Hamilton leads Mercedes 1-2-3-4-5 in Russia

Lewis Hamilton

As it has been all year, if you didn't have Mercedes power in the Russian GP you were nowhere. Lewis Hamilton led every lap to win the inaugural Russian GP at Sochi after his teammate Nico Rosberg handed him the race on a silver platter.

Rosberg was 2nd after having to run the entire race on one set of tires after severely flat spotting his first set on lap 1 while passing Hamilton and had to pit to change them on lap 2. Valtteri Bottas was third followed by Jenson Button and his McLaren teammate Magnussen – all with Mercedes power.

Rosberg flat spots his tires passing Hamilton for the lead on the first lap

Fernando Alonso was 6th ahead of Daniel Ricciardo. Sebastian Vettel was 8th.

The early laps of the race saw some good side-by-side battles between several drivers, made easy because the Sochi track is super smooth. However, by lap three Hamilton was running off into the distance. The only action was Nico Rosberg driving from last to second on one set of tires, but remember he was in the superior Mercedes factory car so the result was expected.

It was the 31st F1 win for Hamilton, tying him with Nigel Mansell for most wins by a British driver.

The result handed Mercedes its first ever constructors' title, and leaves its two drivers' to fight it out over the final three races, with Hamilton enjoying an 17-point advantage after leading home another one-two.

Hamilton is congratulated by Russian President Vladimir Putin

After crossing the line Hamilton congratulated the team – describing it as "history in the making" – while Rosberg apologized for what he said was an "unnecessary" move at the start.

With Rosberg pitting at the end of the opening lap, Bottas settled in to P2 and kept Hamilton honest for much of the first stint before the Mercedes eased away. Button had Alonso for close company early on before gaps started to form, with a lack of degradation leading to little differences in strategy.

One driver to try something different was Felipe Massa, who started well down the grid after a fuel pressure issue in qualifying and followed Rosberg in at the end of lap one. Two stints on soft tires from that point allowed Massa to climb through to 11th but he couldn't pass Perez to take the final point.

While two DRS zones did provide the opportunity for overtaking, Rosberg's ability to effectively do the whole race on one set of medium tires showed that the tire compound choices were too conservative from Pirelli on its first visit to Sochi.

Home favorite Daniil Kvyat had a disappointing race from fifth on the grid, losing positions at the start before both Toro Rossos slid backwards throughout the race to finish comfortably outside the points.

Quotes

Red Bull-Renault

Daniel Ricciardo (7th): "The first few laps were pretty hectic and we lost a few places at the start. We will have to have a look at that, it's nearly the end of the season now, but we haven't had many good starts so that's a bit frustrating. Starting the race the tire was already blistered, it had quite a bit from qualifying, so it wasn't looking too healthy and the first stint made it worse; I could see it starting to come apart, so we had to pit quiet early. Then on the prime the tire lasted well and we had good pace and could match Alonso, but couldn't get past. Congrats to Mercedes – it's been a dominant season by them, so hats off to them."

Sebastian Vettel (8th): "I had a good start and then a tough battle with Daniel, but from then onwards the speed was nothing special, we had the same issues as we had in qualifying. I was alone for a lot of the race, the beginning was entertaining, but after that it wasn't that busy. Congratulations to Mercedes on the title, they deserve it."

Christian Horner, Sporting Director: "Firstly congratulations to Mercedes on an excellent campaign to win the Constructors' Championship; they've done a stunning job this year and after four years in Milton Keynes that trophy will now move up the road to Brackley. It was a fairly uneventful race for us. Tire degradation was not really a factor; we had a concern with the option tire with Daniel, which is why we pitted so early, but that was pretty much it. Dan got pretty close to Alonso at the end who looked like he was in trouble on fuel, but we just didn't have the pace on the straights to mount a serious challenge. So both cars home, a reliable race, but it's been a Mercedes engine dominated event."

Thierry Salvi, Renault: "Both cars had a trouble-free race on the Power Unit side. But extracting the maximum from the car is particularly challenging here, especially down the long straights. It's also a difficult place to manage the fuel consumption. Daniel is still on target with his PU allowance, while Sebastian's fifth PU ran without any problems. Seventh and eighth is not where the team wants to be so hopefully we can have a better run in Austin."

Mercedes GP

Lewis Hamilton (1st): "It was a good day and an amazing weekend. Firstly I'm so proud to have contributed to the work of this great team, to get the first Constructors' Championship for Mercedes-Benz is a huge achievement. Massive congratulations to the guys back in the UK and Germany, it's history for us. Today I had to manage the tires a lot through the race; managing the fuel wasn't too bad. The car felt great and I didn't have to push too hard. At the end, when Nico was behind, I needed to match his times, which I did. I've thoroughly enjoyed the weekend here in Russia, it's a great place. It's been one of my favorite venues so far this year, so it's very cool to have won the first race here. The fans have been amazing; I didn't know so many people followed it here but they were all there in the grandstands and looked excited! The organizers have also done a great job – the layout, the surface and the whole event; I take my hat off to them."

Nico Rosberg (2nd): "We are World Champions! I feel so happy for the team and the whole Mercedes-Benz family, today we made history. Thanks to everybody for their efforts, also thanks to the husbands and wives to send us your partners to make this happen. I remember well the hard times we had in this team. So now it's great to be so dominant in our sport. But I'm also divided. Today was a really tough race for me. I just messed up in the first corner. I simply braked too late, which was unnecessary. So I flat spotted my front tires and it was impossible to continue due to the vibrations. I had to pit, and on the prime tire I had great pace. In the middle of the race I thought the degradation would start to increase. But very soon it was stable and I was able to push a lot. Then I managed to overtake Bottas. Also still at the end I was able to push, but the team asked me to control the pace as everyone was worried about dropping at the very end of the race. P2 was damage limitation. I really look forward to the last 3 races of the year with this outstanding championship car."

Paddy Lowe: "It is a fantastic achievement for the entire team to secure the first Formula 1 World Constructors Championship for Mercedes-Benz. This has been a combined effort of the teams in Brackley, Brixworth and Stuttgart and is the result of many years of dedicated hard work. At this point, I would especially like to recognize the pivotal role played by Ross Brawn in this success and congratulate him, too, on his part in this championship victory. As for this afternoon's race, the biggest surprise was that we were able to run 52 laps on a single set of prime tires with Nico's car. After Lewis had made his pit-stop on lap 27 and we were able to analyze the tire wear from his set of option tires, it did not seem feasible that Nico could make it to the end without stopping again. However, his pace kept on improving and in the end we decided to take the gamble in order to try and secure second place. It worked out and, in my view, it was one of Nico's best ever drives to recover from his mistake at Turn 1. Lewis drove a flawless race and didn't put a foot wrong all afternoon; his was a commanding and controlled win. It is important to underline the huge contributions Nico and Lewis have made to achieving this Constructors' Championship; their competitiveness and dedication keep driving the team forward. Finally, it was a pleasure to welcome an impressive new venue to our sport this weekend and to meet a new community of passionate racing fans here in Russia; congratulations to the organizers who delivered an excellent event."

Toto Wolff, Mercedes Motorsport Director: "This is a great moment for our team but, first of all, we must not forget what happened last week. While we celebrate a hard-earned achievement today, we will not forget what happened to Jules in Suzuka and we will not forget the battle he is fighting at the moment. We are split in two today, celebrating a moment that we have worked so hard for, but this will never take away the sadness at the events of last weekend. Looking at this achievement, it's incredible: I have to pinch myself that we are now part of Mercedes-Benz history. Today, our team won the first ever Formula 1 Constructors' title for Mercedes-Benz and I feel proud and honored to be part of this group. The foundations of this success were built by Ross and he played such an important role in the team to prepare this success. We have been able to continue that work, making the right decisions, putting the right resources in place and putting the team on an upward slope; today's achievement is the result of that. Well done to every single member of the team in the UK and Germany for this world championship. Of course, the focus will now shift to the battle for the drivers' title and this will stay as intense as ever for the final three races. We have a healthy lead over Ricciardo in third place but nothing will change in our approach: we want Lewis and Nico to race each other hard and respectfully, as they have done so far this year. They have both made a massive contribution to our success and huge credit goes to both of them for the Constructors' title today."

Dr. Dieter Zetsche, Chairman of the Board, Daimler AG: "It is a time of great pride and satisfaction to mark the first ever FIA Formula 1 World Constructors Championship to be won by a Silver Arrow. This victory is the product of many years of hard work combined with great commitment and exceptional engineering skill. And it has additional meaning for a manufacturer like Mercedes-Benz to succeed in a year of technological change. The new rules for the 2014 season gave us the opportunity to demonstrate the technical expertise of Mercedes-Benz on a world stage. Our engineers were able to develop not just the most powerful and most efficient Hybrid Power Unit but also the most intelligent solutions for our W05 Hybrid race car. With 13 wins from 16 races so far, our performance this year has been true to the promise of the Mercedes-Benz brand: The Best Or Nothing. My congratulations go to our Formula 1 team at Brackley and Brixworth on their achievement, to our drivers Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton, and to each and every one of my colleagues who has contributed to this success and supported our Mercedes-Benz Silver Arrows. I would also like to mark this moment by saying that our thoughts are with Jules Bianchi and his loved ones after his tragic accident at the Japanese Grand Prix. The plight of this bright, talented young sportsman overshadows any thought of sporting celebration today. Thanks to the excellent work of the FIA and the teams, Formula 1 today sets a benchmark standard for safety and I know that no stone will be left unturned by the President of the FIA, Jean Todt, and his experts, to ensure that the right lessons are learned from this tragic incident."

Ferrari

Fernando Alonso (6th): "Today's race followed the pattern set in the earlier part of a weekend in which we didn't manage to be competitive, even if the car worked well from start to finish. The entire race was particularly demanding from the point of view of managing the fuel consumption and especially in the closing stages, I had to save fuel. During the pit stop, the front jack didn't work, but I think that even without this problem, I'd have finished in the same position, because the McLarens were faster. We took a risk at the start because we knew it was an opportunity to make up some places, but after that, my race pace was what we'd seen to date and it wasn't possible to do any more. We have not picked up many points, but we will continue to give it our all in the last three races, because third place in the Constructors' championship is still a possibility, even if at the moment, the most important thing is to get some good news about Jules as soon as possible."

Kimi Raikkonen (9th): "We knew we could expect a very demanding race and that starting from far back it would not be easy to move up the order, but at the start we did very well. Unfortunately a Toro Rosso squeezed me towards the wall once we were on the straight. Because I had to brake hard, various cars passed me and I lost any chance of having a good race, because from then on I was always stuck behind other cars. The car handled well and with a clear track I had a good pace, but we lacked top speed with which to try and overtake on the straight and having to save fuel meant I couldn't push as hard as I wanted to. We are aware that this year it's hard to fight for the top places, but all the same, we will continue to try our best, starting with the very next race in Austin. That track is very demanding and interesting and I hope I don't have the same problems I had here, so that I can aim for a good result. However, what I wish for most is that all our prayers help Jules at this difficult time."

Marco Mattiacci, Team Principal: "Once again, we find ourselves confronting a result that is a long way off our goals, but today, we must congratulate Mercedes who, after five years of hard work, have taken a well deserved Constructors' title. The back-to-back Japan-Russia trip has been a difficult one for our team, both on and off the track. In both races, we have learned a lot that will be useful for the future, in terms of how to improve on a technical level, but also when it comes to safety. I'm sure the final three races will provide an opportunity to try and get the most out of the team and the car, in order to end the season achieving better results. While my thoughts and those of everyone are still with Jules, today I would like to thank Luca di Montezemolo, at what has been the final Grand Prix under his Presidency at Ferrari. I think we have been fortunate to work with a great manager like him and it will be exactly the same with a successor of the caliber of Sergio Marchionne."

Pat Fry: "Contrary to expectation, the Safety Car didn't make an appearance today and the race was relatively straightforward to interpret, with a single stop for both our drivers. I think fuel saving affected almost the entire field and that influenced the spectacle. Fernando and Kimi both got away well at the start, but while the former made up two places, the latter had to lift off the throttle, because he was squeezed towards the wall by a Toro Rosso. From then on, Kimi was stuck in a train of cars for the first half of the race, but after the pit stop he settled into a good pace, matching Fernando's. Unfortunately, in his case, we regret that he lost a place to Magnussen, as the front jack collapsed at his pit stop. Today we had a very similar race pace to Red Bull, while McLaren had a bit extra and it was difficult to attack them, even at the start with the DRS. While congratulating Mercedes for winning the Constructors' Championship, we are still determined to keep fighting for as long as possible with Williams for third place."

Lotus-Renault

Romain Grosjean (17th): "The car felt okay to drive today, which was a big improvement on the previous two days and a testament to the work the team has put it over the week. The main challenge was the race start. It was hard to get the tires up to temperature over the first few laps, so much so that I thought I had a puncture at the beginning. After that, it was a straight-forward race aside from the incident with Adrian Sutil. He was on the softer tires and had a lot more grip than me going into T3. That corner closes up a bit on exit and he didn't want to go too much off the racing line. I was already on the maximum for the braking zone and we just touched a little. It felt more like a racing incident to me but never mind, we head to Austin and hope for better things."

Pastor Maldonado (18th): "We really struggled for balance on track today and it made for a very tough race for us. We started on the medium tire, which made it difficult to make progress in the early laps. We then moved to the soft compound, but even late in the race it was a struggle to find grip. My side of the garage lost out quite a lot from our issues on Saturday as we weren't able to improve the car and in particular the balance. It was frustrating as we really wanted to put on a good show as the Sochi Autodrom is a fantastic circuit. I can't wait to return next year in a faster car with a different tire allocation as there is fantastic potential here."

Federico Gastaldi, Deputy Team Principal: "Our performance today was nothing to write home about which is a complete contrast to the facility here and the reaction we received to Formula 1 on our first visit to Russia. The Sochi Autodrom is highly impressive and there is a lot of potential for great racing over the years to come. Both our drivers kept focused and brought their cars home, but we share their frustration at the performance level here this weekend. We have three races left in 2014, but our focus is very much on 2015 as we target a return to form."

Alan Permane, Chief Race Engineer: "We ran a split tire strategy on our cars but we struggled with both approaches. It's no secret that this circuit didn't suit our car with the tire allocation too hard for us to be able to make anything of this weekend. Pastor obviously faced the setback from missing most of the running yesterday whilst Romain also received a five-second penalty in the race which did seem tough. We certainly hope for better results and performance from the final three races of the season."

Simon Rebreyend, Renault: "That was a difficult race for us, and I thought Romain's penalty was harsh. The fuel and energy consumption were a bit tight up until the finish, but I think everyone experienced that. We did everything possible to balance it out and give both drivers maximum power, but it still wasn't sufficient to keep pace with the front-runners today, unfortunately."

McLaren-Mercedes

Jenson Button (4th): "Well, that wasn't a bad day at all – I reckon we got the maximum out of the car. I had a little scare at Turn Three on lap one, when Fernando [Alonso] and I got very close to each other, but apart from that it was a pretty straightforward race. It was odd that we were able to run so many laps on a single set of tires today. The Primes [tires] felt like they could have gone on for ever – it was a bit like going back to 'old school' racing in that respect. The track surface is in Austin [Texas] is very similar to the track surface here, as it happens, so I look forward to seeing how we fare out there in terms of tire wear. It's been a tough year for us but over the past few Grands Prix it's been clear that we've been improving. Today's result, fourth and fifth, is the best we've had for a little while, and the 22 World Championship points that Kevin and I scored are very welcome from a Constructors' World Championship point of view. Having said that, unless you're standing on top of the podium, you always want more; that's the Formula 1 mindset. But believe me: we got the maximum out of our car today, and our race pace was good, but better results still will come soon enough."

Kevin Magnussen (5th): "I decided to go flat-out from the start, in an effort to make up as many positions as possible from my P11 grid slot, and it worked; I had a great lap one, and then moved up to P5 very quickly. After that, though, it cost me dear because I had to do a lot of fuel-saving, especially in the second half of the race. Even so, it was a pretty uneventful afternoon for me. It was almost like a chilled-out Sunday drive, in fact, because I was easing off the power 200 meters before the corners in an effort to save fuel. I was really surprised that no-one was able to catch me, in fact; I guess the guys behind me must have been experiencing the same problem. Overall, therefore, I was pleased to finish fifth – and for Jenson to qualify and finish fourth was a great result in two ways: it meant that together we scored a lot of very valuable Constructors' World Championship points and it also showed that our car is steadily improving. So it's been a good weekend. We've been a bit quicker than we'd expected to be, which was great. Now we need to push really hard so as to carry that improved form forward for the rest of the season."

Eric Boullier, Racing Director: "After a more than somewhat irksome day yesterday, it was a pleasure and a relief to enjoy a trouble-free race today. Jenson drove faultlessly all afternoon, defending well against Fernando [Alonso] in the early stages and thereafter serenely holding fourth place until flag-fall. Kevin made a stunning start, passing no fewer than five cars before the end of the first lap, and thereby emerging at the end of it in sixth place. Like Jenson, he then drove hard and well to the finish, putting in some impressively rapid laps towards to the end of his first stint in order successfully to leapfrog Fernando when they both pitted for fresh tires, and fuel-saving diligently as the race neared its end. And while I'm on the subject of pit-stops, I want to pay tribute to our pit-crew, who once again wrought impeccable pit-stops; well done, guys. Admittedly, McLaren didn't get where it is today by finishing Grands Prix fourth and fifth, we know that, but it's clear that the direction of our improvement is both positive and linear. Moreover, the 22 World Championship points we scored this afternoon have lifted us well clear of Force India in the Constructors' World Championship, and we fully intend to consolidate that advantage over the final three Grands Prix of the season. Finally, on that subject, I want to take this opportunity to congratulate our friends at Mercedes-Benz for having sewn up the Constructors' World Championship this afternoon: an effort doughty and a result lustrous."

Force India-Mercedes

Sergio Perez (10th): "It was a very hard race and a very hard-earned point. We tried our best to push throughout the race, but obviously the fuel strategy was quite marginal – especially because I started the race on the medium and had to really push to keep in touch with the group on the softs. When I was on the softs, it was hard to save fuel because I had to defend from Felipe [Massa] who was behind me for the whole of the second stint. So it was a hard afternoon, but hopefully we can be in better shape for the coming races."

Nico Hulkenberg (12th): "It was quite a difficult race for me today. We started pretty far back on the grid and I was struggling a little with my straight-line speed compared to the cars with which I was battling. We were doing well in the corners, but losing a bit of ground on the straights, which made it difficult to overtake, especially on a track like this, where the straights are the only good passing opportunities. We could have probably finished in a higher position had it not been for this. We will need to regroup and come back stronger in Austin."

Dr. Vijay Mallya, Team Principal: "It was a difficult race on a track on which overtaking is nearly impossible. Checo was able to make his way past some of the other cars and mounted an impressive defense against Felipe Massa to claim the final point. Unfortunately his earlier overtakes had claimed a toll on fuel consumption and he had to give up his chase of Raikkonen to save fuel, otherwise ninth might have been possible. Nico's race was compromised by his grid penalty, but he did well to close in on the top ten. This result complicates a bit the battle for fifth in the Constructors' Championship, but with three races left, including the double-points finale in Abu Dhabi, everything can still happen. We will keep working hard and give 100% to bring the battle down to the wire."

Sauber-Ferrari

Esteban Gutierrez (15th): "It was a clean race with an interesting first part. We were betting on having a safety car period during the first stint, and this is why we extended this run. It was not ideal for the strategy, but we took that risk and hoped to gain an advantage. In the end, the safety car did not come out. Although I think the way the tires were behaving and the way the car drove was pretty enjoyable, on the other hand finishing in P15 was very frustrating, after a race where almost everything went very well. However, we will keep fighting until the end of the season to have a chance to score points."

Adrian Sutil (16th): "The start on the medium tires was difficult, as I had almost no grip. In addition, several drivers behind me put the soft compound on, which was a clear advantage. In Turn 1 I had no space and was forced to drop back. It was very slippery on this set, I lost some time in every corner and, as a result, positions. We decided to go for an early pit stop in order to change to the soft tires. Afterwards I was able to continue the race without major incidents, although the grip level reduced towards the end. We knew that the start on the medium tires was a risky strategy in case there was no safety car period. In the end, no safety car came out. However, it was in general difficult to finish the race in the points with our pace. We still need to do our best during the upcoming races."

Monisha Kaltenborn, Team Principal: "We went into the race knowing that, under normal circumstances, things would be difficult for our team. Therefore we opted for a strategy which would have been beneficial in case of a safety car period. However, this didn't work out, so we were not in a position to fight for points."

Giampaolo Dall'Ara, Head of Track Engineering: "On the technical side of things everything was okay. The drivers did a good job, and the team worked well. So there was nothing to complain about. We decided for a split strategy, featuring pit stop windows out of the optimal ones, in order to cover most of the possibilities, as it was clear that, based on our current performance, there wouldn't be many chances for us. But, as everything in the race went smoothly, we couldn't benefit from a special situation, so in the end we got what we expected with where we are at the moment."

Toro Rosso-Renault

Jean-Eric Vergne (13th): "It was an extremely frustrating race. We have to understand why we had to save so much fuel. It's a real shame because the guys did an excellent job giving us a very good car, which I felt was great for the whole race. The start was very positive, we were attacking as much as possible but then I had to stop doing it, even though I felt I could really do a great job. We have to move on to the next race in Austin, where hopefully we will be able to extract the maximum out of the car."

Daniil Kvyat (14th): "It was a tough race. Apart from the fact that I could not find immediately the right grip, we had to care too much about our fuel consumption compared to the others. This is something that we will have to understand, so as not to lose performance for this reason in the future. Last but not least, I also had to pit again towards the end of the race, losing even more positions. I would have liked to do much better here in Russia, in front of my own crowd, which really made me feel their great support. Regardless of the disappointing final result, it was great to race in such an amazing structure, with an excellent organization."

Franz Tost, Team Principal: "First of all thanks very much to Mr. Putin and Bernie Ecclestone for putting on a Grand Prix here in Russia. It was a really fantastic event, in a very beautiful setting. As for our race, starting from P5 and P9 to see the checkered flag in 13th and 14th position is far from what we were expecting today. After around twenty laps, we had to start saving fuel, so we could no longer use our real potential today. We lost places just because several other cars could easily overtake us, therefore the final result is actually quite disappointing. Now we have to analyze why it was possible that, with the same amount of fuel for everybody, we were so far behind. We need to find a solution and prevent this from happening again."

Ricardo Penteado, Renault: "It's true that we were hoping for a lot more after our performance in qualifying, but that's the way it goes sometimes. The Power Units have run well with no reliability issues all weekend, but both drivers spent a lot of the race having to lift and coast in order to manage their fuel consumption, compromising the result. Overall though I think we've again shown that the car is getting faster race-by-race."

Williams-Mercedes

Valtteri Bottas (3rd): "We went into the race today with the mentality that we were going to fight Mercedes for the win, but their pace in the race surprised us a bit and in the end we need to be satisfied with third place and another podium. I was keeping pace with Hamilton at the beginning but in the middle of my first stint the rear tires started to go away and that allowed him to create a gap. In the second stint I didn't realize Rosberg was quite as close as he was and his move caught me a bit by surprise, but he had more pace at that point anyway as my prime tires were taking a good ten laps to switch on so he would have caught me regardless. I was closing in the final laps as my tires were getting better but he had managed to create too big a gap. I'm very happy to be in fourth place in the standings and we have some great momentum heading into the US Grand Prix."

Felipe Massa (11th): "My strategy today was undermined by traffic and that prevented me from getting in the points. We decided to stop on the first lap and after that I was in clean air and had good pace on the option tires so made up a good number of positions. I then came up against Perez who had strong straight line speed so I lost a lot of time behind him. After my second stop I soon found myself behind Perez again and I didn't really have any good opportunities to take a risk and pass him. Of course it's disappointing to finish 11th when we had a very competitive car, but we are looking strong at this point in the season so we need to focus now on Austin and making sure that the race is problem free."

Rob Smedley, Head of Performance Engineering: "A great result today to secure 15 points and we have extended our third position in the Constructors' by five points which is important. Valtteri put in a very mature performance and its great see him up to fourth in the Drivers' standings. It's been a very disappointing weekend for Felipe and it was the reliability issue yesterday that put him very much on the back foot. We have lost at least 10 points on his car today so going forwards we need to focus on making sure that we get all of the little details right and maximize the points we score because we know the car is quick and can fight with teams at the front."

Caterham-Renault

Marcus Ericsson (19th): "The start to today's race was a really good one – it was a strong first stint and I was able to pull-away from the Sauber and the Lotus behind without any problems, I felt really good. But the second stint on the prime tires wasn't that good, I just couldn't get them to work – I felt no grip and I struggled massively to switch them on and in the end the team decided to call me in again for a second pit-stop and by then the race was already over for us as we were too far from the Lotus. I feel a bit disappointed because it felt so good on the first stint, I think we could've had a better result. Overall it's been another strong weekend, we're improving continuously and we've demonstrated that we can fight with Lotus and Sauber not only today during the first part of the race, but also yesterday's qualifying session. Now we just need to build on that and I look forward to the last three races of the season."

Kamui Kobayashi (DNF, Brakes): "A disappointing Sunday. When I heard over the radio that I needed to pit I thought it was just a normal pit-stop, but then I was told that I needed to retire. It was all a bit of a surprise to me and at first I didn't really know what the reason for having to stop was. The team has now analyzed the telemetry and it was clear that my brakes were overheating too much. It's a shame to end the weekend like this, but there's not much more I could do today."

Cedrik Staudohar, Renault: "Marcus did a fantastic job and pushed very hard to stay ahead of the two Lotus drivers, but in the end it wasn't quite enough. However, we have demonstrated both today and in qualifying that our pace is improving, which is obviously good news for the remaining races this season. Unfortunately Kamui wasn't able to complete the full race distance, but both Power Units worked well and we had absolutely no issues at all. Hopefully we can continue the upward trend in Austin."

Marussia-Ferrari

Max Chilton (DNF, Vibration): "After an incredibly tough week for everyone in the Team, we all deserved so much more from today's race. It hasn't been an easy day, far from it, and all the guys have had to dig deep to get us to the grid. When we got there of course, it was very emotional with all the support for Jules. I think the Team, the sport and all the fans have really done him proud. In the race, we got a good start then switched from the Medium tire to the Soft quite early on, as we always knew we wouldn't be that strong on the prime. On lap 9 I started to feel a problem with the front left and it wasn't going away, so I pitted for the Team to investigate. In the end it was not something we would be able to address quickly, so it was best to bring a generally difficult weekend to an early conclusion. What the Team needs now is to head home for support from their families and colleagues back at the factory. Somehow we need to find the strength to regroup and move forward, which is hard to contemplate right now."

Dave Greenwood, Chief Engineer: "As we were starting from the back of the grid, and given the characteristics of the tires this weekend, the strategy was always to minimize running on the prime tire. We did consider pitting as early as lap one, but in the end we left it until lap 4. Max was making better progress on the option tire, however, with him feeling a problem at turn 1, we felt the only option was to stop the car so that we could inspect it. Having done so, we found that there was actually an issue with the right rear so we decided to retire him. This is not the race outcome we were hoping for, but I think we can be justifiably proud of the way we have pulled together this weekend. We have taken huge encouragement from the tremendous support shown towards Jules by the entire F1 community and for that we are extremely grateful. We hope that it has helped Jules' family at this difficult time. At some stage we will need to look ahead to the remaining races of the season, but for now, we're pleased to be heading home."

Results

1. Lewis Hamilton Britain Mercedes-Mercedes 1hr 31m 50.744s 53 laps
2. Nico Rosberg Germany Mercedes-Mercedes +00m 13.6s
3. Valtteri Bottas Finland Williams-Mercedes +00m 17.4s
4. Jenson Button Britain McLaren-Mercedes +00m 30.2s
5. Kevin Magnussen Denmark McLaren-Mercedes +00m 53.6s
6. Fernando Alonso Spain Ferrari-Ferrari +01m 00.0s
7. Daniel Ricciardo Australia Red Bull-Renault
8. Sebastian Vettel Germany Red Bull-Renault
9. Kimi Raikkonen Finland Ferrari-Ferrari
10. Sergio Perez Mexico Force India-Mercedes
11. Felipe Massa Brazil Williams-Mercedes
12. Nico Hulkenberg Germany Force India-Mercedes
13. Jean-Eric Vergne France Toro Rosso-Renault +01m 37.3s
14. Daniil Kvyat Russia Toro Rosso-Renault +1 lap
15. Esteban Gutierrez Mexico Sauber-Ferrari +1 lap
16. Adrian Sutil Germany Sauber-Ferrari +1 lap
17. Romain Grosjean France Lotus-Renault +1 lap
18. Pastor Maldonado Venezuela Lotus-Renault +1 lap
19. Marcus Ericsson Sweden Caterham-Renault +2 laps
DNF Kamui Kobayashi Japan Caterham-Renault x laps completed
DNF Max Chilton Briton Marussia-Ferrari x laps completed

Fastest lap: Valtteri Bottas Finland Williams-Mercedes 1m 40.896s Lap 53