Japan: The Race Viewed from the Pits

Red Bull

Sebastian Vettel – 1st

Mark Webber – 2nd

Christian Horner, Team Principal: « It’s a fantastic result for the team to finish 1st and 2nd. It was an exciting race, decided by tire strategies. We split the strategies with three stops for Mark and two for Seb, based on our estimates of tire life on both cars. Both drivers managed to make it work to pass Romain Grosjean, particularly with bold maneuvers to get into the first corner. It’s a great result for the team and both championships and congratulations to Renault for their triple: 1st, 2nd, and 3rd on the podium ».

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Lotus

Romain Grosjean – 3rd

Kimi Räikkönen – 5th

Eric Boullier, Team Principal: « It was great to see such a fight on the track and our two cars fought well. Once again, our two drivers, strategists, and the mechanics team did a great job, and we did our best in the race. We didn’t have the pace to beat the Red Bull, but today we showed them that we are still strong while reminding Mercedes and Ferrari that we are in the fight for the last four races. We must say a big thank you to everyone at Enstone for the fantastic car we have in the E21. Seeing Romain at the front of the pack was very satisfying, and we hope to see that again soon. »

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Ferrari

Fernando Alonso – 4th

Felipe Massa – 10th

Stefano Domenicali, Team Principal: « The Suzuka weekend began with the sad news of Maria de Villota’s death, and our first thoughts are with her. Given the potential of our car, thanks to the team’s work on the track, we achieved a result that allows us to remain second in both championships, in line with our current objectives. With today’s 4th place, Fernando takes the lead in the highest number of points scored, proof of his extraordinary talent. It’s something that makes us very proud.

Until the penalty, Felipe was fighting for a top 5 and it’s really unfortunate that the penalty affected his race. He was not rewarded for his efforts. Today, the top three had a better pace than us, but the important thing now is that we do not let up: in the last four races, we have the obligation to show that Ferrari never stops fighting for the top places.

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Sauber

Nico Hülkenberg – 6th

Esteban Gutiérrez – 7th

Monisha Kaltenborn, Team Principal: « This is a fantastic result for us, especially for Peter’s birthday. We hope he is happy about it. Both drivers put on great battles once again. It’s further proof that we are heading in the right direction and it gives us a lot of confidence for the rest of the races as we can fight for quite a lot. Hats off to our two drivers and the team who did a great job at home and here. On behalf of the whole team, I wish a very happy 70th birthday to Peter Sauber. Over the past 43 years, motorsport has shaped his life. He established Sauber F1 Team in Formula One and the Sauber brand in motorsport. Sauber is the fourth oldest team in Formula One. Peter has been able to achieve all this from Switzerland, which, four decades ago, no one thought possible. He founded a motorsports team, brought it to the highest level of motorsports, and has been able to compete in Formula 1 for over 20 years. Sauber Motorsport is now a top-level technology center. Peter Sauber has always focused on the interests of the team. For this, he deserves the greatest gratitude and respect. »

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Mercedes

Nico Rosberg – 8th

Lewis Hamilton – retirement

Ross Brawn, Team Principal: « It was a difficult afternoon for us, which was frustrating because we had a good car today, and unfortunately, we didn’t have the opportunity to show it. Our lap times were competitive, and the tire life was good, but for various reasons, we didn’t have a good race. We suffered from Lewis’s puncture. By the time he got back to the pits, the damage was too significant for it to be worth continuing. With Nico, we had a problem at the pit stop, which resulted in a drive-through penalty. We are usually a cautious team in the pits, and I don’t really understand what happened, but we will conduct our investigations and make the necessary decisions. The team has worked very hard over the last two weeks, and I still believe we have the potential to finish the season in second place in the Constructors’ Championship, but we need to maximize the car’s potential in the four remaining races to achieve this goal. »

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McLaren

Jenson Button – 9th

Sergio Pérez – 15th

Martin Withmarsh, Team Director: « Today’s race was tough for our two drivers, but they showed solid character to overcome unfavorable circumstances throughout the 53 laps. Jenson got off to a good start but was involved in an incident at the first corner, losing several places, even though he was not at fault. As a result, he damaged his tires, causing significant vibrations, which we decided to manage by bringing him in for his first stop earlier than planned. His strategy changed from two stops to three, which is unfortunate, but he really drove a good race afterward, taking advantage of fresher tires than his rivals in his final stint, allowing him to make overtaking maneuvers and secure a well-deserved ninth place at the finish.

Checo got off to an excellent start, moving from eleventh to eighth place by the end of the first lap, and he was able to keep up with everyone except the top three during his first stint. Unfortunately, his first pit stop was compromised by the unsafe release of Nico’s Mercedes, causing him [Checo] to come out behind Esteban’s [Gutierrez] Sauber, where he lost a lot of time during the second stint, unable to overtake despite several bold attempts. Then, during his third stint, Checo suffered a rear-left tire puncture, yet another incident with Nico, which required an additional pit stop, taking him out of the points window. If that hadn’t happened, he would have scored points like Jenson.

Now, we head to New Delhi, where we hope to consolidate our fifth place in the constructors’ championship by taking advantage of a less hectic and more productive afternoon than we had today in Suzuka.

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Force India

Paul di Resta – 11th

Adrian Sutil – 14th

Robert Fernley, Deputy Team Principal: We hadn’t hidden the fact that Suzuka would be the most challenging track for us in the second half of the championship. So it wasn’t a surprise that it would be difficult to get into the points today. Paul didn’t finish far off, in 11th place, but his race strategy was compromised in the second stint when he got stuck behind Bottas. He eventually got past the Williams by pitting early for his tire change, but we didn’t have the pace to keep Button at bay and that cost us the final point. With Adrian, it’s the same story as he spent most of the race behind Maldonado and struggled with tire performance. It’s getting increasingly tough for us, but we remain motivated as we head to India for the team’s home race. The upcoming tracks should play more to our strengths and give us the chance to score points consistently again.

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Toro Rosso

Jean-Eric Vergne – 12th

Daniel Ricciardo – 13th

Franz Tost, Team Principal: Firstly, the mechanics should be congratulated for doing a great job rebuilding JEV’s car after yesterday’s fire. We were relatively flexible with our strategy today, opting for three stops for Jean-Eric since he had plenty of new tires. So that seemed like a reasonable choice while we aimed for a two-stop strategy for Daniel. As often happens in Suzuka, JEV got stuck in traffic after the start. We pitted him earlier, but a long stop put him back in the same place. After that, he drove very well in the middle of the race, overtaking cars. Daniel had a better start, gaining two places right away and getting out of traffic. After overtaking Sutil, he went wide into the gravel, losing time. However, the stewards decided he gained an advantage. Therefore, he had to go through the pits for a penalty, which cost him a top 10 finish.

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Williams

Pastor Maldonado – 16th

Valtteri Bottas – 17th

Xevi Pujolar, Chief Race Engineer: « It was a good start and a good first lap for both our drivers. We were battling with the Toro Rosso and Force India and aiming for a two-stop strategy. We stuck to this strategy but needed to be more aggressive in the second stint to keep them behind, so in the end, we didn’t succeed in holding them off. Our pace wasn’t sufficient, in fact. This circuit is tough on the tires, and the life of our tires was on the edge, so we couldn’t stop earlier or we would have risked not making it to the end of the race. Valtteri and Pastor finished the race fighting together, and while Valtteri was ahead for most of the race, Pastor managed to find his way through to pass in the final chicane on the last lap. »

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Caterham

Charles Pic – 18th

Giedo Van der Garde – retirement

Caterham did not publish statements from the team’s representatives.

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Marussia

Max Chilton – 19th

Jules Bianchi – retirement

John Booth, Team Principal: « It’s a disappointing weekend, especially given the encouraging signs seen in the car’s performance. Jules’ start was once again fantastic, allowing him to overtake Giedo van der Garde. If his race had continued, and he had lapped with the pace we saw during the long runs on Saturday morning, we feel it would have been a great demonstration. Max had a good race, and we managed his pace to ensure our two-stop strategy worked. Unfortunately, we struggled a bit more with the last set of hard tires, and he finished coasting, which allowed Charles Pic to pass. Overall, we have good reasons to feel encouraged by several elements of this weekend and will look forward to bringing some small developments for India, where I hope we hope to continue improving the car’s pace. »

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