Japan: The F1 Grand Prix seen from the pits

Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton – Victory

Translate: Nico Rosberg – 2nd

Toto Wolff, Team Principal: « At the moment, the only important thing is for Jules Bianchi to be well and recover; the sport is not what matters right now. »

– Read the drivers’ statements

Red Bull

Sebastian Vettel – 3rd

Daniel Ricciardo – 4th

Christian Horner, Team Principal: First of all, our thoughts are with Jules Bianchi and we hope he is well; that is the absolute priority. As far as the race is concerned, it was a good performance from the team with both our drivers making good progress and some fantastic overtakes. 3rd and 4th are competitive results. We seemed even more competitive in the rain, which seems to level the performances.

– Lire les déclarations des pilotes

McLaren

**Jenson Button** – 5th

Kevin Magnussen – 14th

Eric Boullier, Sporting Director: More important than anything else, on behalf of everyone at McLaren, I want to express how shocked and saddened we are following the announcement of Jules’ accident. Our thoughts are with him, of course, with his family, and the entire Marussia team.

Regarding today’s race, Jenson was the first driver to stop for intermediate tires and he drove very well all afternoon. He could have even finished 3rd if things had gone better for us at the end of the race in terms of timing of the stops and the deployment of the safety car.

But the 10 points scored with his 5th place could be very useful in our efforts to climb in the constructors’ standings. In contrast, Kevin had a disappointing afternoon. From the start of the race, his car began experiencing electronic issues, which we tried to improve by replacing his steering wheel during an unscheduled stop. After that, he was ultimately going to attempt a comeback – and, even though he made some fine overtakes, notably on Daniel [Ricciardo], he was never able to score points today. From there, we will head to Sochi [in Russia] where we all hope for a better weekend, in every way.

– Read the drivers’ statements

Williams

Valtteri Bottas – 6th

Felipe Massa – 7th

Rob Smedley, Head of Performance: « Our first concern is Jules’ well-being, and we hope everything is alright. During the race, we managed the strategy well, and as a result, we extracted what we could and finished in a good position. The conditions were challenging at the start and towards the end as it was getting dark. However, our thoughts and hopes are with Jules, his family and friends, and the Marussia team. »

– Read the drivers’ statements

Force India

Nico Hülkenberg – 8th

Sergio Pérez – 10th

Robert Fernley, Deputy Team Principal: Our thoughts at the moment are with Jules Bianchi and we hope to hear positive news about his condition. It was a race full of twists at all levels as the track dried up before the rain returned. We took a risk by stopping our two drivers during the deployment of the safety car, which would have protected us in case of a restart. Both our drivers performed very well and scored points, but everything is overshadowed by the incident that prematurely ended the race. Jules and everyone at Marussia are in our thoughts right now.

– Read the drivers’ statements

Toro Rosso

Jean-Eric Vergne – 9th

Daniil Kvyat – 11th

Franz Tost, Team Principal: « The performance of our drivers in this Grand Prix seems secondary today, as we are all waiting for news on Bianchi’s health condition. We scored two additional points, which is positive for the team. Jean-Eric started from the back of the grid due to the use of our 6th engine, which meant a 10-place penalty for him. However, he delivered a good performance, having a fantastic race, climbing up to finish in 9th place. Without the red flag, I acknowledge he might have finished even higher, but nonetheless scoring points is really a good result for him and the team.

Daniil Kvyat was also always in the points but unfortunately, we called him in just before the safety car deployment, so he lost positions. Even though he managed to overtake Räikkönen, it wasn’t enough to score the points he deserved. Today, Daniil had his first race in the rain and demonstrated a good performance and strong ability to control the car in difficult conditions. This makes me think that we have truly been a good school for him on his path to Infiniti Red Bull Racing next year.

– Read the drivers’ statements

Ferrari

Kimi Räikkönen – 12th

Fernando Alonso – Retirement (electrical failure)

Marco Mattiacci, Team Director: « For our team, this weekend was unfortunately marked by reliability issues, with problems on Kimi’s car yesterday and today on Fernando’s. With Kimi, we paid the price by not being able to set up his car as well as possible during FP3. This meant he suffered from balance issues throughout the race. Today, with Fernando, we were luckier, and what happened today highlights the fact that we need to improve the car. However, for the moment, all of this is secondary, and all our thoughts are with Jules Bianchi. »

– Lire les déclarations des pilotes

Sauber

Esteban Gutierrez – 13th

Adrian Sutil – 21st (off track)

Monisha Kaltenborn, Team Principal: All members of the Sauber F1 team are deeply concerned about the accident involving Jules Bianchi. Our thoughts are with him, his family, and his friends. Everyone in the team wishes him a speedy recovery. In light of this accident, the sporting aspects of this Japanese Grand Prix are our least concerns.

– Lire les déclarations des pilotes

Lotus

Romain Grosjean – 15th

Pastor Maldonado – 16th

Federico Gastaldi, Deputy Team Principal: « Obviously, everyone in the team is worried about Jules Bianchi, and our thoughts are with him, his team, and his family. We know that the medical staff will do everything necessary. The race took place in difficult weather conditions, so it was a challenge for everyone. Both our drivers drove very well in very tricky circumstances to bring two cars home after numerous pit stops. »

– Read the drivers’ statements

Caterham

Marcus Ericsson – 17th

Kamui Kobayashi – 19th

Cedrik Staudohar, Renault Track Operations Manager: « We really didn’t know what to expect today. The main problem was finding the right amount of fuel before the start of the race, but the calculations were almost impossible considering we had a wide weather window and possibilities of a safety car and reduced race distance. That aside, every element of the power unit worked well and we extracted the maximum performance given the conditions. We weren’t as high as we would have liked, but we hope to build on this next time in Russia. More importantly, all our thoughts are with Jules Bianchi at the moment. »

– Lire les déclarations des pilotes

Marussia

Max Chilton – 18th

Jules Bianchi – 20th (accident)

Due to the accident of Jules Bianchi, Marussia has not released an official statement.