European GP, ​​Dave Ryan: “Today wasn't our day”

La Manor a different race was expected after yesterday's extraordinary qualifying, however the race did not live up to the expectations of the day before with Pascal Wehrlein retiring after 39 laps and Haryanto River who sadly finished in last place after a contact with Esteban Gutierrez at the start.

Rio Haryanto – eighteenth: “Today was not a good day for me. I had a contact at the first corner which damaged my front wing, this forced me to make a pit stop at the end of the first lap and obviously I found myself last when I returned to the race. In the pitstop I put the soft tires on, and the team and I decided to stick with our one-stop strategy. However, 49 laps with the same set of tires was really a lot so I struggled a lot with tire degradation; the braking point changed with each lap. I think everyone was expecting opportunities today and we tried to put ourselves on the front line to seize them but as we saw there were no surprises. It was a normal race. In any case I want to take the positive side, I had an extraordinary qualifying and I finished the race, so I'm happy."

Pascal Wehrlein – retired: “Honestly today was really a shame; we expected much more. We were on a different strategy than the others; a strategy that could have allowed us to seize numerous opportunities if the race had gone as we expected. We started on the soft tires and I was very happy with my position after the first lap. Naturally it was more difficult to ride on the soft tires than on the supersoft ones. After that we decided to put the mediums at the pitstop and I was very happy with my pace; I felt we could fight with the Saubers but unfortunately I had a brake problem. I simply no longer had the brakes so I had no choice but to retreat. There's not much to say, we just have to look forward. I really enjoyed myself at this circuit, and I also liked Baku.”

Dave Ryan, Racing Director: “After yesterday's great qualifying and two GP2 races heavily affected by safety car interruptions, we decided to implement two different strategies on our cars in order to cover every eventuality. The race in Rio was ruined after a few hundred meters when a Haas crashed into him, forcing him to make a slow pit stop due to the replacement of the nose cone. Pascal, on the other hand, started on the soft tires and we were in the race with him. Unfortunately, with 10 laps to go he had brake problems which forced him to retire. Today was not our day. Now we can't wait to be at the Red Bull Ring in Austria in two weeks.”

Stefano Rifici (@SedyBenoitPeace)