Vettel frustrated to be just outside the points

After some great races for the Scuderia Toro Rosso in which they scored a lot of points, the team has to leave China empty-handed. Sebastian Vettel finished the race in 9th position, just outside the points, while team mate Bourdais came in 13th.

Sebastian Vettel (STR3-03)
Pos. 9th
"I had a reasonably good start, but then I was surprised by Nick (Heidfeld) going down the outside and he passed a few cars. After that I had to defend my position against Robert (Kubica) on the opening lap. Then, I had quite a clean first stint. But in the first pit stop we had a problem with the front left wheel which wouldn't come off. I think that cost me a position in the points. P9 is not bad but it's the most frustrating place, just outside the points. Now we are all looking forward to Brazil."

Sébastien Bourdais (STR3-04)
Pos. 13th "I'm not sure what happened with Trulli at the first corner. I guess he didn't see me. I was halfway alongside him and he turned in. I was right under Sebastian's rear wing and of course we are all very close in the first corner. We touched, he spun and I went really wide, dropped to the back and that was my race spoilt. It was a shame because after that, every time I was in clean air I had a good pace and passed around half a dozen cars. Finishing 13th, having been last is not a bad result, but it's disappointing, given we started eighth with a car good enough to score points today."

Franz Tost: "If you start from sixth and eighth and don't score points then something must have gone wrong. Bourdais' race was lost at the first corner after a collision with Trulli, but after that some competitive lap times showed the car performance was good. Vettel's race was badly affected by graining in the early stages of his second stint, which cost him time and we also lost around 3.5 seconds in his pit stop. These factors kept us out of the points. Fortunately, our closest competitors in the Constructors' classification are still behind us, so now we hope to finish the season in fine style in Brazil in two weeks time."