Team reaction after the German GP (part 2)

Williams Cosworth

Sam Michael, Technical Director: It was not a satisfying outcome to miss out on points today. We struggled with poor starts on both cars which dropped us a couple of positions immediately. With similar pace to all the cars around us, we then tried two quite different strategies to recover, but nothing went wrong with the other team strategies, so we couldn’t make a difference. We’ll now look to improvements for next week’s race in Budapest.

Rubens Barrichello: I had a very difficult start to the race, my pull away was not very good. I was running in position for the hairpin when Kobayashi’s move on the inside left no braking margin, which backed everybody up. During both stints on the option and prime tyre, our pace was much the same as the cars in front, but having lost track position, there wasn’t enough pace differential to make up position.

Nico Hulkenberg: Really the race today was defined by the start, which for me was not good and the places lost could not be recovered. I ran a long first stint on the option tyre, which was the right thing to do given our position, but it was very hard to make any progress taking the option tyre to lap 34. The car pace wasn’t really there today and with a pretty uneventful race, there wasn’t even the possibility of an unexpected opportunity to reclaim some advantage.

Toro Rosso Ferrari

Jaime Alguersuari: “Regarding the incident with Sebastien, I was on the inside going into Turn 6 and I braked well leaving enough space, but there seemed to be some problems in front of me, as the cars ahead all slowed much more than is normal. I braked again, but it was not enough and I drove into him. Naturally, I am sorry for that. I had to pit for a new nose and we switched to the soft tyres at that point, having started on the hards. In terms of performance, the car was quite fast and I was able to do some good lap times. I am looking forward to doing better in Hungary, a circuit where at least I have already driven a Formula 1 car last year.”

Sebastien Buemi: “I made a really good start and was able to pass three or four cars and then when we came to the hairpin, I was braking in the middle of the corner and my team-mate came from a long way back and ended up driving onto the top of my car. The damage was too bad for me to continue, which is a real shame after I had got such a quick start.”

Force India Mercedes

The Force India F1 Team missed out on scoring points for only the second time this season in today’s German Grand Prix. With Adrian starting from P19 and Tonio P22 the race was always going to be an uphill battle, and the mount proved too high during the 67 lap race. Tonio came home in 16th position and Adrian just behind in 17th.
Despite missing out on points Force India maintains its sixth position in the constructors’ championship.

Adrian Sutil: What can we say, it’s been a very disappointing weekend. The first lap I had some contact with Tonio and lost some positions. It was always our strategy that, if after the start I had not made up places, I would pit on the first lap to change to the prime tyres and make up positions when other cars stopped later on. It was a good plan as you have nothing to lose when you are that far down, but there was some confusion in the stop. Tonio had radioed to say he was coming in for a front wing change and as we both arrived at the same time the tyre sets got mixed up and then I had to come in and pit again to get the correct set. Once they were on I got going and I could get quite far up the field but then I had to stop when the set went off. This weekend we’ve just not been quick enough but we feel it’s just a blip and not anything too serious - at some races you just don’t run well, so it’s best to write it off and look forward to the next races.

Tonio Liuzzi: It’s been a pretty disappointing race weekend overall. I had one contact on the first lap and we believed we had damaged the front wing, so I came to the pits for a change but there was a mix-up in the stop with the tyres so I had to come back in again. It was a shame as I had had a good first lap until that point and afterwards we had a really strong race pace. It was always going to be tough, but the pace we showed was the same as the top ten runners. We have to look at these positives and look forward to the next race in Budapest.

Otmar Szafnauer, chief operating officer: Of course we are disappointed with the result today as we believed we could have finished much further up than we ultimately did. It was a case of cause-and-effect - one bad thing led to another. We had some issues in practice, which meant qualifying was not ideal, and in trying to be aggressive at the start we had a coming together, which in turn led to the confusion in the stops. We will draw a line under it and focus on the new developments we have coming and we can take away some positives - we ran at a strong pace on both cars when they were fighting for position and we ran reliably in the race yet again.

Virgin Racing Cosworth

Virgin Racing’s Timo Glock drove a great race to finish the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim as the first driver in the new teams’ category - despite starting from the last row of the grid after taking a five place grid penalty for a changed gearbox.

Both Timo and Lucas opted to start on the hard Prime tyre while most of the other cars were on super-soft Options as expected. It was all a bit hectic on the first lap, and Timo was concerned that he had damaged his wing at the second corner. Lucas managed to get past both of the HRTs and was running close behind the Lotus of Heikki Kovalainen during the first part of the race, although the Primes did not work quite as well in the race as expected and the Finn was running on Options. Timo passed Yamamoto but couldn‘t get by Senna despite being clearly quicker and running on his tail for several laps.

When the Option-shod cars stopped for Primes, Lucas and Timo headed the new teams until around three-quarter distance, when Lucas suffered a broken rear wishbone whilst mid-corner, causing him to spin. Timo then stopped for Options and rejoined behind Kovalainen. He was very happy with the balance on the softer tyre and was catching the Lotus until the Finn was taken out of the race. From there Timo had a straightforward drive to the finish, showing good pace in comparison to the leaders. The recent updates to the car continue to show improvement, leaving the team in a strong position for the Hungarian Grand Prix in a week’s time.

Timo Glock: “It was a difficult start to the race as Lucas overtook me in a brilliant move, following the problems we experienced on Saturday which left us starting from the last row of the grid as a consequence of our gearbox change penalty. However, I had a really good start and overtook both HRT cars in turn one, which was good, but in turn 2 I lost everything again. It felt as if someone pushed me in the back and I ran wide and suddenly I was last again. I had to start the fight against the HRT again and overtook Yamamoto but I was stuck behind Senna because he had a good top speed. After the pitstop I had pretty good speed but then the blue flags came out again which penalised me too much. With the option tyre I had clear air and good pace. Overall I was happy with the race. I just hope we can find a way to get a smoother build-up over the weekend because it will make life a lot easier.”

Lucas di Grassi: “I had a very positive start to the race today as I gained four places on the first lap and was running up behind Heikki for many laps. The car was behaving well, so I was confident we could beat Lotus on the track today and really push after the switch to the option tyre. I hit a bump on the kerb which damaged the suspension and so I lost the car. The damage meant that it was impossible to continue so what could have been a really great race ended early for me. However, we have shown the strength of the car here so I’m really looking forward to the Hungarian Grand Prix next weekend.”

John Booth, Team Principal: “It’s been a bit of a rollercoaster weekend for us, starting out with a strong Free Practice on Friday, followed by the disappointment of our problems on Saturday and then a really strong race for both Timo and Lucas. It is frustrating that having pulled it all back today in the race we lost Lucas’ car in the closing stages, but I think the whole team goes to Hungary with great anticipation for a strong weekend.”

Nick Wirth, Technical Director: “A very encouraging day for the team. We chose a conservative strategy of starting both cars on prime tyres and at the beginning the extra performance of the Option tyres allowed Heikki to open up a small gap which became bigger when the blue-flag-hell started. At the same time, Timo got stuck behind Bruno for a long time before he was able to get Lucas back in his sights. After Heikki finally pitted for his prime tyres, and came out behind us, it was encouraging to see us able to maintain or increase our gap despite his advantage of fresh tyres. Lucas was having another very strong race, when it looks like a very harsh exit kerb caused a rear suspension issue which sadly forced us to retire him. On the other hand, Timo’s race ended with a nice gap in the blue flags which allowed him to put in a sequence of quick laps and finish the best of the new teams. Yesterday, we were frustrated by not being able to show our performance improvements, but we have certainly done that today. In fact Timo’s race fastest lap was only 2.3 seconds down on the leader and 1.4 down on the fastest Williams, which is impressive in our first year. We’ll try and eliminate the issues that tripped us up this weekend and we go to Hungary determined to have a better race again, on a track that should suit our cars current aero characteristics.”

HRT F1 Cosworth

Hispania Racing, HRT F1 Team was unlucky at the German Grand Prix race. Bruno Senna finished the 67 laps in Hockenheim in position 19 after showing a good performance and achieving another race finish for the Spanish team. Sakon Yamamoto, however, had to stop prematurely.

Dr Colin Kolles, Team Principal: “Today, we didn’t reap the fruit of our labour. Bruno Senna had a good pace in the race until he had to do an unplanned second pit stop. A slow puncture made the second stop necessary and the chance for a better result was gone. Sakon Yamamoto stopped in lap 19 on the straight after the car suddenly stopped. The reason for this we have to investigate in order to understand what exactly happened. I have to thank the team for their work the whole weekend and for their very good pit stops today.”

Sakon Yamamoto, Race driver #20: “I appreciate that the team has given me another chance to race in Germany. But it was a disappointing race for the team because we couldn’t achieve the target to finish with two cars. During the weekend, we could improve our performance but unfortunately, we had some issues on the car and the gearbox. All in all, the race weekend was better than in Silverstone and I could get more experience with the car. We tried some adjustments on the set-up which will help us already for the next races.”

Bruno Senna, Race driver #21: “We were having a good race today and we were very competitive this weekend. We could race the others but then we had a slow puncture, unfortunately. We had to do an unplanned pit stop that ended our challenge. I want to thank the team for their good pit stops and for doing a great job all over the weekend. Now, we have to focus on the next races and hope to be luckier again.”

Lotus Cosworth

Race day in Germany began with Lotus Racing Chief Mechanic Phil Spencer, Deputy Team Principal Kamarudin Meranun and Chief Executive Officer Riad Asmat paying their respects to Team Lotus legend Jim Clark at his Hockenheim memorial, but it was a disappointing Sunday for the team after both Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen recorded DNFs. Jarno Trulli had a strong start and was running 15th, but retired on lap four after a gearbox problem brought his race to an end. Heikki Kovalainen was running well in the race but was forced to retire on lap 60 after a coming together with de la Rosa’s Sauber.

Jarno Trulli: “I made a very good start and then suddenly I lost the gearbox and unfortunately that was it. We tried to reset it in the pit and I went out again but it didn’t work, so I think it was a mechanical issue with the box that brought the race to an early end. It’s very frustrating because I was having a very good weekend, probably the best of the whole season so far, and it’s like the luck just isn’t with me. We’ve got another chance next weekend so I hope the luck changes there.”

Heikki Kovalainen: “A disappointing end but it was just one of those things that can happen when you’re having to let cars past. It was my mistake but I didn’t see the Sauber coming. I thought I was letting the Williams past, and didn’t see the Sauber so I closed the door and that was the end of the race. It’s a shame because I was running pretty well until then.”

Mike Gascoyne, Chief Technical Officer: “Ultimately a very disappointing day. Jarno lost second gear and had to retire and Heikki had to retire after contact with de la Rosa. Both cars made good starts – we started Jarno on the harder tyre and Heikki on the options to split the strategies, but Jarno’s race was over before he’d really started. Heikki drove a strong race and was comfortably leading the battle of the new teams before contact forced him to retire. Despite this it was still a strong showing from us, and now we move on to Hungary.”

Kamarudin Meranun, Deputy Team Principal: “It’s frustrating because we’d had a good weekend, in practice and qualifying. Very unfortunate for Jarno, and Heikki was doing well so it’s disappointing to see he couldn’t finish the race, not due to a mechanical issue, but because of an incident that was out of our control. So, even though it’s sad, we’ll pull through, and we’ll do a better job in Hungary.”