Fahrerstimmen – Tag 2

Nach dem Qualifying am Sonntag: Insgesamt war es ein gutes Qualifying für mich. Ich wollte am Ende noch einmal rausfahren, aber dann wurde der Regen stärker und das Q3 wurde komplett gestrichen. In Kurve 10 war es nasser als überall sonst auf der Strecke. Dort herrschte starkes Aquaplaning. Wir hätten vielleicht rausfahren können, um zu sehen, ob die Strecke etwas abtrocknet. Aber es war unglaublich knifflig auf der Strecke. In solchen Situationen muss man sehr vernünftig vorgehen. Du bist bei diesen Bedingungen auf Zehenspitzen unterwegs und musst versuchen, weiterzufahren und das Auto heil zu lassen. Ich freue mich für das Team, dass wir die ersten beiden Plätze belegt haben. Aber das Qualifying ist wie immer erst der Anfang. Wenn die Bedingungen so bleiben, erwarten uns ein langes Rennen sowie ein langer Kampf.

Obviously it is a shame for the people here. They have been waiting a long time in the wet, they came to see nothing in the end. Hopefully we can put in a good show for them tomorrow. The difficulty will be to manage the whole day, there will be a lot of things to do, a lot of meetings and so on, but Qualifying and race are possible to manage within one day, as we have seen a few years ago in Japan. There was very little we could do on a day like today. But we still had the chance to run a bit this morning, so for tomorrow we have a good chance to qualify well and minimize the damage of going back 10 places. It looks like tomorrow it could be wet in the morning, but then dry in the afternoon during the race. Nach dem Qualifying am Sonntag: Conditions were difficult for everyone, there was not much to do. It was quite difficult out there, so I think it was the right call not to start Q3. Now we have to take the penalty. Hopefully we have the right conditions to race and, for the rest, we will see.

It’s been a long day of waiting around to see if the weather would improve. You have to feel for the fans and give them credit for staying around until qualifying was eventually called off. They sat out there in the rain, the wind and the cold, and it’s great to see their enthusiasm and passion. Tomorrow will be a busy day, but I’ve done qualifying on a Sunday before a few years ago. It may still be raining in the morning, but we looked quite competitive on the wet tyres so I feel ready whatever the weather gives us tomorrow. Nach dem Qualifying am Sonntag: It was a challenging session, but it was also exciting and good fun. It looks like I will be starting from sixth place, but it could have been even better because I lost my best lap in Q2 with aquaplaning and a spin. Visibility was very poor and the rain got very heavy towards the end of Q2 so it was certainly the right decision to cancel Q3. We’ve looked competitive in the wet conditions so that’s a good sign for the race, which looks likely to be wet.

We had a good session this morning. We have learned a lot and improved the performance in the wet since yesterday. The tyres started to work reasonably well. Finishing fourth was much better than we would expect in the wet. We have to be ready for tomorrow, it will be busy but hopefully we can qualify well. Nach dem Qualifying am Sonntag: Those were very tricky conditions. It’s a shame we couldn’t make it to Q3, I just couldn’t find the same amount of grip that I had in Q1, so in Q2 I struggled a bit more with traction. The race is very soon now, so that’s the only opportunity to make the best we can from here.

What a rainy day! In the morning we were able to go out and run on extreme tyres. Even though it was very difficult out there, we managed to complete some laps and confirm the good feeling we had yesterday driving in the rain. Therefore, there are some positives to take from FP3, as we know we are quite competitive in the wet, but tomorrow everything can change... It could be raining again in qualy but dry in the race. It will be a challenge for both myself and the team to have both qualifying and the race on one same day, but I'm sure we will manage it well, and I'm excited and looking forward to it! Nach dem Qualifying am Sonntag: I'm disappointed, obviously. We had shown good pace in the wet during the weekend, but when I arrived to Turn 3 there was so much standing water that I just aquaplaned, lost the car and couldn't do anything about it. It's a shame that it happened at the corner where the wall is the closest to you and I couldn't manage to avoid it – if not it would've been a simple spin and I would've been able to continue! But this sport is sometimes like this. I'm a rookie and I just need to learn from this mistake, which will make me stronger. I'm very sorry for the guys in the garage, who will now have to work against time and get the car ready for the race. We have the pace to move forward and I hope to reward the team with a good result!

We couldn't do anything about the weather today, we just had to be patient and keep ourselves ready. We tried to keep the fans entertained; it was incredible of them to stay out in this rain to support us. Hopefully everyone liked our dance - we were just improvising, going with the flow, you know the fans were standing there and we thought let’s try and do something, but I think we are pretty far away from getting a call from 'Dancing with the Stars'! The fans that came out today couldn’t see much action so hopefully we can make up for that tomorrow. Nach dem Qualifying am Sonntag: "To be honest I didn't expect to be second row," he said. "We've been always quite competitive in the wet so it's good. No one had a clean qualifying and to be honest my lap wasn't anything special! It was just a case of who was guessing better because there was water everywhere and you have plenty of those moments where you are on the edge with the car and with aquaplaning. But it was a good experience and a good qualifying, on the edge. I think it offers us a very good opportunity for today's race, so yeah we will do our best this afternoon to gain some really good points and hopefully taste some champagne."

It’s a shame that these two days went like this. This morning at least we could do more timed laps than yesterday, but we all are here to drive and the spectators have been sitting in the rain for five hours without seeing any of the cars. It’s an unfortunate thing but we cannot change the weather, there’s nothing that we can do. Tomorrow we’ll have qualifying and race in the same day, but I don’t think it will be so difficult. We have done it before, it will just be a bit more busy day. The main thing is that hopefully the weather will be better and we get both things done, the qualifying session and the Grand Prix. Then it would be nice for everybody. Nach dem Qualifying am Sonntag: The weather conditions today were very similar to yesterday morning, but then they got worse and in some places it was a bit more difficult. It’s a shame we couldn’t run the Q3. It looks like the weather it’s clearing up, hopefully we can run a normal race. We have a pretty good speed also in the rain and the car is handling well, but obviously when you start from the back of the grid the visibility is the biggest issue. Let’s see how it turns out, we’ll try our best

A massive shout-out to the fans that stuck it out all day! They showed a lot of spirit and enthusiasm and I think they encouraged everyone in the pit lane to have some fun and do something silly, so Dany and I decided to break out our dancing shoes - hope we made some people laugh! Hats off to them, they put in a top effort. Hopefully, we put on a good show for the fans tomorrow. Nach dem Qualifying am Sonntag: "Hopefully I can get this beard on the podium," joked Daniel afterwards. "It was fun. Third is a good place to start the race in these conditions, where we at least thrive this year, so it would be nice to make the most of it. I just hope the weather doesn't get worse. We all want to race. Fingers crossed it eases off. Still if it's a wet race I think we're better off in those conditions, but it would be nicer if it gets a little bit lighter!"

Nach dem Qualifying am Sonntag: Ich bin super happy über diese Pole. Ganz besonders, da ich meine schnellste Runde auf gebrauchten Reifen gefahren bin. Ich wollte mit einem neuen Satz Regenreifen auf das Q3 vorbereitet sein, aber dazu kam es dann nie, da der Regen stärker wurde und sie das Qualifying abbrechen mussten. Die Bedingungen waren sehr knifflig und es stand sehr viel Wasser auf der Strecke. Warten wir ab, wie es heute Nachmittag aussieht. Das Auto fühlt sich sehr stark an und ich fühle mich hier bei allen Bedingungen wohl. Ich freue mich wirklich sehr auf das Rennen.

Today we ran FP3 in very wet conditions. Everyone wanted to get some running in so there were many cars on track at the start of the session. Because of this, most of my timed laps I had to deal with traffic. The conditions were very difficult and we had very limited running, so we can only hope Sunday brings us some good weather. Nach dem Qualifying am Sonntag: It was a very difficult qualifying. It is clear to see our improvements in the wet as we have made it into the top 10 which shows progress, although we want to be up at the top. It was a good choice to red flag the final session. One of the biggest challenges of the race will be to finish, that’s the first job, then we can look for points.

It was a shame that in the end we couldn’t do any runs this afternoon as there were a lot of fans that had turned up despite the wet weather. Considering the limited running, we have a good amount of data from FP3 that we can analyse tonight to prepare for qualifying and the race. We have seen in the past that weekends like these can produce a lot of surprises so we have to be ready to take our opportunities. I am optimistic that we can have a good day tomorrow. Nach dem Qualifying am Sonntag: I'm very satisfied with my performance this morning, especially because in these conditions things can easily go wrong. Qualifying well in the rain is often a case of being out on a flying lap at the right moment, when the conditions are ideal: every single lap counts, because the next time around the rain could be worse and your chance is gone. It's important to stay focused and I think we did a fantastic job to get both the cars up on the third row. I believe the call to cancel Q3 was the right one as the track conditions were getting much worse: it is very hard for the FIA and Charlie (Whiting) to take this decision, but the safety of drivers and marshals has to be their priority. I am under no illusion that the race will be easy: there will be a lot of pressure and tension. I hope we will be able to race: the fans have been amazing and they really deserve a great show.

Many years ago as part of the Renault Driver Development programme I enjoyed surfing as part of the training. This would have been really useful had we tried to qualify today! The weather was pretty extreme and I really feel for all the fans who braved the elements to come watch us. I hope we’re able to put on a fantastic show for everyone tomorrow. Nach dem Qualifying am Sonntag: Conditions were certainly very hard for everyone out there. We knew our relative performance on the wet tyres wouldn’t be as good as it is in the dry. We pushed as hard as we could to get into the top ten but we just couldn’t make it. The rain fell harder in Q2 and it became too wet to run any further laps.

There’s nothing you can do about the weather and it’s been a pretty long day waiting to see if the weather would improve. We got some laps in the morning and it was very slippery on track. I definitely think it was the correct decision not to run, but I’m sorry that everyone at the track had a wasted day. Nach dem Qualifying am Sonntag: At the end of Q2 it was raining too much which made it very tricky. I found it very difficult with our car as even staying on a line was tough. The rear was very unstable and we had a lot of oversteer. The track itself was too wet for the last few laps so I can understand why Q3 didn’t take place.

Wegen der Wetterverhältnisse konnte ich heute nur auf Regenreifen trainieren – und das auch nur 13 Runden lang. Da ich zum ersten Mal auf dieser Strecke fahre, hätte ich mir gerne bessere Bedingungen und mehr Erkenntnisse gewünscht. Denn ich denke, dass mir dieser Kurs ganz gut liegt. Doch die Bedingungen sind für alle gleich, man muss es nehmen, wie es kommt. Ich freue mich auf das Qualifying und Rennen morgen.

Despite the conditions, FP3 was pretty good fun, but we were going nowhere during the qualifying window. The track here is pretty good in terms of drainage, but the rain was just too severe. It will be a pretty long day tomorrow but I’m looking forward to a good battle with Alex. Nach dem Qualifying am Sonntag: It was actually a lot of fun out there this morning. Things were going well for me but it was a chaotic session for me and I lost a chunk of time at one of the corners because of another car, so I’ll be aiming for a good start and to make up position. I don’t think it’s possible to predict how things are going to go today. We’ll just have to take things as they come and do our best.

The conditions today have been pretty terrible, and I really feel for the crowd who have stuck with it, but the thing we’ve all been looking forward to is still going to happen tomorrow and I’m just as excited – perhaps even more so – about my first Formula 1 race on American soil. I want to thank the fans for their perseverance; they’re pretty heroic for contending with this weather and I’m really happy that Circuit of The Americas came through by letting them into the pit lane for autographs. So we now look forward to what will be a pretty busy day on track tomorrow, starting with qualifying at 09.00hrs. That makes for an 06.00hrs start for the team, which is pretty tough, but we all came here to race and I’m glad it looks like we’ll finally be able to do that! Nach dem Qualifying am Sonntag: It’s a relief to get Qualifying out of the way and to give the fans something to reward their patience. I’m pretty happy with where I’m starting today and I think it will be a race where anything could happen. We just need to be prepared for any opportunity. One way or another, it’s going to be an interesting race for the fans and I hope we can put on a good show. My thanks to all the American fans for their incredible support so far this weekend. It’s been pretty immense I have to say.

Ich war froh, dass ich am Vormittag zumindest meine ersten zehn Runden mit dem Sauber C34-Ferrari auf diesem Kurs fahren konnte, nachdem am Freitagmorgen Raffaele (Marciello) mit dem Auto unterwegs war und das zweite freie Training wegen des starken Regens abgesagt wurde. Doch mit der Rundenzeit, die ich auf Regenreifen erzielte, bin ich nicht zufrieden. Da hätten wir noch mehr Runden gebraucht, um punkto Fahrzeugeinstellung mehr probieren zu können. Morgen haben wir ein straffes Programm vor uns liegen.

A bit of a strange day today, there's been a lot of waiting around because of the rain... This morning in FP3 I wasn't able to have much track time. I went out and did two laps, warming up a bit, but then there was an issue on the engine side – a misfire - so I had to come into the box and of course we lost a lot of track time. Once we went out again it was raining so hard that you couldn't even go flat out, so it was a shame not to get a good preparation for qualifying. It's a pity for the fans that came here today to have to postpone this session to tomorrow, but at least we tried to entertain them a bit in the pit-lane, getting our dads in our cars, bowling with Red Bull cans or fishing...! The funniest moment for me was when my dad told me he was jumping in the car, but that then he wasn't going to get out again! Hopefully we can give the fans a good day of track action tomorrow – I'm ready for it! Nach dem Qualifying am Sonntag: It was a good qualifying session for me, especially after no running in the wet before going out to qualify today, so we didn't know how the car was feeling and I still had to learn the track... But I'd say we did a very good job getting into Q3 and to be starting the race from P8! It was difficult out there, especially during the last few minutes of Q2 when the rain increased! I'm happy, and now we need to get ready for this afternoon's race where anything will be possible... I'm looking forward to it!