Race Notes
- Jack Aitken finished 17th in the Sakhir Grand Prix, and Nicholas did not finish due to a suspected oil leak which the team are now investigating
- Nicholas started 16th on the soft Pirelli tyre, with Jack lining up 17th on the medium compound
- Jack ran a three-stop strategy, pitting first for the hard Pirelli tyre on lap 31, then for the medium on 54, making his final stop on lap 59 for the soft compound
Dave Robson, Head of Vehicle Performance: Until Nicholas had to retire with a suspected oil leak, he was driving very well and was able to manage comfortably the gaps to the Alfa Romeo and Haas cars and for a while he was in a race with Vettel, following a slow Ferrari pitstop. We are currently investigating the cause of his issue and we apologise to Nicholas for the retirement.
Jack was driving very well and was able to stay ahead of Raikkonen whilst chasing down Magnussen. Unfortunately, in doing so he span the car at the last corner, damaging the front wing. Fortunately, he was able to recover straight to the pit lane, and although his arrival caught us a little by surprise, the crew were able to service his car and get him back into the race. His pace in the final stint was good and he was able to regain position over Fittipaldi and again chase down Magnussen.
Although our final result was disappointing, there are positives to take away with Nicholas showing good pace throughout and Jack completing his first F1 race. He learned a lot today, raced well and gained a lot of race operational experience, all of which will serve him well in the future.
Nicholas Latifi: We think it was a suspected oil leak, so I was told to stop the car right away. It is obviously disappointing as we were running a strong race up until then in P13. We were looking quite comfortable; we still had a lot of the race to go and you never know what is going to happen. It is frustrating but the reliability has been pretty strong, and we have barely had any issues this season. I can’t fault anyone; it is just a shame but that is motorsport sometimes.
Jack Aitken: I have mixed emotions and I am a bit gutted by the mistake, I think we were doing a pretty good job up until then. I was trying to get up to speed and follow the guys through in front of me. We were on the option tyre which was working out pretty well for us. I have learnt a lot this weekend, and there are a lot of positives to take away. The single lap pace came on a really long way in such a short space of time, and our race pace was good as well. If I do step in again next weekend, I will be looking to do an even better job.
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