Fahrerstimmen – Tag 3

“I have never really had a boring win and today was certainly not that. After all the chaos and the red flag I felt that a podium was in reach but then once Lewis had to pit and Seb had the penalty I knew the win was possible. I kind of said yesterday that after my qualifying mistake and starting in tenth place, today was going to be a race of no mistakes, capitalising on moments and opportunities and I felt like we did everything we could. The odds of a podium or win got pushed even further back when we had to make an unscheduled pit stop early in the race and I think I was back in seventeenth place. Then things fell in to place quite nicely and on every re-start I was able to make up positions and make it happen. The last re-start was the most important and I think it was Stroll, Hulkenberg, Massa and me, all nearly four wide but I managed to get third and I think that was, in a way, the winning move. Once I saw the gap I was going to do everything I could to brake as late as possible and get that position. It was a real shame for Max today but it is great to get this victory for everyone in the team. I felt like this weekend was better for us overall and hopefully both of us can be on the podium together soon. What a day, It’s crazy and it’s slowly sinking in.”

Das war ein verrücktes Rennen, besonders für mich. Nach einer Berührung mit Kimi hatte ich auf der ersten Runde einen Reifenschaden. Danach hatte ich eine Runde Rückstand und musste das Feld in der Safety Car-Phase überholen. Die zweite Safety Car-Phase hat mir dann sehr geholfen. So kam ich Schritt für Schritt nach vorne. Mein Ziel war es heute, um den Sieg zu kämpfen. Aber das konnte ich schon nach der ersten Runde vergessen. Zu diesem Zeitpunkt war ich bereits eine Runde zurück. Aber ich krempelte die Ärmel hoch, gab absolut alles und versuchte, das Maximum aus jeder Kurve herauszuholen. Es hat nicht mehr ganz zum Sieg gereicht, aber Platz zwei ist unter diesen Umständen ein großartiges Gefühl. Es war wichtig für das Team, dass wir im Duell mit Ferrari mehr Punkte geholt haben und ich habe auch einige Zähler für mich eingefahren.

I’m just lost for words right now. It was such a hectic race and so much happened, but the team kept me cool on the radio, the pace was good, we took it to the end and stayed out of trouble. I can’t quite believe what’s just happened. We just lost out to Valtteri at the end there in one of the closest finishes of all time going side-by-side across the finish line. Coming into this weekend I never thought I would be standing on the podium. It’s an amazing feeling and, for me, a dream come true. However, what happened today was a team effort and I can’t thank everyone enough for making this happen. I am just so sorry that I could not celebrate with Felipe, as that would have been the icing on the cake. I am sure without his problems he would have been up there with me.

“First of all, I think that today the car was very good. The pace was strong in the race. I think you could see that we were losing a bit here and there, but overall it was a good race. It was a very busy start, and Vallteri was very aggressive. As for what happened at the restart from the safety car, I don’t know why I got the penalty and Lewis didn’t. It’s disappointing, because it could have been a better result. I don’t have a problem with Lewis but I just think that what he did on the track was not ok. By now the decision is done but, in an episode like this one, I still think that if you give out a penalty, then it should be to both drivers.”

Nach einem starken Wochenende ist so ein Ergebnis nur schwer zu verkraften. Ich habe mir heute die Seele aus dem Leib gefahren – ich habe absolut alles gegeben. Ich weiß, dass das Team über den Zwischenfall mit der Cockpitumrandung niedergeschlagen sein wird. Aber wir müssen uns darauf konzentrieren, dass wir an diesem Wochenende eine großartige Performance gezeigt haben. Es schmerzt uns alle, aber jetzt liegt es an mir, mich zu sammeln und das Team durch diesen Rückschlag zu führen. Wir ziehen an einem Strang und blicken nur nach vorne. Ich bin stolz auf meine Leistung und ich hoffe, dass wir den Speed, den wir an diesem Wochenende gezeigt haben, so mitnehmen können. Ich habe Sebastian keinesfalls auflaufen lassen. Ich habe die Pace während der Safety Car-Phase kontrolliert und wie bei den anderen Re-Starts habe ich an der gleichen Stelle eingangs Kurve 15 langsamer gemacht. Ab diesem Punkt kontrolliere ich die Pace und dann spürte ich plötzlich einen Schlag von hinten. Aber das war für mich kein Problem – jeder hat eindeutig gesehen, was danach passiert ist. Die ganzen Jungs in den anderen Serien schauen zu uns herauf, als Weltmeister gehen wir als Vorbilder voraus – und dieses Verhalten erwartet man nicht von einem mehrmaligen Champion. Aber wir wissen, dass sich in schwierigen Zeiten das wahre Gesicht zeigt, und wir haben in den vergangenen Wochen viel Druck ausgeübt. Ich persönlich möchte meine Leistung auf der Strecke für mich sprechen lassen. Ich will diese Weltmeisterschaft auf die richtige Art und Weise gewinnen. Nach diesem Wochenende glaube ich mehr denn je, dass uns das gelingen kann.

“I’m pretty happy about today. We had good pace in the car and I felt quite comfortable right from the start. I feel we couldn’t really show our speed because of all the yellow flags and the traffic I found on my quick laps, but it doesn’t matter. The important days for this weekend are yet to come. It was my first time around this circuit, so the priority was to keep out of trouble: this is not an easy track to learn but I enjoy the challenge. It’s a narrow circuit and it’s very easy to brake a bit too late, which is why there were so many yellow flags.”

“It was a crazy race with all the Safety Car periods, the red flag – so many things happened. I stayed out of trouble and had a good balance in the car. The car’s been handling well all weekend – there’s just been some issues with brakes and just not being that competitive on this track and the layout not suiting us. To come away with a seventh-place finish is pretty good. We were in P3 at one point and I got a bit excited about that. I had some fun out there. It was a great afternoon.”

"What a crazy race! The start to it was already difficult: when I got to Turn 1 I saw Daniil rejoining the track and I had to quickly avoid crashing into him, which would've been a disaster for the team! I span, but it was a sacrifice I had to do. From then onwards, I kept calm, was very patient, and we recovered from last to eighth without making any mistakes. I have to say it was difficult to keep focused with so many things happening: Safety Cars, the red flag... And I can say I'm satisfied with today's result in the end!"

“Starting 19th because of our penalties, on one of our least competitive circuits, yet still scoring our first championship points is unreal; a complete surprise. “The race really came to us through the many retirements and a lot of action. I managed to stay away from the walls, just brushing them here and there. “Nevertheless, I think we could have fought for a podium finish today – and perhaps even the victory. We were behind Daniel Ricciardo during the first Safety Car period; then Lewis had a problem with his headrest and was forced to pit; Sebastian had a penalty; Kimi (briefly) retired; the two Force Indias touched each other, so we automatically found ourselves in a decent position. “We missed out on further opportunities because we weren’t quick enough in the race and couldn’t hold on to that position. “Still, we got our first two points of the season today, so let’s just take that.”

Ich freue mich sehr über den 10. Platz. Dass ich es gestern in die zweite Qualifikations-Phase geschafft habe und heute in die Punkte gefahren bin, ist definitiv ein besseres Ergebnis als ursprünglich erwartet. Dennoch, das Rennen war von einigen Unterbrechungen geprägt, deshalb müssen wir bezüglich unserer Erwartungen realistisch bleiben. Wir müssen uns noch in einigen Bereichen verbessern, denn unter normalen Umständen wären wir wahrscheinlich nicht in die Punkte gefahren. Nichtsdestotrotz ist der 10. Platz eine tolle Team-Leistung. Wir haben an diesem Wochenende das Maximum herausgeholt und waren zur Stelle, als es darauf ankam.“

„Das war heute ein unterhaltsames Rennen. Ich hatte einen guten Start und auch der erste Rennabschnitt war gut. Dadurch konnte ich einige Positionen nach vorne rücken. Es schaute gut aus für mich. Doch dann kamen einige Safety-Car-Phasen und die rote Flagge, die das Rennen durcheinander brachten und uns bezüglich Konzentration und Strategie noch mehr forderten. Auch der Neustart des Rennens gelang gut, bis einige auf der Strecke liegende Teile von anderen Autos meinen Unterboden rechts hinten beschädigten. Dadurch bekam ich in Linkskurven Schwierigkeiten, womit meine Rundenzeiten etwas langsamer wurden. Pascal war knapp hinter mir, doch hinter ihm fuhr Stoffel (Vandoorne) gute Rundenzeiten, so dass er zu uns aufschliessen konnte. Das Team teilte mir mit, Pascal vorbeizulassen, um unseren Punktgewinn abzusichern. Das tat ich. Insgesamt haben wir heute ein gutes Resultat für das Team eingefahren, aber es ist dennoch eine Enttäuschung für mich, dass ich nicht in dem Auto sass, das punktete. Zumal ich im Rennen doch für einige Zeit an zehnter Stelle gelegen bin. Wie auch immer, ich konnte im Rennen eine mitentscheidende Rolle spielen und zum Punktgewinn beitragen, indem ich Stoffel bis zur Zielflagge hinter mir halten konnte.“

“I made a decent start – there was a lot of mayhem, a lot of debris – and I had to avoid a couple of slow cars on the run down to Turn Three, but I managed to keep my nose clean. “Then the team did a great job to cover Romain Grosjean, I switched to the Option tyre and came out ahead of him. I had good pace on that tyre, but then the red flag came out and that took away my advantage as it meant everybody on the Prime could now get effectively a free tyre-change. “After my final stop, I was catching the Saubers by 1.5s per lap, but once I’d caught them it was impossible to overtake. They were saving all their energy until the last corner; I was trying to do the same, in order to get the maximum boost available, but I just didn’t have the pace in the car to make it past them. “Apart from that, our pace was strong today. It’s great for the team to score our first points of the season – we deserve it.”

No post-race comments were made.

“Today many things happened that were out of our hands and unfortunately we paid a big price. After the start, at the second corner, I got hit by Bottas; I don’t know what he was doing, he braked very early but probably he noticed that and let the brakes off, went too fast and hit me. Because of that the rear end of my car hit the wall and I had a massive damage. We were able to keep going but then I was unlucky. The two Force Indias collided, some debris flew off and destroyed my rear tire. As a consequence my whole floor and the rear wing were damaged and we decided to retire. When the red flag stopped the race we thought that we might try and go back on track. The mechanics did and amazing job, managed to change the floor and the endplate in a very short time. But obviously my car was still not perfect and we decided to stop. It’s not a good day when your car retires twice in a race. I’m disappointed because, without all these things happening, my car would have been good. There’s nothing else we could have done, we tried our best.”

"I watched the race with a very heavy heart because there was so much going on and I really wanted to be part of it! It's extremely disappointing, because I think we could've scored good points today. Unfortunately, the car just shut itself off and let us down... Up until the race, the weekend had been perfect and I tried my best but, when things out of my control happen, I can't do more. I will keep on fighting and working hard; I just need to do my job like I always do and not let days like this get me down."

I’m so disappointed about the result today. The race was going perfectly. I was overtaking cars and I had really good pace. On the restart the car just started shaking on the straight and I didn’t have the speed, other cars were passing me so easily. I also couldn’t do the corners because it was shaking so badly. Today we had the opportunity to have both cars on the podium, and maybe even a victory. I do want to say a massive congratulations to Lance. I’m so happy for him getting his first ever podium in Formula One.

“I experienced a misfire on the way to the grid; it got worse and ultimately the drivability was so poor that we had no choice but to retire the car. I made a decent start and then some overtakes into P15 so the start of my race was okay. It’s just been one of those weekends; I can’t remember ever having so few laps over a race weekend. My hope is to head to Austria with a reliable car so I can have a clean Grand Prix to show what I can do.”

“After what looked like a promising position at the beginning of the race I was gutted to be let down once again by a technical problem. After an action packed race we were confident we could have had at least a podium here in Baku, so I am very disappointed with this outcome.”

“It’s always a balance on a street course of getting as close as possible to the barriers but not too close. Unfortunately, I just clipped my front right and that was it for the suspension. It’s frustrating for me and all the team. Until then the race had been pretty engaging and it looked like we were in a position to continue our series of points scoring races. It was pretty tough on the restarts with the tyre temperature and I think everyone at home saw an eventful race. Next up Austria; let’s hope for better things there.”

“First and foremost, I want to thank my mechanics and the whole team for fixing the car so quickly. They are some of the best guys in the pit lane and they showed exactly why. This morning was all about trying to find the limits, and I think we did – it was good it happened today rather than tomorrow. It was a bit of a messy day, not just with what happened in FP1 but also because of all the yellow and red flags breaking the flow of the sessions. I still think we are in a good position. Tonight we will need to work out the best set-up: I feel we have a good potential for the weekend, we just have to put it all together when it matters.”