There were points in Japan for Sergio Perez and Vitaly Petrov while the Force Indias were 11th and 12th...
Sauber:
Sergio Perez: "I am very happy for the team to have scored some points here in Japan, especially after we had that technical problem yesterday in qualifying and I had to start 17th. But today the strategy with the tyres worked out very well for me, and the team did a very good job on this. Also the car's performance was good. I pushed very hard, and gave my maximum today. Physically it was very hard for me because I am suffering from flu, so I'm totally happy that I brought the car home in a position good enough to score points."
Kamui Kobayashi: It was a tricky race for me. At the start when I released the clutch the car suddenly was in anti-stall mode, and that was why I lost five positions straight away. I tried to fight other cars then but overtaking wasn't as easy as it was here last year. Then the safety car came out in what was a bad moment for our strategy. I did my second stop when the safety car was out, we changed from the soft to the medium compound and with those tyres I then had to go to the end of the race - 29 laps. In the end they were just so bad that I couldn't defend my position anymore. Anyway, I had a good qualifying here and the car's performance in the race has definitely improved, so we will keep pushing at the remaining races. I am very proud of all the Japanese fans who are so excited about Formula One. They are a great crowd and for me it was a very emotional day."
Renault:
Vitaly Petrov: "We started on the medium (prime) tyre and I did all I could to maintain position at the start as those around me were on the soft (option). I suffered a lot of wheelspin, so with this tyre it was actually a pretty good start - if I was on the soft I would have gained places. During the race it was difficult to tell how the strategy was working and it was a challenge for the first two stints fighting against those on softer tyres. Ultimately, our target was to finish in front of Force India and this is what we achieved. When I put on the soft tyres towards the end of the race I felt so much grip; I smiled then I pushed a lot! Then I overtook I don't know how many cars. It's a pity Sergio (Perez) was just too far ahead. Now we go to Korea looking for another top ten finish."
Bruno Senna: "From my perspective, it was a disappointing race having started the race in such a promising position. Vitaly squeezed me a little bit in the second corner, which made it tricky for me to recover. For the rest of the race, I encountered lots of traffic problems and my tyres were degrading quite fast. Overall, I think we can learn from this weekend. Despite limited track time before qualifying yesterday, I managed to get into Q3 and we certainly looked stronger over the three days here than we did in Singapore. Hopefully I will be back in the points in Korea."
Force India:
Adrian Sutil: "To be honest I feel we were unlucky to miss out on points today. My initial start was excellent, although I had to lift because Kobayashi had a very poor start and so I didn't get the full benefit. But after the first few laps I was ahead of the Renaults and we had good pace. I think what really hurt my race was the safety car because I made my second stop the lap before it came out and lost track position. In terms of strategy we had to go for three stops because the degradation was so high. For a while it looked like ninth was possible, but in the end we lost out to the cars making two stops who had the benefit of soft tyres at the end of the race."
Paul di Resta: "I made an awesome start to the race, going to the outside and jumping up four places - ahead of both the Renaults and Kobayashi. I settled into a good rhythm but the safety car spoilt our strategy because that was our fastest part of the race and it was important to try and pull a gap. It helped the cars making two stops because they caught us in the final laps and it was very hard to defend. Going into the final four races we know it's going to be a close battle with the teams around us. Sauber seemed to be quite competitive here and Renault look to be back on form, but we will try and fight back in Korea."
Toro Rosso:
Jaime Alguersuari: "I had more or less the same strategy as Perez, however he seemed to be one second a lap faster than me. I was unable to get past as I was hitting the limiter on the engine, so I could not find the extra speed needed to overtake. On top of that, I was losing my downforce from following the cars in front. I can't remember the last time I found it so hard to overtake in a race. I always gave my maximum, but the performance was not there today. Now, I hope to fight back in Korea and try and battle with Sauber again for some points."
Sebastien Buemi: "I had a very good start, passing five cars and running P11. I even ran tenth for a few laps before my first pit stop. I came out of the pits and already at the first corner, I felt some vibration and I saw that the right front wheel was beginning to move. It had not been properly fitted at the pit stop, I'm not sure why and then it came off at Turn 4. There was no way I could drive back to the pits, so my race was over. It's a shame, because it was looking as though we could have had a good race and scored some points."
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