Russian GP: Top 10 quotes after race


Pos.	Piloto	Equipe	Dif.	Pts.
01	V. Bottas	Mercedes	52 voltas	25
"It's going to take a while to sink in. Normally I'm not that emotional but hearing the Finnish national anthem was very special for me. It's all a bit surreal, the first win and hopefully the first of many. It was definitely one of my best races ever. The pressure from Sebastian wasn't too bad; the main issue was with the lapped cars, trying to get past those. It was tricky to pass them without losing time. I also had a lockup with about 15 laps to go that hurt the pace, but it was manageable. I asked for a bit of radio silence just to get on it and focus. I'm sure this victory will give me lots of confidence going forward. I knew I could do these results, I always trusted my ability, but this result confirms it."
02	S. Vettel	Ferrari	+0.6	18
"I think my getaway was ok. Maybe I could have been a bit more aggressive. There was a delay in turning the lights off, so that I didn't get a proper reading of how the grid was. Still, I had a good start but we had a strong head wind all day and Bottas could get a massive tow, so there was nothing I could do. Valtteri had a great race. He drove better than the rest of us so he deserved to win. Towards the end I was flat out, I had a feeling that I could get into DRS distance, maybe on the back straight, put some pressure on him and, who knows, lead him into a mistake, but he made none. What happened swith Massa was just a bit of a misunderstanding, I wasn't sure where he was going, but I did not lose the race at that point. Now we look ahead to Spain. We had a good answer about our car in Barcelona during testing days and I don't need to think about the championship. We had a very good start. We are here to win, to do our best, but we can still learn and improve. The speed was there today, but we could have done better. Yet, we have a strong car and a strong team and there is a lot of positive aspects."
03	K. Räikkönen	Ferrari	+11.0	15
"Overall, it has been a more positive weekend compared to the first three races. I was happier with the car and when I needed to push I could get the lap time out. The race was decided at the start and I had a pretty bad one. I thought I was losing a lot, but I managed to get the position back and stay there. My car was good all the way through the race, but after that, not a lot happened. We tried our best but there was not much to do, I was just holding my position. So, obviously, I'm happy for the podium, but I'm disappointed to lose a place at the start instead of gaining one. Now we need to keep working; small details can make a big difference in the end. I'm very happy for Valtteri who won his first race, I'm sure he will have a bright future."
04	L. Hamilton	Mercedes	+36.3	12
"A big congratulations to Valtteri. He did an exceptional job today and he really deserves it. He's been fast all weekend and he's done such a good job for the team. He's a fantastic teammate to work with and it's such an amazing feeling winning your first Grand Prix. For me it was a very tough weekend. I just wasn't quick enough. I've never had cooling issues like that before but it meant I was out of the race from the get-go. I think I had the pace to fight with Kimi, but the car just kept overheating. Ultimately, if I had better pace then I would have been further up. At least I got some good points for the team. I'm just hopeful that I can pick up the pace at the next race."
05	M. Verstappen	Red Bull	+60.4	10
“The start was very important today and ended up being the only action of the race for me. I managed to get past Felipe and Daniel and from there on it was a very lonely race. I could see the cars in front of me pulling away and I was pulling away from the cars behind so I just tried to manage the car home. After the issues we had this morning luckily nothing upset me or the rhythm during the race so I just had to bring it across the line. The mechanics did a really good job sorting the issue in such a small amount of time and giving me a car to complete the race in P5. The pace was not so bad in the last stint which is another positive to take away from this tough weekend. Towards the end you naturally start to turn things down on the car to be safe. We maximised the opportunities we had so now we can look forward to Barcelona, the upgrades are coming and we can hopefully start to get involved in the fight at the front. Barcelona is obviously a very special track for me following last year’s race so I am excited to return and see what we can do.”
06	S. Pérez	Force India	+86.7	8
“Sixth place feels very satisfying and with Esteban in seventh it has been a really positive day for the team. We’ve consolidated our fourth place in the championship and I’m seventh in the drivers’ championship – which is a tremendous effort from the first four races. The race today was not especially exciting for me because I was always on my own in clean air – chasing the cars ahead and pulling away from the cars behind. So there were no on-track battles and I could simply focus on managing my race and bringing home the points. The team did a great job with the strategy – waiting until the right moment to pit and not coming in too soon. Once again, we took all the opportunities that were on the table and we can feel very happy tonight.”
07	E. Ocon	Force India	+95.0	6
“It feels great to finish in seventh after such a strong performance from the whole team. I am very happy with what we achieved this weekend: we improved in every session and never went backwards. From the mechanics to the engineers, everyone did a great job and we can be proud. I feel there is nothing more we could have extracted from the car: the only negative from the race was a poor start, but I managed to get those positions back before the first lap was over, so it was all good in the end. Finishing in the points in all of the first four races is a great way to start the season and the best I could have hoped for. We are in fourth position going into Barcelona, where we expect some upgrades to be on our car, so we can be confident about the future.”
08	N. Hülkenberg	Renault	+96.1	4
“I’m really happy with the strategy we ran today; there wasn’t too much left from the tyres at the end of that first stint, but we achieved what we set out to do. I lost track position at the start so we let everyone else pit ahead of us and went as long as we could go on the first set of boots. I kept pushing and the car performed really well, staying switched on with the track improvement meaning I was able to get faster and faster. I was definitely happier with our race pace today; we’ve still got more work to do but we’ve clearly taken a step in the right direction this weekend.”
09	F. Massa	Williams	+ 1 volta	2
"I'm disappointed, we were just unlucky with the tyres. I was really taking care of the car and the tyres, keeping the gaps in the right place, and we had a sixth position in our pocket today. It is unfortunate and painful for the team that we have lost good points, but we can't do anything about it. The car felt good, it was consistent with a good pace, I had a good start and first lap. I was around eight seconds ahead of Perez, we were just unlucky. I'm so happy that Valtteri managed to get his first victory. I knew when he signed for Mercedes that he was going to do a good job there, like he did for Williams, and he's doing it. He will be a different driver now with that first victory in his pocket."
10	C. Sainz	Toro Rosso	+ 1 volta	1
"“What a tough race, especially as we were starting from behind because of the grid penalty… But today we got everything right: the start, the first lap, the pit-stop, the strategy… So we can be happy! We did a good race and recovered well from P14 to P10, which I think was the maximum we could do this weekend. After the pit-stop it was a bit of a lonely race for me and I just had to control the gap to Stroll, which we managed to do well. I must say that now I’m really looking forward to the next race in Barcelona –it’s a track where I’ve always performed very well and to race in front of my home crowd is always very special. I also have my own grandstand there, so a lot of people will be coming to support me and this will surely be one of the highlights of the weekend.”