Mark Webber (1st, Red Bull Racing):
“It s an incredible day. I wanted to win so badly after Silverstone, as I thought I had a good chance there, then after yesterday s pole I knew I was in a good position to try and win the race today. The only thing that I thought was going to test me was the rain, but even that held off. It was testing to get the victory today, I lost Rubens completely at the start; I thought he was gone a little bit to the left so I went to the right and banged into him. That s not normally my style and I got a drive-through penalty for that, so had to recover. My engineer kept me calm and I pushed as hard as I could when I needed to, so it s a great day. It was a difficult winter, Sebastian showed in winter testing what the car could do, so that kept my motivation very high when I was hurting a lot with all the rehab. I had great people around me to recover from all the injuries I had and the team have been incredibly patient with me as well. I want to thank Dietrich Mateschitz, Red Bull and everyone at Red Bull Racing for what they did for me over the winter, everyone in Australia who has supported me on the way through my career – and there are a few people that doubted me too, so hello to them as well. It s just an incredible day for all the people who have helped me get to where I am today.â€
Sebastian Vettel (2nd, Red Bull Racing):
“Congratulations to Mark, he was unbeatable today – he was quicker than all of us, so he totally deserved to win. I m very happy with the result and in the end it was a good recovery. It was quite a bad start and I had all the KERS cars around me – I got passed by both the McLarens and even Felipe (Massa). It was quite difficult to start fourth and go into the first corner in eighth or something. I then struggled a lot with the soft tyre in the first stint and was in a lot of traffic. I could have gone quicker, but there was no way to pass Felipe, as he always used the special button when I was quite close. Therefore I was lucky to have the right strategy, as that pulled us back to second position but Felipe didn t stop pushing, so it was hard until the end of the race. We had to fight, but it s another one-two finish for the team and I m happy. I d be lying if I said I m very pleased with second, as of course I wanted to win, but yesterday Mark did a better job and that s why today he totally deserves the win – it s a good fight between us, so I m looking forward to the next races.â€
Felipe Massa (3rd, Ferrari):
“It s been such a long time since I made it to the podium! I really wanted it after a very difficult first half of the season. Little bit little, we are improving and we will do all we can to get back to winning ways this season: I want to start hearing the Italian and Brazilian national anthems as soon as possible! A great start and the strategy were the keys to this result. In the first fifteen laps I was struggling to keep Vettel behind me, but than I think he too was also struggling a bit with the tyres. Maybe I could have managed to get one place higher, if we had brought the pit stop forward a bit, because I too was struggling with my tyres, but it’s easy to say these things with hindsight. Before the race however, I didn t think I d end up on the podium as a place in the top five already seemed a lot to ask. But then we saw that cars that in theory are quicker than us ended up behind us and so we realized we had a good chance. We have to continue in this direction.â€
Nico Rosberg (4th, Williams):
“It was a fantastic result for us today. As I started 15th, I honestly wasn t expecting too much but I took a few chances on the opening lap and finished it in ninth place! Although I had more fuel than anyone else, I kept pushing hard and that, together with a little luck that Heikki Kovalanien had created a bit of traffic jam behind him, helped for sure. I was also carrying a problem with the fuel system, so it was quite eventful and makes the race outcome even better. We are continually progressing with our car, our development is looking good and because of this our pace is right up there. I am looking forward to Hungary now, because I think it will be another race where we can have a good result.â€
Jenson Button (5th, Brawn GP):
“All points are valuable but my race started badly and didn’t get much better today. I had a poor start to drop back to fifth after the first turn and was able to get ahead of Massa at the start of the second lap but just couldn’t get past Kovalainen. His pace was way off what we could have achieved at that point of the race but there was just no way through. We struggled with graining and tyre degradation throughout with both tyres not working well for us. The problem with the fuel rig at Rubens’ second stop also affected my race as we were so close on the track and he was struggling with the prime tyre. So overall it has been a tough and disappointing day for the team. Congratulations to Mark on his first win and I’m really pleased for him as I know how good that feels. I just can’t wait to get to Hungary in two weeks where we will have new parts and hopefully warmer weather to take the fight to the Red Bulls.”
Rubens Barrichello (6th, Brawn GP):
“I had a great start today and was really pleased to have got ahead of Markdown into the first corner despite our collision. After leading on the first lap, it is of course hugely disappointing to have finished in sixth position. It was a combination of things really which are now very clear to me having spoken to the team. We didn’t have enough pace compared to the Red Bulls to win but the fuel rig problem at my second stop where we had to switch rigs probably cost me a place on the podium. That dropped me out behind Rosberg and the extra lap which Jenson had at our final stops was enough for him to get ahead of me. We’ll put this race behind and work really hard ahead to Hungary to try and catch up to the Red Bulls. Congratulations to Mark for his first win.”
Fernando Alonso (7th, Renault):
“It was a difficult race because my start was very poor and we lost quite a few positions before the first corner. After that, the race was tough and we were stuck in traffic, but the car has clearly improved as I set the fastest lap and scored some points. The most important thing I take from the weekend is that we are competitive and we can be optimistic for the races to come.”
Heikki Kovalainen (8th, Mclaren):
“If you d told me on Friday that I would score points today, I wouldn t have believed it. This weekend has been difficult – it s been hard to get the tyres working and to find grip, but we kept pushing throughout every session and things started to turn around. Qualifying went well and our KERS hybrid helped me to move from sixth to third at the start. From that point on, it was all about defending: I pushed the whole time and it was a hard way to earn points but we can be satisfied about it. KERS made my race today, no doubt about it, and I m now really looking forward to the Hungarian Grand Prix, when I ll get my hands on the full aero upgrade package for the first time. It s good for the whole team that we now seem to be moving forwards again.â€
Timo Glock (9th, Toyota):
“In general I am reasonably satisfied with my performance today because I started from the pit lane and finished ninth on a track where overtaking is very difficult. We had a good strategy after what happened in qualifying yesterday but unfortunately I had some traffic in the first stint which cost me time. I only had around four laps without traffic all day but when I had a clear track I was quick. If it wasn’t for the traffic I would have had a better chance at scoring points. On the last stint I was quicker than Kovalainen but I just couldn’t get past. I pushed really hard and tried to overtake twice but I couldn’t manage. But we need to qualify higher so we can fight at the front in the race and we will work on this for the next Grand Prix.”
Nick Heidfeld (10th, BMW Sauber):
“I am very disappointed because today we had the speed to score points, which obviously hasn t always been the case this year, but several things just went wrong. The start was good for the first few metres and I tried to improve my position, but Adrian Sutil s defending was very tough. Then the first stint wasn t easy with the heavy fuel load. But during the middle stint I was able to catch up until I lost some time behind slower cars, including that of Robert. Then I had bad luck at the pit stop, as we were ready to leave the pit, but then a Renault came in and I had to wait. It felt as if it took ages before the lollipop went up.â€
