Zoom "At least I saw the chequered flag!”

Starting 14th Sebastian Vettel had hoped for a strong run in the Turkish Grand Prix, but a cut tyre and then a fuel problem saw him take the chequered flag in 17th and last position. The result, while not brilliant, did mark the German's first finish of the season. Sebastien Bourdais ran well after starting 18th before his STR2B failed sending the Frenchman into the gravel trap.

Turkey marked the final Grand Prix for the STR2B chassis. The team will bring the new STR3 package to Monte Carlo in two weeks time.

Sebastian Vettel
“I had a good start and then, all of a sudden I realised I had a punctured rear left tyre, so I had to pit immediately. My second problem came at the first pit stop, when the refuelling rig had a problem, no fuel went in, so I had to come in immediately again. From then on it was a tough race and I could not have done any better. At least I saw the chequered flag!”

Sebastien Bourdais
“Something broke at the back of the car, I don’t know what it was yet. Going into Turn 12, I braked at the usual point and the car went sideways, I felt the right rear corner of the car drop and it spun me round. It’s a shame, as up until then it had been going quite well and I was just about hanging onto the Toyota in front of me and keeping the Renault behind me. Of course, the problem at my pit stop with the refuelling had not helped.”

Franz Tost
“Both our drivers got good starts, but in the first lap, Vettel was hit by another car, got a puncture and had to pit to change tyres. After that he was having a reasonable race, but when he came in for his scheduled stop, unfortunately, there was a problem with the refuelling rig and he had to be called in again next time round, as no fuel had gone into the car. This cost him over twenty seconds, but at least he finished the race."

"We had a similar problem with Bourdais’ stop, but this time, we spotted it before he left the pits and we switched to the spare fuel rig. After that, he Bourdais had a problem at Turn 12, which the data reveals as a technical failure that we will now investigate. We are glad the STR2 era is over and now we look forward to running our new car, as from the next race in Monaco.”

E.A. © CAPSIS International