Germany: The Race Seen from the Pits

Ferrari

Fernando Alonso – Winner

Felipe Massa – 12th

Stefano Domenicali, Team Principal: « It was like a 67-lap qualifying session! I can’t remember a race that tight from start to finish. Fernando was perfect: no mistakes, no hesitations, attacking to the maximum for an hour and a half. What a driver! The team was also up to the task, doing everything to perfection. We anticipated fierce competition, and that’s exactly what we got: to stay ahead, we had to do a better job. Such a shame for Felipe who undoubtedly had the pace to finish in the points: his race was ruined by a collision at the start and clearly, he’s not having much luck at the moment! We now head into what will be a key race in just a week, in Budapest, and then we can catch our breath for a while. We know we still have a lot of work to do because we’re still not the fastest. We’ve seen how quickly things can change this season, so we must stay as focused as possible, especially regarding reliability. Finally, I would like to extend my thoughts to Valerio Catelani and Daniela Beroneri, who lost their lives this morning in a tragic accident at the Rally City of Lucca: motorsport is always a discipline where the risk is ever-present, and no one should let their guard down when it comes to safety. That’s been the case in Formula 1 for years, thanks to the efforts of the FIA. »

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McLaren

Jenson Button – 2nd [following the penalty of Sebastian Vettel]

Lewis Hamilton – Retirement

Martin Whitmarsh – Team Director: « Superb race by Jenson today. It’s a bit frustrating to have had to start sixth, which meant he lost time at the beginning of the race but he drove brilliantly to catch up and compete with the leaders.

He couldn’t really close the gap with Fernando because, frankly, we were saving fuel at that time, his rear tires were gone because he had been behind the Ferrari for a while, and also because Fernando is never an easy driver to overtake. It’s true that Ferrari is doing an amazing job right now, but we know they are beatable.

I think it’s important to give some credit for Jenson’s second-place finish to our mechanics: their second stop for Jenson was the fastest ever in Formula One with a stationary time of only 2.31 seconds. It’s quite incredible and is not only a testament to our faith in the procedures and equipment we have implemented to improve our performance but also proof of the commitment and determination of our team on the ground to improve and perfect their technique. Congratulations to everyone for this phenomenal achievement.

Lewis was incredibly unlucky to be a victim of debris at the first corner: there was nothing he could have done to avoid them. Unfortunately, the puncture damaged the rear of his car, forcing us to carefully monitor the data to assess all the car’s vital signs. He drove well in the middle of the race, but the car got worse and worse, and it was no longer safe or sensible to leave him on the track. It’s a terribly disappointing conclusion to his hundredth Grand Prix.

Now, looking towards next week’s Hungarian Grand Prix, we know we have a good car and good results there [since] we won there in 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2011. Winning just before the summer factory shutdown is always positive because it puts us in a dynamic throughout the break. The takeaway is that we were very competitive this afternoon. There are many races ahead of us, and I think we can achieve good results.

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Lotus

Kimi Räikkönen – 3rd [following Sebastian Vettel’s penalty]

Romain Grosjean – 18th

Eric Bouiller, Team Director: « We witnessed a great comeback from Kimi after yesterday’s problems. It was a good race, full of experience, and with a good strategy from the team. Starting from 10th and 19th places makes your work cut out no matter what, so it’s nice to see Kimi score big points and show a good race pace. For Romain, the first lap was difficult, and he had to battle with a damaged car from there. We’ve all seen him have very good weekends, so we need to make sure he has solid ones even when circumstances make him start from the back of the grid. As a team, we have the same pace as the best, so there’s no question of doubting our ability to climb on the podium and maybe, someday, win. »

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Sauber

Kamui Kobayashi – 4th [following the penalty of Sebastian Vettel]

Sergio Pérez – 6th

Giampaolo Dall’Ara, Track Engineering Manager: If we look at where we started, I think the team had an excellent race. Whether it’s the drivers or the team, everyone performed as expected. Perhaps we were compensated for yesterday’s results in qualifying. Our approach yesterday was skewed by the dry conditions. The drivers were on different strategies because we wanted to cover all possibilities during the race. In the end, the strategies worked very well. I think today’s race proved that the car is very, very fast.

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Red Bull

Sebastian Vettel – 5th [after a 20-second penalty]

Mark Webber – 8th

Christian Horner, Team Principal: It was an interesting race. It was really tight between Fernando, Sebastian, and Jenson throughout what was a two-stop race. We lost a bit of time in the second stint when Lewis made up his lap deficit, which allowed Jenson to pass after his stop, but then Sebastian gave it his all and was able to attempt an overtake a few laps before the end of his home race. Mark’s afternoon was compromised by his penalty following a gearbox change. We were aggressive on his first stop; but it didn’t work out as hoped, and he seemed to struggle on the long stints with the Mediums. I think this comes from the limited running on Friday, and this lack of time on setup work was key here. It’s also disappointing to receive a post-race penalty (for Vettel, editor’s note) but we have to accept it. We leave Germany with points for both our drivers and retain our lead in the constructors’ championship. We will now focus on the next race which will take place next week.

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Mercedes

Michael Schumacher – 7th

Nico Rosberg – 10th

Ross Brawn, Team Director: We did as well as we could, knowing that we would have to make three stops. Some of our rivals on a two-stop strategy faltered at the end of the race, but it wasn’t enough for our drivers to take advantage of their fresher tires. Michael and Nico delivered solid performances, made some great overtaking maneuvers, and executed six good stops.

Our strategy allowed Nico to gain eleven places while Michael finished in seventh place for the second consecutive time. We made the right decisions today but, after 67 laps, Michael found himself 29 seconds behind the winner. This shows that we need to find more performance in the car.

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Force India

Nico Hülkenberg – 9th

Paul di Resta – 11th

Dr Vijay Mallya, Team Principal: These are two important points today, but we were hoping for much better given our positions on the grid. We split the strategies with three stops for Nico and two for Paul, and there was little difference between them at the finish. Both our drivers gave it their all, but it was difficult to defend on such an open track where overtaking is easy. With today’s result, we are just one point behind Williams in the championship and hope we can continue to score points in Hungary next weekend.

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Toro Rosso

Daniel Ricciardo – 13th

Jean-Eric Vergne – 14th

Franz Tost, Team Principal: Yesterday, we saw, as expected, that we were more competitive in the wet, which allowed Daniel to start eleventh and Jean-Eric fifteenth. However, in the dry, our car currently lacks pace. So finishing thirteenth and fourteenth is about what we could have expected from a race with only one retirement and no opportunity to gain an advantage through strategy. Jean-Eric’s race was further complicated by a puncture, which forced him to stop three times instead of two. At the factory and in the wind tunnel, we are working hard to deliver new upgrades and hope this will enable us to take a step forward in terms of performance.

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Williams

Pastor Maldonado – 15th

Bruno Senna – 17th

Mark Gillan, Chief Operations Engineer: « We had a tough day, with both our cars’ races compromised by damage. Pastor had a good pace at the start of the race, but on lap 12, he ran over debris in the middle of the track. The debris caused significant damage to the left side of his car, resulting in a considerable loss of downforce, which ruined his race. Bruno had contact with Grosjean on the first lap, which caused a puncture. He stopped for a new set of tires and a new nose, pushing hard to try and stay on the leaders’ lap. His pace was good throughout the race, but in the end, he lost too much time on the first lap. We now need to focus on the next weekend and ensure we will be stronger in Budapest. »

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Caterham

Vitaly Petrov – 16th

Heikki Kovalainen – 19th

Mark Smith, Technical Director: Both cars started on Soft tires, and Heikki and Vitaly showed a good pace in their opening stints. They were running with the front pack and managing their tire degradation well. During the first stops, we fitted the Medium tires, and again both cars seemed strong, undoubtedly faster than they had been for most of the weekend. Just after mid-race, Heikki complained of understeer and greater front tire degradation than we had anticipated, so we brought him in earlier than planned. However, he clearly had an issue with the car, and we brought him in on lap 53 to change the nose to correct the problem, but it didn’t work, and he finished 19th. Vitaly finished 16th after a very good performance, particularly at the end of the race where he was under pressure from Senna who was on Softs while Vitaly was on Mediums. He stayed calm, made no mistakes, and his final position is a result that reflects the work he put in today.

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Marussia

Charles Pic – 20th

Timo Glock – 22nd

John Booth, Team Director: « The difficult weekend on Timo’s side didn’t improve today and it’s frustrating for us not to have resolved his issues before his home race. The car is performing well overall and without the specific problems encountered by Timo, we know we are making good progress. Charles delivered an impressive race and the lap times clearly show that our progress is in line with our objectives since the introduction of the new package at Silverstone. This will offer some comfort to Timo, we know. There isn’t much time before the next round in Hungary, but enough to undertake a thorough analysis of all the information at our disposal and to work hard to resolve the issues and offer him a better weekend there. »

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HRT

Pedro de la Rosa – 21st

Narain Karthikeyan – 23rd

Luis Perez-Sala, Team Principal: Today, we made a new step forward and it’s always very satisfying. We weren’t able to run as we wanted on Friday and Saturday, but today Pedro and Narain had a very good race. The pace of our two drivers was very good and consistent, and they fought throughout the race, in a battle between Pedro, Narain, and Glock. In the end, Pedro managed to overtake Glock and Narain was about to do the same, but the checkered flag came too soon. We can say that we are very happy with the outcome and we hope to continue our momentum in Hungary next weekend.

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