So many people had come to the Energy Station in Hockenheim on Thursday. It was natural because CASIO presented their new Red Bull Racing Limited Editions coming in October and November. Mark and Team Principal Christian Horner appeared and received the watches those had just arrived after a long process of design meetings.
Mark smiled and said, “It's very good. Looking a lot of carbon fiber feature as well, I have done a lot of job in detail and enjoyed to work with CASIO,” meeting the watch for the very first time.
On the other hand, Sebastian was so motivated with his home Grand Prix. Forgetting the negative issues in the last weekend, he focused on the top spot in front of his home fans.
"There was a lot of talk and a lot of press,” he said. “But the most important thing you need to understand is it doesn't matter who wins the race - we are a team. At Silverstone, Red Bull Racing won the race, Mark did, but for some reason we didn't get a lot of positive feedback. But we know where the focus is, and surely at this race, as everywhere else, the team is as motivated as ever.”
Hockenheim was rainy from the first day. Their RB6 didn’t show the usual speed here on Friday. Mark found that he needed to improve the car by the qualifying.
"It wasn't the easiest day for everyone,” he complained. ”The track conditions were pretty tricky, so selecting the right tyres at the right time wasn't straightforward, but we got some good information out of P2 when the track was pretty dry. The car felt good, but we've got some work to do tonight.”
Sunshine had come by the Qualifying session, and it became a super tight battle. Ferraris were so strong with their steady pace but Sebastian managed to secure the pole position by 0.002 second. It meant that the gap between the two was only 15 cm at this 4.574km track.
"That was extremely exciting, especially in Q3,” he said. “I knew that both times I went out I only had one timed lap, so I had to get it right. It's difficult here, there are some places that can easily lead you into a mistake on this track. If you push too much then you can lose the edge of the tyres and some time.”
“My final lap wasn't 100% perfect and there were a couple of places where I went over the limit, which cost me some time. In the end, it was enough - although only just – to stay ahead and get the pole. I am extremely happy!”
But it wasn’t same on Sunday. Sebastian was passed by the Ferraris at the start and it was difficult to make overtake maneuvers at this track. Mark also had a tough race because of oil consumption trouble and he had to concentrate on nursing his car keeping 6th position.
“I'm not really sure what happened today,” Sebastian said. “I had quite a lot of grip, I dumped the clutch, but got bogged down, so the first five to ten metres of the acceleration were poor. I was lucky I didn't stall the engine.”
“The closer I got to the car in front, I began to feel tyres losing grip and starting to grain, but I think for most of the race the Ferraris were probably a tenth or two quicker than us. It was difficult to keep up the pace.“
But he was happy with his first podium at his home race. He was emotional with huge cheer from the crowd.
“We finished third and I think we can be proud of that. We achieved our maximum today and I was very pleased to be on the podium. It's very special for me at my home Grand Prix, it's great to see the people here and to be on the podium - to see everyone cheering is very nice and emotional."
Next race comes to Hungary in a week. They have another opportunity to revenge so soon!
