28/07/2018
NEWS STORY
Lance Stroll qualified 15th and Sergey Sirotkin 20th for the Hungarian Grand Prix. Both drivers started a wet Q1 session on the intermediate tyre, but pitted for the ultrasoft after one flying lap. Lance and Sergey improved during the session as the track started to dry, with Lance progressing into Q2. A sudden downpour hit the track in Q2, with Lance unable to set a time on the intermediate tyre after finding the barriers on his first flying lap.
Paddy Lowe, Chief Technical Officer: It was a very tricky session for everyone. We went out on the intermediate tyre with both cars very early, and it quickly became clear that the slick tyre was coming through, so we went out along with the pack on two new sets of ultrasofts. Having set a few laps, we decided to stop for another set which nobody else did at that moment, and we gained a big profit after Lance set a quick enough lap to get him into Q2. Unfortunately, Sergey had the worse side of traffic at that time and didn't manage to put the lap together for promotion to Q2. In Q2, we went out on the dry tyre and it was the other way around. It became too wet so we pitted Lance for the intermediate for what was actually the only lap which was going to count as the rain fell heavier. Unfortunately, Lance spun off at turn 10 and damaged his front wing, so we kept the car in the garage on his return as no one else was improving. It's a good grid position for Lance, with great driving to achieve that. It was unfortunate for Sergey because I think the car showed more promise this weekend than his grid position would indicate. Let's see what we can do tomorrow.
Lance Stroll: I had a good Q1 and got through to Q2, which was very nice. I think we took advantage of the mixed conditions and that was positive. Unfortunately pushing in the wet I just lost the car and that was it. In the rain that is how it goes, you are pushing and looking for grip and sometimes it bites back. It was just unfortunate it was there at turn 10 as there was a wall on the inside, or it could have just been a spin and I could have kept going. Hopefully we can do something in the race tomorrow.
Sergey Sirotkin: I'm very disappointed with qualifying. With the rain today, it was a big possibility for us and I was looking forward to it as it could have been our best qualifying of the year. In such unpredictable conditions, it's very difficult to guess which lap is going to count. Every time I went out we decided to push on the first lap, which was good, but in doing so I would catch the car ahead of me so I would have to back off on the following lap. This happened to me three times on my three sets of tyres and unfortunately each time the rain stopped and I was not on my quick lap when the track was drier. It's impossible to predict that's going to happen, so we were a bit unlucky which I'm very sorry about.
Check out our Saturday gallery from the Hungaroring, here.