Fernando Alonso, Renault (1st):
“This is a fantastic result - my first podium of the season; my first victory and I’m very happy, although I think it will take several days for me to realise what we have achieved. Wining a Grand Prix here just seemed to be impossible because we missed our chance yesterday in qualifying, but we were very fortunate today and it’s a superb result for the team. We chose a very aggressive strategy and we had a bit of luck, but we had the pace and the car was fantastic throughout the weekend.”
Nico Rosberg, Williams (2nd):
“It was a race of so many ups and downs for me. It started badly as I ended up behind a heavy Jarno Trulli and I absolutely had to get by him to allow my strategy to work. It was quite a hairy moment getting past because it is so bumpy to outbrake at Turn Seven and I couldn’t get close at Turn One, the only two places where overtaking is possible. Anyway, having eventually cleared him, I couldn’t believe it when I saw that the safety car had come out just after the team had called me in for my stop and I thought that’s the end of it. Before my stop-go penalty, I just had to push like mad and do qualifying lap after qualifying lap and I managed to build enough of a gap to complete my second stop and hold on to second place. With a handful or laps to go in the most physical race this year and a car in your mirrors, time goes amazingly slowly, but for once everything went our way. I think Frank will have to wear his lucky tartan trousers again!”
Lewis Hamilton, McLaren (3rd):
“A positive end to a difficult weekend at this fantastic new venue. I started well, but then my rear tyres faded and, although we had good pace, I wasn’t in a position to challenge Felipe ahead of me. During my first pit stop I lost a bit of time because everybody came in due to the Safety Car period. After that I was unfortunately stuck behind David and although I was clearly faster it was really difficult to overtake him. After the second re-start, I tried to stay as close as possible behind Nico; however, I didn’t want to take chances - particularly as the Ferraris were outside the points. Also, this is not a track where overtaking is easy. The first night race in Formula 1 history was great fun, and I now look forward to the forthcoming double-header in Japan and China.”
Timo Glock, Toyota (4th):
“I am happy with the job I did; I made no mistakes and fourth is a good result. It was quite tough out there in these conditions and with such a bumpy track the car was not very comfortable to drive; I am sure I will feel the effects tomorrow. My goal at the beginning of the year was to score 20 points this season so I am very satisfied to achieve that with three races still to go. However, I am fighting for the team to help them finish fourth in the constructors’ championship and we were a bit unlucky with that today, but congratulations to Fernando, who did a great job. Now we will go to Fuji and aim to recover the lost ground.”
Sebastian Vettel, Toro Rosso (5th):
“Overall, this was a good race for us, even if the Safety Car didn’t help. It was a difficult race for everyone, but the important thing is we have scored some more points. The hardest elements in the race were dealing with the heat and concentrating not to make any mistakes, as it could be very easy to clip a kerb. I tried to keep the car on track but still push like crazy. It was one of the toughest races of the season, but I think with everything that happened, this was the best result we could get. Maybe fourth might have been possible if I hadn’t lost a place to Timo (Glock) when I missed a braking point, but we can be happy with this fifth place.”
Nick Heidfeld, BMW Sauber (6th):
“Although I shouldn’t complain about finishing sixth when I came from ninth, I must say it is such a shame I couldn’t show my pace today. The car was so good and I could have gone a lot faster if I hadn’t been stuck in traffic all the time. I was even saving fuel and tyres because I hoped the others would kill their tyres and I could attack later. I think some did ruin their rubber, but still this wasn’t enough of an advantage to overtake. I had a good start during which I managed to pass Nico Rosberg. However, because of how the race turned out for me I hardly sweated at all.”
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