Vergne takes 4 points for Toro Rosso
Jean-Eric Vergne drove a consistent race to finish 8th for Toro Rosso, adding 4 points to his and the team's tally. Daniil Kvyat was less fortunate as he had to retire on lap 47 with a transmission failure.
Jean-Eric Vergne, STR9-04, 8th: “First of all I would like to congratulate Daniel for his victory! This is the first but I'm sure it won't be the last. He is a fantastic guy, a very fast driver and I feel great respect for him. Well done Daniel! As for me, I'm extremely happy as I feel I gave my best today. It was a good race, maybe the best of my F1 career so far, not in terms of results but I think everything went perfect and we finally scored some points. I was able to gain a position on Alonso after a good start and I could keep Magnussen behind later on, managing well what was a difficult race. The team did a great job all weekend, where we worked really well to put together the best possible car. We are now waiting for more updates to come at the Austrian Grand Prix and I'm confident we will improve the speed and bring home even better results.”
Daniil Kvyat, STR9-03, DNF: “It’s been a disappointing end to a difficult weekend here in Canada. Even though yesterday’s Qualifying did not go well for me, I was hopeful to aim high in today’s race. At the start of the race I lost a position and then later on I made a mistake in Turn 1 when my tyres were still a bit cold and I lost quite a lot of time there. At that point my race was already compromised, but I kept pushing anyway. I then had to stop on track when I suddenly lost drive. About the incident with Raikkonen, there was only place for one car in the chicane and if I had turned, we would have clashed, which is why I cut the chicane. And finally, congratulations to Daniel on his first win!”
Franz Tost, Team Principal: “I am very happy for Jean-Eric’s strong 8th place finish today, especially after he was forced to retire on several occasions due to technical problems, when he was actually in a promising position to score points. The team was able to provide him with a car that allowed him to show what he is capable of. After having overtaken Alonso at the start of the race, JEV managed to keep him behind and he also succeeded in defending his position against Magnussen towards the end. On the other side, it looks like Daniil suffered a drive train failure, which forced him to end his race early. Well done to Daniel Ricciardo who won his first Grand Prix today. We are now looking forward to going to the Red Bull Ring in Austria, where we will have numerous updates to further improve the general performance of the car.”
Ricardo Penteado, Renault Sport F1 track support leader: “A feeling of a job well done with JEV. We used the Power Unit to the maximum and pushed the energy and fuel management as hard as we could. Temperatures were higher than expected, plus fuel consumption was right on the edge so it’s extremely rewarding to get the points at the end, which are very important for the championship.”
