Fahrerstimmen – Tag 2

Das war für alle ein schwieriges Qualifying unter diesen Bedingungen. Ich bin froh, dass ich die dritte Runde auf meinem ersten Run im Q3 hinbekommen habe. Ich habe hart gepusht, um auf meiner letzten Runde des zweiten Runs noch mehr Zeit zu finden. Dann blockierten die Hinterräder in Kurve eins. In diesem Moment war ich rückwärts im siebten Gang und konzentrierte mich nur noch darauf, das Auto nicht zu beschädigen. Sobald ich angehalten hatte, dachte ich jedoch, dass ich die Pole wohl verloren hätte. Es war bizarr, aber ich bin sehr glücklich, auf der Pole zu stehen. Morgen erwartet uns ein interessantes Rennen. Ferrari hat eine großartige Pace gezeigt. Gegen sie wird es eng. Die Reifen scheinen sich gut zu verhalten. Es sollte ein guter Kampf werden.

Ich musste gegen Ende meiner letzten Qualifying-Runde viel pushen - aber es war ein bisschen zu viel und ich schoss über das Limit hinaus. Ich sah auf meinem Display, dass ich zwei Zehntel schneller als auf meiner vorherigen Runde war. Damit lag ich gleichauf mit Lewis. Es lag an den letzten paar Metern, um mir die Pole zu holen. Aber dann kam ich in Kurve acht weit nach draußen und berührte den Kunstrasen, der noch etwas nass war. Danach waren meine linken Reifen auch nass und so verlor ich die Kontrolle über die Situation. Das ist schade, aber ich freue mich dennoch auf morgen. Es ist ein super Rennen und ich habe noch immer gute Siegchancen. Ich brauche einen guten Start, um eine Chance gegen Lewis zu haben. Aber ich werde definitiv den Druck aufrechterhalten.

We didn’t deserve the pole position today, but tomorrow is a different day. We have a very good car, we’re very competitive, I feel very good in the car and the pace is good as well. We’ve proven that we can be quick in every session, even if yesterday they have been short ones. For the race we’re not the favorite, but we’ll push hard and try to put some pressure on the Mercedes. I would have loved to split them on the grid, but the gap is still too much at the moment. The position on the grid is great anyway and the race will be long. Normally between Saturday and Sunday we’re able to close the gap a bit, so hopefully the same will happen tomorrow. I believe here it’s important to have the confidence under braking, the two left handed turns in the second and third sector are quite tricky, you need to be happy with the car you’ve got and I am. Strategy for tomorrow has to be defined yet: number of pit stop and maybe safety car can change it, we’ll see. A big thanks to the guy in the garage for the work they did overnight!

My best lap could have been quicker. I made a mistake and also the tyres would have been quicker for our final attempt, plus we would have had less fuel. That’s not to say we would have been higher than P4 though, and these things happen in qualifying. The conditions were good, so we hope it stays like that for the race tomorrow. Our long run pace looks strong and that could be key.

I’m feeling very happy with how things went today. We knew we had a good chance to be in the top ten, so to be starting in fifth place is an excellent effort by the team. Q1 was fun on the drying track, but in Q2 and Q3 I found a really good rhythm and was able to deliver the laps when it mattered. I’m feeling happy and confident in the car at the moment and I think that showed with the result today. Tomorrow will be a tough race because there are some quick cars behind us, but we’ve already built a good foundation for a strong race. This track can sometimes spring surprises and we still don’t know what the weather will do tomorrow, but if we maximise things I’m sure we can score some good points.

Sixth isn’t totally representative of the pace of the car considering there is only one Ferrari in front. We suffered a lot with the yellow flags and so I am a little disappointed with where we will start from tomorrow. Saying that though, we have a very quick car in race trim and so can still have a good fight for the positions ahead.

I’m happy with P7, I think it’s a good result. Q1 was very difficult. We started on the Intermediate tyres and then we switched to the Super Softs even though the track wasn’t completely dry and some braking zones still had some wet spots. It was easy to lock-up but I took it easy, avoided making any mistakes and got through to Q2. The track was dry then so you could do your own lines and the car was working very well. I think we’ve been showing good pace all weekend and even though it will be a difficult race for us on the straights, we can get a bit of an advantage in sectors two and three and fight for points again.

Das war ein gutes Qualifying für uns. Schon ab dem ersten freien Training waren wir auf dem richten Weg und sahen, dass unsere Rundenzeiten durchaus konkurrenzfähig waren. Die äusseren Bedingungen waren heute nicht einfach, doch das Team hat gute Arbeit geleistet und die Konzentration behalten. Ich bin zuversichtlich, dass wir morgen um Punkte kämpfen können.

That was frustrating as we should be qualifying higher than P9. I went out for Q3 but it was immediately apparent that there was an issue and the team called me back in. It was a hydraulic leak which we thought we could fix, but sadly we just missed out on going out again. Starting from P9 is not the end of the world and it could be an interesting race tomorrow; I’ll be pushing all the way to make up as many places as possible.

It was quite a busy qualifying session with the track drying and everyone trying to get their fast laps in when the surface was at its best. Unfortunately we weren’t able to get a clean, fast lap at the vital moment to get into the top ten, but at least we are the first of the cars able to choose our starting tyres tomorrow. It’s a great track here so we could still score a great result.

Es ist schade, dass meine Rundenzeit gegen Ende von Q2 nicht für Q3 gereicht hat. Ich fühlte mich wohl im Auto und das Team hat die richtigen Entscheidungen bezüglich unserer Strategie getroffen. Die Streckenbedingungen waren heute recht schwierig, was jedoch für alle gleich war. Nichtsdestotrotz ist es eine gute Startposition für das Rennen.

A bit of a disappointing qualifying session for me today, especially because we’ve chosen the wet set-up for today which will make tomorrow’s race complicated unless it rains. It’s a shame, because I have been quick throughout the whole weekend and the first part of qualifying, but when it came to the moment that counted I got stuck in traffic in the first and second sectors and that ruined my lap. I hope it rains tomorrow because if not it will be a very complicated race due to the downforce level we’ve chosen. Overtaking will also be difficult but, obviously, I will try my best.

It's very disappointing to drop out in Q1, especially because we had the potential to get a very good result. Today was quite a challenge on the drying track and it was not easy to find a good position and build up the right rhythm. Unfortunately, with the track getting faster and faster towards the end of Q1, the last lap was the one that had to count. I found myself right behind Fernando [Alonso] and I spent the whole lap behind him. I couldn't get any closer as I would have lost all my downforce, and I had Kimi [Raikkonen] behind me so I couldn't drop back. It made it very difficult for me and in the end I was less than a tenth off the time I needed to make Q2. Despite today's result, I still feel positive about tomorrow: it's going to be complicated starting just outside the top ten, but if we do a good job we should be able to make up the lost ground.

It has been a very bad Saturday and this result will not help us tomorrow. When I went out for my last run in Q1, the team informed me that I could do three timed laps, but then the plan was changed and I did not get the information. Therefore we missed one lap completely and I was knocked out. The point is that I was sent out too late and that cost us a lot. Obviously my starting position is not ideal; we should have been much higher up, I’m sure we could have fought at the front. Tomorrow we should have the speed we need, but you never know what happens in the race. In the first lap it will be better to stay away of problems because there is a much bigger chance of something happening in the first few corners. There is a long straight, but also two corners which can be tricky if you happen to be in the middle of the pack. Then we’ll try to maximize our result. Until now it has been a pretty good weekend, the car is handling well: we’ll try to do our best and see what we can do

We did all we could today with the tricky conditions we had. We got the most out of the car and the session that we could, which is positive. Starting from where we will be starting, it will be a difficult race for us, but if we can get a few points, that will be a good result for the team. We still have a lot of work to do, because qualifying around seventh and eighth is not where we want to be.

I’m very happy with my qualifying today. I have lost a bit of track time here this weekend, due to a problem yesterday and then the rain in FP3 prevented us from running the option tyre. The track was starting to dry coming into this afternoon’s session but they were the perfect conditions for me and I hope we see a repeat of them for the race tomorrow. This can be a challenging track and the first and final corners are tricky, so we have to be ready to take advantage of any opportunity in the race tomorrow. It should be fun!

A frustrating qualifying for me, considering my pace has been very strong all weekend. With tough conditions and the track drying out, it was always going to be the last lap that would be the best and unfortunately I had a lot of traffic during the lap, which cost me quite a bit of time. I’m looking forward to tomorrow as I know our pace is very strong here.

"It was an unlucky Q2 for us," he said. "We lost some temperature in the brakes and I was losing time that I couldn't make up in the high-speed straights. We made a compromise with the set up this weekend to accommodate the penalty we would be facing; we sacrificed some downforce for some straight-line speed. The grid position doesn't change much for us with the penalty; we'll try and do what we can in the race tomorrow."

“The car felt good today – the new aero package means it feels more competitive in the corners. It’s just a bit unfortunate that this is a high power-effect circuit, so we can’t maximise everything. Still, we’re moving in the right direction, which is very positive. “We’ve had a lot of problems throughout free practice, so we definitely need to improve reliability, and we’ll have some extra penalties when the race starts. It's really a learning weekend for us – we’re running the cars in different configurations – but hopefully that will increase our learning. “It’s going to be a difficult grand prix – a little bit painful – but hopefully we’ll get a lot of answers in the race tomorrow, and then use that data in the test next week.”

“I was one of the first to cross the finish line in Q1, so everyone had a bit more time to improve while the circuit was drying. “But I enjoyed it out there – it was actually a lot of fun. When the surface was tricky and unpredictable, I was looking pretty good, but once the circuit dried – and other people found their feet – I was only able to do what the car could do. I think there could have been a chance of getting into Q3 if the conditions had remained mixed. “I also thought I was going to have a good battle with Fernando tomorrow, but we’ll get different penalties so I won’t be racing him. This just hasn’t been my weekend.”