Japanese Grand Prix – Driver and Team Reaction
Here’s some driver and team reaction after the Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix which saw Nico Rosberg win the race, increasing his lead in the driver’s championship to 33-points.
Mercedes – Japanese Grand Prix – Driver and Team Reaction
Nico Rosberg – 1st
“What an awesome weekend! It felt great right from when the lights went green on Friday. I got into a good rhythm in practice, had a strong qualifying and a decent start from the lead allowing me to control the pace in the race today.”
“I did have to save my engine a bit in my last race in the cycle but the gap was always safe! I came here to win in Japan and I’ve managed to do so which is really special. It’s a fantastic feeling to win at this legendary race track.”
“Massive congratulations to all of my colleagues here in Japan for the third constructors’ world championship – a huge thank you to every single person and to every partner who has made this possible.”
“The season is not over yet, we still have a few races to go around the world and need to keep my energy up.”
Lewis Hamilton – 3rd
“Firstly, I’d like to say congratulations to everyone back at the factories and the whole of Mercedes-Benz. Everyone has done a fantastic job and to have this success three-years in a row is absolutely incredible.”
“It’s been an awesome effort from everyone, so many people over the last three years and that is the most important thing to take from today. We couldn’t have done it without all of their support and I’m very, very proud to be a part of this.”
“Looking at the race itself, I’m not really quite sure what happened at the start – I’ll have to see what the engineers say – I got the worst getaway I could possibly get. My side wasn’t completely dry and there was lots of wheel spin but that wasn’t the whole issue.”
“These things happen, in the first part of the race, I didn’t have the pace of Kimi so knew that I had to go longer and wasn’t really trying to attack him in the first part of the race.”
“The second half was a lot more interesting, I was able to pick up some serious pace on the hard tyre and the car was feeling a lot better – I was feeling more comfortable and I was able to pick up some serious pace on the hard tyre.”
“We put a bit of a front wing in and the understeer completely disappeared – I was able to make my way through the field and close the gap but unfortunately I wasn’t able to take second but I did my best.”
“Every point counts so I drove my heart out to get as many as possible.”
“Nico did a great job today – he has a healthy margin now so the drivers’ championship has gotten that little bit harder for me. I’ll give it everything I’ve got, as I did in the race today and as I always do.”
“That’s all I can do, I have to focus so we’ll see what happens.”
“A big thank you to everyone who came out today, the fans were amazing as always and I’m looking forward to getting home and then moving onto the next race.”
Toto Wolff – Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport
“It’s a great honour today to represent the hundreds of people in Brackley, Brixworth and Stuttgart who have made us triple world champions. The story begins on the shop floor of our team and goes all the way to the board room of Mercedes-Benz.”
“This is a tale of passion, commitment and incredible people working beyond their limits to win, not just doing it once but to then re-motivte themselves and to surpass their achievements year after year.”
“This is a special moment, this is their moment – all those heroes in the background who are the core of what makes this team so special. It’s humbling to walk the corridors of our factories and to see their faces every day.”
“If I had a hat like Niki’s, I would take it off to them, thank you to each and every one for their fantastic contribution to this success.”
“Looking at today’s race – so much was decided at the start. Nico got a perfect start while Lewis suffered on the right-hand side with the damp line but also got a bad getaway.”
“We know that out clutch is tricky to manage and we have not given the drivers the easiest of system to use this year – our first indication suggests that the clutch release was the problem today but we will be looking into all the date before reaching a definitive conclusion.”
“Nico put in a perfect drive, he managed the gaps, controlled the race and took a really deserved win. For Lewis, it was fight-back time and he did just that as well as we know he can.”
“The gap in the championship is now 33-points and we will let them battle it out in a clean race right to the need, if this season has shown one thing – it’s that, anything can happen and big swings are still possible. There are 100 points still to be scored and a lot of racing still to go.”
Red Bull Racing – Japanese Grand Prix – Driver and Team Reaction
Max Verstappen – 2nd
“We knew the start was going to be very decisive and we had a really good one today which allowed me to settle into my own rhythm. I’m pleased the starts are coming together and that’s two in a row now.”
“The team gave me a really strong strategy, along with a car that felt very balanced so I was able to enjoy a successful race. I was really happy to be able to get in-between the two Mercedes cars and it is a great result again for the team.”
“When I sped up, Nico could match it and if I slowed – he did also, he was in control of the race. Lewis was obviously a bit quicker in the final stages and I knew he was going to catch me – the gap time on the pit board was dropping every lap and into the last chicane I saw him coming in my mirrors so I defended my position. This allowed me to stay in second place.”
Daniel Ricciardo – 6th
“Today wasn’t a very exciting race for me and unfortunately it just wasn’t my day! Kimi’s penalty was a bit of a bummer for us as it put us on the wet side of the grid and that compromised the start too.”
“I didn’t think my launch was too bad but Lewis obviously struggled to get off the line and I had to go around him through the wear and that made me lose a place to Sergio.”
“Seb had a good exit out of Turn 14 and made quick work of me on the straight – he then caught Perez quickly as well and that sort of shaped the first stint for me.”
“I don’t think there was anything else we could have done today, it was circumstances and how the arc panned out. We’ll come back in Austin ready to have a good weekend on track and also eat plenty of barbecue!”
“I’m going to diet for the next few days so I arrive lighter in Austin, then I can enjoy the local food.”
Christian Horner – Red Bull Team Principal
“A fantastic drive by Max today, a very mature and professional performance – moving into second place and then really looking after his tyres resisting pressure initially from Sebastian and then at the end of the race from Lewis.”
“It was fantastic to see him split the Mercedes and achieve our eighth 2nd place of the year – for Daniel, it was a harder race. He struggled in particular it seemed with sector two of the circuit and we need to look at the data very closely to understand why.”
“He was disadvantaged from the start, beginning on the demo side of the track but nonetheless, he drover a very controlled race to bring the car home in sixth place and to secure valuable points towards our position in the Constructor’s Championship.”
“Congratulations to Mercedes for securing their third consecutive championship – it’s a fine achievement.”
Ferrari – Japanese Grand Prix – Driver and Team Reaction
Kimi Raikkonen – 5th
“After a good qualifying yesterday, the issue with the gearbox and the consequent starting position change was not ideal in this kind of track.”
“Obviously there is a lot of disappointment as we had a good car and we could have stayed in front with more free air and with a lot of speed.”
“I had a good start but then I got stuck behind other people and it was really difficult to follow other cars and it affected quite a bit of the behaviour.”
“For sure, today we were fast enough for a better result but that’s how it goes.”
Sebastian Vettel – 4th
“We had a very good start and made good progress in the first two laps – passing Ricciardo and Perez. I think we had the second fastest car today so it was all a question of time but obviously Max came in as soon as he could to maintain track position which worked well for him.”
“We tried to go on the softer tyre in the end which initially we thought would work well but then we had too much degradation and we were falling off this group.”
“It’s always easy to criticise and I’, sure there are many ‘experts’ that knew better but on the pitwall and as well as in the car, I was keep to go for this strategy so to extent the second stint.”
“I was losing a lot of time and this is where I probably lost track position to Lewis who always seemed to clear the lapped cars in the straight.”
Maurizio Arrivabene – Team Principal, Ferrari
“Considering our starting position and being pushed back by a double-penalty, we did the best that we could have done today.”
“it’s just a shame that the traffic from the back markers did not allow Seb to take the best out of our strategy.”
Williams – Japanese Grand Prix – Driver and Team Reaction
Felipe Massa – 9th
“It was a tough race. We were really fighting from the beginning, right to the end. We lost two positions at the start with both cars maybe due to the tyres we had compared to the others.”
“The pace at the beginning didn’t look very promising, we tried to stay out as long as possible and to do a one-stop and it worked out.”
“We would have loved to have finished ahead of the Force India but today, they had the better car. We managed to score some points with both cars after being just 13th and 14th during the first stint. I think overall, it’s a positive race and the strategy worked out very well for the team.”
Valtteri Bottas – 10th
“As a team, strategy-wise we managed to do something different to our competitors so that was good. There definitely wasn’t any more we could have gotten out of today and in a nutshell, we just need to make a quicker car and hope the rest of the circuits in the calendar are better suited to us.”
“We just didn’t have the pure pace today and from my side, being the lead car in the first stint, I was hoping for a better strategy out of the two of us but it didn’t work out today.”
“Now, looking ahead to Austin, I hope it’s better and more like Malaysia in terms of our pace, it’s just difficult to predict these things nowadays so we need to learn from today and hopefully perform better in two weeks.”
Rob Smedley, Head of Performance Engineering – Williams
“Quite honestly, with the car and the pace we had this weekend, that was pretty much all we could have done as a team. We played a risky strategy in order to get ourselves in the points and we got three points in the end.”
“The team can be reasonably proud – we’ve acquitted ourselves well.”
“It’s a shame for Valtteri because he had that ninth position in hand ahead of Felipe and we were keeping him out longer to give him better tyres towards the end of the race. Unfortunately that stop was slower than our usual and he came out behind Felipe.”
“Apart from that, I think the team has done a good job with no mistakes – we pushed on to where we could be in this race.”
“We’ve got four races left and now what we need to do is regroup and understand how we are going to get some more performance out of the car for the remaining races. We will push forward and we will not give up.”
McLaren – Japanese Grand Prix – Driver and Team Reaction
Fernando Alonso – 16th
“Our race today reflected the whole weekend. To finish 16th and 18th today is a rather nasty surprise especially after finishing seventh in Singapore and ninth in Malaysia last weekend.”
“I hope this was an exceptional and unique event and that we can return to business as usual in the next race for Austin. It’s clear the layout of the track didn’t suit our packages as we lacked downforce through the faster corners.”
“I know our car is in fact much more competitive than we were able to show today, obviously I’m disappointed about putting on such a poor show at Honda’s home race – we’ll now head back home and analyse what happened before boning back from this disappointment.”
Jenson Button – 18th
“I made a poor start, the power unit components in the back of the car were all – new. This gave me massive wheelspin and was therefore somewhat left behind on the start-line.”
“it was really difficult to get past the Manors – they’d started the race with the option tyre and I was on the back-up so it was hard to make a move, stick.”
“Eventually, I got past them and despite racing with the back markers, I still had some fun out there – a few little battles but we were a long easy behind the points-scorers.”
“It’s been a very tough weekend – it’s a shame that Suzuka is our bogey track because it’s our second home! Still, we have to the rough with the smooth – we haven’t been quick here before but hope to be quicker at the next race in Austin.”
Eric Boullier – McLaren-Honda Racing Director
“There’s no point denying that we’re thoroughly disappointed because – we are.”
“Having scored points with both cars last weekend in Malaysia and to finish in 16th and 18th here in Japan is hard to take.”
“We’ll put this forgettable weekend behind us straight away and re-focus our attention and ambition onto the next race, the United States Grand Prix in Austin.”
“before we do so, I just want to pay a tribute to the Suzuka fans who are amongst the most devoted and enthusiastic in the world.”
“As ever, the came out n force today – many of them in support of their home team – McLaren-Honda and we would dearly love to have been able to give them something better to cheer about than in the end – next year, we will.”
More coming soon!
The Formula 1 Girl 🙂
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