Mark Gillan, Chief Operations Engineer: It was a real rollercoaster of a race and the whole team are delighted to get our first points of the season. Bruno drove very well finishing in sixth, having been last at the restart. Unfortunately we had to retire Pastor with an engine problem with only a few laps left whilst he was running in tenth.
Bruno Senna, 6th: I am really excited about the result today. I’m so happy that I have scored points for the team after a very tough race. It’s on days like to today that you can show what you can do in difficult conditions. I knew we had to attack after the restart, so it was very satisfying to push hard, not make any mistakes and to make my way up through the field. I’m so happy for everyone in the team.
Pastor Maldonado, DNF: It was very difficult today with conditions changing so quickly at the start. I had poor visibility in the pitlane so missed the pit box entry after the restart which dropped me down the order. I was then just pushing every lap and our pace was very consistent. I had a good race to come through from 20th to tenth with just two laps remaining. Bruno had a great race and we have both been able to show that the car is competitive.
Laurent Debout, Renault Sport F1 team support leader: Our feelings are obviously very mixed. It’s very satisfying to score the first points for the new Williams-Renault package with Bruno’s sixth position, but very frustrating to lose a potential double points finish due to an engine failure on Pastor’s car. We are still looking into the problem but apologies to the team and we’ll look to make amends in China. There’s a long gap between now and then so we have time to fully investigate.
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