11/09/2022
NEWS STORY
Dave Robson, Head of Vehicle Performance: Nyck drove an excellent race today and was able to defend when required as well as keeping constant pressure on the cars ahead. We gave him an ambitious strategy which would push his Soft and Medium tyres to the limit. The late safety car offered some protection in the final laps and also helped him manage a hot front brake disc. However, he got himself into that position by driving extremely well, managing the start and the pit stop expertly and by fighting hard using a car and setup that he had only driven for 34 laps yesterday. He did no high fuel running prior to the laps to the grid and had never driven a full stint on these tyres in racing conditions. The work that he and his team put in overnight was excellent and he deserved this result.
Nicholas had a tricky start to the race, losing out at the first chicane before mounting a good recovery showing decent pace on the Hard tyre to get back into the fight with Stroll and Tsunoda, Schumacher and Bottas. Unfortunately, he couldn't recover all the loss from the opening laps and finished in 15th.
It was good to complete this triple header with another points finish and we can now enjoy some rest before we head to Singapore for the first of the flyaway races that will end the 2022 season.
Nyck de Vries: I'm feeling really good about today and think it was crucial to get the start right and a clean run into lap one. I got into a DRS train which helped to stick with the pack, however I think the pace was really good and we made a good call on strategy and tyre management. Driver of the day makes me so happy and I'm very pleased and thankful that I got given the opportunity and I grabbed it with both hands. It was a great day for the team and whilst grid penalties played in our favour, ultimately, we did a great race so I'm very happy for everyone in the team and for myself. Hopefully I will get a shot next year, but this is definitely a dream come true and I'm very impressed with what we've done in short notice, so I'll go enjoy it now.
Nicholas Latifi: A very tough race. I was compromised at the start being sandwiched between a few cars and trying to avoid damage. A lot of cars cut the first corner without any penalties. Unfortunately, we had a slow pit-stop which left us with very little to play for in the race. The aim was to maintain the position we started in and we had a fighting chance, but it wasn't meant to be. We were fast in a straight line, but we struggled with braking and carrying speed through the corners. We'll look to bounce back in Singapore in a few weeks.