28/10/2017
NEWS STORY
Brendon Hartley: "Today was a little bit frustrating! I'm a bit disappointed as I didn't get to put everything on the line and I think we had a chance to be fairly up the pack; to be ahead of the Williams was definitely on the cards today. Braking into Turn 1 in Q2 I felt like it was spot on and I was pumped up for the lap, when the engine went bang... I don't know what happened! My confidence has been building all the time, lap after lap, and I was really looking forward to Q2 to really give it a crack. I'm feeling better and better in the car and, if Austin was a tough ask, I've come here a lot more prepared... that's for sure. Mexico's a track I really enjoy and I will give it all tomorrow to have the best possible race!"
Pierre Gasly: "I've spent way too much time with the engineers on the pit wall this weekend! There is nothing we can do really. We changed the engine last night after the issue in FP2, then again after FP3 and we didn't have the time to do qualifying. It's a new track for me and I would have really liked to have pushed and to see how it drives because I've never driven with the ultra-softs. It's been a really strange weekend. It's really tough because the only thing I want is to drive and do laps with the car to get used to it, get more comfortable and learn the track as well. For sure we don't feel really prepared, the first time I'll be pushing on track will be lap one tomorrow! But that's how it is and I'm not going to change the approach, I'll keep working with the guys tonight and tomorrow to be ready for the race."
Jonathan Eddolls (Chief Race Engineer): "We thought yesterday was a difficult day, but today was no better with a number of issues on the PU side. Unfortunately for Pierre, at the start of his first timed lap in FP3 we had a turbo failure which meant that was the end of his session. We got the car back and we tried to repair it, but we realised it was more extensive than we first thought. In the end we needed to take a complete PU, however due to parts limitations the fresh PU wasn't fully built, so we didn't get the car out in time for qualifying: that meant the end of Pierre's day. Brendon had a really good FP3. We learnt a lot about the tyres and he was still building up himself lap by lap. By the end of FP3 he was really comfortable how the tyres were operating and what was required to extract the maximum performance. We went into qualifying with good expectations and I think he showed that the car was very capable, especially in Q1. In Q2 he was building on that even further and it was looking like we were going to challenge or potentially be in front of the Williams, but then unfortunately another turbo failure on the PU side cut his qualifying short. It was a challenging day, we need to understand tonight why so many power units are dying on our chassis! Unfortunately, it looks like tomorrow will be a difficult day for us. However, we will put today behind us, look ahead to tomorrow, remain positive and try to benefit from any opportunity in the race!"
Check out our Saturday gallery from Mexico, here.