Formula 1 News

2010 Canadian GP, race: Driver quotes 

Rubens Barrichello: “We were there today with our pace to bank some points, but it became a very busy race. I had a problem on the grid, so I had to make up some places. I passed Alguersuari, but he came across me to cover his line too late as I was already there. He hit me with a big, 2g impact. The damage blocked my front left brake duct and when the temperatures climbed, I lost the pedal and had to let cars by until I could pit. Even after the stop, it took three laps for the brake pedal to come back, so the incident really destroyed our race and it is frustrating for the whole team as we certainly had a car capable of a good finish today.”

Nico Hulkenberg: “Although the race started well – I was up to p8 on the first lap – the rest of my afternoon didn’t go as well. The first problem occurred when I was fighting with Sutil and I damaged my front wing, which meant that I had to make an unscheduled stop on lap 6. Then unfortunately on my second stop I broke the speed limit, which meant a drive-through penalty. All of these incidents cost a lot of time and we didn’t achieve a points finish which was clearly possible today. In summary, I think we had a much-improved car here and I am sorry that I did not manage to capitalise on all the hard work the team put in this weekend.”

Fernando Alonso: “It’s great to be back on the podium and especially to be able to fight for the top places once again. Today, we could have won but we did not manage it because, on a few occasions, we paid a heavy price for the traffic. These things can happen to anyone in a race and this time it was our turn. If we want to reach our objective, we must try and always finish on the podium and this result is a great motivation for a team that today did a great job, in terms of strategy and handling the pit stops. It was difficult to manage the tyres: the softs at the start suffered from degradation very quickly, but even the hard ones had a different problem with graining. Luckily, our car is reasonably kind to the tyres. From what we had seen in Turkey, we had not really expected to have this level of performance. Now we have a lot of updates coming for the next Grand Prix in Valencia: I really hope they will allow us to be competitive on all types of track. I have never finished on the podium in my second home race, after the one in Barcelona and I would love to do that in two weeks time.”

Felipe Massa: “This was a horrible race, in which everything happened to me. At the first corner, I had an accident that put me out of the game in terms of fighting for a top place finish. I got a very good start, but I found myself sandwiched between Button and Liuzzi, who touched me and you all saw how it ended up. A shame, but these things happen. The car was very good today, as is usually the case in the races when compared to qualifying. After that, I was always in a lot of traffic and when I had at least managed to get back into the points, there was another collision, this time with Michael and that put an end to even that slight chance of points. I expect to do better in Valencia because there will be updates on the F10 and I hope to be in the fight for the top places.”

Timo Glock: “A really crazy race all round. I had an okay start but then in turn eight Bruno Senna crashed into the back of my car, which destroyed the rear of the car and cost me a lot of downforce, as well as pushing me off the track which put me last. I tried to catch up but the problems we anticipated with the tyres started early on and our main focus was preserving the tyres. The pit stops were very quick – all five of them! – and the team did a great job. But then I had a steering rack leak ten laps before the end and my race was over. Generally, as great as it is to be back racing in Canada, it has been a tough weekend here for us and we hope for better things in Valencia in two weeks’ time.”

Lucas di Grassi: “The beginning of the race for me was very positive. I got a good start and then got by Timo and Bruno Senna and we were catching the Lotus of Jarno Trulli. The first stint was very strong and we were running in P10 for a while – our first time in a points-scoring position. Unfortunately, towards the end of the race we had a loss of hydraulic pressure and I had to stop shifting to conserve the car. A disappointing end but it was good that we were able to keep going and get the car home.”

Adrian Sutil: “Like Tonio, it was a pretty hard race. At the start I was racing Kubica and it seemed we could have got into the top five again, but then we touched and I got a puncture. Unfortunately it was at the first corner so I had to drive the whole lap back to the pits. I lost a lot of time like this and dropped out of the top ten, and then had to fight my way past Hulkenberg and then Schumacher to get back in the points. At the end of the race we knew Michael had some problems with his tyres so I really pushed to close the gap and I just got past him on the last corner to get the final point. Of course I’m disappointed as I think we could have got some serious points here today but I think I drove well, the car was good and we were fast the whole race.”

Tonio Liuzzi: “It was a tough race and I drove every lap pushing so hard. The team deserved to get a good result after the hard work they have done this weekend and in the past weeks on the developments. We should ultimately have had more points than we got in the end, but it’s always OK to get another few points on board, particularly after the last race when they seemed so far away. Unfortunately we lost a big part of the race as the door was closed on me in the first corner by Felipe [Massa]. It was a race accident as Jenson was on the other side and there wasn’t anything I could do – I was on the inside and holding my line. We lost the front wing and had to change the strategy then and there, but in the end we still got some points. The team is pushing like hell and we want to confirm the progress we’ve made with more results. Today showed we’re strongly in the top 10 and – more importantly – we will never give up.”

Karun Chandhok: “Obviously I didn’t drive at all yesterday and it was a good race under these circumstances. We were racing both Virgins and I was eight seconds ahead of Timo Glock even before he stopped in the end. I am quite pleased, at the end realistically we were only racing those three cars and we were ahead of them. It was a tough race with the traffic and everybody was struggling with the tyres. The team did a great job today and the guys did good pit stops under pressure today. The car was reliable, which is what we were struggling with this weekend.”

Bruno Senna: “We had a gearbox failure apparently. The second gear was lost and there was no way to finish the race without it on this track. So, we decided to retire which is really disappointing as it could have been a good race for us. Now, we have to make the best of this weekend and focus on the next race in Valencia.”

Robert Kubica: “The six points I got this afternoon were my toughest points of the year. We chose to qualify on the prime tyre yesterday and hoped it would be an advantage in the first part of the race, but unfortunately it didn’t work out. I had a lot of rear degradation in the first stint, which meant I pitted early, then the rear tyres went off in the second stint as well. But it was an action-packed race: I had a close battle with Michael after my first stop, and then with Sutil before my second one. I was racing him on my in-lap and we were side by side before the last corner. I was on the right, so I backed off and pulled behind him to take my line for the pits, but he braked very early and hard: I had to go round him to avoid causing an accident. At the end of the race, I did a short stint on the option tyre and I was pushing to close down the gap to Rosberg, but I ran out of laps even though I was catching him quickly. It was a tough race for mebut I think we must be optimistic for Valencia: the circuit should suit our car, and we will have more new developments to help us improve our basic pace.”

Vitaly Petrov: “My race was almost over at the start when I spun. I was trying to overtake on the right hand side when I got pushed out onto the grass and lost the car, which put me at the back of the field. I was lucky that I only damaged the front wing, which we changed at the stop. Then I had the drive-through penalties, which dropped me further behind. So it’s not really a race to remember for me, but it’s still good experience because I finished the race and I learned a lot about the track, which will help me next year.”

Pedro de la Rosa: “To be left empty handed certainly is deeply disappointing. On the first lap of the race Vitaly Petrov spun in front of me on the straight, and hit my car when he came back from the grass. The front wing was broken and I pitted for a new nose. Also the rear wing had some damage, but it wasn’t too bad. I then continued and the car was quite good. We anticipated my pit stop because suddenly the rear tyres went. After this pit stop it seemed all okay but then on lap 31 I felt a sudden loss of top speed on the straight and knew immediately it was a serious problem.”

Kamui Kobayashi: “This should not have happened. I had made a very good start from 18th and on the first lap was fighting with Nico Hülkenberg down the back straight for ninth. In front of us was Michael Schumacher, apparently having some troubles with braking before the chicane. All three of us were braking late and then I suddenly had nowhere to go. I hit the kerb, the car jumped and I had damaged it so badly that I had to stop.”

Lewis Hamilton: “It was an incredibly challenging afternoon, especially in the last 20 laps, when I was trying to look after my tyres while also keeping Jenson and Fernando [Alonso] behind me. It wasn’t easy, I can tell you that! This track is unique – you can never be too confident, because you really have to look after your tyres, and it’s so hard to know how long you can make them last. Fernando put a lot of pressure on me. We had a really good battle, but, although he was pressing me hard, I was able to pull out a small gap and then maintain it. It was such a sensational feeling to cross the line. In terms of pure pace, I still think the Red Bull car is still a little bit faster than ours. But, as a whole, I think our package is now stronger. So, going forward, we need to build on the progress we’ve made recently, and we’re going to do just that; we’ll now knuckle down and make a really big effort to increase that gap. We’ve got good momentum now, so I hope we can continue our winning run through to Valencia in two weeks’ time. The feeling and atmosphere within the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team is better than ever. The contribution that Jenson has brought is the best I’ve ever witnessed from a team-mate. He did another great job today to come from fourth to second – he’s doing his part and I’m doing mine. The team is happier than ever. This has been a truly fantastic day.”

Jenson Button: “Turn One was a bit too exciting for me – I got hit by Felipe Massa, and I feared I’d damaged the car, but fortunately it was just rear graining that I felt, not a puncture. Then, when I got onto the Prime tyre, the car started working really well. But it’s so difficult around here – you’ve really got to look after the tyres, even the Prime, which was also liable to graining. But I looked after my tyres carefully, and in traffic I was able to pull out five seconds on Sebastian Vettel. After that, I decided to focus on driving flat-out to catch Fernando. And it worked: when we both hit further traffic, I was able to pounce and make my move. After that, I began trying my best to reel in Lewis, but I’d taken so much out of my tyres while chasing Fernando that I couldn’t get any closer to Lewis than about two seconds. Overall, then, this has been a great weekend for us. Lewis did a phenomenal job in qualifying – I couldn’t touch him – but it feels good to have finished second in the race just behind him. Hopefully, next time the order will be reversed!”

Nico Rosberg: “Sixth place was probably the best result that we could have achieved today so I’m pretty happy. It’s been a difficult weekend with a poor qualifying performance yesterday due to the tyres not working properly and I was unlucky on the first lap today to lose so many places from the chaos in front of me. But from there, I was able to do some good overtaking and push to make up the positions and our pace was quick. We had a great strategy but it was really difficult to manage the tyres. I drove smoothly to control the graining but every time I looked in my mirrors, it was getting worse. Thankfully the primes held after my second stop so we were able to finish with sixth place and get some decent points moving me up to sixth in the Drivers’ Championship.”

Michael Schumacher: “At the start, everything went great and we made up places as we had been hoping for. The first stop was perfectly timed so it was looking quite promising. Then I had a puncture on the front right tyre after my first pitstop, after I got together with Kubica, and that obviously decided my race. From there, I was stuck in traffic and there was nothing more to do because today our weapons were not very sharp. Towards the end, I was trying as hard as I could to defend myself but it was only possible to a certain degree and my tyres were just ruined after having done more than half the race distance. I was fighting cars with a good top speed which was quite tough. Otherwise I would have been in a good position I think so we have something to take away to the next races.”

Sebastian Vettel: “I was surprised that I came in for my first pitstop as the leader, but came out in fourth. I think everything we predicted to happen from our side was the case. The others came in early for new tyres, as we expected. Usually though, their race would then be over because they should come out in traffic, but that wasn’t what happened. When we came out from our pit stop, they were ahead of us, so we need to understand what happened there. Otherwise, I had a gearbox problem from around halfway through the race, which meant I had to slow down. Also, due to lapped cars, I lost six seconds to Jenson in two laps, so I was unable to fight for the podium. But, it’s good that we got these final positions. Coming into the weekend we were not the favourites, but actually we had very good pace and we surprised some people with that. We couldn’t really show our real pace during the race, due to the way it unfolded, but it’s promising. It’s a close battle at the top of the table and, as we have seen, things can change very quickly. There is no reason to panic from our side, we have a very good car and we’re looking ahead to Valencia.”

Mark Webber: “Tyres played a huge role in the race today and, in the end, we did the best we could. I have mixed emotions after the penalty this morning (Mark took a five place grid penalty due to a gear box change). I had a good first few laps at the start, but that took its toll on the first set of tyres, so I needed to pit a little earlier than I would have liked. In the second stint I was ahead and was monitoring the gap to Lewis. I was moving away a bit at the start, as he was pacing to get to the finish. I was trying to keep my pace constant, but in the end the tyres didn’t want that pace and they go away from you. It’s virtually impossible to keep the tyres from degrading here, no matter how slow you drive. In the end it wasn’t really a surprise to come back out from my second pit stop in fifth, as I knew people in front had been packed up tightly behind Lewis. We then turned the car down to save it for the next race. We expected this to be a tough event and in the end we were closer than we thought. I wanted to get some champagne today, it didn’t happen, but we’ll be back.”

Heikki Kovalainen: “It’s been a great weekend, and I’m really pleased for the whole team with the result today. We finished ahead of Petrov and lapped the other new guys, and although it was hard work managing the tyres, it’s still great to show what we can do. The race itself was tough, but it’s all about the result – I didn’t have any technical problems with the car, but the rear wasn’t working quite as I’d have liked, and I think that was down to the tyre wear.”

Jarno Trulli: “It’s such a shame I had to pull over – I had a great start and then I was really flying during the race. We got the strategy right on the tyres, and my pace was good – I was keeping up with the boys in front, and I was overtaking our other rivals. But then I felt a vibration that caused a problem with the braking system and I had to pull over. Still – we have to move on. It’s another learning curve for the team and I think it’s great to see that in the race I could really push and was putting in some very good lap times.”

Sebastien Buemi: “I am super happy to have scored four points because we did not expect that much. The team did an excellent job, especially during the pit stops and also the strategy was spot on. I enjoyed some fights, including passing Schumacher which was difficult because, even though we were on the same tyres, with his being older than mine, he is a real fighter. Generally it was a tough afternoon, because there was a lot of degradation which is why we planned to make three pit stops; something we are not used to. The other worry I had was a broken exhaust from quite early on. I also enjoyed leading the race for a lap, which was a nice feeling. I hope this means my season will really kick off now, because I have not had much luck and the team has been working really hard. It feels so much better to have had a “normal” race today. Eighth place, leading the race and passing Michael. What a day!”

Jaime Alguersuari: “On the positive side, I finished the race. It was a tough afternoon which did not go so well for me, even if I was involved in a lot of exciting incidents and moves. The best point for me is that the team once again gave me a reliable car with which I could finish the race and gain more valuable experience. So now, I’m already looking forward to Valencia, another race on Spanish soil.”