27/10/2018
NEWS STORY
Renault Sport Formula One Team will occupy the fourth row on the grid for tomorrow's Gran Premio de México after Nico Hulkenberg qualified seventh and Carlos Sainz eighth at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez.
Facing different weather conditions from yesterday, both drivers enjoyed a straightforward day of running, with FP3 featuring a patchy damp track but qualifying taking place in dry conditions. Tomorrow's grid will also feature the first all Renault-powered front row since the start of the turbo-hybrid era of Formula 1, with Daniel Ricciardo on pole and Max Verstappen second quickest today.
Nico Hulkenberg: "It's fun to be fighting inside the top ten for a good position and I'm happy with the way we got the most out of the car. I'm pleased and happy with my laps in what was a pretty intense qualifying session. The car seems to work well with the circuit characteristics we have in Mexico, and I've no concerns about any different weather conditions we could face in the race. It's another day with another big job to do tomorrow."
Carlos Sainz: "It was a very good qualifying for the team today. We've confirmed we're in a better place than in previous races and we've found a bit more performance in the car, so we can be happy with that. From a personal point of view, qualifying could have gone better as I was fighting the balance of the car and I had a lot of oversteer. I wasn't feeling so happy in the car, but we still made Q3. We always want more, so we'll be fighting tomorrow to ensure it's another successful team result with double points."
How was qualifying for the team?
Alan Permane, Sporting Director: We're happy with today's qualifying performance as it reinforces our result in Austin and gives us a strong position for tomorrow's race. The car has been very well behaved here meaning both drivers have been able to deliver its potential. The fourth row of the grid is the best we can achieve in pure pace, so it's good to be there in front of our closest championship competitors.
What is the outlook for tomorrow's race?
AP: It won't be an easy race tomorrow. Our battle is with our championship position rivals so we're not trying to be too clever for tomorrow's race, we just need to out-score them and with the evidence we've seen so far this weekend we're well-placed to achieve this; we just need a clean race.
Check out our Saturday gallery from Mexico City, here.