Another podium place for Webber as Vettel is forced to retire
Mark Webber took another podium this afternoon, coming third in the Hungarian Grand Prix. Seb Vettel had a collision with Raikkonen on the first straight which damaged his front suspension meaning he was forced to retire on lap 30.
Car 14 Mark Webber, Finish Position: 3rd, Start Position: 3rd
“I expected us to be a little bit quicker after our running on Friday, but to be honest we expected these guys (McLaren and Ferrari) to be around us. We knew it would be a more difficult venue for us and that we wouldn’t have the advantage that we maybe had at the last two events so, all-in-all, I’m happy to get the result we did today. I think we would have had a better chance to fight with Kimi (Raikkonen) if we’d made a slightly different pit stop and chose a different tyre for the middle stint, but that was my call. I was worried about how long the middle stint was, so it was quite difficult to know which tyre to put on. Overall we still have a lot of positives to take away from here – we’re still up there, we’re in the hunt and know that we can take our car to a lot of venues and be competitive. Red Bull and Renault have a lot to be proud of, we’re still a strong force and it’s a positive day.”
Car 15 Sebastian Vettel, Finish Position: DNF, Start Position: 2nd
“I had a collision on the first corner with Kimi (Raikkonen). I was on the inside and had a clear run to accelerate, his car came sideways and we touched – he crashed into my car, it can happen. This was why my first pit stop was bad and, at some point, the front-left suspension gave up and we had to retire the car. We knew it would be close with the other teams here, but at the start of the race there’s nothing you can do other than putting your foot down. We have a button on our steering wheel, which is similar to the other teams, but nothing happens if you press it. You go into the first corner and you have five or six cars next to each other instead of three or four, so it’s a different situation. There are still a few races left this season and the race is still on, so we will see what we can do.”
Christian Horner, Team Principal: “A good drive from Mark today for third. Unfortunately, we perhaps gave away too much time in the middle stint on the harder tyre and a small issue at Mark’s pit stop allowed Kimi (Raikkonen) to jump ahead, but I think Lewis was out of reach today. Nonetheless, a good result for Mark in both the Drivers’ and Constructors’ Championships. For Sebastian, things just didn’t go his way today – unfortunately a knock on the first lap looks as though it caused suspension damage that resulted in his retirement. Going into the break, we’ve closed the gap in the Constructors’ and we’re looking forward to the next race in four weeks time in Valencia.”
Fabrice Lom, Renault, Principal Engineer Track Support: “A difficult race. Our cars made very good starts, but the long run to the first corner meant the KERS cars were stronger and unfortunately we lost some places. Sebastian had an accident, which caused damage that forced him to retire. Mark had a solid race, in which tyres played a big role. We finished third and scored more points than Brawn, so in the end a good result for the team, but a disappointing result for Sebastian.”
