01/10/2017
NEWS STORY
Pierre Gasly: "This was a special race for me, as it was my first ever Formula 1 race - a day I will never forget! It was definitely a good experience, I'd say even better than what I expected. I tried to do my best and pushed as hard as possible! It was a really physical and tough race - my drink system didn't work properly, the water was going all over my face and not in my mouth! - and it felt like a long race... But with such a big adrenaline boost that I got, I just kept focusing until the end. I was quite close to Magnussen during the whole race, but it was quite difficult to close the gap. I think I also need a bit more experience regarding tyre management - I struggled at the end of the race - and I also think I didn't manage the blue flag situations perfectly - I lost a bit of time - but this will come with a bit more practice, I'm sure! I will now have a look back at the race and see all the things I can improve for the next race in Japan next week. All in all, I leave Malaysia satisfied, it was a positive race!"
Carlos Sainz: "It was a very positive day for us in general - apart from the retirement, I think that we were doing a very good race and we showed a much better pace than yesterday during qualifying; when it comes to races we always seem to extract a bit more out of the car. We were good for points today but, unfortunately, in the end we had to retire due to an electrical issue. It's a real shame, as up until that point the car was responding very well to everything... The good news is that we have another race in only seven days, so we can quickly switch focus and start thinking about the Japanese GP straight away. I fly directly to Japan tonight, so I will get into 'Japanese mode' quickly and start enjoying what has become one of my favourite race weekends of the year!"
Franz Tost (Team Principal): "First of all, I'd like to congratulate Max Verstappen and Red Bull Racing for this fantastic result. Regarding our Grand Prix, unfortunately this wasn't our race weekend - I think that we could've scored some good points with Carlos because he showed some really good pace and the strategy the team decided to go with seemed to be working well. Unfortunately, he then had an electrical problem coming from the Power Unit and he had to retire. Pierre did a fantastic job again today - this was his first weekend with the team and he performed very well. I'm looking forward to seeing him race again in Suzuka because it's a race track he knows from the Japanese Super Formula championship. We now have to analyse why we lost performance here in Sepang in comparison to other circuits, but I'm convinced that we will come up with a proper solution and will perform better in Suzuka."