United Kingdom: The F1 Grand Prix Seen from the Pit Stalls

Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton – Victory

Nico Rosberg – Retirement (gearbox)

Toto Wolff, Executive Director: « It’s been a mixed day for the team: a fantastic result for Lewis at home and a disappointment for Nico when he had to retire. First, the positive aspect: Lewis executed a flawless race. He gained positions at the start and in the laps following the restart; then it seemed that a great battle with Nico was shaping up until Nico began to suffer from gearbox problems. But what I want to emphasize most is Lewis’s approach today. He had a poor qualifying but came to the circuit this morning in a positive mindset, determined to perform – and he did it for his fans. It was a great performance that demonstrated his mental strength.

Nico was doing a great job leading the race and took his retirement like a professional: he understands that it’s part of motorsport and there is always a long way to go this season. For our team, it’s good to win at Silverstone for the second consecutive time, so close to our factories in Brackley and Brixworth. And for Mercedes-Benz, it’s a special day too: we win on the 60th anniversary of our team’s first victory with Juan-Manuel Fangio. It’s a day of pride for us.

– Read the drivers’ statements

Williams

Valtteri Bottas – 2nd

Felipe Massa – Retirement (accident)

Rob Smedley, Head of Performance: « It was a bit of a mixed weekend. It’s a superb result for Valtteri and he showed incredible driving skills throughout the race. We couldn’t ask for more from a driver; he completely transformed his race with his overtakes in the first stint.

It’s really disappointing for Felipe as we clearly had a great car and could have achieved a double podium, but he will recover with the support to bounce back. Everyone is pushing hard and everyone is motivated in the team, and this result drives us forward, which is our main goal. I’m really proud of everything we’ve accomplished, and a big thank you to everyone in the team here and at Grove for all the hard work.

– Read the drivers’ statements

Red Bull

Daniel Ricciardo – 3rd

Sebastian Vettel – 5th

Thierry Salvi, Track Support Manager of Renault Sport F1: It’s a good result for the team today. In every race, we push harder to get more and more performance from our power unit, and we need to maintain and improve this kind of result. Daniel had a different strategy from Seb and managed his tires very well. Even though it was a gamble, it was actually the right choice.

Seb had a tough start, losing two or three places, and then had to work very hard to get back to the front. His overtaking maneuver on Alonso was just fantastic. In the end, I think he deserved better than fifth place, but having both cars in the top 5 is a good result to take at this point in the season.

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McLaren

Jenson Button – 4th

Kevin Magnussen – 7th

Eric Boullier, Sporting Director: We are satisfied to have been able to convert our good performance in qualifying yesterday [3rd and 5th] into a good race today [4th and 7th]. By achieving this, our engineers and mechanics here at Silverstone made no mistakes, and they deserve credit for getting the most out of the package they had at their disposal. We would obviously have liked to score more points, especially because Jenson narrowly missed securing his first podium at the British Grand Prix.

Kevin also drove well, making a very good start to be in 3rd place at the first corner and finishing in a strong 7th place at the finish. We did not expect to be this competitive on this track, which has many fast corners that do not suit the aerodynamics of the MP4-29, so we are delighted to have scored 18 points here.

– Read the drivers’ statements

Ferrari

Fernando Alonso – 6th

Kimi Räikkönen – Retirement (accident)

Marco Mattiacci, Team Director: « The most important thing now is that Kimi is doing well, even though the impact with the rail was particularly significant [47G]. He has a few bruises and will now rest to be in shape for the next race. Given the outcome of the qualification, we knew it would be tough in the race, but we could count on a good pace to try to get back into the points.

On his side, Fernando lived up to our expectations, making several beautiful overtakes. I think that with fewer problems and without his penalty for his starting position, he could have done better. His climb up the hierarchy is proof of his extremely aggressive mentality, which is exactly what we need to do for the rest of the season.

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Force India

Nico Hülkenberg – 8th

Sergio Pérez – 11th

Vijay Mallya, Team Owner: « After a strong performance in qualifying, we naturally hoped for more from the race. While circumstances played in our favor yesterday, today we were not as lucky with Checo’s race being heavily compromised by the contact with the Toro Rosso on the first lap. The windy conditions also returned, which impacted our performance.

On the positive side, we continued our points finish streak with Nico bringing in another 4 points. Nico and the team have scored points in every race this season. As we approach the halfway point of the season, the championship battle is tighter than ever, so it’s important for us to respond with a strong performance in Germany in two weeks.

– Read the drivers’ statements

Toro Rosso

Daniil Kvyat – 9th

Jean-Eric Vergne – 10th

Ricardo Penteado, Trackside Support Manager at Renault Sport F1: « We should be very happy with the double finish in the points today. From the engine’s perspective, we had no issues and the drivers were able to get the best out of the car. Everything worked well, which helped JEV recover after his first lap contact. This form, or even better, is what we must aim for in every race. »

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Lotus

Romain Grosjean – 12th

Pastor Maldonado – 17th

Federico Gastaldi, Deputy Team Principal: Once again, the team demonstrated great collective work during a complicated weekend. Unfortunately, we couldn’t take advantage of the much more competitive wet conditions compared to the weather we had today. It was a hectic race, and we are glad that no one was injured in the starting incident. Our performance was a bit below what we wanted, but both drivers gave it their all.

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Sauber

Adrian Sutil – 13th

Esteban Gutierrez – Withdrawal (collision)

Monisha Kaltenborn, Team Principal: « The team worked well throughout the weekend. In qualifying, which took place in changing conditions, everything was done well, however, we weren’t able to exploit our full potential. During the race, our problems were evident. We were not able to get the hard tires to work properly. In the first part, our lap times were competitive. We will have two days of testing at Silverstone this week and we will work to improve the competitiveness of the C33. »

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Marussia

Jules Bianchi – 14th

Max Chilton – 16th

John Booth, Team Director: « A first lap full of twists and turns today, and fortunately the only damage for our team was to Max’s car rather than to him, so he was very lucky. We called Max in right after his incident because we needed to change his front wing and check his suspension, which had been hit by a wheel. Later in the lap, we received the red flag but due to a radio problem, we couldn’t relay the message to Max to go directly to the grid. […]

Jules had a very good first stint, battling hard with the cars behind. Some were clearly faster than us, but he had a very good race to keep them behind. By the time they got through, since the Caterhams were already far ahead, it was mainly a question of minimizing the gap with the Saubers and the Lotuses. Unfortunately, we weren’t fast enough.

– Read the drivers’ statements

Caterham

Marcus Ericsson – Abandon

Kamui Kobayashi – 15th

Christijan Albers, Team President: « Obviously, we are not happy with today’s result, but for my first weekend with the team, I have to say it went well. It’s not even a week since we started this chapter in the team’s life, but we have already seen how everyone on the track and at the factory is ready to work hard to push us forward, and we are all determined to achieve our goals this year. We obviously have a lot of work to do, but we are prepared to face the upcoming challenges, and we will have another opportunity to progress in two weeks in Germany, so that’s exactly what we are going to do and, little by little, improve. »

– Lire les déclarations des pilotes