Team reaction after race in Yeongam (part 2)

The first ever Korean Formula One Grand Prix, which was started after a huge delay and behind the safety car because the water wasn’t draining away from the track, brought more points for Kamui Kobayashi and Nick Heidfeld. The Japanese finished the race in eighth just ahead of his German team-mate. When the chequered flag came out and the team had increased its tally by six points it was almost dark.

Kamui Kobayashi: “It was obviously a strange race day with the delay and the start behind the safety car. But for me it was okay to do it this way, as in the beginning I could not see anything behind the safety car. Poor visibility and a lack of grip were today’s problems. When we changed to intermediate tyres when the safety car came out again after 19 laps it was very difficult to drive, as it was very slippery. When Adrian Sutil attacked me I stayed on the inside and didn’t change line. I saw him in the mirror and had the impression he was not going to be able to brake or something like that. We touched but luckily my car wasn’t damaged too much and I was able to continue. For the last laps I found the visibility very, very bad again. This time it was not because of spray but due to the darkness.“

Nick Heidfeld: ”I am happy to have scored again. It was not easy today to keep track of what was happening in the race. I think it was the right decision to delay the start, as before then the visibility had been down to zero. We changed onto intermediates quite early. In hindsight it was actually too early as it wasn’t easy to stay on the track, although we managed it, and then the conditions improved. After a lot of laps, and on a drying track, at the end the tyres were gone, but I think others had the same problem. I could not really defend my position against Adrian (Sutil) because, with the mirrors being so dirty, I just could not see him. I knew from the radio he was there, but I only saw him when he was beside me. For me racing in the darkness was on the edge, but I still felt I could see okay.”

Peter Sauber, Team Principal: “Both drivers in the points in a turbulent and difficult race - that’s positive. Compliments to both drivers who had to fight hard, particularly towards the end of the race. However, although we scored six points we couldn’t reduce the gap to our direct competitors. We now have two chances left.”

James Key, Technical Director: “Not surprisingly it was an eventful race with the conditions and the uncertainty over how the wet tyres would work here on the new track. It was sensible to delay the start a bit, and then take a cautious approach to start the race after the safety car came in. We took a bit of a gamble by bringing the cars in early for intermediate tyres after 19 laps during the safety car period, because the drivers thought it was possible. So we tried to pre-empt the inevitable pit stops for intermediate tyres. But we got held up badly by traffic and, as a result, we didn’t really benefit from it and the others were able to pull away. That was unfortunate, but we can’t complain, because both drivers did a really good job keeping it together under pressure, and hanging on to the tyres. The tyres lost a lot of lap time towards the final part of the race, as they were really old, but the drivers did a really good job of holding on, not making any mistakes and bringing the cars home in the points. We are happy with this result.”

Jaime Alguersuari: “We missed out on a good opportunity to score points today, so I am very disappointed, because just getting to the finish was an achievement given how many cars did not manage to do that. I obviously lost out most during the pit stop, when a technical problem meant I went into the pits in ninth place and came out in fifteenth place. Throughout the race, I lacked speed down the long straights and that is why it was hard to move back up the order, then at the end, when I had finally managed to get into the points, I could do nothing against Hulkenberg, who was faster in a straight line and was on new tyres. It is hard to be competitive when you lack the top speed, because it also means we ran less downforce than others in order to make up for that, so it is harder to manage the tyres in this situation. I just hope we can have a better weekend in Brazil.”
Pos. 11th

Sebastien Buemi: “I think it was the right decision to spend so much time behind the Safety Car because the visibility was so poor. The asphalt did not seem to drain very well. I am disappointed with my race as I think there was plenty of potential for me this afternoon. I was running as high as seventh before the accident as everyone had stopped to change tyres. My pace was good and I was able to pass Kobayashi, Heidfeld and the Lotus and Virgins and it was going really well. We lost the chance to score some real points today. The accident? I braked late and locked the front wheels, so I could not turn and ended up going straight on and hitting Timo. I am sorry for him.”
Retired

An historic race in Korea came to an end in the dark with Lotus Racing’s Heikki Kovalainen taking advantage of an incident packed race to finish in 13th place. Team mate Jarno Trulli’s race again came to an early conclusion with hydraulic issues on lap 25, but the team now head to Brazil still at the head of the new teams after some excellent work on and off track all weekend.

Heikki Kovalainen: “It was another excellent result for the team today. In tricky conditions like that with people making mistakes, we could have seen our tenth position under threat, but we were there at the end and that is what counts. I really enjoyed the race, and didn’t really have any problems that we couldn’t deal with – the team made the right calls throughout and that put us in a strong position at the end of the race. It was obviously pretty dark when we finished, but that was the same for everyone. Now we head to Brazil and we have two more races to secure our place as the best of the new teams this year.”

Jarno Trulli: “It was a disappointing day but I’m pleased that the team has taken another step towards tenth. I felt that there was a possible hydraulics problem when we were behind the safety car as the power steering was starting to feel very heavy. I really struggled to turn in at the first corner and had a spin, and despite the team trying to get me back out it was all over.”

Mike Gascoyne, Chief Technical Officer: “First of all it was great that we could go racing and give all the Korean fans and everyone who has put so much effort into making this race happen the show they wanted to see. They were rewarded with an historic event, with the race finishing in the dark and some excellent action up and down the field. For us it was a day of mixed fortunes – a great finish once again as best of the new teams and Heikki drove a great race in the very tricky conditions, but disappointing for Jarno that he suffered another hydraulic issue that brought his race to an early end. But overall a great weekend for us. We qualified and finished as best of the new teams and maintained our tenth place, which was always our main goal.”

Tony Fernandes, Team Principal: “That was extremely tense for me. Of all the 17 races we have had this season, that was by far the most nerve wracking, and I feel like I was put through the ringer throughout the whole afternoon. Today shows the true mettle of this team. Heikki drove a fantastic race, and even though he also had a possible hydraulic issue with about 20 laps to go, he battled through that, and a superb performance from the race team kept him out there to make sure he was on track at the end of the race to take 13th. We are edging ever closer to that tenth place, and even though Jarno suffered more hydraulic problems, we have taken steps to change that for next year, and it is experiences like today that will stand us in good stead for next season and beyond.”

It was another positive race day for Hispania Racing, HRT F1 Team, as it was able to continue improving today in Korea and finish its 7th race of the season with its two cars in a very complicated race for the rest of the teams. The race took time to start due to the rain, but when it finally got underway it became an exciting and action-packed one, with many Safety Car periods. Both Hispania Racing, HRT F1 Team drivers, Sakon Yamamoto and Bruno Senna, were able to do another strong race. They kept on improving and for the second time in a row they achieved their best result in a race this season. The Brazilian driver finished 14th and the Japanese ended up 15th.

Dr. Colin Kolles, Team Principal: “We did our best race result of the season today and we are all very pleased about this. It was an action-packed debut in Korea and we could hold our position in the championship. Both drivers showed a good performance in these very difficult conditions. Today it was hard to drive, but Sakon Yamamoto and Bruno Senna managed to keep the car on the track. Thanks to everyone in the team for their amazing job during the whole weekend. We could beat our result from Japan and we hope to carry on like this in Brazil.”

Sakon Yamamoto: “Today, we achieved the best result of the season for our team and we are very happy about this. It was an eventful race and it was the right decision to stop it after the start because there was too much water on the track. Later, during the Safety Car period, some cars changed onto intermediates, but we stayed on the wet tyres as we expected more rain to come. As the track got dry earlier than expected and we were losing time, we also changed to intermediates. I could manage my tyres and set a good pace during the whole race. I want to thank the team, which is working hard all the time and also to the fans who are supporting me.”

Bruno Senna: “It was a difficult race but I’m very happy. The conditions were very tricky, and we opted to go very long on the same set of tyres. It was quite hard because the tyres were very used, and towards the end of the race it was a question of keeping the car on the track. But fortunately, it all came together and we finished another race as well as being able to achieve my best result so far.”

Sebastian Vettel: “This is not a nice moment, but I think it was a difficult race for all of us today. To be at the front of the field for the whole race, controlling it and looking after the tyres, I think there’s nothing more we could have done. All in all we did an almost perfect job today and also yesterday in qualifying. It was getting dark towards the end of the race; I had a medium visor on my helmet and it was hard to see some of the bumps on the track or the reference for braking, but the guys finished the race so there must have been some visibility. There are still fifty points available in the Drivers’ Championship, it would have been easier if we had won today and the engine hadn’t have broken, but that’s life and how it goes sometimes. We will keep our heads down for the last two races. We have a very strong team and a strong car and we know we are the quickest. I can go to sleep tonight knowing I did everything I could today and we still have everything to play for.”

Mark Webber: “It was totally my fault, I got on the kerb on the exit of Turn 12 and it was a very slow-motion moment off the back of that kerb – it was my mistake and it wasn’t my day. I thought I’d managed to catch it, but I lost the car and made contact with the wall, nothing too heavy, but it was enough to bring the car back to the other side of the track and then Nico (Rosberg) hit me, which wrecked his race as well. Conditions
were okay by the time we were racing – on the edge, but okay. Today didn’t help me with the Championship, but I can absolutely still win it; this was only my second non-finish of the year. Positions aren’t the most important thing, points are and they can change very quickly. I’m back with the others now on points, but there are still two races to go and I’ll do my absolute best.”

Christian Horner, Team Principal: “Some days motor racing can be cruel and for Red
Bull today it was unfortunately one of those days. Mark was unlucky, he dropped a wheel on the kerb – one of the few mistakes he’s made this year – and it bit him hard. Sebastian had the cruellest of luck – ten laps to go and out of the blue he had an engine failure. As a team we’d done everything right today and we had the pace to win. Starting on the front row, we got the strategy right, we read the conditions right and to have an engine failure, almost in sight of the end of the race, is appalling luck. It’s our first nonpoints score this year, but we leave here still in the lead of the Constructors’ and we’re still in it in the Drivers’ too; Mark’s second and Sebastian’s only one race-win behind the leader. We gave Fernando (Alonso) a big present today, but it was only two weeks ago that we were celebrating a one-two finish and we’ll be back in Brazil.”

Fabrice Lom, Renault, Principal Engineer Track Support: “Renault must apologise to the whole team for the engine failure on Seb’s car. We need to investigate more before giving more details about the failure – it was an engine that was at its third grand prix but it obviously wasn’t expected.
What a bad result for us, we scored no points after starting on the front row – it’s a big disappointment.
We are still in the battle for both Championships and we will continue to push very hard – we took a hit today, but we will bounce back stronger in Brazil.”

Virgin Racing’s Korean Grand Prix ended in frustration today when the race came to a premature conclusion for both Timo Glock and Lucas di Grassi as a consequence of separate racing incidents.

As Formula One counted down to the start of a race which several weeks ago had seemed like it might never happen, it had been raining intermittently for 15 hours and the conditions were getting worse, not better. After the start was delayed for 10 minutes in the hope that the heavens would close, the race got underway behind the safety car, but three laps was all it took to confirm that the circuit was undriveable. The race was subsequently red-flagged, which gave rise to a second grid formation.

At 16:05 the race was restarted, again behind the safety car, and after a further 13 laps the conditions had improved sufficiently to allow the racing to finally get underway. The early part was strong for both drivers, with Lucas making the right call to switch to the Intermediate tyre on lap 17 as the rain subsided and a dry line began to appear. He was running closely behind the established teams when he went out trying to avoid a crash with the slower Sakon Yamamoto ahead of him.

All hopes rested on Timo, who was running in a very encouraging 12th position when he was hit by Sebastian Buemi. The Toro Rosso driver lost control under braking at the end of the straight and speared the right-hand side of Timo’s car. Timo came into the pits to allow the team to assess the damage, but it was too extensive for him to be able to continue and he was forced to retire.

Timo Glock: “This was a very disappointing race, especially after having been in a strong position to achieve a good result. The restart was okay and the track was starting to improve. We had quite good pace in the first part of the race and were clearly the quickest of the new teams. It’s just a huge shame that we couldn’t finish the race and all because of the mistake made by Buemi. It just seemed that he was all over the place. We now head to Brazil for the penultimate race of the season where I hope we can expect more luck than we found here in Korea.”

Lucas di Grassi: “A very frustrating day here in Korea . We had made the correct call by switching to the Intermediate tyre very early in the race and on lap 15 I went out trying to avoid a crash with Yamamoto, who was ahead of me but much slower. Again I was in a good position for a strong result as I was running together with both Saubers and a Toro Rosso after the last safety car period ended. The next stop is my home race in Brazil, so we hope for better things there in two weeks’ time.”

John Booth, Team Principal: “A really unlucky day for us today as we were looking good for a strong placing with both cars. Lucas had made a good early switch to Intermediates, which would have benefited him as the race unfolded, but he crashed trying to avoid Yamamoto. Timo was up to 12th place and comfortably leading the new teams’ battle when he was hit by Buemi in an accident which was entirely Buemi’s fault and for which he was subsequently penalised. Both cars sustained considerable damage but we will regroup and bounce back strongly in Brazil.”