I am very happy to end the first half of my first season in this way and to be achieving the targets I set for myself. The race didn’t begin so well, as I had a poor start again, so we must look at that and solve it for Spa and beyond as it is another factor that can help us progress in the race. After that, the race pace was very good and I am happy that our performance relative to the Caterhams is now much clearer to see, particularly as I had a nice and close battle with Petrov. Now we go into a long break when I will have the chance to reflect on the season so far and look at what we can do for the next half of the season. I would like to thank not just my engineers and car crew but the whole team for a very happy start to my F1 debut. It has not been easy for the team but we are making real progress. I wish everyone a good rest for the holidays and look forward to coming back fighting at the Belgian Grand Prix in four weeks’ time.

Another race to forget for me, a bit like Hockenheim. I had no pace and no balance in the car from the beginning on. Despite this I was still quicker in the first two laps but then experienced the rear end instability again. I lost the car suddenly under braking and couldn’t catch it. I spun and then I was behind the HRTs and struggled massively again with the balance. I don’t know what the problem is at the moment, but I think it is a good time for the break. My thanks to the team for the hard work in trying to resolve my problems with the car and I wish them a good holiday. I hope that we can all come back and enjoy a stronger second half of the season together.