2017 Formula 1 Petronas Malaysia Grand Prix

Today, we had the final Malaysia Grand Prix – it’s always a shame to see a circuit leave the Formula 1 Calendar however the crowds certainly didn’t disappoint with fans out in full force cheering for their favourite driver.

After the Singapore Grand Prix weekend, this was a race which we were all looking forward to.

Yesterday, there were plenty of up’s and down’s for both the Scuderia Ferrari team and Mercedes however, with Sebastian Vettel taking a 20-place grid penalty, things looked on the brighter side for Lewis Hamilton, Kimi Raikkonen and the Red Bull boys.

Today, on race day – there was another shock for the Ferrari team as their nightmare weekend continued. As he made his way to the grid, Raikkonen spoke to his team reporting a problem and telling the team that there was no battery charge.

A few minutes before the formation lap took place, his team hurried and pushed his car back to the garage – with engineers working as hard as they could however Kimi Raikkonen was out of the race.

Leaving things wide open for the Red Bull Racing drivers – Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo.

Below, you can see all the details and interviews following the race.

Podium Interviews – Malaysia Grand Prix

Conducted by Mark Webber

Q – Max, what a special day buddy. Second victory, yesterday you turned 20. The previous win was not a gift but this was…. you had to work hard for it but what were the main points and how did you get the job done today?

Max Verstappen – “I think in the beginning, straight away – the car felt good and I saw Lewis struggling a bit with traction and he was clipping a bit more than me so I used my battery as much as I could and of course, he has more to lose than me in the Championship so I went for it in Turn 1 and from there, it was pretty much my own race.”

“The car was unbelievable. I had pace and if I needed to speed up – I sped up. Yeah, it’s amazing and it’s a very tough race but of course incredible to win.”

Q – Incredible victory. Lewis, no one has stood on this podium more than you. Six times up on this podium – you have such an affinity with Malaysia, it’s the last time we’re going to race here. A 34-point lead now in the championship – this is a very important second place, right?

Lewis Hamilton – “Yeah, absolutely. A big congratulations to Max and a happy birthday – he did a fantastic job today so a big thank you to all the crowd here.”

“This is the biggest crowd we’ve ever had here in Malaysia and it’s been such a great place for us for so many years, we appreciate you guys having us and with all the support you give us.”

“The race was a tough one and obviously they had the upper hand on us today but we loved driving this track – it’s one of the most difficult circuits – you are the most depleted afterwards and that’s a great thing.”

Q – Well done. Over to Danny Ric – well done buddy. Fantastic podium. It was a pretty hot afternoon for you, pretty boring in a way but that’s sometimes how these races go – but when Sebastian arrived, you fought him off really well. So, run us through the race and tactically how did you deal with Sebastian at the end.?

Daniel Ricciardo – “Yeah, at the start it looked like Mercedes were struggling so I was behind Bottas for a few laps. Obviously I tried to get him as soon as possible but he defended well.”

“Seb came so quickly at the end – I thought we were going to have a handful and battle but he only really had one strong attack and then we were able to pull away again.”

“I guess it was pretty lonely but it was hot and it was physical so it’s nice to get a podium.”

“Congrats to Max, second win, he drove well all weekend so a good race for the team. Thanks to all the Aussies too – appreciate it.”

Driver and Team Interviews – Malaysia Grand Prix

Red Bull Racing

After a great start off the line, Verstappen made his move overtaking the World Championship leader, Lewis Hamilton for 1st place.

Managing the race, he drove well bringing the car home for his second victory whilst his team-mate, Daniel Ricciardo claimed P3 – a great result for the Red Bull boys.

Max Verstappen

Max Verstappen – 1st

“It’s amazing to win the race today. Straight away, I could see that our pace was good and that Lewis was struggling with traction.”

“I just went for it and used all the battery power I could to get past him. I knew that he was fighting for the championship and wouldn’t take too many risks so I went for it and as soon as I passed Lewis, I knew from there that I could control the race.”

“The car was really good and our pace on the soft tyre was better than I expected – it was a very physical race and very warm in the car. I haven’t been feeling that well this weekend but we have managed to bring it home.”

“You can never predict how the rest of the season will go but from now onwards we can build on this for the rest of the year and then have a good start to next season.”

“I didn’t expect yesterday that we would be so quick today and to win here is unexpected so I’m very happy.”

Daniel Ricciardo

Daniel Ricciardo – 3rd

“I enjoyed the race today. At the beginning I had hope that I could finish second but then after my pit stop it was just about holding on to third as Seb was coming.”

“I was always going to get my elbows out and make it as hard as I could but I was surprised that there was only one proper attack from him – maybe he had used all the tyres to get to me and then after the attack I guess he had some problems.”

“If I’m honest, I would have liked a bit more of a fight until the closing stages just to have made it a little more exciting over the last few laps as they were kind of lonely.”

“This double podium is a very positive result for us today and obviously, Max got the big one and drove well so congrats to him for the win – he drove strong all weekend.”

‘There were a few extra bits available for the cars here and I think we’re going to try that again in Suzuka – it looks positive for us at the high downforce circuits.”

Christian Horner – Team Principal

“A great performance by the whole team today and fantastic to see Max get a well-deserved victory. After enduring so much bad luck throughout the season.”

“I said when Max’s luck would change, it would change in a dramatic way and it’s difficult to believe the last time he was on the podium was at the beginning of April in China.”

“Today, he drove a truly dominant race making a sensational pass on Lewis and then really con trolly the race from there. Daniel, after starting on the wet side of the grid initially dropping a place to Valtteri but worked hard to get the pass done.”

“It’s a tremendous sign for us off the last grand prix in Malaysia and with a double podium and victory – the fifth that we’ve achieved here. Our thanks to the Malaysian Grand Prix and to the many fans in Malaysia who support Red Bull – we celebrate with you today.”

Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton – 2nd

“It was a much better weekend than we had anticipated after our Friday, considering the issues we did have with the car this is a good result.”

“We still have a lot of work to do with the car, some of the corners really magnified the issues we have. These next races are going to be crucial in terms of ironing out some of the creases we have with the car.”

“I was having some problems with de-rates at the beginning of the race so I was struggling with battery power.”

“Valtteri seemd to struggle a lot more, I was able to pull a little bit more out of it. Naturally, I wanted to win the race, winning the races is still the goal and so even second is not that satisfying.”

“Today was a step towards in trying to win the world championship and every point counts.”

Valtteri Bottas

Valtteri Bottas – 5th

“Today was difficult. I was trying everything I can and I was giving it all I had but I was lacking pace and sliding around.”

“The start was definitely the best part of the day. It was really good and actually could attack a little bit and fight for positions.”

“Not long after that I just started to drop down and couldn’t keep up with the others – in the first stint, I had quite a lot of understeer. The story of the race was managing the tyre temperatures.”

“If I tried harder then I started to overheat the tyre and slide even more so I had to manage everything and that’s why I was so slow.”

“We need to analyse the race because the upgrade package should have been quite a step forward in terms of downforce but I couldn’t really see it.”

“There are still a lot of things we need to try and understand and we need to learn from today. For Japan, we need to make sure that we choose the right bits for the car and hopefully we will see some cooler temperatures.”

Toto Wolff – Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport

“It was clear that just after a few laps, both the Red Bull and Ferrari had better cars than us today – but nevertheless, we managed to score a good number of points and extend our lead in both championships.”

“After a weekend where we have lacked a significant chunk of performance, we couldn’t have imagined such a good outcome but we can’t let that distract us from the job we have in front of us.”

“We leave Malaysia with a lot of question marks and we need to find answers to them in the next days and weeks to ensure that we can keep moving forward, racing at the front in the final quarter of this championship.”

“We cannot get distracted by the fact we got lucky again this weekend. Lewis did a fantastic job to secure P2 whilst Valtteri, just like over the rest of the weekend, struggled to match the pace and brought home the car in P5.”

“We know that gap doesn’t reflect his true level of performance and it will be a priority for us to put two equally competitive cars on track next weekend in Suzuka.”

“In simple words, there is a lot more work ahead of us if we want to come out on top by Abu Dhabi.”

McLaren

Fernando Alonso

Fernando Alonso – 11th

“It was a tough race today. From the very beginning, at the sec on corner, the two Williams touched in front of me and made me lose a few positions.”

“As a result, we ended up in the secondary group, running a little slower than our true pace and couldn’t overtake.”

“A shame, definitely this was not one of our best races today but we’ll have better days and hopefully in Japan – we’ll come back with stronger form and I’ll be able to add my contribution to the Constructors’ Championship on Honda’s home ground.”

“Having scored points at this track and at Singapore – two very different circuits, is really good for the team and I hope we can continue scoring more points in the remaining races.”

Stoffel Vandoorne

Stoffel Vandoorne – 7th

“I can say that this was my best ever race in Formula 1 – up until now.”

“All weekend, I’ve been really strong and felt really confident with the car. After qualifying seventh, we weren’t really confident about where we’d finish in the race so to pull off seventh today is an amazing result.”

“I made a great start and we knew that it would be difficult to hold off the Force Indias and the Williams behind but only Perez came through.”

“From then on, I had an amazing pace – pushing hard on every lap to try and manage the tyres and maintain the gap over Stroll – I managed that until the end.”

“I’m very happy.”

Ferrari

Sebastian Vettel

Sebastian Vettel – 4th

“I am still optimistic because we know that we have a quick car – of course it was a shame for Kimi who couldn’t take the start and for me having to begin my race from the back of the grid.”

“We tried to fight for the podium and pushed very hard but in the end, the tires were starting to give up and we couldn’t really be there.”

“It’s promising to see that the car is good and even if both, Kimi and I hit trouble this weekend – it’s been a difficult weekend nevertheless the speed is there.”

“So far, we’ve had a pretty good record for this year regarding reliability – I am not worried to be honest but we do need to get on top of the problem.”

Kimi Raikkonen

Kimi Raikkonen – DNS

“We don’t know what happened today, it’s too early to say.”

“The car had been working perfectly all weekend and suddenly, out of nothing – we had an issue. It’s one of those things that unfortunately can happen.”

“Car and speed wise – we have been very good but unfortunately, Seb had problems yesterday and we had ours today.”

“I’m pretty sure that I would have had a very good car today but obviously, you never know and it’s pointless to start guessing.”

“What happened today is very disappointing and hurts all of us but there’s nothing that we can do right now – we have to take the most out of it as there is nothing we can change.”

“The next race is a new challenge again and we’ll go there as in any race weekend and then we’ll see where we are.”

Maurizio Arrivabene – Team Principal

“All weekend it is clear that we had a very competitive car. That could be seen from our pace in free practice.”

“Kimi’s front row in qualifying and Seb’s amazing fight back in the race when he went from last to fourth however, it added up to being the hardest race of the year as we had to comfort problems that we will now be analysing in depth.”

“The team has remained focused on it’s job throughout the weekend – putting in a great deal of effort and working in the garage and implementing an impeccable strategy.”

“It further causes us to continue to believe in ourselves, have fun with the car, the men, the women, the drivers and the means with all the spirit to fight all the way to the finish.”