Austrian Grand Prix: Drivers report from qualifying

Drivers report from qualifying for the 2016 Austrian Grand Prix at Red Bull Ring.

3rd. Nico Hulkenberg: “A great qualifying session and I’m feeling very happy and satisfied with our performance. The drying track today reminded me of my pole position from Brazil 2010 and I have to say I really enjoy these tricky conditions. You don’t know where the grip is; you have to take some risks and you have to switch to dry tyres at just the right moment – which is something we did today. It was just a super effort from the whole team and it puts us in a great position for the race. There will be a lot of quick cars around us, but my car feels good and we’ve been strong here in all the sessions so I think we can bring home a lot of points.”

16th. Sergio Perez: “I’m feeling disappointed about what happened during qualifying. We found a good balance with the car this morning and we should have easily made it through to Q3. I was on my second run during Q1 when I felt something strange at the rear of my car. I managed to recover to the pits and we saw that it was a suspension failure, but unfortunately there was not enough time to fix the car and my session was done. It’s a big missed opportunity today, but I won’t give up because I know we can recover some ground tomorrow and still be in the fight for points.”

7th. Daniel Ricciardo: “It was quite fun coming into Q3 knowing that it was going to be wet and I like it when you have to adapt quite quickly. We got out on the intermediates and started with a pretty good pace and I was happy, but I knew it was going to dry by the end of the session and the slick tyres were going to be better. In hindsight I would have liked to have come in a bit earlier and at least had two laps on the slick tyre so that’s probably where we missed out in getting those extra few positions. I think I’ll start fifth now from some of the penalties, which is alright and we did well in Q2. We got through on the super softs so that hopefully pays dividends tomorrow and we can be closer to our rivals.”

9th. Max Verstappen: The conditions today meant we had to switch from dry to wet and then back to dry, which made it interesting. We were out too early and of course everyone goes faster at the end of the session. I passed the line with 50 seconds to go which meant everyone had time on a drier track. It’s difficult to say where we would have been. The pace was good, but we start too far back. We made a good call with the tyres in Q2 so we start on super softs tomorrow so we shall see how we go. I said about the kerbs causing problems yesterday and I think my point was proven again today. Daniil had quite a big crash due to them early on. Not many people agreed with me yesterday but I think they could find out for themselves.”

11th. Romain Grosjean: “I had hoped for better. On my first run in Q2 on scrubbed tires, the rear end completely went into turn six and I went into the gravel. I damaged quite a bit of the floor. By the time we repaired it to go out, some of the rain had started, which impacted my fastest lap time. We could’ve done better. It’s a bit of a shame, but we’re not in a bad place for the race. I think we have a good balance for Sunday. We’ve been working well on that. I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”

13th. Esteban Guutierrez: “I’m pretty happy as I made my best qualifying run of the season. It was fun to get the maximum out there on track. It wasn’t easy coming from Friday, where we had very limited running. Going into final practice, I was not completely comfortable with how the tires were working, so it was quite a challenge to head directly into qualifying. In the end, it was pretty fun putting in some good laps in Q1 and Q2. Tomorrow, I’ll be aiming for points. This is our target and I’ll be fighting all the way.”

12th. Pascal Wehrlein: “Yes, it’s an incredible feeling for me and the whole team. I feel very proud of us today; it’s a measure of how hard we have all been working and a nice reward for that effort. My lap in Q1 was really good first of all. It was a nearly perfect qualifying. The strategy was excellent; we were always one of the first cars out on track and everything just came together in Q1, despite the fact that there was a red flag and yellow flag interrupting our flow. Then in Q2 I set my lap on my first run on the supersoft tyre. We switched to the ultrasoft tyre but by then the rain was really coming and there was no way to improve. Easy to say I guess, but were it not for the rain, Q3 might even have been possible today. I have to be honest and say that tomorrow is a different story. We have struggled with tyre degradation in the races and we’re missing a bit of rear downforce at the moment, which is hard on the rear tyres. The forecast is for the weather to be a little bit unpredictable, so hopefully that might shake things up and help us. My plan is to drive every lap as fast as possible and see where we get to!”

19th. Rio Haryanto: “First of all, it was a great job by the whole team to get us into Q2. Yes, it’s a shame I didn’t get the chance to improve my lap time at the end of Q1, as there was certainly a lot more in the car. I didn’t get a clear track in my second run so I was banking on my third run after the red flag, but then the yellow came out and we had to abort the lap. We’ve definitely been working towards the race so our qualifying pace was a nice surprise, but I think I will be more comfortable with the car in race trim. We’re gradually making good steps with improving the car and I think we can have a strong race tomorrow.”

14th. Fernando Alonso: “Certainly, this wasn’t a smooth qualifying session for us. In Q2, with the threat of rain hanging over us, we tried to leave the garage as early in the session as possible. Unfortunately, for some reason, my car was fitted with used Option tyres from Q1, rather than fresh rubber. Then, when we fitted new tyres for the second run, I came across a yellow flag and had to abort the lap. That’s disappointing because we really needed to capitalise on the mistakes of others today. For tomorrow’s race tomorrow, we’ll need mixed conditions if we want to recover from 14th on the grid. The forecast tomorrow is for rain, so let’s wait and see…”

5th. Jenson Button: “We start from P3 tomorrow, which is mega! It was an enjoyable session – I thought it was all over in Q2 after I locked up into Turn Three. It was spitting with rain at Turns One and Two, so I didn’t think it would affect me into Turn Three, but I ran wide and just stayed on. It’s going to be a tough day tomorrow: nobody really understands how the tyres are going to deliver, but starting from third means we’ll be in a good position. I always love those conditions and I was just trying to save it for the last lap. Luckily there was no yellow flags – I took a lot of risks but it all worked out today. For now, I’m just going to enjoy this moment…”

1st. Lewis Hamilton: “This is definitely one of those tracks that I have to keep working at and I’ve been building up to today’s qualifying session. It’s not an easy track to execute the perfect lap and admittedly it’s not my best circuit. As a driver I’m someone who brakes nice and deep and here you have to lift off the accelerator early, keeping your minimum speed high, which is not something I’m used to doing. The track dries up so quickly here – it’s a great feature of this circuit and made qualifying really interesting. Hopefully tomorrow will be a bit cooler which will help me in managing my tyres and I can get off to a good start. The race will be interesting and I’m hoping it will be a good day.”

2nd. Nico Rosberg: It was a huge team effort today, with both sides of the garage working together to get my damaged car ready for qualifying. It was a tricky session with the rain and the perfect lap didn’t quite come together which meant Lewis was quicker. The five place grid penalty will be costly as Lewis will start from the front tomorrow and it will be tough to fight through the other cars with the ultra-soft. It will definitely be an exciting race, though, and there’s still a lot to play for.”

8th. Valtteri Bottas: “Qualifying was a special case today with the conditions in Q3. Everything was looking good in Q1 and Q2 in the dry, but tyre warm-up was difficult in the mixed conditions. In the beginning we struggled with the intermediate tyres, and once we got onto the slicks the main problem was to try to get heat into the tyres. But the race is tomorrow and there is the possibility to overtake here, so I’m sure we can have a better day. I think in any conditions we need to try to aim to have both cars in the top five, that’s a good target for us tomorrow.”

10th. Felipe Massa: “The conditions in Q3 were very tricky, one lap you’re third, then the next lap you’re 10th. It’s very difficult to understand the situation when the track is improving so much. I was the first car to start the last lap, so the last car had the track a lot drier. But that’s the way it is, so let’s concentrate on tomorrow to try to have a good race, a good strategy and finish with very good points.”

21st. Marcus Ericsson: “It was a tough qualifying for us. It didn’t start too badly for me, as I had a good feeling on my first set of ultrasoft tyres and managed to set a decent lap time. My first lap on the second set of ultrasoft tyres was not ideal and on my second try the red flag came out. At the end of Q1 I got the chance to do another lap, but then yellow flags were waived, so I could not finish this run properly. Overall, a bit unfortunate. For tomorrow it will be difficult, but we need to stay focused and try to fight back.”

22nd. Felipe Nasr: “It was a difficult qualifying. The ultrasoft tyres did not work out as expected. I was struggling with the grip during a whole lap. I went out on the supersoft tyres at the end of Q1, and I was quicker on the harder compound. We have to understand why that was the case. Tomorrow is another day. Starting from the back of the field we have to try something different. It will be a tough race, but the weather can also come into play if it rains.”

15th. Kevin Magnussen: “There was a little bit more time in the car as I made a mistake in the last corner on my fastest lap but, generally, this is about where we are for qualifying. We’re working to improve that but for now, we did what we could. Tomorrow, I have a feeling we will be a little bit closer, and hopefully something out of the norm will happen like rain or a safety car at the right time and we will be ready to maximise the opportunity if it comes. So fingers crossed!”

17th: Jolyon Palmer: “Without the red flag and then the yellows flags, and with a fresh set of tyres, I think we could have had a nibble at Q2 with a perfect lap. Certainly the car has felt better this weekend, more consistent and stable but we just didn’t have quite enough to qualify better. Race strategy is a bit unknown due to the track resurfacing which has meant higher degradation, and the ultrasofts lose their bite pretty quickly, so we’ll be looking for every chance to move forwards.”

6th. Kimi Raikkonen: ”Today a lot of things happened. In Q3 the rain came, but by the end of the session the track was drying up, so it was difficult to know if it was ready for dry or wet tires. When the conditions got a bit tricky, we did not get it right because of many little things and did not manage to put a good lap together when it mattered. It is a bit disappointing to finish sixth, I felt there was more to come, but with the guys in front being penalized it’s not too bad. The car has been handling well all weekend, in dry and wet conditions and we had the speed, so I expect it will be ok. Tomorrow it will be a difficult day for everybody, the conditions will dictate a lot how long the tires will last, it will be a key point. We’ll try to do a lot better than today”.

4th. Sebastian Vettel: “The car was very good, very strong all day. I don’t think anything was missing, the only thing missing was time. 4th place is ok, puts us to 9th tomorrow, but it’s not ideal because it all came down to the last lap. The track was surprisingly dry, maybe drier than I expected, with hindsight I should have taken more risks. It didn’t come down to the pace, or the car, it came down to the driver, and the three drivers that were in front of me took more risks. The later you crossed the line, the better it was. For tomorrow everything can happen, maybe there will be some rain, it will be significantly cooler and it will matter how you look after the tyres. We are in a good place and it is a shame for the result, because I thought it could be a good session today. The car was really good to drive and I thought we could be closer to the top. About the kerbs, it’s clear that you’d better not touch them, and I think for next year we need to find a solution, but for tomorrow there’s nothing that can be done.”

Read the full story at GRAND PRIX 247