Sauber
Nico Hulkenberg
“It’s such a big shame to have a promising race end so early, after being hit by Pierre [Gasly], as I genuinely think we could have scored points today. I felt confident with the car yesterday and the pace was there in the first seven laps. Overtaking opportunities here are very limited, so I went for a manoeuvre around the outside, which is always a bit riskier, but I gave Pierre plenty of space.
"It’s very unfortunate, as there were definitely opportunities for us today. For now it’s only disappointment, but we’ll take a couple of days to refocus and try to finish our season in Abu Dhabi in the best possible way.”
Gabriel Bortoleto
“It wasn’t the most exciting race for me: there weren’t many overtakes, and I spent most of it being stuck behind Lewis [Hamilton]. Once he pulled a gap, I couldn’t really close it again, so my race just kind of stayed there from that point on. I had some battles at the start, but after that not much happened. There’s still something we can take from the weekend, and a few things we could’ve improved.
"The penalty from Las Vegas obviously affected my race today, but our pace itself was encouraging. If we’d started around P14, we might have had a shot at the top ten. Overall, there are definitely some good learnings to carry forward into the last race of the season in Abu Dhabi next week.”
Jonathan Wheatley, Team Principal
“Unfortunately, it was a tough day in the office for the team. After strong opening laps, Nico was caught in a racing incident at Turn 1, which ended his race early. Gabi delivered an impressive performance, starting from P19 and fighting through to P13 with strong pace throughout. The pit crew were outstanding once again, delivering two very quick and clean stops.
“Given our speed and where our competitors finished, a strong points result was within reach, so it is disappointing not to have converted that potential. Now we turn our focus to Abu Dhabi, the final race of an exciting season, determined to finish strong.”
