Fahrerstimmen – Tag 2

Wir erlebten gestern einen sehr schwierigen Tag. Deshalb war es schwierig, zu wissen, wo wir standen. Ich habe heute Nacht nicht besonders gut geschlafen, genauso wenig wie alle meine Ingenieure. Denn wir wussten nicht, ob wir die Probleme würden lösen können. Aber heute kamen wir an die Strecke und das Auto war viel besser. Die Runden im Q3, besonders die erste, kamen sehr gut zusammen. Ehrlich gesagt weiß ich nicht genau, wo sie herkamen. Deswegen ist es eine kleine Überraschung, auf der Pole zu stehen. Aber ich bin sehr dankbar dafür. Es ist immer etwas Besonderes, wenn man ein wenig mehr aus dem Auto herausholen kann. Das hat mir stets Spaß gemacht, seit mir mein Dad gesagt hat, dass mein erstes Go-Kart aus fünfter Hand stammte. Ich weiß gar nicht genau, was bei Sebastian passiert ist. Es ist sehr schade für ihn, aber natürlich müssen wir versuchen, aus jeder Gelegenheit, die sich uns bietet, das Beste herauszuholen. Es liegt noch immer ein sehr hartes Rennen vor uns, also krempeln wir die Ärmel hoch. Jedes Mal, wenn ich heute aus der Box gefahren oder zurückgekommen bin, konnte ich die Zuschauer und all die Flaggen auf der Tribüne gegenüber sehen – dafür bin ich wahnsinnig dankbar. Das gibt mir viel Energie.

“Our car has been handling well all weekend. Today in qualifying we got close, but we would have needed a fractionally faster lap time. I think that the car had it, but you can always lose a little bit here and there. It’s disappointing not to be first, but tomorrow is going to be a long race for both cars and tires. I have the feeling that we have a good car and a very good chance for the race. If it’s going to be dry we are probably more confident, but our car has been good in both conditions and with all fuel loads. What happened to Seb is disappointing, very unfortunate for him and for the team. The guys did an excellent job to change all the parts getting the car back in one piece and ready to go, but then unfortunately he had to stop. Tomorrow is another day, he will have good speed and I’m sure that he can recover well”

“Third in Qualifying is a pretty good birthday present today. The whole weekend I was not fully happy with the car and in the last practice session I didn’t have the perfect balance, but in Qualifying we managed to pull it together and the car was pretty good. To be four or five tenths off pole position on this track and knowing they can turn up their engines in Qualifying means we are doing a good job. I think on the long runs we are a bit more competitive so I’m definitely looking forward to tomorrow. So far on Saturdays I’ve been a happy guy and on Sundays that has changed. Let’s hope it is different tomorrow and I’m sure we can have a good race. I’m also hoping for no sandwiches!”

“I did all I could today and I think we both got the most out of the car. We’re half a second from Lewis around here so I think we can be pretty happy with that. It gives us a chance in the race tomorrow even if it’s dry. I would have loved to be on third today, but that half a tenth was actually Max’s birthday gift from me and I wanted to start on fourth really, because that’s where I started last year and I won. This is obviously all planned in my mind. I did a bit of a lift of the throttle just before the finish line, so yeah it’s of course all calculated. I think Seb is probably going to do a rain dance tonight so I might join him, hold hands and light some candles. But honestly, some rain would be interesting for the race, so we can dance tonight, as long as we don’t dance tomorrow. If he gets near me then, we haven’t had a good enough race.”

Es war bislang ein schwieriges Wochenende für uns und wir lagen zeitweise weit zurück. Im Vergleich zu gestern haben wir einen Schritt nach vorne gemacht. Heute war es viel besser, aber für mich immer noch nicht gut genug. Lewis und ich hatten im Qualifying zwei komplett verschiedene Aero-Pakete an den Autos. Bei ihm schien es zu funktionieren, bei mir hingegen weniger. Bis zur zweiten Session lief das Qualifying nicht allzu schlecht. Aber im Q3 konnte jeder noch etwas nachlegen, nur ich nicht. Das müssen wir jetzt analysieren. Es ist noch zu früh, um zu sagen, warum ich mich vom Q2 zum Q3 nicht steigern konnte. Ich bin nach dem Qualifying sehr enttäuscht, aber morgen ist ein neuer Tag. Es wird eine Herausforderung für uns. Denn bislang war unsere Long Run-Performance an diesem Wochenende nicht besonders gut. Aber wir werden unser Bestes geben.

“I’m very happy with our performance today. The car has been working really well since the start of practice and it’s clear that all the hard work we have done since Singapore has paid off. I think we found further performance today and all the small changes we made to the car really helped make the difference. So it’s a great team effort and we are in good shape for tomorrow. My laps today were strong – probably some of my best of the season, but there is still room to improve. You never know what can happen in the race, but it’s a good chance to score some big points.”

“We weren’t really expecting to be so high up the grid. We’d hoped to get into Q3, but fighting for seventh was a pleasant surprise. “In fact, my whole qualifying session went really well. I didn’t make any mistakes and pulled every sector on every lap. To qualify seventh on a circuit like this is probably about as good as it gets for us, so I’m very happy with my performance. “We generally tend to be better over a single lap than across a race stint, so I think tomorrow will be tougher for us, but at least we’re in a position to race. And nobody really has any race preparation runs under their belts [due to yesterday’s FP2 red flag], so hopefully we can go into the race a little bit more prepared than the others and benefit from that. “Hopefully we can make a race of it tomorrow.”

“I’m quite happy with today’s session. It’s been a struggle for us all weekend, we didn’t have the right balance and didn’t have the speed. We weren’t sure we were going to get into Q3 so I’m quite pleased with the results. We’ll push for a little bit more tomorrow and look to get ahead of Mc Laren and Force India.”

“It wasn’t an easy qualifying session for me. I’ve been unwell this week and this is possibly the worst place to not feel 100%. I made a mistake in turn 11 during my final lap in Q3 and lost my rhythm. It was a small lock-up on what had been a very good lap until then, but it cost me enough time to be only ninth. It’s still a good result, all things considered, and it puts us in a good position for the race. It’s going to be a challenging Sunday because Malaysia is a very physical race – probably the hardest of the year. The start will be a key moment and I hope to gain a few places. It’s a race in which anything can happen and the weather is always unpredictable. Yesterday’s interruptions mean nobody really has a clear understanding of the long run pace, but I think we can come away with a strong result.”

“I’m satisfied with this result, and with how the weekend has gone in general, but it’s going to be tough to maintain our qualifying position tomorrow. We know that our race pace is not as strong as our qualifying pace, so we’ll probably struggle a little bit more if conditions remain dry. "However, maybe some rain will affect the race – some mixed conditions would improve things for us. “I think performance was there for us this weekend, and getting both cars in Q3 on this circuit is a very good sign. The new parts we brought here worked well yesterday but maybe didn’t work as well today, so we will have a close look to that. “It’s a very close field: it’s going to be tough to maintain our position tomorrow, but we’ll do our best, as always.”

I’m a little bit disappointed not to be in Q3. I was happy with the car and the balance. I had a great Q1 but I didn't have a perfect Q2, to be honest. On the first try I had a little bit of traffic on the high speed laps, which meant I lost a bit of time. And on the second try, the car was bouncing a bit on corner two so I lost a little bit of traction. All of these little problems were enough to lose position.

“I’m a bit disappointed not to finish in the top 10 because we had good pace but in the end, we just missed out. We will start twelfth tomorrow and I hope to move forward, we only have to gain two places to get in the points. Anything can happen in the first few corners here so we should make it.”

I think it was all right, and all in all it was a good effort from the team. It could have been a bit better in the first sector on my push lap, as on the out-lap the tyres were a bit cold, but overall it was a decent effort and at least we are in Q2. If it is wet tomorrow we would have a bit of an opportunity starting where we are starting, and so be able to capitalise on that. However, even in the dry it could be up to strategy and I think the rear tyres could be a big factor round here. It is always an interesting first corner here, so now we just have to concentrate on the job we have to do and try to get some points, and I do expect a long and hot race.

"I'm not surprised with ending up P14 today because it's more or less where we've been all weekend... It's for sure something we need to look into, because at the moment we're a bit too far away from Q3. Before coming here we thought we'd be performing a bit better than what we have done up until now – the updates we've brought here aren't really working as well as we expected, at least not for now. Having said that, it's also true that we haven't been able to do that many laps this weekend to properly learn about it all, so we just need to keep working hard. We usually come back a bit on race day, so hopefully we can be part of a good midfield battle and recover a bit of ground. If it rains, anything can happen as we saw in Singapore, so I welcome a wet race but, if not, we will just need to keep our heads down and see where we end up. Whatever happens, we will try and do our best, that's for sure!"

"I think today was positive and I'm happy – your first qualifying in Formula 1 is always a special moment and one I was really looking forward to! I tried to give my best and I think we made really good progress between FP3 and Qualifying. I felt comfortable in the car in Q1 and then, in Q2, I kept on learning while giving my all and I'd say we can be satisfied with the result! I now look forward to tomorrow, my first Formula 1 race and something I've been dreaming of since I was very young...! I expect it to be a really good experience and I hope to keep improving tomorrow as well. You never know what can happen with the weather here so, if the rain and tricky conditions do appear, I will welcome it as I felt confident in the wet in FP1 on Friday and I'm sure it will make it all even more exciting!"

“It’s been pretty amazing what the team has been capable of doing after yesterday. It’s such a great team and it shows how much we’ve improved since the beginning. They managed to repair the car after curfew, but still in a quick amount of time. I’m very proud of them, and I was happy I was able to go out. Unfortunately, we went out in Q1. We’re working and we’re trying to analyze everything we can. We’re really doing our best, but these last few races we just haven’t had much performance. We know the supersoft is not our best compound, in general. We’re struggling to find the right window on tires. We need to just keep working on that. We’re all in the same boat and working hard. It will pay off at one point. Tomorrow is a long race. It’ll be very hot. The weather can be tricky. Let’s try to get the best, as we did in Singapore, and hopefully score some points.”

“The feeling was not too bad. It’s just not competitive, I guess. It’s tough for us, but that’s how it is. The car isn’t slow. It’s been fast on other occasions, other races. We’re just not consistent enough in some areas. Something is making our performance vary too much. We’re working on it. The essential part is that we’ve designed a good baseline car. It’s just that sometimes it won’t work, and today was one of those days.”

„Das Qualifying war ganz in Ordnung, denn es lief besser als erwartet. Im Vergleich zu den Trainingssitzungen konnten wir den Abstand zur direkten Konkurrenz verringern, was durchaus positiv ist. Nun sind wir gespannt, was morgen im Rennen möglich sein wird.“

“Heute war kein einfacher Tag für uns. Wir sind mit keinen allzu grossen Erwartungen in das Qualifying gegangen. Immerhin konnten wir den Zeitrückstand zu unserer direkten Konkurrenz reduzieren – das ist ein gutes Zeichen. Allerdings haben wir weiterhin noch viel Arbeit vor uns liegen, um weitere Fortschritte zu erzielen. Wir sehen uns nun die erhobenen Daten genau an, damit wir den nächsten Schritt in die richtige Richtung machen können.“

“Straight away I understood there was something wrong” said Seb. “Today we had decided to change the engine after P3, then I went out and everything seemed to work, but during the flying lap in turn 5, I suddenly felt like I was losing power. I was lucky to limp back to the garage so that we could have a look. Unfortunately, we couldn’t fix the problem. We tried to find the issue when we took the engine cover off, but we couldn’t find anything wrong. So, we decided to fire it up and see if we could drive again. As soon as the engine was running, we could see the issue was still there. It’s a shame because the car is quick, but tomorrow we should be able to fight back. I don’t have expectations in terms of numbers, but anything can happen and that’s why we race. I want to be sure we can achieve our best. We need to know why we got the issue today and make sure it won’t happen again. This kind of thing can happen in our sport, but the race is tomorrow. We need to be positive”