F1 Driver quotes - Sunday, Brazilian Grand Prix

Infiniti Red Bull Racing

Sebastian Vettel
"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."
Daniel Ricciardo
"When I went into Turn One, the car went to the right and I knew there was a problem. I came into the pits and the team told me it was suspension failure and we retired. It had been a bit of a boring race, we were close to everyone but not close enough to have many fights; I would have liked to have had a bit more fun, but it didn't really happen. It's a shame, but I had a pretty good run until now, so I can't be too greedy. It would be good to finish on the podium at the final race of the season."
Christian Horner (Team principal)
"A difficult afternoon. Sebastian unfortunately lost some time on the first lap, but thereafter he recovered very well through good strategy and pit work to get back up to fifth, which I think was the maximum at this circuit. With Daniel, unfortunately we had a front suspension issue, he thought it might be a front brake, but in the end it turned out to be the front suspension that had failed so we need to investigate what happened. Despite all that, we managed to secure second in the Constructors' Championship which, considering where we started the season, is a huge credit to the entire team for the fight back that we put up this year. We now look forward to the last race in Abu Dhabi."

Thierry Salvi (Renault Sport)
"First and foremost we are delighted to have helped secure second place in the Constructors' Championship after a very difficult year for the team, which has done a fantastic job adapting to the new Power Unit regulations. Everyone has played their part. Seb did a great job today and again demonstrated his fighting qualities after the opening lap. Fifth was probably the best we could have hoped for in the end, but his PU ran without any problems at a particularly demanding circuit. There's just one race remaining now, and we'll be working very hard to end the season strongly before all of our energy switches to developing the RS35 unit ahead of 2015."

Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team

Nico Rosberg
"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."

Lewis Hamilton
"Naturally, you'll always be disappointed when you make a mistake and I did that today. But honestly, I felt great out there. The car was strong, my pace was good, I didn't give up, kept pushing and made up the time so that's what's most important to me. Generally, when I'm told to push it means the team is bringing me in that lap so that's what I did. In the end, they left me out for another lap which caught me by surprise. By the time I came round to do the second lap my rear tyres were gone from where I'd been pushing so hard. Even so, it was my mistake locking up the rears and ultimately that cost me the win. Nico drove a great race - defending well and not making any mistakes. But it's clear I had the pace. It's not a big deal, though. That's motor racing. Obviously, I lost some points which is disappointing. But it's a great team result with a record-breaking one-two finish and I really enjoyed the race. The car is just fantastic - the best I've ever driven - so a big thank you to the team for all their hard work. I'll be pushing just as hard in Abu Dhabi and hopefully we'll get to have another great race like we saw today."

Toto Wolff
"I'm so proud of the team and what we have achieved today. What you see at the track on a race weekend is just the tip of the iceberg and there are so many hard working, intelligent, good people who contributed to the success of the car and of this season. If I could, I would want to mention the names of everybody. Although you see a couple of public faces, the results are only possible because the team is strong and sticks together. Numbers like 11 one-two finishes, 15 wins and 30 podiums in a season make me incredibly proud of my colleagues and humble at what we have achieved together. Today's race was a pure battle between Nico and Lewis, with no quarter asked or given. The deciding moment probably came when Lewis spun on lap 28. That gave Nico some breathing room and, although Lewis seemed to have the better speed today, Nico was able to absorb the pressure from then all the way to the flag. It was a fantastic performance from both of them and sets up the prospect of a thrilling finale in Abu Dhabi. No matter which way that race goes, either driver would be a very worthy World Champion at the end of a fantastic season."

Paddy Lowe
"We have been saying all week that Brazilian Grands Prix are usually full of drama and this one was no exception. Although the weather didn't play a disruptive role, we saw a brilliant all-out battle between our two drivers that exemplified the incredible level of competition we have seen between them all season. Prior to the race, it was clear that tyre endurance would play a key role, after the teams had unanimously decided to bring a softer selection to this event than Pirelli had initially recommended. When conditions proved so hot and track temperatures so high, we thought that making a three-stop strategy would actually be quite tight, so we were pleased to find the tyres actually behaved better than our predictions had suggested. It is an incredible achievement to score our 11th one-two finish of the season and to write a line in the history books of the sport. 1988 was my first season in Formula One and that year saw records set that I thought would never be broken. It is hard now to get my head round the fact that we have set a new benchmark. That is a real tribute to the achievements of the team. Congratulations to everybody in Stuttgart, Brixworth and Brackley on reaching this milestone."

Scuderia Ferrari

Fernando Alonso
"After a far from easy weekend, I am reasonably pleased with the outcome of the race, because even if we weren't very competitive, we managed to score a good number of points. Today, degradation was particularly high, especially in the first stint on the Softs, which lasted less time than expected because of graining. When I passed Kimi, my tyres were newer than his, as he was on a two stop, but I was having to save fuel and after that overtaking move, there was nothing more I could do. Now there's just one race to go this season and in terms of the Constructors' Championship, we hope to manage to keep McLaren behind us in the final race in Abu Dhabi. As for myself, I reckon I'm in the position I deserve, because others have done better."

Kimi Raikkonen
"Overall, this has been a positive weekend and even today 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."

Marco Mattiacci (Team principal)
"I believe this weekend ended on a positive note for the team, with both our drivers finishing higher than their grid positions to bring home important points. With Kimi we decided to risk putting him to a two stop strategy and he was able to show that, if he feels comfortable with his car, he can get the most out of himself in terms of managing the tyres. We are disappointed to have lost a few seconds at his pit stop and we take away the lesson that we must improve in every area that can affect performance. As for Fernando, he produced an equally perfect race and in the late duel with his team-mate he was clear headed and precise in his driving. Clearly, fighting for the places we secured today is not our aim, but the team continues to improve day by day as we work on getting back to fighting at the front of the field."

Pat Fry
"Like the majority of the grid, today we were planning to run a three stop strategy, as we knew that the increase in temperatures, the nature of the circuit and the abrasive track surface would impact heavily on tyre behaviour. Managing the two compounds was extremely complicated, with an early first stop to get rid of the Softs, because of graining, to take on the Mediums which degraded rapidly but in a more linear fashion. The decision to switch Kimi to a two stop paid off as, surprisingly, he was able to run consistently for no less than 36 laps. Fernando found himself fighting with Vettel in the Red Bull, who probably had a bit more pace today, but taking sixth place along with Kimi's seventh, gives us a reasonable margin in the Constructors' classification over McLaren. Overall, it was a positive weekend and, in future we must ensure we get on top of any reliability problems, like the ones we've had over the past few days."

Lotus F1 Team

Romain Grosjean
"The start of the race was good and we were able to run high up in the field quite quickly. We had to switch from a two-stop to a three-stop strategy half way through the race however and that came with some challenges. A lot of work was done to improve the car's performance this weekend so it's hard not to be able to finish. We'll be looking into what happened and make sure we're ready to make the most of the double points on offer for the next race."

Pastor 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."

Federico Gastaldi (Deputy team principal):
"Today we expected a better result on track, especially after some of the evidence to suggest we could have a reasonably decent race. Neither driver experienced a perfect day. Pastor struggled at the start, but then fought back to make up a lot of places. Romain was able to run high up the order early-on but we had to change strategy which penalised him, but not as much as his engine failure. Now our focus is Abu Dhabi and the double points available there."

Alan Permane (Trackside operations director)
"Today's race didn't go the way we wanted it. Pastor didn't get a good start off the line and Romain's car was unable to make it to the chequered flag. We were hoping to capitalise on better tyre life than our rivals, and although we were able stretch more durable performance from the medium compound than some, it was insufficient to secure fewer pit stops for us which meant no advantage. We have one race remaining in 2014 where we will push to gain some final points from this season, then our focus is 100% on 2015."

Simon Rebreyend (Renault Sport F1 track support leader)
"Everything went well on Pastor's side of the garage today and it was good to see him work his way up to twelfth after a difficult qualifying session. The hotter temperatures and high altitude make Interlagos one of the tougher venues for the new Power Units, but we managed to deal with those circumstances pretty well in the end. Romain's strategy meant he should have been a factor over the final stint, but unfortunately he had a Power Unit issue that lead to his ICE losing a cylinder. Hopefully he can bounce back in Abu Dhabi and close out the season with a strong result."

McLaren Mercedes

Jenson Button
"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."

Kevin Magnussen
"That wasn't a great race for me, which is disappointing. I had a lot of tyre degradation - I tried my best to take care of my tyres but it just didn't seem possible today. I tried to keep people from getting past me, but guys like Fernando [Alonso] and Nico [Hulkenberg] just had more pace than I did, so it wasn't possible. We need to sit down and have a look at why it didn't go right for me today - I'm sure we can find the answer. On the positive side, it's really good that Jenson scored the points he did today. Fourth is very impressive. I'm really happy for him and for the team today."

Eric Boullier (Racing director)
"Today's race was all about tyres. On an extremely hot track surface, often in the mid-to-high-fifties Celsius, Jenson drove a superb race, managing tyre wear with all the expertise he's become famous for. The result was an excellent fourth place - which, although it isn't what McLaren is all about, was a very welcome reward for all our engineers' hard work, transforming our car's performance from a low ebb on Friday to the very respectable race pace it exhibited today. Kevin made a good start, making up a place on lap one, and ending it in sixth place, running in fifth-placed Jenson's wheel-tracks. Thereafter, though, he began to struggle with high levels of tyre degradation which adversely affected his ability to match Jenson's lap-times. He ended up ninth. Set-up may have had something to with it; we don't yet know; but we'll investigate."

Sahara Force India F1 Team

Nico Hulkenberg
"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."

Sergio Perez
"It was a difficult race and things didn't really go my way all weekend. With the track time we lost on Friday and the grid penalty yesterday, we always knew it was going to be hard to recover the lost ground. I tried my best to fight through in the race, but I lost a lot of track position following the five-second penalty and for most of the afternoon I was stuck in traffic. I couldn't make any progress and the cars around us were on a similar strategy. So it has been a disappointing weekend and I just hope we can have a better result in Abu Dhabi."

Vijay Mallya (Team principal and managing director)
"It was an interesting race for us and I think we were involved in a lot of the overtaking action! Nico produced a very good performance, making the most of an alternative strategy and bringing home some valuable points. The only regret is that, had the race been a couple of laps longer, he could have probably finished a couple of positions higher. Checo always had his work cut out after taking the grid drop: he had a great start and was looking like he would make up quite a few places, but in the end the five-second pit-stop penalty undid all the good work he had done in the first part of the race. Today's results mean we will need a special result in Abu Dhabi, but we will not stop fighting as the maths does not rule us out. Formula One can be unpredictable and we're ready to take the championship battle for fifth down to the wire."

Sauber F1 Team

Esteban Gutierrez
"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."

Adrian Sutil
"It was an uneventful race for me. I had to start from the pit lane due to a problem with the cooling configuration. It is a pity, as we quite often have problems. As a driver you give your best in qualifying, but then you have to start the race from the last position. In addition, there was an incident during my first pit stop, which cost me some time. It is frustrating, but we did our best today."

Monisha Kaltenborn (Team principal)
"Today's result is very disappointing. Esteban had a promising starting position and a good chance to score a point, which could unfortunately not be achieved. Adrian's opportunities were reduced after he had to start the race from the pit lane, and lost some time during his first pit stop."

Giampaolo Dall'Ara (Head of track engineering)
"Our biggest problem today was that our expectations in terms of weather were wrong. We had prepared our cars for a cooler day, which was the forecast. However, the temperatures were significantly higher than predicted. This made our day pretty difficult. On Adrian's car we had to change the cooling configuration, and, as a result, he started from the pit lane. For Esteban we decided to start him from his grid position and use a slightly more conservative approach on the performance side. His pace was good in the beginning and put him in a position to fight for a point, but shortly before the end his lap times were temporarily slower. We can't see anything on the data, so we have to look at it with the driver to understand what happened. We were really looking forward to scoring the final point. Adrian had a difficult Sunday, being forced to start from the pit lane. He also lost five seconds at the first pit stop."

Scuderia Toro Rosso

Daniil Kvyat
"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."

Jean-Eric Vergne
"It was a little bit painful today. I spent almost the whole race in traffic behind Perez and I was slower than him, so even with the DRS open on the straight it was not possible to overtake him. This made me lose a lot of time and from then on my race was over. There was no way to score points today. It was a tough weekend but it's already behind my back. We have to move forward, the race in Abu Dhabi will be very important for us. We have to take the positive and the negative, turn the page and get ready for the last round of the season."

Franz Tost (Team principal)
"Our weekend has been compromised from the very beginning because of various factors. Daniil Kvyat had to purge a 7 place penalty on the starting grid, due to a 7th engine change in Austin and Jean Eric Vergne wasn't able to carry out a proper preparation for the race due to a technical problem on Friday afternoon in FP2. As a consequence, our performance was not as good as we would have liked. Nevertheless, with Daniil we managed to finish the race in the 11th position, thanks to an efficient strategy that brought him close to scoring one point. As for Jean-Eric Vergne, he was constantly caught in traffic and it was not possible to overtake on the long straight. He took the chequered flag in the 13th position.
Overall, we knew that here in Sao Paolo it would have been difficult to score points but we will try to be in the best possible shape to reach this target in Abu Dhabi, the very important last event of the season."

Ricardo Penteado (Renault Sport F1 track support)
"It's been a pretty tough day for the team, especially as we needed to push throughout the race at a circuit where the Power Unit is made to work very hard. We didn't encounter any problems though and maximised everything towards the end in an effort to help Daniil find a way past Bottas in their fight for 10th and the final point. The Williams is very slippery in a straight line though and unfortunately we didn't quite have enough. There were also no problems for Jean-Eric, but he was still slightly compromised by his limited running on Friday."

Williams Martini Racing

Felipe 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."
Valtteri Bottas
"It was a race full of different problems for me and in the end it just wasn't my day. I had an issue with my belts at the beginning that we resolved at the first pit stop but this lost me a lot of time and I also lost time in the second stop. The conditions were very challenging as tyre wear was high and all cars were experiencing graining. As a team we have managed to come away with some decent points and I'm happy for Felipe as the crowd reaction after he got out of the car was very special. These sort of days happen in Formula One and we need to regroup and make sure that Abu Dhabi is a problem free race for us."

Rob Smedley (Head of vehicle performance)
"That was probably the most hectic race we have had all year and was very difficult to manage from the pit wall with everything that was going on. We had a lot of issues; both cars had debris stuck in them and we had to remove these at different pit stops, Valtteri lost time in his first stop as he had an issue with his belts that we needed to check, and Felipe lost time in his second stop through a penalty and stopping in the wrong box. Nevertheless we have secured some good points in spite of these challenges, extending our lead over fourth in the Championship and Felipe put in a very mature drive to finish on the podium in front of his home fans. The car is quick and this race had proved that - we now need to make sure that in Abu Dhabi we fully maximise the points that we should be attaining with this car."

Pirelli

Paul Hembery
"We saw a mesmerising battle between the two Mercedes drivers, during which they had to balance their desire to beat each other with the need to get the most out of the tyres in these very high temperatures. Ambient and track temperatures were certainly higher than everybody anticipated, which caused some degree of blistering and graining, particularly at the start of the race with heavy fuel, soft tyres and the hottest temperatures of the day. This did not however affect tyre performance. The new surface created a number of challenges for everyone all weekend, including the teams, the drivers and ourselves. Most drivers went for a three-stop strategy, which we predicted to be the fastest around Interlagos. However, Kimi Raikkonen made a two-stop strategy work as well, at one of the most demanding races of the year."