Vettel moved back to 5th, Webber 8th
After finished second in today's German GP, Sebastian Vettel was penalised with a 20 second penalty for passing Jenson Button out of the race track. He is therefore classified 5th after a strong race nonetheless. Mark Webber rued a lack of pace and finished in 8th position.
Sebastian Vettel, Finish Position: 5th, Start Position: 2nd:
(Although Seb crossed the line in 2nd place, he was given a 20-second penalty after the race for leaving the track and gaining an advantage when he rejoined)
“We had a decent race today although there wasn’t enough pace when we got close to Fernando and we also lost a position to Jenson who had a good pit stop and came in earlier. A couple of laps before that, I lost some time with Lewis as he un-lapped himself. At the end of the race, Jenson’s tyres were gone and we were able to close the gap again. It was then a question of when, rather than where, and I tried to outbreak him. He opened the break again and then was up the inside; I wasn’t sure where he was, I couldn’t see him in that moment, so decided to give enough space and went off line on the slippery paint and I was able to stay ahead and get past him. The only intention was not to crash and to give him enough room. I have respect for him and I didn’t want to squeeze him. It was good to be on the podium at the home race, but I have to respect the steward’s decision.”
Mark Webber, Finish Position: 8th, Start Position: 8th:
“I had no pace today and wasn’t quick. I couldn’t stay with people that I normally can, so we’ll look into it and come back in Budapest. I’m disappointed, as I expected to get more out of today’s race. Normally Sundays have been ok for me, but not today. After the first lap it wasn’t too bad, I got Lewis, but after that I was just hanging on. This is a completely different track (to Silverstone), but we have to be quick in all conditions and today we weren’t for whatever reason.”
Christian Horner, Team Principal:
“An interesting race. It was really close between Fernando, Sebastian and Jenson throughout, what turned out to be, a two-stop race. We lost a bit of time in the middle stint, when Lewis was un-lapping himself, which possibly allowed Jenson to get ahead at the pit stop, but then Sebastian gave it everything and made a move to get ahead a couple of laps from the finish at his home race. Mark’s afternoon was always compromised by the gearbox penalty he had yesterday. We were aggressive at the first stop; it didn’t work out as we hoped and he seemed to struggle a bit with the long run pace on the harder tyre today with Mark. I think that possibly the lack of running on Friday and key set-up time cost us there. It was also disappointing to receive the penalty after the race but we accept this. We leave Germany with points for both drivers and we maintain our lead in the Constructors’. We will now focus on the next race which is only one week away.”
Cyril Dumont, Renault:
“It was a very interesting race today, very tight between the three front cars. I think Seb did a very good job and had a strong drive. For Mark, he started eighth and finished eighth, so it was a long race for him. Regarding the discussions this morning, we were pleased with the Steward’s decision that we had not breached a regulation. Formula One is a tight environment and we have to try to find every hundredth (of a second) that we can. We’re not racing lawn-mowers and we were pleased to show that our package was very strong today – our pace was not far off the win.”
