Timo Glock (18th): “In general the race wasn’t too bad for us and obviously we have made a good step in getting both cars to the finish, so it was a good team result today. The car was difficult to drive in the last part of the first stint. I had a good race-long battle with Jarno but the amount of traffic we experienced made it very difficult. Out of 66 laps, only 15 of them were in free air and the rest were full of blue flags. We are making progress and today was an important step, but it was a small step and we have to keep up the momentum now to bring some bigger steps as the season progresses. Congratulations to the team because they have worked incredibly hard over the past few weeks and this weekend in particular.”
Lucas di Grassi (19th): “It was a good race for the team today – the first race where we were able to bring both cars to the finish and a good reward for the team after all the hard work. Reliability has been a weak point for the last races but I’m very happy to see we have taken a step forward. My race was very tough – we opted to start on the prime tyres and it was impossible to drive the car. When we switched back to options the car was okay again and I was able to do some good laps. With a lot of blue flags it was very difficult to have a consistent pace.”
John Booth, Team Principal: “We were all really pleased to see both cars take the chequered flag today at the end of a long, hard road for us. We always knew that we would get past this milestone and although the past few weeks in particular have presented a difficult challenge, everyone in the team has worked tirelessly and kept the faith. We have two fantastic drivers and a great team around them and I would like to dedicate this important milestone to all of them.”
Nick Wirth, Technical Director: “To finally achieve our first two-car finish is a great reward for everyone involved with Virgin Racing. Firstly I would like to thank the race team for their incredible work this weekend. I must also recognise the considerable efforts of everyone back at Wirth Research and our suppliers, who have been working relentlessly since Shanghai to fix our transmission and hydraulic problems. It was a very encouraging debut for our new VR-01 and we are all looking forward to bringing more performance to the car in the forthcoming races. I should also pay due credit to our drivers Timo and Lucas, not only for solid determined drives in today’s race, but for their patience and crucial contribution over the past few weeks in particular.”
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