Qualifying
Dave Robson, Head of Vehicle Performance:Today was exceptionally difficult with mixed and varying conditions throughout the day. We timed the run on Soft tyres well in FP3; whilst this allowed us to learn quite a lot about the car, it gave us a position on the timesheet that flattered our true pace. However, both drivers were still happy with the car balance and comfortable going into qualifying.
Qualifying was a rollercoaster with both Alex and Logan struggling to get a representative lap done around the showers in Q1. The red flag allowed us to reset and both showed excellent pace and composure to deliver very good laps under pressure.
Q2 was much calmer for Alex and he was very quick in comfortably making Q3. Logan found the conditions a little more difficult and had to do his final lap on a more used set from Q1, which cost him the couple of tenths that he needed to progress.
Alex was very strong on the used Soft at the beginning of Q3 but couldn’t quite find the final bit of grip as the track dried. Nonetheless, it was a potentially very difficult qualifying session and we dealt with it well and have both cars in a useful position for the Grand Prix tomorrow as a result.
Alex Albon: It’s been an amazing weekend but it’s funny when you finish in Q3, with P8 and you’re disappointed. We have to be realistic but it’s been great so far. In Qualifying, the session was going quite smoothly but, as the track dried out, corner speeds picked up and track evolution came in. We started to get quite a bit of degradation through the lap, even front deg, so we need to go away and understand that but, by the time I got to Q3, I was struggling a little bit with those combined factors. We’ve been really on top of it since the start of the weekend and I got into rhythm very quickly and adapted well to the changes, so we really hit the ground running. I think we ended up where we expected to be but I think if you told us we’d be here at the beginning of the weekend, we wouldn’t believe you.
Logan Sargeant: For me, the first goal of this weekend was to get into Q2, and I achieved that. It was a tricky session all in all. We can’t catch a break from mixed conditions at the moment. We knew it was going to be a lot closer coming into qualifying than we saw in practice. It’s a shame that I didn’t have a new set of tyres at the end of Q2 as I think that probably cost us the chance of transferring to Q3. At the end of the day, the car was in a good place and we’re making steps in the right direction. I’m happy with the steps that I’m making this weekend. I still have plenty of steps to take which is clear to me. As long as I’m moving in the right direction that’s the positive part and we can build off that to have a good race tomorrow. It won’t be easy starting 14th with a lot of quick cars around us but we’ll do our best.
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