Fahrerstimmen – Tag 3

“It was a great result today – especially after I gave the team so much work on Friday. I hope giving a victory back goes some way to help them forget it. Saturday morning was crucial. When I walked into the garage everyone gave me the impression that nothing was wrong and there was nothing to worry about. The whole team was working so hard to get the car back together and times like these are important. The team are close to me and if they are not happy or unmotivated it reflects on me and the other way round, so after being a bit down on Friday, it picked me back up. In the race we had a very good first stint and got a gap and you can always benefit from that cushion. At the end I did two short stints, which was the right thing to do – it was seamless today. We don’t know what will happen next, so we have to take it race by race. There will be days when we are beaten for definite, but we need to minimise the loss – but for today, it was a great result for the team.”

“It was good to get second place – and a relief to finish there and not third. In the end it was a good fight with Fernando, you lose a bit of time when you’re into each other like that, but it turned out okay and I got him back in the end. For the first stop, the team pitted me earlier than expected as they were worried about the undercuts coming into play. Ferrari saw the same thing and it was really a race between us two from then onwards. At that point, you make your bet that you will be having a few stops during the day. It was a good victory for Sebastian and Fernando drove well too – it was a great result for the team with a one-two. The grip wasn’t great at the start, but I will leave Istanbul happy – it was my best result of the year so far.”

“I am pleased with this result, which is down to three weeks of hard work from the entire team at Maranello and at the track this weekend. We had not started this Grand Prix on the right foot, after having quite a few problems on Friday, but then we moved forward and today it was great to be back fighting for the top places. We had come so close to the podium already in Malaysia and in China and today we managed to jump onto it, but this is only a first step: we must continue in this direction. Given the shape we were in at the start of this season, this is a great finish. The next three or four races will be crucial. At 99% I could not have fought with Vettel, but the remaining 1% went when I was stuck behind Rosberg for too long: maybe I could have put him in difficulty, forcing him to push even more. In the end, Webber passed me because he had the benefit of a new set of tyres, while I had none left. I know it seems strange having to stop eleven laps from the finish, but it was getting hard to keep the car on track and there was a risk of ruining everything. There is more overtaking, but I think that has more to do with the different behaviour of the tyres rather than the moveable rear wing. It’s true that the gap in the classification is very wide, but there are still so many points up for grabs: there is certainly no need to give up.”

“I got a pretty decent start but made a mistake on the opening lap and lost a lot of ground out of Turn Three when I was trying to go around Webber. That was the defining moment of my afternoon: if I hadn’t dropped behind Fernando [Alonso] and Jenson, I think I could have got up to third and battled for second in the race. “The battle with Jenson was good and fair, as always, but that, and the fact that I had too much front-wing dialled into my car meant I struggled to look after the rear tyres; so my tyres were finished and that’s what kick-started the four-stop strategy. “Considering the time I lost at my third stop [when a pair of cross-threading wheelnuts on the right-front caused a delay], I think we recovered reasonably well. I don’t think that made a huge difference to our overall finishing position, and I was quite happy with the way the car behaved once we’d taken out some wing. “We were definitely able to do better today – but to start fourth and sixth and finish fourth and sixth was a good recovery.”

„Mein Start war fantastisch: Ich konnte Mark überholen und lag in der ersten Runde auf Platz zwei", erzählte er hinterher. "Danach hatte ich im ersten Stint Probleme mit meinen Reifen. Unsere Strategie funktionierte gut und ich kam wieder in eine vernünftige Position – damit können wir ziemlich zufrieden sein. Ich bin auch glücklich, vor Jenson und nur einige Sekunden hinter Lewis gelandet zu sein. Es besteht noch immer ein Abstand zur Spitze, aber wir haben unsere Fortschritte mit dem Auto an diesem Wochenende fortgesetzt. Wir wissen nicht genau, warum wir im Qualifying besser waren als im Rennen, aber wir werden daran arbeiten. Insgesamt war es wieder ein gutes Wochenende für mich und jetzt freue ich mich auf Barcelona.“

“It’s a pity to finish so far back after everything in the first stint seemed to go so well. Strategy-wise, I don’t think we got it right today. My battle with Lewis was great fun and I there was a lot of excitement on the track, but I was disappointed to finish where I did: the car felt very good but we just went the wrong way on strategy. “I think most people probably started the race aiming for a three-stopper, but because many of them damaged their tyres in the first stint, they changed their approach. We didn’t, and I was able to put a couple of laps on everyone and my tyres still felt pretty good – but I felt the next two stops were earlier than the tyres could have done, which is disappointing. “We didn’t leave the stops late enough – the tyres were still good at the end of every stop, so we should have stayed out longer because it just made the last stint extremely difficult. “During the final stint, I was trying to get the best out of the car but it’s so hard because the difference in pace between a fresh and used set of tyres is so great.”

"Es ist gut, dass wir Punkte holen konnten, aber ich denke wir hätten noch besser sein können, obwohl ich nur von P9 gestartet bin. Ich bin nicht ganz zufrieden mit dem Rennen – ich steckte eine ganze Zeit im Verkehr fest, das Überholen war nicht einfach und dann kamen Vitaly und ich uns auch noch zu nah. Allerdings war meine Pace gut, besonders gegen Ende des Rennens, als das Auto leichter war und ich die weichen Reifen drauf hatte. Ich glaube auch, dass unsere Strategie die richtige war. Insgesamt ist P7 und damit sechs Punkte für das Team nicht schlecht, wenn man meine Startposition bedenkt.”

“Es war ein interessantes Rennen, die Strategie war sehr herausfordernd für alle Teams. Ich glaube was mein Rennen heute am meisten beeinflusst hat war der Zusammenstoß mit Michael im ersten Drittel. Er ist in mein Auto gefahren und danach steckte ich bis zum ersten Stopp hinter ein paar langsameren Fahrern fest. Wenn das nicht passiert wäre, dann hätte ich ein viel stärkeres Rennen hinlegen können. Am Ende war ich aber froh, dass ich noch an Sebastien (Buemi) vorbeigehen konnte, damit lag ich auf Acht. Wir müssen das Gute betrachten, beide Autos sind in die Punkte gekommen, damit haben wir zehn Zähler für das Team geholt.”

“In general I am very happy with my race and I don’t think I could have done better. However, it’s true that in the final two laps I lost two places and if not for this we could have brought home a seventh place finish. But I could not even hold the steering wheel anymore because there was so much vibration coming through from the tyres: it was not due to tyre wear, so we will have to analyse carefully what happened as I had not felt this before. All the same, it was a great race and I pulled off plenty of overtaking moves and I fought hard. Scoring points after starting sixteenth is reason to be pleased. We decided to do only three pit stops, although it was clear that here it did not cost that much time to make a pit stop so that was an interesting situation. We are continuing to develop the car and have more parts coming which I hope can keep us fighting for points in the next few races.”

„Ich hatte mächtig Spass heute, ich habe dieses Rennen wirklich genossen. Ich fand es viel einfacher, hier zu überholen als im vergangenen Jahr auf dem Hungaroring. Vor dem Rennen habe ich Peter (Sauber) versprochen, heute Punkte zu holen. Leider ist es nur einer geworden, weil wir durch den Plattfuss Zeit verloren haben. Der war das Resultat einer Berührung mit Sébastien Buemis Auto, als ich ihn überholt habe. Ohne diesen Zwischenfall hätte ich wohl Siebter werden und mehr Punkte holen können. Das Auto war gut, und das Team hatte auch eine gute Strategie, dafür möchte ich mich bedanken. Am Ende musste ich mit den Reifen vorsichtig sein. Mein letzter Stint war mit 20 Runden ja relativ lang, aber die Sache ist aufgegangen.“

“Everything happened to me today and I was not able to get the result that was within my grasp. It’s a shame, because the car was competitive and the pace was very good. We did the first stop at the right time, but already at that moment, I lost the place I had just taken off Hamilton. Then I also had problems at the third and fourth pit stops: we have to all work together to improve this element of the race, which is becoming really very important. I was always fighting with other drivers, which meant I was unable to get the most out of the tyres, as Fernando was indeed able to do and he definitely had a cleaner race than mine. The positive thing about this weekend is the improvement in performance of the car: we had a bit more aerodynamic downforce and also greater speed on the straights. It’s an encouraging sign, but we have to continue moving in this direction, introducing new parts already in Barcelona.”

„Das war ein Tag mit vielen Zweikämpfen und Action - das war wahrscheinlich der beste Teil meines Rennens", gestand Michael. "Natürlich bin ich nicht sehr glücklich, wie mein Wochenende verlaufen ist, dafür bin ich jedoch selbst verantwortlich. Der Zwischenfall mit Petrov hat mein Rennen bestimmt: Wir waren sehr nah zusammen und ich war überrascht, dass wir uns berührt haben, dennoch war es hauptsächlich mein Fehler. Nach meinem frühen Boxenstopp war der Rennverlauf vorgezeichnet. Positiv ist, dass wir in der Türkei unseren Aufwärtstrend bestätigt haben und noch weitere Dinge in der Pipeline sind, um unser Potential weiter auszureizen.“

My start to the race was not too bad: I kept my position and had some good battles with the cars around me. The three-stop strategy was the right choice today and the soft tyres felt like the better race tyre so I stayed on them as much as possible. In the final laps I was fighting hard with Perez and that was a lot of fun. Ultimately we didn't have the pace to race with the cars ahead of us and I think we got as much from the race as we could. The team is working hard to introduce a new aero package at the next few races, which will hopefully bring us a bit closer to the front.

„Wir waren heute schnell, und ich hatte eindeutig eine Chance, meine ersten WM-Punkte zu holen. Es ist wirklich ein Jammer, was in der ersten Runde passiert ist. Pastor Maldonado hat vor mir hart gebremst, und ich konnte einfach nicht vermeiden, ihn zu treffen. Dabei habe ich meinen Frontflügel abgebrochen und musste zur Box. Davon abgesehen fand ich es heute schwierig, die Reifen optimal zu nutzen, das gilt für beide Mischungen. Aber das Auto war wirklich gut, und ich will jetzt mit dem Team weiter daran arbeiten, meine Leistung im Qualifying zu verbessern.“

We struggled quite a bit with straight line speed today and at various points during the race I couldn’t use KERS which made it difficult to defend and I also struggled with it locking up under braking when I was charging. We had a better qualifying session but we need to make some changes to the car to ensure the rear tyres can get to the end of the race in good shape. So it is up to us to improve our pace.

“As usual, I did my best, pushing hard from the beginning. But I suffered a lot from degradation on the rear tyres, especially in the final stint. This meant I had a massive amount of oversteer, which is why I really had to come in for an additional fourth stop for fresh tyres towards the end. I don’t understand why my team-mate suffered much less than me in this respect, so we need to look at all the data to find out why. The next race is in Barcelona, which is obviously very important for me as it’s my home race. I have many good memories from there, including scoring points there last year.”

It was difficult from the beginning of the race. It was difficult to maintain a consistent pace in the first two stints because I had a lot of oversteer. We had a much better pace towards the end of the race when on primes but I made a mistake by speeding in the pitlane which cost me a drive-through penalty.

"That was a reasonably good race, particularly in the early laps. I had another incredibly good start but was blocked in the first corner so couldn't really exploit how well I'd got off the line. Early on I started fighting with the tyres so we changed to a three stop strategy which eventually worked out pretty well. However, the result today doesn't really show how we have improved our performance so I think that when we get to Barcelona with the whole new package on the car we'll really be able to fight with the midfield teams."

"That was a pretty tough afternoon. I had a couple of mechanical issues, with a small hydraulic leak which affected the DRS and the diff, and I think the strategy didn't work out how we would have liked. Despite that it's been another good weekend for the team and a two car finish was always a major goal here, but now it's about looking forward to Spain and we're all focusing on taking a big step forward there."

“It was a good race for me I'd say. Obviously I was pretty much on my own during the race as I was faster than the HRTs. I had a good fight at the beginning then I couldn't keep up with the Lotus cars, but it was good for me to manage the tyres well and be able to change to a two-stop strategy. Overall I'm happy with my performance this weekend - Qualifying in particular - and the team has worked very well. I'm looking forward to working with them to develop the whole package and I hope we can take a step forward in Spain.”

“I think we should be happy with the fact that today we got another finish under the belt. I got more time in the car which is important, I’ve now finished my second race out of three, so I need to get more comfortable in the car and that will happen with every lap that I do. I couldn’t keep the two Virgin cars behind and we will have to analyze why we were slower. But, all in all, I’m reasonably happy, now we must work on the updates for Barcelona and keep on working to improve”.

“Overall this has been a positive weekend up until qualifying. We’ve shown an improvement in our performance and had good pace on Friday and Saturday proving that the gap has closed with Virgin. In the race we need to try and understand what we did wrong, we had a problem with both front tyres and need to work on this to make sure it doesn’t happen again in the next race. Our expectations are much higher for Barcelona, we’re pushing for some new upgrades there as it will be important to show our home crowd what we’re capable of, I’m sure we will be much more competitive there”.

It was a tough start to the race, although I managed to hold my position on the first lap. However, as the race unfolded the pace didn't seem quite there and that's why we decided to change our strategy and make a fourth stop. When I was leaving the pits after my final stop, the team came on the radio and instructed me to stop. There was obviously a problem so I pulled up as soon as I could. It was unfortunate because the final part of the race would have been interesting on the fresh tyres.

“A very short race for me. It was very frustrating to experience a problem with fifth gear just as I was making my way to the grid. I have to say the team did an amazing job to try to get me back on track but in the end it just wasn’t possible. Overall I think we have made some progress this weekend but there is still plenty of hard work ahead of us if we are to keep pushing forward. Everyone is very committed to seeing that happen though, so we stay focused and look ahead to Spain when I hope we will have made enough progress to reintroduce the new floor and exhaust which should help us a little more.”