Engine failure for Vettel
Red Bull Racing F1 Team driver Mark Webber finished this afternoon's European Grand Prix in 9th place. team mate Sebastian Vettel was forced to retire on lap 24 at the Valencia street circuit with an engine faiure.
Car 14 Mark Webber, Finish Position: 9th, Start Position: 9th
“No gains for us today, which is the first time in a long time. The long and short of it was that I wasn’t quick enough today – it was a tough race. I’ve been struggling all weekend and I think I got the result I deserved, which was no points, unfortunately. We were a little bit unlucky around the pit stops with Lewis (Hamilton) coming back out in front, but that’s the way it goes. The pit stops weren’t great, as I might have been a bit long on positioning – so not the best day for us. But, we will dust ourselves down and move on to Spa.”
Car 15 Sebastian Vettel, Finish Position: DNF, Start Position: 4th
“The biggest problem today was the first stop – we weren’t able to get fuel in the car, so we had to come in again. We were lucky to make it back for a second stop. The race was lost already at that point but then, a couple of laps on, I had a problem with the engine and I had to retire. It’s not good. In terms of the Championship, I will fight until the last breath, but it’s not good to have retired when you’re hunting and want to get more points than your opponent. You’re in a position to do it, but then you don’t finish the race.”
Christian Horner, Team Principal: “A bitterly disappointing day. A fuel rig failure on Sebastian’s car, followed by an engine failure, which is the second of the weekend, was costly. Unfortunately with Mark, we just weren’t quick enough today. He held Jenson (Button) behind him for a long time, but Jenson was too quick and jumped us with a very quick out-lap, unfortunately Mark was not quick enough to hold him behind.”
Fabrice Lom, Renault, Principal Engineer Track Support: “This race ended a nightmare weekend for us. We had two engine failures on Sebastian’s car, so it’s a black weekend. I can only apologise to Red Bull Racing and Sebastian in particular for this reliability issue and assure them that we will work as hard as possible to ensure it doesn’t happen again. But, the end of the season will now be tough on the engine side for Sebastian.”
