Team reaction after the European GP (part 1)

Red Bull

Sebastian Vettel: “It’s good to be back winning and on a circuit where we didn’t expect to be that strong. But we were quick enough at all times in the race to pull away, find the gap and then guide the car home, but it wasn’t as easy as expected. It’s good to get a lot of Championship points and the guys can be extremely proud, so a good weekend for them. Most important of all today is the fact that Mark had quite a big shunt but he’s fine - it shows that the cars get safer and safer but still there is a lot of risk so it’s good that he’s OK.”

Mark Webber: “I was going a lot faster than Heikki and then a long, long way before the braking point he braked - about 80m before - and at that point I’m a passenger. The car, thank God, was very safe. I am OK, I lost some points, but in the end when you’re up there, you’re not worried about points, I was worried that I was OK and ready for Silverstone. You cannot control where you are going and how hard the hits are going to be. Of course, the hits were pretty hard but it’s good that I am OK. It was my Monte Carlo and Barcelona winning chassis and one which has secured a lot of pole positions, so the chassis has been good to me, and it has been good to me today as it saved me from some injures. I remain incredibly positive, we go on, it’s half way through the Championship. Bloody hell, let’s get on with it.”

Christian Horner, Team Principal: “The most important thing today is that Mark Webber is safe and OK. After a very nasty accident, he’s fine. Sebastian drove a very mature race and controlled his pace perfectly. After some bad luck recently, this result will be a boost for his confidence. Finally, congratulations to all members of the team for the relentless hard work that is getting performance to the car at each race. We now look forward to Silverstone in two weeks time.”

Fabrice Lom (Renault) Principal Engineer Track Support: ”Very mixed feelings, we are very happy for Seb, he won the race, from the beginning to the end with no trouble and the engine worked very well - it was the perfect weekend for one side of the garage. Unfortunately we had a bit accident with Mark and we are very, very happy that he is safe, he is OK. Overall it was a good weekend for the car, the performance was very good. We lose some points against McLaren but not that much.”

McLaren Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton: “Into Turn One, I was very close to Seb [Vettel], I went for the gap, I out-braked him and we went into the corner side-by-side. He gave me room, but we touched and the contact damaged my front wing.

“When the Safety Car came out, the team did a great job to change the nosebox and tyres. After that my pace was much better and I was able to push Seb, but it’s impossible to pass around here when the cars are so closely matched.

“Whenever a Safety Car comes out, it’s difficult to compute all the information. There are all these beeps in your ear, and lights flashing on your dashboard too. There’s got to be a certain time between the ‘Safety Car 1’ line and the ‘Safety Car 2’ line, and between those two lines you can go fast. So it’s all a bit complicated.

“So I pushed past the last Safety Car line, and was obviously then trying to close the gap to Seb. But as I came out of the first corner, all of a sudden I saw the Safety Car coming out, so I backed off and went across the line as I did that, so I thought I was okay.

“When the team told me I had a drive-through penalty, I made time by pushing as hard as I could, and was able to increase the gap a bit to the guys behind. I took my penalty – it’s quite a long time to spend at 60km/h in the pitlane – and I came out second. I don’t see how that’s unfair – it’s racing, and those are the rules, and we all have to accept them.”

Jenson Button: “The first lap was great – I loved it! I was alongside Robert [Kubica] for 10 corners, then we both went around Mark [Webber] in Turn Eight, one on the inside and one on the outside! We continued fighting until Turn 10, but I couldn’t get around the outside of him there – it was just too tight.

“I was very close to the pit entry when the Safety Car was triggered. I was warned by the team beforehand, who said, ‘There might be a Safety Car, in this lap,’ so I dived into the pits. There was no room to lift off or hit the brakes, so to be honest I can’t really see why I was called to the stewards.

“Later in the race, when I was behind Kamui [Kobayashi], I knew he’d have to pit again. His pace was reasonable, so I knew he wasn’t going to pit early, but you just can’t overtake around here. I was running pretty low downforce today, which gave me good straightline speed, but I couldn’t get out of the corners quick enough to get really tucked in behind him on the straights. As soon as he went into the pits, though, I had three or four laps when I could push and have some fun with the car. I got the fastest lap at that point, which was nice; the car was feeling very good, and I just wish I’d had more laps to play with!”

Martin Whitmarsh, Team principal, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes: “Speaking before the stewards have finished their deliberations, I suppose I have to say I’m reasonably pleased with this afternoon’s events. Short of a win, second and third is pretty good – especially so when you bear in mind that we’d brought only a modest set of modifications here whereas some of the other top teams had introduced substantial upgrades.

“We’ve accepted Lewis’s penalty, but in truth we reckon it was a pretty marginal call. Okay, it didn’t deprive him of his second place on the road, but it did prevent him from being able to take the race to Seb, which had been our intention. And I think Lewis’s strong pace in the last few laps showed that, having saved his fuel and tyres early on in preparation for mounting an attack on Seb, he would probably have been in a position to have a fair old crack at it had he not been given a drive-through. So, yes, his penalty was frustrating for Lewis, frustrating for us, and ultimately I suppose you’d have to say it was frustrating for the spectators, at the track and in front of their TV screens, too. But, as I say, you have to accept these things and move on.

“Jenson drove a very solid race – although it was of course irritating for him to be stuck behind Kamui for so long. Having said that, in the chaos that always ensues with an early Safety Car, our engineers called the situation really well, with the result that we were able to change the nosebox on Lewis’s car [following contact with Vettel’s car on lap one] and send our cars back out in second place and fourth place. Actually, of course, Jenson’s fourth place was in effect third place, because Kamui was always going to have to make a pitstop for new tyres at some stage in the race. So it was a shame for Jenson to be stuck behind Kamui for so long too – but, again, racing can be frustrating and sometimes there’s simply nothing you can do about it.

“Assuming Jenson retains his third place in today’s race, he’ll remain in second place in the drivers’ world championship – not far behind Lewis, whose name still tops the list. Vodafone McLaren Mercedes leads the constructors’ world championship too, which is particularly satisfying for all our employees who work so hard back at our HQ in Woking [Surrey, UK] as they prepare for our home grand prix, at Silverstone, the home of British motor sport, in two weeks’ time.”

Williams Cosworth

The Williams team’s competitive form during this weekend’s European Grand Prix at Valencia concluded with Rubens Barrichello crossing the line in fourth place in this afternoon’s race. However, together with nine other drivers, including team mate Nico Hulkenberg, Rubens’ result remains provisional pending an investigation by the stewards. While running in a points-paying tenth position, Nico Hulkenberg’s FW32 suffered an exhaust failure which put him out of the race on lap 50.

Rubens Barrichello: It was great fun out there today and the car was behaving well throughout the race. We really seem to be heading in the right direction with the development of the car and I hope that this improved performance continues for the rest of the season.

Nico Hulkenberg:
It was going really well and points were definitely possible today. I was running in tenth before the safety car came out. It wasn’t good timing for me because I had called in a flat spot on my tyre half a lap earlier and wanted to pit but by then it was too late. Combined with having to stack, I really lost all my places there. When the safety car came in I couldn’t keep Alonso behind me, but after that it was quite a processional race up until something caught fire on my car. That obviously ended it for me.

Sam Michael, Technical Director: That was a good performance today by both cars, and definitely a step forward. Unfortunately, an exhaust failure cost Nico a possible point today and we will be investigating the cause back at the factory. The team is now looking forward to its home race at Silverstone and consolidating the step in performance we’ve made with further upgrades for the FW32.

Renault

Robert Kubica: I got a pretty good start today and I managed to keep my position, then had a really nice clean fight with Jenson – I think we spent about half a lap side by side. In fact, we both managed to overtake
Webber going into turn eight: I was on the inside, Jenson was on the outside and we both squeezed Mark to get past. And then, Jenson and I went through the next two corners side by side as well, so it was a pretty fun first lap and I came out on top of the battle. After that, we got lucky when the Safety Car came out: I was already braking for the last corner when the message came on the steering wheel, so I decided to head straight to the pits. Unfortunately, though, we didn’t manage to take maximum advantage of the opportunity: I was the first car into the pits but the third car to leave. If everything had gone smoothly, we could have finished on the podium this afternoon, but unfortunately we didn’t manage
to do so.

Vitaly Petrov: I’m disappointed with my result today. When you start the race in tenth, the minimum you expect is to keep your position. My problems began at the start because I got big wheel spin and lost a lot of
places. After that I tried to keep up good pace and tried to attack De la Rosa, but he had very good speed on the straight it’s very difficult to overtake here so I couldn’t get by. As a rookie it’s good experience for me to finish the race and we know what we need to do for the coming races.

Eric Boullier, Team Principal: To finish fifth with Robert is a good result and we’ve made up some ground on Mercedes in the championship. We managed to react quickly to the Safety Car and adapt the strategy, but I still feel we could have come away with a better result. It’s disappointing to see Vitaly miss out on points, especially after his good performance in qualifying. When you are in P15 after the first lap it’s very difficult to get back into the points, but at least he had pretty strong pace today.

Alan Permane, Chief Race Engineer: Robert’s fifth place today is a reasonable result considering that we started sixth. We reacted very
quickly to the Safety Car to stop Robert, but unfortunately we had already planned to stop Vitaly on that lap and the mechanics were waiting in the pit lane with his tyres. So there was a dash into the garage to swap the tyres over, which cost us some time and meant we lost a couple of places to Button and Barrichello. However, because we reacted so quickly, we managed get ahead of both Ferraris so we stayed fifth overall. Robert then spent the rest of the race behind Barrichello and, although we turned up
the engine towards the end of the race, it’s so difficult to overtake here and we had to settle for fifth. As for Vitaly, he lost places on the first lap which made for a tough race. He recovered a couple of places at the pit stop, but just missed out on points today.

Rémi Taffin, Head of Engine Operations: For this race Vitaly had a fresh engine, while Robert’s V8 was on its second race. Despite it being a very hot afternoon, there were no issues with the engine and we were able to get the full performance from them for the whole race. In terms of the result today, the points we have scored over Mercedes are important and we have taken 10 points out of their lead. The only disappointment is that we could have come away with a better result because some of competitors did a better job during the pit stops under the Safety Car. Looking ahead, we will continue pushing hard to develop the car for the next race, as we have done all season.

Force India Mercedes

The Force India F1 Team further added to its 2010 championship point total in today’s European Grand Prix, with Adrian Sutil claiming a hard-fought sixth position. Tonio Liuzzi put in a competitive performance however finished the race just out of the points in 13th.

Both Adrian and Tonio made good starts off the line and were moving up the field until the safety car period on lap nine. Adrian was one of the first to pit when the safety car was deployed as a result of Webber and Kovalainen’s accident and managed to make up five positions to eighth. He then overtook Buemi for seventh on lap 38, which became sixth when Kobayashi eventually pitted in the late stages of the race.

Tonio was not so fortunate to leapfrog into the top ten in his stop. To try to take advantage of the safety car period, he too pitted as soon as he could, but he lost a couple of vital seconds while waiting for the completion of Adrian’s tyre change. He gained a couple of positions to rejoin in 14th and climbed up a further position after a long battle with Felipe Massa.
The eight points now bring Force India’s season total to 43 and Adrian’s to 31, only three from Michael Schumacher.

Adrian Sutil: It was an interesting race for me and a very good result in the end: from 13th to sixth, it’s pretty amazing for us, one of the best races so far this season. We made the call to come into the pits at the right time - when the safety car went out I was in the last sector and could go in the pits straight away and then moved up the order when the front guys came in. Then I could pass Buemi on track and in the end it was sixth position. I think we did everything right today and it’s a very positive result for the team to keep the points coming in.

Tonio Liuzzi: It was a reasonable race considering we knew it would be difficult to score points because of the starting position and there aren’t many overtaking spots. It was a shame we couldn’t make more of the safety car as Adrian did but basically we came in at the same time and as he was ahead on the road he was stopped in front of me and I had to wait for him to finish and then I got blocked by Petrov in the pitlane. That basically compromised my race. It’s quite disappointing as yesterday we had good pace and we just couldn’t get the most out of it in qualifying. From this perspective we showed points were possible and we can look forward to getting some more in Silverstone.

Dr Vijay Mallya, chairman and team principal: With street racing anything can happen and that’s what we saw today. We took advantage of the safety car period for Adrian, which moved him up into the points and then he did a great job to bring the car home sixth. Tonio was unlucky not to be able to benefit in the same way, however he still drove a very gutsy race and again demonstrated that in race trim the car is very competitive. We’ve come away from the weekend with some more points and I think sixth is a good reflection on where we are right now in the field.

Sauber Ferrari

At the European Grand Prix in Valencia Kamui Kobayashi and Pedro de la Rosa finished seventh and tenth respectively. They scored seven points for the team and gave it the best result of the season so far. The team had put the drivers on different tyre strategies, which paid off and
allowed Kamui to overtake first Fernando Alonso and then Sébastien Buemi on the penultimate and final laps.

Kamui Kobayashi: “Before the race we had decided to use separate tyre strategies for Pedro and me. I started on the harder ones and didn’t pit when everybody else did. It was great racing there at the front, but
it was not easy either because I had Jenson Button close behind me all the time, and also I had to look after my tyres. I was careful not to overdrive them. After my pit stop I had only four laps to make use of my fresh tyres. At this moment I had better grip than anybody else, and I felt I had to make the most out of it. Of course it was a risk to overtake Alonso and Buemi. If it hadn’t worked out and I had crashed I would have been in trouble.”

Pedro de la Rosa: “It was a great race from the team. The strategy paid off and the car was really good under race conditions. For most of the race I was stuck in traffic. The last 12 laps were very difficult for me
because I had a big flat spot on my front right tyre, and the vibrations in the car were quite bad. I didn’t say this over the radio to the team, as I wanted to save them from bad news during the race because we have had enough of that. I am very, very happy for the entire team that we scored these points today. It is a great team and they deserve to be happy.“

Peter Sauber, Team Principal: “What a fantastic race, particularly considering where we were on the grid. The team and the drivers did everything right today. Pedro delivered a very solid performance and scored one point, and Kamui was absolutely amazing. The lap times which he put in while he was in third were stunning. They prove how much potential there is in this car. Congratulations to the whole team and the drivers!”

James Key, Technical Director: “It was a very good result for the team and an excellent race from both drivers who managed to bring the cars home in the points, which we needed and the team deserved. Given our qualifying performance yesterday, we decided to split our strategy, and the plan was to go as far as possible for Kamui on the harder compound. For Pedro we chose a more standard approach. He started on the option tyres and stopped during the safety car period at exactly the right time. He was able to complete the race on the prime tyres, which lasted very well. With Kamui we decided to leave him out and keep a very close eye on his lap times and also the traffic behind him. His performance in the race when he was holding third was absolutely outstanding. He was putting in some very quick lap times, and holding Button behind him without coming under much pressure.
We should be very happy with this result. It was a great effort from the team and the drivers.”