IN THE POINTS!
First, through to Q2 in Qualifying, now a hard-earned Championship Point to round off a fantastic weekend in Austria. Woohoo!
The Race, Formula 1 Grosser Preis von Ȍsterreich 2016
Sunday 3 July
Red Bull Ring, Spielberg
Pascal MRT05-03 P10 1:10.859
Rio MRT05-01 P16 1:10.342
Pascal Wehrlein:
Q. Are there words to describe how you’re feeling right now?
A. “It’s incredible. I’m so happy! It’s just been one of those weekends and to end it this way is
a fantastic reward for everyone.”
Q. It looked like a pretty stressful race at times. How was it in the cockpit?
A. “At one point I was feeling quite dejected, because we were a little unlucky with our
strategy in relation to the safety car. I’d just pitted, so when I came out after my second
stop, I was last. That wasn’t such a great feeling, but we just had to work with what we had,
which was Soft tyres all the way to the finish – 40 laps! To finish the race in the points from
that position by running for more than half a race distance on a single set of tyres is an
incredible achievement.”
Q. What does this result represent in terms of where the team is right now?
A. “It’s very important. Not just because of what it means for our position in the
Championship, but it also shows that we have made real progress. It’s been a step by step
process, and one that hasn’t always been visible to people outside of the team, but today is
a good day and a really great reward for all of us.”
Rio Haryanto:
Q. Rio, a fantastic Team result today – the product of a lot of hard work by everyone.
A. It’s amazing. Congratulations to the whole team for a really great result for everyone today.
So much work has gone into this from every single team member and it’s not only nice but
also really important for all of us to have this reward. It means we’re moving forward and
making good progress, and that’s important as we head into the second half of the season.
Q. What about your own race? You were on a different strategy, which leaves you perfectly
placed if the race comes your way, but disappointed if it doesn’t, as was the case today.
A. “Yes, I started the race on the Soft tyre for 27 laps, then ran for two stints on the Supersoft.
During the first stint I had an electronics glitch, which hampered my pace and took 15 laps
to get on top of. The rest of that stint was working well for me then the safety car changed
the complexion of the race and my strategy didn’t work out so well today. I was pleased
with my pace, especially towards the end when I was catching Ericsson, but unfortunately
it wasn’t possible to fight for a better position today.”
A word with Dave Ryan, Racing Director:
“After yesterday’s Q2 performance in qualifying, today’s point-scoring finish is a fantastic
way to end a really positive weekend. The most important thing about it is that it shows
that we’re a serious team and we’re working extremely hard to improve. Pascal has been
looking comfortable the whole time we’ve been here in Austria and even though there was
a point in the race where things were not looking so great for him, we felt sure he would
turn it around. That’s exactly what he did and he put himself in exactly the right position to
take advantage if things came his way. Rio was on a different strategy; we split the
strategies so that we would be in a good position to respond to any opportunity.
Nonetheless, he drove a really determined race and can be pleased with his 16th place
today. Naturally, heading into our home Grand Prix next week, this will give everyone a
huge lift. We need to keep our feet on the ground, but after an enormous amount of hard
work in the first half of the season, everyone thoroughly deserves to enjoy the moment
before the hard work starts again tomorrow.”
