Fahrerstimmen – Tag 2

I'm excited to be starting on pole tomorrow, I really like the track and I've felt comfortable in the car all weekend. It's a bit more tricky than expected to overtake and I hope we see some good battles tomorrow. Our race pace looks quite good so hopefully we can convert the pole into a win.

I think we maximised what we could today. I'm not a massive fan of street circuits, I prefer the high speed tracks where you can really push the car to the limit. So far this weekend we’ve been lacking pace with the one lap performance but the long runs looked good yesterday. Starting second tomorrow will be interesting, the lead up to turn one isn't too bad but we definitely need a good start. The race will be all about keeping the tyres alive, there will be a lot of graining. I'll ease myself in to it tomorrow and if I see an opportunity I will go for it.

I’m very satisfied with Qualifying today. We were always up there in the top-four, but the Ferraris were a step ahead of everyone today. I think P4 maximised what we had, and we were close with Verstappen for P3. With the grid penalty for Sainz, I think third is a good place to be starting from.

The race itself is going to be very tricky. I am sure there will be a lot of graining for all teams in these cold conditions, but nobody knows exactly how it is going to play out. We may see multiple stops in tomorrow’s race but whoever manages to keep the tyres alive will be big beneficiaries. We had some difficult long runs and I think the Ferraris are quicker than us, not just on the single lap but in race pace. We will do our best to give Leclerc a fight though and hopefully the race will throw up a few surprises.

I’m very pleased with the team effort today especially as our expectation was much lower than what we have achieved. We proved the predictions wrong and hopefully we can do the same tomorrow where we start fourth because of Carlos’s [Sainz] penalty. The car felt really good, I felt comfortable and that is so important, especially at a street track where you need to feel in sync with everything. I was able to push to the limit and the laps today were probably my best of the season. We will see what we can do tomorrow. We have to stay focused as it’s a new track, conditions will be cool and tricky and we just have to be ready. The target is to score some big points.

We executed very well today; we’ve known this track was going to suit us but it’s always a bit scary coming in when there’s a bit of hype and pressure, so I’m really happy with how that went. I’ve been struggling with the brakes all weekend and after my off in FP3, I had to reset my confidence a little bit. I also just want to say thanks again to the team for their hard work in getting the car ready for Qualifying. Tomorrow is going to be all about the graining, with cars that suffer probably going a second and a half slower, and vulnerable to anyone overtaking. We did have some graining on Friday, but we’ve made some setup changes that should hopefully help mitigate this. I’m obviously excited for Logan as well, so to be starting P5 and P6 due to penalties, we now just need to finish it off tomorrow.

Today felt really good from FP3 onwards. I’m very happy to execute over three separate sessions and finally extract the potential that we’ve had. To do it here in Vegas is extra special which is highlighted by the fact we have a great car here. It’s not easy to deliver on that performance, so the fact we’re able to continuously do that throughout the session is awesome. It’s been a great day for the team and congrats to everyone. We’ve worked hard and knew this weekend was a good opportunity and we’re off to the right start. Most importantly we have two cars near the front of the grid. We have a very annoying car down the straights for others, so we’ll try and use that to our advantage. Hopefully we can continue this level of performance and have a strong race.

I am really pleased for our performance tonight, it’s a great result for us and it gives us a good opportunity to score some points tomorrow. It’s a shame Zhou had a tricky Q1, otherwise we could have been up there with both cars; in any case, we can be happy about our pace, especially as we couldn’t really be sure about where we’d be coming into this race. We were able to find the right window to operate our car, and we were able to extract more performance in every segment of qualifying. There’s never a single silver bullet, but we executed every element well: it’s a lot of small margins that worked for us and made a big difference in the end result.

It’s good to be in the mix up there and I’m really happy with that. In terms of qualifying, we’ve been good before and have fallen back on race day so that’s what we’ll try to avoid tomorrow. Yesterday there was a lot of graining with the tires, so we’ll see how we manage that as it’s going to be key for the race. We’ll do our best and see what we can do.

We are quite happy to be in Q3 and we will see what we can do from ninth tomorrow. I was happy with both of my laps in Q3 and we finished about half a tenth from seventh position, so it was all very tight. Coming here we thought this circuit might not suit our package as much, especially with the high straight-line speeds. The venue here is impressive and they have done a good job with that. I think the only issue for us has been the asphalt, which doesn’t have that much grip, so perhaps that can be looked at for the future. But, so far, it’s been fun racing in Vegas.

That wasn’t a great Qualifying session, but it is what it is. I really struggled for grip out there and we didn’t manage to get the tyres working throughout the whole session. It’s not ideal but it’s an issue I’ve been dealing with for a while. We saw a decent amount of track evolution. Not a crazy amount, but it was still enough to knock me out as I failed to improve on my final lap in Q2.

We’ve seen a lot of graining on the tyres up and down the field in practice, so it will be interesting to see if that continues in the Grand Prix. I think tyre management, how you bring the tyres in and how you progress in addition to where you push and don’t push will be key tomorrow. We made a few changes to the car ahead of FP3 and we’re hoping that they will help us in the race.

It was an unfortunate qualifying. The gaps were super close, and we just didn’t maximize the full potential of our car today, we had some more pace in it and could have been a little bit faster - it’s something we need to understand. I also think our run programme wasn’t quite the right one, we finished a little too early, with four minutes left of Q2 and people just kept improving, there was a little more track evolution there.
We will anaylse it but on the other hand there is nothing we can do now, so let’s focus on tomorrow because I think we should be able to come through the field, we have a fast race car. I think the DRS on the Strip should help the racing and we will see what we are able to do, we just need to be patient and I believe in our pace. I think tomorrow is going to be a very interesting race.

It’s been a great qualifying for the team. Unfortunately, it won’t be a front row lockout tomorrow as I will take a penalty. The frustration and anger I feel right now won’t go away easily, even more so looking at how competitive we are on this new track. However, you can be sure I will do absolutely everything to recover from P12 and I know we can produce a solid race. It’s unknown territory, but hopefully it will be an enjoyable Sunday with many overtakes.

I think we have the pace, and clearly we have it as Kevin is up there. I had it too but unfortunately, I didn’t have a clean lap on the ultimate lap that mattered as I locked up into Turn 7. I feel like we still do have half a chance here of having a race or a fight on our hands tomorrow. The cooler temperatures hopefully help us so it’s just about graining, but I think all cars have similar issues. We’re expecting graining, hence it’s about avoiding it as best as possible. No one has ever raced here though, so it leaves some question marks and maybe we have a shot.

I think, as a team, we’re struggling to extract the grip on this low-grip and new asphalt this weekend, which is shiny and open to the public during the day. We made some fairly big changes and steps forward overnight, but today, we couldn’t do much more. I’m happy with the improvements we made that allowed me to get into Q2, as we’re definitely struggling more with one-lap pace and getting the tyres to really work. I’m more optimistic for tomorrow because I think we’re stronger in the long run. I don’t know what to expect for the race, but I think it’s going to be very close.

A frustrating end to qualifying. The pace hadn’t looked too bad in FP3, but we just didn’t put it together in qualifying. The tyres didn’t perform quite as we expected, and the graining was pretty bad so perhaps we should have used a second set. There are still opportunities for tomorrow, the pace of the car is better than where we’ve qualified and plenty of cars are out of position. We’ll work on our plan tonight and try and move up into the points tomorrow.

Today’s result is hard to swallow and, again, things have not gone our way. It is never easy exiting in Q1, especially with the pace we were able to demonstrate. Looking at the data, we could’ve comfortably progressed through to Q2, so it is even more frustrating not to be able to capitalise on the performance of our car. I hit traffic on my first lap and on my second lap I lost around seven tenths following an incident at Turn 1 with Max [Verstappen], losing time and momentum. After that, I kept pushing the rest of the lap and almost improved but, unfortunately, we were out. There are positives to take from today and our car is fast here so there is plenty to fight for tomorrow and, as always, we will give it all we have to achieve a good result.

Our pace was decent, and it could have allowed us to fight for a spot in Q2 – a marked improvement compared to yesterday, as my weekend has been quite tricky so far. Unfortunately, I encountered some traffic during my final lap, and couldn’t improve my time when the track was at its best. Still, I felt I was in the mix with our main competitors, which gives us some hope ahead of the race. It surely will be challenging, starting from the ninth row, but we keep our options open: with a good start and an aggressive strategy, we can hopefully make some places up.

Qualifying obviously didn’t go to plan. We’ll need to look at the tyre strategy. If other teams used two sets of tyres, I think that explains pretty well why we were at the back. It's a little unexpected after FP3, with how the tyres behaved and how the pace was. It had looked promising. It’s a shame but there’s a lot of long straights here and hopefully we can make our way back forward tomorrow.

I felt pretty good in the car today and was happy with my final lap, but I think we were just lacking a bit of straight-line speed in Q2. That can end up being the difference between being knocked out and progressing to Q3 when the field is so tight. Tomorrow’s race is going to be tricky given my grid penalty, but our pace is good in the corners, and I think we can manage our tyres well. We’ll make the most of the situation and enjoy racing around the streets of Las Vegas.

There isn’t much to say today. I feel we didn’t maximise our performance and could’ve done better, so it’s a shame. I tried my best, but it didn’t work. We know we struggle with straight-line speed and expected it to be challenging this weekend. We changed my setup a little, but I didn’t have enough temperature in my tyres before my final push lap because there was traffic in the last sector, so I had no grip and locked up. The pace of the car isn’t bad, and you never know what can happen in the race tomorrow because the grip is low on this track, so I’ll keep it clean and try my best to make up as many positions as possible.