Abu Dhabi: The Race Seen from the Pits

Red Bull

Sebastian Vettel – 1st

Mark Webber – 2nd

Christian Horner, Team Principal: An incredible team performance today. Sebastian was truly dominant, and he amazed us all once again with the level of performance he reached this year, followed by a very fine drive from Mark to secure our third one-two finish of the season. At no point did Sebastian seem threatened, and Mark, after falling behind Nico at the start, executed a great overtaking maneuver to regain second place. From there, it was a matter of managing until the checkered flag. Securing this result at one of the most prestigious Grand Prix adds to the enjoyment of the season and, with two races remaining, we will attack to try to repeat what has been a perfect performance.

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Mercedes

Nico Rosberg – 3rd

Lewis Hamilton – 7th

Ross Brawn, Team Director: « Nico had a great race this afternoon. Unfortunately, we still didn’t have the car necessary to compete with Red Bull, but he combined a superb performance with a good strategy. It was a perfect race for him: he was able to give the maximum we could achieve today.

Lewis got entangled with other drivers after his first stop and later felt it was impossible to overtake in the traffic. He spent most of his race behind slower cars, unable to demonstrate his real speed. This is an issue we need to delve into to find a more effective compromise, as there’s little point in having a fast car if we can’t use that quality during the race. Nevertheless, he managed to collect valuable points with this seventh place, which further strengthened our position in the championship.

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Lotus

Romain Grosjean – 4th

Kimi Räikkönen – Retirement

Eric Boullier, Team Principal: It was a difficult weekend for the team, but we can be pleased that our car has once again proven to be competitive on a different new track. After the setback of his penalty in qualifying, we knew it would be a tough race for Kimi. Starting at the back with a faster car puts you in a challenging position, and in the end, it was once again bad luck that he had to retire on the first lap; for the first time since 2006, I believe. Romain delivered a very mature race to ultimately miss out on a 4th consecutive podium which, on another day, without the issues faced in qualifying, would have certainly been possible. We have work to do if we want to achieve our goal with the 3rd place in the Constructors’ Championship, so our focus must shift to the podium in Austin.

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Ferrari

Fernando Alonso – 5th

Felipe Massa – 8th

Stefano Domenicali, Team Principal: Given our starting positions, the outcome of this race is positive, and we leave Abu Dhabi knowing that we have limited the damage. We knew we had a tough weekend ahead of us, and we paid the price for our qualifying results yesterday. Despite everything, I am delighted with the performances of Felipe and Fernando because both gave it their all on a track that is hostile to us. Given the situation, we could have finished much farther behind Mercedes in the constructors’ standings, and we even managed to pull away a bit from Lotus and limit the points lost for second place. Now, we must approach the final two rounds of the season, both raced in different conditions and on very different circuits. Our motivation remains high, and we will try to make the current car perform as well as possible.

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Force India

Paul di Resta – 6th

Adrian Sutil – 10th

Robert Fernley, Deputy Team Principal: « The whole team can feel proud of today’s result, which ideally positions us for the remaining races. With nine points scored, the 6th place in the [constructors] championship seems increasingly realistic and we are only 18 points away from 5th place. Despite limited running time during Friday practice, we were confident in our one-stop strategy, just like last weekend in India. Paul and Adrian had flawless races, saving their tires when needed and showing very good pace throughout. It’s a true reward to see the progress made in the recent races, which is the result of hard work behind the scenes. We have kept our heads down, worked hard, and it is starting to show. We look forward to Austin with optimism and hope to build on our performance from the last two races. »

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McLaren

Sergio Pérez – 9th

Jenson Button – 12th

Martin Whitmarsh, Team Principal: It’s unfortunate for Checo that he spent much of the race stuck behind slower cars. Although he showed his fighting spirit at the end by passing Adrian [Sutil] for ninth place, it’s ultimately a disappointing result. Jenson was unlucky to suffer damage to the front early in the race, following contact with another car, leading to an unscheduled pit stop. However, afterward, he did an exceptional job of managing his tires to the end of the race. He could undoubtedly have finished very strongly and thus scored points for the world championship. But that’s racing! We will soon head to Austin, where we hope Formula 1 will once again put on a show in a region full of motorsport fans.

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Williams

Pastor Maldonado – 11th

Valtteri Bottas – 15th

Xevi Pujolar, Chief Race Engineer: Pastor got off to a good start on the softs, which put him in a good position at the end of the first lap. We had planned a two-stop strategy with a short first stint before switching him to mediums. When everyone around us started stopping, we were in a good position during the second stint, but we wanted to stop to put the last set of mediums on as soon as possible. Unfortunately, we were a bit limited with our stops once again, due to our reviewed procedures to ensure safety, so we couldn’t overtake anyone as we hoped. The pace of the cars that only made one stop didn’t drop as expected at the end, so even though we were close, we didn’t manage to get into the points today. Valtteri struggled to warm up the mediums at the start, so he lost out on the first lap, and his first stint was compromised. We thought about making just one stop, but ultimately we stuck with our strategy, hoping to attack with fresh softs in the final laps. With his stops also compromised, we weren’t close enough in the last stint, but overall it was a good performance from both our drivers.

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Sauber

Esteban Gutiérrez – 13th

Nico Hülkenberg – 14th

Monisha Kaltenborn, Team Principal: « We are not satisfied with such a result, as the opportunity to score points was really there. The car’s performance today was very different from the rest of the weekend and it’s not the first time this has happened. So we are going to analyze all this. Nico’s drive-through didn’t help the race either, and Esteban’s start from 16th position complicated our task. Thus, the end of the season is not easy, but we expect to be more competitive again for the next two races. »

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Toro Rosso

Daniel Ricciardo – 16th

Jean-Eric Vergne – 17th

Franz Tost, Team Principal: « A very frustrating evening given our aspirations after a promising Saturday. We were ready to be flexible with the strategy, between one or two stops, depending on tire degradation and track improvement during the race. In JEV’s case, he got a good start and was doing well with new softs, and our original plan was to make two stops. We brought him in on lap 17 to fit mediums, and for a moment it seemed like his pace was enough to go the distance. Then, with 8 laps remaining, his tires dropped off very quickly. We had many cars behind who could take advantage of this. It was a gamble that didn’t pay off, but in those circumstances, JEV delivered a very good race. For Daniel, his race was compromised right from the start because he was slow to get away for reasons we need to analyze, and he then lost more places on the first lap. Being in traffic with worn softs, we decided to bring him in and make two stops, putting on new mediums, but he was not able to climb back up the order. Very disappointing for a Grand Prix where we really wanted to do well. »

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Caterham

Giedo Van der Garde – 18th

Charles Pic – 19th

Caterham has not published statements from team representatives.

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Marussia

Jules Bianchi – 20th

Max Chilton – 21st

John Booth, Team Director: « A very disappointing race for us today and it is clear that we have regressed in terms of pace compared to qualifying and where we were in India. We will need to analyze the race in detail to understand why, especially if you take into account our good performance in qualifying yesterday. During the race, both our drivers reported a precarious balance, and I am convinced that this must be our primary objective by Austin. On a positive note, we saw good starts once again this week, both our cars are reliable, and we resolved the issues encountered yesterday. We leave Abu Dhabi with a lot of work to do, but we will be back strong in two weeks. »

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To learn more about Romain Grosjean and his season preparation /f1/actualite/16506-dimanche-une-course-parfaite-pour-vettel-et-red-bull.html: