Lewis Hamilton won the Japanese GP, while there were top six finishes for Renault, Ferrari and Red Bull.
McLaren
Lewis Hamilton: A very eventful race and I am so happy to have won here at Fuji. There were moments when I thought it would have been better to stop the race; however, when the rain faded a little, conditions improved a bit. I didn't feel too much pressure and think I would have been able to push a bit harder if necessary. I was lucky that nothing serious happened to my car when Robert Kubica hit me. I didn't see him come so the impact caught me by surprise, and I spun. Afterwards I stayed concentrated and focused on keeping the car on the track. I want to say thank you to everybody in the team who have done a great job throughout the weekend. This was an important victory for the championship, but I do not want to think too much about it and will focus hard on the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai next weekend."
Fernando Alonso: A difficult race in difficult conditions. After my pit stop I came out into traffic and was fighting for positions in the field. It was very difficult to see anything because of the spray especially when you were coming down the straight. As a result I did not see Vettel in my mirrors and was surprised when he hit me. I think the car was damaged quite a bit by that, but I was able to continue. However when I was braking for Turn Five I just aquaplaned and spun. Unfortunately the walls at that corner are very close to the track, so I hit the barrier heavily, and that was it. Of course, it is a difficult situation for me now in the championship; however, I will keep fighting until the end - as last year's Championship battle showed anything can happen."
Renault
Heikki Kovalainen: It has been a rollercoaster year for me, and it was like that again this weekend. We took a risk with the set-up yesterday, hoping for better conditions and when we got up this morning and saw the rain falling, we didn't expect to have a fantastic afternoon. But it just goes to show that no matter how bad you think the situation is, you never give up. The strategy worked perfectly today, and the team deserves at least one podium today! Everybody has asked me about the last few laps with Kimi, but my mirrors had steamed up completely and I couldn't see him. I was watching the pit-board though, and every lap the gap was coming down, so I knew he would try something. He got past me into turn 6 on the final lap, but I wanted P2 so much that I went back round the outside on the way down to turn 10. The car was aquaplaning all over the place, but I kept my foot in and got back ahead, hoping I wouldn't lose the car. It is a fantastic feeling to score my first podium. Now, we need to try and maintain the momentum in Shanghai."
Giancarlo Fisichella: It was one of the most difficult races I have ever driven, the conditions were just so wet all the way through, and it didn't seem to improve at any point. The main thing today was to keep the car on the track, and to avoid making mistakes. The balance was a bit inconsistent, particularly at low speeds, and it was aquaplaning on the straights as well. I don't think we achieved our potential today, but this was still a strong result in a race where a lot of other cars failed to finish."
Ferrari
Felipe Massa: "The result of this race has put an end to my chances of fighting for the title, but over the whole of the championship, I think I have always been competitive. Unfortunately, sometimes the reliability was not there and that cost me valuable points.
"As for today's race, I knew that, given the championship positions, I could take the risk of running different tyres to our rivals, but it was not the right choice, on top of which there was the decision of the Stewards that we were unaware of and which is nevertheless serious. Then I tried to do my best.
"I managed to get up to the front places again but I had to pit again because I did not have enough fuel to get to the end. Winning the duel with Kubica on the final lap was the best moment of this race."
Kimi Raikkonen: "We raced with virtually zero visibility. The hardest thing to work out was where the other drivers were and what they were doing. My race was ruined by the enforced pitstop on lap three. We had chosen to start on standard rain tyres but we will never know now if this decision would have paid off.
"Once I was back at the pack we tried our best to move back up. All in all, third place is not a result to complain about. I did a lot of overtaking always in very difficult conditions. Our set up might have been more competitive in the dry, but all the same the car was very quick and I certainly didn't lose any time because of this choice.
"Clearly the situation in the championship is now much more difficult, but I will still give it my all right to the end of the season as usual."
Red Bull
David Coulthard: That was very, very difficult. It's a crazy thing to be a racing driver - on the one hand you're scared, but on the other, you're having the time of your life because every moment you're right on the edge, even on the straights. I'm happy to score points, but obviously I'm sorry for the team to lose what looked like some great points with Mark. I'm glad the race is over, but it was a lot of fun out there."
Mark Webber: That was a completely disastrous finish. We were in very, very good shape to challenge Lewis for first today. We were strong and I didn't make any mistakes despite the tricky conditions, cars were aquaplaning and the visibility was very poor. Fernando's crash caused the second safety car stint, which bunched everyone back up again. That wasn't great; I would have liked to have continued to the end of the race. Vettel was a bit wild behind me during the first safety car period and then did a very good job of hitting me very hard under the second safety car. I think today he will have learnt a very valuable lesson."
