Sebastian Vettel, 1st: “It was pretty tough today. At the beginning of the race I thought I had a good start, I didn’t understand where Fernando came from! He started behind me, 16 metres behind, and half way down the straight he was already side-by-side. He went on the inside of Mark and I went on the outside, so he was leading after the first corner. We couldn’t get close enough to use the DRS, but we got him with the pit stop. Fairly early, everyone was getting the options out of the way, so there was half the race left on the hard tyres. It looked like the McLarens were very strong; they stayed out longer on a different strategy, which bought them up to second behind us. From then on I knew that it would be very, very close; going into the last 10 laps felt the same as in China. My tyres were going away from me and I prayed the same was happening to Lewis, as he was catching up and they seemed so much quicker, especially on the last sector. At the end of the straights he would be right in my mirrors, so you don’t know if you should defend or not. It was very close, but on the last two laps, I could make it stick. KERS was on and off, which meant I was playing around with brake distribution a lot. McLaren and Lewis especially gave us a hard time today. It’s quite a release when you cross the line and you know that you made it, so I’m very, very happy. It was a great result and after yesterday a good confirmation that we are strong but, as expected, McLaren and Ferrari are giving us a hard time and are pushing hard – I’m very happy today. ”
Mark Webber, 4th: “I don’t think my start was hideous, but Fernando got a phenomenal one. Obviously from then on it wasn’t the start we had planned and it was a bit of a chess game. People were covering each other’s pit stops and I really didn’t do much racing on track. At the end of the race I finished 40 seconds behind Lewis and Seb. It was an interesting day today and shows how fine the margins are; we were frustrated by Fernando who seemed to pit every time I did! At certain stages I was quick and at others I wasn’t – that’s the way it was today.”
Christian Horner, Team Principal: “A really exciting race. I think we were all surprised to see Fernando come through at the first corner in first position and that changed the dynamics of the race. He didn’t have great pace at the front and it boxed the rest of them up behind. We managed to undercut with Sebastian, but couldn’t do it with Mark because Ferrari could see what we were doing. It was a combination of team-work and strategy. Sebastian had to make the passes on Jenson and Massa to make his strategy work, it was a real risk, but he went for it and made it happen, which is what it’s all about. Unfortunately for Mark, he spent the first half looking at Fernando Alonso’s exhaust and to get him ahead in the end we did a dummy which they fell for. Otherwise it was frustrating for Mark and the complete result would be to have him right up there as well.”
Cyril Dumont, Renault: “It was a really tough race – I think it was the toughest of the season so far, but for the team it was a good result again. It was a shame not to see Mark on the podium, but he did really well to finish fourth and get some good points for him and the team. Next week will be important – Mark loves Monaco, so I hope we have a good result there next week – we will see.”
