Fahrerstimmen – Tag 2

I am very happy. I tried to take things step by step and only push in Q3 today. It seems to have worked out pretty well. I had good references – I knew where I could gain and where I could push more, and that’s what I did.
After the first lap, I was reasonably happy but I did lose quite a bit at turns 4-5-6. On the second timed lap I was quite a lot stronger, but then the session was stopped by the red flag. But it’s pole anyway, so I am very happy with that.
Our race pace is not as strong as that of our competitors ahead of us in the championship, so I believe it will be very difficult to keep them behind in the race. The straights are very long here, and it is easy to overtake. We will give everything, and hopefully we can have another positive surprise tomorrow.

Angesichts der schwierigen Umstände bin ich überwältigt und sehr zufrieden mit dieser Runde. Damit hatten wir definitiv nicht gerechnet. Das ist ein ganz erhebliches Ergebnis für uns, weil wir das gesamte Wochenende über unglaublich zu kämpfen hatten. Aber wir behielten die Nerven und führten im Hintergrund weiter die schwierigen Gespräche, um uns gegenseitig zu fordern. Wir haben einfach kein „Nein“ als Antwort akzeptiert.
Das war heute der größte Schritt, der uns jemals zwischen einem dritten Freien Training und dem Qualifying gelungen ist. Wir haben gegen Ende des dritten Trainings etwas entdeckt und uns weiter in diese Richtung bewegt. Es war sehr schwierig und es ist heute und über Nacht viel Arbeit investiert worden. Hoffentlich sind alle zufrieden damit, aber morgen erwartet uns noch immer unsere Aufgabe.
Unsere Rennpace ist viel besser als unsere Pace auf einer Runde, da liegen wir meilenweit zurück. Aber die Rennpace ist viel näher dran. Wir wissen noch nicht woran das liegt, aber ich hoffe, dass wir morgen gegen die anderen Teams kämpfen können.

Of course I’m not that happy as I was very confident we could fight for pole here as we have felt good throughout the weekend but qualifying was pretty scrappy with all the red flags and the one at the end of Q3 stopped us all improving. It is what it is and it’s unfortunate but it’s a fast street circuit and these things can happen. Of course I would have liked to start further ahead but P3 isn’t so bad. We know we have a good car so it’s still all to play for and we can fight from there. As you can see from qualifying a lot of things can happen around this circuit so let’s hope we can have a clean start and then put the pressure on. With three different teams at the front it should also be a pretty interesting race strategy wise as well and it is also about keeping your tyres alive. We are still up there so let’s see what we can do tomorrow.

Honestly, it’s been a pretty incredible day. Topping the session in FP3 meant I was super excited coming into Qualifying. The pace was clearly there today, and we felt strong, we’ve pushed all weekend and I’ve just really clicked with the car here in Baku. I’m really pleased with our Quali performance, I think at the end we were still in a position to fight towards the front but P4 is great and the margins to the front row were so tight. It was a fantastic effort by the whole team, and I think we can be very proud of the progress we’re making. I’ve tried to build it up every lap here, session after session and push the limit each time and I think I’ve done that well this weekend. I’ve managed to put everything together in Q3 and we’re in a really strong position starting tomorrow’s race. Obviously Yuki’s day didn’t end as planned but he’s done really well here so far this weekend, he’s worked hard on building up his pace through the sessions and today he made it through to Q3 for the first time so he should be really pleased with that.

A very frustrating qualifying for me again today. I am disappointed we couldn’t extract all the potential of the car due to the circumstances. I was improving my lap time on the last attempt when the AlphaTauri crashed in front of me. I saw the smoke from the lock up but hoped he had continued. When I saw the crash it was too late and I ended up touching the barriers. At these speeds, the outcome could have been much worse, but the car seems to be ok.
On the positive side, our pace was strong, even more than we expected before coming to Baku. Congrats to Charles for putting it on pole. Overall it’s a great result for the team. Now we’ll start preparing for the race and I will do my absolute best to recover tomorrow.

Today was a big shame as we’ve shown all weekend we have very good pace but today we didn’t put the lap together when it really mattered. There was so much more on offer and we obviously expected more but it is what it is. On my first Q3 run I locked up into Turn 4 and then I was chasing the time for the rest of the lap. On my second run, I was on for a great lap and then the red flag came out for Yuki and Carlos and that was that. I don’t remember there being so many red flags in a session but tomorrow is when it counts and anything can happen around this track. I think there are lots of positives to be taken so far from this weekend, the pace every single session has been there and we’ve shown good progression so we can be pleased with that. Tomorrow is a long race and there is plenty to play for so we need to get our heads down and make sure we deliver. I think we have a very strong car underneath us so a podium has to be the target.

It’s a really mixed feeling today, I’ve made good progress here in Azerbaijan through the weekend, which has been really positive and then I made it through to Q3 for the first time. I think there was the potential to be starting the race in a higher position, but I was just pushing too much, and it didn’t pay off today, so obviously I’m disappointed and I just want to apologise to the team. Tomorrow is a new day though and I think, compared to Monaco, overtaking is a lot easier here so that, combined with a good tyre strategy, could be good for us in the race.

It was a bit of a messy session today and it was difficult to get into any kind of rhythm during qualifying. Unfortunately, we were unable to exploit the full potential of the car as every time we fitted fresh tyres a red flag came out. But it’s the same for everybody, so we have to take the positives away from today. It’s my first time in Q3 here so that’s good and we can see what is possible tomorrow. 

Chaotic quali, as I’m sure it was for everyone. Finishing P6 on track was ok on a used set of tyres. In the end, we definitely had the potential to do more. I was already up on my final lap on the new tyre before the red flag came out.
I’m disappointed to be starting P9 after being given a penalty. It’s a tough one to take as I felt I took the safest possible action. That will make things more difficult tomorrow, but we can still fight for good points given the overtaking opportunities in Baku, so let’s see what we can do.

Ich hatte das gesamte Wochenende über Probleme mit der Pace. Alles in allem glaube ich, dass etwas nicht stimmt. Ich bin am Limit, aber die Pace stimmt überhaupt nicht. Wenn ich mehr pushe, lande ich in der Mauer. Wir wechseln uns immer ab und an diesem Wochenende war Lewis an der Reihe, um zu entscheiden, wer zuerst aus der Box fährt. Deshalb habe ich ihm auf dem ersten Run im Q3 Windschatten gegeben. Auf dem zweiten Run versuchte ich, Windschatten von Charles zu bekommen, aber dann kam die rote Flagge, die meine fliegende Runde beendete.
Morgen wird ein schwieriges Rennen, aber mir ist klar, dass hier alles passieren kann. Ich war hier schon überrundet und bin noch bis an die Spitze vorgefahren. Hier weiß man einfach nie, was passiert und wir werden garantiert weiterhin alles geben, um heute Abend so viel wie möglich zu verstehen und morgen mitzukämpfen.

We had good pace today. I was being patient and waiting to unleash the lap time at the right moment. Unfortunately, I took a bit too much risk on my best lap in Q2 and locked up going into Turn 15. I was lucky to continue, with a big flat spot, but it probably cost me about four tenths. That is what cost me a place in Q3. It is a tricky corner, downhill and bumpy, and it channels the wind. I am disappointed because we easily had the pace to go through to Q3. Then, with the early red flag, there was no opportunity to recover. Anyway, we are starting just outside of the points, but I think we can improve during the race with a nice rhythm and some good race pace.

It wasn’t our session clearly. Q1 went well but into Q2 there were a lot of incidents. I got impeded into Turn 3 on my first run and hit the wall because of that, then on the second run the red flag came out so I couldn’t go again. It’s a bit frustrating as the car looked as though it was capable of getting well into the top ten so we will look to convert that tomorrow. Plenty is possible with our pace; I am definitely looking forward to the race, which is always a crazy one.

Obviously not the way I wanted to end the session. This track can certainly bite, and it did. Crashing never feels good and I feel for the crew who have to do the work, but that’s what happens when trying to find the limit on a street circuit, and we can still take positives from today. We took a good step in getting more out of the car and understanding it, but it’s still proving tricky to put it all together.
We’ll keep working and tomorrow’s a long race. A lot of things will happen and, as you saw in quali, there’s probably going to be a bit of chaos. Hopefully we’ve got our trouble out of the way today, so we can push on tomorrow and get after it. We’ve got a free tyre choice, so we’ll see how we can make some opportunities there. It’s all still open, so I’ll just learn from the mistake and progress from here.

We did a good laptime even though we only had used tyres left after all the red flags in Q1, and we could have got even more without the red flag at the end of Q2. We were on a good lap and we would have had a tow, and I think we could have gone through to Q3. It’s been a difficult qualifying with all the stoppages, but let’s see what we can do: we seemed to be faster and faster with every lap, the car felt better than at any other point in the weekend so it feels we are going in the right direction. Of course there are still things we need to improve but the feeling in qualifying is getting better. Tomorrow anything can happen: we need to stay out of any issue at the start and see what we can get out of this race.

Firstly, the mechanics did a fantastic job. I think that must be a record time for a full power unit change and getting everything sorted! Huge thanks to them. We then delivered when it mattered and I'm really happy to get into Q2.  That was almost the maximum today; we capitalised on other people's mistakes so I'm happy with the overall performance.

Tomorrow is going to be really interesting. Hopefully there is a bit of action and we can make the most of it.

For me, it felt like the tyres were at their peak on my first lap, which is when I set my quickest time. Unfortunately, I think we got unlucky when the red and yellow flags came out because we used our three sets of tyres that we have for qualifying, but in reality, I only got to do the one representative push lap. With this kind of circuit we know that there’s a high chance something like that will happen with flags, but you just don’t know when they will come out and unfortunately we weren’t at the right place at the right time. Overall, I think we had the pace to be faster and get through to Q2, so I’m a little disappointed, but opportunities always present themselves here, so hopefully we can take advantage of that.

A lot of red flags, a lot of stuff going on. Track conditions changed quite a bit too which was expected but on the other hand, unexpected for me. In general, we managed to position the car where we wanted it to but unfortunately on the last set I made a mistake at T5 which cost us some lap time. Overall, we maximized what we had and now it’s up to tomorrow’s race. In qualifying we’ve seen a massive amount of action and I think the action will be there tomorrow in the race.

To be honest it’s the most disappointed I’ve been with my job since being in Formula 1. The pace has been strong from my internal team and myself all weekend. It was really annoying to make a mistake on my quick lap when the tires are only there for that one lap. Unfortunately, I haven’t managed to transfer the mindset of just finishing laps, because, from where I come from, fighting for the extra half a tenth or tenth, it can mean the difference between pole or not. Obviously, we’re very far from that, but I’m still trying to do my 101 percent, and today it was too much. I’m very disappointed.

It was my mistake, and I have apologised to the team. Turn 15 is a challenging corner, as we have seen all weekend. It is off-camber and you brake over to the right, which means it is easy to lock up the front-right tyre under braking. With a tailwind like today, you can be caught out. I came into the corner too hot and locked up the tyre after I was already committed. I am obviously frustrated with myself, but the focus is on bouncing back tomorrow. You can overtake in Baku, so we will try to work our way up the field as much as we can in the race

It’s disappointing to do a mistake like this when we looked strong. I locked up in the middle of the corner and, when that happens in a turn like that, it’s very difficult to recover: I apologise to the team as we had it in us to do a good result today. At least, this is not Monaco and we can still recover and have a good race, especially if our pace is like today’s. We had the speed to get in Q2 and possibly even Q3, so we will not give up: everything is possible here in Baku and we’ll be ready to take the opportunity.