25/09/2021
NEWS STORY
Pierre Gasly: "I don't have too much to say right now, I think we had the pace to easily make it through to Q3, so I'm obviously frustrated. In Q1 I was really fast in these conditions, I felt comfortable in the car and could push straight away. However, for Q2 I stayed out on just one set of tyres, that were completely used by the end of the session. I think this was a big mistake from our side, but I will have to speak to the team to understand more about what happened today. It's a missed opportunity not making it through to Q3, but we now need to look forward to tomorrow and see what we can do to make up lost ground."
Yuki Tsunoda: "I'm fairly pleased with today, I made it through to Q2 which is a step-up for me, particularly after yesterday. My mechanics worked hard last night to get the car in a better position coming into Qualifying today and I felt a bit more confident in the car. Obviously, the conditions were completely different to yesterday's sessions, but we'll hopefully see more improvements tomorrow, in dry conditions."
Claudio Balestri (Chief Engineer - Vehicle Performance): "We knew today was going to be rainy, so we tried to prepare in the best way possible. The morning session was cancelled, which was not ideal, so our first time out in wet conditions was Qualifying. In Q1 we decided to use the Inters and stay out for the whole session with just one set. It was the right strategy, used by most of the teams, and we made it through to Q2 with both cars. The track was drying quickly, and the tyres suffered a bit more than the first Quali session, so we decided to pit Yuki to fit a new set of Inters. With Pierre we decided to stay out, unfortunately it didn't pay off, and he couldn't make it to Q3. We cannot be satisfied, as there was a good opportunity today to start from a good grid position, especially with Pierre. We can't change today's result, so we need to simply focus our attention on the race and move forward as much as we can."