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Nicholas Latifi:
"A
typical Baku qualifying session with yellow and red flags. I didn’t get
a representative lap on the first set of tyres. On my fastest lap, the
car missed a few shifts on a couple of corners, so I was in the wrong
gears which didn’t really help. I had a big chunk of time to find but I
knew I could find it on the second set. Sadly, that wasn’t possible with
the red flag and then the restart right at the end. It would have been
nice to put it all together to try and get the best out of the car. Full
focus on the race tomorrow as anything can happen." |
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Alex Albon:
"I think we had a good qualifying session and, as a team, we
maximised everything we could. We did everything right; we had a decent
car, and we did the best job we could. Getting into Q2 looked difficult
today but, with the red flag, we found ourselves fighting on the heels
of it again. It’s frustrating to be so close to it and miss out – I am
99% sure that if I didn’t make a mistake in the last corner, I would
have benefited from the slipstream that I had chosen to take, and we
would have got into Q2. It’s one of those things, but I think
procedurally and how we went about it; we couldn’t have achieved much
more today. There’s hope here as there’s always a little bit of action
and chaos, so we need a little Baku madness to happen! " |
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Dave Robson, Head of Vehicle Performance:
"The car was better today despite the hotter conditions in FP3. Both
drivers had good runs in FP3 and were able to finalise their setups
ahead of Qualifying.
The red and yellow flags in Q1 made it a difficult session in which
there were winners and losers. The late rush after the red flag meant
that nobody was able to prepare their tyres and manage the track
position well for the final lap. Alex was well positioned on his final
timed lap and, with a good tow from Alonso, could have made Q2. However,
Alonso failed to complete his lap and Alex was left in 17th. Nicholas
had a gearshift issue, which cost him crucial time in the first run. In
the final post-red flag melee, he couldn’t get a good track position and
so was unable to improve.
We are checking the data from Nicholas’s car, but we don’t believe that
there is anything wrong and that the gearshift strategy performed
correctly in the circumstances. Tomorrow will likely be a long race with
plenty of incidents and therefore opportunity." |
