Team reaction after the British GP (part 2)

Toro Rosso Ferrari

Sebastien Buemi: “It did not go well for me today. In terms of our strategy, after my tyre change, I came out behind Liuzzi who had not pitted, so I spent around ten laps behind him, using my front tyres a lot and when the Safety Car went in, I had a lot of graining on my front left tyre. By the time that cleared up, I was able to put in some good lap times, but by then it was too late to do much. I am disappointed because I think one point might have been possible today, so we did not do a good job.”

Jaime Alguersuari: “Of course I am disappointed not to have finished, but I was quite happy with my race up to that point, because the pace was there, I felt comfortable with the car and was getting faster as the race progressed. The team did a perfect job with my pit stop strategy. As usual, I suffer a bit at tracks I have not driven before, having to learn them from Friday to Saturday, but from Hungary onwards, I will have had that experience from last season, which will make life easier.”

Franz Tost: “At the end of the first lap, Sebastien came round in eleventh place, which looked quite encouraging, but then he dropped down the order. We decided to call him in for his pit stop a bit earlier than planned, as his lap times were not so good. After this, he then found himself stuck behind Liuzzi for several laps. The fact that he set the eighth fastest lap time in the race shows the potential of the car. As for Jaime, he drove a good race up until the moment when he had a brake problem with seven laps to go and had to retire. We will now investigate the cause of this failure. It was a shame for him, as, towards the end of the race, he had the pace to close on Hulkenberg. In two weeks time we go to Hockenheim, where we must try and do better.”

Renault

Robert Kubica: I had a dream first lap, gaining a lot of places, but after that our pace was not so good and I was lacking overall grip. Following my pitstop I had a nice fight with Alonso, but he overtook me by cutting turn eight. I was on the inside, he was on the outside and he passed me with all four wheels off the track. The team informed me that he would have to give back the position, but before he could do that we had a driveshaft failure at the rear of the car, so all I could do was bring it back to the pits and retire.

Vitaly Petrov: Today I think it was possible to finish in the points, but I had some bad luck with a puncture after the Safety Car period which cost me a lot of time. My start was not too bad, and I made up three positions on the first lap. After then, though, it was really difficult to overtake because there are no slow corners at this circuit, but I tried my best. It’s good to have finished the race because it gives us lots of data and gives me more experience of the track.

Eric Boullier, Team Principal: Robert had an exceptional start to the race, but unfortunately this was to be the only enjoyable moment of the day. It’s disappointing to see him retire, but the car has been extremely reliable this year and this is his first retirement of the season. As for Vitaly, his race pace was good today, but he picked up a puncture and that ruined his race. We now have to bounce back and find more speed because we struggled for overall pace this weekend. We also saw today how close the fight is with Mercedes and we need to work hard to get back ahead of them.

Alan Permane, Chief Race Engineer: It was a tough afternoon for us and it’s disappointing to come away empty-handed. Robert made a fantastic start, up into third place on lap one, but we didn’t have the pace today to race Mercedes. When we stopped Robert on lap 13 to stay ahead of Fernando, Rosberg was able to put in two or three very quick laps and managed to jump ahead of us. Robert’s race was ended by what appears to have been a failure of the left rear driveshaft, although we are still investigating exactly what happened. Vitaly’s race was looking promising and he had made it up to the top ten until he picked up a puncture, which forced him to pit and dropped him back to P13.

Remi Taffin, Head of Engine Operations: This was a disappointing result after all our hard work over the race weekend. We had made another step forward with the car for Silverstone, and we saw a flash of that potential with Robert in qualifying. He made an excellent start, which is something we have worked on as well, and he was running in a good position, ahead of a number of quicker rivals. Although some of them got past, we could still have scored a top-five finish, but Robert’s retirement was a reminder, if one was needed, that you need to be 100% reliable if you want to finish in the points. The only possible response is to work even harder, to ensure that there is no repeat - and that we continue to improve at the next race.

Ferrari

Felipe Massa: "I don’t know what to do, but I have to find some way of getting rid of the bad luck that is following me around! In the last few races, everything has happened to me. Today my race was soon over, when I touched with Fernando and got a puncture which dropped me to the back of the pack. The car was going well, but that’s not much use if you cannot get a result. The championship is not over after this race, but clearly my situation is compromised: I would need to win a lot of races while others run into the same difficulties that have come my way in recent races. However, we must not give up: we will keep our heads high and continue to push on the development of the car and then see what results come our way."

Fernando Alonso: "I made a horrible start - we had some problems with the clutch – and then came the incident with Kubica which further affected my race. I do not wish to comment on the Stewards’ decision. The team acted correctly but the instruction to hand back the position arrived when I had already passed another driver and in the meantime, Kubica was visibly slowing down before retiring. On top of that, the penalty coincided with the Safety Car and so, rather than just losing a couple of positions, I lost around a dozen. Even with my difficult start, I am convinced I could have finished third, but instead I go home with nothing. The championship situation is definitely looking more difficult, but we have only just gone past the halfway point of the season and anything can still happen. The car is better and I was flying when I had a clear track ahead of me: we must continue to work and believe in ourselves."

Stefano Domenicali: "We seem to be really cursed at the moment, when everything that could go wrong, does. We are not happy, but we must not feel sorry for ourselves. Instead, we have to react calmly, remaining focussed and continuing to work in the way we did over the past few weeks. We go home with no points, but with the knowledge that we have a potential, in terms of the car, the team and the drivers, that is up to the right level to deal with the situation. We must not allow ourselves to give in to frustration: I am sure that the results and the points that have been lacking for so many reasons recently, will come. Clearly, the championship situation is looking complicated but we remain convinced we can still fight for the title. We will continue to push on the development of the F10, confident in our chances to make up the ground we have lost up until today."

Chris Dyer: "We are very, very disappointed at how this race turned out. Our drivers’ chances were practically over on the opening lap, especially in Felipe’s case, as he had to pit with a puncture. Fernando found himself in traffic and we tried to gain him a few places by bringing him in early for his stop, but the plan did not work. Then there was the incident when Alonso overtook Kubica which was a key moment in our driver’s race, because of the Stewards’ decision: his penalty took away any chance he had of finishing in the points, especially as its arrival coincided with the Safety Car period. We are going through a difficult time, but we must not give up. We have shown that the performance of our car has improved at a track that does not suit it that well. We must continue to work in this direction."

Lotus Cosworth

VIP guest Hazel Chapman brought a touch of the luck that had been missing in recent races back to Lotus Racing as the team recorded a double car finish at today’s British Grand Prix. Jarno Trulli made a great start and then put in a strong race to finish 16th, Heikki crossing the line just behind him in 17th. The day began with Hazel officially opening the team’s new motorhome alongside Tony Fernandes, Kamarudin Meranun, Bette Hill and former World Champion Nigel Mansell, the official FIA Steward for the British Grand Prix.

Jarno Trulli: “I finished the Grand Prix and managed to fight with the other teams after a pretty difficult weekend, so I’m very happy. It’s just great for the whole team as they worked really hard with some difficult problems, but the work paid off. My pace felt very good, especially when you consider that I didn’t have a chance to work on any set up changes, and I had to get used to the new section of the track in qualifying and during the first part of the race, so I think we all did a pretty good job!”

Heikki Kovalainen: “I think my pace was good all the way through the race, but there was constant traffic in front of me. I lost my position on the first lap, which was frustrating, as I then got held up quite a bit. I don’t mind being a lap down, but it’s just a shame I couldn’t really push. Overall I’m very pleased that we managed to finish where we did and it has been a good day for the team here at Silverstone.”

Mike Gascoyne, Chief Technical Officer: “Today’s been good - a strong two car finish is a great return on the all the hard work that’s been put in, so well done to the whole team for that, and once again we’re best of the news teams. Apologies to Heikki as we had a problem in his pitstop which dropped him behind the Virgin, but he drove a great race in the second half and managed to regain his place.

“Jarno had a very solid race to make sure we had a two car finish and keep ourselves best of the new teams. The only negative was the safety car which came at the wrong time for us, because we’d just pitted and it meant we dropped a lap down. But other than that it was a good strong Sunday, so well done to everyone in the team.”

Tony Fernandes, Team Principal: “I’m absolutely delighted. This has been a great day - a two car finish is just what I’ve been wanting for the last few races, so I’m very very happy! Obviously the pitstops didn’t go to plan, but we recovered well and everything played out for us in the end. I think Heikki’s pace was very good and he raced really well, despite the unfortunate pitstop, and we got two cars home which really was the main thing. It was also a real honour for Hazel Chapman to come today and she’s brought us something very special – our motorhome is a very welcoming place for everyone in the team, and all our guests, so I’d like to thank her for coming along and instilling a bit of that old-school Team Lotus spirit in our home.”

Virgin Racing Cosworth

Virgin Racing’s first home Grand Prix continued in the same vein as Qualifying and Free Practice, with a good performance step being demonstrated but minor problems preventing the team from capitalizing on the improvement. Timo drove an excellent race, splitting the Lotus pair in the second half of the race, but a small mistake towards the end of the Race cost him a place and he finished in 18th position.

Both cars were racing the Lotus pair closely in the early laps, setting the pattern for the entire race. But on lap 10, Lucas reported a hydraulic problem, and was called in to the pits for investigation. A broken hydraulic power pack was diagnosed as the problem and it ended his race. Timo continued to hunt down Kovalainen and Trulli, and was able to get in front of Heikki as a result of a faultless pit stop by the Virgin Racing crew. A Safety Car and a yellow flag in the final sector then allowed Heikki to close the gap, and he was in a position to pass at Stowe when Timo ran wide. But the clear positive message is that the new aerodynamic package will really allow us to race for the honour of being the best of the new teams, and we leave Silverstone encouraged and relishing the challenge that Hockenheim will bring.

Timo Glock: “I had a bad start again and lost position against Jarno and Heikki. In the race I tried to stay with the Lotus, which pulled away slightly. When Heikki went in to the pits I had two really good laps and came in to the pits. The boys did a really good pit stop which brought me out in front of Heikki. Then I was following Jarno and I tried to keep up with him but I had a really big oversteer moment over a bump and nearly lost the car. Heikki then overtook me and so I finished behind the Lotus. On a positive note the pace was good and I was fairly happy with the car.”

Lucas di Grassi: “We didn’t have a very good day. The car was good at the start but then we lost hydraulic pressure which ended my race. I am obviously disappointed but on a positive note, the car is showing great progress and I am looking forward to the next race.”

John Booth, Team Principal: “I’m really pleased with how the Team worked together this weekend. We had a number of challenging issues during Free Practice, when the boys managed to get Timo back on the track with minimal loss of track time and in the Race we had a faultless pit stop, reflecting all the hard work and practice that we’ve been putting in. The new aero package works well with the mechanical upgrade we fitted in Valencia, meaning that we are in a strong position to keep moving forwards at Hockenheim.”

Nick Wirth, Technical Director: “A mixed result today. We have clearly made a good step forward in performance and had a race-long battle with the Lotus cars. This was somewhat spoiled when Timo lost ground to Heikki in the yellow-flag section caused by Alguersuari’s off, which allowed Heikki to get in Timo’s slipstream and eventually pass. Lucas has fallen victim to another hydraulic gremlin, just when he was in the thick of the action, and we will address this for Hockenheim. But the progress is clear and our battles, finishing position and fastest race laps show how tight things are now. We know that every bit of performance counts, so we’ll be looking to bring more updates to Hockenheim and the races beyond, with great confidence that they will translate into yet more speed.”

HRT F1 Cosworth

Hispania Racing, HRT F1 Team was able to finish the race with both cars for the fourth time this season. The Spanish team is improving race by race and achieved the second two car finish in a row. Karun Chandhok finished in 19th position and his teammate Sakon Yamamoto ended up 20th at his first Formula 1 race since 2007. The Japanese driver’s debut with Hispania Racing, HRT F1 Team, was positive and he could soon set a good race pace close behind Karun Chandhok, who showed a good race performance, too. Now, the Spanish team is hoping for a win at the football world cup final and the car had the “Vamos España” stickers on again.

Dr Colin Kolles, Team Principal: “We are very happy with the result as today we could finish with two cars for the fourth time this season. Karun Chandhok and Sakon Yamamoto started on option tyres into the race as we found out that this tyre compound was the best for a long run. Our pit stop was quite late and we changed on prime tyres. Sakon showed a good performance during the race after being back in a Formula 1 car for many years. All in all, we had a trouble free race and I want to thank the team for doing a great job the whole weekend.”

Karun Chandhok: “The race was pretty much as we expected to be honest. We weren’t really in a position to race with others so I pushed early on to open about 15 seconds gap to Sakon. After the pit stop, I ran over some debris which damaged the barge board and the side pod on my car costing downforce. So after the safety car it was all about just managing the damage and the gap to Sakon. Another double finish for the team and that’s about all we can expect at the moment.”

Sakon Yamamoto: “I am very happy that the team achieved its target, another two car finish. It was a good experience for me to race in Formula 1 again. I could improve all over the weekend and got a better feeling for the car. I want to thank the team for giving me the chance to race here in Silverstone. I could show that I am prepared to be back in the cockpit and whenever I’ll get the opportunity to race again, I will take it. I also want to thank my fans who always supported me over the years. It was a very special and exciting weekend for me.”