Heikki Kovalainen, 15th: “That was a pretty good race all round. The balance was good on both sets of tyres and I think the strategy worked well for us – we pitted at the right times and we didn’t have any problems all afternoon. I think we can be pleased that after a difficult Friday we showed the sort of performance that the winter tests had given us hope we could do so now it’s about continuing development of the car and keeping up the pressure on the guys ahead. China will be a good test of how the car behaves in cooler conditions so the goal will be to repeat this kind of performance there and keep on pushing.”
Jarno Trulli, DNF: “Unfortunately a clutch problem brought my race to an early end which is pretty bad luck as we were looking ok at our home grand prix. I had a tricky start with the anti-stall kicking in but I recovered and then after the first pitstop I locked a front wheel coming out and had to make up ground again. I got past Timo but then the clutch gave up, which is a shame as we looked like we have started to show what the car is really made of.”
Thierry Salvi, Renault Sport F1 Support Leader: “It was a good day today, especially for the overall package of the car. Although only one car came home at the end of the race, it was a good result as engine wise it was not easy this weekend – this track is particularly hard on engines due to the very high temperatures so overall we are pretty pleased. We fixed the issues we had on Friday and we are going in the right direction. We have had some great feedback from the drivers this weekend and I am sure we will find some more lap time next week, and looking ahead to China we will be able to make some positive changes based on the results we have from here.”
Mike Gascoyne, Chief Technical Officer: “A very strong race from both drivers although unfortunately Jarno stopped in the garage with a clutch sensor problem. We looked to do a two stop strategy with both cars. We might have struggled with Jarno as his tyre degradation was slightly higher, but it worked well with Heikki. Overall our pace was very good at the end, particularly when we were with the leading cars, and we were very close to passing one of the Torro Rossos as we came over the line which shows how we have progressed. This weekend has been by far our strongest race performance since we came back into Formula One, so it is good to be racing again.”
Tony Fernandes, Team Principal: “Well I think we can officially say we were racing today! It was a real shame about Jarno as I really wanted two cars to come home but Heikki drove a fantastic race and it is exciting that he was really pushing the Toro Rossos in the final few laps – maybe with a couple more laps he would have passed one of them. He kept pace with cars that were much faster than us during qualifying so I’m thrilled that we have recorded 15th at what was a very tough circuit, so huge congratulations to the whole team and well done to everyone.”
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