Maurizio Arrivabene
“We must be realistic and accept the fact that, if both Mercedes had been in the race, the result would have
been different. Today we had an opportunity and we failed to take advantage. Even if on track we had a fast
car we had to pay a hefty price for the problems we experienced in qualifying and which, on some parts of the
circuit, re-surfaced during the course of the race. Now we must address these issues and move on from there.
Congratulations to Max Verstappen for his maiden Formula One win”.
Kimi Raikkonen
“I had a poor start, with massive wheel spin when I released the clutch. I managed to recover some places in
the first few corners and then I caught up with Max pretty easily. The car was ok and the speed was good, but
once you are following another car for many laps this doesn’t help the tires and I was missing a bit of grip and
downforce. It was a struggle to follow him close, I never really had a good run on him out of the last corner
because he was really fast there. It’s a bit disappointing when you get that close and you don’t win, but after
a difficult weekend we have to be somehow happy for this result. As a team we keep working as hard as we
can and try to get the wins, we keep fighting and when we have difficult weekends likes this one, we have to
keep the fight alive and be up there to score points. Max really deserves this win, for me he’s not a surprise.
He was doing a very good job already last year and today in a better car he was able to win”.
Sebastian Vettel
“Today there was a big chance to win the race, so definitely I was attacking to win, that was what I was
hoping for. But that lasted up to the point where I came out after the last stop and I realized the advantage I
had, with a set of tires that were a couple of laps fresher, over the guys ahead was practically not there. We
struggled on the Medium tires, where Red Bull was strong, and this is the reason why Kimi and I couldn’t
attack, but we were very strong on the Soft tires. We decided to split the strategies between the two cars: I
went for the three stop strategy, then I tried to attack the leader and I succeeded, but in the end both Daniel
and myself came out behind the two stoppers. So all in all we were lacking pace, which is something we
need to understand. There is nothing wrong with our car, it’s good, it works well, and the stuff we brought here
seems to work. My congratulations to Verstappen. The first win is one of the best moments you can have, it’s
something really special. So ‘chapeau’, Max managed to stay ahead, even if he had a lot of pressure from
Kimi”.
Lewis Hamilton
I had a decent start from pole but got slipstreamed on the way to the first corner and lost the lead. Coming
out of turn three, I was catching Nico really quickly and went for the gap on the right – I had part of my car
alongside but then had to take to the grass. The gap was there and, if you’re a racing driver, you go for that
gap. We saw what happened after that. I’m hurt and disappointed for the team most of all because we lost 43
points today. We’re all here working together towards the same result and the team give me the opportunity
to race with the work they do. When I came to a stop in the gravel trap, all I could think about was how gutted
I was for the team – that’s where I feel the pain. But we will move on together and come back stronger in
Monaco.
Nico Rosberg
I had a great start and I was ecstatic after passing Lewis around the outside of turn one. At that point, it was
my race to win. I came out of turn three and realised I was down on power with the wrong mode selected due
to the engine mode switch being in the incorrect position. Lewis was closing in, so I decided to make a clear
move to the right hand side as soon as possible, to close the door and show him that wasn’t an option. I was
very surprised that Lewis went for the inside anyway. The next thing I knew, we were in the gravel trap. I’m
gutted, not just for myself but for the whole team, it’s the worst feeling as a driver.
Toto Wolff, Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport
After all the hard work we’ve put in over the past two weeks it’s deeply disappointing to come away with no
points, but in my opinion this was a racing incident, with the drivers racing for position, and I don’t want to
start blaming one or the other. Both Lewis and Nico are upset and we talked with them, looking at the
pictures and the data, to determine exactly what happened. By letting the drivers race as we do, this kind of
eventuality can happen but we won’t change our approach – we owe it to Formula One and the fans to let
them race. But today, it was the work of the whole team that finished in the gravel trap, and this isn’t what we
want to see happen – both of the boys know how much hard work goes into each race weekend and that they
have the responsibility to bring that home. We have matured as a team over the past years, so we will be able
to move on from this and, hopefully, fight back in a positive way in Monaco. I want to add a word for Max, too;
on a bad day for us, he sprinkled a bit of magic on the sport, so big congratulations to him on what I’m sure is
only the first of his Grand Prix wins.
Paddy Lowe, Executive Director (Technical)
First of all, congratulations to Max Verstappen. It’s a tremendous story for Formula One. It was a very short
race for us today and it was a huge disappointment for the team, especially to lose both cars in such
dramatic fashion. It’s hard to take, especially given the amount of hard work prior to this weekend to solve a
number of reliability risks and to bring the level of performance to the car that was witnessed in qualifying. It
was a dominant front-row lockout and we were looking forward to a great race. We pride ourselves on allowing
both our drivers to race, and race to the limit and that involves some tough manoeuvres from both Lewis and
Nico and they sometimes won’t work out as we saw today. The stewards have ruled for no further action
against either of our drivers. Most importantly we head to Monaco stronger and in better shape to continue in
our quest for the 2016 Championships.
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