India: The Race Seen from the Pits

Red Bull

Sebastian Vettel – Winner

Mark Webber – 3rd

Christian Horner, Team Principal: A fantastic performance from both our drivers today. Sebastian drove a flawless race and really controlled the race from start to finish, leading every lap. Mark was comfortably in 2nd until we started experiencing issues with the KERS around the 20th lap. We first had to turn it off and then back on in a reduced power state, which allowed Fernando [Alonso] to close in after the pit stops. We found that the DRS was particularly useful here. Mark drove incredibly well to keep Hamilton behind him in the final laps. We finished 3 points shy of the maximum score in the Constructors’ Championship, which consolidates our first place, while Sebastian added 7 points to the gap separating him from Fernando in the Drivers’ Championship. With three races remaining, we still have to take each event one by one, but it’s fantastic to win for the second time in India, and it’s remarkable that Sebastian has won 4 races in a row. He has led every lap of an Indian Grand Prix since its inaugural race in 2011.

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Ferrari

Fernando Alonso – 2nd

Felipe Massa – 6th

Pat Fry, Chassis Director: « It’s a great result when you consider our starting positions. Fernando once again delivered a remarkable performance in what has been an incredible season for him: finishing second after starting fifth in a race where overtaking is rare, despite the double DRS zone, is truly an encouraging sign. Fernando did his utmost in the early laps to fend off the McLarens and then set off in pursuit of the Red Bulls, managing to overtake one. We made the most of our top speed and our choice of gear ratios.

At the start, we could have opted for a two-stop strategy, but given how the race unfolded, we managed to make just one, while at least Fernando was able to attack until the end. Unfortunately, Felipe couldn’t do the same because during the second part of the race he had to manage his fuel consumption, which prevented him from getting the most out of the car. Overall, it’s a positive weekend for him, and he brought in points that are important for the constructors’ championship.

We need to improve the car’s performance in qualifying, and that’s why we are working tirelessly to bring some new developments to each race from now until the end of the season. If we succeed in placing our drivers higher on the starting grid, then we can put pressure on the Red Bulls: at the moment, Sebastian Vettel is taking off too easily, leading from the start [205 consecutive laps so far, ed.]. We know we can count on a very good driver and that we will fight alongside him until the Brazilian Grand Prix.

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McLaren

Lewis Hamilton – 4th

Jenson Button – 5th

Martin Whitmarsh, Team Director: « We scored 22 points today, but we had hoped to collect more.

We struggled to extract enough pace from the Soft tires, but our car was the fastest on the grid on the Hards. The trouble was that by the time we switched to the Hards, the gap to the cars ahead was a bit too large. Despite that, Lewis attacked as hard as he could in the final moments, reducing the gap between him and Mark [Webber] in front, and if the race had been a few laps longer, I’m sure he would have improved his chances of overtaking.

Jenson also drove magnificently in difficult conditions, losing a bit of time behind Romain [Grosjean], but quickly progressed like Lewis did once he switched to the Hard tires. In fact, he set the fastest lap of the race on the very last lap. Incidentally, it was McLaren’s 150th fastest lap in a World Championship race.

To conclude, here’s another statistic for the numbers enthusiasts: today, the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team has equaled the all-time record of 55 consecutive Grand Prix in the points, held by Ferrari. We started this series in Australia in 2010, a race that Jenson won for us, of course [in reality, the start of this series dates back to the previous race, the 2010 Bahrain Grand Prix, ed.]; indeed, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes has scored points in every race since Jenson joined us.

In Abu Dhabi, in a week’s time, we will be looking to set a new benchmark: 56 consecutive Grand Prix in the points. In fact, of course, our goal will be to do much more than that: there are still three Grand Prix to run this season, and you can be sure that everyone at Vodafone McLaren Mercedes will be at their best to win as many as possible.

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Lotus

Kimi Räikkönen – 7th

Romain Grosjean – 9th

Eric Boullier, Team Director: As with every race, qualifying is the key to scoring big points. So, our performance yesterday dictated our race. Unfortunately, Kimi wasn’t able to get past Felipe and remained stuck behind him. I think our pace would have allowed us to do better and finish closer to the leaders. We need to work on our qualifying and position ourselves better. We know the car is fast in the race, and I think the drivers did what we expected of them today. The team executed an excellent strategy for the pit stops, so we can’t complain. Let’s just say we’re frustrated we didn’t do a little better.

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Force India

Nico Hülkenberg – 8th

Paul di Resta – 12th

Dr. Vijay Mallya, Team Principal: « I am delighted to see Sahara Force India score points for our home race – for the second year in a row. After qualifying, we knew we had a huge task ahead of us, but Nico rose to the challenge and ran well to finish in 8th place. It is a very satisfying result, and it means we have scored points in the last six races – all the races since the summer break. These are important points for our constructors’ championship battle, and we will continue to push very hard in the final three races. Paul also fought very hard in this race, gaining four places, but it was difficult for him to fight for points at the end. Overall, it was another great Indian Grand Prix. The circuit is a magnificent theater for motorsport, and the Buddh International Circuit was once again the setting for a fantastic event that we all immensely enjoyed. »

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Williams

Bruno Senna – 10th

Pastor Maldonado -16th

Mark Gillan, Chief Operations Engineer: « We are pleased to see that our race pace is good again, with Bruno finishing 10th even though our race was ultimately compromised by traffic and Pastor’s race effectively ended when he had a puncture after Kobayashi touched him in turn 5 on the 31st lap. »

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Mercedes

Nico Rosberg – 11th

Michael Schumacher – Abandon

Norbert Haug, Vice-President of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport: « Michael suffered contact on the first lap, which, due to a puncture, relegated him to the back of the pack after his pit stop. He had to retire due to a gearbox problem five laps before the end. As for Nico, his car did not have the necessary speed to score points after starting from the tenth position. We have a lot of work to do, and everyone in the team is aware of it. »

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Toro Rosso

Daniel Ricciardo – 13th

Jean-Eric Vergne – 15th

Franz Tost, Team Principal: Our two drivers lost their chances of scoring points after difficulties encountered in the first lap. In Jean-Eric’s case, it was more serious because he was involved in an accident with Schumacher, and we had to bring him into the pits to change the front wing, which relegated him to the back of the field, while Daniel lost a place to di Resta.

The overall pace of our car wasn’t too bad during the rest of the race, on par with di Resta and Senna. However, both our guys got stuck in traffic, ending our run of three consecutive Grand Prix in the points. If we manage to find a good setup in the coming days in Abu Dhabi, then maybe we can aim for the top 10 again.

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Sauber

Kamui Kobayashi – 14th

Sergio Pérez – Retirement

Monisha Kaltenborn, Team Principal: « A disappointing race. Kamui fought hard, but his grid position was too great a handicap. Sergio got off to a good start but encountered unexpected problems with his front left tire. After an early stop, he had a puncture and was forced to retire because the car was behaving strangely. Our goal of fighting for fifth place in the Constructors’ Championship will now be more difficult to achieve. »

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Caterham

Vitaly Petrov – 17th

Heikki Kovalainen – 18th

Caterham has not published statements from the team’s representatives.

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Marussia

Charles Pic – 19th

Timo Glock – 20th

John Booth, Team Director: « Charles did a fantastic job to turn the situation around after a frustrating qualifying result. He took the measure of all the cars involved in the first corner incident and was able to be ahead of Petrov and maintain the gap for a while. Unfortunately, we don’t have KERS, and Charles couldn’t hold his position for long. Nevertheless, once Petrov got past, Charles maintained the pace of the Caterhams, and if it weren’t for the blue flags, he would have finished less than five seconds behind Heikki. As was the case for many cars today, we were surprised by an increase in consumption during the race, which limited our ability to attack.

Unfortunately, Timo did not have a good day. The first lap accident significantly impacted his race, and as a result, he stayed behind the HRTs for a while. He did a good job of getting rid of them as soon as possible, however, the time lost trying to overtake them did not help him during his first stint given that we were running on a one-stop strategy. We also encountered an issue with the rear jack during his pit stop, which further compromised his race: when he returned to the track, he encountered blue flags.

We did not have a perfect weekend, but we take comfort in having achieved our goal of staying in the race [with our competitors, ed.].

Once again, we have only one week before the next race and as we head to the Middle East, we will try to have a quieter weekend so that we can show our true potential against the cars ahead of us.

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HRT

Narain Karthikeyan – 21st

Pedro de la Rosa – Withdrawal

Luis Perez-Sala, Team Director: « It was a difficult race, especially at the beginning, due to brake overheating, something we didn’t expect to encounter on this circuit. Right from the start, we were at the limits regarding temperatures and had to slow down a bit. We improved from there and maintained our pace, but towards the end, Pedro suffered a brake failure and couldn’t finish. Narain also had a complicated race, but at least he could finish in front of his home crowd, and that is the most positive thing. »

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