BRITISH GRAND PRIX
SILVERSTONE
SATURDAY DRIVER QUOTES
29 JUNE 2013
Infiniti Red Bull Racing
Sebastian Vettel
“We will see what happens tomorrow. It’s a long race, but I’m happy with today. Either Lewis found a
short cut or he has something special round here, it was a phenomenal lap and he wasn’t in reach
today. I was very happy with the lap I did at the end, it was very close with Mark also. We did what we
could for the team and it’s always nice to position well in qualifying, especially around here – qualifying
is good fun and I’m enjoying the high speed corners. We’ll see how we get on with the tyres tomorrow
and with looking after them. I’m happy for the team today, our factory is very close to this track, so I’m
looking forward to tomorrow.”
Mark Webber
“We were up against it to get on the front row against the Mercs, they’re on another level as they have
been for the last few events. It was disappointing to get pipped by Seb there at the end by a hundredth,
it was very close. I was happy with the first part of my lap, but I could have done better in the last
sector. We have a good balance for qualifying and race pace in terms of where we prioritised things. It
should be an interesting race, we can get a good result from there.”
Scuderia Ferrari
Fernando Alonso
“This weekend has been complicated for us by problems that we haven’t managed to get on top of,
concerning various aspects such as the balance of the car, its driveability and performance. We can
consider this the worst Saturday of the season so far, having never finished so far down, but now we
must react immediately to try and return to the form we showed at the start of the year. We definitely
expected a lot more here, because this is a track that suits our car’s characteristics better than others.
In Q3, we hesitated a bit over tyre choice: we went out on the Hards because they had worked well in
free practice this morning and in Q1. Then we switched to Medium with the idea of just coming back to
the pits if it did not go well but then we decided to finish the lap and nevertheless our rivals were
quicker. Now, we must try to do the same, starting from tomorrow: even if the race will be an uphill
struggle we are well aware how things can change during a race. We hope we can stage a good climb
up the order and bring home as many points as possible”.
Felipe Massa
“It was an extremely difficult day as we did not have the car we were expecting and we had no grip
whatsoever with new tyres. Compared to other cars, we struggled to put together a good lap. The
time lost when I went off the track yesterday and the interruption this morning to change the engine
definitely cost me valuable kilometres and in qualifying I lacked the few tenths necessary to make it
through to Q3. Now we must think about tomorrow, as the race is an altogether different matter and I
hope that, with a full fuel load and higher temperatures, things can change in our favour. If the car is
more competitive, I’m sure I can pull off a few passing moves and fight for a good result”.
Vodafone McLaren Mercedes
Jenson Button
“I’m higher on the grid than I expected after practice. Yesterday, I didn’t think we’d qualify ahead of one
Ferrari and just behind the two Lotuses. But I was much happier in qualifying than I’d been all weekend
– we should be positive that we’ve improved the car. I think 11th was the best we could have
realistically achieved today. Even if we’d got into Q3, we’d probably have been 10th; so starting 11th
means I’ll have a new set of tyres and will start from the clean side of the grid. After Q2 I walked down
the pitlane to the FIA scales, waving to the crowd. There were so many Union Jacks and rocket-red
caps out there, and the fans have been unbelievably supportive all weekend. You always want to do a
good job in front of your home crowd, so I want to say a big ‘thank-you’ to them for their support. You
never know what will happen tomorrow: starting 11th isn’t great, but we can race well from there. I will
drive my heart out for a good result.”
Sergio Perez
“It’s been a difficult day. The puncture in FP3 wasn’t the best preparation for qualifying – and it made it
more difficult, because we had to change the damaged floor for the older-spec version. This afternoon,
I struggled a little with the warm-up of my tyres during Q2; I lost temperature when I was stopped and
weighed at the FIA scales. We’ve been a bit unlucky all day. Still, we were a lot closer today than we
were yesterday. Even if it’s not apparent, we’ve definitely made some improvements, and I think we
might have had the potential to slip into Q3 if we’d been a little bit luckier. Our race pace should be
better than our qualifying pace. Tomorrow is still going to be difficult, but I’m positive we can go
forwards from here.”
Lotus F1 Team
Kimi Räikkönen
“It was a close qualifying session between both of the team’s cars so I think we both got pretty much all
there was from the car today. It’s not ideal as we’d like to be nearer the front of the grid, but it is what it
is. We’ll go into the race wanting to get a better result than we did in qualifying. Usually this is what
happens for us and and hopefully that is the case again tomorrow.”
Romain Grosjean
“Whilst were very quick on the hard tyres at the beginning of qualifying, we weren’t as competitive on
the mediums, I don’t know if it’s the weather or something else, but we weren’t as good on them as in
free practice this morning meaning we didn’t have enough to qualify further up the grid. We are working
hard and in the right direction, but the tyres are still playing a key part. I’m quite satisfied with my
performance today.”
Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team
Lewis Hamilton
“It feels incredible to be on pole, just like it did back in 2007. We have the greatest Formula One fans
in the world here in Britain and there was a great turnout today, which makes the atmosphere so
special. My lap in Q3 was a lap for the fans out there around the circuit. I haven’t been feeling
comfortable in the car all weekend, so I was really happy to find a good lap and this feels fantastic.
The team has done a phenomenal job and it’s a great reward for the guys here at the track but also
back at base, especially as our two factories are so close to the track. But we know that tomorrow is
another day and our Sunday performance isn’t quite as strong right now. Our long run pace looked
ok yesterday and we were able to manage the tyres quite well. It’s going to be tough to keep Seb
behind but we will give it everything we’ve got.”
Nico Rosberg
“A fantastic team result today and it’s great to see how much progress we have made together since
last year. The feeling of confidence that our car will be quick in qualifying is fantastic and I love going
to a race knowing that we have a shot of a strong grid position. The team are doing a great job and
we are keeping up the development so a big thank you to everyone at the factories, many of whom
are here today watching. My lap was good and starting from the front row is great but Lewis did a
fantastic job today. I hope we have improved our race pace; it will be all about tyre management
tomorrow and keeping the others behind us. I’m confident that we can get a good result.”
Sauber F1 Team
Nico Hülkenberg
“Unfortunately P15 is reality. It was more or less the best we could do today. The car was difficult to
drive, especially at high speed with a little bit of wind the car is very sensitive. We are simply not quick
enough. Of course, a lot can happen during the race tomorrow, and maybe a bit of English rain would
help us. But I think points will be difficult, then again you should never say never.”
Esteban Gutiérrez
“Compared to the practice sessions yesterday, I think we made a step forward, but it’s tricky because
we find ourselves in a position where everything is on the limit. What ever we do there is always a
compromise to it, which is challenging. It seems I am loosing a lot of time at the exit of the corners, and
this is tricky, because that is usually when I try to push and get things right. I believe I did my best with
overall good and consistent laps. But it is just not quick enough. This is something we have to evaluate
and see what we can do to be better in order to progress.”
Sahara Force India Formula 1 Team
Paul Di Resta
“I’m over the moon with the qualifying result and I think the whole team can feel very satisfied with fifth
on the grid. The morning practice session was quite difficult so it feels great to come through and end
up just behind two Mercedes and two Red Bulls. This track takes a lot of commitment and you need to
build up your speed, but I think we saved our best till last – and that’s when it mattered. For tomorrow
our tyre wear looks healthy and we’ve given ourselves a good opportunity to get in some clean air
during the race. I will sleep well tonight and hope that we can have a straightforward race, and come
away with lots of points.”
Adrian Sutil
“Seventh place is a great result today. The car was not easy to drive this morning, but we made some
improvements before qualifying and found more speed with each session. If we can do our homework
tonight then we have the potential to have a great race. There are still some unknowns with the tyres
over long runs because I haven’t really done more than ten laps on a set of tyres, but I feel comfortable
on both compounds. So we can be happy with the result, but we need to concentrate on tomorrow
because that’s what counts. In terms of strategy we need to keep an open mind and have several
options going into the race so that we can react as the race develops.”
Williams F1 Team
Pastor Maldonado
“We were expecting to be a bit closer to the top ten today, but we were struggling to put everything
together in the car for one lap. Hopefully tomorrow we can work on our race pace and fight with the
teams around us to move up a few positions. We need to keep improving as a team because we’re
not where we want to be still, but race by race we are aiming to close the gap.”
Valtteri Bottas
“We were unlucky to miss out on Q2 today as I was very close to my teammate and we could have
both made it through. There are always things you can do better during a lap but we didn’t have the
pace to be in the top ten today so we need to do everything we can to get closer. We will look at our
strategy going into tomorrow and try to maximise our potential for the race.”
Scuderia Toro Rosso
Daniel Ricciardo
“Coming off the back of a bad couple of races, I expected to be strong here and I was more motivated
than ever. However, if I’d been told I could be sixth this afternoon, I would have been surprised. We
were very close to Di Resta in fifth, but we can be happy with this position. We showed good pace all
weekend, including this morning when I was sixth, so it was nice to confirm that this afternoon. Now I
am looking forward to the race when I hope I can come away with a good handful of points. I’d like to
think I could finish at least in the same place I am starting from. It would be nice to do even better and I
will be pushing hard to achieve that. I believe it will be a few degrees warmer tomorrow, which could
make the track conditions change quite a lot. This is a very demanding circuit with lots of high speed
corners, so the tyres don’t get much of a rest, therefore tyre wear will be an important factor tomorrow.”
Jean-Éric Vergne
“I made a mistake on my quick lap in Q2 and that’s the plain fact and I’m very upset about it, as it lost
me the chance to get into Q3 which was definitely possible. As to what happened when I got it wrong, I
am not exactly sure what was the reason: maybe I was too close to Vettel in front of me, but I felt I lost
downforce and then just went straight on. Anyway, I am not looking for excuses. The car was working
well, as it has done all weekend, so now I must make up for it in the race tomorrow. Looking at Daniel’s
performance this afternoon, it’s a good sign as it shows the car is quick and we will have something to
work with tomorrow afternoon. I think it’s still feasible to have a good race tomorrow and to bring home
points.”
Caterham F1 Team
Charles Pic
“The final lap in quali is one of my best laps of the year so far so I’m very pleased with how today’s
gone. We made some good progress in FP3 with the balance and that carried over to qualifying, and
breaking into the 1.33s and finishing ahead of the Marussias was about as much as we aimed for
today, so it’s gone to plan. It changes from race to race but it does look like we have a small
advantage over our nearest rivals this weekend, but having seen good race pace all year I’d like to
think we’ll be fighting with a couple of cars ahead as well in the race tomorrow. We’ve been close to
the Williams cars this year in a few races so with a good start, decent deg levels and no reliability
issues tomorrow could be a good day.”
Giedo van der Garde
“It’s been an interesting day as we ran a different plan to the normal FP3 and then did just the one
run in quali. It’s finally dry so we used some of FP3 for aero evaluation and then switched to race
prep, bearing in mind the penalty from the last race which meant we knew pretty much where we’d
end up in quali. We worked a lot on managing the tyre degradation, not really looking at quali at all
but we still ended up beating one of the Marussia cars in quali which was a bonus, but really today’s
all been about getting ready for Sunday. I think we’re in pretty good shape now and after the work we
did today the degradation levels look manageable, even with the warmer track conditions we had
today and which it looks like we’ll have tomorrow, and we have a good setup for the race so let’s see
what happens.”
Marussia F1 Team
Jules Bianchi
“It’s good to have one Caterham behind us but less good to have one ahead. In the short space of time
that we have had to work on our dry set-up, I don’t think we are quite there yet, so we’ll be spending the
time we have now to see what we can do to give us the best chance for tomorrow.”
Max Chilton
“Today was a challenging day. We had some work to do this morning trying to get the balance right and
it felt like we had made a good step forward, but so did everyone else. We still have quite a bit of work
to do but our race pace yesterday looked more promising, so that’s what we’ll focus on now. We’ll do
what we can to have a better race tomorrow.”
