Race - 2017 Hungarian GP team quotes

Toro Rosso

Carlos Sainz

“A great race! I managed to do a very good start, went around the outside of both McLarens into Turn 1 and held onto my position into Turn 2. At this point, I saw that maybe I was also capable of getting a Mercedes, but I decided to back-off a bit and play it safe because the work was done. From then onwards it was a very tough task to defend from Fernando, as he was much faster than us today. In the end he got past us but I’m happy to have been able to hold on to that seventh position… For us this is like gold at the moment! All in all, it’s been a very positive weekend with a perfect Quali yesterday, a fantastic start and race today… I can now go on holiday happy and very satisfied with my first half of the season – I’ve ended up in the points in every race I’ve finished up until now, which is a good statistic to hold onto, and I’m enjoying this mid-field battle. I look forward to the second half of the year!”

Daniil Kvyat

“It was a great race where we were not rewarded, unfortunately. We had good pace out there today and I think that, without the grid penalty, we could’ve been fighting for points. On the positive side, it’s good to bring the car home and to gain five positions at a track like the Hungaroring isn’t bad – I enjoyed it out there today! I’m now looking forward to the summer break and having some time off before focusing again to get the best out of the second half of the season!”

Franz Tost (Team Principal)

“Carlos had a great start to today’s race and was racing in P6 by the end of the first lap. He defended this position against attacks from Alonso in a very good and professional way. He then came in for a pit-stop, which I have to say was a fantastic one – we did it in around 2.0 seconds, it was very fast! Therefore we stayed in front of Alonso, even though later on he was able to overtake Carlos - his car was simply faster today. Carlos brought the car home in seventh place and I think this was the maximum he could get out of the package today. Regarding Daniil, he was in a very difficult situation, starting from P16 after the three-place grid penalty he was given yesterday. He started on the soft tyres and gained two positions straight after the start. Our calculations made us leave him out as long as possible on those tyres while the other cars, racing on supersofts, were coming in to pit. This allowed Daniil to race in free air, even though he did find traffic at times – especially at the end with Magnussen, who was on the supersoft and it was therefore difficult to overtake him. In the end Daniil finished in eleventh position, which was the best possible result for him today. The team did a very good job over the weekend. We improved the performance of the car from Friday to Sunday and to finish in the points here is a very good result to go into the summer break with. We will certainly push again next time out in Spa-Francochamps!”

Haas F1

The outcome of the Hungarian Grand Prix Sunday at the Hungaroring in Budapest was seemingly decided on the first corner of the first lap of the 70-lap contest. For Haas F1 Team drivers Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean, that meant finishes of 13th and 19th, respectively, in the 11th round of the 2017 FIA Formula One World Championship.

The tight and twisty Hungaroring puts passing at a premium, with the best opportunity to overtake coming at the first corner of the first lap around the 4.381-kilometer (2.722-mile), 14-turn circuit. This also increases the chance for contact, as all 20 drivers attempt to seize a full race worth of opportunity in one turn.

Both Haas F1 Team drivers actually moved up a position before the race even began. When 13th-place qualifier Daniil Kvyat was issued a three-spot grid penalty for impeding during the first round of qualifying on Saturday, it allowed Grosjean and Magnussen to leapfrog the Toro Rosso driver.

Magnussen started 15th and picked up two spots at the start – one by getting past his teammate and another thanks to the retirement of Daniel Ricciardo’s Red Bull.

Magnussen ran a one-stop strategy where he pitted on lap 31, swapping the Pirelli P Zero Red supersoft tires he started the race with for a new set of Yellow softs that carried him to the finish. He picked up two spots to rise to 11th by overtaking both Renaults of Nico Hulkenberg and Jolyon Palmer when they pitted on laps 45 and 46, respectively. But while racing Hulkenberg late in the race, Magnussen pushed wide at turn two as Hulkenberg was on his outside. The move sent Hulkenberg onto the grass and netted Magnussen a five-second time penalty, which dropped him back to 13th at the conclusion of the race.

Magnussen was able to get by Grosjean at the start when his teammate banged wheels with Hulkenberg in turn one, sending Grosjean’s Haas VF-17 wide and dropping him to 16th after starting 14th. This, however, would seem minor when a series of unfortunate events 19 laps later would ultimately bring Grosjean’s race to an early end.

An unscheduled pit stop on lap 20 for a left-front tire puncture led to a cross-threaded left-rear wheel nut. With the left-rear wheel not completely secure, Grosjean was forced to stop the car on the track. His Haas VF-17 was pushed behind the barrier while officials delivered Grosjean back to the paddock.

Delivering the win was Scuderia Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel. The four-time Formula One champion won the Hungarian Grand Prix from the pole, leading all 70 laps to secure his 46th career Formula One victory, his fourth of the season and his second at the Hungaroring. The triumph also gave Vettel some breathing room in the championship. Vettel came into Hungary with only a one-point lead over his nearest pursuer, Lewis Hamilton, but leaves with a 14-point advantage.

Eleven rounds into the 20-race Formula One schedule, Haas F1 Team remains seventh in the constructors standings with 29 points, three points ahead of eighth-place Renault and 10 points behind sixth-place Toro Rosso. Grosjean and Magnussen stayed 13th and 14th, respectively, in the championship driver standings. Grosjean has 18 points and Magnussen has 11 points.

Nine races remain on the 2017 Formula One schedule, with the next event coming in four weeks with the Belgian Grand Prix Aug. 25-27 at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps.

Romain Grosjean

“Not much to say about the race, to be fair. It was compromised at the first corner when I was hit. Then we had a puncture, and then we had a loose wheel, so we had to stop the car and not take any risks. When you have a tough weekend you then want to jump back in, get back on the horse. The break will be good for everyone, but we need to understand what we can do to avoid this kind of weekend.”

Kevin Magnussen

“I don’t really understand the penalty. He (Hulkenberg) didn’t get anything for what happened at turn one when he smashed into the side of Romain, which finished his race effectively. I didn’t even touch him. He could have chosen to back out, as I had the corner. I was on the inside and we were side-by-side. If anything, I was a little bit in front. I just chose my line. It’s not like I moved off the racing line. We braked late, so it’s natural you go wide and push on the entry. He put himself in danger on the outside. There aren’t many positives to take away from this weekend. It’s been a tough weekend in every sense. I’m sure we’ll do better next time.”

Gunther Steiner

“A tough Sunday to end a tough weekend to end the first half of the season. For the race, I want to see the positives first. Kevin fought hard and Romain, well there was a mistake on the tire change. The guys who change the tires are under a lot of pressure. It was the right place to happen. Romain wasn’t happy with his car anyway. He was 15th, so there was nothing to be gained. If it’s to happen somewhere, it should happen here. Kevin drove a fantastic race. He defended and got penalized. I don’t fully agree with the penalty. It was very similar to what the same guy (Hulkenberg) did at turn one to our other car. In the end, it is what it is. We would’ve been 11th, which wouldn’t have been in the points anyway. It happened. We need to get over it. It was a tough weekend. Now we go on a bit of a vacation and we come back again and get some points.”

Red Bull

MAX VERSTAPPEN

“I think the situation started from Turn 1. My start was actually quite good but then I got squeezed a bit wide on to the astro-turf and lost quite a bit of speed. Then Daniel and I were both fighting for position at Turn 2 so we braked quite deep into the corner. I had a car in front of me so I lost quite a bit of downforce and locked the front tyres, from there I was just a passenger. I was trying to avoid Daniel of course but unfortunately that was not possible. It is never my intention to hit anyone, but especially not your team-mate, and especially with the relationship I have with Daniel, it’s always really good and we can always have a laugh. This is not nice and I apologise to Daniel for that and also to the team because we could have scored some good points here. I’ll speak with Daniel in private and we’ll sort it out. It was actually a positive Sunday in terms of pace. It’s not nice what happened in the beginning of the race, so I’m of course not happy with that, but at least the car is moving forward.”

DANIEL RICCIARDO

“The start wasn’t too bad and I got a good exit out of Turn 1, I saw Bottas on the inside of Turn 2 so knew I had plenty of room on the outside. I thought it was a good place to position myself and protect my position through the turn. I felt a hit but couldn’t see who it was, I knew Max was on my inside going into Turn 2 so assumed it must have been him. It’s really frustrating as we know our car has been better than sixth all weekend so we went out there to push for a good result and get on the podium. We will discuss the incident in de-brief this evening and me and Max will talk privately also and sort it out. I would have loved to race today and now I have four weeks to wait until I can get in the car again. It’s a shame to finish the first half of the season and head into the summer break in this way.”

CHRISTIAN HORNER, Team Principal

“A very frustrating day for us. After both cars made good starts, Max ran wide at Turn 1 which allowed Daniel to get past on the run to Turn 2 and unfortunately Max made a mistake under braking, locked up and hit the side of Daniel’s car causing sufficient damage for him to have to retire on the spot. Not only did it eradicate one car but it also landed Max with a 10 second penalty for the contact. It was particularly frustrating today because it was clear we had a very competitive race car despite the time penalty that he had to serve. His pace during the race was certainly capable of being on the podium today and gave nothing away to our competitors. It was pleasing to see Max put his hand up and immediately apologise to Daniel and to the team and we all move on from that.”

McLaren

McLaren Honda recorded its most competitive outing of the season so far to score nine world championship points in this afternoon’s Hungarian Grand Prix.

Fernando Alonso drove a sensational race to finish sixth; it was a performance that included a committed overtaking move around the outside of Carlos Sainz at Turn Two, and a crackling second stint on the Prime tyre, which concluded with him setting the overall fastest lap of the race, on lap 69.

Stoffel Vandoorne earned his best finishing position of the year, in 10th spot. He was briefly held up by a first-lap melee behind Daniel Ricciardo, but recovered quickly to run inside the top 10. Towards the end of the race, he battled for ninth with Force India’s Esteban Ocon, crossing the line just 0.6s behind the Frenchman.

FERNANDO ALONSO

“We were probably looking at seventh or eighth position today, but with Ricciardo out of the race, sixth place became possible, and we grabbed it. Still, we worked for that result all weekend – no mistakes, good practice sessions, strong qualifying, and then a perfectly executed race.

“There are three or four weekends in a season where we can be competitive, so we need to maximise those and fully capitalise on our potential – and that’s exactly what we did this weekend. Races like Spa and Monza are going to be more difficult for us, so let’s just enjoy this result and think about the difficult ones when they come.

“The battle with Carlos was a close-run thing. We were together at the start, at the restart after the Safety Car; we came into the pits together, we exited together and I knew I had two laps where I could really push and stress the new tyres a little bit.

“I tried to do that with some kamikaze moves at times because, after those initial two laps, I knew it was going to be impossible. It worked out fine.

“Also, the fastest lap at the end of the race was a surprise – a gift – but one we’ll take!
“It was definitely a good race, so let’s go into the summer break with smiles on our faces.”

STOFFEL VANDOORNE

“It’s been quite a positive weekend for me – we came here expecting to be competitive and we were able to run inside the top 10 for the whole weekend.

“When an opportunity like this comes up, we have to grab it with both hands – and we did. Before my stop, we were looking at the gap behind and trying to over-cut people behind us, but I made a small mistake at the stop, locked up and stopped too long.

“Nonetheless, my pace in the race was encouraging – we were definitely quicker than the Force Indias here, but overtaking is very difficult. In the end, we got points so it’s a good weekend for the team.”

ERIC BOULLIER

“Today was a timely reminder that, despite a difficult season so far, at our heart we remain a passionate racing team. To score nine points and set the fastest lap of the race shows that, as soon as an opportunity presents itself, we are ready to take advantage of it.

“What can you say about Fernando’s drive today, except that it was utterly sensational. He was absolutely charging out there – and, once he’d made his pit-stop and switched to the Prime tyre, he was really able to control his pace until the end.

“His pass around the outside of Carlos [Sainz] was brilliant – he knew he had to make a move stick while on fresh rubber, and he did just that. From there, he just drove away, and set a number of quick-laps before finally setting the fastest lap of the race on the penultimate lap. He showed today just what makes him so special.

“Stoffel also drove a very strong race. He didn’t get a break at the start, as Ricciardo slowed right in front of him, but he drove strongly all the way to the finish. He’ll be pleased to have scored a point just ahead of his home race; this is the reward for a lot of dedicated hard work and effort from both him and the team.

“As we prepare for the summer break, and the second half of the season, this result will send us away with added sense of purpose and determination.”

YUSUKE HASEGAWA

“Today was a good day at the office for the McLaren Honda team. A double-points finish is definitely a positive step forward for us.

“After yesterday’s encouraging result in qualifying, we knew we had a package capable of scoring some points. Both Fernando and Stoffel drove brilliantly, keeping their concentration in hot and tough conditions, and pushed throughout to bring home nine precious points.

“Today’s result is the sum of a lot of hard work and daily efforts made by the team members, and I want to thank them all for this.

“Although we are now able to head into the summer break with good momentum, we are not satisfied with the overall results of the first half of the season. We will continue to push our development for improvement, and hope to have a good start of the second half in Spa- Francorchamps.”

Williams

— Lance Stroll finished 14th whilst Paul di Resta was forced to retire from the Hungarian Grand Prix
— Both drivers avoided incidents in the opening turns and gained two places each on the first lap, to P15 and P17 respectively, before the safety car was deployed
— Lance ran P15 for the duration, making the fastest pitstop of the race (2.3 seconds) on lap 29, before Hulkenberg retired, promoting Lance to P14
— Paul was forced to retire from P18 on lap 60 due to an oil leak
— Felipe and Lance remain 11th and 12th respectively in the Drivers’ Championship, while Paul did not score points. The team remains fifth in the Constructors’ Championship with 41 points

Paddy Lowe, Chief Technical Officer

It was a very long afternoon to bring away very little, unfortunately. Paul, considering the circumstances, drove a great race with good consistency and stayed out of trouble. But unfortunately what appears to be an oil leak developed, as we were seeing an escalation in oil consumption so we decided to retire the car before the engine was in danger of losing oil pressure. So it’s a great shame for Paul, considering his fantastic response to our urgent need yesterday. We’re sorry not to give him a car that could get him to the finish. On Lance’s side, he kept up with the pace the car was capable of, but we were just not quick enough today to really compete in this race. We have the summer break to refresh and come back positively at Spa. Of course, we all wish Felipe the best with his recovery to good health for the next race.

Lance Stroll

It was quite a boring race, I was driving alone the whole time, so not much happened and we didn’t have the pace this weekend to stay with the others. I tried everything I could in the first stint to hold the other guys, and I was doing okay. Then, in the second stint, I tried the undercut but I just didn’t have the pace and overheated the rears too much. We kind of finished where we started, and we expected that. All in all, it was a tough weekend, but we now need to look forward to the other kind of tracks - Spa, Monza - that should be better for our car. Now we are over halfway through the season, I feel very different to Australia. It was my first race and with each one I have been getting a little bit better. Obviously you shine a bit more on the tracks that work with the car, but for sure every race and every weekend I am getting more experience and becoming a better driver. I am now looking forward to the break to recharge the batteries and do a lot of training.

Paul di Resta

It was obviously a very exciting day, but it was a very difficult day as well. Jumping straight in the car with no experience of the different tyre compounds or running on high fuel. I wasn’t sure what to expect so I went in with an open mind. You have to be very aware of the space around you, and how much downforce you lose when there’s traffic around you. So I was cautious and just wanted to keep my nose clean. We went a different way on strategy, but the biggest thing for me was just gaining the confidence as the runs went on and I was feeling more comfortable with the car. It would have been nice to finish, without the oil leak. But overall I’m not too dissatisfied with where I was given how little running I’d had.

Force India

Force India scored six points in today’s Hungarian Grand Prix with Sergio Perez racing to eighth place ahead of Esteban Ocon in ninth.

SERGIO PEREZ

“I’m very pleased to come away with eighth place today. It hasn’t been an easy weekend in terms of my feeling with the car, so to turn things around in the race and pick up some points is a good recovery. I made a very good start, positioned my car well and that was very important for the final result. There was a bit of contact with my teammate, which damaged my front wing, but fortunately it didn’t change the balance of my car. It wasn’t the busiest race for me because I spent most of the afternoon behind Sainz and Alonso, but we couldn’t make our way through during the pit stop window due to a slow stop. Overall it’s been a very strong first half of the season and we can go into the holidays feeling pleased with the job we have done.”

ESTEBAN OCON

“It was a pretty messy start and that compromised my race. Sergio made contact with me in turn one, which caused some damage to my floor, but I was able to continue even though I lost some performance. In the end, we got another double points finish for the team, which is great considering how difficult the weekend has been leading up to the race. The rest of the race was very clean and we were able to resist a lot of pressure from Stoffel [Vandoorne], so I am happy with the end result. We kept our main rivals behind us today and it means we can go on holiday feeling happy. I’ve scored nearly 50 points in the first part of the season and we’ve got a healthy margin over the teams behind us. Now we can recharge our batteries and come back ready to score even more points in the second half of the year.”

ROBERT FERNLEY, DEPUTY TEAM PRINCIPAL

“A competitive Sunday with both cars scoring important points. It edges us over the 100 points mark, which is a good way to head into the summer break. We knew we had solid race pace and we made the most of an aggressive first lap, which brought both Sergio and Esteban up into the top ten. From there it was a routine afternoon with both cars executing one-stop strategies. It’s a satisfying outcome because we knew our race pace was better than our qualifying times. It means we’ve scored points in ten of the eleven races so far this year and had double points finishes in nine of those races. It’s a credit to the team for the excellent job everybody has done in the first half of the year.”

Renault

Fortunes didn’t favour Renault Sport Formula One Team in a fast-paced and hot Hungarian Grand Prix with Jolyon Palmer finishing twelfth and Nico Hülkenberg returning to the pits three-laps shy from the chequered flag, following contact with Kevin Magnussen. Nico was classified seventeenth at the finish.

Nico started the race from P12 on his qualifying Supersoft (red) Pirelli tyres, pitting from P6 to change to a set of new Soft (yellow) tyres on lap 45. His pit stop was slow due to a recalcitrant wheel gun. Contact late in the race from a subsequently penalised Kevin Magnussen pushed Nico off track and he subsequently retired due to issues with his brakes and gearbox.

Jolyon started the race from P10 on a new set of Supersoft tyres. After running as high as P8, he pitted from P11 on lap 46 for a new set of Soft tyres.

Nico Hülkenberg,

“It was a frustrating race today, especially as we had the pace for a better result. I felt really confident and the car was good. We could put in decent lap times in clear air, but it was pretty difficult to pass, so I spent a lot of time stuck in traffic. The pit stop was frustrating as we lost a lot of time at a vital moment in the race. This led to me being stuck behind Kevin Magnussen. I’m all for hard racing but he was just ruthless by pushing me off track, for which he was then penalised.”

Jolyon Palmer

“The start was okay, but I lost out when I had to avoid Ricciardo, who suddenly slowed and that dropped me out of the top ten. As well as letting him through, my strategy was compromised today to try and help Nico’s race, and that meant Magnussen and Kvyat jumped me. It was a frustrating run to the flag with much more pace, but no chance to overtake them on this track. Now I’m looking forward to summer break and switching off from racing to reset for Belgium.”

Cyril Abiteboul, Managing Director

“It’s a disappointing result on Sunday from what could have been a very strong weekend for us. Our starts weren’t good enough with either car to move up the order, especially for Nico to recover from the gearbox penalty. Subsequently, we were caught in quite a procession as it is difficult to pass here. It was clear that Nico had more pace than Jolyon in the early stages, so they swapped position. Unfortunately, Nico was subsequently delayed with a wheel gun issue on his stop and this dealt his chances of points a fatal blow. His race then came to a premature end after being pushed off track by Magnussen, which caused a number of issues on the car. Jo had a solid race however the pace wasn’t strong enough for points. Despite the disappointment today, we have taken a clear step forward with the car, as shown in qualifying and in clean air, so we are eager to put this into play in Spa.”

Ferrari

Scuderia Ferrari recorded its fourth win and second one-two finish of the year, which are the 228th and 83rd respectively in the team’s history. This was Seb Vettel’s seventh win in red and the 46th of his career. For all those back in Maranello, this result was the crowning glory for the huge effort they have put in, which came at the end of a race that was anything but easy, even if both cars started from the front row.

The two SF70H cars maintained those positions off the line, with Kimi tucked in behind Seb, while battle raged behind them and Ricciardo was already out following a collision. As Daniel was stuck on track, the Safety Car was called out for quite a while – five laps in fact – as oil had to be cleaned up off the track surface. The Ferraris made a second good getaway when the race restarted and they were followed by Bottas, Verstappen, who would have to take a 10” penalty for hitting his team-mate, and then Hamilton. In this phase of the race, the Reds were the quickest cars on track, the only ones lapping under the 1’23”.

At one third distance, nothing had changed, except that the two leading cars were backing off to spare their equipment. Then Seb came on the radio saying there was something wrong with the steering, which was pulling to the left down the straight. Kimi closed in until the gap closed to just over a second. The number 5 Ferrari pitted at the end of lap 32, after his closest pursuers had already changed tyres. The Supersofts made way for the Softs. Next time round, Kimi came in and emerged back on track just behind his team-mate. The lap times went up and down, partly because of the need to pass backmarkers. On lap 43, the Ferrari duo was back out in front, after a very late stop from Verstappen. Behind them the two Mercedes changed places without a fight. With 15 laps remaining, the top three cars were covered by just two seconds. Seb then pulled out a bit more on lap 58, his fastest of the race. Kimi did likewise to ensure Hamilton could not get into the DRS range.

The final laps were nerve wracking, as Seb could not take the lines he would have liked through the corners but he held firm, as did Kimi right behind him. What a great way to finish, delivering a wonderful reward to a team that knows that it can never give up.

Maurizio Arrivabene

”A great race and a result obtained in far from easy circumstances. Once again it demonstrated the strength of character at Ferrari. Congratulations to the guys here and back in Maranello, working together in what is the mark of a great team. Seb drove a magnificent race, managing to keep the lead despite the problem with the steering wheel. He was helped by a great performance from Kimi who demonstrated, not only that he is a champion, but also that he is a true team-player. Next week, here in Hungary, prior to the FIA mandatory shutdown, we continue our development work, in preparation for the Grands Prix in Spa and Monza.”

Sebastian Vettel

“Everybody inside the team can be very happy and proud of what we have done today! Afterwards, I said to Kimi that I was sorry, because I was slow and struggling during the race. For Kimi it was not good to be there in the middle of a sandwich. It was a tough race that, in the end, kept a good shape. I developed a problem with the steering wheel and I don’t know why yet. We need to avoid it happening again of course, but during the race I didn’t have an option. It’s not like parking the car, check if everything’s all right and then fix the problem. It was quite annoying because it was a strange feeling. But then, at some point, I forgot about it and just tried to get used to it, which was tricky because it just kept changing and getting worse. However, in the end the pace was still there. More generally, I don’t like the short term view that some people have, that after a good race everything is great and you are the hero, but after a bad race it is a disaster. It is not fair because people work hard spending a lot of time, working all together on the car. In my opinion, we have the best car and downforce which, hasn’t been the case for many years. In the end we can make a difference and we have done that so far. We have our testing days here next week and we have a lot of work to do. After that there will be the Belgian GP. Our car has been good there and I think we have some improvements, so it should be fine.”

Kimi Raikkonen

“Today my car was amazing, the handling was perfect and I was always feeling comfortable; even following Seb from very close behind, the behaviour was fantastic. I had no worries that Mercedes could get me. I had a pretty good start and a good run in the first corner; then I took it quite easy. In places like this it’s tricky to try and overtake and I did not want to force things too much with my team mate. When you end up between two cars is not the easiest situation. When they called me for the pit stop I wanted to stay on track a bit longer because I felt I had the speed, but the team has the big picture and I trust them. I ended up following Seb through the whole race and I was never able to use my full speed. Today I knew I had all the tools to finish in a better position, but I should have done a better qualifying. I’m happy for the result that we achieved as a team and this is the main thing. I’m here to win races, but If you take the big picture it was a great weekend, we got the maximum out of it.”

Sauber

It was a difficult Hungarian Grand Prix for the Sauber F1 Team, finishing the race in P15 (Pascal Wehrlein) and P16 (Marcus Ericsson). Directly after the Grand Prix, the second in-season test will take place at the Hungaroring on Tuesday and Wednesday, with Gustav Malja (day 1) and Nobuharu Matsushita (day 2) in the cockpit of the Sauber C36-Ferrari. The team will then head into the summer break, along with all the other teams, for the annual factory shutdown from the 5th until the 20th of August.

Marcus Ericsson

“It was a difficult race. We did not have the pace that we hoped, and were just not able to fight the competitors in front of us. It is disappointing, because we expected to make a bigger step with the first parts of the aerodynamics update we brought with us. After the summer break, we should be able to make another step forward.”

Pascal Wehrlein

“Considering my grid position, the race result is ok. I could not have expected more starting from P18, so we definitely made the best out of today. Now, I am looking forward to the summer break, during which I can review the first part of the season. I will then return into the second part with full power.”

Frédéric Vasseur, Team Principal

“It was a tough race for us. During the safety car period, Marcus came in for an early pit stop due to a flat spot. Pascal then also had to pit due to a slow puncture. We then decided to put our drivers on different strategies. Overall, our pace is just not good enough to fight our direct competitors. We know that it will be difficult for the forthcoming races, but we need to stay focused and motivated for the second half of the season.”

Mercedes

Silver Arrows end the last race before the summer break in P3 and P4

— Valtteri came home in P3 today with Lewis finishing in P4
— Lewis (188 points) remains P2 in the Drivers’ Championship,14 points off Sebastian Vettel (202 points). Valtteri (169 points) is a further 19 points back in P3
— Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport (357 points) leads the Constructors’ Championship by 39 points from Ferrari (318 points) in P2

Valtteri Bottas

It was really tricky today. The pace was not so much a problem. But once you get within 1.5 seconds to the car in front of you it becomes so difficult to close the gap. And that track position was a big benefit for Ferrari today. Even though Sebastian was struggling, no-one could pass him. We tried as a team to swap positions, but Lewis couldn’t get past them either. We didn’t gain any points but I’m glad we tried it. I was promised that Lewis would let me back if it didn’t work out. I was struggling with the back markers so the gap to Lewis became bigger than I wanted. But Lewis and the team kept their promise and we swapped positions back in the last lap. I don’t think every team-mate would do that in a championship fight, so I think that was really nice of him and it shows that he is a real team player. Our situations still is not too bad with regards to the points and the championship standing. Lewis and me are still in the fight.

Lewis Hamilton

I tried my best out there. It’s tough when you push so hard and you work so hard and you end up in the same place that you started. When the radio didn’t work, I was thinking that the team was worried about the tyres not going the distance. So maybe they were going slow so that they could speed up later. I was pushing and I had all this pace, but I was stuck behind Valtteri and I couldn’t tell the team because of the radio. But in the final laps, I kept my word. I said that if I couldn’t pass Kimi then I would let Valtteri back. I have said through this year that I want to win this title in the right way – and perhaps I will look at it in a different way if, at the end of the season, I lose out by a small margin – but I believe in doing the right thing and that when you put good things out there, they come back to you. I was 20 points behind before, but down to one, and now back to 14. We have lost quite a few points in the first half of the year – but I know that we can win it, once we come back even better after the summer break.

Toto Wolff

Today was a tough day for the team but one that showed the values that we hold high. First of all, we cannot ultimately be satisfied with third and fourth places; we managed to limit the damage to Ferrari, and were fortunate that Red Bull accounted for themselves on the opening lap. So it’s positive that we didn’t lose too many points on a circuit where Ferrari had the upper hand. But it was also a great day for the team because we saw our ethos played out for everybody to see with great respect between Lewis and Valtteri. First, for Valtteri to let his team-mate past to put the pressure on Ferrari and try to challenge Kimi; second, for Lewis to sportingly give the place back in the final corner without losing any position to Verstappen. These are the values that helped us win six championships and, in the long term, it is the approach that will win us many more titles – even though it was a tough call to make and it’s not a great feeling afterwards. But we stick to our principles and our word. The race was made more challenging by problems in the garage that cost us radio comms with the cars at points during the race and also affected the data we had in the garage. That particularly affected our communication with Lewis and perhaps had an impact on the outcome today, as we could have played our strategy differently if the comms had been working properly. But now we have the time to take a step back, recharge the batteries and come back with renewed energy in the second part of the season. There is still everything to play for and both championships are wide open.

James Allison

We would have preferred to head into the summer break on the back of a result like the one we enjoyed in Silverstone, but in its own way this was a race that demonstrated many of the truly great things about this team. For the drivers to treat each other with such a degree of respect, that they both could have a go at attacking the Ferraris but then reverse the positions under intense pressure, was both extremely challenging and required a great deal of trust. To do it in such a professional manner, with the looming threat of Verstappen running right behind Valtteri, was a great thing. After a well-earned summer break, we will look forward to resuming the fight in this intense and intriguing championship, and all our focus will be on ensuring that, come the end of the season, the Mercedes flags are flying high.