Toro Rosso
Carlos Sainz
"Today's result is a very special one for myself and the team, it's a top, top, TOP result!! What a boost and what a way to motivate the team and keep our heads up until the end of the season! I don't know what this track has, but I just get such a good feeling every time I race here! It's a weekend I will always remember! To equal my best result in Formula 1 makes me very happy, but this P6 is a bit more special than the one in Barcelona because here we didn't think we really had the car to do so – our simulations before the race said we would only finish in P11 or P12 and here we were, fighting for a P5! We were able to make the tyres last during the first stint, staying close to the Williams and then managed to create a good gap to Fernando on the Softs. We also got a bit lucky with the VSC period, which was great news for us, as we were suddenly in front of the Williams. We knew it was going to be very difficult to get to the end on the Soft tyre, but we committed to that and went to the end on that set – during the last two laps I had no tyre left and just had to hold on to it as best I could! The battle with Fernando was so much fun! I knew that he would end up getting past me but I said to myself, 'let's make it a bit complicated for him!' I perfectly know how he attacks and how to defend against him, as I've been watching him race for the past 12 years... And I think that to be able to keep him behind for all those laps until he just opened the DRS and said 'ciao, ciao' was pretty decent! I'm so pleased, so happy, you just can't imagine what's going on inside me now, even if I'm not showing it on the outside, I'm delighted! I will definitely celebrate with champagne tonight, for me this feels like a win!"
Daniil Kvyat
"Quite a tough day for me today. I think I had a good start, but we then had to switch to a one-stop race after getting a 10-second penalty for my incident with Perez during the first lap. This compromised our race and it wasn't easy to make it work, but we tried our very best and kept pushing until the end. I have to say we did a very long stint on the Medium tyre and the management was very good. It's just a shame that we lost the opportunity to fight for some more points today."
Franz Tost, team principal
"Carlos started from P10 and was very clever in the first corner, defending against others very well – especially Alonso – and at the end of the first lap he was already P8. From then on he drove a very clean and competitive race as well as managing the tyres in a very impressive way. Towards the end of the race he was racing in P5 and was able to defend this position until the very last laps against Alonso. In the end the McLaren driver was able to get past him, but we can't forget that we are much slower on the straights and therefore Carlos had no chance to defend himself. Today he also did a great job when Massa was attacking him, so Carlos really showed a solid performance: he deserves this P6, it's one of his strongest races with the team. Regarding Daniil, after the start he collided with Perez, resulting in his front-left wing endplate getting damaged. He therefore lost downforce and, consequently, performance. He was also given a ten-second penalty for this, which compromised his race and was only able to finish P12. Generally speaking, the team did a very good job and the cars were more competitive than expected. We are now looking forward to the race in Mexico in seven days' time."
