Felipe Massa:
“It’s fantastic to have got the hat-trick here in Istanbul – it might really almost be worth asking for a Turkish passport! It was a very tough race but the team worked magnificently, giving me a great car.
“When Hamilton came underneath me at an incredible pace, I preferred not to take too many risks – the pit wall informed me that he was clearly running a lighter fuel load, even if we were not certain he was on a three-stop strategy. When that became clear, we were calmer, knowing we had everything in place to go for the win.
“My engineer, Rob, guided my pace and I drove in such a way as to keep ahead of Lewis. Maybe the hard tyres worked better today, but from what we saw over the weekend, the softs were more competitive and in any case, the difference was not that great. I want to dedicate this win to two people – to my mother on Mothers’ Day and to Stefano Domenicali whose birthday it is today.”
Lewis Hamilton:
“I am so thrilled with today’s result, and I think this is the best race ever for me. It’s not about winning – it’s about feeling that you extract 100 per cent from yourself and the car – and I did that today. Before the race our prediction was that all being well I would finish fifth, so second is such a bonus.
“I was not happy with my performance yesterday, and perhaps if I had managed to get the car on pole I could have won. However, we knew that we would have to use a three-stop strategy as a precaution as we had some issues with our tyres.
“The team did a fantastic job, the pit-stops were great, the balance of the car was superb and we all kept our spirits up. There were no problems with the tyres in the race. I managed to overtake Felipe at one point, and I really think we have closed the gap to
Ferrari. I am so excited about the next race in Monaco and just can’t wait.”
Kimi Raikkonen:
“It was a difficult weekend for me, but six points are definitely better than nothing. At the start, I was almost alongside Heikki but then he slowed and I had to brake too to avoid a heavy crash. We touched just enough to damage the end-plate of the front wing on my car – it was not a very serious problem, but it definitely didn’t help my race.
