09/10/2021
NEWS STORY
Lance Stroll: "After practice yesterday, we made some helpful changes to the car overnight and I think that showed in our performance today. Overall, I am satisfied and it was a good effort. I had a small off during my final run in Q2, but my previous lap was strong enough to make it into Q3. Tomorrow, we will be starting the race from eighth on the Medium tyre, which should put us in a good position for the opening stint. There are a few quick cars out of position on the grid - because of the conditions and various grid penalties - so we will have to capitalise on that, fight until the end, and push every lap to see where we end up."
Sebastian Vettel: "The conditions today were always improving and, although the track was mostly dry, there were still some damp areas where I struggled. It was not easy to find a rhythm. I lost most of my lap time in those damp areas, especially in Turn One. After that, it was difficult to make up the deficit on the remainder of the lap. I think we had more pace in the car today so I am not happy to qualify 11th, but starting from 10th means we have a good opportunity to fight for points tomorrow."
Otmar Szafnauer, CEO & Team Principal: "On a drying track Sebastian narrowly failed to get through to Q3, missing out by just 0.153sec. He will start tomorrow's race from P10 [because his P11 will become P10 as a result of fastest qualifier Lewis Hamilton's 10-place grid penalty], from which grid slot he will be aiming to move up to a points-scoring position. Lance was ninth in Q2, moving smoothly through to Q3 therefore, and repeated ninth in Q3 [net P8], from where he too will be aiming for a good points finish tomorrow."
Check out our Saturday gallery from Istanbul, here.