Formula 1 News

2009 German GP, race: McLaren-Mercedes quotes 

Lewis Hamilton: “My race was effectively over at Turn One. I had quite a good launch down to Turn One, and I was braking when I felt a tap from the rear and went straight on. I think the flat tyre had damaged the rear floor and it felt like I was out there driving on ice. I suggested to the team that we save the engine and gearbox for the future because there’s a lot more potential ahead of us than we’d anticipated before this weekend. But that’s racing and we’ll move on. The best thing about this weekend was that our updates were successful. The team has done a fantastic job over the last few weeks and I’m already looking forward to the next race.”

Norbert Haug: “The first few hundred metres looked promising when Lewis put his nose in front for the fraction of a second after starting from fifth place. He ran wide after being hit before the corner and got a puncture. Heikki showed a solid performance with the old-spec underfloor and brought home a point at least. We have to further improve – but this was a good first step.”

Heikki Kovalainen: “If you’d told me on Friday that I would score points today, I wouldn’t have believed it. This weekend has been difficult – it’s been hard to get the tyres working and to find grip, but we kept pushing throughout every session and things started to turn around. Qualifying went well and our KERS hybrid helped me to move from sixth to third at the start. From that point on, it was all about defending: I pushed the whole time and it was a hard way to earn points but we can be satisfied about it. KERS made my race today, no doubt about it, and I’m now really looking forward to the Hungarian Grand Prix, when I’ll get my hands on the full aero upgrade package for the first time. It’s good for the whole team that we now seem to be moving forwards again.”

Martin Whitmarsh: “Lewis and Heikki both made great starts, assisted by KERS hybrid. In fact, Lewis could have taken the lead at the first corner if he hadn’t been hit by Mark, which collision resulted in a puncture. That was a great shame, because his car was competitive here and I’m therefore sure he would have been able to score well with it. More frustratingly still, after having to make an unscheduled pit stop as a result of that puncture, he emerged in the worst possible track position: at the front of the field. He therefore had to observe the blue flags and allow all the front-runners past, causing him to lose further time. Heikki showed great spirit throughout the weekend, performing consistently well despite not having access to all the aero upgrades enjoyed by Lewis, and ending up with a solid eighth-place finish and a useful world championship point. Now, though, we’re already looking forward to going to Budapest, where both our drivers will have the aero upgrades and we ought therefore to be able to put in a competitive showing with both cars.”

source: McLaren Mercedes