Nico Rosberg
That was a perfect race for me. The start was tricky, as I was on the dirty side of the grid and Vettel managed
to be ahead. He did a really good job at the start – but we chose the perfect strategy by going onto the
medium tyre after the red flag. A big thanks to the team on the pit wall for that, to everyone back at the
factories for this fantastic car and to everyone back in Europe who woke up so early to tune in for the race. I
hope it was a good show for you! We can enjoy this moment for sure – but we know now just how strong
those red cars will be this season, so we cannot afford to relax. I’m really looking forward to the next races
and hopefully some more exciting battles. Finally, I also have to say it was a big relief to see Fernando walk
away from his shunt. It shows how incredible the safety of these cars is now, which is great to see.
Lewis Hamilton
I’d had a perfect weekend in every way up until the lights went out and felt confident heading into the race. I
got a bit of wheelspin off the line then got pushed wide at the first corner, so from there it was just about
recovering. But these things happen and I’m grateful for the way I was able to fight back through. P2 isn’t bad
in terms of damage limitation after a start like that. I spent a long time stuck behind one of the Toro Rossos
and there wasn’t a lot I could do about it as he was on a quicker tyre. I could just see the others pulling away,
so the safety car definitely helped by bunching us all up again. I was already on a one-stop strategy and, to
be honest, I don’t know why everyone else didn’t do the same on the medium. I’m happy they didn’t, as I
probably would have finished a lot further back. In any case, the team did a great job to help us pull it back
and there’s still 20 races to go, so I’m feeling pretty chilled. I’ve had far worse starts to the season, so I’ll take
that today and head into the next one looking up.
Toto Wolff, Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport
First of all, a big relief to see Fernando walk away from that shunt. The race itself was extremely tense
throughout – a real cliffhanger and a great way to show what Formula One is really about. We didn’t get it
right at the start. The drivers were slow away from the line then touched at the first corner, so we were forced
into recovery mode. Our plan from there had been to put Nico on a two stop and Lewis a one stop strategy
before the red flag came out. We did the maths and opted to go with one set of mediums to the end, with the
drivers on the knife edge of endurance and performance. Managing tyres and temperatures became a big
challenge, with debris causing an overheating brake caliper that almost forced us to retire Nico at one stage.
Thankfully that was not the case and he led Lewis home for a hard-fought 1-2. A perfect result to start the
year, a great job from the drivers to manage and recover the race, fantastic work on the pit wall to give them
the right strategy to do so and an incredible team effort from everybody at the factories to get us here. We
must now sort our starts and look to carry out momentum into Bahrain.
Paddy Lowe, Executive Director (Technical)
What can you say after a race like that? Absolutely fantastic to get a 1-2 at the first race of the season –
particularly after we made life very difficult for ourselves with a pair of poor starts. After the red flag we opted to
run the medium tyre to the end and expected others to do the same – which would have made the win a very
big ask, let alone a 1-2. Of course, we can look back and enjoy it now – but it was quite stressful at the time!
It made for a great spectacle, so I hope the fans enjoyed it. Overall, we can be extremely happy today.
Congratulations to everyone back at Brackley, Brixworth and Stuttgart. Together, they’ve produced a car
which has given us the perfect start to the season in very exciting circumstances.
Maurizio Arrivabene
”Our pace was good in the first part of the Grand Prix, before the race was red-flagged, but we shouldn’t use it
as an excuse. This only show that you shouldn’t count your chickens before they’re hatched. Today’s race
should serve as a lesson to us to push even harder, with even more humility and dedication, starting already
at the next race in Bahrain.”
Sebastian Vettel
“I obviously had a great start, I was very happy to see that I had a better start than the two cars in front of me,
reminding me of Hungary last year and it worked out. It was great to see that Kimi made it as well, so we got
first and second and from there we dictated the pace. The red flag didn’t help us, but to be fair the most
important thing was that Fernando and Esteban were alright. It was the right decision to stop the race. First
time I went through I saw the debris on the track. Naturally the expectations are higher when you had a strong
season last year and you wanted to close the gap. Yesterday we were a bit further away and today we were
closer. In general it was a great race, I was racing flat out until to the end, I didn’t want to go onto the grass
but I did the lawn mower! So I don’t have to do it next week when I go home, but for sure we would have liked
more from today.”
Kimi Raikkonen
“Today we had a good first part of the race but at a certain point I lost power and had to retire. I don’t know
exactly what happened, I don’t think that the problem was related to the engine because it was still running. It
must have been something else. It’s a very unfortunate thing for the whole team. After the winter testing we
had a rough idea that we should be pretty ok, Saturday was a funny day, with very odd conditions and
circumstances, so we knew that the time difference in qualifying was not real. The car has been handling well,
it’s fast and I had a good feeling but obviously we need to finish the race. We still have some work to do.”
Kevin Magnussen
“We have a really good car; the pace is strong, as is the baseline set-up. It’s something we can continue to
work from and evolve to gain more performance. Today was pretty tough at the start as I was really gutted
about the puncture. I don’t think I had any contact so it was really unfortunate. You never want to see a red
flag incident, and it’s a positive statement that Fernando could walk away from that dramatic crash, but the
restart did benefit us. Our pace after the restart was very promising so I’m excited for the next races”.
Jolyon Palmer
“I think the team has done an incredible job this weekend to qualify in Q2 and then finishing the race in
eleventh and twelfth; it’s the maximum we could expect to achieve. It’s a good start, we were so close to
scoring points, and we can move forward from here. The race itself was busy but good fun; I absolutely loved
being wheel to wheel again after a year out of racing. It was great to be back in the fray and it all went pretty
smoothly for me. Happy days.”
Fred Vasseur, Racing Director
“Today was very encouraging for the team as we showed good race pace and a good base to build on. We
need to take a look at our qualifying pace to get us further up the grid and hopefully start to get some good
results as it would have been much better to score points today! Both Kevin and Jolyon did a very good job, it
was a shame to have Kevin suffer from a puncture but the rest of the afternoon went well, especially for a first
race.”
Bob Bell, Chief Technical Officer
“It was a very credible first race from the team with everyone gelling and performing at a high standard. We
had a trouble-free weekend, made the most out of the new qualifying format then the race was managed well
with the only upset being Kevin’s puncture. Both drivers drove well and the car even looked a little racier than
expected. We didn’t score points today but we weren’t far off. That’s definitely the next target.”
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