01/08/2020
NEWS STORY
Lance Stroll: "The positive today is that we're starting P6 tomorrow and our strategy worked out - meaning we have the advantage of starting on the medium tyre and that should help us fight some of the cars around us. We're definitely in a position to fight for another good bunch of points, and that's the goal. We looked stronger in practice yesterday, so we need to go away and understand how we can come back stronger tomorrow. It was difficult to find the optimum balance of the car today, and that affected us in the first sector - we lost a little bit of time there in qualifying. The temperature and wind conditions were different today and were quite changeable, so that was a challenge to work around as well. Overall, I'm happy with our position and tomorrow is another day. I'm confident we can make some positive steps overnight and be in good shape for our home race."
Nico Hulkenberg: "We were so close to making it to Q3, and I'm happy with that considering I've come in from the cold this weekend! It's a big ask after eight months away to come back and jump into a completely different environment - and into a Formula 1 car I've never driven before and immediately perform. Especially when Silverstone is such a high-speed challenge and the conditions were changeable throughout the day. That meant it was a little bit of a shock to the system today, and it was tricky to hook up the laps perfectly - especially in the first sector. It was a challenge to use both the soft and medium tyre in Q2 and maintain the rhythm, but we almost made the strategy work - which shows the team and I are working well together. I'm also starting to get an understanding of the car, so the goal is to keep learning and adapting quickly. We'll do our homework tonight and aim to score good points tomorrow."
Otmar Szafnauer, CEO & Team Principal: "We took an aggressive approach to qualifying today with Lance running on the medium tyres in Q2. It was a difficult call, but we felt the strategic benefits for the race made the risk worthwhile. Lance made it work and progressed to Q3. Nico didn't quite make the top ten - which is understandable given that he's been thrown in at the deep end and only drove the car for the first time yesterday. From P13, with competitive race pace, I'm confident he can score points tomorrow. Lance wasn't totally happy with his Q3 lap, but sixth place on the grid sets us up nicely for our home race. The margins were very close today - which shows how competitive the entire grid is this year - and it will be the same tomorrow. I think we can take the fight to the teams around us and come away with another strong result."
Check out our Saturday gallery from Silverstone, here.