Sun: McLaren, Ferrari, STR, Lotus

Editor 07 Sep 2014 7:05 PM

Jenson Button, Kimi Raikkonen and Kevin Magnussen all scored points in Sunday’s Italian GP while Daniil Kvyat missed out in 11th place…

McLaren:
Jenson Button: “This wasn’t the result I was after – but the was good fun nonetheless. It’s just a pity that we didn’t quite have the race pace we’d hoped for: when you start fifth and sixth, you’re not just looking for a points finish, you want a bit more than that. If we’d had a clear run, I think we could have done a bit better – but, in the traffic, it was easier for the cars around us to pick us off than it was for us to pick them off. I had an amazing battle with Checo – we took the first Lesmo side by side, which doesn’t happen very often. It’s a pity I couldn’t get past him – I tried so many times – but he was so strong under braking that to match him into the turns I was locking up the fronts and the rears, which left me struggling for position on the exits. But I was really on the limit. It was superb wheel-to-wheel action – I hope it was great entertainment for the spectators and fantastic TV for the fans at home.”

Kevin Magnussen: “I made a great start – I got up to second into the first corner – but I knew I wouldn’t be able to keep that position, and inevitably I fell back. Obviously, it was nice to be up at the front for a while, and disappointing that we couldn’t stay up there, but as I say I knew it wouldn’t last for ever. It’s unfortunate to come away from the weekend having only scored a single point. Okay, we’re not battling for the world championship, but we’re still fighting for crucial positions in the constructors’ championship, and the points we lost today would have been very useful from that point of view. It’s frustrating to get another penalty, of course it is, but we’ll analyse them and see what we can learn. Let’s see if we can do something different next time.”

Ferrari:
Kimi Raikkonen: “We knew this would be a difficult weekend and today in the race, we saw the proof of that. Overall, I was happy with the handling of the car and the balance was good, but we lacked speed down the straight and I didn’t have much grip. As soon as I got close to the cars ahead of me, I lost aerodynamic downforce and the car was sliding all over the place. I think I did the most I could today, even if unfortunately I was unable to get the result I would have wanted for our home race, for the team and all our fans. Now we must think of the upcoming races and continue to work nonstop, because we are coming up to tracks that should better suit the characteristics of our car.”

Fernando Alonso: “After a long run of trouble-free races, it’s a real shame I had to retire just here in Monza, in front of all our fans. I would have liked to have put on a very different race for them. In the first stint we were competitive, but when you find yourself in a group of cars where everyone is using DRS, overtaking becomes nearly impossible. After the pit stop, I found myself at the back of a train of cars and at that point we changed the strategy, deciding to drop back from the group to conserve the tyres and try and attack at the end of the race. But then came the problem with the ERS system. It’s never nice for the team to have a reliability problem, because the guys work night and day to give us the best car possible. What happened doesn’t change my will to win and in order to try and have that happen soon, we will continue to work as hard as we can, always giving our all.”

Toro Rosso:
Daniil Kvyat: “I feel disappointed with how my race ended. We had a brake disc failure I think, but I managed to hang on and bring the car home in P11. It’s a shame when you give it your hundred percent and you finish the race outside the points, but I’m very pleased with my race in general. Starting from the back is never easy, but I managed to overtake a few cars and get close to a points finish. We will now have a look at what exactly happened, before heading to the next race in Singapore.”

Jean-Eric Vergne: “From the beginning of the weekend our performance was not on the level where we would like to be. Even though we have been working very hard, session after session, to improve the car handling, I have been struggling for the whole race, making it very tough today. We will now have to analyse carefully what went wrong and hopefully we will come back stronger at the next race in Singapore.”

Lotus F1:
Romain Grosjean: “I had a dreadful start and was last by the first corner. I was on the hard tyres for the first stint and this made it difficult to fight back. I’m not sure what happened with Esteban [Gutierrez]. He was overtaking me, but then under braking he moved over on to me. My front wing was where he was trying to be so we touched. Not too much damage for me, but he had a puncture as a result. Certainly, I don’t think the tracks we will visit next will be as challenging for us as this one has been.”

Pastor Maldonado: “I made a good start and a strong first lap which gave me a better position than on the grid as I was able to get past the Saubers. From there I tried to attack the Toro Rosso ahead of me, but their configuration for the straights was too much to overcome. This meant we were running at a consistent pace without any fear from the cars behind, but equally without pace in the right place to attack the cars ahead. It was quite uneventful today but good to get to the finish line.”