28/11/2020
NEWS STORY
Pierre Gasly: "It's really positive to get both cars into Q3 today, but as for myself, even if I'm happy for the team, deep inside I'm still a bit disappointed with P8. I don't really know how to feel about it because we looked really strong all weekend, so I wanted a bit more. It was so tight, only a tenth to P5 and I would have liked to be on that third row tomorrow, but that's how it is and I think it's still a decent place to start the race. I expect pretty exciting battles on track tomorrow and I think we have the potential to fight for a good position. Strategy-wise, it will be pretty unusual and interesting, so I think we'll see many different options between the teams. Tyre degradation will be the key factor, so I'm looking forward to it."
Daniil Kvyat: "I'm quite happy with how Qualifying went as it was a good and competitive session. Q2 was very solid, we had one shot with a different compound and we took it, there was quite a bit of pressure on us, but we managed. I wasn't too happy with my Q3 lap, as I made a couple of mistakes and maybe we took a slightly wrong direction with the front wing. Nevertheless, it was a strong Qualifying and puts us in a good position to have a strong race tomorrow. The tyres suffer a lot around here, so it will be different from what we've experienced so far this year. Of course, there were some races where the tyres were tricky, but tomorrow will certainly be an interesting challenge."
Claudio Balestri (Chief Engineer - Vehicle Performance): "Today's sessions have highlighted how tight the midfield pack is, with small differences in lap time having quite big effects on the final positions. Compared with the past years, FP3 was closer to Qualifying in terms of track conditions and we were able to validate the setup changes we made overnight, focusing the attention on Quali preparation using two sets of Options this afternoon. This evening's session was not an easy one, especially Q2 when we were forced to change our plan due to the red flag. However, the performance from both cars was strong today which allowed Pierre and Daniil to make it into Q3 and start tomorrow's race on what we consider to be the best tyre. Considering our competitive long-run pace on Friday, we will try to get into the points with both drivers."
Check out our Saturday gallery from Bahrain, here.