08/04/2017
NEWS STORY
Daniel Ricciardo: "Personally I'm happy with what I was able to get out of the car this afternoon but obviously as a team and as a driver we want more. I felt like up until today we still probably hadn't got the most out of the setup but in qualifying I felt pretty comfortable with the car. I could lean on it more or less as much as I wanted but we are still missing some performance compared to Mercedes and Ferrari. However, I felt we improved the balance a lot from this morning and we made some bold changes which helped us in qualifying. You won't see me looking disappointed if it rains tomorrow as the wet conditions always create more opportunities and it will be up to me to maximise those if it happens. We hope to have a good car in the wet; downforce plays a huge role in those conditions so we will have to wait and see. Whatever happens it will certainly be an exciting race for the spectators and we will do all we can to be on the podium."
Max Verstappen: "Starting from nineteenth on the grid is going to be tough but I think there is rain on the way. There was something misfiring in the engine which meant we were down on power, I tried to do a lap that could at least get me through to Q2 but the issue just wouldn't let me. The guys will investigate this evening and I'm confident they can resolve it for the race. It is of course very unfortunate but these things happen and we need to move on. A bit of rain tomorrow will definitely help us but I think even in the wet it will be tough to challenge Ferrari and Mercedes. We need to concentrate on what we have and do the best we can. I will go home tonight, get some good rest and sleep, then come to the track ready to attack on what will hopefully be a wet track. If it is dry tomorrow you lose too much time starting from where I am on the grid. We will see, some good overtakes and exciting racing is what I'm hoping for."
Christian Horner: "A very frustrating qualifying for Max, an unfortunate issue for him that looks engine related but hopefully can be salvaged without penalty for tomorrow. I think Daniel extracted everything possible from the car today, fifth is a fair reflection on where we currently are. Hopefully tomorrow we can make some progress in the race and with the threat of some weather around that can always present some opportunities as well."
Check out our Saturday gallery from Shanghai, here.