British Grand Prix - Race Reactions.

Lewis Hamilton:

"This was the toughest race, but also one of the best ones I have ever driven. It was so extreme and slippery out there, very similar to the Japanese Grand Prix in Fuji last year. I had troubles w🐬ith my visor and tried to clean it a coupleꦍ of times.

"I thank my team for a great job; they did fantastic work and we always made the right decisions with the tyres in the difficult conditions. When I came round the last time, I saw the crowd standing up and I prayed 'j🧜ust finish, just finish'.

Lewis Hamilton:

"This was the♎ toughes𒈔t race, but also one of the best ones I have ever driven. It was so extreme and slippery out there, very similar to the Japanese Grand Prix in Fuji last year. I had troubles with my visor and tried to clean it a couple of times.

"I thank my team for a great job; they did fantastic work and we always made the right decisions with the tyres in 𝕴the difficult conditions. When I came round the l𝔉ast time, I saw the crowd standing up and I prayed 'just finish, just finish'.

"It was a very emotional moment to win my home grand prix, and I want to dedicate this victory to my family.𓃲 As everybody knows, I had some troubles over the past few weeks and they have been always ꦛthere for me and supported me. To pull on another Vodafone McLaren-Mercedes rocket-red victory T-shirt feels awesome."

Nick Heidfeld:

"It was a good race. I am happy with second place, becaus🦩e today it was t꧋he best I could achieve. Qualifying went well and in the race we did everything right.

"Obviously it was crucial to make the right tyre decisions. At the first stop we were wondering if we should stay with the used set🗹 of inters, but luckily we then decided on new tyres. We were expecting a small shower, but when I drove down Hanger Straight and saw a black wall in froཧnt of me I thought I should expect more than that!

"The most difficult moments in the race were when cars were overtaking me who had been lapped, but wer🦩e just on better tyres for the conditions at that tim🥀e. There was so much water and I couldn't see where it was lying. Once before Abbey I almost spun, but just managed to keep the car on the track."

Rubens Barrichello:

"It's a great feeling to be back on the podium today, after such an exciting race where the weather conditions reꦇally helped us to get the best out of the car. The most important deci꧋sion of the race for us was switching to the extreme wet tyre when the heavy rain started to fall at half-distance.

"I had a real moment at Club, going off at high-🐠speed and almost hitting the wall, and that made me realise that we needed to make a quick decision. After fitting the extreme wets, I was able to overtake the cars in front easily which was a great feeling. Making such a crucial decision at a key time comes from experience and from the team having the confidence in me to make the call.

"I would like to say a big thank you to the team today - to everyone back at the factory and also in Japan. Life is about learning from your experiences, and we have been through some tough times 💖over the last couple of years, but I always had faith that there were goo𒉰d times ahead and I know there are plenty more to come."

Kimi Raikkonen:

"I am disappointed, but I am equallyꦰ aware that things could have been much worse. We had the possibility to win the race but we made a mistake at the first pit-stop, keeping the same set of tyres, because we expected the track conditions to improve. It was a joint decision - we are a team and we win or lose together.

"Things are🧜 not going too well for me at the moment, given all that happened in the last few races, but I am leading the championship, even if it is on eq🎐ual terms with Felipe and Lewis. We know we have a great potential, but we have to put everything in place to get the most out of it."

Heikki Kovalainen:

"Congratul🦋ations to Lewis on his superb home win. I had a good start and, for a few laps, Lewis was really pushing hard - which meant he eventually managed to overtake me on lap five when I ran a little wide.

"It was an extremely difficult race with lots of things happening. It was so easy to get caught out today by aquaplaning and slippery conditions. I spun twice, but I was not the only one. At least I scored four points and helped to incrဣease our ꦑconstructors' points total."

Fernando Alonso:

"I had said that when it rains, anything can happen, which was the case today as we had a difficult race with a very wet circuit. I used up my tyres very quickly and I finished the race virtually with slicks, which meant I lost a lot of time in certain parts of the track. We could have probably had a better result today, but📖 in the end I scored three points, which is import🤡ant for the championship."

Jarno Trulli:

"It was a good race and it's good to take two points, but I hoped for more. Throughout the race I was very strong, and I'd made it up to third place when the heavy rain came. At that point the track was reaಞlly bad; I was aquaplaning everywhere and losing 15 seconds a lap.

"We should have gambled on switching to the extreme wet tyre, but unfortunately when it came to take the decision we knew it wasn't going to rain any more. It was just a question of m꧟aking a difficult decision in difficult track conditions, but in hindsight we should have gone for it.

"It's a pity, because I was driving so strongly that we could have made the podium. Nevertheless, after yesterday's qualifying, two points is not bad. We've scored at the last three races and we𒆙 have a good chance to keep up the momentum. Now we must keep pushing to develop the car and then we have to take our chances at each race."

Kazuki Nakajima:

"It was good to score a point again, but it was a shame to lose seventh place to Jarno on the last lap. His tyres were in a better condition than mine, though, and he was just a bit quicker tha༺n me in thﷺe final laps when the track was drying out.

"It was enjoyable out there today, although a little hard to control the car in the opening and closing stages. The team made a really good decision to put me on the extreme wets at just the right tim🌠e, and so I was able to manage the car well in such wet conditions."

Nico Rosberg:

"It was pretty difficult out there today. When the rain started, there were just rivers of water everywhere which, on wets, caused everyone to aqua♐plane all over the place. Circuit conditions were continually changing as well, which caused the water to move around the track making it quite hard to tell where the best line was.

"It wasn't an easy race, but we definitely had the strategy right and came in for the extreme wets at precisely the right moment. After that, it was going well until I unfortu🐓nately ran into the back of Timo.

"He was going much slower than me and I had planned to overtake him on the inside, but my vision was limited by the rain and I misjudged it. All of a sudden, I was in the back of him - a big disappointment꧃. I am now looking forward to Hockenheim. It's my home grand prix, and I expect us to go better there because the track is more suited to our car."

Mark Webber:

"Unfortunately I dropped it on t𒊎he 𓆉entrance to Becketts on the first lap. I was quite close to Kimi and just got on the white line. I lost the car on the exit and had to let the field go past, so it was clear to spin back round.

"After that it was about making the right call for the right conditions. It was a difficult day to go car racing and it just didn't go our way today.🌼 The guys dꦐid a good job all week, and it's a shame we couldn't convert our good qualifying performance."

S?bastien Bourdais:

"It was very tough at the start as I couldn't see, because the water wasn't clearing off my visor. It's the first time I've encountered this problem. In the early stages I had 🦄a lot of understeer, which ruined the tyres.

"Putting the extreme wets on was a good call and the car was prett🍎y quick, but ꧑it was too late to do very much and eleventh was the best I could do. We must continue to work hard, starting with the upcoming Hockenheim test, and try and do better at the next race."

Timo Glock:

"That was really difficult for me today. I concentrated on looking after my tyres during the first stint, and everything was fine until the first stop. After that it was much harder. When the heavy rain came, I had no traction and the car was sl𒁏iding around.

"There was massive aquaplaning, and I had no chance to hold the car on the track. That was a pity, but we will try for more at the next race🍎. The guys in Cologne are working hard and the car is improving, so we wil꧂l push again in Hockenheim."

Felipe Massa:

"This Silverstone weekend is one to be wiped out. On Friday I had an accident, yesterday there was the problem in qualifying and today a series🎉 of mistakes at all levels. We have to look ahead, because there is st✅ill a very long way to go in the championship, and once again we've seen that it only takes one result to turn the situation around.

"After nine races I am in the lead in the classification, and I have every chance to fight for the title all the way to the end. Today, I could hardly keep the car in a straight line and it was always v😼ery difficult to drive. Only after the last pit-stop did things improve a bit, but by then I was a long way back. We have to do a good job in the forthcoming Hockenheim test to be as well-prepared as possible for the German Grand Prix that takes place on the same track."

Robert Kubica:

"I was already aquaplaning for many laps, and unfortunately in a s🃏traight line I just lost the car completely and went off. Here at Silverstone it was a crazy race in difficult conditions.

"Everything w🤪as running pretty well as I was having quite a good race and gaining positions, but when it rained and there was a lot of water on the track I was just struggling. I couldn't keep the car in a straight line, was losing power, the rear wheels were losing contact with the tarmac and that was it."

Jenson Button:

"It was a crazy race today, with the conditions changing all the time. We had some good pace on the wet tyres for the first part of the race, before the heavy shower which brought both Rubens and I into ꧙the pits for extreme wets on lap 35.

"Shortly after that stop, I hit standing water at Bridge which caused the car to aq♚uaplane off the circuit. I tried to spin the car round, but there was another caཧr coming so I had to get out of the way, couldn't get the car round far enough and ended up trapped in the gravel.

"There's always a bit of luck involvedꦐ in this type of race, and un💙fortunately it wasn't my day for luck today. Congratulations to Rubens on his third place and first podium for the team."

Nelsinho Piquet:

"I'm obviously extremely disappointed with today's retirement. The car was very good, our strategy was perfect and we were on-course for a very good result. However, when the rain came down very heavily, the track was com🦂pletely flooded.

"It wasn't just in the turns that the car🦄 was out-of-control, it was even on the straights. It was impossible to control. We have to take positives in that the car was good and we showed how competitive we ꦇcould be, so we have to take that to Hockenheim now."

Giancarlo Fisichella:

"I just lost control going through the complex, because t🌳h🧸ere was a lot of graining on the tyres as a result of the heavy fuel load we were carrying to be as flexible as possible with the weather. Even two laps earlier, the track was starting to dry out and there was some more graining. The grip level was absolutely zero and I spun."

Adrian Sutil:

"At the time of my spin, the track w🔯as starting to dry and it was tr𒀰icky to tell where the wet patches were. This is what happened in my case - I just went on one of these puddles and aquaplaned off completely.

"It was a shame, as considering how the race turned out, we could have had a chance of moving up the order some more, but this is racing and you never know how it will turn out. I'm now looking forward t🙈o the test next week where we can try out some more new parts, and then we go onto my home race in Germany."

Sebastian Vettel:

"Massa spun going into Bridge, which caused a lot of confusion and meant the cars were all running very close. Then in turn 14, I got hit on the rear left and it spun me around. I tried to save it, but I got stuck in the gravel. I thought there might have been a ch🙈ance of being pushed out, but when I got out ꧑of the cockpit I saw the gravel was much too deep."

David Coulthard:

"The visibility was incredibly bad, as you can imagine. I was very close to Sebastian after Abbey, as he had a wobble coming out of there. There was a clear gap down the inside, but unfortunately it was closiꦫng🎃 as I made the move.

"I'm sorry for him that we made contact and went into the gravel. I'm sorry for Red Bull too, as it was two cars out in one hit. I'm extremely disappointed for this to happen in my lastꦫ British Grand Prix."

Ron Dennis [McLaren - team principal]:

"To win your home grand prix is always special, and so today is indeed a special day for Lewis. It's also a special day for all at McLaren-Mercedes. Above all it was a magnificent grand prix, full of drama, and it was won by a man who mastered the treacherou𓂃s conditions faultlessly.

"Lewis' was one of ༺those drives that will live in the memory for a long time - but it should be remembered that, fabulous though Lewis' peꦚrformance was, it was also the result of brilliant teamwork by our engineers and mechanics.

"As for Heikki, he qualified superbly yesterday and clearly showed that he too is truly world-class. He shouldn't feel too disappointed today, because he demonstrated once again 𝓀that his racing skills are beyond question. His time will come."

Norbert Haug [Mercedes-Benz Motorsport - vice-president]:

"Lewis managed a superb and most impressive win, and over the 60 laps he was on average more than one second per lap faster t𒁃hen Nick Heidfeld in second place and lapped all drivers behind third place. We are back in the title fight and that's great!

"Unfortunately Heikki suffered from understeering throughout the longest part 🔯of the race. It's a pity because he had a very good set-up in qualifying, which helped him to achieve his first Formula 1 career pole position.

"Lewis is back in the lead with 48 points; he is tied on points with Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen. We are now focusing on our second home grand prix in Hockenheim in two weeks' time. Please come there to the Mercedes grandstand and watch Lewis and Heikki; t🧸here will be a first-class programme for all the visitors behind the grandstand.

"To all team-mates my sincere thanks forܫ achieving this result today - let's try to do the♏ same at Hockenheim when our next home grand prix takes place."

Dr Mario Theissen [BMW - motorsport director]:

"It was a very dramatic race, which was dictated by the weather conditions. In some periods of the race the lap ti𓂃mes varied by as much as ten seconds depending on the tyre choice. With Nick our strategy worked out perfectly. He performed very strongl☂y and carried out some spectacular overtaking manoeuvres.

"After things have not gone his way recently, I am very 🍬happy for him; he climbed from fifth on the grid to second with a good mixture of intelligent racing and fighting spirit. For him it is the third second place so far this year, and for our team the seventh podium.

"Rob🌳ert was doing well, having climbed up to third, but then went off during a rain shower. Compliments to him as well, as it was a strong team performance unde💃r these difficult conditions."

Willy Rampf [BMW-Sauber - technical director]:

"That was a tyre lottery, as there was a permanent question over which ones we should use. The critiꦕcal period w🍃as when the drivers were fighting very hard to keep the cars on-track after the heavy rain. Nick managed to do this very well. Unfortunately Robert was aquaplaning and went off.

"Nick deserved his place on the podium as he drove a very smart race. Congratulations on a great performance and compliments to the pit-stop crew, because we made the tyre choice decisions at very shor🔥t notice."

Ross Brawn [Honda - team principal]:

"We are delighted with the result from today's race, and Rubens' first podium for Honda is very well-deserved. He did a magnificent job out there, providing great i🍸nformation to help put together exactly the right tyre calls and strategy todayꦦ.

"Without the fuel rig problem that we had at the secon🐠d pit-stops, he would certainly have finished one position higher in second place. We were aware th꧋at rain was forecast for today, and we had compromised our qualifying settings yesterday to be better-prepared for the wet conditions, a decision which fully paid off in the race.

"Scoring our first podium of the season is a huge boost for the morale of the entire team - everyone here at the track today and all the people who work so hard back at the factory. It is doubly rewarding to have achieved this result at our home race, so clos🦩e to both of our UK facilities at Brackley and Bracknell.

"Additionally, we have secured si🦄x extremely valuable points, which opens up the potential to chase꧟ for sixth place in the constructors' championship over the rest of the season."

Stefano Domenicali [Ferrari - team principal]:

"A Sunday to forget as quickly as possible in terms of the result, although we must remember certain elements of this weekend, as there were mistakes made that we cannot afford to repeat. We could have won this race with Kimi, but we made a key mistake at the first pit-stop, choosing to stayಌ on the same set of tyres.

"The rain did not ease off and lasted longer and our drivers - Felipe had also gone for the same choice - found themselves in difficulty. With hindsight it's easy to say we should have changed tyres, but Formula 1 is not an exact science - sometimes⭕ strategic choices pay off and sometimes they don't.

"All the same, we have to admit th🌊at, this weekend, we did not operate to our usual standard. We made mistakes at every level and even our performance did not match our expectations; now we have to work out why, b꧟ut calmly without panicking.

"We have reached the mid-point of the season; both our dri𒁃vers are on equal points in the lead with one other driver in the drivers' classification, and we head the constructors' championship. We have lost a few opportunities to pick up a greater number of points, but we always knew this would be a very closely-contested championship. Now we will concentrate on the coming rounds and will try and do better."

Luca Baldisserri [Ferrari - technical director]:

"We are very disappointed with the way things went today. Kimi was having a great race and he had every chance of fighting for the win, but we made a wrong choice at the first stop. ༺We had banked on the weather getting better and it didn't; in fact the rain actually intensified for a while, w♐hich put our drivers in great difficulty.

"Clearly, looking back, one could say we should not have made this decision, but it was not just a shot in the dark, as seen from the fact that we were not the only ones to make this choi♊ce out of all the drivers who stopped around this time.

"Felipe was s෴truggling right from the start because of a lack of grip and his race was immediately compromised,🌳 and then it is very difficult to drive in these conditions in the middle of the pack.

"We are all very disappointed because once again🦂 we have lost♏ valuable points. Now we have to stay concentrated and must work even harder to improve our performance and make sure we don't make any more of these mistakes."

Flavio Briatore [Renault - managing director]:

"Once again it was a race that looked promising, but we were not able to make the most of our chances. The first part of the race showed that Fernando and Nelson were verไy competitive, and we must make sure that we build upon this potential in the second part of the season."

Pat Symonds [Renault - executive director of engineering]:

"Our pace at the start of the race seemed reasonable, but it was obviously a mistake to leave the tyres on Fernando's car at the first stop. Later in the race we were clearly uncompetitive, and ♑we need to find the reason why."

Tadashi Yamashina [Toyota - team principal]:

"Jarno showed excellent spirit again to𒁃day, and came away with a good result given his grid position. He stayed out i🐽n very difficult conditions on the standard wet tyre, and he kept the car on the track doing good lap times. It was very important for him to score points, because we have struggled in the past in this type of race.

"Today we stayed out on the standard wet tyre rather than switch to extreme wets, because we felt the weather was going to improve. That choice woꦏrked out reasonably well in the end. We must still analyse how to make the best use of the tyres in changing conditions, but you have to make an instant decision.

"Timo struggle✤d to keep the car on the track when it was at its wettest, but Jarno's settings🧜 were better for these conditions. The pit crew also did a great job for the whole of practice, qualifying and the race.

"💎This result moves us up to fourth in the constructors' championship, but we are still looking to make further ground. Next we head to Hockenhei꧃m, where we have a major new aerodynamics package, so we are expecting a good result."

Sam Michael [Williams - technical director]:

"It was a mixed race for us, really. After a difficult first part, 🔯the pit-wall made some good calls on the tyres in the changing weather conditions, which enabled us to progress up the field in the middle of the race, certainly enough to get both cars into the points.

"Unfort༺unately, we only managed to get one car into the points, so at the end of a difficult weekend we will now look to the next race to a better job than here."

Christian Horner [Red Bull - team principal]:

"A hugely disappointing day. Mark un꧂fortunately spun on the first lap, but thereafter had very good pace. At his first stop we opted for him to stay on the same set of i𓆏ntermediates, as the rain had not yet arrived, and then fuelled him to the finish at the next downpour. Unfortunately a further spin left him outside of the points today.

"For David, not much to say - he went for a gap 🍨that closed on him, which finished his race prematurely.൲ All-in-all, a lost opportunity."

Fabrice Lom [Renault - principal track support engineer]:

"We are very sad that we didn't put into points the performance that we showed yesterday. Mark did a great qualifying performance and had good pace in the race, but today wasn't our day. We'll have to waitꦯ until next time."

Franz Tost [Scuderia Toro Rosso - team principal]:

"Both drivers had bad starts, losing places from their grid positions obtained in a very good qualifying session yesterday. Vettel didn't even complete one lap after being clipped by Coulthard and ending up in the gravel. Bourdais survived a spin and we made the right decision to switch 🐎to full wets to bring him home eleventh, even if he could have finished a bit higher.

"We have 🍸reached the mid-point of the season and we can approach the second half with confidence, having seen our pace here in qualifying. I am convinced that, in the right circumstances, we can put ourselves in the points-scoring ༒positions."

Dr Vijay Mallya [Force India F1 - chairman and managing director]:

"What a race today! It is the first time in many years that the winner - a very de𒉰serving Lewis Hamilton - lapped all up to third position. It is also astonishing that a car that qualified just two tenths away from us has finished on the podium.

"If we had finished, then who knows what would have been possible? Of course we didn't, but the conditions were extremely difficult and, as we saw, most drive🌠rs experienced some sort of problem.

"We should not dwell on this too mu𒈔ch, though, but rather move on to the next test in just two days' time❀ and then the German Grand Prix, where I am sure Adrian will want to put on a good show in front of his home crowd."

Mike Gascoyne [Force India F1 - chief technical officer]:

"A ver𝓀y disappointing end to the weekend. It is important in these sorts of conditions to get cars to the end and pick up what💦ever places are available, but unfortunately both drivers got caught out by the conditions.

"On a positive note, though, ou𝔍r pace certainly seems better with the modifications we made and we have some furthe꧅r updates for Hockenheim, so we need to move forward and have a better weekend there."

Hirohide Hamashima [Bridgestone - director of motorsport tyre development]:

"I am very happy with the good performance we saw from both of our wet tyres today, and the data and feedback we have gained will help us develop our next generation of wet-we👍ather tyres for Formula 1, and ultimately for our road tyres too. The variable weather conditions were very﷽ valuable to us for this data collection, and also helped to provide a very enjoyable race for spectators.

"Congratulations to Lewis for winning his home grand prix. This win came from correct tyre choice and car set💜-up, as well as patience in the🧸 cockpit. This was a very eventful race, and there were many good performances from drivers. We now have three drivers on the same points as we enter the second half of the year. The racing season starts now!"

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