"The signs from the weekend show that this car has great potential and the guys back at the factory have done a fantastic job over the last few weeks on its development. It was good to complete a full race distance to increase our understanding of the car. We'll now look forward to Malaysia and optimising the performance of the car there."
Ron Dennis [McLaren-Mercedes - team boss]:
"An almost perfect race weekend for us. Lewis drove a faultless race with a strong strategy where his stops were timed in anticipation of possible Safety Car periods. We were keen for Heikki to go an extra lap before his second stop in case he had any problems in the pits so that he could still be ahead of Nick. Unfortunately the last Safety Car period cost him second place. He showed what a great racing driver he is with his overtaking of Kimi and Fernando, but unfortunately as he reached to clean his visor he hit the pitlane speed limiter and lost a position. As a team we have enjoyed a competitive weekend but there is a long way to go and we never underestimate our competition."
Norbert Haug [Mercedes - team boss]:
"A dream start to the season and all our hard work could not have been better rewarded. We started McLaren-Mercedes' 222nd race from our 55th pole position and this was our 53rd victory – for sure one of our nicest. We had Lewis pit earlier to avoid running into the danger of a Safety Car phase. Unfortunately the Safety Car came out when we wanted to call in Heikki. That is a pity for him as he drove a great race in his debut for the team. However it's only a matter of time before he will get a better reward on the track than today."
Mario Theissen [BMW-Sauber - motorsport director]:
"This was a fantastic start to the new season for the
BMW Sauber
F1 Team. In a turbulent race with three safety car periods and numerous retirements, Nick kept cool and finished second, achieving the first podium of the season for the team. Only
Lewis Hamilton was quicker. This was a real strategy game. Nick was somewhat lucky with the safety car periods, Robert was unfortunately unlucky. Towards the end, Nakajima pushed him off the track. Up to this point he had driven a strong race after his fantastic qualifying yesterday. Together with our qualifying performance on Saturday, this is a good basis for the next races. This was a motivation boost for the whole team. A big thank you to all our colleagues in Munich and Hinwil."
Willy Rampf [BMW-Sauber - technical director]:
"This was an exciting race which generated mixed feelings. It's fantastic that Nick clinched second place, but at the same time I'm sorry for Robert who had an unlucky race. At the start Nick was overtaken by
Nico Rosberg, but thanks to the fantastic work of the pit crew, he was able to overtake him in the pits. From that moment on he drove a fast and consistent pace. He finally benefitted from the third safety car period, and equalled the best result of the team so far. We changed Robert's strategy during the second safety car period, but unfortunately he got stuck behind Bourdais and lost a lot of time. After Nakajima had crashed into the rear of his car, he stopped for safety reasons."
Sam Michael [Williams - technical director]:
"It's a fantastic start to the season, we knew we had the potential in the car but didn't realise it because of the reliability problems we had in practice, but that all came out in the race. Nico kept his head down through lots of difficult situations, he had good strong car pace throughout the race and congratulations to him for his first podium. Kazuki did well too despite being involved in two incidents. Both cars had solid reliability throughout the race and it's great to go away with a haul of points from the first Grand Prix. After tonight we will look forward to Malaysia for better qualifying and build on our second place in the championship."
