Fahrerstimmen – Tag 2

Es ist ein großartiges Gefühl, mit beiden Autos in der ersten Reihe zu stehen, besonders da es bislang ein hartes Wochenende für uns gewesen ist. Im Trockenen wäre ich über einen dritten, vierten oder sogar fünften Platz froh gewesen. Ferrari war da einfach schneller als wir und auch Red Bull war sehr schnell. Aber dann öffneten sich die Schleusen und ich wusste sofort, dass wir ein Wörtchen mitsprechen würden. Der Regen sorgte für Wettbewerbsgleichheit und verschaffte uns die Gelegenheit, einen Unterschied auszumachen. Ich bin richtig stolz auf mein Team. Sie haben heute großartige Arbeit abgeliefert und waren in absoluter Bestform. Diese Strecke hat mir jahrelang gelegen, aber aus irgendeinem Grund hat mir zuletzt immer ein Quäntchen gefehlt, um vorne zu sein. Sollte es morgen trocken sein, kommt es auf die Position im Rennen an, da das Überholen hier sehr schwierig ist. Es ist ein langer Weg bis zur ersten Kurve und wir müssen sicherstellen, dass niemand einen Weg vorbei findet.

Einerseits war der heutige Tag auf gewisse Weise eine Enttäuschung, denn ich wollte selbstverständlich auf der Pole stehen. Andererseits freue ich mich sehr für das Team - es ist ein perfektes Ergebnis für uns, mit beiden Autos in der ersten Reihe zu stehen. Dieses Ergebnis wäre im Trockenen richtig schwer zu erreichen gewesen. Aber im Nassen erhielten wir heute die Chance, besser als Ferrari und Red Bull zu sein. Es ist sehr schwierig, es im Nassen richtig hinzubekommen. Schließlich ist es nicht einfach, auf der Strecke zu bleiben, geschweige denn am Limit zu fahren und zu versuchen, alles aus dem Auto herauszuholen. Es ist sehr hart, wenn man weiß, dass man nur eine Runde hat. Aber heute hat alles gepasst. Das Team hat beim Timing und bei der Reifenwahl außerordentlich gute Arbeit abgeliefert. Wir haben es heute als Team perfekt hinbekommen. Jetzt müssen wir uns für eine Rennstrategie entscheiden. Für den Start gibt es zwei Optionen: entweder die UltraSofts oder die Softs. Wir werden die Situation genau analysieren und dann unsere Entscheidung treffen. Es ist fantastisch, von den ersten beiden Positionen ins Rennen zu gehen, denn auf dieser Strecke ist das Überholen sehr schwierig. Wir werden unser Bestes geben, um die Ferrari-Fahrer hinter uns zu halten und ich werde natürlich angreifen, um einen Platz gutzumachen. Das wird morgen sicher ein guter Kampf.

“Overall” Kimi commented “this weekend the car has been really good in any conditions. In qualifying it was a bit tricky, but I enjoyed driving it a lot. The speed was there and the car was working well in wet conditions. Today we were more competitive in the rain than we had been in other places; It was nice, I was pleased because this hadn’t been our strongest point lately. In Q3 with used tires we were fastest of all, but with the new set we were a bit unlucky with the traffic; we got stuck a bit behind another car and with all the spray we could not have a clear lap. There was nothing we could do, as we were limited on time. It’s a pity because there was a lot of grip on the new tires: I’m sure we had the speed and everything else to get the first place, but we have to be positively happy that now we can actually challenge for the front in wet conditions”.

“I don’t think it was an awful session overall”, said Seb; “we were just not quick enough. Conditions were tricky and it was hard to squeeze everything out of the car, but I think my laps were generally fine. In wet conditions, we weren’t so confident as we had been in the dry, so we have some work to do. Today it was not a straightforward session, but I think we managed it well until the end. Obviously, we were missing a bit of something, but that’s how it is. We’ll see what tomorrow brings: the start is important, but the race is 70 laps long and I think we’ll be fine. I’ll move off from the second row, so we’ll focus on what we need to do starting from there. However, we have a good car no matter the conditions, and that’s the main thing”.

“What an intense qualifying! I’m really happy with today’s performance and it is great when things come together! Only having the Mercedes and the Ferraris in front is a very good sign of how well we managed these conditions. We took a bit of a gamble staying out with the same set of tyres in Q3. This meant I was able to post a very strong time even if the tyre performance wasn’t there to improve with my final lap. I was really happy when I saw P3 on the board, and P5 at the end of the session is a pretty good feeling too. Points however are given out tomorrow. Tyre strategy and the start will be specially important but I’m confident we can have a strong race.”

"It was a crazy qualifying for us, especially in these conditions but I'm super happy with the outcome! It was very tricky to keep the car on track, but the team made a fantastic strategy with the tyres and I managed to put a good lap in. It was super difficult but I really enjoyed it! When I saw the rain coming before Qualifying I thought there could be an opportunity, and the result of P6 is just incredible, especially after the tough few weekends we've had, it's really an unbelievable result for the team. To get both cars into Q3 was a great job and it's a mega day for Toro Rosso. It's really important to have a good Qualifying here as it is hard to overtake and in the race we'll give the others around us a hard time! I think we have good pace so we need to stay focussed and prepare well for tomorrow."

“My main issue today was a lack of grip, especially in Q3. The feeling on the Intermediate tyre wasn’t that bad but when we put the Wets on it was really tricky. It seems at the moment that this year’s car struggles a bit in the wet and we need to look into why it is different to last year’s. We have already experienced that we struggle to get heat into the tyres and today that really showed. Usually I feel comfortable enough to lay down a lap in these conditions but I just was not able to today. I feel, due to the rain, we have missed an opportunity to have a really strong Qualifying so that is a bit frustrating. We weren’t happy this morning in the dry but we made some setup changes that I think would have made it better for Qualifying, had it not rained. This gives me confidence tomorrow but starting from P7 here does not make it easy. I think it is supposed to be dry and really warm for the race. That said we didn’t expect this today so let’s wait and see what we get tomorrow.”

"The conditions were really tricky out there, but I'm incredibly happy to make it into Q3 for the first time! I had a couple of little mistakes at the end of Q3 when I started pushing the limits and I fell just short of Pierre's time, which put us in P8. The whole way through Qualifying the team did a brilliant job with communication and strategy and the car felt good. I think we're always hanging around the top 10, and to get both cars through today is a really big achievement. It's quite hard to pass here so I need to have the best possible start and a good first lap. There might be some strategy in play as it's a little bit of follow the leader around here, so hopefully we can hang on to a points position tomorrow."

“We had a bit of a messy day, but the car is feeling good and the pace is there, so I think we just wait for tomorrow and work on the things that we see on the data, the feedback, and things should be ok. Some days you just have a lot of traffic and we had some wrong switch headings, little problems that keep you from putting the lap time on the board, but still you get a feeling and you get pieces of the data that you can look into and improve from there. We’ll do a bit more tomorrow and, hopefully, get a clean session where we can verify the things we’re going to change for tomorrow, which won’t be much because I think it was okay today. So, we’re in a good place. Very happy.”

“We did most of our program today. This morning we had a problem with the car and we lost some time in the run, but after that we got the best information we could from the other car and it’s been a good afternoon. The gap with P8 on new tires was pretty good to see and in race pace we can still improve a little bit, so that’s what we’re going to be looking at to get good on Sunday. Our aim is to do as well as we can from now on and look to the future, not the past. We’ve got 10 more races, so we’ll try to make them good.”

“The conditions were very difficult today and in these situations you need to have a bit of luck and be on track at the right time. “We haven’t been very competitive this weekend and in Q1 we were already a bit concerned that we wouldn’t make it through to Q2. Thanks to the rain we managed to get to P11, which is a good place, close to the points zone. Starting positions here are quite important and we are probably further up than we thought we would be. “At the end of Q2 the heavy rain was affecting the last part of the track, so we decided to attempt another run on extreme Wet tyres, knowing that we would probably be slower, but we tried anyway.”

“It just seems we were unlucky today. We had the Soft tyres we had to use and we thought they would have been safe enough for Q1. It made life difficult but it was good enough, just. Then obviously the rain came at the start of Q2 and the first car on track was getting a big advantage and the better conditions. In my first timed lap, the one that had to count in the end, I had Stroll spin in front of me so I had to abort and then it just got wetter and wetter and that was the only opportunity to make a good lap. The following laps it was too wet and in the last sector I was just trying to survive. We had to put the Wets on, but they were never going to be as quick as the Inters as the conditions of the track got much worse compared to the beginning. It was more bad luck than bad strategy though. Tomorrow obviously, I will try to move forward as fast as possible, I think we have the pace, but from 12th is a long way. I’ll overtake, I’ll find a way!”

“There was an issue with the fuel bowser which meant we didn’t have enough fuel in the car at the start of Q2, so we lost time when the track was at its best. Once it started raining hard it was pretty much game-over although we gave it a go with the Wet tyres, sadly to no avail. Timing is crucial in conditions like today so it’s a shame to have a small technical problem in the garage. It is hard to overtake here, but we have a strong car so I’m hopeful for a good race. A wet race would spice things up, but I’m approaching tomorrow open-minded; I want to make up places and score points.”

„Die Wetterbedingungen haben das Qualifying heute schwierig gemacht. Es hat mich ein bisschen an Hockenheim erinnert, aber ich habe mich trotzdem wohl gefühlt. Es ist toll, das Qualifying wieder in Q2 zu beenden, allerdings war es sehr knapp. Ich habe versucht, meine Rundenzeit zu verbessern, aber es war zu viel Wasser auf der Bahn. Zum Schluss gab es dann noch eine gelbe Flagge als die Strecke besser wurde. Es ist trotzdem ein gutes Resultat. P14 ist eine gute Startposition und wir werden sehen, was morgen möglich sein wird.“

“It was quite tricky out there today – especially at the start of qualifying – to know what tyre to be on and make the right call about slick tyres, because the track was still quite hot from the sun during the day. “Every time we crossed the line on a timed lap we were competitive, in the top 10 on both the Intermediates and on the slicks as well. It was all about being on track at the right time, and we were just a bit out of sequence as we had to box the car about one minute before the end of Q1 so we didn’t get that final lap, right when the track was at its driest. That just wasn’t enough to get through to Q2. “It’s always a bit of a gamble in these conditions, as it can play out to be good or bad. It’s unfortunate, but these things happen. We tried hard.”

„Es war kein guter Tag für mich. Das Qualifying war schwierig. Es hat erst kurz davor angefangen zu regnen. Wir sind auf intermediate Reifen gestartet, allerdings war die Strecke noch zu trocken dafür. Nachdem wir auf ultraweiche Reifen gewechselt haben, waren wir konkurrenzfähiger, aber alle Teams machten Fortschritte und die Positionen haben sich innerhalb von Sekunden geändert. Zum Schluss hat es heute nicht gereicht. Ich hoffe, dass das Rennen morgen interessant wird, und dass wir ein gutes Resultat haben werden.“

“It’s disappointing to be out in Q1, but we had an issue with the brakes that held us back. I pitted for slicks when the track was improving and my brake pedal went long. We tried to optimise the situation as much as we could, cooling down the brakes, but that meant I couldn’t drive the car at 100%. We definitely had much more than this in the tank. The weather out there was very tricky and we could have taken advantage of the conditions because normally we are really strong in the wet. Given all that happened, though, I am happy not to be last on the grid. We can come back tomorrow and we will push hard to make it back into the points.”

“A disappointing session. We were expecting more rain towards the end of Q1 so we went out early to set our times and took the best out of the tyres. This really hurt us because the track was improving massively towards the end of Q1 and we didn’t complete our best lap when the track was at its best. Sometimes this happens when the weather is changing quickly, but we definitely had much more potential today. For tomorrow I think it’s a big challenge to recover if we have a normal race, but you never know what can happen and we never give up.”

I’m very disappointed with qualifying. With the rain today, it was a big possibility for us and I was looking forward to it as it could have been our best qualifying of the year. In such unpredictable conditions, it’s very difficult to guess which lap is going to count. Every time I went out we decided to push on the first lap, which was good, but in doing so I would catch the car ahead of me so I would have to back off on the following lap. This happened to me three times on my three sets of tyres and unfortunately each time the rain stopped and I was not on my quick lap when the track was drier. It’s impossible to predict that’s going to happen, so we were a bit unlucky which I’m very sorry about.

I had a good Q1 and got through to Q2, which was very nice. I think we took advantage of the mixed conditions and that was positive. Unfortunately pushing in the wet I just lost the car and that was it. In the rain that is how it goes, you are pushing and looking for grip and sometimes it bites back. It was just unfortunate it was there at turn 10 as there was a wall on the inside, or it could have just been a spin and I could have kept going. Hopefully we can do something in the race tomorrow.