“These 16 points are the result of the work from the whole team at all levels and that is why we chose Francesco Uguzzoni, the head mechanic, to go on the podium and pick up the winning team trophy.

“Now we have to prepare maybe even more carefully for the next rounds. At Monaco and Canada last year, we suffered a lot and we will have to do our best in preparing for these races, both in the test session at Paul Ricard from next Wednesday to Friday, and in analysing the data back in Maranello.”

Luca Baldisserri [Ferrari – technical director]:

“All-in-all, a really good result. We had the potential to get a one-two, but after what happened at the start, we could have ended up with one car outside the points. The choice of when to use which tyre was based on data gathered in free practice and on past experience at this track, as well as a logical prediction of how the track surface would evolve. With hindsight, it is easy to say that we could have gone for a different choice.

“The team worked well and the cars ran trouble-free, which included, amongst other things, successfully completing the usage cycle of four races for the gearbox; for this and for their usual technical contribution I would like to thank Shell especially.

“Now we can expect two tricky races, where last year we were not competitive enough to win. We have worked a lot to remedy the problems which we had there, and now we will find out if we have worked in the right direction.”

Ron Dennis [McLaren – team principal]:

“Today we saw a truly phenomenal drive from Lewis, in which he optimised a three-stop strategy that we were forced to adopt as a consequence of concerns we had with his tyres. As a result of the eight points that his second-placed finish netted him, he closed the gap on Kimi in the world drivers' championship to just seven points.

“Heikki's race was spoiled by a punctured left rear tyre, the result of contact with Kimi at the first corner. As soon as the pit-lane had re-opened, we called him in for tyres and fuel. Thereafter he drove forcefully and well all afternoon. But for that puncture, he would have scored heavily today. I believe we have closed the gap to our main competition, which gives the team a great boost before heading for Monte Carlo.”

Norbert Haug [Mercedes-Benz Motorsport – vice-president]:

“A really exciting grand prix and, I think, quite entertaining for the spectators. We had an aggressive strategy for Lewis which almost paid off, as our aims were first place in both qualifying and the race. Lewis drove a great race with good speed. His overtaking manoeuvre when he passed Massa was surely enjoyed by lots of television spectators, as it does not happen too often in Formula 1 that the leading car is passed.

“Kimi touched Heikki at the first corner, and Heikki had to make an extra pit-stop due to a damaged tyre. This ruined his race and prevented him from taking a possible podium finish. We all will continue to work very hard and are looking forward to the season's highlight in Monte Carlo in two weeks' time.”

Mario Theissen [BMW – motorsport director]:

“Taking our starting positions of fifth and ninth into account, I am very happy with today's result. Both drivers gained positions at the start. Kimi Raikkonen was able to overtake Robert during his first pit-stop as we expected. On the other hand, Nick gained two places during his first pit-stop. Fourth and fifth and nine championship points underline the team's performance today.”

Willy Rampf [BMW-Sauber – technical director]: