Race Malaysian GP report: Toro Rosso Renault

Daniil Kvyat

“It’s good to finish in the top ten for a second time in a row now. This afternoon’s race was very difficult and intense with a lot of fighting. The first two stints were hard when I was fighting the Williams and McLaren in the early stages, but they were faster than me on the straight. I was quite happy with the final stint and having managed to defend my position. Overall it was a good weekend and I hope we continue to improve like this as the car definitely has potential. So I’m looking forward to going straight to Bahrain to race again in a week’s time. It will be interesting to be on a track where we have actually tested with this car.”

Jean-Eric Vergne

"I think I had a great start today but very soon I felt some problems with the car. I lost power in the car and I just saw everybody overtaking me. Then I found myself in a sandwich between a Caterham and Bianchi and maybe I was a bit too ambitious to think I could try and pass the two cars. It was just not possible and this resulted in the collision, which damaged my front wing. At this point I knew that my race was compromised, so I was hoping for some rain and maybe a safety car to change the cards on the table and re-join the pack. But then I continued to suffer with the car and my race was over. It’s really a shame, as this was a race in which we could have been strong and achieve a good result. The race pace on hard tyres was pretty good. On the positive side, we have a good car and we won’t have to wait long before being back on track, as Bahrain is just around the corner."

Franz Tost (Team Principal)

"Daniil did another good race, scoring a point again here after Melbourne. He could stand the pressure from the others until the end of the race and defend his position, without making any mistake. As for Jev, after yesterday’s very good performance in qualifying, he unfortunately faced some problems today from the very beginning of his race. Soon after the start, in his first lap, he lost many positions, when something went wrong in the Power Unit management."

Ricardo Penteado (Renault Sport F1 track support leader)

“Another great race for Daniil to score his second points in two races. On the other side of the garage it was a difficult time for JEV. He lost some positions at the start, due in part to the extremely high air temperature, which triggered a protective mode in the engine. Later on we lost turbo power as there was an air leak in the system and we had to retire the car. It was a real shame as we had the potential for a double points finish but we’ll come back again in Bahrain in just a week.”