Jean-Eric Vergne ended his first season in Formula One on a high by taking eighth place in the season finale at Interlagos. The French rookie certainly had an eventful afternoon but ended the day satisfied having scored points for the fourth time in 2012.
“It’s good to finish eighth, however, I am not so happy with myself, because I made the decision to stay out for a long time on the dry tyres and it proved not to be the right one, costing me a lap. The team gave me the opportunity to run the race as I saw best from the cockpit and I have learned a lot of valuable lessons from today. However, if the rain had stayed away it would have been a great decision! At the restart after the Safety Car came in, I was hanging back to get a run on Glock, but as I caught up, those in front were braking hard and I ran into him and I’ve already apologised to him for that. My pace on the slick tyres in the damp conditions was very good and it’s nice to finish the final race of the season in the points.”
Toro Rosso teammate Daniel Ricciardo ended up down in thirteenth and was left to rue the timing of his switch from slick tyres to intermediates.
“The start was quite chaotic with several cars going off the track and people to avoid. I managed to make up a couple of places and my pace seemed okay. I was trying to hang on to those ahead as the conditions changed all the time. By around half race distance, we were looking in good shape, running in eighth or ninth place. More rain came after my first stop for fresh dry tyres, so I had to come in again, which obviously cost me time. In simple terms, it was a case of too many pit stops.”
