Saturday in Germany - Action F1 teams
A round-up of qualifying action from the Formula 1 Grosser Preis von Deutschland 2016 at Hockenheim...
McLaren
Having got a car through to Q3 for the last three races, McLaren seemed to take a small step backwards in qualifying. Button struggled with his MP4-31 complaining of understeer throughout FP3, and could only manage 12th. Alonso meanwhile felt he had been impeded by a Ferrari in qualifying, which limited him to 14th.Fernando Alonso, 14th, 1:16.041
“It’s a bit disappointing not to be in Q3 today: 14th position isn’t great, but we’re not as competitive at this track as we were in Budapest.
“This afternoon, I didn’t put a lap together as I had some traffic, which is why I didn’t finish a little bit higher up the order. Additionally, Hockenheim’s long back straight and big acceleration zones don’t really suit our car.
“On the positive side, we have plenty of new tyres remaining, which will give us an advantage at the start and allow us to be a little more creative with strategy.
“It’s going to be tough tomorrow, but hopefully we can recover some positions because points are a real possibility.”
Jenson Button, 12th, 1:15.909
“This weekend has been pretty tricky for me. I’ve missed having time with the car, which doesn’t make for the easiest preparation, and this is a tough circuit if you haven’t had any mileage.
“I had a few issues yesterday – I stepped out of the car early because of my eye – then, this morning, we had a couple of problems, so I didn’t run the Supersoft in FP3 at all. It was all a bit of an unknown going into qualifying.
“Still, 12th position is reasonable, and it’s always nice to be in front of your team-mate, but we’re still not quite there yet with the balance of the car. Even if we’d got everything together and beaten Williams today, getting into the top 10 was always going to be tricky.
“There’s a possibility that we’ll get into the points tomorrow. The race should be pretty interesting; the start and the strategy will be important, so I’m looking forward to seeing what we can do.”
Eric Boullier, McLaren-Honda Racing Director
“It’s a sign of the progress we’ve been making recently that we’re disappointed that neither driver was able to make it into Q3 this afternoon. However, looking beyond the timesheets, it’s apparent that we’ve not had the smoothest of runs into qualifying – Jenson took a trip to the local hospital yesterday afternoon, and had his morning’s progress put back by a brake component assembly issue in FP3.
“Nonetheless, we’re well placed for tomorrow’s German Grand Prix, and will start with the added benefit of a free choice of tyre strategy for both cars. There’s plenty left to play for, and we’ll be looking to push both drivers into the top 10 and score some valuable world championship points ahead of the summer break.”
Yusuke Hasegawa, Honda R&D Co Ltd Head of F1 Project & Executive Chief Engineer
"It was quite a difficult Saturday here at the Hockenheimring, where neither driver could find the perfect balance of the car and struggled to find the best power unit modes throughout FP3.
"We were able to improve our performance for qualifying, but we were unable to continue our run as the fourth-quickest team, losing both cars in Q2.
"Both Jenson in P12 and Fernando in P14 will be able to start on fresh rubber, so hopefully we can use that to our advantage and gain some ground with good race management tomorrow."
Haas
Grosjean spun in FP3 and then limped home to the pits with gearbox issues. Even with such reduced running he was still able to make Q2 - but he will have a five-place grid drop for a gearbox change. Gutierrez put in a very tidy lap to qualify 11th, his joint best of the season. With free tyre choice for the race tomorrow, the Mexican is handily placed to score some good points for Haas.Romain Grosjean, 15th, 1:16.086
“It’s not been a good weekend so far. We’ve had our problems, and things didn’t really go our way in qualifying either. The guys in the garage did an amazing job to get the car back together for qualifying after the gearbox issue this morning. I was feeling more comfortable in the car and I felt we had a good chance. Sadly, the last run in Q2 just didn’t work. I don’t know what happened. There was no grip. It’s tricky to find the right balance. We’ve got good top speed in the car and, hopefully, it behaves so I can have a good race.”
Esteban Gutierrez, 11th, 1:15.883
“It was an interesting qualifying. I was pushing all the way as I really wanted to get into Q3. I took all the available risks that I could and I really enjoyed it out there. I’m happy the way we worked as a team. It proves that from Friday to Saturday we are making good progress and this gives me a lot of confidence. I’m really proud of the whole team. P11 is a good place to start and it leaves me hungry to keep pushing for the next one to try to get into Q3. Tomorrow I’m going to give it everything from the start and fight all the way with the guys in front to get into the top-10.”
Guenther Steiner, Team Principal
“We are 11th, again. It’s getting old. We should be happy by being 11th, but we just want to make the jump to Q3. That’s what we are working hard for. Esteban did a fantastic job in getting where we are. Romain was slightly handicapped not being able to run in FP3 due to an issue with the gearbox which happened when he spun. Some parts were damaged inside the gearbox, so he had limited track time, but he still got it into Q2. We are always so close. We’re confident it will come, but we now have to wait until after the summer break. Hopefully, tomorrow we’ll finish better than 11th as we’ll be fighting hard to get into the points.”
Red Bull
Red Bull pushed Mercedes closer than it appeared they might after
Friday's practice sessions. Ricciardo and Verstappen scrapped
throughout qualifying for supremacy and it was the Australian who came
out on top when it mattered by one tenth of a second.
Daniel Ricciardo, 3rd, 1:14.726
“In Q3 I knew I had to find some more time and I put a really good lap together in the first run. Then I knew there wasn’t much more for the second run so I probably tried a little bit too hard and made a few mistakes, but in the end it was a nice qualifying. Third is a good place to start. Hopefully we can look at Mercedes tomorrow and have a good battle with them and not focus on what’s happening behind us. The feeling in the team is very good at the moment. In the last three races now both Red Bulls have been in front of Ferrari and it seems like we’re getting a little bit closer to Mercedes. Everyone in the team is happy and it’s nice standing here knowing that I’m in the top three. Tomorrow I think we’ll have a good chance. The long runs yesterday looked a bit better than they did in Budapest so let’s see. I’ll start the race on slightly older tyres because I had to do two laps in Q2, which means they are not as fresh for the start but it’ll be fine. I’ll go hard and hopefully get in front and at least lead some of the race. If I can’t lead the last lap then I’ll try and lead some and be on TV. Whoo!”
Max Verstappen, 4th, 1:14.834
“I’m feeling really good, it was a smooth qualifying. Q3 was strong, it was just a bit of a shame about my last sector where I washed out and lost a few tenths. It’s quite tough to get the tyres in the right window but we still managed a good time. The main target is to be in front of the Ferraris and that is what we have done. That said, we know they will be quick in the race as we saw last week. Mercedes look pretty strong but we are not that far away so I think we can be very happy with that. It’s my first time here in a Formula 1 car and not an easy track to learn so I’m really pleased with today. We can both be satisfied to be on the second row as this track wasn’t expected to be the best for us. Race pace is looking very good for the moment. We definitely want to be challenging for a podium tomorrow, I think a win might be difficult though.”
Christian Horner, Team Principal
“For the third qualifying in succession that’s a second row lockout for the team. A strong performance by both the drivers and we are actually closer to Mercedes than we thought, but they were ultimately out of reach. It puts us in a very good position for tomorrow’s race.”
Max Verstappen (NED) Red Bull Racing RB12 locks up at Formula One World
Championship, Rd12, German Grand Prix, Qualifying, Hockenheim, Germany,
Saturday 30 July 2016. © Sutton Images
Daniel Ricciardo, 3rd, 1:14.726
“In Q3 I knew I had to find some more time and I put a really good lap together in the first run. Then I knew there wasn’t much more for the second run so I probably tried a little bit too hard and made a few mistakes, but in the end it was a nice qualifying. Third is a good place to start. Hopefully we can look at Mercedes tomorrow and have a good battle with them and not focus on what’s happening behind us. The feeling in the team is very good at the moment. In the last three races now both Red Bulls have been in front of Ferrari and it seems like we’re getting a little bit closer to Mercedes. Everyone in the team is happy and it’s nice standing here knowing that I’m in the top three. Tomorrow I think we’ll have a good chance. The long runs yesterday looked a bit better than they did in Budapest so let’s see. I’ll start the race on slightly older tyres because I had to do two laps in Q2, which means they are not as fresh for the start but it’ll be fine. I’ll go hard and hopefully get in front and at least lead some of the race. If I can’t lead the last lap then I’ll try and lead some and be on TV. Whoo!”
Max Verstappen, 4th, 1:14.834
“I’m feeling really good, it was a smooth qualifying. Q3 was strong, it was just a bit of a shame about my last sector where I washed out and lost a few tenths. It’s quite tough to get the tyres in the right window but we still managed a good time. The main target is to be in front of the Ferraris and that is what we have done. That said, we know they will be quick in the race as we saw last week. Mercedes look pretty strong but we are not that far away so I think we can be very happy with that. It’s my first time here in a Formula 1 car and not an easy track to learn so I’m really pleased with today. We can both be satisfied to be on the second row as this track wasn’t expected to be the best for us. Race pace is looking very good for the moment. We definitely want to be challenging for a podium tomorrow, I think a win might be difficult though.”
Christian Horner, Team Principal
“For the third qualifying in succession that’s a second row lockout for the team. A strong performance by both the drivers and we are actually closer to Mercedes than we thought, but they were ultimately out of reach. It puts us in a very good position for tomorrow’s race.”
Sauber
Seventeenth and 18th in free practice, it looked as though Sauber had found a little bit of pace compared to their rivals. Unfortunately, both Ericsson and Nasr struggled in qualifying and will line up on the back row of the grid.Marcus Ericsson, 22nd, 1:17.238
“It is a disappointing result to start the race from the last row. It seemed to be a positive weekend, as we were going in the right direction and also found some positive results with the new rear wing. In terms of the car’s balance, I felt comfortable. But in qualifying, especially, our performance is not good enough. It will be a tough race, but, as always, we will do what we can.”
Felipe Nasr, 21st, 1:17.123
“It has been another difficult qualifying for us. I felt I was on a good lap, although we cannot see it in the result. At the moment, this is the maximum we can extract out of our current package in qualifying. We have saved a set of tyres, so hopefully we can make good use of them in the race. We normally have a decent race pace, so I am confident I can move up a few positions. As always, I will do my best.”
Manor
Wehrlein performed well in front of his home crowd, at one point lying 13th before others improved to drop him down to 18th. Haryanto had a quieter day but did well to qualify ahead of both Saubers.Pascal Wehrlein, 18th, 1:16.717
“We were very close to Q2 today - just 0.15s - but I’m very happy with our qualifying because we managed to stay in front of Sauber, and also a Toro Rosso, which is positive. The team did a really good job, so my thanks to everyone for that.
“At the moment Renault seem quite strong and especially in the last sector. We’re still lacking a bit of downforce, so we couldn’t keep up today; we were losing half a second to them in that sector. But the most important thing is that we’re in front of Sauber, so I can’t be unhappy.
“Well, we’ve continued improving through the weekend, so I hope we can do an even better job in the race tomorrow. We can do something from P18 and of course I’ll be trying to get another special start, to make up some places off the line. I can’t wait!”
Rio Haryanto, 20th, 1:16.977
“Very happy. We managed to improve every time we left the garage today. The times were very close through the field today.
“I think we’ve done a good job overall and I feel like I’ve taken a good step forward here. Also, we’ve made some good improvements recently and I think we’re seeing some of the benefit of those today. We did a good job to stay ahead of the Sauber and I’m in a better position for the start. Our race pace looks good, so I hope we can have a strong race.”
Dave Ryan, Racing Director
“The gap to Q2 was incredibly close and we were all on the edge of our pit wall seats when it seemed that both our drivers might squeeze their way in. In the end we missed out by the narrowest of margins, but we are still very pleased to finish ahead of both Saubers and there’s a Toro Rosso in Pascal’s wake as well. Both drivers did a great job today and they’ve worked hard to put us in a strong position for the race. As always, a big thanks to the rest of the team for the great job everyone is doing. It’s been a hard couple of months and the effort they are putting in to put these two race cars on the track is just incredible. Tomorrow will be a tough challenge, but I think we can enjoy a good battle with the cars around us.”
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