US Grand Prix – Team and Driver Reaction
After the United States Grand Prix, here’s all the latest from the teams and drivers….
US Grand Prix – Red Bull Racing
Daniel Ricciardo – P3
“In the beginning of the race, the supersoft tyres helped me but the actual start I felt wasn’t really that much better than the Mercedes.”
“Then, I saw Nico going to the outside so it gave me an opportunity on the inside. Obviously I would have loved to have lead out of Turn 1 but second was good enough. I tried to stay with Lewis the first couple of laps but then his soft tyres were able to go a bit better.”
“I think we were looking good for P2 however the Virtual Safety Car didn’t work in our favour today. I’m not too disappointed, it’s just cool to be on the podium here.”
“I had goosebumps, I’m not going to lie – it’s another big bag of points and at least we had Nico’s pace so that’s encouraging.”
Max Verstappen – DNF
“It was a very unfortunate way to end the race, especially as the first part was so positive. The start was OK and being on the harder compound means it is always going to be tricky but we managed to get away with it and stay in front of Seb (Vettel).”
“The pit stop issue was my misunderstanding, the team had asked me to push the lap before so I thought I was going to be coming in, I pitted and then realised they hadn’t actually made the call. Luckily it didn’t affect the end result.”
“Shortly after this, I heard a banging noise coming from the engine so I pulled up to one side and pulled the clutch then the team asked me to release it again and to keep going – so I did that and work out what it was but unfortunately we couldn’t solve it and this ended my race.”
“At the end of the day, the race pace was good and I am positive and looking forward to Mexico next week.”
Christian Horner – Team Principal
“Taking away a podium finish and extending our lead over Ferrari in the Constructor’s Championship to 53 points is all positive.”
“A DNF on Max’s car due to a gearbox failure is a negative out of today but Daniel drove an excellent race – he did everything he could and get got the track position at the start with the softer tyre.”
“Max gave Nico a free stop and track position on Daniel – without that we would have had track position on Nico.”
“All in all, positives to take out of this race and we look forward to the Mexican Grand Prix in one week’s time.”
US Grand Prix – Sahara Force India
Sergio Perez – P8
“Eighth place was a very good recovery after our race and was compromised on lap one. I was hit hard from the rear under braking for Turn 11 by Kvyat who made a mistake and came in with no control.”
“It was a difficult recovery but step by step we got back into the points and in the end we didn’t get a bad result.”
“To come away with four points and to move up seventh in the championship is a good result in these circumstances. It’s important to hold on when you get a difficult weekend, especially in races with high attrition and to score every point you can.”
Nico Hulkenberg – DNF
“It’s really disappointing to have another first-lap retirement. I just ran out of space going into Turn 1 because I got sandwiched between Valterri and Sebastian – I think Sebastian turned in quite aggressively, made contact with me and this pushed me into Valterri but it all happened so quickly and I had nowhere to go.”
“It’s really frustrating when you have a quick car and your race only lasts ten seconds – we had done all the hard work on Friday and Saturday but all that effort counted for nothing.”
Robert Fernley – Deputy Team Principal
“We had a pretty disastrous first lap – not for the first time this year. Nico was eliminated in turn one and got squeezed between two drivers (Bottas and Vettel).”
“Sergio also got hit by Kvyat and despite picking up damage to the floor he staged a remarkable recovery drove to eighth!”
“That said, we’ve only dropped a couple of points in the fight for fourth place and we take encouragement from the car’s competitiveness across the weekend and we’re going to Mexico confident of delivering a similar level of performance.”
US Grand Prix – Sauber F1
Marcus Ericsson – P14
“I had a good start moving up to P13 after the first lap – it was a tough beginning to the race with some nice fights. On the soft tyres, I had decent pace.”
“Then we decided to take a gamble and went for a one-stop strategy. We knew it would be tight but we felt that was the only chance to score a point.”
“Therefore, my second stint on the medium tyres was a long one and it was too difficult to keep up the pace in the end.”
“All in all, it has been another decent weekend as we are taking steps into the right direction. We need to continue this next weekend in Mexico.”
Felipe Nasr – P15
“Starting from the back, we decided to choose the medium tyres for the first stint. I tried all I could to keep the car on track at the beginning of the race as I had low grip on that tyre compound.”
“As soon as we saw the data – we knew that we could extent the sting and switch to a one-stop strategy so I did my best to stay out on track as long as possible.”
“Because of this strategy, I was able to recover some positions in the end.”
Monisha Kaltenborn – Team Principal
“We have to choose different ways to get us in a position to score points. The strategy as well as the performance of our drivers was very good. The team faced a difficult challenge and put in a solid performance.”
“Although we haven’t scored a point yet, we are heading in the right way – I want to thank the whole team for their efforts.”
More reaction to follow….
The Formula 1 Girl 🙂
xxx