Abu Dhabi Grand Prix – Sunday 27th November 2016. Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi

Haas F1 Team

Romain Grosjean: “We’ve had a wonderful season and surprised everyone, ourselves included, with some highs and some lows. We didn’t score points today but if you take out the top-six cars of Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari, we’re only the third team behind, which is not that bad.

There are a lot of things we can improve through the winter, mainly about the tires. Clearly today there were some laps where my pace was amazing and the car felt really good when the tyres were working. Then a few laps later things are going out of sync. It’s clear where we have to work. All the other teams are close to their limits where we have so much that we can improve on for next season. I’m looking forward to it.”

Esteban Gutierrez: “I’m very happy to have worked with everyone on this team. I really did my best to give them my best performance and the best of myself today. Hopefully, this leaves them all with a great memory. It’s been very nice and I’ve been very grateful to work with Gene Haas and Guenther Steiner. I was proud to be with the team, which started from scratch, and to be a part of the project through the season. Big thank you to my crew, my engineers and mechanics. I wish the whole team all the best for the future.”

Guenther Steiner, Team Principal: “I think we’re pretty happy with today. We had a competitive car and we finished 11th and 12th, which mirrors the year. We finished the year on a high even if we didn’t get in the points. I felt that today we had one of our best races with both drivers just out of the points. This is a nice way to finish our first season. I’ll take this moment to say thank you to everybody, especially thanks to Gene for giving us this opportunity. Thanks to all the team who work so hard and thanks to both Romain and Esteban for their work all year long. Now we get ready for next year.”

Renault Sport

Kevin Magnussen: “I made a poor start then was in a fight with Kvyat at turn eight when I had contact from another car – I think it was a Manor or a Sauber – and my suspension was damaged by this. We tried to continue but it was clear that something was broken. It wasn’t the way I wanted to end what I thought was a good season with a great bunch of people. Results-wise it hasn’t been the best but I’ve learned a lot, I’ve had a great time with the team and I got to know a lot of really good people. I wish Renault Sport all the best in the future and I’m sure we’ll all still have fun in the paddock.”

Jolyon Palmer: “I had a really good start – up to eleventh – and was keeping pace with the Williams for a while, but unfortunately the tyre degradation was unbelievable for us. The overall pace was okay, but the tyres were running out, which meant I had to do three stops. I was trying to fight with everyone through the race but I had no grip which makes it very difficult. I tried to pass Carlos as he left a gap, but he braked a bit early and I had no grip to slow down. It’s a real shame.”

Fred Vasseur, Team Principal: “That was not the Grand Prix we wanted to end our season. Kevin’s race was cut short as a result of front suspension damage sustained on the first lap then Jolyon’s great start didn’t translate to a great finish come the chequered flag. Today’s result should not detract from all the progress made at Viry and Enstone over the last year as we will be in a far better position to fight for more points next season. Thank you to Kevin in his final race for us, he is a popular driver and we wish him well for the future. Congratulations to this year’s champions, Nico Rosberg and Mercedes AMG. They have shown us how championships can be won with fine displays through the season. We hope to be giving them more of a challenge over the next few years.”




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