Sunday: Senna scores his first points with Lotus Renault GP
Both victims of the first chicane pile-up, Vitaly Petrov and Bruno Senna had two different races, with the former retiring on the first lap and the latter managing to score his first points in F1 with LRGP.
Bruno Senna – 9th
« I am happy to score my first points in Formula 1 today, especially in my second race for the team. Even though I started tenth, it wasn’t easy to finish ninth. We were unlucky in the first corner: everyone cut the chicane, which forced me to go outside and I lost all the places I had fought so hard to gain in qualifying. It makes me very happy to know that I am capable of putting myself in a position to score points, and also to fight with the guys who have been doing this for a long time. The pace of the car was quite good, but I would have liked the race to be one lap longer because I could have passed Paul for eighth place. The team chose a great strategy, the tires were fast enough when I needed them to be and I am very happy to see my name in the points. The team did a great job and I am really looking forward to Singapore ».
Vitaly Petrov – Retirement
Naturally, I’m very disappointed with what happened today. I got off to a good start, and as I entered the first chicane, Vitantonio’s HRT came out of nowhere and hit me, ending my race. There was nothing I could do to avoid it. Above all, I’m glad I’m not hurt, as the impact was quite violent and it could have been a terrible accident. We’ve put in so much effort since Spa, on the track, at Enstone, and at Viry, that I’m sorry it didn’t translate into points today. That’s racing, but I can’t help but think we could have had a good result today. We will now focus on Singapore, which will be a real test for us. We will bring new technical improvements with us before heading to faster circuits like Japan or Korea, which should make our car better. We’ve made a step forward and could finish the season well.
Eric Boullier
« My feelings are mixed because this first corner cost us dearly today; Vitaly was very unlucky to be out of the race, and Bruno was eighth at the end of the first lap. However, the team put together a very good strategy that allowed Bruno to come back and grab the ninth position. It’s good to see him score his first points in F1, and it’s clear that if we hadn’t faced problems, we could have finished even higher. Improvements are still coming and if you combine that with the fact that our cars were really on pace this weekend, we can be confident ».
