Abu Dhabi: The race seen from the pits

Lotus

Kimi Räikkönen – Winner

Romain Grosjean – Retirement [Collision]

Eric Boullier, Team Director: « I have one word to say first: fantastic. Then, there are many other words like “relief” and “deserved.” It’s obviously a well-deserved result for the team. I’m thrilled for Kimi, and he did a great job. We have worked very hard all season and almost got there before. There’s a bit of frustration for not winning earlier, and we have been waiting for this, but it’s a magical feeling to finally secure this victory, and it’s a great reward for the team. It’s good for Formula 1, it’s good for Kimi, and it’s good for our team. »

– Lire les déclarations des pilotes

Ferrari

Fernando Alonso – 2nd

Felipe Massa – 7th

Stefano Domenicali, Team Principal: « Another magnificent race for Fernando in what is an extraordinary season for him. Today’s second place came mainly thanks to his ability to extract the maximum and even a bit more from what we provide him to work with. The gap to the leader in the championship has narrowed to 10 points, and everything is still possible. Obviously, we need to do more and better than what we have done so far to give him a more competitive car. If we had been offered to leave Abu Dhabi with this gap immediately after qualifying last night, maybe we would have taken it, but it is also true that this afternoon, before the start, our objectives had changed.

Clearly, the unfolding of the race and the incidents that occurred did not favor us in light of the championship, but these are circumstances beyond our control. The most important thing is that we reduced the gap in the drivers’ championship during a particularly difficult Grand Prix because not only was our performance level not on par with our rivals, it was even worse than some other teams. Additionally, we increased our lead over our closest rival in the constructors’ championship, which is a good thing. Ten points is a lot, but it can also be seen as little. We have the duty to try until the last meter of the last Grand Prix, and that is what we are going to do, you can be sure of that.

– Lire les déclarations des pilotes

Red Bull

Sebastian Vettel – 3rd

Mark Webber – Abandon [Collision]

Christian Horner, Team Principal: After yesterday’s problems, it was a remarkable comeback by Sebastian to finish on the podium. We chose to start from the pits so that we could make some setup changes to the car. After a promising start, despite some damage to the front wing after an incident with Bruno Senna, Sebastian had another during the first neutralization when Daniel Ricciardo caught him off guard and he damaged his front wing on the DRS board. This required a nose change and strategy adjustment. Seb was at the back of the pack again and had to fight his way through. He delivered an incredible race today, and his last attack on Jenson [Button] was quite exceptional. Starting from the pit lane and finishing on the podium was something we could only dream of before the race. For Mark, unfortunately, after a less than ideal start, he was involved in an incident with Maldonado, which spun him around and cost him time while he was closing in on Fernando Alonso. He made a good recovery, and we scored our pit stop, which was the fastest of the day and brought him out ahead of Maldonado, whom he was battling at that moment. And then, as he got closer to the cars in front, an incident with Pérez, Grosjean, and di Resta left him with nowhere to go and unfortunately, he was the victim of their actions. However, we leave with important points for the Constructors’ and Drivers’ championships today, and everything is still at stake for the next two weeks.

– Lire les déclarations des pilotes

McLaren

Jenson Button – 4th

Lewis Hamilton – Retirement [Fuel pressure]

Martin Whitmarsh, Team Director: From a pure pace perspective, Lewis totally dominated the 2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix weekend – until the fuel pressure loss ended his race while he was serenely managing a comfortable lead.

Until that moment, he had the race in the bag, and it goes without saying that the entire Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team is really disappointed that, without any mistake on his part, he couldn’t win here today. Lewis, too, is really disappointed, which is understandable – but he is overflowing with enthusiasm at the thought of giving his best to win the last two Grand Prix of the year, in Austin and Sao Paulo.

Jenson also put in a courageous and energetic race, finishing 4th, being overtaken by Seb [Vettel] at the end, who had fresher tires [than Button] and whose car had its gear ratios modified before the race for better top speed.

For Kimi, who is obviously one of our old friends, having won nine Grand Prix for McLaren Mercedes during his time with us [between 2002 and 2006, editor’s note], I want to say “Well done.” Today, we saw a magnificent drive from a magnificent driver.

Finally, here are two new milestones achieved by the McLaren team. Firstly, before Lewis’s race ended on the twentieth lap, he placed the number of kilometers spent by a McLaren leading World Championship Grand Prix beyond the 50,000-kilometer mark. And secondly, by scoring 12 points thanks to his 4th place, Jenson set a new record in Formula 1: 56 Grand Prix in the points, ongoing series, for Vodafone McLaren Mercedes, surpassing the previous record that was held until now by Ferrari.

None of these two statistics provides comfort today within the team, but they clearly demonstrate a truly impressive and ongoing major achievement for McLaren in Formula 1, dating back to 1966, and I salute all the men and women whose remarkable efforts have contributed to this.

Next time, we are going to Austin, a new venue for our sport. Lewis won the last United States Grand Prix – in Indianapolis in 2007 – and you can be sure that he, Jenson, and everyone in our team will aim to secure a second consecutive victory in the United States Grand Prix for McLaren.

– Lire les déclarations des pilotes

Williams

Pastor Maldonado – 5th

Bruno Senna – 8th

Mark Gillan, Chief Operations Engineer: « Although we are very happy to have brought both cars into the points, we know we could achieve a better result. Pastor lost KERS during the race, which made him vulnerable to attacks from the chasing group. He stayed focused and pushed hard to maintain the gap on Kobayashi, finishing in a hard-earned fifth place. Bruno also had a good race after a major contact with Hülkenberg. He also had to carve his way through the pack to finish in eighth place. Both drivers collected a total of 14 points, which are valuable for the team. We are now heading to Austin eager to capitalize on our current momentum. »

– Lire les déclarations des pilotes

Sauber

Kamui Kobayashi – 6th

Sergio Pérez – 15th

Monisha Kaltenborn, Team Principal: « I am very happy because these points are extremely valuable for us in the constructors’ championship and they allow us to fight for a better position. Kamui delivered a fantastic performance despite his issues [with downshifting, editor’s note]. With Sergio, it was unfortunate because we were in a position to score a lot of points today, but, nonetheless, we are now looking ahead to the next two races where we will have to do everything we can to fight. »

– Lire les déclarations des pilotes

Force India

Paul di Resta – 9th

Nico Hülkenberg – Abandon [Collision]

Robert Fernley, Deputy Director of the team: « It has been a chaotic Abu Dhabi Grand Prix with many incidents. Nico was unlucky at the start, and it looks like a typical first-lap incident with too many cars and not enough space. Paul also got caught up in this incident and suffered a puncture on the right rear, dropping him to the back of the field. From there, it was about damage limitation, and Paul drove beautifully to climb back and score a few points. He fought hard and was unlucky not to finish higher. As for the constructors’ championship, our two main rivals, Sauber and Williams, both scored points today. Sauber has a 29-point lead over us, and we have a 22-point lead over Williams. It is clear the battle will be tight, but we will keep fighting until the last lap in Brazil. »

– Lire les déclarations des pilotes

Toro Rosso

Daniel Ricciardo – 10th

Jean-Eric Vergne – 12th

Franz Tost, Team Principal: Both our drivers had a good start, each gaining five positions compared to their grid position, partly due to an accident on the first lap. From there, both did a good job, and the team’s strategic choices worked well, maximizing the safety car appearances by bringing in Vergne during the first and Ricciardo during the second.

In the end, we scored a point with Daniel, who managed to pass his teammate as he was on a fresher set of tires in the closing laps, and “JEV” was not too far behind under the checkered flag. It’s good to score another point, as it means we’ve finished in the Top 10 in 5 of the last 7 races. It’s particularly rewarding since it’s like a second home race for us, with many of our major sponsors coming here to see our strong performances at the end of what has been a tough weekend.

– Lire les déclarations des pilotes

Mercedes

Michael Schumacher – 11th

Nico Rosberg – Retirement [Collision]

Ross Brawn, Team Director: « We had a reasonable car here, so it’s disappointing not to score any points. Nico’s front wing was damaged on the first lap, which caused an early stop, but he was running well afterward. His crash on the 7th lap was quite dramatic, and we obviously need to look more closely at what happened. Karthikeyan mentioned an issue with his car, and it certainly seemed unusual. Fortunately, both drivers were fine afterward. Michael produced a good race and we had a good strategy, but unfortunately, he was a victim of a puncture due to debris from many accidents, which made the end of his race difficult. The dice are not rolling in our favor at the moment, but the positive is that the car was better this weekend, so we just need to keep working hard. »

– Lire les déclarations des pilotes

Caterham

Heikki Kovalainen – 13th

Vitaly Petrov – 16th

Caterham did not release the statements from the team officials.

– Lire les déclarations des pilotes

Marussia

Timo Glock – 14th

Charles Pic – Withdrawn [Engine air system]

John Booth, Team Director: « It was an exhilarating race from start to finish, even though in the last 10 laps, we really felt the pressure. There was nothing we could do with the retirements ahead of us, so we just had to focus on our own race with Caterham. Seeing Timo pull away from Petrov, and Charles attack him very hard, gave us encouragement for the last two races.

It’s disappointing that Timo lost the left part of his front wing on the first lap, because I believe he could have been much closer to Heikki [Kovalainen] if that hadn’t been the case.

Our performance in the first sector was good throughout the weekend, and clearly losing this part penalized us and allowed Heikki to escape. The engineers faced a dilemma on whether to change the wing or not, but in the end, the loss due to a longer pit stop forced us to rely on Timo to manage the problem, which he did brilliantly.

For Charles, unfortunately, another retirement due to a problem with the engine’s air system. We are sorry that he is bearing the brunt of these issues this year; however, the engine we will use for the last two races has not shown such signs.

Today reminded us that 10th place (in the constructors’) is far from secured – we must keep fighting for it. However, throughout the weekend, we’ve shown how hard we’re fighting, and given the small pace difference between Caterham and us, I’m convinced we will have great battles by the end of the season.

– Lire les déclarations des pilotes

HRT

Pedro de la Rosa – 17th

Narain Karthikeyan – Abandon [Collision]

Luis Pérez-Sala, Team Director: I would have liked both cars to finish the race, but an unfortunate mechanical failure caused Narain to lose steering at the worst moment and collide with Rosberg. Fortunately, both of them came out of it unscathed, and we have nothing more to regret. Pedro had a good race and managed to finish after coming close in the last two races. Now, we must look straight ahead and prepare for the last two races to finish in the best possible way.

– Lire les déclarations des pilotes