Sunday Team Quotes

Mercedes GP

Lewis Hamilton (1st): "Best weekend of the whole year! I couldn't believe it started raining at the beginning of the race. I thought: "are you serious?" It makes it so much harder for everyone when that happens. I couldn't really see the safety car either. It was going really slowly and my rear brakes were getting way too cold, so I was trying to heat them up and before I knew it I'm heading straight for the back of the thing! Thank goodness I could turn! Luckily it was okay and from there I was feeling great in the wet conditions. A huge thank you first of all to the team for doing such an amazing job. Our performance this weekend has been outstanding. The engineers and mechanics did a great job, so big thanks to all of them once again. And then the crowd... I mean, where do they all come from? It's absolutely amazing! Nothing we see in any other country even comes close - and that for me just shows the passion us Brits have for sport, regardless of the weather. It's pouring down and these guys are just like "yeah, we love it!" This is beyond my wildest dreams, honestly. When I was younger I didn't see the other stuff that comes with being a Formula One driver. I was just in awe of the racing and it wasn't until I grew up that I started to understand. I'm just trying to bask in the glory and enjoy it because one day I'll be watching someone else, hopefully a young Brit, winning here and I want to make the most of these moments. For now though, it's my time - our time. Thank you so much to everyone out there today. It's just been unbelievable."

Nico Rosberg (2nd): "Lewis did a better job over the whole weekend and deserved the win, so congratulations to him. I was happy to have finished the race as my gearbox issue at the end was really serious and I almost had to retire the car - but luckily I got it fixed. Generally, though, it felt great out there and I had a great pace on the medium tyres. The battle with Max was good fun. It took a bit of time but I managed to overtake him on the outside. Over the whole weekend the atmosphere here at Silverstone was really outstanding. Okay, I recognise that some guys out there don't like me as much as Lewis. But that's normal in his home country and I felt that the majority was very supportive of me. That's why the British fans are the best and most passionate racing fans in the world, so thank you to them for making it a really great event. Now I look forward to the last two races before the summer break including my home Grand Prix in Germany."

Paddy Lowe: "A fantastic race result as the home Grand Prix for everyone at Brackley and Brixworth. We haven't had a 1-2 since Russia, so it's great to have both drivers up there on the top two steps once again. Our congratulations first and foremost to Lewis on a third consecutive home victory - his fourth in total thus far - and a really perfect weekend overall. We were spared the variability of a standing race start with the last-minute downpour. From there, we had two clean rounds of pit stops - benefitting nicely from a convenient VSC period for the switch to intermediates. Both were double-stops with the drivers arriving in quick succession, which is never an easy task, but were immaculately executed by the crew, so well done to them. As the race settled down from there, it was clear that Lewis was in control while Nico had a battle on his hands with Verstappen. The Red Bull was strong in the wet - likely due to their choice to run with a higher wing level over ultimate top speed. It was a great duel between the two of them, with Max managing to make his car very wide indeed but Nico eventually pulling off a fantastic move around the outside at Stowe corner to take the place. A crisis then developed six laps from the end when Nico's gearbox got stuck in seventh gear. To finish the race with minimal use of that gear while also fending off the advances of the Red Bull behind really was a great piece of driving, so we applaud him for that. A huge thank you and congratulations to everyone at Brackley and Brixworth for bringing us such performance from the car and the result today. A proud day for the team in front of a truly fantastic crowd."

Toto Wolff, Technical Director: "This afternoon was Formula One at its best: probably the best fans in the world, a wet-dry race, loads of incidents and overtaking, and a fantastic home winner at the end of it all. On days like this, Lewis is unstoppable: he pulled the gap in the early laps, we made the perfect call on the strategy, then he controlled the race from there. He was calm all day, had everything under control and just nailed the race. Brilliant. For Nico, it was a bit trickier: running in the spray in the wet always costs lap time, then he had a long battle with Max. He lost out on the intermediates, but then was able to hunt him down after switching to the dry tyres and pulled off a great outside move into Stowe, one of the fastest points on the circuit. In the final laps, he was stuck in seventh gear, which was clearly a critical problem that would have resulted in failure. Our understanding of the rules is that this kind of message is allowed - it's not the kind of driver coaching the rules were designed to prevent - so we gave him the necessary information and he did a great job to hold his position and bring the car home. It's an amazing feeling for the whole team to win a fourth British Grand Prix in a row, in front of so many of our colleagues from our factories in Brixworth and Brackley. It will be a big celebration with our families this evening and then back hard to work in the morning. After so much drama already in 2016, it's amazing to think we haven't yet even reached the halfway point of the season..."

Ferrari

Kimi Raikkonen (5th): "In the first part of the race the conditions were quite tricky, the visibility in some places was very poor and I had very low grip on the Wet tires, but I tried to go as fast as I could and I went wide a few times. Once we got the Medium tires the situation improved a little bit, but it was not easy. Since the beginning of the weekend we had realized that this would have been a difficult weekend. Today we tried to do our maximum but we had not enough speed to fight against the guys in front. In these kind of conditions we need more downforce and more grip, I'm sure in Hungary it will be much easier for us. Next races it will be a different story, I don't expect us to have similar issues, obviously you never know, but I expect that we go back to normal."

Sebastian Vettel (9th): "Today it was a tough day, but we trust our team and trust our car, so there is no reason to panic and to turn the world upside down. The call to come into the pits was absolutely right, but then the spin didn't help, and all my advantage was gone again. The penalty in the end didn't make a difference, it was not on purpose that I was trying to squeeze Felipe. Actually I was going out myself, and I was surprised how little grip there was, going side by side with him. In the end it was a racing incident. Now we need to understand where we lost something. We have a lot of things to learn from a weekend like this. Clearly today we weren't as competitive as in other races, but at least we recovered some points. And this was the only race of the year where we weren't able to beat the Red Bulls in terms of race pace. Things may look different in two weeks' time, but that shouldn't be an excuse. We need to go forward and understand why we made a step back this time around."

Maurizio Arrivabene, Team Principal: "We knew, coming here, that it would not be an easy track for us-but if you want to be on top, there must be no 'difficult' ones. This is a circuit which, power unit aside, puts a premium on other factors which we were lacking here. It's not the first time it happens, but perhaps it was much more apparent this weekend. In these conditions, we opted for a very aggressive strategy, pitting in for Intermediates after the initial Safety Car stint. Unfortunately, this choice did not pay off because of the Virtual Safety Car which came out immediately afterwards. But to be honest, the best we could have done was to gain one position in the race. Our drivers did a solid job, despite being hampered and somewhat frustrated by the technical issues we are aware of. Now we must turn the page, look ahead to Hungary and capitalize on the hard lesson we learned here."

Williams-Mercedes

Felipe Massa (11th): "That was a disappointing race. We were trying to fight with so many cars throughout the whole race, but in the wet it was so tricky with oversteer. We tried to keep pace and positon, but our tyres were degrading a lot compared to other teams, causing us to drop position and finish outside of the points. When the tyres were working the pace was OK, even with the medium tyre. But once that dropped it was tricky."

Valtteri Bottas (14th): "Today was a disappointing day. I spun in the wet and lost positon. The main problem going from the wet tyre to the dry tyre was not getting enough heat into them to make them work. In the slick stints the pace was poor. As a team, it's important we analyse what happened today. For myself as a driver I need to learn from my mistakes too. I'll be having a day in the simulator tomorrow running through the test programme for this week."

Rob Smedley, Head of Performance Engineering: "We just didn't have the pace today. On top of that, Felipe ran out of tyres towards the end, so we had to pit and put on another set on which was a shame. It was a race to forget really so I'm not going to dwell on it too much. The rain at the start made our decisions more difficult, but we made the correct calls, and didn't do anything vastly different to anybody else, apart from our extra stop with Felipe. The car just wasn't quick enough to make any more progress in the race."

Red Bull-Tag Heuer

Max Verstappen (3rd): "I felt like I had great pace today so once the track dried up I just tried to have a go. In the beginning I had a lot of spray so it was hard to see where I was going, especially in the first sector. Once I passed Nico I felt like I was closing on Lewis but then he pitted for slicks. We maybe stayed out one lap too long but in the end the race was great and the car was working really well. I had a great battle again with Nico afterwards but as it dried the Mercedes just had too much speed on the straights. I tried to keep up and there was no pressure from behind so I just concentrated on doing my own race. I had a few moments in Turn 1 which was a bit tricky so I had to be careful there but I hear a few others also struggled. The move on the outside at Becketts was fun, he was finding the inside so I thought let's try the outside. It was a risky move for sure. The car had the grip and I had the feeling so it worked well. There's a bit of run off there anyway so I had room if it went wrong. In the end we only finished roughly eight seconds behind so I think that is really positive going forwards and shows we are closing the gap. The fans here were great, I couldn't believe how loud they were and they really supported me. Understandably they were behind Lewis but they got behind me loads also which was great to see."

Daniel Ricciardo (4th): "I think for the team and for the points it was really good. Obviously we gained a bit on Ferrari which is nice, but for me it was lonely and a bit boring. We lost a lot of time with the Virtual Safety Car and that was just bad luck. This was out of our hands and there's nothing we could have done different. It just came at the wrong time for me and we lost the position to Perez and then more than ten seconds behind the leaders. Then not stopping again for the rest of the race you can't catch this much. When the pace in the front is what it is you can get a tenth here or there but not half a second per lap. I was ready for a battle and some action today, but unfortunately it wasn't given to me. It is what it is now and hopefully Budapest works better."

Christian Horner, Sporting Director: "A fantastic race at our local track and a real fighting drive from Max. The highlight of which was passing Rosberg round the outside in Becketts. Unfortunately we didn't quite have enough pace in the dry conditions to stay ahead but it was very satisfying to get both cars to the finish in third and fourth. Daniel was unfortunate in losing a little bit of time under the Virtual Safety Car, he pitted at the optimum time and managed to clear Perez but the lead group was just too far down the road. Plenty of points in the Constructors' Championship and a great result in front of so many staff from our factory just down the road from here, and we may get better yet. We look forward to Hungary in two weeks' time and racing a track that hopefully will play to our strengths."

Force India-Mercedes

Sergio Perez (6th): "It's a very good result for the team, with two cars in the points, even if I feel I could have kept fifth place without that spin at turn one. When I had that moment I thought my race was over, but I managed to save it. However, I flat-spotted my tyres and that hurt me for the rest of the race in terms of degradation. I pushed hard to try and keep Raikkonen behind, and it was only when he passed me that I was able to take it easy and save the tyres. We had to do a very long stint on the mediums, which was a bit of a risk as degradation was quite high, but the team made the right calls at the right time and it paid off in the end. The conditions, especially in the first part of the race, were very tricky. You had a drying line, but as soon as you put a wheel on the damp parts, all the grip was gone. Just keeping the car facing in the right direction was an achievement. To come away with this many points after a weekend in which I hadn't been very comfortable with the car is a big satisfaction and it makes up for the disappointment of last week."

Nico Hulkenberg (7th): "Obviously a good result for the team, but I still feel a bit frustrated with how the race unfolded because things didn't work in my favour today. I really lost out under the virtual safety car, which allowed a lot of cars to jump me when I had already made the switch to intermediates. Then, I was stuck behind Felipe [Massa] for so many laps, even though I was a lot quicker than him. There was only a narrow dry line with a lot of standing water offline so it wasn't easy to make a move. When everybody moved to dry tyres it was a lot of fun out there and you had to be very careful through turn one, which remained damp for so long. I did a very long stint on the medium tyres and by the final few laps it was just a case of trying to manage the degradation and survive until the end. Although I'm not totally happy, I am pleased with the car performance and the fact that we scored good points today."

Dr. Vijay Mallya, Team Principal: "Today's race was extremely entertaining and I am very happy with our team performance. It's our best ever result at Silverstone and we are now just 19 points adrift of fourth place in the championship. It wasn't an easy race by any means, especially with the track drying out so quickly in some places and remaining damp in others. Nico and Checo were both in the thick of the action all afternoon and did a splendid job to bring home 14 important points. We've shown today just how competitive we can be on one of the most demanding high-speed tracks of the year and I think there is even more potential to come in the second half of the season."

Renault

Kevin Magnussen (17th, Gearbox): "In the first part of the race the track was very slippery and the balance was difficult as it was wet in places. You have to push from the beginning though and try to stay on track. We tried our best but unfortunately we were just not quick enough today. We suspected something might be wrong with the gearbox towards the end of the race so retired the car as a precaution. It's just not been our day, but we'll look through everything and come back stronger in Hungary."

Jolyon Palmer (DNF, Gearbox): "Today wasn't the result I wanted for my home race. It was going reasonably well on the wet tyres at the beginning of the race and then we did a good stop for the intermediate tyres. Things were looking up: I got ahead of Kevin and I was catching Romain Grosjean. When I pitted for slick tyres, I had a green light to go but the rear right wasn't finished and I'd already started to leave the box. From then on I lost about a minute and then received a 10 seconds penalty for unsafe release. What happened was unfortunate but it could happen to anyone up and down the pitlane. We retired the car as there was a strange feeling with the gearbox, more as a precaution as at that stage we were two laps down. We'll now investigate the problem thoroughly. I'm looking forward to the test this week and focussing on the next race weekend."

Fred Vasseur, Team Principal: "Not the best Grand Prix in our history. It was a difficult race for us and we will be looking into what caused a double retirement. Both Kevin and Jolyon had been driving well until then, but our pace was not strong enough today. We are testing next week and will be using that to ensure we are back on target for the next race."

Toro Rosso-Ferrari

Carlos Sainz (8th): "I'm pleased with my race today, it was a decent one. We had a very good first half of the race in the wet and mixed conditions - we were fast, the car felt amazing and at one point I was racing in P6. Unfortunately I made a mistake going into Turn 1 - I'm not very happy about that! From that moment onwards I had to calm myself down and reset my confidence a bit. I kept my head down and to cross the line in P8 is a result we can be happy with, even though it's a shame that we were not able to beat the Force Indias. Having said that, this is the fifth time we score points in the last six races, so we are definitely going in the right direction and we just need to keep pushing. The next race in Hungary should suit our car well so I'm looking forward to another good fight for points!"

Daniil Kvyat (10th): "I think today's race wasn't a bad one - we managed to fight our way back nicely through the field, keep up with Ferrari and end up in the points, which was our target. We looked very competitive and actually I'd say that we deserved more points today. This is a good sign after a very long unlucky period! Personally, I am happy - I finally had a good day at a racing track and it's a long time since I felt this. I'm sure that we will now learn from these positive moments and carry them with us all the way through to the end of the season. I look forward to the next race in Hungary!"

Franz Tost, Team Principal: "We experienced a very exciting race because of the changing weather conditions. At the start it was very difficult for the drivers to find the correct balance between being aggressive and not spinning off the track. This also happened when they changed to the slick tyres. It was tricky out there and in fact we saw many offs in Turn 1. I must say that both Carlos and Daniil did a very good job because they kept the car on track and finished the race within the points - in P8 and P10 respectively - without any major problems. This is a good result for us, the team also did well strategy wise and it's positive that we can add another five points in the Constructors Championship. We now look forward to Budapest, a track that should suit our car well and where we should be fighting for good points."

Sauber-Ferrari

Felipe Nasr (15th): "It was a good race for me, bearing in mind that I started from the back of the field. Overall, we extracted the maximum out of the car as well as the strategy. I got a good understanding of the track conditions, so we pitted at the right time. Initially I had a decent pace on the medium tyres, but after the track completely dried out the lap times were determined by our car's performance. We are still not there where we want to be. We will keep fighting for points."

Marcus Ericsson (DNF, Engine): "First of all, I want to say a massive thanks to my car crew for rebuilding my car after the crash yesterday. They did an amazing job. It was great to be back in the car today, which was important after such an accident. I felt comfortable in the car. It was obviously disappointing that my race did not last long. We had an electrical issue, so I had to retire early in the race. Now we need to look forward to the next race weekend in Budapest."

Monisha Kaltenborn, Team Principal: "We are very relieved that Marcus was uninjured after this severe accident yesterday. That this heavy impact had no consequences is also because Marcus is in a very good physical shape. It is a pity that his race was over in the opening phase due to an electrical issue. Felipe showed a good performance, especially in a phase of the race that was very demanding. The same applies to our crew - they did a very good job to rebuild Marcus' car after his accident. This strengthens the motivation of the whole team."

McLaren-Honda

Jenson Button (12th): "It was definitely the right decision to start the race behind the Safety Car - it was super-wet and there was loads of standing water, but I think it should have been recalled two laps earlier. Then, when the Safety Car pitted, everyone boxed for Inters, so I decided to do the opposite, which was a good thing as I overtook a couple of cars. For the second stop, it was better to stop sooner rather than later, but I was stuck behind Valterri [Bottas], so I stayed out for another lap. My race wasn't helped by starting 17th: to get into the points, we need to qualify inside the top 10, hold on in the race, not make mistakes and hope to stay there. I couldn't really close on the cars in front of me because we don't yet have quite enough pace in the car to make up sufficient places in the race. It wasn't an easy afternoon, but it was great to see all the fans cheering at the end. They got a British victory as well, so I'm sure they're very happy."

Fernando Alonso (13th): "There's not much to be proud about after finishing 12th and 13th today. In the tricky conditions at the start, you can go from hero to zero in the space of one lap, so we just did what we could with the strategy. We lost some positions during the stops, unfortunately, so we need to go away and look at that. There was a point in the race where I felt I could have scored a few points - when I was pushing hard behind Felipe [Massa] - but it was just too difficult to overtake. Then I went off at Turn One. It was a tough race, but, even though it may not look like it, I think we've made a step forward this weekend; we're more competitive. We could fight with Williams, Force India and Toro Rosso in the race, and that's good news."

Eric Boullier, Racing Director: "Obviously we aren't happy to have finished 12th and 13th in our home grand prix. Having said that, I want to say 'well done' to Jenson and Fernando, who both coped admirably in extremely challenging conditions, especially in the early stages of the race, when aquaplaning was a significant hazard. "They never gave up, and continued to push, right to the end. Indeed, had Fernando not gone off when he was dicing with Felipe [Massa], he may well have scored points. Equally, I want to pay tribute to Honda, whose power units ran like clockwork all weekend. Next we go to the Hungaroring, whose tortuous nature we hope will suit our car's performance envelope rather better than has Silverstone this weekend. Last but very far from least, I want to say a final 'thank you' on behalf of all at McLaren-Honda to the Silverstone crowd, the best race fans in the world, who braved an early downpour uncomplainingly and then cheered the local winner to the echo. We're only sorry that it wasn't a McLaren-Honda victory they were acclaiming, but undoubtedly our time will come."

Yusuke Hasegawa, Honda: "Both the team and our drivers did a solid job during the ever-changing conditions of the race. There were many chaotic moments in the pit-lane due to the safety car start, and out on track due to the track conditions, but the pit-stops and the garage work were spot-on today. From our point of view it was another encouraging weekend. Reliability was once again good and the drivers were able to have some great on track battles. However, it was a disappointing end as Fernando was running well until mid-race, and there was a possibility for us to be in the points. However, we were just not strong enough today."

Manor GP-Mercedes

Rio Haryanto (DNF, Spin): "At the start the track was really wet, but once the rain had stopped it started to dry a little more with each new lap. In the space of just 17 laps we'd gone from full wet tyres to slicks. But it was the right call at the right time, I just hit a bit of track that was still damp and there was nothing I could do. Although it's the race result that counts at the end of the day, the journey through practice and qualifying is important. We'd had a good weekend and in particular a really positive Saturday, so we have to focus on what went right and how we can use that to keep pushing forward for the next race. Today's result is something we can't do anything about now."

Pascal Wehrlein (DNF, Spin): "Yes, there was nothing I could do really. We'd just switched to the Intermediate tyre, completed a lap and then I aquaplaned into Turn 1 and lost control. I was just a passenger really. Some parts of the track were okay and it was drying quite quickly, but in that situation there will always be parts that are still a little too wet and can catch you out. Unfortunately, that's what happened. I know it happened for a few other drivers, but it's very disappointing to end the weekend this way."

Dave Ryan, Racing Director: "A rather sobering day after the high of our points-finish last weekend. The pre-race downpour was pretty intense and even though the track was drying quite quickly there were quite a few smaller and heavier patches of standing water. Unfortunately these caught our drivers out - Pascal on the switch from full wets to intermediates and Rio when he switched to slicks. These are tricky conditions to manage at the same time as trying to maximise the race and keep pace with the cars ahead. A disappointing way to finish our home race, but we'll dust ourselves off and come back stronger for it in Hungary in two weeks' time."

Haas-Ferrari

Esteban Gutierrez (16th): "It was a very difficult race for us today. I lost quite a bit of time at the beginning with the first pit stop, and then there was a late call on the second stop. The pace we had just wasn't enough to get further up the grid, but we'll keep pushing as we look ahead to the next event. We've got a lot of data to analyze and I'm confident the team will do their best to get prepared as we all focus on the next race."

Romain Grosjean (DNF. Transmission): "Well, the weekend didn't end positively as we had a technical issue in the race, forcing our retirement. We were very slow on intermediate tires. That's something we need to work on and understand. On a positive note, the car felt good on the high-speed corners, and qualifying was very tight. We almost made it to Q3, so that was great. We've had a lot of learning opportunities again this weekend. We have to take that as a positive. I'm very much looking forward to going to Hungary now. Our biggest challenge will be to get our tires to work, but when they do, the car feels very good."

Guenther Steiner, Team Principal: "For sure, it's been our toughest day since we started this adventure. There were a few issues today. When we double stopped, we had a problem with the tire change on Esteban's car. Then we had the power go down on all our systems. We didn't have any GPS maps, so we didn't know when to call them in and when not. Then Romain had a transmission failure ending his race. You always learn from your mistakes. We'll work on getting ready for Hungary now, but we have to do better again."