“My first set of soft tyres worked very well, but the second was not as good; for the rears, maybe it would have been better to switch immediately to the harder, but that’s easy to say with hindsight. After a less than great qualifying yesterday, we knew the race would be an uphill struggle.
“Now we must ensure we are as well--prepared as possible for the Monaco Grand Prix, where we struggled in 2007. This winter we worked a lot on the car to concentrate on those shortcomings which we saw at tracks like this. Now we will see if we did enough to be competitive.”
Robert Kubica:
“Today the pace of the car was much better than in yesterday’s third qualifying session. I was happy with its balance. I made a very good start and managed to gain two positions. I was then racing Kimi Räikkonen, but he pitted later and overtook me at the pit-stop. I was then a little bit slower than the three guys in front of me, but quicker than the rest of the pack. This was the maximum possible for me today.”
Nick Heidfeld:
“This is what I hoped for from ninth on the grid. To finish fifth was the best I could achieve today. I wanted to overtake
Jarno Trulli at the start and this worked, then I gained two more positions during the pit-stops. After the first stint I had a pretty lonely race and in the end I was even able to reduce the engine revs.”
Fernando Alonso:
“We were on the pace this weekend and scored some valuable points today, which confirms the progress we have made recently that is thanks to the hard work of everyone in the team. I made a good start, which was essential for a strong race and after that everything went smoothly.
“We had a good strategy, the car was well-balanced and there were no problems with the tyres, so I am happy. Now we must continue working hard to catch up with the leading teams, but we are in good shape.”
Mark Webber:
“I’m happy to get two points. It wasn’t the most exciting race; I was just trying to hold on to Fernando [Alonso], which wasn’t easy as he was a bit too strong for us today. It would have been nice to be able to fight him a little bit more. I was cruising a little in the last stint, as [Nico] Rosberg wasn’t a threat.
