Mercedes
Lewis Hamilton: “It's been a very, very special weekend for me. I thought I'd seen it all last year but the fans have just been unbelievable. I could never have imagined this level of support - this one is for them. Thank you all so much. I'm delighted for the team - everyone back at base has done an incredible job to build this amazing car and everything today was just perfect too. Huge thanks to every single one of the team - it's great to get this result for them at home. The race obviously got off to a bad start but the guys did a great job with the first stop to turn it around. Then, when the rain came, it was really tough out there in a different way. As the one in front it was so hard to judge where to push and my front tyres went so cold. I think that's the best pit call I've ever made to come in at that time. From there it was just bringing it home. I have to admit, as I came round that last lap I was welling up seeing all those people on their feet. What an unbelievable day and an unbelievable feeling. I'm so, so grateful.”
Nico Rosberg: “That was an exciting race for me. I had a really bad start - losing two positions and therefore being stuck behind the two Williams cars for a while because overtaking was impossible. Lewis managed to clear them in the pits but unfortunately that didn't quite work out for me - although it was close! Then, when the rain came, I was able to ramp up the pace, overtake them and close the gap to Lewis. At that point I really thought I could win the race. But then he made the pit stop - which I thought was a wrong decision at that moment until suddenly it started to rain heavier. It turned out to be the right decision from Lewis, as I had stay out one more lap and lost too much time in the wet with my slicks. That was the decision that made the race and I had no chance anymore. But, all in all, it was well deserved by Lewis as he did the best job over the whole weekend. Another 1-2 is great for the team and for all of our colleagues in the factories. Thanks for this great car!”
Toto Wolff, Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport: “That was a pretty perfect race today and a real team result. We have to analyse what happened at the start - the Williams got off the line like rockets and both our guys complained of poor grip. After that, we had to stay close to the Williams and wait for the strategy window to open; we knew we could go longer than them on the tyres, so we made an aggressive early stop with Lewis and that jumped him into the lead. The key thing was the quality of the stop - we gained nearly a second on Massa through the pit lane, and that opened up the race for Lewis. Nico had to battle his way through but when the rain came, he was the fastest man on track and passed both Williams on the circuit - then charged down on his team-mate. There was a lot of communication with the drivers around that time and we even had the team back in Brackley sending us weather reports from up the road - but, in the end, it came down to Lewis making a perfect call to box. He got the inters and then just controlled the race from there. Nico boxed a lap later, then drove it home to P2. I was really proud of the decision making on the pit-wall - it was calm, clever execution in difficult circumstances. A really awesome day so close to both our factories - and a fantastic way to say thank you to all the women and men who've worked countless days and nights to deliver this incredible power unit and racing car.”
Paddy Lowe, Executive Director (Technical): “What an unbelievable race! Formula One has a great habit of throwing up the unexpected, which is what makes it so exciting. It's never easy and never straightforward. Both cars had poor starts and we need to analyse why that was. The Williams cars got a far better launch and also seemed to have much more grip in the opening phase of the race. I believe our tyres were a bit slower coming up to temperature after the start and then again after the safety car restart, so that's an area we need to look into. The team then produced a fantastic first stop for Lewis in terms of timing and execution to hand him the lead with what was a very early stop for a one stop strategy. Nico was unfortunately struggling to pass the Williams cars, so we debated switching him to a two stop strategy to overcome this. But then, of course, the rain came which changed everything. Lewis made a perfectly judged call to switch to inters at just the right point, while Nico gambled on staying out and actually drove a superb lap to coax the car round in very tough conditions. Luckily, after those stops, the track stayed wet and from there it was a matter of managing the cars home. A great result for the team at one of our home races to bring both cars home in the top two positions after just missing out at the previous two attempts with various mechanical problems - and a fantastic battle once again between two really top drivers.”
