Sebastian Vettel, 1st: “The start was crucial. I thought it was a very good start, but then I saw Lewis lining up behind me. I was surprised going into Turn one, as all of a sudden I saw something black in my mirrors – I knew it was a Lotus. For the first stint it was a good thing to happen, as I could pull away lap by lap. The entire race was quite different to what we saw two weeks ago – it was a lot closer and there were more pit stops due to the tyres. With the stops, you don’t want to be first in, as you want to do as few stops as possible, but also you don’t want someone else to go in, get an advantage with new tyres and undercut you. It wasn’t an easy race, but in the last section Lewis had a problem and was then behind Jenson. I’m very pleased with today’s result. I love what I do and don’t think I could be happier at this stage. It’s been close here, so we need to keep cool and keep pushing, but the guys know this is the way forward, so I’m not worried. But for today we will enjoy it and be very proud.”
Mark Webber, 4th: “It was a tough race today. It wasn’t a good start out of the box and we had a failure with the KERS, so I was out of position on the first lap. For the first three or four laps, I was trying to pass people, but they were coming back at me on the straights; it was tough to clear people when I didn’t have KERS. Anyway, I fought back with a good strategy and got some good points at least. It wasn’t our day today and I was disappointed not to get on the podium. It was close, but not close enough, But, it will come and now we go to Shanghai.”
Christian Horner, Team Principal: “A fantastic result for Sebastian. It was a great performance, a great debut for KERS on his car and he controlled the race in a very mature manner. It was also superb pit work from the guys in the very demanding temperatures here; all seven pit stops were executed brilliantly. The only shame was the start of Mark’s race, he had a poor initial get away and unfortunately a KERS issue denied him the use of that, meaning he got swamped down to Turn one. But it was a great recovery drive from him with a different strategy, he really made it work and ultimately he was very unlucky to miss out on the final podium position.”
Cyril Dumont, Renault: “What a race from Sebastian. It was a really solid effort and really intelligent in terms of management. For Mark it was a bit more difficult at the start, but after that it was a really solid race, so congratulations to both of them. The second race and a second win, which is a really good result. It was great for Renault too; we got three engines in the top four places, so well done to them.”
