Team Talk - Sunday at Sochi

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Motor Racing - Formula One World Championship - Russian Grand Prix - Race Day - Sochi, Russia

John Booth, Team Principal: “We leave Sochi pleased to bring both cars to the chequered flag, once again highlighting the excellent reliability of our package. Several events in the race enabled us to improve our position, with Roberto faring slightly better on his return to the cockpit for the penultimate time this season. Will had a more difficult race and his advantage was lost when he flat-spotted his tyres under braking, so he will be disappointed with that. Now we focus on the four remaining races, in The Americas and Abu Dhabi, and what we can learn there to aid the development of next year’s package. The next race in particular, in Austin, will be a biggie for us with Alexander in the car and we’re looking forward to that.”

Roberto Merhi: “I’m really pleased with my race today. Everything went well for me through the weekend and finishing ahead is a nice way to end things on my return to the cockpit here in Sochi. It hasn’t been an easy weekend on the track. It seems that there was something happening every session and this made it difficult to find a good rhythm to prepare for today. Anyway, the race went well and it was very straightforward for me; pretty as much as we planned. Now I’m looking forward to my final race of the season in Abu Dhabi, but I’ll be on hand with the team at the next three rounds also.”

Will Stevens: “The start was very chaotic, as we expected to be the case here, and we all had to avoid the crash between Ericsson and Hulkenberg on the exit of turn 1. I lost position to Roberto and was behind him for the first stint, then at the restart I flat-spotted my tyres under braking and had to pit again, so our positions were pretty much set for the rest of the race. I think it has been one of those weekends here in Sochi. Nothing has been very straightforward so we have to be pleased with getting both cars to the finish again and look ahead to better things in the next few races.”