Sunday: Marussia closes in on its direct competitors

Timo Glock – 17th:

I’m very happy because it was a good race for us today. The start was chaotic, I saw all those cars going off around me. Heikki came across, but I was just behind him and I was able to overtake him in the Esses. I was 11th at that point but I knew it would be short-lived because we were struggling a bit in the last corner and obviously with the KERS that we don’t have, Heikki was able to pass me and I kept losing a lot of time in that corner afterwards – three or four tenths each lap in the first corner and the Esses – which allowed the other guys, who also have KERS, to pass me. Generally speaking, we had a good pace and it was in line with our expectations. The team was very fast at the first stop, they achieved the fourth best performance of the race, it’s a great reward for everyone who works hard. The tire behavior on the car was very good and we were able to stay quite long on the first stint. I had a good pace with the hard tires and everything was going well, but at the last stop, I was a bit slow with the gearbox, so it’s my mistake and I’m sorry for that. I was then able to close the gap with Heikki so our strategy was right. We were four seconds apart at one point, but the blue flags widened the gap again. Nevertheless, an eight-second gap in the end is great! We have reasons to be happy, I believe. We fought well, the car was pleasant to drive and it’s great to have a car that meets our expectations. We continue to have better race pace, so we will keep working hard on our overall performance and enjoy this very positive phase until the end of the season.

Charles Pic – Retirement:

Obviously, it is disappointing for me to have to retire, as we were coming on strong at that point in the race. It’s also the first retirement in quite some time. The start was difficult because we had to avoid trouble in the first corner, then in the first stint I struggled to get better grip with the hard tires. This improved when I switched to soft tires for the second stint. My race was going well and I was behind Timo and ahead of Vitaly [Petrov] and Pedro [de la Rosa]. Unfortunately, I misjudged the pit stop during my second stop, and I lost a lot of time by stopping too far. Shortly after, I had to stop due to an engine problem. Overall, it was a good weekend and I enjoyed my first experience on this incredibly technical circuit. I look forward to another new circuit for me next weekend and to achieving a better result.