11/11/2017
NEWS STORY
Max Verstappen: "I think we maximised the result in Qualifying today but we were just not fast enough. In general the pace has been simply not quite good enough across the whole weekend. I think both Daniel and I have been chasing the car balance and we could never find the full grip and potential. In Qualifying the grip was a little bit better; we lose a lot of time on the straights here but I think there are also one or two tenths we could have found. I never expected to beat Ferrari and Mercedes on this track as it's just not strong for us, but I did expect to be a little closer. For sure I would love some rain in the race, but I don't think it looks like that's going to happen. Maybe I will do some praying tonight! We may need a bit of luck to be honest, but you never know what can happen up front and it can still be an exciting race."
Daniel Ricciardo: "A kind of a mysterious Saturday really. Normally, in past years, Fridays were never good for us and we then improved in Qualifying. Lately Fridays have been pretty comfortable but then on Saturday we often lose out. I think we were better on the soft tyre in Qualifying today but I'm sure something was up with the last set of supersofts I had in Q3 as I had vibrations as soon as I left the pits. That was a bit frustrating because I didn't really feel I could work with too much out there. We start on the softs so hopefully that helps us tomorrow. I've got to try and charge through the field and I think we'll have a good race car. Lewis is starting behind me so we'll see; if Mercedes is as quick as they have been all weekend I might see if we can get a bumper on the front of Lewis' car and he can push me up the field."
Christian Horner, Team Principal: "An uneventful Qualifying for us today, and we finished where we expected to be. Both drivers had a few issues with grip around this circuit and with temperatures being what they were, to qualify in fourth and fifth respectively for Max and Daniel is the maximum we could have hoped for. With Max on the second row of the grid, he will take any opportunity he can to make early progress, while Daniel, whose penalties mean he will start down the grid, will be up for the challenge of moving through the field quickly and closing in on the leaders. With Lewis also starting at the back, tomorrow's grand prix could be very interesting indeed."
Check out our Saturday gallery from Interlagos, here.