Renault, Toyota and Williams all achieved top-ten finishes in Sunday's Malaysian GP.
Renault
Giancarlo Fisichella: "This was the maximum I could do today - and in our situation at the moment, it feels like a podium finish. I am proud of the race I drove today, and the pace was better than during the rest of the weekend, and the car balance more stable and consistent. The start was particularly good, I was able to be aggressive in turns 1 and 2, and gain four places. The team is realistic about the position we are in at the moment, but they are working hard to understand why we are not on the pace - and everybody is still really motivated to improve the car and start moving forward."
Heikki Kovalainen: This was my first F1 point, so it's a nice feeling after such a tough race. I attacked every lap today, just pushing as hard as possible to try and make up positions. The balance was similar to qualifying, and a little unpredictable in the high speed corners which meant I had some moments in turn 6, but that happens when you are on the limit. For me, the race was a definite step forward compared to Melbourne, and our competitiveness was better than we showed in qualifying. I think we are moving in the right direction, and I know the team will stay strong and keep their heads up, even though we are not winning at the moment. Hopefully we can take another step in Bahrain next weekend."
Toyota:
Jarno Trulli: I'm happy to have come home in the points and I've had a good weekend. I fought hard throughout, the car worked well and we made the most of everything. The only pity was the start which wasn't so great and meant that I ended up behind Fisichella for much of the race. I was quicker than him in the first stint but at this circuit whoever's in front tends to stay there. Still, we kept up a good pace and I was able to put in consistently quick laps until the last ten laps when I couldn't attack any harder due to some minor technical problems. Nevertheless this is a good result and I'd like to thank the team because we made no mistakes throughout the weekend."
Ralf Schumacher: "It's been a difficult weekend for me since the start and today was one of those days when everything went wrong. The car didn't get away well and then I had to avoid Jarno and I lost a few places. From then on I was stuck in traffic for the first part of the race. Shortly after my first pit stop I had a slow puncture and I needed to make another unscheduled pit stop. That meant I was heavy on fuel and the balance was not good. In general it was a tough race for no points. But Bahrain is coming next and I hope to do better there. Jarno's result shows that we have the pace to challenge with both cars."
Williams:
Alex Wurz: It was a good race and I had fun, especially in the first stint, when I had a good pace on soft tyres and could overtake. I am also happy from the physical point of view, because I feel ok, even after such tough afternoon. Starting from 19th made it difficult to fight against Trulli and Kovalainen by the end of the race and it was disappointing to finish just out of the points."
Nico Rosberg: "We managed to improve our qualifying performance from Australia so I had a good starting position but I lost 6th place to Kubica at the start. Later he made a mistake or had a problem and I thought, I'm right next to him and I managed to claw the place back. I had a good run through the next couple of corners to hold the position and that opened up my race really well. From there I gave it everything I had, but it all came to a halt. It was a great shame not to finish but things are progressing and we hope we can do better in a week's time."
