Formula One season gets underway - Renault, Ferrari, McLaren and Honda on the pace

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Formula One season gets underway - Renault, Ferrari, McLaren and Honda on the pace

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Kimi Räikkönen, McLaren-Mercedes, third place: “This is a great result after the disappointment of yesterday, but we have known that the car was very strong all weekend. We thought that we had a chance to score some points today, even though we were starting from the back of the grid, but to get a podium is fantastic, The first few laps were crucial to this result, and luckily I managed to overtake a lot of cars at the first corner; I was up to 13th by lap two even though the cars in front were all lighter than me. We then gained some more places later on as a result of our strategy. The outcome is even more important to the whole team, who have been working so hard throughout the winter, as we didn't know where we were after testing and everyone had been saying that we were struggling. However we really have improved over the past few weeks. It proves that we are competitive and if not for yesterday we could have been even better.”

Ron Dennis, McLaren-Mercedes Team Principal: “A difficult weekend which stretched the whole team. The results are therefore just reward for their efforts. We are all looking forward to Malaysia where our justifiable expectation is to do better.”

Norbert Haug, Vice President Mercedes-Benz Motorsport: “Kimi's performance was excellent coming from last place on the grid to finish third on the podium. Kimi was fighting all the way through the race and our one-stop strategy was ideal and helped to make this result possible. With his third place and Juan Pablo's fifth we have gained 10 points and are together with Williams Cosworth the only team which has finished with two cars in the points. So we are heading in the right direction. I want to thank the team for all their efforts following yesterday's problem. We are looking forward to next week's Malaysian Grand Prix.”

Jenson Button, Honda F1, fourth place: “Had I not had such a bad start then this could have been a great race for us. The pace of the car was absolutely there but the strategy didn’t pan out because I lost places off the start and wasn’t where we had planned to be at the pitstops. We may not have a podium but we have a very competitive car and if you look at the lap times when we weren’t in traffic we were genuinely as quick as anyone out there. I think we go to Malaysia feeling extremely positive. If we can address the clutch issue which caused the problem with the start we will be able to fight even harder with the competition.”

Gil De Ferran, Sporting Director: “Jenson drove a brilliant race, pushing hard throughout and showing that we had very similar pace to the leaders. Unfortunately he had a clutch problem at the start which dropped him back and ended up compromising the whole race. Rubens was running well early on but he lost the use of a gear which wiped out his chances. We come away from Bahrain disappointed with our final result but at the same time very encouraged by the performance of our car and drivers and looking forward to Malaysia."

Shuhei Nakamoto, Engineering Director, Honda Racing Development: “A disappointing result. Looking at the positives, Jenson’s pace matched that of Fernando and Michael for most of the afternoon, and he drove his customary strong race throughout, but the start spoiled his chances of a better finish. It was a shame for Rubens that his debut race for us was affected by a gearbox problem. The V8 engine has been strong the whole weekend, and we remain positive for next week.”

Juan Pablo Montoya McLaren-Mercedes, fifth place: “I have not really been totally comfortable with the set up of my car all weekend, which was clear during all the practice sessions. Obviously I am a little disappointed finishing in fifth as I know that the car could do so much more, but it just wasn't working for me this weekend. However it was a steady race and for the team to get two cars finishing in the points could be very important later in the season. The four points I have scored are good considering the circumstances. I am now looking forward to the next race in Malaysia, where we can improve further on these results."

Mark Webber, WilliamsF1, sixth place: “Today’s race was superb, a really good job by the whole team, we really could not have asked for more. Having both cars finishing was very useful, we have collected a lot of data and this will help with our understanding of the tyres. Malaysia will be a different race altogether and our performance today will really help with our preparation for next weekend.”

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