Fahrerstimmen – Tag 2

Das Qualifying war richtig spannend. Die Bedingungen waren am Anfang kreuz und quer. Es regnete stark und gab große Pfützen. Deshalb flogen viele Autos ab. Mein Auto fühlte sich im Nassen sehr gut an. Aber für uns war es am besten, als es abtrocknete. Denn wir wussten, dass die Red Bulls im Nassen stark sind. Auf meiner letzten Runde gab ich am Ende alles – und es hat gereicht. Vielen Dank an mein Team. Das war eine super Mannschaftsleistung. Schließlich mussten wir immer sicherstellen, dass ich eine gute Position auf der Strecke hatte. Es ist ein großartiges Gefühl, hier in Ungarn auf der Pole zu stehen. Morgen erwartet mich ein hartes Duell gegen Lewis und die Red Bulls. Darauf freue ich mich.

Ich hätte niemals damit gerechnet, um die Kurve zu biegen und mich dort Fernando gegenüber zu sehen! Zu diesem Zeitpunkt lag ich vier Zehntel vorne und war auch mit der Fahrzeugbalance richtig happy. Die Pole war zum Greifen nahe. Aber das passiert im Rennsport. Jetzt werde ich vom zweiten Startplatz mein Bestes geben. Ein großartiger Start würde mir dabei helfen. Es wird auch Zeit, dass ich mal einen habe! Im Training hatte ich das Gefühl, als ob ich den Ablauf richtig hinbekommen würde. Deshalb hoffe ich darauf, dass ich morgen endlich einen guten Start hinlegen kann. Der Weg bis zur ersten Kurve ist lang. Dort besteht also eine Möglichkeit und die könnte den Unterschied ausmachen. Meine Long Run Pace war heute Vormittag richtig gut. Hoffentlich erwartet uns ein gutes Rennen.

“When I saw Fernando had spun in Turn 9, I was furious as I was up on my lap by quite a bit and when I heard Nico’s pole time, then the time was definitely there. How affected him or Lewis were (by the yellow flag), I don’t know, but I think we had better than a 19.9 in us. We don’t get many opportunities to get a pole from Mercedes, but I thought today there was definitely a chance. But, the positives are that we were quick, we had good pace and I was happy with the car. I was happy with it yesterday and I think we found even more speed for today, so hopefully that means good things for tomorrow. It was fun with the changing conditions, I really enjoyed it; let’s say I embraced the conditions from the start. It was crazy, there was aquaplaning, spray, it was really hairy and the adrenalin was flowing. It was drying very fast and we had to adapt and be on it, it was cool.”

“It was a bit of a shame in Q3 because everyone was backing off so I also had to back off to get a free lap. If you are within two or three seconds of the car in front you will lose lap time, in qualifying especially you don’t want that. I was very unfortunate to miss the line by 0.8 seconds, but there was a yellow flag anyway so I couldn’t improve. We can be very happy with 4th after a very tricky qualifying. It’s always a bit of a gamble when conditions are like that so you can’t really show everything you’ve got. We had the speed to qualify higher, I feel, but today it wasn’t to be. During the race I hope we can go a few steps further and be close to Mercedes, the pace is there for sure and think it will be very exciting. If they have some issues with degradation then there will be opportunities. In FP3 the car was very comfortable, if we can keep the same set up in the race tomorrow I can hopefully fight hard.”

”I am not happy with P5, because it could have been better. It was quite a mess at the beginning to get through, then at the end I think we had a good performance in the car. We improved for this afternoon, but unfortunately the result doesn’t show it. The pace was there, but we were not able to get the lap. It’s a shame because in the end it was very good, I think it was already half a second down, then there was a yellow flag which caught us out, but we kept going. Then there was a bit of traffic, sometimes it is just like that. I think we have the pace to compete for the podium tomorrow, hopefully we’ll have a good start then we’ll go from there. It’s a long race, anything can happen here. Other than that, I think that in the race pace usually we are quicker. Usually all the people decide to do the fastest strategy possible, but there’s always something you can do. If the occasion comes up to do something smart I know we have the people on board to do it, so I trust them.”

"Wow, what a qualifying session, and what a result... I feel so good! If I say the truth, this morning we thought we wouldn't even make it into Q3 after seeing our pace in FP3 but suddenly in Quali everything turned around. I felt much more comfortable in the car and surely the rain and cooler conditions helped. It was probably the toughest qualifying session of my career – to judge each time what tyre to choose, which line to take, see where it was dry and where it was still wet, to cool the tyres, then heat them... It was very, very tricky! But we were in the right place at the right moment every time, we got through every Quali session and we ended up in a great position for tomorrow! I just hope that in the race we can maintain the good feeling we found today in Quali."

“Both McLarens are in the top 10 in qualifying for the first time in a long time, so it’s definitely a step forward for us again this weekend and I’m happy with the direction and progression the team is heading in. I especially enjoyed the tricky conditions in Q2, when we were very fast. Today we were quick in dry conditions, quick in the wet and even quicker in mixed conditions. On the dry tyres in mixed conditions we took some risks and I really enjoyed it. “It’s looking good this weekend, this circuit suits our car a little bit better, and I’ve been P7 in every single session so far, so we’re pretty competitive, and hopefully we can improve on that tomorrow. “On my final lap I braked very late into Turn Six, cut the chicane and lost some time there, so I wanted to recover the lost time. I probably overdrove and at Turn Nine I spun. It’s a bit frustrating because I think we could have gained a couple of tenths which I lost instead because of my mistake, but anyway P7 for tomorrow is okay, and I’ll be starting on the clean side of the track. “We now need to finish the job tomorrow, hopefully with some points.”

“The car was working well today in the mixed conditions. You always enjoy it when you’ve got to think on your feet and it’s different every lap - I think Fernando and I are both very good at that. I was definitely up on my last lap by a few tenths but I don’t know if it would've made any difference at the end anyway; obviously the yellow flags meant we couldn’t complete it and sometimes that happens in these conditions. “It’s pretty good to have both cars in the top 10 but as soon as you do that, that’s not enough and you want more. I’ll be starting on the dirty side of the track tomorrow, which will be tough, but we’ll make the best of it. There’s new asphalt here though, and with the rain today it might actually make it a bit better than we think. We’re in front of all the cars we should be racing which is good, but the others in front are too fast for us. “In the wet it was really difficult to get the tyres working; I particularly struggled with fronts. We had a small front wing problem, where something came loose, but we fixed that and then it was fine. We still struggled with the front end in the wet conditions but we got there in the end, and in the drying conditions it was a lot of fun and we got the best out of it. “We’ll start P7 and P8, which isn’t too bad. In these conditions we always do a good job, so I’m happy for the team. I really don’t know what to expect tomorrow – but I’m looking forward to it anyway!”

“Being in the top ten is always good, especially in a session with tricky conditions. As a team I think we coped well with so many red flags because it’s important to stay calm and maintain your rhythm. When the rain stopped, the track dried so quickly and by the end of Q2 the sun was shining and the track was almost completely dry. Q3 was a bit difficult: I just didn’t have the balance and I struggled with understeer on my final lap. So from that perspective maybe it would have been better if the track had stayed wet for longer. Ninth place is still a good place to start and I’m sure we can have a strong race from there.”

It was a really tricky qualifying session today because of the weather conditions. I think as a team we made the right strategy calls. It’s a shame that we are out of position because of the yellow flags on my final run. I was improving my laptime a lot, but obviously I had to slow down which cost us, so that’s slightly unlucky. I think tomorrow we will have a good fight with Force India and my mission is to beat them.

“It was close. We were only one-tenth off of Lewis’ P10 time. All things considered, to be that close, it’s a good thing. We successfully made all the right decisions at the right time in qualifying, including tire choices. It was a very difficult qualifying session, but we showed how much we’ve improved as a team from day one through today. We were perfect today in our execution. We were fast on both the extreme wet and intermediate tires. We weren’t too bad on slicks. I know that tenth-of-a-second that denied us today is somewhere in there. I’m pretty happy with everything. If it doesn’t rain tomorrow it’s going to be boiling hot, and that always makes for a good race.”

"I think we did a very poor job in managing the things when it really counted, especially my track position. We were slow putting the slicks on – the tyres were not ready when I came in to the pits and I had to wait too long. I was then caught-up in traffic and I did my last lap, the one that most counted, behind Button... I always raise my hand when I do a bad job, but I think today it was a bit the other way around. It's a pity that we don't start further ahead, but in these circumstances a P12 is the most I could do... I really wanted to be in Q3, so we need to analyse what happened and learn from our mistakes. We will try our best tomorrow to recover and move forward, it can still be a good race!"

“Qualifying in P13 is a very disappointing result. Today we had everything we needed to be in Q3, especially in these conditions. We were among the first to switch to dry tyres, but when it came to the end of the session I wasn’t able to put together a good enough lap to finish in the top ten. I made a mistake in turn five and that cost me more than a second. It’s a shame as I think we had great potential, but it goes to show how difficult it is to get the right lap at the right time. Starting where we are is going to make the race very challenging. A good start will be crucial and we need to choose the right strategy because overtaking here is not easy. Our pace in the dry is good and my target is to bring home some points.”

”I’m disappointed by the result of this qualifying, it’s really a shame because our car has been working well all weekend and even in wet conditions the handling was very good. For sure we are far from where we should be. At the end of Q2 I went out for my last attempt and I did a decent lap, at least for that moment, but the conditions were improving every lap, the track was getting faster and unfortunately we did not make it through Q3. Whatever the reason, when the conditions are like today it’s not easy. We tried to do the right things, unfortunately we will pay a price tomorrow, it will be difficult to overtake starting from the back but we won’t give up. We’ll do our best, the speed is there and I’m sure we can make something out.”

“That was one of the trickiest qualifying sessions of the season, with a lot of interruptions. In Q1, we were quite unlucky. I basically only had one clean lap, so it wasn’t an easy one for us. In Q2, I was struggling to find the temperature on the tires. The conditions out there were difficult. With only one line to take, you’ve no margin for any mistakes. I’m not happy with 15th, but tomorrow I hope to overtake and make my way up the grid. It’s going to make for a very interesting and exciting race, and I’m going to give it my all to try to advance as much as I can.”

“That was an eventful qualifying. We were all surprised that the rain arrived before the session started. I think I extracted the most out of the car today. To be honest, I was happy to see us temporarily in P1 at the end of Q1 in the wet conditions. Unfortunately when the track started to dry and we changed to supersoft tyres, I could not improve my last lap as this run was a bit compromised by traffic. Nevertheless, it was a good qualifying for me, one that I will remember.”

“P10 was great; unfortunately that came in FP3 not qualifying! Today has actually been really good with the tenth fastest time this morning in a normal dry session which was a real boost. In the wet, we were at least as good, however unfortunately we weren’t on track at the right time in Q1. I set one lap at the beginning of the session and didn’t have a chance to set another as the red flags came out at the wrong times for us. Slowly but surely our rivals had the luck to get the laps they needed, but the red flags meant I was never able to improve. Whatever the weather tomorrow, I think we will be moving forward which is what we want. It could be a great race.”

I’m very disappointed about what happened. We risked going to the intermediates tyres in that moment and unfortunately it didn’t work for me, so it’s a real shame. I’m sorry to the guys in the garage because I was just trying to do the best I could but in conditions like that these things can happen. We now just need to concentrate on the race tomorrow. We know it’s not the perfect position for qualifying at this track but we need to be ready for anything tomorrow, because everything could change in the race.

“It was disappointing not getting more out of today as we are looking a little bit stronger this weekend. It was so difficult to see out there because there was so much spray and we weren’t able to be at the front of the queue. It is still a positive weekend in terms of the progress we’ve made and how strong we looked this morning. Tomorrow we have the race and for sure we’ll be aiming to make the very most of it.”

Pascal, 29°C and bright sunshine for FP3 then, all of a sudden, torrential rain. That’s quite a change in climatic conditions ahead of qualifying! “Yes, I think it took everyone by surprise – particularly how much rain came down in such a short space of time. The Q1 session had four red flags, which is very unusual and made it difficult for anyone to get into a good rhythm. It also showed how tricky it was out there.” That final run though, at the third restart, things were looking good for you? “My time on my final run was a 1:38, same as Kimi in 8th, so I would have been P9 I think. Unfortunately the red flag came out again just 0.8s before I crossed the line, so my time was cancelled. We hadn’t been able to set a timed lap before that, so it’s very frustrating to know we came so close to Q2 today. This track doesn’t seem to suit me very well, so that would have been a great result from such a challenging Q1.”

Rio, first of all we’re pleased you’re okay after quite a big spin off into the wall there. “I went to the medical centre for the usual precautionary check, because it was quite a big hit of 22g. I’m okay though; I feel fine. I’m just frustrated because it was a tricky Q1 session and I was improving a lot on my final run before I spun off.” Yes, what happened there? “Well the three red flags prior to that had made for a very challenging Q1; stopping and starting, with the track conditions getting better, then worse again. At the third restart we had a little over 5 minutes remaining, so we had to push hard but the track was still quite damp and I just lost the rear in Turn 10. It’s a shame and there’s quite a lot of damage to the car, so the boys will have a busy night unfortunately.”

“It was a very disappointing qualifying for me. The conditions were quite tricky with lots of standing water, but that was the same for everyone. I lost the car, so in the end it was my mistake and the session was quickly over for me. I should have done better. I apologise to the team for the work load I have caused them. I will fight back tomorrow.”