“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]:
“We have scored nine important points. This is more than can be expected if you start from fifth and ninth, therefore we are happy with the results. Both drivers had trouble-free races with no errors. Now we are confident as we look forward to Monaco.”
Flavio Briatore [Renault – managing director]:
“It's nice to see some encouraging signs of improvement. Fernando made a fantastic start and had a great race to get us some important points. It was difficult for Nelson starting from so far back, but he managed to drive a consistent race and kept pace with the midfield pack. We are confident that we are starting a new phase, which will see us get closer and closer to the top three teams.”
Pat Symonds [Renault – executive director of engineering]:
“I think we made the most of our chances today. Fernando's race was essentially with Webber, but it was gratifying to see that we were closer to the BMWs once again, although there is still a gap that we need to close. Nelson's race was always going to be difficult and there was little we could do for him strategically, but it was a spirited drive, especially his defence against Heikki.”
Christian Horner [Red Bull – team principal]:
“Mark was mainly racing against Fernando [Alonso] today and was very close to out-running him at the first pit-stop – I think he missed out by half a second, which was unfortunate. Seventh was ultimately the outcome, and we collected a fourth consecutive points finish.
