Sunday: A rather satisfying race for Virgin
The Virgin team always aims to beat the HRT drivers and get closer to the Team Lotus drivers. But today, for the second South Korean Grand Prix in the history of Formula 1, the British team did not completely achieve its goal. Timo Glock managed to get ahead of both HRT drivers, but Jérome d'Ambrosio was overtaken by Daniel Ricciardo's HRT, as the Belgian and his engineers had taken a wrong direction with the settings and found it difficult to really correct it for the race.
Timo Glock – 18th
« It was a good weekend for us. Regarding the strategy, I think we made the right choice. I had a very good car throughout the race – very consistent in attacking until the last lap and all the problems we thought we had didn’t actually impact us. The Pirellis were very good and durable. I really enjoyed being able to attack until the end, until the last lap. We had a battle with HRT in the middle of the race, as they were suddenly fast, and I had to keep attacking. Overall, I’m happy and I was able to get the maximum out of the car. The pit stops were good too, and we made a step forward in this area. Now, we’ll prepare for a new adventure with India, a race that the team is looking forward to, I think.»
Jérome d’Ambrosio – 20th
It wasn’t a great race today, but I say that in comparison to yesterday and considering the fact that we couldn’t make many changes to the car due to regulations, I think the day went well in the end. We tried to do what we could to make up with the tools we had and we chose the right direction. So in the end, it was okay; it was definitely better than yesterday.
John Booth – Director of the Marussia Virgin Racing team
« It was a positive race for both our drivers today, with a few exceptions. Timo had a great race from start to finish, and we managed the gap with Ricciardo who was behind him. With Jerome, it’s disappointing to finish behind HRT, but we must remain positive because the performance was much better than in the qualifying session. He had a tough fight with Ricciardo, overtook him after the safety car, only to lose his position in a battle with Kobayashi. After a disappointing weekend last week, everyone in the team stepped up for this weekend. The strategy improved, the pit stops went smoothly, and all of this was possible thanks to our self-reflections and the efforts made over several races. We will be returning to England this week to prepare for the first Indian Grand Prix, and the whole team – from engineers to logistics – is looking forward to this journey into the unknown.
