Formula 1 News

2011 Australian GP, Race: Driver quotes 

Sebastian Vettel: “I’m very pleased, it was a very good weekend and I had a very nice car to sit in this afternoon. It was a good race – towards the end things calmed down a bit. Lewis didn’t push as hard, so we tried to control the last part of the race. I don’t think it was easy today. The start was crucial and being on the clean side I had a very good getaway. I didn’t know if it was enough, but then I saw Lewis and Mark battling for position. I got a cushion on lap one and we tried to hold the gap for the first stint. When the tyres went off, Lewis caught up and we came in. I think it was the right time, as I couldn’t have done more laps. After my first stop it was crucial to get past Jenson, which I did. That was important. In the second part of the race I didn’t know what was gong on behind Lewis, if he was under pressure or not, but towards the end of the race I could control it more. We learned a lot of things today. It’s good coming here after a long winter and setting the pace.”

Mark Webber: “I wasn’t quick today and it was the same in qualifying yesterday, so we need to understand the reason why. There wasn’t much else I could do today. I lost the last position to Fernando (Alonso) during the pit stops and that was it really. It was very frustrating. Seb drove a good race, in terms of what the car can do, but it’s not normal for me not to go and match the rhythm at the front. I should be able to stay with these guys, but today I finished a long way behind. It was a tough race and I was pushing as hard as I could, but I wasn’t getting much back. To finish that far behind is not really usual, but let’s stay cool; it’s the first race. I’m looking forward to going to Malaysia; I wish the race was tomorrow already. I was in a different race to Sebastian today, so we had to do different things. I was in trouble with the tyres much sooner than he was, so we need to have a look why.”

Adrian Sutil: “Generally it was not a bad race. Coming from 16th was not easy; the start itself was good and as usual there were a lot of cars at the first corner, but I made up several places by the end of lap one. We had good performance on the track and in the end it was a good race for the first one of the season. It is a shame that we were just outside the top 10, but we hope to have improved our pace and be in the points in Malaysia.”

Paul Di Resta: “We had quite a good start and fight with Kobayashi, but that allowed one of the Toro Rossos by and from there we lost a bit of momentum. Our pace was just a little bit behind today, but hopefully by Malaysia we will be able to understand why and, when the upgrades come, perform at bit better. Adrian and I were on different strategies and we had to fuel conserve toward the end that’s why the gap opened up. I am going into Malaysia to try to do a better job than I did here today, but overall I am relatively happy.”

Jerome D’Ambrosio: “I’m really happy to have finished my first Formula One Grand Prix. I started really well and I felt comfortable in the car, even though I think that I could have gone a bit faster at the end of the race. But the most important thing is that we completed the race and this will give me plenty of experience which will be useful for the next races. I would like to thank the team for a great job all weekend. We had a very productive time and we will carry the lessons through to the next race in Malaysia and hopefully start moving forward from there.”

Timo Glock: “I think we had quite a good speed in the race. I was behind Jarno Trulli, then caught him and got past him in the pitstop. Unfortunately at the pitstop the front left wheel was loose and I had to drive round for one lap very slowly then come into the pits. Unfortunately the drive pegs were damaged but we repaired it, and I at least was able to rejoin the race. For the first couple of laps it was okay but then the car had quite a lot of vibration, so I just tried to focus on finishing the race. In the end it was a little disappointing but at least we demonstrated good reliability and brought both cars to the finish.”

Vitaly Petrov: “I’m delighted to be here on the podium, especially after the winter that we had as a team, which was very tough. Even during testing we didn’t really know where we were compared with the others, but we continued adding new parts to the car this weekend, and they worked pretty well. I made a great start today, which was probably the key for my race because it got me ahead of Alonso and Button, and I was able to run in some clean air and push hard, as well as looking after my tyres. Our two-stop strategy was clearly the right decision and we made it work. I have to say a big thanks to everyone in the team for working so hard and for supporting my over the winter. This result is for all of us and I’m totally ecstatic.”

Nick Heidfeld: “Today was a tough race. I’m obviously disappointed not to finish in the points, but it just wasn’t possible, especially after I got hit on the first lap. It’s a shame because I had made such a good start from 18th to 12th by the first corner. The damage to the car was quite severe, mostly to the right hand bodywork, sidepod and engine cover. So it wasn’t a strong race for me at all. But, I’m pleased for the team and Vitaly that we have this excellent result today. It shows that we have a competitive car and that we can fight hard this year.”

Sergio Perez: “I will never forget this race, that is certain. After we changed from the hard to the soft tyres, I thought at first I had to push. But then I realised I could manage the tyres quite well and we decided to go to the end with them. I lost some time behind Sebastian Vettel, but I was then able to overtake him. I used the rear wing and he also left room. I am very proud of my team, the strategy worked and it was a nice surprise the tyres lasted so long. I want to thank everybody, especially in Mexico, who helped me to get into Formula One.”

Kamui Kobayashi: “I’m very happy we have managed to score points with both cars. I had a good start and got by Alonso, who overtook me later. With the first set of soft tyres I was struggling to warm them up. With the second set of the soft ones I think the pace was good, and also the third stint on the harder tyres was okay. I had a big moment when Rubens Barrichello and Nico Rosberg crashed in front of me, but no more excitement after that. It is a good start and makes me feel happy looking forward to the season.”

Lewis Hamilton: “Second position is a great result. The car felt fantastic, really nice to drive, and I was able to look after my tyres throughout the race. To be able to apply pressure to Sebastian Vettel so soon into the season was massively encouraging, too. I think we were competitive enough today to compete for the win. If it hadn’t been for the poor start, we could have been in the fight. So I think we should be excited. I don’t really know what happened with the floor, but it didn’t feel too bad to drive. After the race I had a look at it, and it looked quite badly damaged. I was just glad to be able to bring the car home, I was nursing it. Physically, though, that was one of the easiest races I’ve ever had. I came here feeling fitter than ever, so I’m looking forward to going to Malaysia, which is probably the toughest race of the year. I’m also looking forward to seeing what additional performance we can bring to the next race. The engineers know where there’s more performance to be gained, and we’ll get it to the track as soon as we can. I think we can challenge for the win at Sepang.”

Jenson Button: “I got an okay start, but I was surprised to see Vitaly Petrov up the inside – he got a very good start and forced me wide. Then I got stuck behind Felipe Massa, because I got a very poor exit out of Turn 1, and that was the worst move of my race, because he was so slow and difficult to overtake. He slowed us both down massively. I tried to overtake him around the outside of Turn 11. I was in front before we turned in, but he went really deep into the corner and pushed me wide so that I couldn’t take my normal line. After my drive-through penalty I had to fight my way back – which was fun but also frustrating. I just wish I could have got the best out of it today, but at least Lewis did a good job. We should be very happy with our pace though. We’ll have upgrades for the next race, but the car is still very new, and there are plenty of changes we can make to hone the package. We should be very happy with this weekend, I just wish I could have come away with more points.”

Rubens Barrichello: “It was a tough race for us. I was pushed out a little bit at the start, but then I had a good rhythm going and was doing quite a lot of overtaking until the incident with Rosberg. I wasn’t planning on overtaking him at that point, I was defending from Kobayashi. I think we have one tyre with grip and one with less and so we have different braking points. Rosberg braked earlier, and was already in the middle of the corner before I could stop the car. The ’33′ was competitive today, which is positive going into the next race.”

Pastor Maldonado: “We don’t know exactly what happened with the car; we will have to look into the problem with our engineers. There was no warning, we just stopped and that was it for us. The start was great though. There were some big moments going into the first two corners, but I came through them ok. I was then getting settled into the race, everything was feeling ok in the car, I felt good and then it went. I’ll now just look forward to getting back out there again in Malaysia.”

Heikki Kovalainen: “Until the retirement I was very pleased with my own performance. I had a good start and was then staying with Alguersuari and Perez until the water leak brought my race to an end. I think this has been a bit of a tricky weekend for us, perhaps more difficult than we had anticipated, but we have some time now to analyse why the pace wasn’t quite where we had expected it to be and to work on the reliability before we get to Malaysia. We’re all ready to put in the hard work to make sure we keep moving forward, and these are still early days in the life of Team Lotus so we’ll put in the hours and look for an improved performance in our home race in Malaysia.”

Jarno Trulli: “It was really good to finish the race and to show that there is some pace in the car, despite some of the problems we have had to work through this weekend. We now have a lot of very useful data we can use to help us move ahead in Malaysia and China and I think once we have got through these early teething troubles we will show that we have taken the step forward we want to this year.”

Nico Rosberg: “That was a disappointing first weekend of the season. It was a tough race until my retirement with the cars behind me pushing hard. I saw Rubens in my mirror and he was quite far away so I was surprised that he hit me. I immediately thought that was it and I had to pull over to stop the car. It’s very sad for the team as they have worked so hard this weekend and throughout the winter. However we focus on the positive and it will be interesting to see how we perform in Malaysia. Melbourne is a very unique track and we will only know where we really are after the next couple of races.”

Michael Schumacher: “The start of the season certainly has not worked out as we had hoped, and we will tick this race off now and concentrate on the next one in Malaysia. I am very sorry for our guys here and at the factory who have worked so hard and so well over the winter, but for some reason we could not bring their work into results this weekend. As for the race itself, I had quite a good start but was then hit in turn three which punctured the right rear tyre and resulted in damage to the floor. As the damage was quite substantial, we decided to stop the car for safety reasons. It was an even bigger shame that Nico was then knocked out of the race as he could have scored some good points for the team. I still believe we have potential, as we saw during winter testing, and I am convinced we will fight back.”

Fernando Alonso: “If you just look at the classification, this is not such a bad result; yes we have lost ground to Vettel and Hamilton, although we have done better than Webber and Button. Here at Albert Park, it seems that I have a season ticket for fourth place, as it’s the third time in four years that I’ve finished the race in this position. Last year, we came here off the back of the win in Bahrain, which means that the same result then had a very different feel to it. Once again today, Vettel seemed to be on another planet, while the others were a bit closer, not to the extent they were on Friday, but at least not as far off as in qualifying yesterday. Finishing behind Petrov again like in Abu Dhabi? True, but it’s a coincidence and then, at this stage it is more satisfying to have managed to keep Webber behind me, who I reckon will be a more serious rival in the title fight than the Russian. KERS worked well as did the moveable rear wing, although it did not make the overtaking moves that easy. At the start there was a bit of confusion: I got away well, but then Button headed for me and I had to go wide to avoid a collision. The strategy was just right and it helped me to make up some places. Maybe if I hadn’t ended up immediately in traffic, I could have tried to go for two stops but given how things went, we made the best decision. We are in the right zone for us to be able to win a title, but definitely not if we keep finishing third or fourth. We have to improve, we know that, but it’s still too early to make any predictions.”

Felipe Massa: “At the start things got off on the right foot with a nice start and good defending from Button’s attacking moves. Then we tried to bring forward the use of the hard tyres, but that move did not pay off and we had to make the third stop towards the end, which lost me a few places. In the second part, I suffered a lot with degradation on the rear tyres and I could not keep up a good pace. New elements such as the rear wing worked as they should: we definitely saw more overtaking than last year. The duel with Button? It was very tight: when he passed me, cutting the chicane, I expected him to be penalised. I am a bit disappointed with the result and the overall performance this weekend. We have to get down to work to understand fully what happened, because I think we have not shown our true potential.”

Sebastien Buemi: “It’s not too bad finishing tenth, after making it to Q3 yesterday, but I think I could have done better, maybe an eighth or ninth place was possible. It’s a shame that my team-mate and I made contact at the first corner. It’s not the first time it has happened, so I think we will be having a chat about it after I’ve watched a recording of the incident! Towards the end, I was not able to hold off Massa, who was much quicker than me at that point, but I am still pleased with the result. Overall, I would say we are definitely more competitive than last year and now we must continue to move forward, bringing further improvements to the car. It has been a positive start and we will have a lot to learn from analysing this whole weekend and then we will see what we can do in Malaysia.”

Jaime Alguersuari: “I got a good start, moving up to about tenth or eleventh place I think. Then, coming into Turn 2, Michael Schumacher cut the corner as he was having a go around the outside, while I was on the inside. The result was that he touched my front wing and I had to come in to change it. He could not have avoided doing it, as I was already in the middle of the corner. That meant I had an extra stop, which effectively ended my chances of getting a good result. I have to say my car worked well, with quite a good pace. I am pleased to have finished the first race and now we must look at what we can do to improve further for Malaysia.”