F1weekly podcast # 495
Photo: Renault Sport F1
Sebastian Vettel continues his dominance winning in Sepang.
Great drive for Jenson Button taking second place.
Nick Heifeld proves the naysayers wrong with a podium!
Lewis Hamilton struggled with his Pirelli tyres finishing in seventh.
Christian Horner On Vettel’s race.
“I think he was the coolest guy here today, I mean his composure in the car, the way he controlled the race, looked after the tyres, did what he needed to when he had to,” he told the BBC. “We had the option of doing a three-stop or a four-stop and he gave us those options so it was a really mature drive by him today.
He’s just experienced. We forget that he is only 23 years of age, he can only just hire a hire car, so he is in his 60-something grand prix and he is just learning, gaining more experience and just continues to get better. It was also a great recovery by Mark today.”
Eric Boullier on Renault’s race.
“That was a tough race with a lot of pit stops, a lot of strategy changes and honestly I don’t believe everything was going according to plan for anybody but as a team we reacted very well.I’m pleased of course for Nick but I’m also pleased for the whole team. It’s another great reward for us, especially after the tough start to the weekend. It’s good to be on the podium again, although it is disappointing to have lost one car with less than ten laps to go. There’s no doubt the car is competitive although it is not currently quick enough to be winning races. So, we need to push hard on the development side, but scoring two podiums in a row is definitely very satisfying.”
Nick Heidfeld, P3, R31-04
“I had a great start just like in Australia, and did not expect to make up so many positions. I moved up to P2, making up four places. After that I did my best to follow Sebastian (Vettel) but he was much quicker. Then, I noticed some drops of rain and my tyres were going off but I stayed out. I lost a couple of places at my first pit stop, but it’s clear we had really good pace and we were able to fight with the cars ahead. I got lucky with Fernando (Alonso) having a problem, but it was great fun fighting and getting ahead of Lewis (Hamilton). In the final few laps Mark (Webber) was close behind me but we had the pace to stay ahead. It’s another great result for Lotus Renault GP and it’s clear the team has taken a big step forward this year.”
Vitaly Petrov, DNF, R31-03
“First of all I am happy for the team as we got another podium, so we can consider this a great start to the season for us. It was a strong performance by the team in an unusual race. I made a small mistake which shouldn’t have had the consequences it had. I went wide and the car took off on the curb, landing hard. Both cars should have been in the points today, but the good news is that we clearly have the pace needed to compete this season.”
Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton given 20 second post race penalties.
Updated race results:
1. Sebastian Vettel Germany Red Bull-Renault 56laps 1hr 37m 39.832s
2. Jenson Button Britain McLaren-Mercedes +00m 03.2s
3. Nick Heidfeld Germany Renault-Renault +00m 25.0s
4. Mark Webber Australia Red Bull-Renault +00m 26.3s
5. Felipe Massa Brazil Ferrari-Ferrari +00m 36.9s
6. Fernando Alonso Spain Ferrari-Ferrari +00m 57.2s#
7. Kamui Kobayashi Japan Sauber-Ferrari +01m 06.4s
8. Lewis Hamilton Britain McLaren-Mercedes +01m 09.9s##
9. Michael Schumacher Germany Mercedes-Mercedes +01m 24.8s
10. Paul di Resta Britain Force India-Mercedes +01m 31.5s
11. Adrian Sutil Germany Force India-Mercedes +1 lap
12. Nico Rosberg Germany Mercedes-Mercedes +1 lap
13. Sebastien Buemi Switzerland Toro Rosso-Ferrari +1 lap
14. Jaime Alguersuari Spain Toro Rosso-Ferrari +1 lap
15. Heikki Kovalainen Finland Lotus-Renault +1 lap
16. Timo Glock Germany Virgin-Cosworth +2 laps
17. Vitaly Petrov Russia Renault-Renault +4 laps
[audio:http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/mp3.f1weekly.com/podcasts/04-10-11f1weekly495.mp3]