United Kingdom: The Race Seen from the Pits

Red Bull

Mark Webber – Winner

Sebastian Vettel – 3rd

Christian Horner, Team Principal: « An incredible day for the team today. At the start of the race, our strategy was different from Fernando [Alonso] and Ferrari by starting on the Hard tires, but we knew that by sticking to our plans, the strategy to win could work. Felipe [Massa] compromised our plans a bit at the start of the race by passing Sebastian [Vettel], but with a great first pit stop, we were able to get back into clean air.

Then, we attacked as much as we could on Soft tires knowing that our time might come later in the race. After very strong second stints from the drivers, we knew during our last stint that we were well-positioned. Mark [Webber] was gaining sometimes 1 second per lap on Fernando and managed a great overtaking move 4 laps from the finish. He won this race on track and did it very beautifully.

Sebastian would have needed a few more laps to overtake Fernando, but having both our drivers on the podium is a very good result, just a few meters from the factory and in front of many of our employees. We also had 25,000 photos on each car to promote Wings for Life, which helped raise 1 million Euros for the association. In the end, the sun managed to shine for us despite a difficult start at Silverstone. It’s a very good result for the team.

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Ferrari

Fernando Alonso – 2nd

Felipe Massa – 4th

Pat Fry, Technical Director: « It was a very tight race from the start to the checkered flag. With Fernando, we were fighting for the win and with Felipe for the podium, which confirms that the team-driver-car package was competitive on this track.

After two days affected by rain, the sky was clear today, but it was not something that could have been predicted with certainty the day before the race. We didn’t have a lot of references in terms of tire behavior because we only had Free Practice 3 to assess performance, especially on long runs. This is partly why we chose to use different strategies with our two drivers, and all in all, we have no regrets given the way things ended: clearly, with the Soft tires, both Red Bulls were faster than Fernando, and we need to look at how we can improve our tire performance in similar situations in the future.

Fernando and Felipe both drove impeccably during the race and the guys executed flawless pit stops. The championship is very tight, so it’s vital to always score as many points as possible. I think today we achieved our goal, and it’s very significant that we have moved up no less than two places in the Constructors’ standings. We must continue pushing the car’s development because we are not yet fast enough: there is still a lot of work to be done to reach this goal.

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Lotus

Kimi Räikkönen – 5th

Romain Grosjean – 6th

Eric Boullier, Team Director: The weekend was difficult with the weather creating a lottery in qualifying. But once again, we had a good race. If we want to achieve better, we need to improve our starting positions. Romain had to fight his way back after an early stop to change the front wing. But from then on, he was very fast and strong. Kimi also had a very good race. We implemented good strategies, our car was fast and consistent. In the end, fifth and sixth places bring us a good haul of points. Once again, the car showed its qualities on a different track and in varied conditions. We’re still missing that little something to hit the jackpot, but ultimately, it’s good to have such frustration.

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Mercedes AMG

Michael Schumacher – 7th

Nico Rosberg – 15th

Norbert Haug, Vice President of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport: « It is not a great result for us today after a good performance from Michael in qualifying. We expected rain for this afternoon, and Michael’s car was not ideally balanced during the first half of the race. His lap times in the second part of the race were much better compared to the fastest cars, and after overtaking Lewis Hamilton five laps before the finish, he ended up in 7th place, 30 seconds behind the winner, Mark Webber.

Nico started in eleventh position and lost four places on the first lap, which prevented him from scoring points today.

Now we look forward to our next home race in two weeks at Hockenheim, where we will welcome spectators with a very special free program in the Mercedes Grandstand.

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McLaren

Lewis Hamilton – 8th

Jenson Button – 10th

Martin Whitmarsh – Team Director: « A dry race, we did not expect it and if, as expected, the rain had appeared, we would undoubtedly have been much more competitive compared to our competitors. Lewis [Hamilton] drove perfectly with the tires planned for his start, making steady progress during the first third of the race. Afterwards, in hindsight, we should have given him more laps with his soft tires since during his third stint, he was never happy with his hard tires…

For Jenson [Button], the 2012 British Grand Prix was complicated as well. He started 16th and if it had rained as expected – just before the race, rather than after – he probably would have gained more positions and faster. He earned one point, which is a rather meager reward for all his efforts.

Now we are heading to Germany, to Hockenheim, the home Grand Prix of our engine supplier Mercedes-Benz. But first, we will go to Woking, to our headquarters, with the aim of improving the car’s performance as much as possible during the German Grand Prix, the land of the star brand.

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Williams

**Bruno Senna** – 9th

Pastor Maldonado – 16th

Mark Gillan, Chief Operations Engineer: « Both Pastor and Bruno had a very good start and were pushing hard at the beginning of the race. Unfortunately, Pastor was involved in a racing incident with Pérez during his second stint, which led to an early second pit stop due to damage to his right rear tire, ultimately compromising his race. After the event, the stewards gave Pastor a reprimand, which we accept as a team.

Bruno had an excellent race, and despite a small spin in his first stint, he finished in ninth position after attacking and defending his place very well at the end of the race.

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Sauber

Kamui Kobayashi – 11th

Sergio Pérez – Retirement

Peter Sauber, Team Principal: « Obviously, I hope that our three mechanics recover quickly from their injuries and that they will be back on their feet as soon as possible. Until Kamui’s second stop, during which he lost 15 seconds, he had very good chances of scoring points.

Sergio had moved from the fifteenth position on the grid to a place in the points, and it’s not the first time we’ve seen him do this. We were expecting an exciting race with possible good results for us. The accident between Sergio and Pastor Maldonado will be investigated by the FIA, but whatever happens, it ended Sergio’s race.

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Force India

**Nico Hülkenberg** -12th

Translate: Paul di Resta – Abandon

Vijay Mallya, Team Principal: « We should have scored points today, so we leave our home race with a feeling of disappointment. Nico had a solid race and looked set for ninth place, but we lost it to Senna with two laps to go. Unfortunately, in his eagerness to regain his position, Nico went wide at Copse and dropped out of the points. His car was better suited to the rain, and we never got the chance to see what we could have done in front of our home crowd. The cause of [Paul di Resta’s] puncture remains uncertain, but we suspect contact in the first few corners. »

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Toro Rosso

Daniel Ricciardo – 13th

Jean-Eric Vergne – 14th

Franz Tost, Team Principal: While the daring British fans finally had the chance to enjoy a sunny race day and undoubtedly appreciated seeing our friends at Red Bull, who are based just a few kilometers from the circuit, claim a well-deserved victory, we would have preferred to see more rain today. It was clear from the start of the weekend that we were more competitive in the wet, however we couldn’t capitalize on it in qualifying, especially with Jean-Eric Vergne having to deal with his ten-place grid penalty.

During the race, he got a good start, gaining seven places in the first lap. Daniel Ricciardo, on the other hand, didn’t get off to a good start, so our two drivers ended up fighting each other for most of the race, finishing 14th and 13th respectively.

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Caterham

Heïkki Kovalainen – 17th

**Vitaly Petrov** – Did Not Start

Mark Smith, Technical Director: « Unfortunately, Vitaly [Petrov] suffered an engine failure on his first lap out of the pits as he prepared to join the grid, and that was the end of his race. On Heikki [Kovalainen]’s side, as soon as he passed the slower cars around him, he was more or less comfortable for the rest of the race. He drove well, made no mistakes, and that’s all we could ask of him today.

Now, we will return to the factory and work on all the data we have collected today and throughout the weekend. On Friday, we will participate in the aero test that we postponed earlier this week due to the weather, and it will help us optimize all the new features we had at Silverstone.

We know we’ve made progress but we simply couldn’t show it today, so we’re going to focus on doing so in the two races before the summer break, in Germany and Hungary.

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Marussia

Timo Glock – 18th

Charles Pic – 19th

John Booth, Team Director: The race start was difficult due to our rather frustrating qualifying session: we closed the gap with Caterham and the midfield but were not able to reach Q2. The weather clearly worked against us yesterday.

Today, Timo and Charles were very professional, they brought both cars home, and we finished in our usual position. However, we distanced ourselves from the HRT threat and are gradually getting closer to Caterham, which is the positive point of the Grand Prix.

The drivers’ strategies worked, and we responded well when needed. Additionally, the four pit stops went perfectly.

We can be pleased with the work accomplished, especially in relation to this challenging week. Our efforts are now focused on Germany, and we are encouraged by the improvements in Maria’s health.

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HRT

Pedro de la Rosa – 20th

Narain Karthikeyan – 21st

Luis Perez-Sala, Team Director: Overall, the day was positive, we are performing better than expected on a challenging circuit, and we are even competing with our rivals. Pedro executed a one-stop strategy and his tires held up well. On the other hand, with Narain, we tried a two-stop strategy that we could have improved a bit. But we had to take risks. We need to keep improving our pit stops, but the team seemed calmer and more reassured. We are moving forward and progressing, which is an important thing. On a completely different note, it seems the information we are receiving regarding Maria’s condition is positive, and while we need to be cautious, we are very happy to hear it and wish her continued improvement.

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