10/06/2017
NEWS STORY
Max Verstappen: "We know that this circuit is not our favourite and doesn't particularly suit us so P5 was the best we could aim for, we achieved that so I'm pleased with the result. Ferrari and Mercedes are able to turn their engines up and find that extra pace; we can't do that at the moment. During the race the engine power difference is slightly less as they cannot run at that level for an entire race, this means we can try to get involved and make ground. I think our race pace looks ok for tomorrow, if we can keep fifth that is the first goal, then we can see what happens in front of us. We are constantly working hard to improve the car, working towards having the best car in the field, so this means constant development. The upgrades we have got this weekend have worked really well which proves we are going in the right direction. It is hard to show that progress in Qualifying, and at a tough track with long straights, but we are definitely improving."
Daniel Ricciardo: "Things didn't really go to plan yesterday, but we had a lot of laps on track this morning in FP3 and understood a lot more. For Qualifying even though we ended up at the tail end of the top six I still felt we were actually in the hunt. We have put ourselves in a good position to at least race with Max so I can't ask for too much more. The last run I would have loved to improve so there was maybe a tenth in that, but other than that I think we got the most out of it. I'm no Einstein but three years ago I finished first and started on sixth. I will be starting on sixth again tomorrow so that's easy maths, am I right?"
Christian Horner, Team Principal: "After what looked like a pretty tight qualifying in Q1 and Q2 where we were within a couple of tenths of pole time, both drivers did an excellent job in extracting the maximum from the car in Q3 but unfortunately we just didn't have the pace to go with Mercedes and Ferrari around this circuit. Nevertheless, third row of the grid is a good starting position and hopefully we can make best use of those in the grand prix tomorrow. Now to the most important race of the day which is obviously the raft race later on this evening, where there is absolutely no threat from Mercedes and Ferrari as they aren't competing!"