Mark Webber : “My start was tricky with a lot of wheel spin, but I was happy to get away with third. After the safety car, the race was going well. I wanted to get in on the lap that Sebastian pitted to change to dry tyres, but obviously whoever’s ahead has the call so I had to do an extra lap on the intermediates, which lost me a lot of time. Leaving the pits I couldn’t get second gear and went wide. I knew I had to make the moves on track. We then decided to pit which worked out okay. At the end of the race we caught the leading guys, but then we had the incident. I apologise to Lewis about that. I lost all down-force in the front of the car when I got close to them, the car lifted and I slid into the back of him. Unfortunately it had looked like a good finish, but it’s still very difficult to follow in these cars. I went down fighting, I wasn’t happy with sixth place and wanted to get a podium, but in the end it was a tough day for the team. We’ll be
back.”
Sebastian Vettel : “I felt that something was wrong one lap earlier than I went off. I had some sparks coming up from the front left wheel; we didn’t know what it was and so wanted to pit. Then, a couple of corners before, I had huge vibrations building up and as soon as I touched the brakes, I had some sort of failure going in to Turn 13 and ended up in the gravel. There was nothing I could have done, I lost the car and that was it.
It’s a shame as I think we had the race in total control at every stage, even though the conditions were difficult. But to win you have to finish. It breaks my balls not to get the win, but there’s still a long way to go in this Championship. We’re working hard to get on top the reliability issues and we hope to have a solid race and see the chequered flag in Malaysia.”
Christian Horner, Team Principal: “Ultimately an extremely disappointing day. Having been in control of the race, the second in succession, Sebastian unfortunately retired with what looks like a wheel related issue (front left), which certainly cost him a comfortable race win today. It was cruel luck for him for the second year in a row here in Australia. With Mark, at his home GP, he dropped a place at the start, but then was making progress in the damp and tricky conditions. We had to leave him a lap longer than Sebastian to change to dry tyres, as he would have lost too much ground pitting immediately behind him. As the circuit went from intermediates to slicks, he made a couple of good passing moves on Massa, but then, unfortunately, he got tangled up with Hamilton for the first time in the race. After everything had settled down and with the position he was running in, we decided we had nothing to lose by putting another set of tyres on to let him have a go in the last ten laps, which Rosberg and Hamilton also elected to do. We got Rosberg at the stop but Lewis and Mark got tangled together which resulted in Mark having to pit again for a nose change. Ninth place after starting the race with two cars at the front of the grid is massively disappointing.”
Fabrice Lom, Renault, Principal Engineer Track Support: “What a sad result. The only good thing from today was that we didn’t have any engine problems, but that’s it. It’s a sad day – we had the tool to win the race. We need to tie all our work in all areas together in order to bounce back for the next race. I would like to congratulate Renault for their second place – well done to them.”
Jaime Alguersuari : “I think on the one hand I’m quite happy as I had a long fight with Michael (Schumacher) which was nice. I was under a lot of pressure, but I was able to keep him behind me for many laps until I made a small mistake at Turn 13 with a few laps to go and he managed to pass me. That mistake might have cost me a point, but we have to be happy with the progress we made this weekend, especially as I feel there is still a lot more to come.”
Sebastien Buemi : “Today went really badly for me as I was involved in someone else’s accident on the opening lap and I don’t really know how it happened; I guess Kobayashi must have braked really late. I did not get the best of starts but I was still holding position. Then I was hit from behind at Turn 6. It’s a very disappointing end to what had looked like a promising weekend with a very real chance to score points at the end of Sunday. But that’s racing and at least we only have to wait a few days to try again in Malaysia.”
Franz Tost : “This was a fantastic and very interesting Formula 1 race and a lesson to those who seem to want to change the rules of the sport every five minutes. Unfortunately, Buemi was involved in an opening lap incident with Kobayashi. As for Alguersuari, he did a solid job right from the start of Friday and it was by far the most competitive race weekend of his F1 career. His performance continues to improve with every race and he would have deserved a point today. He also learned an interesting lesson from Michael Schumacher, in that if you lose concentration for just one tenth of a second, he will pass you. Overall, I am quite confident for the forthcoming races, as when compared to our work in Bahrain, the team made a significant step forward here in Melbourne.”
Following Kamui Kobayashi’s retirement after a crash on lap one, it looked good for Pedro de la Rosa to score the team’s first points. But in the end his tyres degraded too much and he had nothing left for defending.
Pedro de la Rosa: For a while the race went okay, I managed to stay out of trouble and there was a good chance to get our first points. But, I’m afraid, we underestimated the tyre degradation. In the end I really had no rear tyres left. For the last 15 laps it was just a question of how to keep the car on the track. I was absolutely helpless when Michael and Jaime came in the end to overtake me.
Kamui Kobayashi: It looks as if I touched a kerb or another car in turn three. Everything was very close and I don’t really remember anything major, but on the data it looks like there was something. I had no worries about the front wing, but a few corners later it went off and got stuck under the car. At first I had no idea what had happened. I had no control anymore.
Peter Sauber, Team Principal: Looking at how the race evolved, it’s a disappointing result. For a third of the race Pedro was able to defend ninth against Rubens Barrichello, but then he lost out, and in the penultimate lap he was also passed by Michael Schumacher and Jaime Alguersuari. Kamui’s race didn’t even last one lap. Following contact with another car his front wing broke, and he went off, unfortunately hitting other competitors.
Willy Rampf, Technical Director:
It was a race start under difficult conditions. Kamui most probably had contact with another car and damaged his front wing. As a result the front wing broke in the braking zone of corner 6, and Kamui went off. Pedro won positions after the start, and we made the change from intermediates to slicks at the right moment. Our strategy was to finish the race with this set of tyres, which - looking at the overall result - was the right decision. However, the tyres degraded too much, and the lap times were not consistent enough, therefore we lost our chance to finish the race in ninth.
A mixed day for Lotus Racing at the Melbourne Grand Prix saw Heikki Kovalainen finish the race in 13th place, once again ahead of the other new teams, but Jarno Trulli failed to make the start due to a hydraulics issue on the grid.
Heikki Kovalainen : “I enjoyed it today, I had good fun out there. Our target was to finish the race and from the start we were quite comfortably ahead of the new teams. When Glock dropped I just focused on keeping up a decent rhythm, not making any mistakes and bringing the car home. It’s difficult to say whether a different strategy would have worked better - if we’d stopped once more and put a fresh set of tyres on, that might have been better way to go, but our target was to finish the race and we achieved that again. Now we go to Malaysia with a good feeling and we’re all looking forward to that.”
Jarno Trulli : “Unfortunately we couldn’t start the race today because we had a hydraulic failure on the grid and, despite the team’s best efforts, we couldn’t fix it in time to make the race. We’ll work now to fix that for Malaysia and I’m looking forward to getting out there and seeing what we can do in Sepang.”
Mike Gascoyne : “Obviously a very disappointing start. Jarno had a hydraulic power pack fail on the grid, not something we’ve seen before and we couldn’t get it changed in time. Balancing that was another strong race from Heikki who did really well staying out on the option tyre. He made a good start but lost a few places after the accident on the opening lap, but he did a great job to get the car home, keeping us tenth in the championship. And congratulations to Karun Chandhok for getting a finish!”
Tony Fernandes : “I guess we’ve got to have had some bad luck at some point and unfortunately it was today. I’m disappointed for Jarno, but Heikki did us proud - three places away from a point, and he was keeping pace with most of the other cars throughout the race. Maybe it would have been nice if three other cars had gone out so we could get a point, but, joking aside, it is good that at this stage of the season we’re already thinking about points. We’re in a nice position for Malaysia. We’re looking forward to going home, and really looking forward to giving our fans something to shout about.”
Karun Chandhok and Bruno Senna made good starts in today’s Qantas Australian Grand Prix, Bruno jumping from 21st to 14th and Karun pushing from 22nd to 16th. Unfortunately Bruno’s race ended after five laps due to hydraulic problems. Karun had a reliable run despite two offs and destroying the floor, which affected the car’s aerodynamics. He scored the team’s first finish with 14th place.
Dr. Colin Kolles (Team Principal): This result, having Karun ending up the race in 14th position is a great step forward. We reached the goal with one of the two cars in the finish. I´m sorry for Bruno because he did a good job all weekend. Karun Chandhok drove the team’s first full race and finished in 14th position the first race for the team, what was really fantastic, especially with these difficult conditions. The team did a great job and brought two very competitive cars on the grid. Now we will keep on pushing and just focus on our preparation for Malaysia, where our season will really begin.
Karun Chandhok: A great thank to the team. To finish was very difficult today, and all the more satisfying because of that. I dedicate this race result to all the mechanics and engineers who worked so hard since Bahrain, without any pre-season testing. This is a fantastic day for the team and a great step forward. I am proud to have ended our first race. At the start, I could see a big accident developing ahead of me and tried to keep to the inside to avoid trouble. I was able to avoid getting caught up in the aftermath and was in 16th position. I pitted on my 8th lap like the Ferraris and it was comfortable until mid-race where I was 15th. Later I changed tires on my 51st lap, only 7 laps before the end. We achieved the best result we could do today. We have to keep pushing and working and we will manage to finish even higher.
Bruno Senna: I didn´t intend my second Grand Prix to end with an hydraulic failure, but that´s racing! I made a good start and was in 14th after the big crash in front.
It’s fantastic for the team to make it to the finish and we have got a great deal of data to work from for Malaysia. I hope we can finish with two cars next race.
Virgin Racing experienced a tumultuous race in today’s Australian Grand Prix, one which ultimately ended in retirement for both Timo Glock and Lucas di Grassi.
The Virgin Racing cars lined up for the start of the 58-lap race in the pit lane, after changing the collectors in both fuel systems following yesterday’s fuel pick-up problem. The ‘will it? – won’t it?’ weather conditions fired enough of a warning salvo to make most of the field decide to opt for intermediate tyres and it was definitely raining as the race got underway, although a full-blown downpour never materialised.
The start procedure worked well and Timo and Lucas avoided getting caught up in the first lap mayhem. The highlight of the opening laps was most definitely a lap 5 tussle with Michael Schumacher as he was working his way back up the field after an early pit stop. Timo in particular fought hard to keep him at bay and having been passed once he decided to have another go and retook Michael until giving way to the seven time world champion became inevitable. It was fun while it lasted!
Timo Glock: “The start of the race was okay. After leaving the pit lane I was able to catch up Chandok and some other cars and we had a bit of fun fighting with Michael. The car felt reasonably good in the wet and dry conditions. It was a little busy with all the traffic when we became lapped. So it was a real shame that we had a problem just 15 laps from the end of the race when I started to feel that there was something wrong with the way the car was feeling. I came in and we found a problem which we now know to be a camber shim having worked loose, and this was causing the suspension to move around on the left rear. Had we not had the suspension issue I think we would have been looking good for our first chequered flag. So we have to take the positives and see that in some ways we have made progress, albeit there is still a lot of work ahead.”
Lucas di Grassi: “The early part of the race was okay for me. The car was behaving quite well at the beginning. Unfortunately, we didn’t time the strategy well to change to slicks but otherwise things were going okay. So it’s a shame that we were hit by another problem - a hydraulic problem – and we had to retire after 26 laps. For sure we will find the problem, fix it and be better for the next race. These are small steps that maybe other people can’t see but they are good steps for us. We are working very hard to improve our situation and I have confidence that we will.”
Nick Wirth, Technical Director: “With the fuel pick-up problems we’d seen on Saturday, it was unfortunately necessary for us to break Parc Ferme this morning and convert our fuel system back to the specification that we had tested on Friday, albeit with further modifications. The team did a great job to get that done in time as we weren’t allowed to start that work until midday today. Both cars therefore had to start from the pit lane and we were immediately into a very aggressive fuel-saving strategy, which we’d practised in the Simulators last week. The drivers and the team coped well with the unusual driving style that this called for, as well as the tricky conditions, and overall they both did a brilliant job for the team today. Lucas’ race ended with an internal hydraulic leak, the cause of which we have yet to identify. We got to 70% distance with Timo and were on target to finish the race fuel-wise when it seems that a rear suspension bracket came loose and allowed some setting shims to eventually fall out, which ended his race. So ultimately we leave here yet to finish our first Grand Prix but with clear signs that our performance is improving.”
John Booth, Team Principal: “Today I’d like to applaud the team on a terrific job in the face of a challenging set of circumstances, at the end of a difficult weekend. The start from the pit lane was seamless and the boys were ‘on it’ in out first live pit stops. We got to almost half distance with Lucas and nearly three-quarters of the race with Timo and with the problems we’ve had I am very proud of the way the team have coped. We can go into Malaysia with our heads held high and knowing that things will get better as we get more of the season under our belts.”