Fahrerstimmen – Tag 2

Es ist großartig, meine erste Saison-Pole eingefahren zu haben. Es ist immer am besten, das Rennen von der Spitze zu beginnen, und ich bin sehr happy, dass ich diese Gelegenheit erneut erhalte. Natürlich ist es nicht gut, dass das Auto von Lewis kaputt gegangen ist. Es war sehr schade, dass wir nicht um die Pole kämpfen konnten. Das müssen wir als Team definitiv untersuchen. Aber ich bin mir sicher, dass er sich in jedem Fall morgen durch das Feld kämpfen wird. Ich machte bei meinem ersten Versuch im Q3 einige Fehler, aber meine letzte Runde war ziemlich gut. Allerdings sagte Kimi, dass er einen Fehler auf seiner letzten Runde gemacht hat. Wenn wir das berücksichtigen, ist der Abstand sicher nicht so groß wie er heute in der Zeitenliste erscheint. Am Freitag waren die Ferraris auf dem gleichen Niveau wie wir. Wir müssen uns also auf eine große Herausforderung durch die roten Autos einstellen. Im Rennen könnten wir einige Überraschungen erleben. Es wird viele verschiedene Strategien geben und es liegt noch ein langer Weg vor uns. Aber ich fühle mich gut im Auto und freue mich auf den Kampf.

“Compared to last year we’ve certainly got a bit more from the power unit. We’ve seen the trend in the first couple of races and the deficit hasn’t been as big as last year on the straights but I didn’t expect to be standing here unless it was a wet qualifying. To be front row in the dry is pretty cool. A few people joked saying it’s the haircut so maybe that’s what it is: aerodynamic. The positive is that Nico’s on the Soft and we’re obviously starting on the Super Soft, so the start should be interesting. Hopefully we’ll battle the Ferraris for the podium. New or old qualifying system, we seem to be competitive so that’s nice.”

“It’s more of a disappointment than anything else: today we had the chance of getting a better result. I don’t know if pole position could have been possible, but for sure we could have easily been second fastest. In the second last corner I ran wide and lost a lot of time. The position could have been much worse after that mistake, but we still have third place, which is not such a bad starting point for the race. It’s hard to predict what will happen tomorrow, it will depend on so many factors, the weather and the different tactics from the teams. In the race things are different: we’ll try to do our maximum, be the fastest and see where it brings.”

“I don’t think I deserved to be in the top three today. We saved tyres, so we start tomorrow on Supersofts. I thought I could make it in the last lap, but my only run wasn’t special overall. I asked too much from my tyres already at the beginning and then I did a couple of small mistakes here and there, which cost me a lot of lap time. So in the end my run was not so good, but this is how it is and we can’t change it now. All in all, I think it has been a good weekend for us so far, and I think tomorrow it can be even better. Race strategies are different from one team to another, which is interesting. Maybe we can have already a shoot at the start, the one we had in Australia was very good so perhaps we can repeat it. Our target is to go forward from where we are…

It was a good qualifying for me, and as a team I think fifth was the maximum position. It felt great to do the lap on my second run in Q3, it was clearly my best lap of the weekend, so that was a good feeling. It’s always nice to finish qualifying knowing you’ve made the most out of it and as a team I think we are in a good position for tomorrow.

"I’m quite happy with today’s qualifying, P6 is my best qualifying so far this season and I think we have found our rhythm. I think what cost us a little bit of time is I did my best lap on scrubbed set of Options, so I think there is a little more time to be found there. Daniel did a good lap to qualify P2, it’s a good result for the team. It should be an interesting race tomorrow, hopefully we can fight for a podium, but we will see what the race brings."

“I am very happy with the car’s performance this afternoon. Even this morning, in the rain, we looked really competitive and to finish the day in seventh place is a result that shows the potential of our car. We made some steps forward with the balance overnight and we saw the result of that today. The track was slippery in places and it was very easy to make mistakes, but we kept our focus and came away with the result we deserved. It should be an interesting race tomorrow, with a few different strategic choices, and I am optimistic about scoring some good points. Tyre degradation will be one of the key factors in the race, but I feel we have a good understanding of all the compounds and can choose the right strategy.”

"I'm happy with my qualifying today as I'd say we couldn't have got much more out of the car. It's true that I lost a bit of time in the last sector, but to start from P8 tomorrow is not a bad result and we will try and go forward in the race. All in all, I'm also satisfied to have finally put a good qualifying session together from start to end this year, as during the previous two in Australia and Bahrain it's something that I hadn't been able to do yet. I think that tomorrow's race is going to be very interesting strategy wise and I hope to fight for good points."

"I think we've qualified in quite a good position for tomorrow, and to get into Q3 is always good. Of course, you always hope for more, but today it didn't really all come together unfortunately. The conditions out there were quite tricky: the car felt a bit different compared to yesterday and the track was a bit more slippery. However, we are in the top 10 and I'm really looking forward to tomorrow's race."

That’s not the position I wanted to have. I was a little bit unlucky with the red flag, but tomorrow in the race you never know. We have to try and do the best we can. I hope choosing the right tyres will have a positive effect, we will see tomorrow, but I’m not really happy with my position.

“I think both Jenson and I could have got through to Q3 today: we had the pace, and we had been saving tyres and engine ready to go for it… until the red flag ended the session. “It was massively frustrating not to be able to complete my final lap in Q2 – there really was a lot of potential in the car today. “Let’s put it into further perspective: not too many races ago, we were just making it into Q2, now we’re frustrated not to be in Q3. That’s definitely a good direction in which to be heading. “Finally, I slept like a baby last night: 10 hours without waking up once. Today I was full of energy. When I’m in the car, I still feel a small something through the corners and over the bumps, but I didn’t take any pain-killers today.”

“Ironically, although it was neither successful nor popular, the qualifying system we used in the first two races of the year would probably have been better for us today! “However, it’s just one of those things: we ran used Options [tyres] for our first Q2 run, then we waited until the circuit was at its best before fitting new tyres. Like a few others, we were caught out by the Q2 red flag, which was frustrating. “Being just outside the top 10 has its positive side though: we can choose our starting tyre, and there are plenty of options with the three different compounds. “The damp patch in Q1 was a little bit scary on slick tyres – I think a lot of people therefore kept their DRS closed, which is what we did. You don’t have any control of the car in those situations, but I still don’t think we needed the red flag. “And, by the way, in the next few races, we will get through to Q3!”

“To be honest I don’t know what happened. We all saw that the wheel came off, but why and how, I don’t know. It was attached properly when we left the garage because everything felt normal. It didn’t feel loose and there was no indication from the steering. When it came off, it happened suddenly, but I was at low speed and could park the car quickly and safely. It’s disappointing because we’ve been competitive here this weekend and I would have liked to be out there during Q3. The race tomorrow is going to be interesting and hopefully things will work out a bit better than today.”

“I think the car is better than it was yesterday, and we were much closer in terms of lap times. That’s a positive. We were very unlucky with that red flag at the end of Q2. We didn’t get to run a new set in Q2, so here we are. Not the best position but tomorrow, the race is long. The tire degradation is huge, so we’ll try to get the best from that. Not an easy weekend for us between FP1, which was non-stop red flags for various reasons, then FP3 being wet. Everything’s been made a little complicated for us. Tomorrow is a different day, but not ideal today.” - See more at: https://www.haasf1team.com/news/chinese-grand-prix-qualifying-recap#sthash.LPWeV2SY.dpuf

“I am glad we are back with the qualifying format from last year. With both cars in Q2 that was a step in the right direction. This is something we should be pleased about. In Q1 especially this was a very good effort from me making it to P13. For the race tomorrow we should have some good chances and be fighting for one or two points, because the long runs on Friday were quite promising.”

“First of all, I was happy we went back to the old qualifying format, which gave us another opportunity to run an extra set of new tyres. I feel like I did a pretty good lap, although I am still experiencing some issues with breaking, as I have done in the previous events. I am confident the team will solve the issue very soon. The race could be interesting with all the tyre choices, especially seeing how quickly the supersoft is degrading.”

“It’s been a tricky weekend so far here in China; this afternoon was the first time I’d driven the car round the circuit in the dry. I think that I did a decent first qualifying lap and I was able to improve a little bit on my second run. We were so close to being in Q2 today and that is frustrating as I think that we should have been there in under more normal circumstances but this is where we are at the moment. We know that things will only get better and we are aiming to improve step by step. I hope that we can have a good race tomorrow with a solid pace and fight in the midfield. Let’s see, I’ll be going for it.”

“It was quite a tricky session in the beginning. I was planning to do as many laps as I could as, basically, it was the first time I was out running on track. It was very difficult to get up to speed. I did my best with the conditions. Our focus now is on the race tomorrow and getting the best out of the car.” - See more at: https://www.haasf1team.com/news/chinese-grand-prix-qualifying-recap#sthash.LPWeV2SY.dpuf

“The car felt ok on the first run but it was still a bit damp and I was quite cautious. The second run was a struggle, with a real lack of grip. I didn’t have such problems yesterday or this morning so we need to try and understand where the loss of performance is coming from between myself and the team. For tomorrow, normally the race pace is a bit better than our qualifying speed but we’re still starting near the back and that makes things challenging.”

“I’m not so happy with my lap today. Yesterday we were quite competitive and in the mix with Sauber but today this wasn’t the case. It was difficult to get the tyre up to temperature because we’d already completed a lap before the red flag. We’ll need to look at how much of a factor that was for us when we examine the data this evening. Our race pace looked good in free practice yesterday so I’m still positive for tomorrow.”

“The track was pretty dry by the start of qualifying and so slicks was the right choice. There’s a bump on the start-finish straight and behind that a patch of water, which I hit, lost the rear and spun. It was very unexpected as everywhere else on the track was fine but difficult to see as it was hidden. I guess I was just unlucky as there was nothing I could do. The only fortunate thing is that I didn’t hit the armco too hard; it could have been a much bigger job ahead of the race. I’m disappointed not to qualify but the race is another day and our pace looked good in practice yesterday. It’s not easy to start from the back but that’s what we did in Australia and things didn’t end so badly for me. We’ll see what tomorrow brings and for my part I’ll be giving it my best shot as always.”

Natürlich ist es enttäuschend, dass ich heute nicht mitfahren konnte. Durch die Zurückversetzung war es ohnehin schon ein schwieriges Wochenende. Aber das sind Prüfungen, denen wir uns stellen müssen. Niemand wählt den einfachen Weg, zumindest ich nicht. Wir mögen jetzt im Schlamassel stecken, aber wir finden da auch wieder heraus! Wir haben ein großartiges Auto und das Team leistet fantastische Arbeit. Es gibt Bereiche, in denen wir uns steigern können. Aber die Saison ist noch jung und ich weiß, dass wir es schaffen werden. Es ist wichtig, dass niemand den Kopf hängen lässt. Das Beste, was wir tun können, ist, daraus zu lernen und weiterzumachen. Ich bin überzeugt, dass die Jungs genauso enttäuscht sind wie ich. Aber so ist es nun mal. Wir gewinnen und verlieren gemeinsam. Jetzt werden wir zusammen hart arbeiten, um herauszufinden, was passiert ist und versuchen sicherzustellen, dass es nicht noch einmal geschieht. Das Gute ist, dass man hier überholen kann und unser Auto ist schnell. Hoffentlich können wir das Problem bis morgen beheben und dann ein gutes Rennen fahren. Ich war schon früher in dieser Situation. Vor zwei Jahren bin ich in Ungarn vom Ende des Feldes auf das Podium gefahren. Es ist also alles möglich. Die Reifen halten hier nicht so lange. Demnach wird es vielleicht nicht ganz so einfach wie damals. Aber ich werde selbstverständlich alles geben, um so weit wie möglich nach vorne zu kommen. Ich möchte zumindest in die Punkte kommen und dann sehen wir, was von dort möglich ist. Noch ist es nicht vorbei.