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Qualifying Notes:
• George Russell qualified 15th and Nicholas Latifi 17th for the Qatar
Grand Prix
• George continued to improve throughout Qualifying, setting his
quickest time on his final run in Q2 with a 1:22.756 on the soft Pirelli
tyres
• Nicholas set his fastest time on his penultimate flying lap of Q1
posting a 1:23.213, also on the soft compound tyres |
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Nicholas Latifi:
"Both the
car and lap felt good today, and I really enjoyed driving this circuit;
it was actually one of the most fun qualifying sessions of the year.
It’s a bit disappointing not to see that feeling reflected in our pace,
especially as I expect qualifying position will play a key part in the
race tomorrow, but it’s a positive that we’ll be lining up alongside our
main competitors. Looking ahead to tomorrow, overtaking might be
challenging, especially in the last few corners, but we’ll see what we
can do to gain those positions." |
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George Russell:
"I am pleased with the job we did today as we were a few tenths ahead of
the Alfa Romeos, who are our main rivals, but unfortunately, we were
just a bit too far from Q3. It was fun out there but it's always a shame
when you can't make that next step, especially when you put in a strong
lap. We were struggling to make the most of the tyre on the first lap
but for Q2, we tried to maximise that one lap and we just couldn't quite
get the most out of it. I think it will be difficult to overtake
tomorrow but it's unique conditions here and a new track, so we're
looking forward to the race and let's see what we can do." |
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Dave Robson, Head of Vehicle Performance:
"We’ve had a decent day here in Qatar. Conditions in FP3 were better
than we had expected, which allowed us to do some useful work ahead of
Qualifying. The changes we made to the car overnight, and the change in
wind conditions, both helped improve the pace of the FW43B. Both drivers
were happy after FP3 and confident going into Qualifying.
We thought that on the Qualifying tyres it was tight between a single
timed lap, and a fast-slow-fast combination. Both cars committed to
multiple laps on each set in Q1. Whilst this didn’t quite work for
Nicholas, it allowed George to progress to Q2 with two new sets of the
soft Qualifying tyre available. We opted to run him on a clear track and
allow him clear preparation laps. This worked well and although we
couldn’t ultimately progress beyond P15, to get within a few tenths of a
McLaren, a Ferrari and an Aston Martin was a decent result.
Our focus now turns to the race, which is likely to be run in near
identical conditions to Qualifying. As a new track on the Formula One
calendar, there is still some uncertainty over how the tyres will behave
for the full Grand Prix distance and therefore what the optimum strategy
will be. We are looking forward to a tight battle with Alfa Romeo, but
based on our high fuel running yesterday, we haven’t lost sight of the
cars immediately ahead of us either. We have seen quite a lot of damage
to various cars over the last 48 hours and so tomorrow could be a long
race of attrition and patience." |
