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1 – Max VERSTAPPEN (Red Bull
Racing)
2 – Sergio PÉREZ (Red Bull Racing)
3 – Fernando ALONSO (Aston
Martin)
TRACK INTERVIEWS
(Conducted by Ho-Pin Tung)
Q: Max, your fifth
pole position of the season. The 100th pole position for Red Bull Racing.
You kept going faster throughout the session. How was your lap, it looked
amazing?
Max VERSTAPPEN: Yeah, I think, you know, after the Sprint race
it gave us a few more ideas for the car. And I think the car worked even
better in qualifying now. So yeah, definitely very happy with how the whole
of qualifying went. The car was really nice to drive. And also in Q3, I
think that final lap felt really decent, and also very happy to be able to
drive here in the dry. Yeah, the conditions were pretty good. So it was a
lot of fun.
Q: We saw a lot of track evolution throughout the
session. Can you explain and share how difficult is it to adapt to these
changing conditions?
MV: I think also coming out of a race, when you then
go back to low fuel, it probably takes always one lap to get comfortable
again. Plus, and of course, new tyres are getting put on every single time,
so you know a bit where you can find a little bit more in every single
corner, you know, little references. And also, because yesterday we had a
bit of rain, we had extra sets of tyres, so you could practice a bit more.
And that's why I think every time… Besides I think only my first one in Q3
every time we were going a bit faster. I think the track evolution wasn't
that massive around here, but that's fine.
Q: Checo, the Red Bull
clearly feels at home here in Shanghai, please share with us how was your
qualifying?
Sergio PÉREZ: Yeah, it was very intense. I nearly got knocked
out in Q1. I had traffic with one of the Williams and I had to abort my lap.
I came back, go back out on hot, used tyres and just made it through, P15.
It was just a very messy start to qualifying. And then Q2 was a little bit
more straightforward. I could really get a read into the balance. And we
were making some nice progress through the session. And yeah, unfortunately
there in the end, it was just not enough to get Max but overall it's a
tremendous team result because the track has changed a lot. We changed a lot
the car as well to adapt to the conditions. So hopefully that will also pay
out tomorrow.
Q: It was just not enough to catch Max in qualifying.
This morning in the Sprint you had to come from further back. How confident
are you from this position that you can fight him tomorrow?
SP: Yeah, I
think it's everything to play for tomorrow. We can be fighting from there.
And we can definitely have a strong rhythm. And we've shown today that we
have a fairly good pace in the long run. So I look forward for tomorrow.
Q: Fernando, perhaps after disappointment from the Sprint, this must
feel amazing. You didn't get your best personal Sector 1 on that lap. Would
more have been possible?
Fernando ALONSO: Yeah. I mean, I don't know how
far [ahead] Checo is. But yeah, Sector 1, I had a moment in Turn 1 and 2, I
nearly lost the car. And then I said, ‘Okay, I keep going or I abort the
lap?’, you know, because I lost like two tenths in two corners. But yeah, we
didn't give up. We kept pushing all through the lap. Yeah, we said a good
lap time. I think the car did improve since this morning. We made a few
set-up changes. Let's see tomorrow if we can translate that into points.
Q: How beneficial has this parc fermé opening been for you? And how
confident are you that you can translate it into good results tomorrow for
the race?
FA: Well, I think it's the same for everybody. You cannot
change the car completely because you are into the rhythm of the weekend.
But you can still make some small set-up changes. Some of them are just for
balance problems, but some of them are just guesses that you do into
tomorrow's race and you flip the coin. So until tomorrow afternoon we will
not know the answer but extremely happy and proud of the team. We are not
giving up, we are not in the position we want yet, but we keep pushing.
Q: Fernando, a lot of crowds cheering for you here. You are immensely
popular here in China. Anything you want to share with the Chinese fans?
FA: This is incredible, honestly. One of the best races of the year. Thanks
to the fans, you know, they are so enthusiastic about the sport in general
and they're so supportive of every driver on every team. So thank you,
xièxiè, and see you tomorrow.
PRESS CONFERENCE
Q: Very well
done Max, quickest in every segment of qualifying. It looked like a very
smooth session for you, but can you talk us through that final lap of Q3
when you found three tenths?
MV: Yeah, it was a bit confusing in Q3
where on the first run I went slower than in Q2. It might have been the
wind, because it’s very difficult to understand that anyway. Around here
with the wind direction it’s very sensitive to the balance of the car. But
yeah, then for the final run I didn’t really know what to expect, but you
just push on and everything just came a bit together, the grip felt a little
bit more normal and I managed to improve, That was very nice. I think
overall, the whole of qualifying I was very happy with the car, it felt very
well balanced as well, so of course naturally then you can push on and that
was crucial to being on pole today.
Q: You mentioned the wind, but
how did the track conditions ramp up during the session?
MV: For me
personally, it didn’t really feel like there was a massive track evolution.
Q1 maybe a little bit but also partly I guess because you come out of a race
with a lot of deg, where then you put new tyres on, low fuel, you have to
get into it a little bit as well, on your own side as well. But from Q2 to
Q3 it was very little.
Q: Max, you’ve said in the past that you’re
not a man for statistics but I want to throw a couple at you. You’re the
first driver since Mika Häkkinen in 1999 to take pole in the opening five
races of the season and this was Red Bull’s 100th pole position in the
team’s history as well. Can we get your reaction to both of those stats?
MV: Yeah, before I jumped in the car, Christian told me that if I get pole
today it could be number 100 for the team. So I said “OK, that’s nice, I’ll
try, you know, I’ll give it a good go’. Of course, that’s an incredible
achievement for the whole team. Of course a big contribution from Seb, back
in the day. But yeah fantastic to have the 1-2 in qualifying. It shows the
car is again working really well and from my side it’s been a really good
start to the year. I feel very confident in qualifying even compared to last
year. Just a shame that we retired in Melbourne as we could have had already
a very strong lead bit overall, still a great start.
Q: Max, looking
ahead to tomorrow’s race, how did the 19-lap race this morning help your
preparations?
MV: It definitely gave you a bit more of an idea with the
deg, what to look at, what to work on for tomorrow. Of course, thew wind
direction is going to change again tomorrow, so the balance of the car in
some corners will be a bit different again, but I think if the car is even
half as good as what it as in the Sprint I think we will be alright.
Q: Checo, coming to you. Great job by you as well, your best grid position
here at the Shanghai International Circuit. You found a lot in that final
run of Q3, just talk us through it?
SP: Yeah I didn’t have a good run in
my first run of Q3, which really set me back. I don’t know what happened.
Obviously tyres were a little bit cooler, but yeah, it was just a step
worse. We were playing around with the front wing. So I felt like it just
put us on the back foot for my final run. And then all of a sudden in the
final run thing, the track was just getting quite a bit better and I managed
to put a good lap together. And yeah, I think just all the way to that lap
has been a very messy qualifying, starting from Q1. I nearly was knocked out
and qualified 15th. I had traffic on my first attempt with a Williams and
had to come back to the pits, so I was just out of position a lot of the
time and unfortunately, you know, with a change of wind it was important to
be out there at the right time to make sure that you get that progression,
that learning from these new conditions.
Q: Did you change the car
much after the Sprint?
SP: Yeah, we did a lot of changes, trying to
adapt to the to the new conditions. Effectively, like Max says, the change
in wind has been quite substantial. And I think given that it's quite a
low-grip circuit, a bit of a change in the wind conditions does affect a lot
more than probably other places. So, yeah, we learned a lot from the
conditions earlier in the Sprint and we adjusted accordingly. So that was
important for me to have a read on.
Q: You say you adjust
accordingly, can you just give us a few pointers as to what areas of the car
you are changing?
SP: Yeah, well, we did suffer a lot with a tyre deg,
with rear deg especially. So yeah, just making sure that we were able to
have a more stable platform was important. But obviously, that doesn't come
for free, you know, and then you're making other compromises in different
sort of corner speeds and yeah, I just couldn't get a good read through the
conditions. I think my first proper lap was seen in Q2, run two. And yeah,
then run one in Q3 was quite far off. So it wasn't the smoothest qualifying
session out there. But it still is a good result for tomorrow.
Q:
All's well, that ends well. Thank you, Checo, and Fernando we’ll come to you
now. Great performance by you, just how good was that lap in Q3?
FA: It
was very good, but not perfect. I had a moment Turn 1 and 2. I lost the car.
And actually, in Turn 3, I was just thinking if it was better to abort the
lap and come in, or keep on going. And I said I will brake very late into 6,
try to recover that time. I recovered one tenth and I said, ‘OK, I keep
going’. I recovered another tenth in Turns 9 and 10. And I said, ‘OK, now
let's go for the final two corners’. And it was very much needed, because
within two tenths there are like six cars, and we are leading that group of
those two tenths, so happy with the lap, happy with qualifying. And these
kind of laps and moments are very encouraging for the future. Happy for the
team, proud of all of them. We never give up. We are not in a strong
position yet, especially on race conditions, we are still maybe the fourth,
fifth fastest team, but we still fighting to be better and better and
today's result shows that.
Q: Can you just spell it out for us?
Without that start to the lap, do you think you could have held on to that
P2 that you had after the first run?
FA: I don't know. We just check now
the times and it's like two tenths between Checo and myself. It’s more or
less what I lost. So yeah, it will be close with Checo. But it doesn't
change too much to be P2, P3. We are completely out of position for tomorrow
with whatever position we are. I think seventh, eighth, ninth is our natural
order tomorrow when we see the chequered flag, but we are qualifying
extremely well this year and we’ll take it.
Q: You say P2, P3 doesn't
really matter, but is the inside or the outside the preferable grid starting
position here?
FA: I started P3 this morning, and it didn't seem to have
a big difference actually. Lewis started P2 and had a great start, so I
think both sides are the same. It's more into 1, 2, and 3, all the action,
and hopefully a clean start and we can finish the race.
QUESTIONS
FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Jesus Balseiro – Diario AS) Fernando, what do you
expect for the race tomorrow? Is it the classic race, looking into the
mirrors until and you maybe get to your natural position? And also, you got
a penalty one hour before quali. What's your comment on that?
FA: Yeah, I
expect a difficult race. I mean, we are slower than the Ferraris, slower
than the McLarens and probably the Mercedes. We are qualifying them often
and then in the race we just need to wait and see. When they come, how fast
they come and how many laps we can defend those positions. But it happened
so far in the first four races, so I guess this fifth race is going to be no
different. So yeah, I expect a race that is going to be difficult for us.
But you know, we can’t say sorry for being too fast in qualifying, so let's
take it. And then in in this morning, yeah, I received a penalty which
obviously, I will not agree, but they have all the power to do what they
think is is right and we have to accept it and move on.
Q: (Erwin
Jaeggi – Motorsport.com) A question for all three. How do you feel the track
development over the weekend, given the special treatment the asphalt has,
has been?
MV: Not massive. I would say maybe in FP1 a bit. But for me
the track evolution wasn't that big in qualifying also. I think some people
thought that maybe after FP1 you would drive the, whatever, the paint off,
but it's still there more or less so. Yeah, it's fairly stable, I would say.
Q: Checo agrees. Fernando?
FA: I think the biggest issue was in wet
conditions, to be honest. It was very, very slippery. So hopefully tomorrow
we have a dry race and I think it's going to be good. |
