Korean F1 Grand Prix 2012: Race Report - Lewis Hamilton 10th, Jenson Button retired

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LEWIS HAMILTON
- MP4-27A-04
- Started: 3rd
- Finished: 10th
- Fastest lap: 1:42.721s (+0.684, 9th)
- Pitstops: Three: lap 13 (3.00s), 26 (3.99s) and 42 (2.50s) [Opt-Pri-Pri-Opt]
- Points: 153 (4th)

“I’m exhausted.

“I was told after the race that my car had suffered a rear anti-roll bar failure a few laps into the second stint. It was safe to drive – and I was trying my best with it, pushing all the way – but it was extremely hard to maintain a good pace. The balance was switching from corner to corner, the car was moving around along the straights, and it was eating up the tyres, which meant we lost further ground by being forced onto a three-stop strategy.

“To make things even more difficult, I then picked up some stray run-off Astroturf, which tangled itself around my sideboard winglet for the final few laps. It stalled the diffuser – so I had no rear downforce at the end, which made it even trickier to hang on to 10th place.

“In terms of winning the world championship, logic suggests that that’s probably it for me. Having said that, there are a lot of points still up for grabs, so I’ll keep pushing. Stranger things have happened, and I’ll never give up.

“It doesn’t feel great to experience days like these, but every cloud has a silver lining. Put it this way: it’s good to see what’s in your heart when you keep fighting. Days like these show the true spirit within.”

JENSON BUTTON
- MP4-27A-03
- Started: 11th
- Finished: Retired, lap one: accident damage
- Fastest lap: -
- Pitstops: -
- Points: 131 (6th)

“I got a really good start and was able to get past both Mercedes. Into the first corner, there was a slight incident in front of me [when Sergio Perez braked late and tapped the car in front], so I was forced to run wide and push Nico [Rosberg] off the circuit.

“Nico and I then had a good drag-race down the back straight on lap one. I braked really late for Turn Three, then suddenly Kamui’s [Kobayashi] car was climbing all over my car’s right-hand side.

“It’s extremely disappointing. This is a long race, with so much opportunity for everyone. It’s a great circuit for overtaking, so it’s surprising to see people behaving like that on the first lap.

“I no longer have a realistic chance to win the world championship, so I’ll be enjoying myself over the final four races. Scoring points for the team in the constructors’ world championship will be the most important priority, so I’ll be focusing on picking up as many as I possibly can.”

MARTIN WHITMARSH
Team principal, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes

“Lewis may have scored only a single world championship point this afternoon, but I’m happy to be quoted as saying that it was probably the hardest won and most heroically fought world championship point in McLaren’s long history.

“His car suffered a rear anti-roll bar failure early on – and that destroyed his car’s handling balance and made it impossible for him to look after his tyres. The fact that he nonetheless hung on in there, through thick and thin, battling wheel to wheel with drivers whose cars were undamaged, was truly mighty.

“Then, finally, to add insult to injury, he picked up a strip of stray run-off Astroturf, and that further compromised his car’s performance – yet, even so, despite not being able to shake it off as it flapped about in the air-stream, he still clung on to 10thplace. Believe me, it was an epic, stirring, majestic drive.

“As for Jenson, well, what can I say? He made a very good start and would, I’m sure, have driven a great race this afternoon. But he wasn’t given the chance to show what he could have done because he was taken out, hit from behind, through no fault of his own.

“So today wasn’t a good day at the office, obviously. But motor racing is like that sometimes. And we’ll fight on. That’s what Vodafone McLaren Mercedes’ incredible team spirit is all about. That’s why McLaren has won one in four of all the grands prix that have been staged since our team first entered world championship grand prix racing 46 long years ago. And that’s why we’ll be moving heaven and earth to win the four grands prix that still remain this year.

“It won’t be easy, but I promise you we’ll all be giving it our very best shot.”

~ Official photos and report courtesy of Vodafone McLaren Mercedes ~

Copyright © 2012, mercedesgla. All rights reserved.

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Korean F1 Grand Prix 2012: Race Report - Michael Schumacher 13th, Nico Rosberg retired

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Michael Schumacher finished the Korean Grand Prix in 13th place today whilst Nico Rosberg was forced to retire on lap two after being hit by another car.

• Michael completed a two-stop strategy of used option/new prime/new prime, stopping on laps 13 and 32
• Nico´s car was hit from behind by Kamui Kobayashi on lap one, under braking for turn three
• Nico was forced to retire the car because of the resulting damage on the second lap of the race

Michael Schumacher
“There are some races where nothing comes together and which you simply have to move on from straight away. This was one of them. We didn´t manage to get the tyres working properly over the race distance, which made for inconsistent lap times, and accounted for our step back in performance. So we will write this one off, look forward and hope that we will be able to get back on the front foot again in the upcoming races.”

Nico Rosberg
“Unfortunately this has been the second poor weekend in a row for me, and it’s very frustrating to be taken out twice in the first corners of the race. Kobayashi hit me from behind today and that was my race over. The one small positive to be taken from the weekend is our qualifying performance which was a small step forward. Now I’ll look forward to India and hope for a bit more luck there.”

Ross Brawn
“It was a difficult race for us today. Nico was hit by Kobayashi on the first lap for the second race in succession, and to lose him again through the error of another driver was extremely disappointing. Michael did all that he could today but we struggled to keep the tyres up to temperature. There were parts of the race where the tyres were working properly and we were more competitive, but too many periods where we struggled. We need to look at how we can improve that situation, and we will keep working hard to make progress at the final four races.”

Norbert Haug
“Nico was once again the victim of a crash on lap one when a competitor drove into his car. This damaged the radiator which put an end to his race and, as in Japan, it was through no fault of his own. At no stage did Michael´s car produce the grip we had anticipated. We need to quickly put this race behind us but not before a thorough analysis, with an understanding of why we got it wrong today.”

~ Official photos and report courtesy of MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS ~

Copyright © 2012, mercedesgla. All rights reserved.

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Korean F1 Grand Prix 2012: Qualifying Report - Lewis Hamilton 3rd, Jenson Button 11th

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LEWIS HAMILTON
- MP4-27A-04
- FP3: 2nd, 1m38.169s (+0.527s), 12 laps
- Qualifying:
- Q1: 17th, 1m39.180s (on Primes)
- Q2: 3rd, 1m38.000s (on Options)
- Q3: 3rd overall, 1m37.469s (on Options)

“It’s been quite a tough weekend in terms of getting a fast lap-time out of the car, so third on the grid is very satisfying.

“In Q3 I’ll happily admit that I ragged the life out of the car and got everything from it, yet Mark [Webber] and Seb [Vettel] both claim they had a little bit left over. We’ll see. Anyway, Jenson showed yesterday that our long-run pace is promising, so I’m really looking forward to the race tomorrow.

“Beating the Red Bulls will be about making a good getaway, making all the right strategy calls, and not making any mistakes. There’ll be good opportunity for slipstreaming into the first few corners at the start too.

“I’ll be going all-out for the win tomorrow.”

JENSON BUTTON
- MP4-27A-03
- FP3: 3rd, 1m38.511s (+0.869s), 13 laps
- Qualifying:
- Q1: 3rd, 1m38.615s (on Primes)
- Q2: 11th overall, 1m38.441s (on Options)
- Q3: -

“I locked up in the final sector on my first Q2 lap, ran wide and had to go down to first gear – losing quite a lot of time in the process – so I reckon there was easily a couple of tenths that I could have had there.

“Then, on my final Q2 run, I lost time because of the yellow flags. I knew I could have gained a couple of extra tenths in that final sector, but as things panned out I couldn’t improve because of the yellows.

“It’s just one of those things, but I’ll go forward from here tomorrow.”

MARTIN WHITMARSH
Team principal, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes

“Lewis drove a strong lap in Q3 to qualify third, immediately behind the two Red Bulls, and will start tomorrow’s Korean Grand Prix from an advantageous position on the clean side of the grid as a result.

“Our long-run pace was pretty good yesterday, so we hope that he’ll be able to bag a hatful of points in tomorrow’s race.

“By contrast, today was a rather more disappointing day for Jenson, since his best Q2 lap was ruined by yellow flags triggered by Daniel’s [Ricciardo] ‘off’, leaving him 11th on the grid for tomorrow’s race. But for that, he’d have sailed through Q2 into Q3 and would doubtless have qualified much closer to the sharp end of the grid.

“Having said that, he’ll now have an extra quantity of new tyres available to him for tomorrow’s race, so we’ll now work on a strategy that should optimise the efficacy of that unexpected development.

“Jenson showed good long-run pace yesterday, so he’ll be aiming to make significant forward progress from the outset tomorrow.”

~ Official photos and report courtesy of Vodafone McLaren Mercedes ~

Copyright © 2012, mercedesgla. All rights reserved.

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