Sunday: Vettel and Red Bull limit the damage
After a difficult start to the race, Sebastian Vettel finally managed to regain the upper hand and finish the race in second position despite a few mechanical problems. A lost bet for Webber.
Sebastian Vettel – 2nd
I was a bit in trouble during the first stint on intermediates. Lewis was a bit faster and I approached turn #2 poorly, it was quite tricky: he was pushing hard and I was trying to be at the maximum. At that moment, I realized that I turned in too late, so I let the car go because I knew the white lines and the green paint were too slippery, therefore, it would have been easy to spin, and I lost the first place. After that, the track was drying. I think we might have come in a lap earlier. I put on the super softs: I was comfortable at the beginning, but there was rapid degradation, I believe it was the same thing for everyone. During the last stint, I felt that I was faster, but with 20 laps to cover, it was difficult to know how the tires would be at the end, so I couldn’t push as hard as I wanted, but nevertheless, second is a good performance today. The McLarens are strong in all conditions, and it is clear that for the past two races, they have taken a step forward. We need to make sure we come back stronger in the next races.
Mark Webber – 5th
It was a good race, quite fun. I made the right choice by putting on the slick tires at the right time, but when the rain started to fall, I thought it would be stronger, so I came in to switch to intermediates, but it didn’t last. The team didn’t say much about the rain, so I thought it was a surprise shower, but I made the decision to go with intermediates. It didn’t work for Lewis and me, it seemed silly in hindsight when the track was drying, but if it had rained enough for a few moments, it would have been the right tire choice. I own the decision I made, it was mine, and the team did a good job this weekend.
Cyril Dumont (Renault)
« It’s a good result and it could have been much worse with these changing weather conditions. With Seb’s car, we had a small engine problem during the race; it didn’t last very long but we will have to investigate what happened at that moment to see if there is really an issue – so apologies to the team for this problem. Mark’s car did not experience an engine issue, but unfortunately, he lost places when he switched to intermediates. Despite that, it was a positive weekend and we scored important points for both championships ».
