The 2009 season ended in a point-less Abu Dhabi GP for McLaren, Ferrari, Renault and Force India.
McLarenHeikki Kovalainen: "I got a really good start and managed to overtake some cars. Unfortunately, the performance of my car was not as I'd have liked, and the heavy fuel load made it harder to make greater progress - but I was fighting right until the last corner. After my pitstop, my KERS stopped working, which meant I had to adapt the car to perform well without it. Still, after this race we can reflect on our overall season and look at what a great job we did to secure third position in the Constructors' Championship. That was thanks to an incredible team effort. We never gave up, and really turned the tables around. And I'm extremely proud to be a part of the team that beat Ferrari in the constructors' championship for the first time since 2005."
Lewis Hamilton: "I had a good start, but I realised early on that something wasn't right with the brakes. After three or four laps, it became clear that there was a problem with my right-rear brake pad, so I couldn't open up the gap back to Sebastian and Mark [Webber]. When the problem got worse, the team radioed me and told me to stop at the end of the lap. Of course, it's a shame that we couldn't show the performance we'd had throughout the weekend - but sometimes that's racing. However, I think we can be really proud of our efforts: who'd have thought we'd finish third in the constructors' championship at the start of this season? It's been an incredible year, and now I can't wait for next season to start so I can fight for the World Championship again."
FerrariKimi Raikkonen: "We knew we did not have a car that was competitive here. It was definitely not a good weekend, but I don't think any of us have anything to reproach ourselves for. We did the most we could with the package we hard. At the start, the track was a bit slippery and that cost me a place to Kobayashi, who was very quick today. Then, when the two Brawns were back ahead of me, after their first pit stop, our race was definitely compromised and a points finish became impossible. It's a shame to end my time with Ferrari with this result, but this year we have never been in a position to fight for the win at every race, as I would have wished."
Giancarlo Fisichella: "I am disappointed that third place got away from us like this, but today our pace was what it was, as can be seen from my team-mate's twelfth place. I tried all I could, as usual and I feel I drove a good race. It was a shame about the drive-through which compromised my second stint. I got a good start and got past Grosjean, who then got ahead of me again, cutting the chicane, but then in his turn, he got by, taking back what I had gained. I am sorry that I wasn't able to contribute to the team in terms of points and to have not really shown my worth. Unfortunately, the F60 is very difficult to drive, especially in qualifying and starting from the back is always a big penalty. Now the time has come to think of the future: I do not yet know if I will get a race drive with a team, but what is certain is that I will be a Ferrari driver and I am happy about that."
RenaultFernando Alonso: "The result today is disappointing as we were not able to produce the performance we wanted. I would have liked to finish the season on a high, especially as this was my last race with Renault. I would like to thank the entire team for everything that we have achieved together over the years. We had some great victories and won championships together. It has been the most amazing seven years of my career and something I will never forget."
Romain Grosjean: "The race today was disappointing. I made a good start but I was blocked several times. I also suffered with some brake problems during the race. Towards the end I unfortunately lost a place to Fisichella, which was a shame, but the performance of the car didn't really allow me to show what I was capable of today. It's now the end of the season and I can say that I have learnt an enormous amount this year, especially being teammate to Fernando."
Force India:Tonio Liuzzi: "Overall I thought we got the maximum from the car today but unfortunately we had a problem with the brakes more or less from the beginning of the race so we couldn't really fight for positions. I was behind the Williams at the start and one of the Toyotas in the middle of the race so we were pretty much mixing it in the midfield. We had a problem with the soft tyres in the first 15 laps that caused a lot of oversteer so I think it is the maximum we could have achieved. We knew it would be difficult to score points and although I would have liked to get some on the board at the end of the season I am happy we have showed some good form in these five races."
Adrian Sutil: "We had some problems at the start of the race with the tyres and had to stop earlier than expected to change to a new set. The two-stop strategy was the right one and the race went OK although we obviously didn't get any points, which was the aim. All the same it has been a very good season, naturally with a lot of ups and downs, but we've gone massively forward from the beginning of the season to the end. I think we can be very proud of this progress."
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