• German Grand Prix

Who said what after the German Grand Prix

July 7, 2013

Read what the drivers and teams had to say after the German Grand Prix

Caterham

Charles Pic - 17th
"My start was ok - I passed Chilton but I had to brake hard in turn one and pretty soon I had a big vibration from the front right. We were always going to stop pretty early so we didn't have to change strategy too much, coming in at the end of lap four to go onto the primes.

"In the second stint the deg level on the tyres was good. We were looking at stopping earlier to cover one of the Marussia pitstops but as the tyres were performing well we could stay out. For once we had some luck with the timing of the safety car and boxed for another set of mediums, coming out behind my teammate in 17th. As we'd changed the plan under the safety car I had to manage that second set of mediums and they were holding up well until I had a slow puncture on lap 35 and had to box unexpectedly.

"The unplanned stop obviously ruined the strategy which is a real shame as we would have been right up with the pack ahead who were all bunched up because of the safety car. That's pretty frustrating but there's not much you can do in those circumstances. Because of the stop I came back out last but passed Chilton and with a few laps to go I passed Giedo whose tyres were gone and from there it was just a question of getting it to the finish. "

Giedo van der Garde - 18th
"I made a great start, passed two cars and then did Vergne on the first lap so by the end of lap one I was up to 17th. The car felt pretty good but we wanted to get the softs out of the way quickly so we stuck to the plan and came in early to go onto the mediums which had held up well on the long runs in practice.

"The first set of mediums was performing ok but we adapted the plan, pitting on lap 20 for another set of the harder compound. I'd just seen the first blue flags when the safety car came out so I was able to get the lap back and when the race restarted I was in 16th, behind Bottas' Williams and Gutierrez, and ahead of Charles. From that point it was honestly a bit of a lonely race! I was focused on making sure I could get the car to the finish without any problems, and we didn't have any more blue flags until towards the end of the race so it was all pretty trouble free.

"I boxed again on lap 35 and from there it was all about bringing it home. That was a long final stint so the tyres were completely gone towards the end and my pace had dropped a lot, but both Charles and I were clear of our nearest rival so it was a pretty straight run to the flag with him.

"Despite the final place I think this was another small step for me. My tyre management in the race improved a bit today and I've been working on it all weekend. We now have a small break until the next race in Hungary so I have time to head back to the factory, do more work in the sim and come back in Hungary aiming to continue to progress."

Ferrari

Fernando Alonso - 4th
"This was a difficult race, we weren't very quick and at some moments we were not competitive enough. In the first stint, we paid the price for being on used tyres, because by lap twelve they were already finished, which cost us some of the advantage we hoped to gain from our strategic choice. Even if we were hoping to finish on the podium, finishing less than eight seconds off Vettel after starting eighth is an encouraging result. The team is doing its utmost to make the car more competitive and after tackling a few races without being too sure about our updates, today we can claim to have cleared up many of our doubts and to have understood which are the areas we must concentrate on to move the development forward. When we arrived here on Thursday, the Silverstone test did not seem that important, because the race drivers were only meant to be testing the tyres, but having heard what the FIA had to say, it's been confirmed that we can test updates and this makes it a much more sensible proposition. If I get the call from the team, I'm ready to go".

Felipe Massa - DNF
"I am very disappointed with what happened, especially after the rest of the weekend had gone well. At the start of lap four, when I was on the straight, at the moment when I braked, the rear wheels locked up and I couldn't stop the car from spinning. When the car came to a stop, it was stuck in fifth gear and I couldn't stop the engine from stalling. It's very odd that it got stuck like that, even if so far, the team has not seen anything unusual. The Mediums did not have the pace we expected after Friday's free practice, but maybe other factors, such as the higher temperatures, came into play and made the difference. Now I want to focus on the next race when I plan to do my utmost to turn things around".

Stefano Domenicali, team principal
"Given the current state of play, I think today's result is the most we could have achieved and I don't think the strategy had much of an influence on the outcome of the race. Wanting to see the glass as half full, the points we have picked up at this point in the season are very important. The variable temperatures we saw today produced different performance levels. This turnaround confirms yet again how difficult it is for everyone to interpret as well as possible the true competitiveness of the car-tyre package at every track. Looking ahead, now it is vital that we optimise the performance of our car, just as our rivals have managed to do, because we want to get back to fighting for the top places as soon as possible. In Hungary we will have different tyres and it will be important to understand their behaviour right from the test at Silverstone, in two weeks time. At the same time, we will try to change pace on our development work, an area where we need to push hard".

Pat Fry, technical director
"Today's temperatures and track conditions, different to those we saw over the past days, had a strong influence on the performance of the various teams. In our case, I don't think the final result would have been different if we had opted for the opposite strategy, because, starting from fifth or sixth on the Softs, our position in the end would have been the same. Our pace on the soft compound was better than expected, when one considers that it's particularly sensitive to the higher temperatures, while the degradation of the Mediums was higher than expected and caused us a few more problems in balancing the car and that spoilt our first stint. I am sorry for Felipe, who had made another great start, but unfortunately he locked up the rear wheels under braking and spun, possibly because of the lack of grip. Fernando managed to get the most out of the car, always trying to attack when possible. It was a shame to miss out on the podium in the end, especially as the speed of the Red Bulls and Lotuses was not that much higher than ours. Now there are two weeks before the next round in Hungary, during which we will be pushing as hard as possible to close the performance gap which separates us from the leaders".

Force India

Paul di Resta - 11th
"It's not been the easiest of weekends for us, but in the final part of the race it looked like we were on course to score some points. In the end we just ran out of tyres during the last couple of laps, but it was always going to be risky with our two-stop strategy, especially as we had to pit under the safety car. There were times in the race when the car was working well, but I really struggled with the first set of mediums and was not happy with the balance. Things improved quite a bit for the final stint, but by then we were out of position. It's a bit gutting to miss out on points so we need to unleash our potential and get back to our usual form in Hungary."

Adrian Sutil - 13th
"It turned out to be quite a disappointing race and for whatever reason we've just not had the pace this weekend. I struggled a lot with the tyres and had to convert from a two-stop race to a three-stop race, which was not our plan. I also lost some time at my final pit stop and after that the points were just too far away."

Robert Fernley, deputy team principal
"It's disappointing to end our run of points finishes, but Paul came very close to picking up the final point today. Ultimately his two-stop strategy wasn't quite enough to fend off our competitors in the final few laps, but we came close to pulling it off. Adrian's race was also decided by tyre wear because we had to switch him to a three-stop strategy mid-way through the race. Overall we were missing some performance and didn't have the pace to make the strategy work. Both Paul and Adrian were unable to pass the Williams of Maldonado after the safety car, which compromised the strategy. With three weeks until the next race and a young driver test before that, we will work hard to ensure we can recapture the form we've shown earlier in the season."

Lotus

Kimi Raikkonen - 2nd
"We had a pretty good last stint of the race, but the cars are close on performance so it's difficult to overtake. Maybe some more laps would have helped us, but the race is only 60 laps so you have to do your best with that. After my first stop I was stuck behind a Mercedes for a while, but once I was past the car was pretty good. After the safety car three of us were able to pull away, but we were too close on speed to change the order. It was a good day for the team. Of course, we wanted to win; we couldn't, but we did score the most points here. The warmer temperatures definitely helped us, so let's hope for some more hot weather in Budapest."

Romain Grosjean - 3rd
"After some difficult races, everything went right today and it was pretty special when I was leading the race and returning to the podium is naturally a good thing. My car felt great on the first stint with the soft tyres and it's clear that the summer weather really suits us. Hopefully we'll have a long summer now in Europe! Letting Kimi past at the end of the race was the sensible thing to do as we were on different strategies and he had more of a chance of going for the win than I did at that point. We didn't know which tyre would be the best at the end of the race, so we didn't put all our eggs in one basket."

Marussia

Jules Bianchi - DNF
"Obviously it is very disappointing to end my race so soon, due to an engine problem on lap 22. I got a very poor start and it was a real battle to recover from that and stay ahead of Pic. I had just completed my second pit stop and got ahead of Van Der Garde when the engine let go, but I think we had the pace to be able to fight to keep both Caterhams behind had I continued. The car felt well-balanced and we were showing the usual more positive race pace. It has been a less than straightforward weekend so perhaps this was just not destined to be our race and we just have to look ahead to the next one in Hungary."

Max Chilton - 19th
"Not an easy race today. We both struggled with our starts and the opening few laps and then I started to close the gap to Charles and Jules; I was happy with the car. Unfortunately for Jules he had an engine problem so I knew that I had to do my best to get some reward for the Team. In the middle stint there was nothing between us and Caterham and then the safety car came out and stirred up everyone's strategies. We made the right call, but just suffered with rear tyre wear with 10 laps to go. On the whole I was happy with my performance and speed today."

John Booth, team principal
"An incredibly disappointing result for the Team today but perhaps one which, when digested on Monday morning, will be viewed more favourably. It is clear we had much more potential today and Jules' unfortunate engine problem meant that we were unable to beat our nearest competitors. We don't yet know the cause but I am sure working with Cosworth tonight we will be able to make an initial assessment of what went wrong. What was pleasing today was to see Max running very much at the same pace as Jules and the Caterhams throughout the race and he only lost out due to a more oversteered balance today, which meant that his rear tyres suffered later in the stint. We now move on to the Young Driver Test and thereafter the Hungarian Grand Prix in three weeks' time."

McLaren

Jenson Button - 6th
"There are a lot of positives to take away from this weekend; our pace was reasonably good; it's nice to be racing cars closer to the front, such as the Mercedes; our laptimes compared to the four cars at the front weren't too bad either; and today's points are badly needed right now. Unfortunately, the two Caterhams fighting in front of me in the closing laps probably cost me fifth place. When you're fighting for position, you expect the backmarkers to move over, even if they're fighting for position themselves. It's a shame - those points could be so important for us later in the season. The Safety Car also didn't help our strategy - but we were a lot stronger this weekend than we've been for the past few races. We can be positive - as a team, we didn't put a foot wrong all weekend, and we got the best out of what we have. Overall, it's a positive day for the team - now we just need to find some more pace in the car."

Sergio Perez - 8th
"My car performed a lot better today than it did yesterday. We had better pace and degradation than we'd expected: we managed a very long final stint, and I think we maximised everything today. We should be happy. After the Safety Car, it was like the start of a second race. I just focused on preserving the tyres over that long stint - the car and tyres performed very strongly, but we just lost out on the final corner. It was always going to be difficult to hold Mark [Webber] back. This is a good step on from Silverstone - it's been a very promising weekend, and I hope we can take another step forward for Hungary."

Martin Whitmarsh, team principal
"Both drivers did a fantastic job this afternoon - they managed the limits of the tyre, pushed aggressively when it was needed and were always able to maximise the pace of the car. It's just a pity that they each lost position on the final lap.

"That was a little bit frustrating: we had terrible traffic at the end, so Jenson lost a couple of seconds at a critical point in the race. That enabled Lewis [Hamilton] to close him down quicker than normal and take a position that we felt we could have kept. The whole team did an extremely good job today: our strategy was perfectly managed, our pitstops were faultless, and the engineers maximised the pace of the car. We raced well, but we're still not where we want to be, although there are positives to take away from today. We'll be putting out heads down during the three-week break before Hungary and will be aiming to capitalise on the momentum we've gathered this weekend."

Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton - 5th
"That was really a tough race out there for us today. I didn't have a great start and the Red Bulls were much quicker off the line, dropping me back to third. We really struggled with the second set of tyres which then compromised the rest of my race. It's a real shame as the team are working so hard and doing such a good job. We've clearly got a good car but for some reason, it doesn't work in these hot conditions. We'll keep working on it and the positive from today is that we were able to recover to fifth place with a good strategy and great pit stops, and we're still second in the Constructors' table. Hopefully we'll have a better chance at the next race but, for now, there's a lot of hard work ahead of us."

Nico Rosberg - 9th
"The car didn't feel so nice to drive today. We struggled a lot with the rear tyres and that's why we weren't able to match the pace of the guys in the front. Even so, I had a bit of fun when I changed to the option tyres and could really push to at least score a few points. But we need to understand the new tyres a bit more because it seems that the new construction has shuffled things around, especially in these hot conditions. We have to do a lot of work in the next weeks to make sure we arrive in Hungary in good shape."

Ross Brawn, team principal
"Our first thoughts today go to the cameraman who was struck by an errant wheel in the pit lane. Happily, he does not appear to have suffered serious injuries but it was once again a reminder of the dangers of our sport and underlines the need for constant vigilance in terms of safety. Today was a race of two halves for us. In the first part, we were once again overstressing the tyres - particularly on the prime compound - and our performance fell away as a result. However, as the temperatures cooled off a little and things settled down, both drivers had respectable pace and were able to fight their way back through the field. Lewis and Nico kept pushing until the final lap and were rewarded for their commitment and determination. At one point it didn't look like we would come away with much at all from this afternoon, so there has to be a certain satisfaction in saving 12 points today. We have said all along that there is still a question mark over our performance in hotter conditions, and today's race showed that we still have work to do. We have made big steps forward since Bahrain and Barcelona, where we particularly suffered with hotter track temperatures, and our performance was much improved compared to those races. But we have not yet done enough to convert our Saturday pace into race-winning speed in all conditions on Sunday. The three-week break until Hungary will give us an opportunity to think about how we can make further progress on our tyre management as well as continuing to develop the core performance of the car."

Toto Wolff, executive director
"We had a real character-building afternoon here at the Nürburgring. Neither of the drivers could find any grip on the prime tyre in the first part of the race and it mirrored similar experiences we have had so far this season. We managed to recover in the second half, though, and our result was pretty respectable in the end given how things looked after the first 30 laps. Well done to both drivers for squeezing the maximum out of the car today. After such a successful weekend in Silverstone, it feels a little bit like a night and day difference for us. We need to get our heads down at the factory, properly analyse our performance and keep working hard because we know that we will see similar temperatures in Hungary to what we experienced here."

Red Bull

Sebastian Vettel - 1st
"It was a tough race; it was one of the toughest for a long time. I'm happy the race wasn't two or three laps longer, as Kimi was a bit quicker towards the end. I'm very happy that it worked out and it's very special. The team worked really hard to give me the chance to win this weekend and we got it. First of all you have to remember that it's a privilege to have the opportunity to race in your home country; we have around 20 races, but there are obviously more than 20 countries, so it's special to race at home and get so much support. I had a good start and then just focused on every single lap during the race. You don't really think about where you are while you are racing, you can't allow your mind to drift, but when the flag came out and the race was over I really let myself enjoy the parade lap and saw a lot of people in the grandstands cheering and waving flags. These pictures will remain in my head for a long, long time."

Mark Webber - 7th
"I knew we had lost the tyre in the pit stop of course, but not that someone got hit by it. That's bad and I hope he is okay, that's the main thing. Today was a bit of a nightmare and you want to wake up tomorrow and have another go at it. We had an excellent start and were in a great position leading up to the first stop with Seb, but we lost all of that. We lost a lot of points today and a chance to challenge for the win, but there's no rewind button now."

Christian Horner, team principal
"The most important thing today is that the cameraman who got struck by the tyre does not appear to have suffered any life threatening injuries. It's a timely reminder that working in the pit lane is dangerous. Everyone reacted incredibly quickly and the most important thing is to hear that he seems to be fundamentally okay. Looking to the race, for any driver to win their home grand prix is something tremendously special and after the disappointment of missing out on the victory a week ago in Silverstone, Sebastian drove faultlessly today and can be very proud of what he's achieved in his home grand prix in front of the home fans. It's a huge result for him and very positive for the Championship. For Mark, it was a strong recovery drive; he got back on to the lead lap through the pace car and then fought his way back into the points. It's a great shame that we couldn't have both cars right up there today, but all credit to Mark for his very determined drive. We need to understand what went wrong in that first pit stop for Mark, but as I said, our main concern today is knowing that the cameraman is okay."

Sauber

Esteban Gutierrez - 14th
"From the beginning to the end we were fighting for positions, so it was a very tough race. It was difficult to overtake, because we were lacking speed on the straights. My rhythm was quite reasonable and I tried to do my best. The strategy wasn't ideal, although everything went to plan, but we pitted just before the safety car, which didn't make it any easier."

Nico Hulkenberg - 10th
"It was an extremely tough race. I was fighting on every lap, but this is what we were able to get out of it. To be honest, I expected we would have better pace today, but we didn't. The car didn't feel as good as I expected it would either. I thought, and hoped, we could fight with McLaren, but, unfortunately, they were too fast for us today. It was a race with a lot of overtaking and wheel-to-wheel battles, which are always fun. However, having to fight for positions all the time is never good for the strategy, as it's tough on the tyres and you loose time. Nevertheless, this weekend was better than the previous ones. We didn't have an update on the car, we experimented with the set-up, which worked well."

Monisha Kalenborn, team principal
"One point is not exactly what we expected after a strong qualifying, but the safety car period didn't play into our hands. Nevertheless, we move on to the test in Silverstone and to the next Grand Prix with confidence. We were able to improve, particularly in qualifying, and we want to continue to improve. Nico delivered a strong performance. The last stint particularly was absolutely thrilling. Of course, we are not where we want to be, but we made a step in the right direction."

Tom McCullough, head of track engineering
"We elected to split the strategies with the tyres at the start. Esteban started on the soft tyres, Nico on the medium. Unfortunately, the timing of the safety car was at the worst moment for us as a team - eight laps into Nico's second stint on the medium tyres and immediately Esteban had pitted. Therefore, it was going to be difficult to recover and score points from there. Nico did a good job in the last stint to get tenth place, which is good for the morale of the team."

Toro Rosso

Jean-Eric Vergne - DNF
"There's not much to say today, because after not having a good pace all weekend, today there was no change. I found the car very difficult to drive right from the start, then there was the moment at my pit stop, when I had to brake hard to avoid Di Resta who was released from his pit right in front of me, which cost me more time. On lap 23 the team told me they had spotted a fault with the hydraulics and called me in to retire. It's extremely disappointing, as this is my second consecutive race retirement. A weekend to forget."

Daniel Ricciardo - 12th
"A frustrating and rather dull race for me. After the start, I was able to hold position on the Option, but once we pitted for the Prime tyre, I really struggled for pace and couldn't push as hard as I wanted to in order to get more out of the car. I did try to push more, but the car wouldn't take it and I began to lock the brakes and slide too much, as I didn't have enough grip. This meant I had to drive more smoothly, but it was very frustrating going round and round, gradually slipping backwards. I can't explain why for now, so we will need to look at the data to see why we were just too slow for much of the weekend."

Franz Tost, team principal
"Naturally, it is disappointing not to score any points this weekend, especially after Daniel had secured a sixth place on the grid. In the current era of Formula 1 where retirements are rare, it is particularly frustrating that we had to call Jean-Eric into the garage with a hydraulic problem. We didn't have the pace we needed today and Daniel did what he could, fighting with the Saubers and Force Indias, finishing ahead of one of each of them, but we were not quick enough to chase the McLarens, which were very strong today. For these reasons, we just fell out of the points zone. As for our strategy, it was fairly clear that three stops was the way to go for the majority. We knew this weekend would be a bit more difficult for us, as the track would not be best suited to the characteristics of our car. However, we have a few new updates planned for Hungary and before that we have two weeks to try and make further progress with our car."

Williams

Pastor Maldonado - 15th
"It was a good race for us today as we put everything together and we were on for some points. It's disappointing to finish where we did today after the problem with the pitstops but we have to look at the positives and move forward from this."

Valtteri Bottas - 16th
"We didn't get a good start today as we had a few problems getting away from the line. We also lost some time in both pitstops so we need to work out what happened there. The race pace was better than we had seen previously this weekend which meant that we could have been challenging for points, but unfortunately it wasn't to be."

Mike Coughlan, technical director
"We started the race on medium tyres, and as most of the cars around us started on softs we had the opportunity to run out of sync and make up some positions. We were targeting a two-stop strategy for both drivers which we made work. Pitting before the safety car also worked to our advantage. The drivers drove a clean race and managed the tyres well but we lost a lot of time in our pitstops. We had a problem getting the front-right tyres off both cars and also a problem on the left-rear during Valtteri's final stop, which resulted in the drivers not being able to finish in the positions they deserved. We are now investigating what happened to make sure we can fix this for the future. Overall, our strategy, the higher track temperatures and our tyre management enabled us to be in a position to compete for the top ten."

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