Australia: The Race Seen from the Pits

Lotus

Kimi Räikkönen – Winner

Romain Grosjean – 10th

Translate: Eric Boullier, Team Director: « I am really delighted. After Kimi’s very good start, we hoped to finish on the podium, then with the course of the race and the stops of the other teams – showing that they were on a three-stop strategy – our position became stronger and stronger. It’s a fantastic feeling to start the season this way. Kimi drove impeccably all weekend and gave everything for the team. Romain had a difficult race and we need to analyze what went wrong for him. This victory is further proof of the efforts made in Enstone and we want to thank every employee. We will go to Malaysia in the best possible position. »

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Ferrari

Fernando Alonso – 2nd

Felipe Massa – 4th

Pat Fry, Technical Director: This morning, qualifying was very tough as it was vital to choose the right tires at the most opportune moment, and we managed to do that without too much hesitation. It wasn’t easy to understand the actual gap with those ahead of us, as under certain conditions, it’s not always very clear. This afternoon, we had a good race pace, and both our drivers performed well without making any mistakes. But we are aware that we still have a lot of work ahead of us if we want to continue improving. Perhaps we could have tried a two-stop strategy, but given the unknowns regarding tire degradation, we preferred not to do so. In the upcoming races, it will be essential to understand tire behavior in order to choose the best strategies.

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Red Bull

Sebastian Vettel – 3rd

Mark Webber – 6th

Christian Horner, Team Principal: Starting from the front row, finishing 3rd and 6th was obviously not the result we were aiming for, but all things considered with how the race unfolded, I think that was the maximum we could achieve. Lotus seemed very strong with their tires, with a two-stop strategy that worked very well for Kimi [Räikkönen]. I think in cooler conditions today, we were not in the optimal window with these tires, but nonetheless, it is a very positive start to the season with a podium and a 6th place. Mark made a good recovery after a difficult start and a KERS and electronic box issue in the first part of the race. We managed to reset the system, and he was able to function again afterwards. We leave this race knowing we have a good car and we look forward to the warmer temperatures in Malaysia next week.

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Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton – 5th

Nico Rosberg – Retirement

Ross Brawn, Team Director: « We had a very good first stint in the race, making the super softs last until lap 13 for Lewis and until lap 14 for Nico. That convinced us that a two-stop strategy was possible. However, the balance with the mediums was not what we needed. Having gone for two stops and adjusted our pace accordingly to preserve the tires, the decision to switch to a two-stop strategy cost Lewis compared to the cars that went for three stops from the start. Tire behavior is something we need to study and understand in the coming days. Nico was doing well when he had to retire. We saw a drop in battery voltage and that stopped his car. Overall, we made a step forward with the car and learned a lot this afternoon. If we can put all the pieces of the puzzle together, we have the ingredients for good races. »

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Force India

Adrian Sutil – 7th

Paul di Resta – 8th

Robert Fernley, Deputy Director of the team: « What a great team performance to start our season. Scoring ten points is a good result, and it confirms the pace we showed all weekend. Adrian [Sutil]’s return to competition was fantastic, and it’s clear he hasn’t lost any of his speed or racecraft. He was on a different strategy from the leaders, but it worked very well, and he had a great pace throughout the Grand Prix – even leading 11 laps. Paul [di Resta] was on an opposite strategy and finished just a fraction of a second behind Adrian in the end. He probably could have overtaken Adrian in the final laps, but he held his position to ensure a very good result for the team. We said this winter that we needed a strong start this year, so hopefully, we can continue like this next weekend in Malaysia. »

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McLaren

Jenson Button – 9th

Sergio Pérez – 11th

Martin Whitmarsh, Team Director: « Jenson [Button] and Checo [Sergio Perez] drove very well today in difficult conditions without making any mistakes, so I would like to say ‘bravo’ to them. As always, Jenson managed his tire degradation to the maximum to score points for 9th place, thus surpassing 1000 points scored in his career: a truly remarkable achievement!

Checo had a difficult start from 15th place, navigating very challenging turns right in the middle of the traffic, but he showed strength and respect. Moreover, he came very close to the points in his first Grand Prix with McLaren. Believe me, very few 11th places have been more deserved or as hard-earned as Checo’s today.

Having said all that, 9th and 11th places aren’t really usual results for us, and this Grand Prix will therefore remain one of the worst in our history. Our car lacks speed, but our drivers and engineers did their utmost to maximize today’s results and you couldn’t ask for more.

The task ahead of us is difficult but we will work tirelessly to be faster with the MP4-28 and we can succeed.

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Toro Rosso

Jean-Eric Vergne – 12th

Daniel Ricciardo – Abandon

Franz Tost, Team Principal: By focusing on the positive aspects for this first Grand Prix, we can note that the car has proven it can be competitive in the rain. Both our drivers performed well on Friday, and we were able to work in the right direction on Sunday afternoon to improve our performance in dry conditions.

However, there are negative aspects as well. We missed the opportunity to qualify well by choosing the wrong tires for our Q2. This afternoon, Daniel [Riccardo] struggled to find grip and retired due to a reliability issue.

Starting 13th on the grid, Jean-Eric drove well to try and catch the points but couldn’t manage it. This performance does not reflect our true potential and we will have to do better in Sepang next week.

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Sauber

Esteban Gutiérrez – 13th

Nico Hülkenberg – Non-starter

Monisha Kaltenborn, Team Principal: « This was not the way we expected this new Formula 1 season to start, especially since things looked good after the practice sessions. The fuel system problem is really unfortunate, particularly at this point in the race weekend. We feel sorry for Nico. Esteban had a good first race, but starting from 18th place was too much of a handicap for him. I am confident that we will resolve the issues we faced and that we will be in better shape in Malaysia. »

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Williams

Valtteri Bottas – 14th

Pastor Maldonado – Retirement

Mike Coughlan, Technical Director: « It was a tough race for us. We opted for two different strategies with Valtteri on super softs at the start and Pastor on mediums. In the end, I don’t think one strategy would have made a huge difference compared to the other. It was good for Valtteri to bring the car to the finish in his first race, but we need to work as a team now to improve performance. We have some ideas that we will bring for the next race, so we will push hard in Malaysia. »

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Marussia

Jules Bianchi – 15th

Max Chilton – 17th

John Booth, Team Principal: « Generally speaking, we are delighted with our start to the race with the MR02 and to see that the positive signs in pre-season testing were a true reflection of our performance level. Jules had a fantastic race and quickly left the Caterhams behind to focus on the midfield cars ahead. We started on the super-softs and may have underestimated their rate of degradation. Thus, we swiftly switched to mediums, which allowed Jules to fight back. Unfortunately, by then, there was already a reasonable gap to the Williams ahead, and Jules did a good job slowly closing in on them. The rest of his race was really focused on stopping when the tire degradation became too high. The very late stop for the second set of super-softs was because we experienced significant degradation on his last set of medium tires. Under normal conditions, we might have decided to continue, but with plenty of time to make a pit stop relative to the cars behind, we decided it was wiser to stop.

Max was unfortunately caught in a collision with Van der Garde at the beginning of the race, which forced him to make a pit stop for a new front wing. The time lost due to such a pit stop unfortunately meant that he had to deal with blue flags much earlier than Jules, and under these conditions, it would be much more difficult to recover. He passed him during the race but with such a gap to Pic, he didn’t have enough time to catch up.

We leave Melbourne satisfied that we have really made progress over the winter. We must certainly not underestimate the midfield teams. However, I think we showed today that they are in our sights. As a team, we must work as hard as possible in the upcoming races to seize the opportunity to fight with them. I would like to thank everyone in Banbury for their hard work, as well as our engine supplier Cosworth. We are also thrilled to have started so well with our new KERS system.

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Caterham

Charles Pic – 16th

Giedo Van der Garde – 18th

No statements from the official

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