Nico Rosberg stormed to his fifth win of the 2014 season at the Interlagos circuit in Brazil, finishing 1.4 seconds ahead of his team-mate and championship leader Lewis Hamilton.
Felipe Massa took the chequered flag a distant third on home soil. Here are some post-race thoughts from this year's grid. Vettel pleased with fifth after lap one error:
"I had a good launch at the start and then into Turn 4… maybe I don’t have the best memories of Turn 4 here from two years ago, I didn’t know how aggressive Kevin (Magnussen) was going to be going into it and I left a bit too much space. I went a bit wide and lost two positions as I couldn’t get on the power out of the corner.
"Then I had to fight hard to get the positions back during the race which we did, especially with strategy. I hoped to get maybe one more position to finish fourth, but in the end it was a good result for us here."
Rosberg delighted with fifth win of 2014:
"That was a fantastic weekend and I felt very comfortable over the whole three days. I had to learn from Austin, which was a big disappointment, and I think I achieved that.
"I was able to control the pace a bit better and didn't let Lewis come too close. He drove really well and was always right there pushing me. When he spun I had a bit of time to relax and was able to save some life in the tyres for the end of the stint. That worked out perfectly and it was a great day with another one-two for the team.
"I was also happy for Felipe to be on the podium with us at his home race. The Brazilian people have been so great to us throughout this the whole weekend so it was also a good day for them. Now we have a great finale to look forward to in Abu Dhabi. I'm still believing 100 per cent that I can make it but, of course, I will need some help from Felipe or Valtteri or Lewis himself."
More positive weekend for Raikkonen:
"Overall, this has been a positive weekend and even to
day in the race, I felt very good in the car. During
the second stint, we realised that if we went for a two
stop strategy, we could make up ground, but then, at my second pit
stop, I lost valuable time and that cost me some places.
"In the final part of the race, I had to fight off Button for a few laps
and when Fernando caught me, tyre degradation meant I couldn’t fend him off. We leave Interlagos with a good feeling
and even if we still have a lot of work ahead of us, this
continued progress makes me confident for the future."
Difficult race for Maldonado:
"It was a tough race. We had to switch from a two-stop to a three-stop strategy due to high tyre wear which meant our race was compromised.
"My start wasn’t great but we managed to be a lot more competitive towards the end of the race and were aiming for points. I tried my best and was hoping to overtake Valtteri Bottas but it wasn’t possible in the end. We’ll be pushing hard in Abu Dhabi, that’s for sure."
"Judging the race was so tricky today. I pushed really hard on my first stint on the Prime [tyres] so as to maintain the gap to Valtteri [Bottas]. That meant I destroyed my rear tyres – but I reasoned that, if I could keep using DRS, I could establish a gap to the guys behind me.
"It was worth it, and it worked, but it meant I had to back off during the following stint to look after my tyres. It all went pretty smoothly until my final pit-stop – there was a bit of miscommunication about stopping, which meant I ended up doing an extra lap. That could have cost us a chance of the podium. It’s a shame we couldn’t hang on to Felipe [Massa], but it was still a fantastic race.
"I really enjoyed it. One of the best aspects of it was my great fight with Kimi [Raikkonen] – you always push to the limit with him, but you never go over it – so I enjoyed that very much."
Hulkenberg satisfied with eighth:
"It was quite a cool race and very satisfying to finish in eighth. With a three-stop race you are always pushing, but my race was not too complicated and I was on my own for a large part of the afternoon. I also had a few nice battles and it was good fun.
"The car felt a bit better today compared to earlier in the weekend so I was more comfortable and really able to push. The team made the right calls on the strategy and we maximised our performance with the tyres in these very hot conditions. I finished just behind the two Ferraris and maybe with one or two more laps I could have finished sixth instead of eighth, but that’s racing."
Tough race for Gutierrez at Interlagos:
"We fought all the way through the race, and it was looking good until half distance. When I tried to fight with a car in front of me I lost a lot of grip and the tyres quickly started to overheat. It was very difficult to cope with the tyre grip. There is one more race, and we have to keep pushing in order to accomplish our objective to score points."
"A tough race, but starting from the 17th position on the grid and ending up 11th was the highest result we could achieve today. I really did my best but unfortunately the Mercedes powered cars were a lot quicker than us on the straights and we couldn't do anything more than this.
"We have tried hard to fight for 10th position but we just weren't fast enough. Me and the whole team gave the maximum and I hope that all our efforts will be repaid in Abu Dhabi, for our last race."
Eventful run to third for Massa:
"It was not an easy race but what a fantastic result for me, for my family, and for the team to finish on the podium in front of my home fans. The energy from the crowd was amazing and really pushed me forward. The car had strong and consistent pace today and this allowed me to stay in third despite issues in my two pitstops.
"In the first stop I incurred a stop-and-go penalty after speeding in the pit lane after I hit the limiter twice by mistake, and in the second I stopped in the wrong box. We’re not normally next to McLaren and in the light their overalls looked the same colour as ours so this caught me out. In the end these issues were not enough to take away my podium because we had a good aggressive strategy and a really good car."
No comments:
Post a Comment