, the DRS zone isn’t actually that long. It was clear we were definitely faster than the cars ahead, just not sufficiently faster to overtake."

Ricardo Penteado, Renault Sport F1 Team Support Leader: "A double points finish is a good result today. We worked very hard with the team to optimise the Coand_ exhaust system and we have made some good progress in this area. In this respect it’s been a very positive weekend and we hope to build on this momentum in a week’s time in Abu Dhabi."

McLaren Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton: “I don’t yet understand why I got such a poor start – it lost me ground and then I fell under attack from the guys behind. During the first lap, I was primarily focusing on not colliding with Jenson, then I saw Fernando [Alonso] in my right mirror. He was towing me from very far back. Even if I’d had a better start than I did, the guys in front were still maybe a bit too fast, particularly in the first stint.

“During that first stint I started having a downshift problem – I was having to change down with my right hand instead of my left, so the team elected to change the steering wheel at the pitstop.

“I’ve never had to change a steering wheel during a race before. We’ve done it in Barcelona testing before, but never in a race. Even so, the guys did it fantastically quickly, under immense pressure, so I want to say ‘well done!’ to them all. I took the wheel off before I’d even stopped the car, and threw it out of the car. The team then fitted a new one, I clicked it into first gear, and I was away – all in just a bit over three seconds flat.

“I tried to chase down Mark [Webber] in the closing laps, but by then it was too late and he was going too quickly for me to be able to mount a serious challenge. But I never give up, and, right until the very last corner, I thought I might just be able to catch him, but in the end it wasn’t to be.

“Still, I loved it out there today – I can’t remember the last time I’ve pushed so far, so hard, for so long, right on the limit – it felt great. It felt fantastic, in fact, to be in the middle of such a battle.

“I’m so proud of all the guys in the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team, too – it was a really great race.”

Jenson Button: “The start of the race was my highlight – there were just millimetres between Lewis, Fernando and me. I’ve never had a start quite like that before – unbelievably hard-fought – and none of us hit each other. It was so close, so tight, yet so clean. It’s just a pity that the rest of the race wasn’t as enjoyable!

“My first stint was pretty disappointing; I think maybe we struggled more on the Options [tyres] than the other runners did, so I couldn’t keep the guys behind me. I then made my pitstop earlier than anticipated, so that we could find a better balance on the harder tyre, but that didn’t work out because I got stuck behind Romain [Grosjean], which lost me more time.

“But getting fastest lap on the final lap was great, and I think there’s plenty of potential that we can build on and take with us to Abu Dhabi next weekend.”

Martin Whitmarsh, Team principal: “We scored 22 world championship points here today, but we’d hoped to score quite a few more than that.

“We found it difficult to coax sufficient pace out of the Options, but our car was the fastest in the field on the Primes. The trouble was, by the time we were running on Primes, the gap to the cars ahead was a bit too large. Even so, Lewis pushed as hard as he possibly could in the closing stages, carving chunks out of the gap between him and Mark ahead, and, if the race had been just a few laps longer, I’m certain he’d have fancied his chances of getting past.

“Jenson, too, drove superbly, in difficult conditions, losing quite a bit of time while stuck behind Romain, but he made as rapid progress as Lewis did once he’d got onto Primes. Indeed, he drove the fastest lap of the race on the very last lap. It was McLaren’s 150th fastest lap in world championship grand prix racing, incidentally.
“Finally, here’s another stat for the train-spotters out there: today, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes tied Ferrari’s all-time record of 55 consecutive world championship grands prix in the points. We started that run in Australia in 2010, which race Jenson won for us of course; indeed, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes has scored points in every single grand prix since Jenson joined our team.
“In Abu Dhabi, in a week’s time, we’ll be seeking to establish a new benchmark: 56 consecutive world championship grands prix in the points. In fact, of course, we’ll be aiming to do a bit more than that: there are three grands prix still to run this season, and you can be well sure that everyone at Vodafone McLaren Mercedes will be doing his or her level best to win as many of them as we possibly can.”

Marussia Cosworth

The Marussia F1 Team’s Charles Pic leaves the Buddh International Circuit this evening ‘delh-ighted’ with what turned out to be a very strong Indian Grand Prix for the Frenchman. He put a frustrating qualifying result to one side and set his sights firmly on the race, putting down his first marker in Turn 1 when he displaced no fewer than five cars in the first corner melée, including the Caterham of Vitaly Petrov.

Unable to hold off the advancing KERS-powered competition, he was forced to acquiesce, but he kept in touch with them for the whole race, notwithstanding the fact that the Team, like many others today, experienced very high fuel consumption which prevented both drivers from pushing to the max. Charles delivered some impressive sector and lap times throughout the race. In S2 he was consistently quicker than the cars ahead and competitive in S3, further demonstrating how adept the Team have become at improving overall lap time to compensate for the KERS deficit presented by the long straights of the last two races.

Timo had a tough race, which was compromised with effect from the first corner incident. He struggled with the tyres later in the first stint because of this and had to contend with too many blue flags to be able to recover.

Charles Pic: “It was a great race for me, especially after a disappointing qualifying yesterday. We didn’t get the chance to show our pace then, but we did today and I am very happy for that. I got a very good start and made up five places at Turn 1 and for the first lap, getting ahead of Petrov. They have the advantage of KERS though, so it wasn’t long before he was able to pass, but for the rest of the race we stayed with the Caterhams and as the race played out I was catching up to Kovalainen. In the last few laps we were constantly having to back off for the blue flags, which lost us time and meant that we were unable to show that we could catch Heikki, but for sure the pace is there. A great stop by the crew today and very good work by the engineers and mechanics all weekend, especially to help us reverse our fortunes after qualifying. I am very happy and looking forward to continuing this in Abu Dhabi next weekend, where I will be back at a circuit I know well and where it all went so well for me in the Young Driver Test last year. I am hoping for another positive outcome there.”

Timo Glock: “It was a very strange race for me today. I was in the wrong place at Turn 1 and lost a couple of positions to HRT. Then I was stuck behind Petrov for quite a lot of laps and by that time the other guys were all gone. Generally though I struggled with the pace today; on Friday the car felt much better on the long runs. I also suffered quite a lot of vibration on my front right tyre, especially in S2, and from 25 laps in I had too many blue flags to contend with. The same at the end. Because of this you just lose more and more time and it is impossible to recover. I’m looking forward to Abu Dhabi though and what I hope will be a better race for us.”

John Booth, Team Principal: “A fantastic job by Charles today to reverse his fortunes following a frustrating qualifying result. He had the measure of all the cars affected by the first corner incident and he was able to get ahead of Petrov and hold a gap to him for quite some time. Unfortunately we were ‘out-KERS’d’ and Charles was unable to hold station for long. Nonetheless, once Petrov got past, Charles kept pace with the Caterhams and were it not for the last few blue flags he would have finished within 5.0s of Heikki. As was the case with a few other cars today, we were caught out by increased fuel consumption in the race and this did limit our ability to push.

“Timo had a less than optimum day sadly. The first corner incident hurt his race significantly and as a consequence he was stuck behind the HRTs for quite a while. He did a good job to clear them as soon as possible, however the time spent trying to pass them didn’t help his first stint tyres as the race progressed, given that we were running to a one-stop strategy. We also had an issue with the rear jack in his pitstop and unfortunately this compromised him further; when he rejoined the track he went straight into a significant blue flag spell. We haven’t had a perfect weekend by any means and yet we take some comfort from the fact that we have still been able to achieve our objective of staying in touch with the competition. It’s another back-to-back situation now and as we head to the Middle East our focus will be firmly on achieving a more typically slick weekend so we can reveal more of our true potential versus the cars ahead.”

Force India Mercedes

Sahara Force India secured four important points on home ground today as Nico Hulkenberg finished the Indian Grand Prix in a strong eighth place. Teammate Paul Di Resta made up four places in the race to finish in P12, ensuring a two-car finish in the team’s home race.

Nico Hulkenberg: “I’m very happy with the result today and I think eighth was about the maximum that was possible. It was a great team performance and I’m feeling satisfied with what we achieved today. At the start I didn’t get the best getaway, but I had a good first lap and was able to overtake Rosberg on the back straight and Maldonado going into turn four. The middle part of the race was quite lonely for me because I was running in clean air, but towards the end Grosjean was very close behind me and pushing me hard. But I didn’t crack under the pressure, I kept him behind and we made the one-stop strategy work. You could really feel the support for the team today in the grandstands and it’s great that we could score points for them.”

Paul di Resta: “It was quite a tough afternoon, but I think that we achieved all we could from the race because I couldn’t get any more out of the car today. I drove as hard as I could and was pushing all the way. We were in the hunt battling with Rosberg and Senna, but I didn’t really get close enough to challenge them. To be honest I’ve struggled to find the ideal balance with the car all weekend. We identified a few issues in the data last night, but they carried over into the race. I’m pretty sure the team can get on top of them and be more competitive when we get to Abu Dhabi next week.”

Dr Vijay Mallya, Team Principal & Managing Director: “I’m delighted to see Sahara Force India score points at our home race – for the second year in a row. After qualifying we knew we had a big task ahead of us, but Nico rose to the challenge and raced well to finish in eighth place. It’s a very satisfying result and it means we have scored points in the last six races – that’s every race since the summer break. These are important points for our fight in the constructors’ championship and we will continue to push very hard in the remaining three races. Paul also battled hard in the race, moving up four places, but it was difficult for him to challenge for points in the end. Overall it’s been another great Indian Grand Prix. The circuit is a magnificent venue for motor racing and the Buddh International Circuit has once again delivered a fantastic event which we have all enjoyed immensely.”

Red Bull Renault

Sebastian Vettel: “All in all, it was a very good race for us and I’m happy with the result. I had a good start, Mark had a better one and it was close in Turn 1, but I had a good exit from Turn 3 and got ahead. I was able to open a gap, which was important. I felt very good on the soft tryes and was competitive, I could have stayed out even longer I think, but at some stage you have to cover. McLaren and Ferrari were quick on the hard tyre today, so it was important to have a gap to them. I saw some sparks at the end from the car, but we saw a lot of cars throwing sparks this weekend, and we joined them. It was a great day for us and an important step.”

Mark Webber: “We had a KERS issue that we had to manage. It’s maybe hard for people watching to know what it affects on the car, its power on the straight obviously, but also managing brake balances and those sort of things. The guys were trying to help me get the KERS to recover and were talking with me on the radio. In addition, when you have a one-stop race, it’s always a chance you have a front-right lock up. As the fronts are very important you need to look after them which can affect the rhythm a little bit, but I tried to stay as cool as possible. Overall, I was pretty happy with how I drove; we should have finished further up the road, but it’s the way it was today.”

Christian Horner, Team Principal: “A fantastic performance by both drivers today. Sebastian drove an immaculate race and really controlled the race from start to finish, leading every single lap. Mark initially settled into what looked like a comfortable second, before we started to experience problems with the KERS around lap 20. We had to turn the system off initially then reinstate it in a reduced state of power, which unfortunately allowed Fernando get close enough after the stop. We saw the DRS was particularly powerful here. Mark drove incredibly well to keep Hamilton behind him for the remaining laps. We finished three points off a maximum score in the Constructors’ Championship, which consolidates our lead, while Sebastian pulled out a further seven points on Fernando in the Drivers’. With three races to go, we still need to take every race one at a time, but it’s fantastic to win for a second time in India and it’s remarkable for Sebastian to have won four races in succession. He’s led every single lap of the Indian GP since it started in 2011.”

Cyril Dumont, Renault: “Again, an incredible race today and it was a good showing from both drivers. It was a shame that Mark had a KERS issue during the race as we could have maybe got a one-two again this weekend. Renault has something to celebrate again today, as we got our 150th win after achieving our 200th pole at the last race. I would like to congratulate everyone from Renault and Viry-Châtillon of course and from Mecachrome, as from nearly 500 races we have won 150, which is a strong rate. A big thank you and congratulations to everyone involved”

Ferrari

Scuderia Ferrari comes away from the Indian Grand Prix with twenty six points, thanks to a second place for Fernando Alonso and a sixth for Felipe Massa. It was Fernando’s tenth visit to the podium this season and the eleventh for the team. The Spaniard is now thirteen points down on the leader in the championship, while Felipe, with a seventh consecutive points finish, out of eleven this season, has consolidated his ninth place. Ferrari now has a ten point advantage over the third placed team in the Constructors’ classification, while the leader is 91 points ahead.

Stefano Domenicali: “What a race that was from Fernando, simply amazing! Yesterday, he’d said he would tackle this race like a sixty lap qualifying session and he was true to his word: on the attack from start to finish, the only one from the top ten on the grid to make up places by the end. This second place is all down to his talent, to his aggressive approach and the fact he never wants to give up, backed up by a team that is doing the maximum to give him a car that is worthy of him. Sure, we leave India with a bigger gap to the leader of the Drivers’ championship than when we got here, but this race should not leave those who are ahead in a calm and relaxed mood. Fernando and Ferrari will not slacken their efforts by a centimetre, right to the end of this long season. Felipe drove a good race, attacking in the first stint, but then on the defensive in the second, partly due to some limitations that occurred in the management of the fuel. In any case, his sixth place is very valuable in light of the Constructors’ classification, in which we have managed to increase our lead over the third placed team, even if the leaders have pulled even further away. There are three more finals to go, up against very strong opponents, but they are not unbeatable. I recall that, in 1982, the Italian football team was definitely not the strongest but went on to win that year’s World Cup. We believe in our chances and I’m sure that so do all our fans!”

Fernando Alonso: “We can fight the Red Bulls, but at the moment, we still don’t have a car capable of winning. Once again this year we have seen that, in the race, the situation is much better than in qualifying. A great start, a great first lap, a good top speed and the right tyre management produced, along with me driving at 120% for each of the sixty race laps, this second place. We did what we could, as at every race: if, come the end of the championship we will have won, then no one will be able to say it was down to mistakes from the others, but because we always did the maximum. We will already have some updates in Abu Dhabi: let’s hope we can make a step forward because it will be important to start making up the points gap there already. There are 75 points up for grabs which is a lot. I am still optimistic even if we are all aware that we have to improve our performance, especially on Saturday. I don’t know if this was my best performance of the season, as it’s always difficult to make that sort of call. I am particularly keen on the one in Valencia or at Monza, but this one is definitely up there: I pushed from start to finish, maybe taking some more risks in overtaking compared to previous races. Today, after the start, I tried to immediately attack the McLarens getting into their slipstream. They were fighting among themselves and maybe they forgot about me and I managed to get past at least one of them. Then I also managed to overtake Button just a few laps later, but the time lost in those few laps allowed the two Red Bulls to pull out a bit of a gap. In the second stint, I made the most of Webber’s problems with the KERS to overtake him: yet again we have seen that anything can happen and that the races are always long and difficult...”

Felipe Massa: “It was a very tough fight, from start to finish. After around 20 laps, I was told from the pitwall that I had to try and save fuel, so I ended up doing over half the race without being able to go flat out and I can assure you, it was definitely not easy, because Kimi was always very close to me. It wasn’t the result I wanted, but all the same, these are important points for the Constructors’ championship. The time lost in FP2 cost me dear, mainly because we were unable to optimise our package. The duel with Kimi after the pit stop? I managed to come out of pit lane in front, but then I let him through at Turn 3 because he was still very close and I wanted to have the DRS down the straight. I think he realised that, but by then it was too late and I had the advantage and managed to get by. Now we go to Abu Dhabi, which is something of a second home race for Ferrari, as we have the beautiful theme park there. Let’s hope we have some more updates on the car and can secure a better result than this sixth place.”

Pat Fry: “A great result considering our grid positions. Fernando produced yet another amazing performance in what has been an incredible season for him: finishing second having started fifth in a race where overtaking moves are a rare commodity, despite the double DRS zone is really an encouraging sign. Fernando made the most of the opening laps to be able to dispense with the two McLarens and then he set off in pursuit of the Red Bulls, getting past one of them. We made the most of our better top speed and the choice in terms of gear ratios. At the start, we could have opted for a two stop strategy, but as the race evolved we were able to make just one while, at least with Fernando, still being able to push from start to finish. Unfortunately, Felipe was unable to do the same because in the second part of the race, he had to manage his fuel consumption, which prevented him from getting the most out of the car. All the same, this was a positive weekend for him and he brought home points that are important for the Constructors’ championship. We must improve the performance of our car in qualifying and that’s why we are working flat out to bring some updates to every race from now to the end of the season. If we manage to get our drivers further up the starting grid, then we can put Red Bull under pressure: at the moment, Sebastian Vettel is flying away too easily, leading from the start. We know we can count on a really great driver and, alongside him, we will fight right to the end of the Brazilian Grand Prix.”