Team reaction after race in Suzuka (part 2)

Sebastien Buemi: “It was a good race for us and I am happy to have got a point. However, it was a bit frustrating as, towards the end, I was catching Barrichello by around one second per lap and maybe if I had switched to the Option tyre earlier I would have been more competitive and got closer to him and maybe got past. The problem I had in qualifying with the floor of my car did not help, as it was the first time I have failed to get into Q2.”

Jaime Alguersuari: “We knew it would be a tough weekend for us here and it was, although I had hoped to qualify better than I did. In the race, I pushed as hard as I could. In the later part, Kobayashi was much faster than me, but that is not a reason to let him past, so I fought as hard as I could and we touched and I had to pit for a new nose. I hope my team principal is happy that I was very determined. I am happy for the team that Buemi got a point.”

Franz Tost: “I am pleased that Sebastien picked up a point today, because he has had a run of bad luck in the last few races and he deserved this point for tenth place. He posted some very good lap times and was surprisingly fast at times. We benefited from an element of luck as some of our direct rivals ended up in the gravel trap. Jaime also did a good job, producing competitive lap times throughout the race. Unfortunately, in the closing stages he was involved in a collision with Kobayashi which meant he had to come in to change the nose. One point might not be much, but it’s better than nothing! So, with this morale boost for the team who did a good job, let’s see what we can do when we discover Korea for the first time.”

12th and 13th places for Heikki Kovalainen and Jarno Trulli respectively are Lotus Racing’s best race finishes of the 2010 season so far. Both drivers put in very strong performances throughout an action packed race, and the whole team is absolutely delighted to have taken such a significant step towards the ultimate goal of securing tenth place in the FIA Formula One™ World Championship. The morning’s qualifying session had also gone very well, with Jarno lining up 19th and Heikki 20th, nearly a second ahead of the Virgin cars, and the double race finish is an excellent reward for the team’s hard work, on and off track.

Heikki Kovalainen: “It was a wicked race, really absolutely fantastic for me, Jarno and the whole team. We decided to start with the soft tyre, which was a little bit of a gamble, and then stayed out during the safety car. The target was to build up enough of a gap to allow me to pit without losing places to the guys behind and we did that, though it was very close with Jarno when I came out. On the harder tyre the car just felt brilliant - I had a huge amount of grip from the second set and it was a lot of fun to push for the rest of the race. Our pace was amazing – we were only lapped once and at this kind of circuit, where we needed to perform, we could not have done any more. An amazing day for the whole team, and now we’re another big step closer to that tenth place, which is obviously the main aim of the whole season.”

Jarno Trulli: “What a great day for the whole team, just fantastic. I’m really pleased for everyone with the result, and congratulations to Heikki as well on a great race. I had a really good start and came in under the safety car to switch to the primes. I came out behind Yamamoto and immediately attacked him – I got past him pretty quick and then went after Heikki. We both had a strong run to the end, and even though I had another hydraulics issue in the last couple of laps, I managed to get the car home which was obviously the main objective.”

Mike Gascoyne, Chief Technical Officer: “A really fantastic result for the team today. 12th and 13th places are our best positions of the season so far, and I’m delighted for everyone that we had such strong performances from both cars today. Qualifying went very well this morning – we were just under a second ahead of the other new teams, and we carried that through to the afternoon. We had always planned to stop just one car if there was an early safety car, and that was the car ahead. When the safety car came out Jarno was in front so we pulled him in and put him on the primes. Unfortunately it took him a few laps to pass Yamamoto, and that really hurt his race strategy, and that, combined with the blue flags, meant Heikki stayed ahead of him on track. Despite that, it was a great race from both drivers. We had a small hydraulics issue on Jarno’s car at the end, but it didn’t slow him down and he was able to maintain 13th place. I want to say congratulations to the whole team for such a strong performance all weekend – this really was a job well done.”

Tony Fernandes, Team Principal (from Sepang, Malaysia): “I am absolutely delighted, just so pleased for the whole team. The result today is a tremendous response to the negativity that we have been dealing with off-track over the last week or so. This is the best ever result in the as yet very short life of Lotus Racing, and 12th and 13th far exceeds any of the expectations I had at the start of the season. The future for our team is so bright, and the decisions we have been making recently are giving us an incredible platform from which to build on days like this. Thank you Mike, Heikki, Jarno, Riad and everyone – it was an amazing feeling watching them all on TV and keeping up with the race on my iPad – I actually watched the end of the race whilst doing a press conference with Fahmi, another star in the making, from Sepang in Malaysia, and it was a very special feeling to be able to share the end of the race with everyone in our other home. This is a big, big day for us – we let our actions speak louder than our words, and that is what makes us who we are. We are a team with passion and integrity, and we conduct our business in the right way. As I always say - ‘believe the unbelievable’ – we did that today and look at what we have achieved.”

After yesterday’s torrential downpour, better weather greeted Suzuka for the postponed qualifying and race at today’s Japanese Grand Prix.

The track was mainly dry at the start of qualifying but still slightly slippery. The softer Option tyre was clearly the way to go, although as the team hadn’t managed to optimise the set-up for these tyres during the only dry day of running, it was always going to be an uphill struggle. Lucas opted for three runs while Timo chose to go out only twice. At the end of the session Lucas was classified 21st on 1:36.265, Timo 22nd with 1:36.332.
Unfortunately Lucas was unable to start the race, as he had an accident at the infamous 130R corner on his reconnaissance lap to the grid and hit the barrier very hard.
Timo got a reasonable start and when the Safety Car came out as a result of the first lap carnage, he pitted twice in order to be able to complete the race on the Prime tyre. Unfortunately this left him behind Sakon Yamamoto, who used his experience of the Suzuka circuit to block Timo’s attempts to pass. Once Yamamoto pitted, Timo was able to show his true pace, but by then the race was long over.

Timo Glock: “The start of the race was reasonable for me but the safety car came out straight away, so we decided to do two pitstops in a row to get the Option tyre out of the way, which we hadn’t been able to get to work on the car in Free Practice. We ended up behind Yamamoto and just couldn’t get past him. He blocked me for most of the race and in the end all I could do was focus on just getting to the end of the race. It has been a strange weekend here in Suzuka and I think we’ll be happy to head to Korea and hope for better things.”

Lucas di Grassi: “I was happy with my qualifying performance in the morning but also confident there was more to come out of the car as I only managed 25 laps in total in Suzuka before qualy.

“I am disappointed that I wasn’t able to take part in the race. I had a big crash in the 130R corner while preparing the car to go to the grid. I’m glad I’m physically fine and will keep pushing harder than ever together with my team."

John Booth, Team Principal: “Thankfully Lucas was unhurt in his accident on the way to the grid. We have studied all the information from his car and there is no indication of a failure. We took a bit of a gamble on strategy with Timo and unfortunately it didn’t work out as he was unable to get past Yamamoto. He was at least able to bring the car home reliably to achieve another classified finish. We now hope for better fortune in Korea in two weeks’ time.”

Hispania Racing, HRT F1 Team was able to cross the finish line with its two cars today for the sixth time this season. The Spanish team, who was able to fight for positions with its closest rival during the whole of the race, was able to maintain its position in the Formula 1 Championship thanks to the good work the drivers and the whole team did, also demonstrating the consistence and the reliability of the cars. It was also a special race for both Bruno Senna and Sakon Yamamoto, who were racing at home, as they were able to achieve their best result of the season in Suzuka.

It was an unusual Grand Prix, as the qualifying session took place only some hours before the start of the race due to the heavy rain on Saturday, making it the second time in five races that the qualifying session is postponed here at Suzuka. Bruno Senna classified himself 23rd (1.37.270) and Sakon Yamamoto ended up 24th (1.37.365). The drivers from the Spanish team did a very good job during all the weekend, and were able to keep on improving their times in every session during the weekend.

Dr. Colin Kolles, Team Principal: “We are very happy with the race result today and both of our drivers could achieve their best result of the season so far. We had some good fights for positions with the other new teams and could follow their pace. Bruno Senna decided to have an early pit stop during the safety car period and changed to prime tyres. Even with fuel pressure drops, Sakon Yamamoto looked after his car and managed to finish his home race. I want to thank the team for their hard work all over the weekend and now we hope to tie in this success at the next race.”

Sakon Yamamoto: “I am glad about my best race result this season and I want to especially thank the Japanese crowd for their great support. It was a tough race and I had some fuel pressure drops. But even though we could fight for positions and could control one of our competitors during many laps. In the end, it was a special feeling to race again here in Suzuka and to be able to help the team achieve its sixth double-car finish this season. I also want to thank the team for doing a great job.”

Bruno Senna: “I am really happy with today’s result, as I was able to achieve my best result in a race this season, as well as helping the team who has now finished six races with two cars since Bahrain. After an exciting start and many incidents, it was a good decision to do an early pit stop, and I was able to fight for positions and do a good race. I can’t leave Japan without saying thank you to all the spectators who have been supporting us during the weekend.”

An exceptional Japanese Grand Prix weekend was brought to a frustrating close today for the Force India F1 Team as it recorded its first double DNF of the 2010 season. Following yesterday’s qualifying washout the grid was formed by a one hour session this morning, with Adrian Sutil and Tonio Liuzzi putting their VJM03s in 15th and 17th positions respectively as they struggled with the tyre temperatures on a cooler and slicker than expected track.

The pair however made fantastic starts in the day’s later race - each gaining at least five positions off the line - however Tonio’s race was shortlived as he was hit by Felipe Massa going into the first corner. The impact knocked him into the wall and into instant retirement. Adrian Sutil was up to eleventh when the safety car was deployed as a result of the debris and maintained a top ten position until his pit stop on lap 18. The German had regained tenth and was chasing Rubens Barrichello for ninth when an oil leak called a halt to his race on lap 45.

Adrian Sutil: It was a real shame today. In qualifying we really struggled with the softer tyres and couldn’t get as good a result as we would have liked but I made a fantastic start off the line and was already in the top ten by the end of the first lap. We came in quite early so I could push when everyone else pitted and I was in for a good shot of the points. Then coming up to the end of the race I went into the 130R corner and the tyres started to slide around and smoke started to come out the back of the car. I felt the car let go and then that was it: I had to bring it into the pits. At the time we didn’t know what was wrong, but when I stopped we could see oil coming out of the car. A disappointing end to a hard day, but let’s focus on Korea now.

Tonio Liuzzi: I’m disappointed that for the second race in a row I couldn’t do more than a couple of laps. At the time I was a passenger really. I had a great start and passed five or six cars before the first corner and thought I was pretty safe but then when I went into turn one I saw Felipe coming up on the inside - I don’t know if he had broken something on the car but he seemed to come into my side like a bullet. I don’t think he was in control of the car at the time, but it’s a shame as it’s another first corner accident and then retirement for me. I’m now going to go back to the factory to prepare for Korea and not dwell on this - it happens and we need to move on and concentrate on the next challenge.

Robert Fernley, deputy team principal: Obviously we are very disappointed with today’s outcome. Our qualifying performance wasn’t as we hoped and the double DNF is a bitter blow, particularly when we are fighting for championship position. It’s clearly something we need to look into when we get back to the factory next week so we can make the most of the opportunities that come our way. We will come back stronger in Korea for sure and look to regain our step in the constructors’ title race.

Robert Kubica: We made a good start and managed to gain one position up to P2, but then in the second lap behind the safety car I was warming up the tyres and I nearly lost the car. I thought to begin with it was a problem with the driveshaft, but apparently it was the wheel. I don’t know if there was a technical problem but it became difficult to follow the safety car so I moved to the side of the track and then I Iost the wheel.

Vitaly Petrov: I made a good start and managed to overtake Massa. I was then going passed Hulkenberg with Heidfeld on my right when he started to move left and so I also had to move left to avoid him. Unfortunately I hit the side of Hulkenberg’s car and this is why I crashed.

Eric Boullier, Team Principal: After such a strong performance this morning during qualifying, it’s very frustrating to come away from this race empty-handed. Our car has been competitive throughout the weekend and we were looking forward to showing that in the race. Both cars made good starts off the line, but then we had the double disappointment with both cars out of the race after just three laps. We don’t know exactly what happened with Robert, but it’s a real shame for him because he has been exceptional all weekend and I’m sure we could have had a strong result today. All we can do now is regroup and look forward to the next race in Korea, which will be at new experience for everybody.

Alan Permane, Chief Race Engineer: It was an extremely disappointing race for us and for Robert retire from second place so early on is a real shame. At the moment we don’t know what happened to Robert’s car. We suspect some sort of mechanical failure, but we will conduct a full investigation to find out.
Vitaly’s race was even shorter, although he made a good start initially before he connected
with Hulkenberg on the run to the first corner when Vitaly moved left to avoid Heidfeld. It’s
frustrating because we had a good chance to score good points with both cars today.

Rémi Taffin, Head of Engine Operations: This was a very disappointing day for us. Robert had an excellent qualifying this morning and was up to P2 in the race so I think we could have fought easily for the podium. I’m also sure that Vitaly could have had a strong race after his great start, but unfortunately his raced ended early. The short races for both cars saw no problems with the engines and we will reuse them at the next race in Korea where we hope to come away with a better result.