Red Bull
Daniel Ricciardo: “I think this was our best chance of a win and we got close, so we can be proud of what we did. We have made the most of our opportunities here. At the start Seb just went away and then I was coming back to him and if it hadn’t been for the Safety Car, we’d have got pretty close and maybe an undercut would have been possible at the pit stop. Making both stops under the safety car affected our chances and I think that dictated the race really. In the first stint we were coming on quite strong, with Seb pushing hard to break the DRS gap. But as the laps were ticking down, we were starting to come alive and I was able to lean on the tyres a bit more. Then I was frustrated to see the Safety Car come out, but I knew I still had to make one more stop so I had one more chance. But Seb seemed to have learned from the first stint and started easier than in the first one and was able to pull away later. I was able to close on him again, before we had another Safety Car. That was that really because it’s hard to overtake here. We got the fastest lap right at the end and we can be proud of that. Moving forward, Suzuka is usually a good track for us, although I don’t expect to do as well as there, but we can aim for the top five. It’s good to get another podium, I’m really happy for the team. The last few races the chassis has really come alive so thanks to the guys for that.”
Daniil Kvyat: “I was unlucky with the timing of the Safety Car as I pitted a lap before it came out. It seemed the Safety Cars didn’t like me at all today, it must be something personal! But that’s life. That worked against us and it wasn’t a good race for me, but we couldn't have done anything else. I lost two places to Mercedes after the first stop and a place to Bottas after the second one. After that, I was always in traffic behind cars that were a tiny bit faster down the straights, which was just enough for me to be unable to pass. On the plus side, we kept it on the track and scored some points. The team did a very good job this weekend and the car worked very well. 8 points is the maximum we could have got with all that bad luck. My time will come. Our car has always worked well in the corners, so our team’s result here is not so surprising.”
Christian Horner, Team Principal: “A great performance by Daniel today in what was our most competitive weekend of the year. He pushed all the way from start to finish, but he was a bit unlucky with the Safety Cars. Our pace was better during the last part of the stints than the Ferrari, and the Safety Cars came at the right time to give Ferrari and Sebastian a bit of a breather. But nonetheless, a fantastic performance to finish second. Dany was unlucky with the timing of both the Virtual Safety Car and the Safety Car itself, which cost him places to both Rosberg and Bottas through no fault of his own. But a good collection of points for the team as we head into Japan. Congratulations to Sebastian, both he and Daniel were in a league of their own today.”
Matthieu Dubois, Renault: “After a very long two hours, we are all glad to see four Renault cars in the points. It was a great second place for Daniel, who kept everything under control as the race took different turns. Unfortunately for Daniil we pitted twice just seconds before the safety cars and lost out to Mercedes and Bottas in the operation. It is nice to see our hard work is starting to bear fruit from both reliability and performance perspectives and we are very much looking forward to prove it again next Sunday in Japan.”
