Fahrerstimmen – Tag 2

What an incredible moment, my first pole position in Formula One! I am absolutely delighted by what happened today even if we all can't quite believe it. The result really exceeded our expectations. We did not expect that at all going into the day. It feels very special of course as I have been waiting a long time for this moment in Formula One. Thank you to everyone at the team. The car felt very good, I felt good at the wheel and we just tried to chip away on each lap. Right from Q1 we were fast but even then I did not think pole position was possible! We'll enjoy this moment but we know tomorrow is when it really matters. We will work hard as a team to prepare for the race and really give it our best to maximise our end result as a team.

Pole position was within reach today. The final run was a bit messy on our side, and we perhaps didn't make life as straightforward for ourselves as we could have. Kimi did a great job helping me throughout and gave me a useful slipstream when I needed it but on the final push lap, Max (Verstappen) complicated things slightly for us through Parabolica; that's all part of racing though.

That said, huge congratulations to Pierre (Gasly). We didn't expect that level of pace from him today, so it was a surprise, but he did an outstanding job. He's a great person, a great driver, and fully deserves that result.

Starting P2 still puts us in a strong position for tomorrow. I've been right at the front in every session this weekend, so I'm feeling good about both myself and the car. Around a circuit like Monza, starting position isn't everything because there are genuine overtaking opportunities. The key will be getting a clean start and staying out of trouble on the first lap. From there we'll focus on our own race and hopefully give ourselves a good shot at victory.

This is a very demanding track on which to optimise the PU and driving style on this year’s car, and we didn’t manage to fully optimize. I’m very happy for Pierre (Gasly) who took pole today. He did an incredible job and delivered when he had the chance.

I expect us to be stronger tomorrow compared to where we are in qualifying trim, keeping in mind that our competitors are very strong on the straights. We will leverage our speed in the corners and see where we can make gains. Yo-yo-racing will be a topic tomorrow, unless we all align on the same PU strategy which is unlikely.

We will race for our tifosi tomorrow and do everything to make them proud.

The car felt strong in FP3 and we showed solid pace early in qualifying. In the end, we didn’t quite maximise Q3 and it cost us, but congratulations to Pierre (Gasly) on an incredible result.

Overall, I’m encouraged by our direction. The team is working incredibly hard, bringing updates and constantly pushing to extract more performance, and I’m so proud of everyone here at the circuit and back in Maranello.

The support of the Tifosi means a lot and I’m incredibly grateful for it. It’s a tight fight at the front and the opportunity is there to move forward, so tomorrow we’ll race hard, stay focused on what we need to do, and give everything to deliver in front of this crowd.

FP3 was quite a positive session and everything was very decent for us. I didn't think I was fighting for Pole, but it was quite a comfortable car to drive and that was really nice. Qualifying was a bit more difficult and the car was jumping around quite a bit. I think we just had an issue on the car that affected our Qualifying and limited the performance, which cost us time in the low speed. This was a shame as we thought there was a lot more in it today. It was also a shame for Liam as he got blocked in Q2, which affected his lap. We couldn’t optimise everything that we could and we need look at our limitations within the car. Then we can try to be a bit more competitive in the race, but we will see what we can do for tomorrow.

It's good to have finished Qualifying in third, even if we will ultimately start the race in P6 tomorrow. When you do your run is always key here, and we knew our pit lane position would put us at risk of getting stuck at the back, so we committed to leaving the garage early and leading the train. The first lap was pretty solid and, looking at the times, only a handful improved on their final runs, so the team made the right call. Congratulations also to Alpine and Pierre on his first Pole position.

Looking ahead to tomorrow, our long run pace isn't as quick as the Mercedes and the Ferraris, but the first few laps here are usually chaotic and the fastest car won't necessarily be the one leading after that. It could be an interesting one.

Firstly, congratulations to Pierre and the team. It was an impressive lap from Pierre, and he managed to improve relative to me in the final part of Qualifying. It's positive to have both cars in Q3 and in the fight for points tomorrow, which we know is important given the gap to our rivals has grown in the Championship. The car felt good throughout Qualifying and the changes we made were positive, and this is a circuit that clearly suits our package. We have good straight-line speed, but we know overtaking is a bit of an unknown here this year and deployment strategy will play a factor. We'll prepare, do our best and try to bring some points home.

Today’s Qualifying was frustrating but ultimately what we expected given our car’s performance on this track. Our main weakness is a lack of straight-line speed, which means we are heavily reliant on securing a good slipstream to be competitive. On both of my final runs, I was unfortunate with my track positioning and couldn't get that tow, which cost us a significant amount of lap time. My lap itself wasn't bad, but you pay the price for that deficiency here. We also struggled with a braking issue that compromised confidence, which is never ideal.

Looking ahead to the race, I'm not expecting a huge amount. It will be tough to fight through the field when we are at a disadvantage on the straights, and our race pace might be even more challenging. However, it's great to see an interesting grid, and congratulations to Alpine and Pierre for their performance. Oscar also did a very strong job to put the car in the top three, showing what was possible with a slipstream. We will analyse everything, try to have some fun tomorrow, and do our best to fight for some good points.

It's great to make it into Q3 once again. I'm a little bit disappointed with today's final result. After a strong Q1 and Q2, I didn't fully maximise my last lap in Q3 and I lost around a tenth, so P8 was on the table. This has been one of the most complex Qualifying sessions I've had in F1 this year, as it felt more like an F3 session with everyone hunting for a tow. Alpine definitely surprised us; they'd clearly been holding something back, and it turned out that they were very quick on the straights. Fair play to them, but we know we have a very good package, and Monza is a unique circuit, so this isn't a cause for concern. I think tomorrow the top teams will still be able to pull away during the race, but points are definitely available, so we'll focus tonight on working on a few things and will try to get the best possible result in the race.

Our last push lap was good, so it's obviously a shame to miss out on Q3 by such a small margin. I had a little moment with the rear in Turn 8 and lost a bit of time there, but I don't think there was much more we could have extracted from the car today.

Overall, I've been quite happy with how this weekend has gone so far. The team has done an incredible job and, even at a track we expected to be more challenging for us, we have still managed to be in the mix. I think we can be in the fight for points tomorrow. It won't be easy, because the cars around us are quick as well, but we'll make the most of every opportunity.

Honestly from the first lap in FP1 I’ve been happy with the car. It’s been exactly the direction we’ve been asking for over these past few events. Although, on one side, we’re not great on the straights as a result of bringing the upgrade, but obviously we’re faster throughout the lap from it and that’s a step in terms of downforce through the corners. The feeling has been really nice, and it’s been good to be up there fighting again. We’ll keep pushing and the target tomorrow is the top 10 and points.

It was a tricky qualifying. Around Monza, getting the timing and the tow right makes a big difference, and in Q1 I found myself in the wrong place a couple of times, which made it difficult to put a proper lap together. Things improved in Q2 and the pace started to come, but by then it was just a little too late to make the next step.

Tomorrow won't be straightforward from where we're starting, but we've shown over the last few weekends that we can race well. We'll look to make progress where we can and make the most of every opportunity that comes our way.

We tried a few things yesterday and this morning, which got the car into a better place. We did all we could today and maximised the result. A clean lap in Q1 and a good lap in Q2 to be ahead of Ocon - meaning I'll be starting P13 tomorrow. Let's see what we can do tomorrow from there!

I’m happy with my lap in qualifying – we really maximized the potential of what we had today. There are a few differences across cars, not only on the engine but also on the aero-side – we struggle with the consistency always, and that has materialized on my car the whole weekend. But the team did a mega job trying to fix the problem, we changed as many parts as possible on the car for today and even in FP3. We didn’t get to the bottom of the problem, we still had it in qualifying, we still have the load loss on the aero - but hats off to the team, as it was a lot of work with no reward at the end. That said it was good to get into Q2 and hopefully we can get some decent racing tomorrow.

Today was disappointing and we didn’t quite manage to get the result we were looking for. It’s incredibly complex around here and a lot different to Zandvoort, particularly when it comes to preparing the out-lap and getting the power unit and tyres into the right window. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to put everything together when it mattered. We’ll be starting from P15 tomorrow, so hopefully we can make some moves forward. I’m looking forward to getting back in the car and seeing what we can do.

A straightforward and well executed Qualifying session for us today. We had three good laps which put us ahead of Aston Martin and very close to Alex [Albon]. So far this weekend has gone smoothly which has allowed us to focus on the fine details of the setup, so it feels like we’re maximizing our package. With the penalties up ahead, we start tomorrow’s race from the team’s best starting position of P16.

Overall, I think we did a good job with everything we had today. We have a decent race pace, and this is the most important thing for tomorrow to go a bit further ahead, it will be the main target for us. Having the positive tone and approach can make a difference, and I think we managed that well. We’ll now focus on making the most of the opportunities we have for tomorrow.

The result today was as we expected and we have always known this track was going to be a real challenge. We are missing power, which is what you need around this circuit. It's going to be a difficult race for us tomorrow.

It was a very strange feeling coming into qualifying knowing I would serve a penalty for the race. Naturally, I wish I was fighting for pole position and starting at the front this weekend, but that's not the situation we're in. I still had a job to do for the team and to help George though, so I tried my best and I'm glad I could do that today.

Tomorrow is all about enjoying the race and making the most of every opportunity. It's a track where you can have a lot of fun; there should be plenty of chances to gain positions, so hopefully we can make good progress. The key will be getting a clean start, staying out of trouble, clearing the traffic and then chasing down the cars ahead.

We knew we would be starting at the back of the grid due to the engine penalty, so the plan today was to play the team game and help get Carlos through to Q2. Deployment and tow are so powerful that staying in the chain matters a lot, so that will be key tomorrow to make up places. Pace was okay, although we’re still off the midfield, but the engine is strong on the straights. The F2 and F3 races had some drama, so hopefully we get a bit of chaos to play into our hands tomorrow. The real focus now is on the race, and hopefully we can fight in the midfield.

We are currently investigating an issue with the car that kept us in the garage at the end of Q1. We missed the opportunity to use a fresh set of tyres, which meant our Qualifying was cut short and we did not get the chance to improve our lap time. We know we are behind our competitors, particularly with the lack of pace we have on the straights, which makes this circuit very tough.

We knew coming into this weekend that we’d be taking an engine penalty, so the focus in Qualifying was to try to support Max by getting into Q3 and helping with a tow, but unfortunately we never made it. I’d spent the whole session in clean air until that last lap, so getting blocked by Oscar probably hurt more than anything. The tyres were also super hot, so it wasn’t an ideal situation. It was a difficult day in general, but I was always going to start last, so for my race it doesn’t really make a difference. Hopefully we can make up some good places tomorrow.